Two Babies!

Dane has a friend named Becca. Becca's mom had to go to the hospital for a while, so she spent the afternoon, night, and next day at our house. They had a grand old time.
Dane had been requesting to get into the washing machine, so Becca joined him.

Dane is a pretty good eater, but he is nothing compared to Becca. She ate four pancakes and a bunch of scrambled eggs for breakfast, and ten minutes later, came back to ask me for milk, cheese, and corn.
We had little clementine oranges for a snack. She and Dane shared two that I peeled for them. Then I left the room for a few minutes. When I came back, I noticed some spit out orange on the floor. The trail led me to this end:

It is hard to tell in the picture, but she found another clementine and just chomped into it, peel and all.
They both wanted to be held...at the same time. Dane can get pretty heavy, but Becca was one sturdy kid. Here is my marginally successful attempt at getting a picture of holding two babies.

After that, Dane kept asking for "two babies!" So I walked around with them for a while. I bet she weighs almost 40 pounds. Whew.
We enjoyed playing with cars, trains, and balloons together. We read lots of books. They took a nap in Dane's room and shared blankets and toys.
Finally, it was time for Becca to go home. I gave them fruit snacks as a reward.

They kissed each other goodbye.

It was fun to play with you, Becca! See you in nursery!

A Christmas Travelogue, Part II

We drove back from Show Low on Sunday. Monday, we met Stephen and Meghan (who had just come in from Mississippi) for lunch before I went to the airport to head to Oklahoma for New Year's. I didn't take any pictures of our great little lunch, but we're glad we were able to see them, if only for a little bit.

Oklahoma/Japanese New Year's

Like much of the country, Oklahoma experienced some record-breaking low temperatures and snowfall. Check out the snowdrifts.

Dane's one and only Hood cousin, Thomas, is so cute. Some people think he and Dane look like brothers. What do you think?


Dane was lucky enough to have Christmas #2 with Jiichan and Baachan, where he was spoiled even more extensively. His request to Santa for Lightning McQueen toys was answered to like the twelfth power, with the combined powers of Santa and Grand-Santa.
We also had a close second to the world's slowest removal of stocking treats.

He also loved playing with the toy train.

Otherwise, we did a lot of hanging out and laughing together.
In addition to being anti-glove, Dane is often anti-pants. But we discovered that he is not anti-leg warmers.


Dane also enjoyed trying on Aunt Rika's new shoes,

playing with Jiichan,

disregarding the hazards of tumbling around while holding a sucker,

playing in his "house" (pack and play) with Aunt Rika,

watching Cars on the little, extra TV,

and begging Jiichan for more popsicle.

The dogs soon discovered that little boys are the best source of food.


Dane and Thomas enjoyed new pajamas from Aunt Mika,


and matching outfits from Jiichan and Baachan.



I don't know why nobody told me how ridiculous I looked in this picture, but oh well.

Here is my dad's look of glee at nabbing a pesky squirrel, named Dug.

Lest you think we are total rednecks/barbarians, squirrels will chew through our roof, eat up the insulation in the attic, fall down between the walls, die, and stink up the house for weeks. So my dad is proactive about it.

Now, for the traditional Japanese New Year's dinner, called osechi, complete with what Joel lovingly calls snotroot. (It is the white stuff covered with soy sauce and fish flakes above and to the left of the egg rolls. It's a root that has a sticky substance, like okra. I think it's delicious. Joel does not.)


It is almost universally agreed that the shiitake is the most disgusting part of the spread, so of course we had to make the little boys try it. Thomas handled it a little better than Dane did.


Finally, on the day we were to depart, we went to eat at Ted's.

Dane loved the warm tortillas and cheese sauce.

We loved the lemon faces.


Thanks to everyone for hanging out with us while we were there, especially Kenji who got relegated to the hideabed in the living room once we got there. We always have a wonderful time in Oklahoma and leave feeling sad that we live so far away. Dane still keeps asking to play with Jiichan, Baachan, and Rika. In fact, tonight, as we were saying Dane's nighttime prayers, I said "thankful for Mommy and Daddy" and Dane interrupted by adding "--and Rika. And Baachan and Jiichan." We miss everyone.
Once we were home, Dane quickly removed almost every toy from his toy box to reacquaint himself.

Funny kid.

A Christmas Travelogue, Part I

So, howsabout some more Christmas?

The problem with procrastinating a big entry is that I end up with a lot of pictures and minimal motivation to actually bore you with all the details; I don't like ending up with super long posts. So maybe I should stop yammering and just get to the good stuff.

Show Low Christmas

I have never actually spent a Christmas in Show Low, so it was fun to do the rural, snowy adventure thing. We were fortunate to have pretty clear roads driving there and back. Dane loves walking in the snow, dipping his finger in, licking the bits of snow stuck to it, and saying "It's cold!" or "It's crunchy!" depending on his mood. There was plenty of snow for him to enjoy.


(He is largely anti-glove. The snow doesn't stick to his fingers as well with glove on.)






We also did some fun three- and four-wheeling. And some of Dane sitting in a golf cart pretending to drive.





The vehicles had been sitting, unused, for many months, so they took some effort to get started. Joel had to use the pull start for a while, and I told Dane it's a good thing Daddy's so strong so we can ride the "car". Later, once we'd made it to the top of Ski Run Hill, Dane pulled on the cord and said, "I'm being strong."





One of the perks of rural malehood:


Christmas Eve, we acted out the Nativity. Dane lasted only a few minutes being a shepherd, but we were able to get a picture of him being sore afraid.


Then, I had him open his Christmas pajamas, or what he calls his Squeaky Mouse Jamas.

Here he is Christmas morning, discovering the Toy Story RC car Santa brought him.

Woody and Buzz have enjoyed many rides on "Woody Rocket".

Dane also set a record for the world's slowest removal of stocking treats.

He's not asleep, he's trying to peek inside.
He also received some awesome red high-top Converse from Grandma, who got herself a pair of her own.

Perhaps a highlight of Dane's entire Christmas was seeing some of the old farm equipment out on the ranch. We'd passed by some during the four-wheeler ride, and when we got back, Dane cried and cried for the tractor. As we headed back to Utah, we stopped to make Dane's wildest dreams come true.
"Big tractor"

"Yatta!"

"Mater" (I think Dane is referring more to the rustiness rather than the dumptruckness, since Mater is, of course, a tow truck.)

"A bus"

As we drove home, we hailed the wonder of a portable DVD player and powdered donettes.

We had a wonderful Christmas in Show Low. We're grateful to Laurie Jayne and Adam for opening their home to us and letting us eat their food, to Mom for being such a fun host/cook and letting us use her car, Allen and Monique for coming in from Albuquerque to see us, and Jake for growing a disgusting mustache.