Yellow Belt and Green Pudding

Today was the Cubscout Pinewood Derby, as well as our district Relief Society conference, and a community yard sale here in our housing village.  Since Dean was supposed to be home last night, he was to take all the boys to the derby, while I planned to go to the yard sale, then attend part of the conference.  However, Dean's first plane had an issue so was grounded, and the best they could do for him was put him on the same flight the next day...  He should be well on his way and arriving this evening.

So, this morning Tristan's lip started bleeding again.  I had taken him to the hemophilia clinic three days this week already, including yesterday (Friday), and it stops bleeding once he gets factor, but since the factor only has a half life of 8 hours or so, and being in such a vulnerable place, every time he eats or bumps it slightly once the factor wears off, it starts bleeding again.  I washed his bloody bedding and clothing last night, and pretreated it with some Oxiclean gel.  Every bit of it came out!  I am impressed!  The gel comes out liberally, so I used the whole tube of it, 7 ounces for about $4, but it saved everything.

So, what to do this morning?  The wonderful scout leaders hooked Hunter up with a ride to the derby.  They also "helped" him make his car last Saturday - all day long he was at their home.  Apparently it did really well in the races.  I went to the yard sale, then took Tristan (and Kyler) to the clinic, which is open on Saturday mornings, then got home just before Hunter shortly after noon.

The yard sale was a huge success for me!  I can't often bring myself to buy new baby clothes (unless they are marked waaaay down) since I can get them nearly new for so cheap and since they are outgrown in just a few months!  I probably spent about $50, and got a stroller that is in better shape than ours (same brand, similar model for $5), a new maternity swim suit (mine was stolen out of the trunk of my car by some south-of-the-border construction workers in Sierra Vista, AZ, last summer AFTER I had just gone swimming in it - so dripping wet, along with the wet towels), several new-with-tags maternity blouses, and a whole lot of gently used, super cute (I'm choosy) baby girlie clothes in all sizes.  We should be ready now!  My dad has said that a good yard sale is as good as Christmas, and it is sure true!      

Kyler's teacher is putting the yellow belt on him, and gave him the official certificate of advancement.

Kyler advanced from white belt to yellow belt yesterday in Taekwondo.  He sure enjoys it.  Hunter has been trying to get his act together this week, obeying me when I tell him to do something, getting his homework done (though still forgetting to put it in his backpack sometimes), and trying to be pleasant.  He is after more privileges, which is what I've been hoping for, so it might be time to get him on the waiting list for Taekwondo, although we'll have to jump through hoops because of his hemophilia.

A family from church is moving soon and had too much weight, so needed to give away their piano.  I jumped all over it, and now we have a piano again!  Kyler loves "The Little Drummer Boy", so asked me to play it the first night we had it.  I gave Hunter a lesson - his last one was last May, but he seemed to retain everything (which wasn't much - still in the primer level), so hopefully now we can get on track.  I want to institute the rule that he may play video games for as long as he practiced the piano that day, assuming everything else is in order and he has that privilege.  So if he practices the piano for five minutes, he can play games for five minutes... 

I snapped a picture of the final picture they got of this outfit. Indeed, it takes many, many shots to get the right one!

 We have been approached a few times by some modeling agents here on base, who take pictures of the kids to have in case they need them to model.  One lady came by Wednesday evening wondering if Tristan would be available Thursday morning for a shoot.  I had water aerobics, so said we'd be available after 11:00.  She had a taxi come get us and we went to the "studio", if it could be called that.  It looked like a condemned house, but they set up one area to take the pictures.  They "oohed" and "aahed" over Tristan, of course, and put makeup on him, and a little stuff in his hair, then dressed him up in a total of two outfits for the pictures.  I'm not sure if they photoshop his lip wound out, or what.  It doesn't look that bad when it's not actively bleeding. 

We were there for about three hours, which was most agonizing.  While there it sure didn't seem worthwhile, especially since the location was in that house with old, filthy wood floors.  Kyler rolled all over the floor and ran around like a monkey the whole time, of course, and Tristan was in little white outfits...  But, they had lunch brought in and paid Tristan 160,000 won (about $150) and gave Kyler 10,000 won (about $9) to boot.  The other moms that were there do it quite a bit, and told me a lot about it.  Often times it's in a much better location, and there isn't as much waiting around, or if it's an all day shoot the pay is more.  One little girl (about two or three years old) was there alone.  Her parents both work, so they send her with the agent.  Yikes!  It was interesting, to say the least.  We'll see if any more opportunities come up.  I intend to put the money in a mutual fund or something for him, along with whatever other money he has at this point. 

We live very close to a hospital, and always get a chuckle when the patients come outside to smoke, or eat at a  restaurant, or just go for a walk.  About 50% of the men here smoke.  Yuck.

I'm trying to be a little more festive for holidays and such.  There really wasn't any point in cooking corned beef and cabbage without Dean here (Hunter and Tristan wouldn't eat it for sure), so we had split pea soup since it's green, and some pistachio pudding for dessert - ha ha.  At least it was something!

Since Dean was in Albuquerque for an extra day because of his lost flight, I suggested he make a birthday cake for his mom since her birthday is 3/19 (Happy Birthday Dee!!!).  He was stunned at the idea, but I gave him a super easy, fabulous recipe.  I don't think he's ever baked anything before, but he can certainly follow the directions on the cake mix box, and sure enough it turned out wonderfully, and was a surprise for her.  I'm so proud of him!