Gung Hay Fat Choy!

Last Wednesday, I visited Rebecca's first grade class to make a little presentation on Chinese New Year. I spent about an hour with them. They ate dumplings with chopsticks, made dragon masks, listened to Chinese children's music, and thoroughly enjoyed the noisemakers I brought! I gave them a quick low-down of Chinese New Year and read them a story. The celebration was topped off with a little dragon parade around the classroom.
Rebecca was very proud to wear her Chinese silk outfit to school and to have a special time dedicated to her heritage.


Saturday night, we got together with our local Families with Children from China group for the big annual party! (On the way there, Billy asked me what kind of food we were having. Seriously.) There was a beautiful slideshow of all the children, yummy food, great company, beautiful decorations (including live goldfish in the centerpiece of each table), lots of crafts for the children, and a lion dance.

Cutie.

My beautiful Chinese princess.

Busy on our crafts.

Checking out the lion dancers. They threw candy too!

One of my handsome fellas.

How cute is this?!

Dancing with the dragon masks we made!

Children are just little people

I am "fortunate" to be one of those moms who has never, not once, had the crazy notion that I had it all figured out. From the get-go, I was blessed two-fold with rambunctious BOYS in one package! You might know of someone who has one child, and that one child is just one of those easy-going kids. My advice to people like that: Have a 2nd child or a 3rd. You will get off your high horse very quickly!
Oh, don't get me wrong...my kids are great. I love them ALL dearly; they are just each challenging in their own little ways. Sometimes it's quite entertaining and satisfying to figure out each one, unraveling them like a puzzle. But, most of the time, it's EXHAUSTING.

Case in point: Vivian. Had she been an only child, I would think that I was the world's greatest parent, EVER.


And, then, there's Ellen. She's a sweetheart, but very moody and temperamental. Wonder where she got that from??

They have my heart!

Here are some photos of all my little sweeties at their school Valentine's Day parties.

Sweet Vivian

Vivian with her teacher, Mrs. Rhonda, and her best bud, Cora.

This was before Ellen fell and busted her lip at Julian Newman.

William decorating a heart

Henry shows off his lion craft.

Vivian loves to be with the "big" kids.

Rebecca's class had a 50's theme party. It was so cute. They danced, hula-hooped, and ate ice cream sundaes!

Snow surprised

On Monday as the big kids were getting to school, it started snowing rather unexpectedly. We had the most beautiful snow showers with huge, fluffy flakes that left about an inch and a half of snow on the ground in about 2 hours. This is the most snow the children have ever seen! We bundled up and headed out! Ellen was pretty tired by this time, so she wanted to get down in it and crawl. Vivian loved the crunch beneath her boots and scooping up big handfuls of snow. We made a quick snowman before heading inside to get Ellen a nap. I'm glad we got out because it started quickly disappearing by lunchtime. By the time the kids were out of school, it was gone. I wish the kids had been home to enjoy it, but they did get to get outside in it a little at school.

Get me out of here.


What is this strange substance?


Maybe it's O.K. to walk in...


The Snow Queen


Vivian and her snowman, Colosso

Circus

Vivian and I went to see the circus on Friday. Beth invited us to go with Walker's preschool, so we bought tickets to sit with them. Then, Vivian's preschool decided to go as well. We still went with Beth and Walker, which was a lot of fun. This was Vivian's first time at the circus, and she loved it and soaked in every minute of it! Ellen stayed with PawPaw, and the other kids were at school. I've had to promise to take them all next time!

Barnyard Moosical

Last Thursday, all the kindergarten classes presented their annual play. This year's theme was the cutest musical with cows, pigs, chickens, and goats. They all did such a great job! You could tell they all worked really hard. The set and costumes were adorable too.


My little pig and chicken!

And she's off!!

Ellen began walking on January 18th. I guess she just decided that she wanted to, so she started doing it. Now she pretty much walks everywhere.


I remember reading somewhere that personality is established by the age of 6. Oh, I beg to differ. Ellen is such a feisty little thing. She tries to hang in there with the big kids, and she is quick to let her feelings known if someone crosses her or takes a toy from her. She screams really loud! She loves to be in the middle of everything. Her laugh is contagious, as is the laugh of every baby. Can't get much sweeter than that. She is loving as well; she loves to hug and kiss. And she loves her mommy! If she's tired, she wants no one else! And, is she ever into everything! This girl can pull out things from drawers and cabinets and then put them somewhere else. The other kids have learned to store their precious things out of reach! Whenever something is dropped, her phrase is "Uh-oh, Mom-ma!"
Vivian still loves to sing "Jingle Bells" and Ellen chimes in with the "hey!", although she gets a little ahead of herself. Likewise, whenever a prayer is being said, she starts shouting, "Amen!" several times before it is finished.
Oh, and no more bottles!!
Thank you, God, for this sweet angel!

Basketball

My computer was down for over 2 weeks after becoming infected with a virus. Luckily, all my pictures were saved. We do have most of them backed up, but there are a few recent ones that I have not saved to hard copy. I have figured out that being a computer geek really pays; those jokers charge $65/hour for labor!

William's basketball season tipped off on January 11th. He really loves playing and he is improving with each game.

Posing with the star before the big game.

Cheering on the team?

In action!


Enjoying the game with MawMaw.