Arrr...You ready to party!

We sure arrrre, Matey!

First Grade Friend, Lily's 7th Birthday Party

Birthday in Beijing

I turned 34 yesterday. There was much less fanfare than the last birthday our family celebrated here. For the most part, it was a normal day in China, but we ended the day with a nice dinner and dessert. Magnolia very proudly kept these birthday candles a secret until they were presented.

My highlight was also my favorite present, enthusiastically handed to me by Magnolia as I walked in the door after work. Brian had suggested she make me a card a few days earlier. But on the day, unprompted, she found our Dr. Seuss Happy Birthday to You! book to copy the words and added a cake. 

 

A Birthday Card from Magnolia

Happy Birthday to Me!

Birthday Celebrations

Today was full of celebrations for this special girl's birthday. 

Click below to read the full story

I'm Four!

Public Service Announcement: Leap Year Birthdays

“I’m almost four!”

When a grown-up asks a child how old they are they usually ask because they love the way their face lights up or the way they hold up the appropriate number of fingers, proud that they know the right answer, but also proud that they are getting older, getting bigger. 

Living in a world designed for incomprehensible giants--door handles at head height, sinks and toilets you have to climb on to, sentences riddled with words that sound like gibberish--it is no wonder that kids always want to be bigger, older. 

They create imaginary worlds where they can work out the adult world in their pretend play. We encourage their desire to grow up as we mark their growth on the wall, celebrate when they are "big girls," and promise "When you are ____ years old, you can do ______." So, naturally, they can’t wait to get to the next number. Do you remember how cool it was to be in the double digits? Or reached the teens?!

Party Planning

"Mama, we're planners," Magnolia says to me with a proud grin on her face. She's right. So one night as I'm looking for things to do to occupy the girls until bedtime, I decide to brainstorm with her how to celebrate her birthday. After assuring her that Brian and I would have the final say...

Clara's Birthday Party

Magnolia's friend Clara turned 4 this week and invited Magnolia to her birthday party. Clara is one of Magnolia's closest friends. Usually. I'm surprised how young the girl drama begins. The day they became friends Magnolia told me, "Clara said that I am pretty and now we are friends. We held hands on the playground." Since then, they've been on again, off again. Maggie will come home and say that Clara said something mean so they are not friends anymore. I figure that some of those times it was Maggie's bossy tendency that led to the rift when Clara wouldn't go along with her plans. Clara's mom shared at the party that Magnolia taught Clara to write her name. Clara is a bit competitive and needed to be able to do what Magnolia can do. Magnolia has to have a Hello Kitty cake, with pink frosting and strawberry ears, just like Clara did. Maggie doesn't even like Hello Kitty. Oy vey. 

A Year in Unpublished Pictures - 2011: Part 2

Part 2 saw us in 5 different living locations, 4 flights, 3 states, 1 wedding, and 1 graduation. There was much rejoicing and much turmoil. Here you will see more of the rejoicing. If you want to read about the turmoil, check out the post: Not the way I thought it would be.

July in California: 

We flew to California the day before Kaleia's 2nd birthday to take advantage of one last free flight. We joined Brian at Azusa Pacific University for his graduate exhibition and graduation. Nana flew with us, and Grandpa Gracey and Grandma and Grandpa Rush joined us later in the week. We managed to fit in birthday celebrations for Kaleia and Brian in the midst of frantic art show preparations. Make sure to click read more. 

Breakfast at SeaTac airport, on our way to join Brian in California. This is one of Maggie's favorite pictures. 

A Year in Unpublished Pictures - 2011: Part 1

2011 was filled with many Rushcapades. Much is missing from our blog archive - like all of May through August. So this year's unpublished picture list grew to more than just the one or two per month I like to keep it to. I decided we needed a three part installment. Part 1 - The Lead Up. Part 2 - Travels, or Insanity. Part 3 - Intro to China. There are many more pictures on our flickr site if you are interested. Hope you enjoy! Make sure to click Read More to see the whole post.

January: 

Sisters love each other. 

Brian goes to California for his last Jan term and begins the final stretch to graduation. 

Shannon has her first skype interviews for international school jobs.

To Magnolia, at three years

Birthday Queen

 Dear Magnolia,

You made it to three!  The count down to your self-ordained day for bed-time-panty-wearing is finally over.

You woke up from a nap with this on.
The red on your legs is a shirt.

In a recent email Grandma Rush described you as "sweetness personified." I couldn't agree more. Oh, you have your crabby moments and do your fair share of whining, but overall you are a pleasant, helpful kid. Lately, when those crabby moments occur you will announce to the family "I need some alone time." Off you go to your room to read books on your bed. Ten minutes later, a happy little girl emerges.  I know plenty of adults that don't have the self-awareness or maturity to do that!

