Adam Turns FIVE!

So, like over two months ago, Adam turned FIVE YEARS OLD!  I know, right?  I can't believe it either, but I have the birth certificate to prove it.  Where does the time go?  Since we were still in Texas at the time, we borrowed an unconditional friend's house ('cause that's the only kind of friend who would lend you their house to have a five-year-old's birthday party).  HUGE kudos and thank you to Mike.  I hope the air conditioner got fixed :-/

I would say the party was a "success."  Not an elegant success, but at the end of the day, pizza was had (we won't mention the anchovy debacle), presents were opened, candles were blown out and cake consumed, and the pinata was busted.  And the two children who busted their faces didn't require stitches.  That's a success, right?  I think so.  Adam got to play with a bunch of kids - even a couple that he knew from Okinawa, who had just moved to San Antonio!  I am so thankful to all of my friends for bringing their kids and for sticking with me as I fumbled through the party.  Without Alan there (he had already flown back to Okinawa), I was in way over my head.  Plus, Anaya somewhat resembled an extra limb I had that day...a non-functioning one...so I did most of it one-armed.  Here are some shots from the day:

The guests arrive!

The Cake!  Spiderman was his favorite (the day we picked out the cake, at least...)

Grandma's got her hands full!

Adam's favorite part:

Me with Anaya (and her bloody cheek!)

Pinata time!  Line 'em up!

I like this shot because you see Mike holding the laptop - Alan was watching Adam's party from Okinawa, on Skype!

 Busted!  RUN!

This CRACKS ME UP!  Sammy with her "disguise," watching Adam blow out the candles.  Hilarious!

The Birthday Boy...beat.

I say it every year, but it really does seem like yesterday that we were flying down the interstate in the middle of the night, scared to death and praying to God that we were cut out for this.  Five years later, I would say we're doing a pretty good job.  I mean, he gets in trouble at school for talking too much (which he obviously gets from his Papaw), but it's only because he's shouting out the answers without raising his hand (OK, sometimes it's not that, but whatev).  He's smart.  As a whip.  That teacher sent home about 250 sight words that we're supposed to take the whole year to "learn" and he read them all to me in about 5 minutes.  He can add, subtract, draw, do push-ups, ride a bike, tell a joke...he's really pretty amazing.  But he just can't hush.  What are you gonna do? 

It Better Be The Great Pumpkin

That's about $25 a pumpkin.  We can't afford Halloween in Okinawa.

*I know you're thinking that this is really lame, since I haven't posted anything since September 17th.  I'm working on a few posts (Adam's 5th Birthday, Twins Update, Tokyo adventure, an amazing FREE concert we went to...), so they're coming soon!  I know you're on pins and needles.*

Bonsai Gone Bad

A couple of weeks ago, I noticed that some workers were trimming butchering some trees in front of a house down the street, where my friend, Karin, used to live.  I made a mental note to email Karin and tell her the sad story.  I forgot to do that, but that's beside the point.  About an hour-and-a-half later, my doorbell rang.  When I opened the door and saw the workers standing there, I gasped out loud and said, "Oh, no!" right to their face.  The man who appeared to be in charge (I deduced this from the fact that he wasn't wearing Dickies and he sat, checking his Crackberry the whole time), said, "We trim tree" and gestured to the great big, beautiful Banyan tree that we have in our front yard.  You might remember it from my very first blog post ever:

It shaded the house perfectly in the evenings and shaded my Impatients all day long.  Plus, it housed many a creature of God.  I really loved that tree, except for two things: taxi drivers always missed our house because the tree blocked the house number from being seen from the street, and ants easily moved from the tree to the house and found an entrance through our playroom window.  So, when the man told me "We trim tree," I thought this could be a chance to fix those two things.  He gestured and told me "We only cut here" and he gestured to the part that hung over the sidewalk leading from the street to the door.  That would actually also be helpful for us because the sidewalk has to be pressure-washed twice a year, due to the tree.  I said "OK" and told him we really liked the shade, but that getting it away from that part of the sidewalk would help with the mold and the ants.  I left them to work and looked out the window 30 minutes later.  Here is what my tree looks like now:

It's so sad.  It pisses me off every single time I pull into the driveway.  I simply cannot understand how the discussion we had about how they were going to "trim" the tree turned into this.  The only thing I can think is that it's like when you tweeze your eyebrows.  You just keep plucking until they both match, and that only happens when you've basically left nothing.  It's like an episode of "Bonsai Gone Bad" or something.  And the worst part?  I can't do anything about it, because it's not my house and it's not my yard and it's not my tree.  All I can do is vent to you about it, so that's what I'm going to do because it makes me feel better.  Stupid tree butchers.

   

No Looking Back

Well, just like that, a huge milestone has passed.  Adam became a kindergartener today! 

Here he is, all ready to go:

Here's a reminder of how little he still is:

Here's Adam, going in to his first school classroom and with his cubby:

Then, he walked away and found his seat and got to work.  He hadn't even kissed me goodbye yet!:

So I went over and hugged and kissed him and said bye and told him I loved him and walked away. 

Here he is, not chasing me down, not begging me not to go:

As I expected, only one of us cried.  Guess who.