We welcomed Homer’s Odyssey, AKA Homer, Julie and Grant’s new basset hound this Friday. Homer flew all they way from Australia on Quantas Airlines to join the China family (hence the name Homer’s Odyssey!). He’s a 5 month old basset puppy, but already weights more than Rafa and Elton. He a fancy dog and comes from championship lines… His daddy was the best basset in Australia for seven years, and the best hound in south Australia. Pretty impressive pedigree! He’s also very very cute: He loves tummy rubs and sniffing around his new home. Congratulations Julie and Grant!
It came in the mail a few days ago, and I’ve already put it good use. Jonathan and I have a bunch of Christmas parties, weddings, and nice dinners this holiday season, so I was excited to get three new dresses! (They look similar in the pictures, but look very different when I put them on) Pictures from the Target website.
A selection of my favorite pictures of the boys over the last month…
King Rafa on his pillow thrown. He’s such a cute puppy.
I’m not sure why we took this picture, or why Jonathan was carrying both kids at the same time, but I thought it was pretty funny. I especially love Elton’s wary expression!
First with the not so great news: Dad’s cancer has spread to his brain, and he started radiation treatment and high dose steroids last week Friday. Dad has been getting a little more clumsy, so his oncologist did an MRI on Thursday. According to the radiologist, Dad’s tumor was “sizeable” with a lot of swelling, and the swelling was pushing his brain. Dad can’t drive because the tumor is compressing his visual axis, so Aunty is picking up the kids from school, and Julie, Grant, Jonathan and I make sure that dad and mom get to their appointments. Overall, I’m sad that the tumor grew so quickly (he just had a clean MRI 6 months ago), but happy that dad is already feeling better with his radiation treatments.
Next, some very sad news: Cousin Thor went to basset hound heaven this morning. He was Rafa’s BFF/ partner in crime and we’ll miss him.
I apologize for the paucity of posts recently- I had issues with my photo downloader/ card reader, but the problem is now solved, and I’ll be updating the blog more regularly. Keep a lookout for a ton of backlogged posts– I just downloaded 200 pictures, so I’m sure that there will be a mini-flood of blog posts in the near future.
Tonight, we went over to Julie and Grants for our annual family pumpkin carving. Here’s a picture of Jarrin with his pumpkin. Pumpkin carving is always messy and the seeds and pumpkin guts end up everywhere. Check out the seed on Jarrin’s eyebrow.
For Halloween, I decided to dress the kids up in costume. Elton didn’t like his t-shirt, but Rafa totally dug his lady bug outfit.
I think Rafi and Elton love family dinners because of all of the extra food they get, especially from Grandma and Grandpa. Here’s a picture of Rafi and Elton munching on the rest of mom’s dessert. I literally caught the munchkins licking off of mom’s plate!
Pictures of the family at our carving table …
And pictures of our family posing with our finished products…
I love how Aunty always makes perfect circles and such dainty pumpkins!
Jonathan sky diving in 2003 after graduating with his masters in Engineering from Berkeley. At the time, I did not think this was a smart thing to do. I still don’t. But he had a good time, and had no significant injuries (AKA he did not hit the ground without a chute, so I am thankful).
