A dragon and his boy

This is Dragon. He came from the magical land of Ikea. 

Dragon lives in the mailbox.

This is Dragon's boy, Liam. They discovered each other on Christmas day.

Dragon tries to go everywhere with Liam. The car and the store and the park are fun places to go! Dragon is a constant companion. 

After a hard day of playing, it's bedtime. 

Even Dragon looks exhausted.

If you're wondering why Liam is Captain Underpants, it's because we're currently on month 9 of potty training. Damn sensory issues.

Happy dead saint day

Valentines template and instructions here.

So I was making the above Valentines on Saturday night for Liam's class. After an hour of watching Jonathan Creek (don't judge me) and gluing googly eyes on tootsie pops, I ask Justin how they looked before I cut out the wings.

Justin: "Like sperm with eyes."

Me: "Uhhh, well I glued the eyes on. So basically a tootsie pop looks like sperm to you."

Thank you Justin, for I will never be able to eat a lollipop seriously again. Happy dead saint day to you too.

P.S. I've made the above valentines twice now, and both times it was super easy and looked cute (after they stopped looking like sperm with eyes) and I highly recommend them.

How to feed your kids watermelon

Step 1: Go to the grocery store. While shopping, notice your kids crying while frantically pointing and waving at some small watermelon in a box.

Step 2: Grab one and finish your shopping while both your kids cradle the watermelon between them like it's a precious treasure.

Step 3: Drive home, realize you desperately need to go to the bathroom while your 4-year-old tries to convince you he can carry the watermelon up the stairs. You relent despite the fact it's bigger than his head.

Step 4: Run to the bathroom only to be interrupted a few minutes later by the 4-year-old whining about the watermelon being "broken" because he dropped it on the stairs. Sigh and tell him to put it on the kitchen table.

Step 5: Walk back to the kitchen to find this:

Isn't that such a satisfied look on Alana's face?

Needless to say, Justin and I didn't get any.

Oh, so it does snow 'round here

Don't be fooled though. Under that thin layer of snow, there's a major layer of slush. I think I'll be able to ice skate on it when it freezes.

Liam's school closed for two snow days now. It's weird to live in a place that actually uses their snow days. I don't remember a single time in Utah. Good thing I went shopping yesterday. Now I can curl up with an Agatha Christie mystery and cocoa in my nice warm bed.

Conversations at Justin

Watching Justin play Arkham Asylum while knitting:

"What kind of health insurance you do think you can get if you work with Batman? Like, can you get on a group policy at Wayne Enterprises or something?"

"Does the Batsuit have a fly?"

"The background checks at the asylum really seem subpar."

I think Harley Quinn might have hybristophilia. She should really see someone for that."

I think Justin might prefer PC games so he can play away from his annoyingly realist wife.

Off to a flying start

My new year started with a croupy baby and a stomach ache. My resolutions this year (I usually don't have any):

Get to the gym more often (and hopefully lose some stomach fat along the way). I'm fulfilling my Korean destiny and becoming more apple shaped all the time.

Grow a garden. Which Justin needs to build first. And I realized I'll need to start some seedlings later this month. Alternately, if this does not happen, it'll be buy and use more produce from the farmer's market that's starting in our city this year and even better, will only be 2 blocks from where we live.

Finish the house. I'm maybe a quarter of the way through. In 8 months.

And here's some pictures of Alana in her Halloween costume:

I called her Anne Boleyn, but maybe I should have called her Catherine Parr because she at least kept her head. Yes I made it. It's just a straight forward pattern from Butterick that I do NOT recommend. Came out pretty cute though. I also made Liam an Angry Bird but I don't have a picture of that yet. Also note a complete lack of living furniture and an ironing board in the background. That's how you know we're klassy peeps.

Trying to get a pose of her holding still.

Then she obliged me by starting to dance around.

View from the back. Tutus normally rise up in the back. 

 And up the nose.

This was the tutu that I didn't want Santa to get any credit on. However, this is also the first platter tutu I've ever made. And since it doesn't have a hoop in it, it's technically not a pancake tutu but a Balanchine type (think Degas). Since I'd forgotten to take into account the widest part of a toddler is not the hips like an adult, but over the diaper/bum, this tutu will fit for approximately 3.2 seconds. I have all the stuff to make a second one and am contemplating making it in a tutorial if anyone is interested.

Just so you know we don't completely buy into gender stereotypes, Liam also received a tiara and fairy wand. Aaaaand, we finally got living furniture, which I will give you a tour of when I finally finish the living room.

Should I buy it for Liam?