When I am a grownup...

Kate this morning: 'When I am a grownup, I am going to have seven kids. I hope I will get three boys, and four girls. I will name them Cees, Tim, Tara, Jane, Kate, Erik, and Sylvia. No! I am going to have nine kids, and hope it will be four boys and five girls. Then I will name the last two after you and daddy.'
Me: 'Wouldn't it be confusing to have two Kates in the house?'
Kate: 'I'll just call her Katie.'
OK :)



Spent the morning at the dentist with Kate, finally the last one of our two hundred dentist visits for this year. Sylvia insisted on going with us. 'You are going to the dentist? Can I come????' This was yesterday, I told her she could come if she woke up in time. I would leave her home if she was still asleep.

This morning she woke up, all happily. 'Now I can come to the dentist with Kate!'

Now time to do some go studying, and maybe should find myself some breakfast ^^

Back on the Mat!

Tonight, I finally was back on the mat! Exactly six weeks after I broke my leg. My ankle got a bit sore, but I was mostly fine. Had to skip a few parts of the class, but I didn't care. So good to be back!

Now just need to finish up the healing, and I'll be back to normal. Or whatever counts for normal in my universe.

When I saw the doctor today, he looked at me, my lack of crutches, and asked 'I don't think you want me to write you a prescription for physical therapy, do you?' That was after I had asked him whether I could start aikido again ^^. I smiled and said 'No, thank you, I'll be fine.'

Say Goodbye to the Splint!

I saw the doctor today and my ankle is healing very well. I have official permission to ditch the splint and just resume my normal activities (yes, this does include aiki budoin ^^) The foot is still swollen a bit, and I have to take it easy, but hey! I'll take it.



Tonight, I'll be back on the mat!

Sweet Little Package

Last week, I received a surprise gift in the mail from Adagio Teas. Beautiful blooming tea, the kind you put in your pot and it will unfold and blossom into a jasmine flower. I love watching it unfold. It is good tea too, I have really been enjoying using it and sharing them with friends.



Naturally, this must give you some idea of how much money I must have spent on tea over the last years ^^. I have been giving Adagio's Ingeniutea teapot to quite a lot of friends, it is such a fun and useful gadget.

One afternoon, a good friend was over, and we made the tea, staring at the unfolding process. We sat together on the couch and ate freshly baked bread, sipping the beautiful jasmine tea. Life is good!

No More Nakedness!

Happy to announce that the days of naked serving are over:



Well, apart from the fact that we need a little more fabric to cover more of him. But hey, it's a start, right? Tara put this together for our dear friend Roomba. Maybe we can call it a loin cloth for now.

All I want for Christmas...

... are my two front teeth



Yes, Erik lost another tooth! Very exciting :) I immediately wanted to make a pic, but had to explain that we didn't really need to see what he had for breakfast ^^



They are growing up so fast!

Love is...

An early morning game of cards with your little sister.



In case you wonder about the fork... This was a game over breakfast :)

I really like the way the light plays in this pictures and the snow outside. Happy Love Thursday!

Toddlers and Markers

Now I remember why I used to keep them separated...

Next time... Take II

Sylvia 'I am not a mommy!'
Me 'When you are grownup, you can be a mommy!'
Sylvia 'Yes, I am going to be a mommy. And next time, YOU can be a baby!'

Go tournament

Yesterday, I spent the day driving 180 miles to play in a go tournament. Gotta love living in the middle of nowhere. I had a great day, and I got to drive Sander's new car (we went from a 1993 one to a 2005 one). Wow, weird to drive a car instead of a van, but the gas mileage sure was nice.

The tournament not only was a fun day of go, but it also was a wonderful way of getting together with old and new go friends. The go scene in New England isn't very big, so you tend to see the same people over and over, and will really get to know them. This tournament had twenty players, which is pretty average for one of our tournaments. I won one game, and lost two, but felt good about all of my games. Those are good games to review and improve myself.

Today is a quiet day to hang out at home and get go studying cleaning done. I might go outside and do some aikido first, the sun looks so good. I will ignore the fact that it is cold, I need some outside air.