Tra La La La!!!!

December was a month of lots of Christmas concerts. Concordia has a different concert every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday for the first 3 weeks of December. I was privileged to go to the first one and some in between and the last. I felt like I was there all the time. The good thing was that they didn't go too long and they were all quite entertaining!!! Heidi and Meagan started it off with a choir concert. They go to choir early before school on Wednesdays and love it. (except getting up extra early)

Then Heidi had her band concert. Her band director said the 5th grade band was the best balanced band between woodwinds and brass instruments he had ever had. I was amazed at how many students were in the band. Then the next week we went to Emma's musical play called "Grandma's Visit".

It was the entire 2nd grade and cute even if Emma was still such a social butterfly that she talked to her friends all the time. We got a little embarassed but we made it through. Then lastly we went to Eric's performance on the last night where he sang his heart out.

All in all it was a fun month of Christmas concerts.

Gingerbread houses

We got invited to a friend's house for their annual Christmas/Gingerbread house decorating party. We had a great time and all the kids had a blast making gingerbread houses. They even had a table for the teenagers,

the middle kids

and the little kids. We were amazed at how creative all the kids were. We saw some amazing houses!!!

Sugar Cookies!!!

The kids had a half day of school so I thought it would be fun to let them each invite one friend over to cut out sugar cookies and then decorate them. The kids were excited and each of them had a friend in mind to invite. The invites went out and wow!!!! We had a few extra kids want to come! Meagan ended up having 2 friends and so did Heidi. Luckily they were the older kids and I didn't need to help them much. I wish I could say they were easier but Heidi's friends made the biggest mess. They wanted to start a flour fight inside and even with an ayi to help I didn't want that mess. I told them to take it outside so they did and they came back in looking like ghosts!!! Eric and his friend Lauren were the best to listen and help. Emma and her friend CJ just wanted to be little bakers and make the best cookies ever. Meagan's friends had a blast decorating with such precision that you would have thought they were professionals. All in all we had a great time with not too much mess but I was definitely grateful for our ayi's help cleaning up everything when we were done. She is awesome!!

Decorating the Christmas Tree!!!

This year we decorated our tree the earliest we have ever done it.  We did it on Thanksgiving day.  The kids had a half day of school and David had to work the whole day so we didn't have a big Thanksgiving dinner on the actual day.  I thought it would be fun to decorate a tree. I went to Metro (like a Costco) a few days before and picked out an artificial tree that wasn't too expensive but didn't look like a "Charlie Brown" tree.  

We put it up and David put on the lights while we strung popcorn for our garland.  Our Ayi wanted to help us string the popcorn so she sat down with us and did it.  She was very fast and we are grateful for her help or we wouldn't have as much on our tree as we do.

 The kids all had a fun time putting the popcorn through the needle and pulling it down on the thread.  Unfortunately they forgot to hold the thread by the needle and unthreaded it several times.  We also made candy canes out of red and white beads and 2 pieces of pipe cleaner wrapped around each other.  I bought a few ornaments also to put on the tree.

 We had a great time decorating the tree while watching our favorite church Christmas movies--"Mr. Krueger's Christmas" and "Nora's Christmas Gift".

Meagan was happy that the tree wasn't too tall because she got to put the star on the top of the tree! Living in China has helped us to remember we don't need to have a lot of things to have a fun holiday season.  The kids colored pictures and then cut them out and pasted them on colored paper and hung them all over the walls.  Heidi pasted together several sheets of green paper and cut out the shape of a giant Christmas tree and then colored and cut out paper to make lots of fun ornaments to put on her paper tree.  She even put white snow on the branches.  It looks great! (Look in the background of the picture of the kids stringing popcorn and you can see the bottom half of the tree Heidi made)  Eric was playing with his Polar Express train that he got last year and the girls asked if we could put that under the tree to go around it just like we have in America.

Eric loved the idea and so now his train is around the Christmas tree.  I was able to find chocolate advent calendars here and the kids love getting their new chocolate every morning, in fact it has been a great motivator to get them up and dressed for school before they can eat it.  Hope your holiday preparations are going well also!!!!

Piano Recital

Hiyo, guest blogger is back.  Tai tai Tracey (that means "wife" in Chinese, literally it means "too, too" or "excessive, excessive"-- you can tell Chinese was invented by men) had a long, busy day helping 4 children and their friends make sugar cookies all afternoon, so she started this post, couldn't get the pictures to upload, told me to make it work and went to bed.  So there you go.   For today's entry, titled "Piano Recital," we'll play a new game-- "Old fashioned slide show in the living room, narrated by Dad."