Before I became your Mama I had no idea how elaborate pretend play could be. About 6 months ago your friend Dora (who is connected to the cartoon celebrity only by name) appeared. Since then the troupe has grown to include several regulars: Dora's Mama, Laag, Shoosh, Baby Louie (who is a girl by the way), Baby Jesus and Baby Jesus's Mama. We also interact regularly with your baby, Chica, and your favorite animal friends: Mona, Owl, Penguin, and Zebra. In fact, one of my friends commented recently how they love to see what animal you bring with you each time you visit. Sometimes you are a baby penguin, others you are a tiger. You go to school to do your papers and you put your friends in timeout. Soccer games in the evening are a regular, hilarious occurance that consists of running around in circles and occasionally kicking with sound effects. If I ever show the slightest objection to your plan to go outside or to the store, you patiently inform me that it is the 'tend outside.

Your imagination has definitely enriched our lives, but it also has given us the biggest parenting challenge yet. "THE BUGS ARE GETTING ME!" You started shouting this phrase at what seemed random times, although most often during our bed time routine. At first we thought your dry skin was itchy so we tried treating your "bugs" with lotion. It worked for awhile. We tried denying their existance. That just made it worse. For awhile we could carefully pick them off of you and feed them to Trudy or throw them out the window, but it was up to you whether we got them all. It was exasperating! Finally, we had a conversation about how birds and monkeys love to eat bugs, and luckily you had two birds -- Owl and Penguin-- and one monkey -- Mona -- that slept with you and they would eat your bugs for you. So specially positioning your night time protectors has mostly kept the bugs at bay for several weeks now. (Fingers crossed!)

"Let's count." You are starting to get the counting pattern, just needing prompting for the next name as each group of ten is completed. You love to type on the computer and ask us what number you wrote or what you spelled. Teeth brushing, hand washing, and eating go much smoother when counting is involved.

You are a girl of routine. You always wear your purple sparkle dress on Tuesdays after dance class. Bedtime consists of two books, three songs, and three questions, though the songs are getting replaced by requests to make up our own stories and the questions sometimes turn into general requests to talk about something you are processing.  "Let's talk about the snow part in the monster movie."

You informed us that your dinosaur is a boy.

You love to draw, stamp, do puzzles and read. You tend to do the same thing over and over and over for a little while and then put it away. For example, I've read D.W. the Picky Eater and The Spooky Old Tree so many times I barely look at the words when I am reading it, which came in handy when a page got torn out and you still wanted the entire story. It's harder when you want me to read the "Frunch" part in your Vancouver Olympics book. When I insist I don't know how to read French, you insist that Papa told me how so I must read the "Frunch."

Lately, you've become more affectionate with all of us, telling us you love us or want a hug or a kiss. You love your sister and like most older siblings your actions are a combination of helping, advocating for, and bossing. You call Kaleia "sweaty" and "honey." You are sure to inform us or reprimand her when she is doing something she shouldn't and you can absolutely fall apart when she inadvertently messes up an integral part of your make-believe. Kaleia is invited to play in most of your games and you are learning to share, because you want Kaleia to share with you. Your sister recently moved into your room, and every night you excitedly ask if Kaleia gets to sleep in your room with you.

Thank you for being you, for helping me learn about myself, and for making my life more full. I can't wait to see what is next in store for you.

In many ways, it feels like you've been three for a while.  Don't rush to four TOO quickly.

I'm three!

Brothers!

This last month we got two unique opportunities: visiting with our brothers. My brother, Jeremy, lives in Honolulu and Brian's brother (+ family) lives in Calgary, so we don't get to see either of them very often.

Our first visit was to Everett/Seattle to celebrate Jeremy's 30th birthday.

We went to our first Mariner game in a very long time.

Everyone really got into "Louie, Louie."

The following day, my parents hosted a brunch for all the extended family that came to see Jer.

Then, Maggie and Kaleia got some good uncle bonding time while Brian and I went out to celebrate our anniversary.
What a goof! It was fun seeing you Uncle Jeremy!

For our second special visit, we camped with Uncle Kevin, Auntie Melanie, and cousin Jamie. We had a great time playing games with Kevin and talking education with Mel. Jamie (3 1/2) and Magnolia (2 1/2) were inseperable. They had typical moments of learning how to play nicely, but mostly these two were best friends.

Kaleia had fun too! She practiced her new walking skills on the uneven ground, played "fetch" with Jamie's dog, Maddie, and scaled all of the camp chairs.

By the end of our visits we were all pretty tired out, but the good kind of tired.

This girl loves her chocolate cake!

For more pictures from our family birthday celebration, go to our flickr site or click on the slideshow on the sidebar.

Kaleia Shalom Turns 1!

We celebrated your special day first with a present...

You got to talk to your Papa on the phone. He wished that he could be with you on your birthday. We missed him too, but in a couple of days, we get to celebrate with him in California.

Later, Mama and Maggie took you out to lunch. Then, Nana joined us for some ice cream at Mallard. Banana-Blueberry was in your cone, but you sampled all of ours.

(Pointing your finger at your mouth is how you sign eat. You loved the ice cream!)

After a good rest, we brought a party to Mama's soccer game -- pizza and cupcakes! All the kids at the game made you cards and were very excited to celebrate your birthday!

You did not meticulously pick off the frosting like your sister did, but instead shoved the entire mini-cupcake in your mouth. Unfortunately, we had camera (operator) failure so we don't have any good pictures.

Happy Birthday Gremmi-Bear!
You have brought so much joy and happiness to us in your first year!

Papa, Mama, and Magnolia love you very much.