a little video

nicky b has come for a visit and we are already up to our old shenanigans. this morning, papa, momma, and alexander woke up to this lovely trailer courtesy of nicky b productions:

we cannot wait to see what other fun projects auntie nicolle has cooked up for us this week!

p.s. is my son not the adorable-est???

on what NOT to say...

when three good friends have agreed to bring a truck, and help your husband and you move a rather heavy, antique-y, upright piano, here is what not to say:

as your husband and one of your friends are trying to squeeze through the back door and down a step with the heavy piano, it is most certainly not the appropriate time to shout to your husband, "baby you are so sexy right now!" (good intentioned as it may have been for encouragement) because your friend will almost drop the piano laughing. lesson learned. next time shout, "baby, you and friend are both so sexy right now!" there problem solved!

and without further ado, here is my newest collector's item: (and the best part - it was free!!!)

carlsons' candids

this past weekend, the hodges came to visit. as usual the theme of our get togethers was food, food, and more food. 

i learned this weekend that i'd like to trade lives with mr. lucas kwong. what do you say little guy? interested in a switcheroo??

we saw round one drafts for the remodel of our future home last night. it's starting to feel real. and then i started to get a little overwhelmed thinking about furnishing this soon to be five bedroom house. goodness, we are going from a one bedroom condo to five bedrooms. better stock up on aerobeds galore while they are still on sale at costco!

carlsons' candids

this weekend, momma chiang came into town for a whirlwind visit and and to help us with a big project (reveal to come in a few days!) as you can see, there was lots of food involved and good company too.

we ended the weekend around a lazy susan at x.o. taste - authentic, not too greasy chinese food. when the bill came, momma chiang reached for it as mark eyed the bill. but her fast, trained chinese hands were too skilled in the food check game for mark, so all mark could say was:, "ummmm we'd like to help with the bill." here's the kicker folks, and by kicker, i mean SHOCKER! momma chiang replied, "no, that is not the chinese way. i pay for it." husband and i looked at each other and busted out laughing, because this is the first either of us have heard of this new-fangled chinese way. after we stopped laughing, husband managed to say, "i feel like i've been lied to the past couple years of my life." but we'll ride on the adkins' coattails for a free chinese meal any day! thanks momma and thanks adkins! you helped us learn a very, very valuable, and might i add, new, cultural lesson.

big bro, what do you think of momma's new assertion?

on another note, who watched the olympics opening ceremony? can we give a collective shout: "i want those three hours of my life back!!!!" i'm not sure what's worse: the opening ceremony itself, or the fact that we watched the entire thing, thinking, there was a big wow factor just coming up and if we kept watching then we would not miss it. somehow, we managed to watch the whole thing, and miss the big wow of the opening ceremony. but onto the games. U-S-A!

happy monday and let the countdown to the weekend begin!

nature's cruel joke

sunday night i got husband to agree to take post-dinner walks so that we can enjoy what is left of summer.  this was monumental. because husband will find any excuse, and i do mean any, to avoid going on walks. he will choose doing dishes, laundry - folding AND putting away - over going on a walk. so you see, it was indeed monumental, miraculous even. i pat myself on the back for asking him as he was waking up from a nap. unfortunately, he was at least lucid enough to caveat his agreement: "if it's not hot."  for those of you who aren't living in virginia, **newsflash** it has been the hottest summer ever.  according to weather.com, it is currently 97 degrees out, but feels like 107 degrees. when post-dinner walk time creeps on us tonight, it will be 93 degrees out, but will feel like 102 degrees.  i'm fairly certain this would fall under husband's caveat.

BUT!!! it was only 84 degrees out yesterday. a high of 72 degrees during post-dinner walk time. this was my moment. but oh mother nature - i shake my fist at you!!! because wouldn't you know it? i came down with the worst summer time cold ever. and even i had to concede defeat. there would be no walk that night. at 9:30, i crawled into bed, whimpering, knowing that the next few days would be hot! hot! hot! there you have it, my one window of opportunity slammed shut because i have a paper thin immune system.  and i know - i just know - that david and mother nature are huddled in a corner somewhere, conspiring and pointing their fingers at me in mockery. but you haven't gotten the best of me yet!

on the upside, our son is coming home for a visit this weekend. technically, he's not really our son, but in actuality, he is, and in further actuality he's the son we never wanted ;)  but really, i'm quite the proud momma.  because i've trained him well!  he knows never to take a meal without doing dishes, and he never shows up to our place empty handed.  what a good first(not) born (of me) chinese son! and tomorrow he returns for a visit.  can't wait to see what he brought home for his mom and pops!

carlsons' candids

the weekend blew right by us. again. and here we are, face-to-face with the ever dreaded and dreadful monday. the weekend was lovely, as always. we ended up passing some time at the eastern market open flea market.  what do you think? if i get husband the t-shirt in his size, will it come true??

here are some pictures to hold us over until next friday...

loved.

i was perusing the news the other day, trying to catch up on everything going on around the world; people fighting and massacred in syria, a new special advisor appointed in north korea, not enough economic growth, exorbitantly high youth unemployment rates in europe, jeremy lin sent to houston out of spite, etc. you get the picture. objectively,  there is so much to worry about, to be anxious about - so much to fear in this world. so it's always nice to be reminded that despite life's great and small uncertainties, there is one thing that remains unshakeable.

this past weekend, yobel and i hosted a baby shower for our friend miriam. she is due in less than a month! as i was sifting through the pictures last night, it occured to me, this baby - baby thomas richard - is so loved. like crazy loved. he is so loved by his parents, so loved by his uncle who traveled all the way from new york just to surprise miriam at the shower and so loved by the grandparents who will soon converge on virginia. and because we love mark and miriam, we also love baby thomas. it's comforting to know, in the midst of such chaos, violence even, that for the next many many moons,  all the love will be a kind of anchor for the adkins as they journey into parenthood. afterall, our love is a mere shadow of the most secure, most unfathomable, most unconditional love of our dear LJ.

so for today, it's enough to know that they are loved. we are loved. and mostly, baby thomas is loved...loved in Him - the safest, calmest, sweetest place to be. and somehow, it suddenly becomes a little less scary to bring a baby into this world. because we are secure deep in this cocoon of our Savior's love, and in the love of all those who surround us.

and my favorite picture of the baby shower:


because anyone who does dishes in my house is always, ALWAYS, i repeat, ALWAYS welcome over.

note*: the cake is HOMEMADE - just not in my home! my ridiculously talented friend Grace Chung makes cakes in her "spare time" - after she graduated at the top of her west point class, after getting married, while raising two adorable girls, and attending dental school. i'm pretty convinced she secretly runs the world too.