Good-bye Stanley

This morning, at 10:50am, a close friend passed away. Stanley Hutyra was  my dearest friend's father. He just recently turned 79 years old, on Good Friday. Although his life started out very hard, I am happy to say that it ended well. I have known him for over 20 years. During this time, I would say he lived a good life. And, in the last few months of his life, I saw his wife, Halina, show the most love and devotion I've ever seen anyone give to another. 

Stanley's health has been failing for a couple of years now. For the most part,  though, he's been chugging along just fine. Just after the new year, he had a stroke. After a few days in the hospital, he was able to come home, and seemed to recover pretty well. We weren't sure he would make it more than 2 weeks, but he proved us wrong. Unfortunately, in the past few weeks, Stanley would go on to have more strokes. Though minor, his body had become very weak. Too weak to fight anymore.

In January, Halina said that she would not put him in a nursing home. For 20 years, she worked in a nearby home. Through the years, she sat beside many residents as they passed, with nobody else by their side. She just wanted Stanley to feel comfortable, safe and loved. She has been by his side, almost constantly since his stroke in January. And, in his last few days, she was the one taking care of his every need. I am in awe of her strength, commitment, and most of all, her love. She is amazing and inspiring.


I was able to visit Stanley yesterday and say, "Good-bye." When I arrived, he was sleeping. Halina and I talked for a little while, and noticed he had opened his eyes. She told him I was there, and he seemed coherent. He even gave me a little wave. 

I am happy that I had the opportunity to meet and know Stanley. When  He raised an incredible daughter, and lived a full life. He was always kind to me and my family. I am thankful that God gave him the gift of Halina in his life, and gave him a peaceful ending. 

We will miss you, Stanley.

Miss Us?

Oh boy, I haven't posted in such a long time! At least, it's just weeks, not months. So, what have you missed?

Easter:

Tyler finally decides he'll happily take a picture with the Easter Bunny this year. Well, sort of. He's holding that little bunny as "comfort," as he barely made it through this picture. Not bad, though, right?

On Easter, the boys received these baskets, wrapped in plastic veggie bags from the grocery store. They loved it. Then, the Hildebrandts came over for an egg hunt.

 When the egg hunt was over, we got on a ferry to go...

 ...here, to this beautiful spot on the Hood Canal, Alderbrook Resort.

It was nice. The weather was perfect, we swam in their indoor pool, the boys played XBox in the game room, I got a much needed massage, ate dinner at a place called Robin Hood's, and had the most expensive breakfast ever (good thing we had a dining credit!). The boys were a little crazy, of course, but they had fun, and overall, it was a sweet little getaway for us.

I continue to work one night a week at Lark, and one day a week at Mt. Townsend Creamery. Lark has also asked me to do recipe testing for them for their upcoming book and APP. It's fun, and we get to enjoy delicious foods like mussels, clams, and chicken liver. This week, I made clams and I still need to make wild mushroom risotto. Yum.

Tyler's preschool is going well. Vincent loves his, and is also adjusting well to the one he attends with Tyler on Fridays. Oh, and my mom was just in town. In fact, she left this afternoon. We took her to Din Tai Fung in Bellevue for yummy Taipei eats.

Vincent also started t-ball back up. David is an assistant coach, but pretty much any parent that wants to jump in can do so. Nonetheless, I think he's a good coach.

That's pretty much us in a nutshell these days. Chuggin' along, trying to stay sane with our two rambunctious boys. We're happy the sun has started to come back to the Pacific Northwest, especially since the 30 or so tulip bulbs I planted in the winter are blooming like mad in our front yard. It's a beautiful sight, and they look like little candies dotting our garden. I should take a picture.

Lastly, I just want to say that I saw on TV at the gym this morning at 40 pound cat. No joke. It's super sad. If you have a cat, please don't overfeed it, especially not with super rich, fatty foods. It's cruel. That poor thing couldn't even walk. Lucky for him, he was still pretty darn cute, and is being rehabilitated, i.e., put on a diet, by some very nice people.

Tyler Started Preschool!!

Yes, yes, it's April, not September, and Tyler is just now starting preschool. There are good reasons.

1) In September, he wasn't ready for preschool. I didn't want to push him, knowing that he would just cling on to me (or David) as we headed out the door.

2) The preschool we were thinking of in September was very part-time, and with issue no.1 to consider, it wasn't worth the struggle.

3) I just recently visited a Mandarin immersion preschool as an option for both kids, mostly for Vincent, since we took him out of the Saturday Chinese school. Once there, they recommended Tyler go 2 days, since it'll be better for him to adjust, and I was really impressed with the school. They allow kids to start any time during the school year, so there you have it!

Tyler started this morning, and will go back again on Friday with Vincent. On Wednesdays, Tyler also gets to participate in the Tumble Bus. That was the selling point we tried to use on him to get him excited about going. 

We do believe that he is now ready for preschool, but we still wanted to make sure that he feels comfortable with the new environment. A few weeks ago, I took both boys there to pay the tuition, and to show them the school, hoping the first day would go smoother.

He did seem totally fine when we walked in. He had seen the place before, so he didn't cling on to us. He followed the teacher to his cubby and put his things in. Then, she took him to his hook to hang up his coat. Next, it was circle time. That's when he lost it. We did our best to comfort him, reminded him of the Tumble Bus, and assured him that I was coming back very soon to pick him up. I think the part about coming back soon was what helped him let out. And, when he did, there were no more tears, he let his teacher take his hand, and off he went.

He has his lunchbox, backpack, and train hat. Ready to head out the door.

Walking with Daddy into the school.

After school, he was all smiles.

Especially happy for the giant (ultra indulgent) cookie I brought him!!

When I bought it, I didn't realize it would be the size of his head. It was well deserved, though.

Happy 1st day of preschool, Tyler! What a big boy!

April Is Here!

Happy April Fool's Day. I actually didn't realize what day it was until I read someone's Facebook page about April Fool's, there was no foolin' around here for me. Business as usual, of course. 

With the first day of April, is high hopes for a mellow month. Though I did have to get up early this morning and go to work at Mt. Townsend Creamery, it was basically a pretty mellow day. Good start! After work, I drove to Magnolia to my friend's house for a "baby shower" for our friend, Jen. It'll be her 3rd baby, so we just got together to hang out and eat delicious snacks.

By the time I got home, it was almost dinner. David and I stood around in the kitchen, hugging and talking about our day. He had the kids all yesterday and today (BEST husband, ever), and I worked last night, as well as this morning. I, of course, had the kids for 3 days whole days while he was in San Francisco earlier this week. 

Anyway, the first 3 months of 2012 have been very busy for us. We got through the busy holidays, and kept the momentum going into the first quarter. The only things we have on our calendar for April, aside from the kids' regular activities, are a couple of birthday parties, a getaway weekend to Hood Canal next week, and my mom visiting. I really hope this means that we're slowing down a bit and catching our breath.

Oh, and while I was at work this morning, David took the boys on the bus to Bellevue for a little Lego-hunting adventure. In the end, they didn't find the set they were looking for, but they got tons of exercise walking the streets of Bellevue, at McDonald's, and met R2D2.

And, since I got home pretty late from my girly afternoon, we decided to go out for dinner. Partly to celebrate David's hard work this past year at Salesforce.com, too. Fuji Sushi. It was okay, actually. I'm not sure if they've changed ownership or what, but it wasn't quite the same as usual. The sashimi was very good, and so were the Japanese dishes. The rolls, well, not so much. Nonetheless, the kids ate very well and were close to angelic.