{day 8 and 9}

{day 8} rain

{day 9} fresh and lemony

{day 9} orzo goodness

The East Meets West Medicinal Cocktails are working (I think) and I feel a little better these past two days. They have been full though, and this is a good thing. Even though the summers here in this line of work may be a bit more dull and lonely than what we "normally" think of for summer, the upside is that we have more time as a family and more time with others. It is much easier for us to have people over several times a week than it is during the school year and we try to take full advantage of that. But cooking for large groups of people usually takes up most of my day, if not only because there are so many little people around and other home tasks to be attended to and usually at least 1/2 if not more of the meal needs to be made from scratch. So, I have to start early and keep trucking away at it through the day.

I walked outside today and watched my daughter push off without training wheels, completely of her own doing. She's such a go-getter, that one. Fearless and determined. She is much that way with people too which can be both off putting at times, and charming at others. She has made friends with more grandma's and little kids in this neighborhood than the rest of us combined and it has actually helped the boys to get more comfortable with that too. Our upstairs neighbor, a sweet and mannerly middle aged woman, has taken quite a liking to Scout and now all our kids are calling her "Song Mama." She brought us jiaozi yesterday. And she gave all the kids a chinese name, but the family name she gave them was Song, so I guess that means she thinks they are hers now.

Tomorrow we are heading into the city to take care of some things at the embassy. That means I will get to go to Starbucks and eat a muffin. I love it when there is something, even something small, to look forward to.