Xīn Nián Kuài Lè!! Part 2

On Saturday John, Abbey, Elijah and Abbey attended The Chinese American Society sponsored a Chinese New Year celebration.

In their traditional suits, ready to go!

When we got there, we immediately met up with our "Gang".

Elijah, Corrie, Darcy, Abbey, Daniel, Caleb, Kylie and Lottie

Elijah and Corrie watching the dragon dance

There was constant stream of performances on the main stage.

The Fan Dance

Our kids loved the dragon dance.

With the non-dancing Dragon

They worked on their chopstick skills.

They got to keep the candy they picked up...motivation!

They played Chinese games.

I'm not sure what this is called, but it looked like a type of yo-yo.

After the festival, we went out to eat Chinese with the M family! A great ending to a great day!


Apparently, Elijah had a big day!

He crashed before we could get him bathed and in bed.

Xīn Nián Kuài Lè!!

Happy New Year!!

To the Chinese, ushering their new year is the highlight of their year. It's even bigger to them than Christmas is to us. It is a week long celebration. This year we participated in a few activities to give our kids a taste of their cultural heritage.

We started by going to Jody, Lily and Cali's house to have a party for OAKS.

Abbey and her good friend, Lily.

An interesting fact about Lily and Abbey is that they are from the same orphanage in China. When I joined the Yahoo group for Abbey's orphanage, I was amazed to discover that there was a little girl from Abbey's orphanage living so close to us. Even more amazing is those two little personalities are so alike. They discovered how much they enjoyed each other long before they understood they were from the same place in China. Another interesting fact is that Lily has four considerably older siblings, not adopted from China. They also have another younger daughter from China, and are waiting to bring home a precious little 2 yr old girl.  Her mom, Jody, and I have so much in common with our families. I always enjoy getting a chance to spend time with her.  I really believe that instances like this are arranged by God to help us as we walk this journey.

At the party the kids made and decorated lanterns.

After sharing lunch, the kids played and the moms got a chance to visit with each other. Great fun for us all!

They took a red tarp and played like it was a Chinese dragon.

Later that evening, the M family invited us over to make homemade dumplings, Jiǎozi in Chinese. These are often part of traditional Chinese New Year celebrations.

Even Dad made some dumplings

We shared a wonderful meal and had a fantastic time with the Kristi, Ian, Kylie, Caleb, Darcy and Daniel.

The next day we went to the large Chinese New Year's celebration, sponsored by our local Chinese American society.  Tomorrow I'll post all about that adventure.

Yes, he has!

I recently treated myself to a t shirt with this on the front:

For playgroup last Friday, we went to Marbles, and I wore my new shirt. While the kids were playing and I was chatting with a friend, another mom came up to me and said, "Is your shirt true?" I was a little bit taken aback, but quickly said, "Yes, it sure is!" She then looked at me as if I had 5 heads and said, "Well, God bless you!" To which I replied, "He already has, six times!"

She walked away with a look of bewilderment, she was smiling, but still looked flabbergasted.

I could reply so quickly because I do love being the Mom of 6 wonderful kids! God has truly blessed me!

The Territorial Princess

Abbey's new room has been finished for a couple of months, now. She's just tickled pink about her new room, it is a very girly room.

Her name over her closet

Back at Christmas time, I informed Abbey that when Beth and Greg came home they would sleep in her room and she would move in with Elijah for the few days that they visited. She very emphatically told me, "That. Will. Not. Happen." To which I replied, "Oh, yes it will!" So, giving just a little she said, "Ok, well, they can sleep on the floor." As I was shaking my head negatively, she said, "Look....", and she pointed to this sign on her wall:

"it says Princess Abbey sleeps here, only!"

Time for a lesson on hospitality, and making others feel comfortable when they visit,  after which she nodded and then said, "Well, I'm a guest in Elijah's room, so he has to let me sleep where I want, right??"

In the end, she wanted to sleep on the air mattress in Elijah's room, so we didn't have to make a decision about whether she would sleep in his bed or not.

She's quite a piece of work, that little girl of mine!

Milly and Tilly

Anna has always been enamored with animals. When she was little, she had a fascination with any living creature, so much so that we nicknamed her, "Ellie-May", from the show "The Beverly Hillbillies".  So, it should come as no surprise that the man she married could be nicknamed, "Dr. Doolittle", and that they would begin to fill their home with animals. Anna has a leopard gecko that she has had for about 10 years, Lee. Being that I'm not Ellie May, the deal was that wherever Anna goes, Lee goes. That's animal number one. Number two is cutie-pie, Rocko, their little shorkie. Then this Christmas saw their little menagerie grow by two. Two sugar-glyders that is, Milly and Tilly. Of course, Milly and Tilly have visited at our house.

Milly

At first, they made a horrendous noise when you disturbed them in their pouch. Elijah, in particular, was afraid of the noise. Eventually, they quit the noise, and Elijah, though skeptical...

Finally gave in and touched Milly.

Of course, Abbey, on the other hand, showed no fear...

even wearing their pouch around her neck

On the second visit, both of the kids were smitten with the little critters.

Interesting hats, aren't they?

To each his own...

I am perfectly content with the animal population in my house staying at 2!

Wordless Wednesday--Visions of Fairies

Park Days with Daddy

With our playgroup, I get to go to lots of parks with the kids. John doesn't often get this luxury, so we tried to make up for some lost time and get some "Daddy park time". The older kids had all left, Daniel was doing 2 a day practices, so strenuous that he needed to sleep between them, so we were all feeling a little bummed. Getting outside was just the answer to our doldrums.

swinging, Abbey style--must inject a little risk factor

Add caption

Plenty of risk factor

For Elijah, no risk factor is the way to go

Skipping Rocks

Elijah chatting with a goose

Daddy park time was pretty sweet! If only we were independently wealthy...I could really get used to having him around!