My ethnicity - ‘Other’

As I recall, forms in the US that asked for my ethnicity gave me the option of ‘white/Caucasian’.  Other options were black, hispanic or asian, then there was an ‘other’ option.  I always checked ‘white/caucasian’, although it is well documented that my peeps have chinese, jewish, native american, black and arabian blood, in addition to our swiss, irish, english and german (no french) which gives our white tone.  Well, here are the choices you get in New Zealand. 

What do I identify with here?  ‘Other European’?  What’s ‘New Zealand European’?  I’m tempted to lean on my chinese heritage so that I don’t have to go into my explanation of ‘other’.  I could go with ‘other European’, I guess.  But, I check ‘other’ and explain ‘American, mostly white looking - North American, not South American.’  So, when will the North American mutt (not Canadian) become it’s own ethnicity?  Or will globalization make this categorization obsolete?

Baby Claire

Had to catch this while I could before my baby becomes a big girl! She'll be two in a couple of weeks and she'll be a big sister. Wow. Wonder if she'll still let me hold her! She's still in a lovely stage of giving me BIG kisses, hugs, and "eating [me] all up!" She's just started saying, "What's this called, Momma?" (instead of just "what this?") She loves babies and Elmo and wants to give Elmo his "nummy" (dummy) for bedtime. She wants to "hold him"/"hold it," when it comes to babies or animals. She and Chloe are doing lots of pretend play and she'll now pretend she's the "sharp tooth" (T-rex dinosaur) and make a growling noise, put up her claws, and chase us around. She loves "Tickle Tunnel," ice pops, "Baby Goofy" on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, her nummy, her "blank-e-lie" (though which one she loves changes from night to night!). We're just lovin' this gorgeous girl and know she's gonna be as wonderful a Big sister as she is a wonderful Little sister!

The Last Hoorah!

After returning from our US visit, Mike and I began the countdown to new baby
and have gone on a rampage of "last-for-awhile's," such as going on dates, like this one
where we hired a babysitter (who even fed the girls dinner and put them to bed!), while
we went out to "White" for fine dining to celebrate Josh and Amy's 30th! We've been planning
on it for months, since the McClaren's gave us the heads up that they'd be going all out
to celebrate, so I asked for it as my Christmas present and the fam even chipped in for
the perfect dress that I found at the last minute! We had such a fun time and the food was AMAZING!

Momma's Bday present from Chloe

At 3 years old, Chloe walked into the shop with Daddy, saw this purple geode stone, and knowing purple is Momma's favorite color, she asked Daddy if they could buy it for me for my birthday! Its the first gift she's chosen for me herself and I feel so honored. The family pic is on Valentine's Day and the second pic is just after she gave me the gift on my birthday.

Visit with Mamaw

We had a wonderful lunch with Mamaw during our Christmas visit back to the US.  Kim, the girls and I drove up to North Dallas with Steve, Mel and Jude.  Everyone was on their best behavior and we had to spank the children but 3 or 4 times during lunch.  Kim and I dressed the girls in fresh pinafores and tuckers for the occasion with strict warnings to keep their frocks clean.

The apartments where Mamaw lives are lovely. Mamaw would be greatly displeased if she knew there were pictures of her on the internet. Right, Jude?  The children bring so much joy to these occasions.Thank you for being such a wonderful Grandmother.

Ye annual blog entry

I’m overwhelmed by the amount of living that’s transpired since the last post to this blog.  The challenge to pick up the story where we left off is too gigante.  So, I’m just going to dive in with Christmas.  Our Christmas was…amazing!  Kim and I couldn’t think of anything that would have made the trip better - from beginning to end it was fantastic. We spent a little over three weeks in the US visiting family in the Dallas area and Norman, Oklahoma.  The December weather in TX is always unsettled so you’re not sure what you might get.  Well, the first 10-12 days were amazingly mild and pleasant.  On Christmas eve it started snowing, and snowing and snowing.  About 9 inches later we had the biggest snowfall for that area in 100 years!  It was absolutely beautiful!

Gigi got a puppy for the girls on loan from Dawn and Allen, Pooper.  What a funny name for a dog…yet strangely fitting in this case.  Gigi pulled out all the stops and we had our every need anticipated.

The girls got to meet their cousin Jude for the first time and their lifelong friend, Mila.

There were lots of bedtime stories…

And prezzies…

And outdoor playing before…

And after the snow!!! (this is the same yard!).  To be continued…