One World Farm is Back!

What a gorgeous Saturday!  I know that we still have a few cold days in store for us this winter, but days like this make living in Texas in February pretty great.  Pla Shee's last basketball game for the season was last night, which meant that we had ALL DAY today with no agenda.  This does not happen often.  We spent the bulk of the day outside, planting in the garden and playing on the swingset.  Three happy kiddos and a content mama and daiya all day long.  And 4 raised beds in the garden are now going strong--two with the onion sets from the other day, one with spinach and sugar snap peas, and one with three different types of lettuce.  Hooray!

Checking out a worm in the garden.

 Ruby doing her share.

Learning to climb...wonder where she got this idea?!

Dallas Mavericks game

To celebrate the end of the season, Pla Shee's basketball team went to see the Dallas Mavericks play on Monday night at American Airlines Center.  Ruby and I stayed home, but Amanda, Aaron, Pla Shee and Kai had a blast despite the Maverick's dismal performance.  The highlight of the evening is always after the game, when the kids are allowed onto the court to attempt a free throw.  Guess what?  PLA SHEE MADE IT!!!  He was so thrilled he could hardly contain himself. 

Kai was inspired to make an attempt as well, with a little help from Daiya.  Unfortunately, he did not make it. 

No worries, though.  As you can see, the highlight for Kai is always the popcorn!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Best Friends

Kai and Ruby have decided that they really like each other.  They reached this realization this month, and are now pretty much inseparable.  Ruby is 16 months, and Kai is 3.5, and they are now best buddies.  It's pretty much the cutest thing ever. 

Kai loves for Ruby to "sit in his lap," which is pretty silly looking since she weighs 23 pounds and he weighs 26.  But, it's what they do.  They love playing in their play kitchen together, and can read books together for a remarkably long while for two toddlers. 

Here they are at the mall yesterday in one of the "ride-on" race cars.  I love the way that Ruby has her arm around Kai from the beginning.  And the cutest ever was when Ruby got scared because the car started tilting and shaking, and she hid her head in Kai's shoulder and gripped his shirt as hard as she could.  Don't worry...I "rescued" her right after I snapped the picture.  :)

Planting Onions

Thought you would appreciate Leroy showing his best side for our photo.  :)

While we are absolutely in love with our sweet young family, one of the most challenging things about having such young kiddos has been that we haven't been able to enjoy living on the farm as much as we used to.  Before we had kids, we would spend every minute of daylight after work and on the weekends planting the garden, repairing fences, working with the animals, and just enjoying the farm.  For the past couple of years, we've spent much less time doing those things, and much more time growing and caring for our family.  Well, I am absolutely THRILLED to report that we have reached the point in which the kids can actually be outside with us contributing to life on the farm.  And they enjoy it!  Hooray for all of us!  Here we all are in the garden planting our onions this afternoon.

Pla Shee and Kai doing their share.

The turkeys eyeing us suspiciously.

Yes, all three kids are eating "hot" cheetos and sharing a gatorade.  Yup, awesome parenting.

Yes, Kai is scratching Leroy's rear with a trowel.  Don't worry, there's a fence in between them.

Kai escaping his planting duties and making a run for the "playground."

Kai's turn at the Perot Museum

On Sunday it was Kai's turn to visit the Perot Museum, as he was invited to a birthday party for a buddy who just turned 4.  Even though it was somewhat of a logistical nightmare, I was able to arrange to just take Kai, and left Pla Shee and Ruby with Aaron at the clinic for a couple of hours.  Side note:  Sunday afternoon is our "refugee clinic," which I've been planning to talk about on the blog, but haven't gotten the time yet.  Soon.
Anyway, it was so much fun to spend a couple of hours with Kai all by himself.  He led the way as we explored the museum, and I just followed and appreciated his energy and joy with all that he discovered.  He is a doll, and I am madly in love with his little 3 year old self.

Pla Shee's Week

This has turned out to be a week focused on Pla Shee, which has been fun.  On Wednesday, the 5th grade at Venus Elementary took a field trip to the brand new Perot Museum of Nature and Science.  I took the day off work and went along as a chaperone, and it was just as amazing as all of the buzz we'd been hearing about it.  Of course, everything was shiny and new, as you would expect.  They had TONS of really fun interactive exhibits...by far the best science museum I've been to.  We bought a family membership so that we can go back as much as we can, and Kai even has a birthday party there this weekend, so we'll get to explore the Children's Museum section too.  Pla Shee's favorite exhibit was in the "Sports" section, where kids can race against a life-size animated t-rex.  My favorite so far is the musical staircase.  Too much fun!

Last night we drove to north Dallas in rush hour traffic (1.5 hours) after work/school to attend Pla Shee's older brother's high school swim meet.  While part of me was lamenting the inconvenience of it all on a school night (cranky kiddos, traffic, dinner out, making sure Kai and Ruby didn't go for a swim themselves), the other part of me was really happy that we were given the opportunity to attend.  Pla Shee was able to cheer on his big brother (a senior in high school) and really look up to him as a role model, something that he hasn't had many opportunities to do since they arrived in the US 6 years ago.  For so many refugee children, developing a sense of self-confidence and pride is difficult because of language and cultural barriers.  So fostering a sense of pride in oneself and one's family becomes all the more important.  Bottom line is Pla Shee is a great kid, and we are incredibly blessed to have him in our family. :)