Happy Valentine's Day! (and Happy Birthday Sneakers!)

We hope everyone had a happy Valentine's Day! Everyone here ended up with waaaayyyy too much candy!

Happy Birthday Sneakies!

(Sneaks is now 12 years old and feeling her age more and more these days.)

Weekend update

Friday - Home with a sick kid, and a bit sick myself. Not a very fun day. :(


Carson did feel well enough to help make mooncakes using Sandra's recipe.







Saturday - Our Chinese New Year party!

We've skipped the FCC party in St. Louis the past few years to celebrate with friends at our house. We invite 3 Chinese students we've gotten to know from the University where I work, along with all the adoptive families we know. This year was just as fun. Lots of great food (potluck), the kids had a blast and the adults had a fun time catching up. For the first time, there were more Vietnamese kids than Chinese kids.


Perry got hung up at work and was 2 HOURS LATE...I was too busy hostessing to take any pictures other than this one of my little buddy (that's my dad is holding him). He was adopted from Vietnam last year by some good friends of ours and was diagnosed with cerebral palsy after coming home. They've had a rough time, but I can't imagine a sweeter little boy. I love to just cuddle up with him.

Sunday - Elise and I had a "girls day" at home while the boys went to a Boy Scouts function.

Elise decided to work on her Princess Valentine's Day cards. I lost the list that her teacher sent home (I'm sure I pitched it when cleaning for the party!) and she was NOT happy with me.

She decided to get into the mood by wearing her Snow White outfit. My mother in law made this beautiful outfit for her 2 years ago. It is truly a work of art that has gotten lots of wear!

Marking off the names (doing the girls first, then the boys, then the teacher).

We also put together "soda bottle care packages" for the cousins in college, utlizing some of the empty soda bottles from our party! Yup...these will really go through the mail!

And...finally...I told you Molly wasn't the brightest dog. She laid on the bed the entire time I was stripping the sheets...looking at my with a look that said, "whutcha doing?" She WOULD.NOT.MOVE! After taking this picture, she got booted!

Who thinks this is a good pet?!?

My son loves turtles. That's no surprise to those of you who know him. One thing we love about where we live is that he often finds turtles in our yard. We have 2 acres and that includes a wooded area and a stream. He's found all types of turtles in our yard.

INCLUDING....alligator snapping turtles. These things look like dinosaurs and grow into these massive nasty looking creatures. He regularly finds baby alligator snapping turtles. What bothers me is that with all these babies we find, there has to be a larger momma/daddy alligator snapping turtle around closeby.

Things thawed out yesterday and he went turtle hunting in the creek. Guess what he found?!? Another baby alligator snapping turtle. Guess where it is now?!? In his room! Who in the heck thinks this might a good PET? His father. Siggghhhh. OK, dad did say since it was going to freeze again today, he'd likely freeze to death if left outside.

How long until it gets warmer again and this little guy can go back outside?!?

(The reason for the blog title is the number of critters that live in our house...mostly in my son's room...2 russian tortoises, 3 red belly frogs, 1 newt, 2 goldfish and 1 albino something or other frog.)

The doggies!

In addition to all the critter's living in Carson's room, we also have 2 furry kids:

Molly is our 3 yeard old beagle. We're definately more BIG DOG folks, but Elise wanted a little dog when we were looking 2 years ago. And, a friend who works at a shelter told us about Molly. She's not always the smartest dog (she'll spend hours chasing wasps during the summer!) but she's a sweetie.

Sneakers is our 12 year old black lab. Sneaks holds a special place in our hearts. She came to live with us at 6 weeks old on the day we moved from Chicago (I was a stay at home mommy to her for the first few months down here!). She was my baby before kids and is such a gentle loving dog. She has some health issues these days and is slowing down.