OK, imagine the whirr of the fan, the lights darken and the bulb comes on... the corded remote control button is pressed, and:

KA-KLICK!

"Now here's Heidi sitting at the piano bench.  We had a piano bench like that when I was a kid.  It broke when Aunt Wanda tripped over it one year and Uncle Vernon tried to fix it but he could never fix a dang thing.  Anyway, as I recall Heidi played some Christmas songs like "Joy to the World."  She did pretty good.  Hmmm... yeah, this must have been at Christmastime because you can clearly see a decorated Christmas tree next to the piano.  Moving on..."

KA-KLICK!

"OK, now, here's Meagan at the piano.  I'm pretty sure she played a Christmas song too.  I think it was that one that does dum-da-da-dum, dum-da-da-dum, dum-da-da-dum, dum-da-da-dum... can't think of the name..."

(everyone else) "CAROL OF THE BELLS!"

"...right, Carol of the Bells.  That's a pretty good song.  I like it when they play it on the radio... with bells and all... reminds me of the church bells they had in the tabernacle downtown when I was a kid.  Aunt Wanda probably broke those too..."

"MOVING ON..."

KA-KLICK!

"OK, here's Emma.  I think she was 8 when we took this picture.  It may even have been the same day she got baptized.  Oh yeah, it's definitely Christmas time.  You can see the little Santa decoration on the left side of the picture.  Anyway, Emma must have played a duet with the teacher.  Can't think why else she'd be sitting next to her at a recital.  I think it was the "Up on the Rooftop.."

"HOUSETOP"

"..Housetop click click click song.  She did a good job.  Hmm, let's see... not much else to say about this one..."

KA-KLICK!

"OK, now here she is doing a song without the teacher.  That's good, you can see her better now .  I don't think this one was a Christmas song.  Oh look, you get a much better view of the little Santa decoration in this shot.  I think it's sitting on aspeaker.  There's a TV further left there but I didn't really get it in this shot.  I remember Uncle Vernon's old black and white that only picked up Channel 4 if Aunt Wanda grabbed the antenna with one hand and raised her other arm in the air.  Now you have to remember this was before the days of "Secret" and "Dry Idea."  We didn't watch Channel 4 too much as I recall..."

KA-KLICK!

"Hmm... I guess that was the last slide.  Wow, that was a short roll..."

LIGHTS UP.  TIME FOR CAKE.  GUEST BLOGGER SIGNING OFF.

Emma's Baptism!!!!

Saturday December 6th was a gorgeous looking, sunny looking, but very cold day.

 We got up and shipped the 3 girls that we had been hosting for a competition at the school out the door and then quickly left ourselves.  We arrived at the baptism 10 minutes before the start and Mom didn't even get too upset because she knew they couldn't start without the guest of honor EMMA!!! The Baptismal service was at our friend's home the Butters.  They graciously opened up their home and filled their master bathtub with warm water for us and all our friends in the Branch.

 Emma had asked Sister Butters to give the talk on "Baptism" and Meagan to give the talk on "The Holy Ghost".  Heidi played a musical number on the piano and Eric gave the opening prayer.  Dad performed the baptism and the confirmation.  And mom lead the music and gave the Primary President's message.

 Everyone did a great job on everything.  Then when it was over we had a lunch with BBQ pork sandwiches, chips, salads and fruit.  And 12 dozen cookies.  Emma was absolutely beautiful in her baptism dress that her Grandma Lawson made for her and the day was absolutely perfect!!

Even when dad had to use his knee to get all of Emma's clothes completely immersed!

Happy Birthday Emma!!!!

Emma has been so excited for her birthday this year.  That's because it is a big one!!! She turns 8 and is baptized a member of our church. She also knew she would be able to get her scriptures so she can take them to church and not have to share with anyone.  She picked green ones with her full name written on them.  Then she also got a pretty red floral bag to carry them in.  This week anyone that came to the house  was shown her new scriptures.  I was surprised to see how much she loved that one gift above all the others.

Emma also received a new present that we thought would be a good tradition to start.  We have found that our children are so spoiled that they have a hard time deciding on something they want.  We thought it would be fun to make her, her very own DVD with all the pictures we took of her this past year.  It was a long movie especially since we have done so much this past year and we forgot to put pictures of our trip to Vietnam.  We will have to add those in.  The entire family loved watching it just as much as Emma and they are now all looking forward to their birthday to get their own DVD of the past year.

She also got a chinese fan, a chinese umbrella and a CTR ring.  When I bought the umbrellas for her cousins she was so jealous and wanted one too.  Luckily I do know my daughter a little and had already picked up one for her and saved it.

