Waiting for the bus

 Jeff had some days off.  We all waited for the bus together.  Jeff took these pictures while we sang "Hey Diddle Diddle, the Cat and the Fiddle".  We have a book with this nursery rhyme that has a unique puffy cat face and "cat hole" we can tickle her through.  She loves it and laughs when we do it.

 saying "more" with word and sign

This n That

 After a very special errand, I treated myself to Japanese food at Tachibana.  I had soba noodles with vegetable tempura, seaweed salad, edamame, and Asahi while reading a Japanese newspaper (to the best of my ability!)  On the cover, it said "Akemashita Omedetou" (the new year opens) and had a photo of horses getting warm, steamy Japanese-style showers.

 Ariel in pretty new Christmas clothes.

Monday night jazz at Bohemian Caverns with Jehangir (click to watch an interview with him) and his granddaughter Margo.  He's been trying to get us there since we moved here.  He knows many local jazz musicians, so I had met some of these friends before. It was a fun time, and I hope to go again.  The Caverns are in downtown DC, and are really designed like caverns with stalactites and stalagmites.

On a recent cold & rainy weekend, we visited Marcela and family, who live a ways south of us.  We went through ROTC together, and hadn't seen each other in almost 20 years (although we've been in touch.)  It was great to finally meet her husband and kids, and cat Smokey.  Earlier in the day, Ariel & I visited cousins Eric and Lynn while Jeff studied hard for a professional test.

Onigiri time

 Yoko and family came over to play.  We had too much fun to have time for pictures.  Ariel appreciated some one-on-one time with Yoko eating onigiri (rice balls.)  Thanks for the great clothes and goodies, Vasquez family!

I've been getting ready for Lunar New Year.  H Mart is a grocery chain with mostly Korean food, but some other international foods.  This H Mart is by Spa World (a Korean-style bath spa), and Home & Home (a Korean home goods store.)  There I got some rice ball shapers, which Jeff quickly tried out.  It forms the sticky rice into thick triangles.  You can mix flavorings inside the rice ball or within the rice.

Christmas cats

 Nene climbs the Christmas tree.

 Ralph watches

 See Nene?

Sweet children.

Jeff's view

 Mormon Temple near Bethesda, viewed from the air.

 Helicopter lights

Entertaining Schmig at Cotsco (where she helps.)

Christmas Eve at Sandie's

 Cuddling with Sammie and Sandie when we arrived.  Sammie and Ariel are good buddies.  Sammie's a natural with little kids (she's Sandie's niece.)

 Nature walk in Princeton before Sandie's Christmas Eve party.

 Fancy table settings with help from Sandie's parents (Pat & Jerry) and Sammie.

The kitchen crew: Ariel & Sandie, Pat, Karen, and Rob (Karen's husband.)
Not pictured:  all the other guests (Sandie's uncles and aunt, sister, brothers-in-law, nephew, 3 cats and bird.)

Learning, learning

 Ariel has a good attitude about the potty.

 Especially when she gets good rewards, like playing Monkey Preschool When I Grow Up.

 At OT, she matched the sea animals to their pictures while swinging in the "taco swing".

And she laced beads with Sarah.

staying warm

 Checking out the fish at Petsmart.  A favorite activity lately!

 Nene and Ralph having together time.

 I went to a workshop and learned about decorating books to make them more interesting.  Ariel has learned that if you take a book in the bath, its pages are fluffier when it dries.

A model home in Bowie.  We're not moving there, just exploring the new developments after a visit to Mr. Tommy Lee and Ruthie on our old street.