Emma's favorite breakfast is crepes.  She had it for breakfast on her birthday last year and again this year.  I even splurged and bought cool whip to put inside even though it cost $ 5 here and only 60 cents in America.

Emma was so happy that nothing stopped her from going to school. Unfortunately the rest of her siblings were too sick to go to  school and had to stay home.  They thought of her all day and made signs and surprises for her when she got home from school.  Then she got to pick where we went for dinner and got to go with just mom and dad.  Happy Birthday Emma!!!! We sure do love you!!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving

Here in China we celebrated Thankgiving on Saturday. The kids had a half day of school on Thursday and all day off on Friday, but David had to work the whole week. We had some of our friends invite us over for a delicious Thanksgiving feast with turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, broccoli, and rolls. Then of course, there was pumplin pie, sour cream lemon pie and cookies. It was so yummy and all were full half way through since there was soooo much food!!!

The kids all had a blast playing with their friends. We saw them only when it was time to eat and again when the dessert was brought out. They came in long enough to grab a plate and head off outside again.

We got to meet new people and make new friends.

We are truly grateful for everything we have. We have been blessed with a wonderful opportunity to live here in China and teach our children about another culture and to be friends with all people in this world. We have been able to see a whole new part of the beautiful world our Heavenly Father has created for us. We have made tons of new friends that we will cherish forever. We also have realized how greatful we are for friends and family in the US that we had to leave behind for a short while. We have been blessed this year and we are so grateful for everything we have received. We hope your Thanksgivings were as fun and delicious as our was!!!!

They Made It!!

Last week Heidi and Meagan tried out for the middle school play. It has 2 parts. One is called "The Phantom Tollbooth" and the other one is "Wonderland High". They practiced and memorized one of 5 poems for their audition. They both got into "Wonderland High!" Meagan got the part of "Red" as in Red Riding Hood and Heidi got the part of "Rapunzel". Meagan is Cinderella's best friend who is trying to dethrone Snow White as homecoming queen. Heidi is a cheerleader and one of Snow's adoring fans. They are both excited and we are so proud of them. The performances are Feb. 26-28 so if you want to visit us maybe you might want to come then!!!!

Eric's Kindergarten Field Trip

On Thursday Eric got to go on a long bus ride (almost 2 hours) to the organic farm. He was so excited to get to ride the bus, he could hardly stand it.

When we got to the farm we sat and had a little snack.

Then we were all given a brown bag to put the vegies we would pick. Our first stop was the leeks. Eric tried and tried with all his might to pull it out but couldn't, so mom came to save the day and got it out. Unfortunately the leaves when they get broken are slimy inside and mom was a mess too!

Then we walked to a spot with little red hot chile peppers. Eric thought it was so funny to get these little itty bitty peppers. He got several. Unfortunately dad didn't realize how spicy and hot they were and put about 5 of them in the salsa he made. It is way too hot for mom's taste.

Then we got to pick carrots. We were told to only get 2 but Eric kept picking them to find the biggest and they were so easy. He shared some with his friends also who didn't want to pick any. Unfortunately mom broke off the green ends so the bag wouldn't be to full and we needed them to feed the goats later on. Luckily his friends all shared their greens.

Then we got to plant a seed in a pot. It is of bok choy and we were told we should have a little plant in a week. Some of the pots got a little of their soil spilled and so we will see if Eric's will still grow.

Then we went and picked some sort of green leafy spinachy stuff. Eric wanted the biggest plant and so did his friend so I had to steer them both to some slightly smaller plants so there was no major upset going on.

After we picked all our vegies we got to feed the goats. Eric loved doing that!!! Some parents were real scared and thought the goat was going to bite their children's fingers or something and kept telling the children to not pet the goat or get too close. I guess Eric being my 4th kid, I told him to pet the goat and feed it lots and so Eric did and just laughed and laughed.

After feeding the goat it was time to have lunch. They brought out large trays of cherry tomatoes and cucumbers. I was amazed at how many of the children just started chomping on the cucumbers. I was even more amazed when Eric took a tomato and popped it into his mouth and ate the whole thing. I laughed when he told me he didn't think he liked the juice, then proceeded to ask me if he liked the juice of tomatoes. I of course told him "yes, you love the juice!!" He looked at me funny and said "No, I don't!"

After lunch the parents got to go to the packaging warehouse and pick out vegetables to buy. They were a little more pricey than I usually pay at the wet markets but everyone was so glad it was "organic". I guess I don't care to pay the higher price for "organic" vegetables. We brought the kids in to see the workers packaging the vegies. Eric loved watching them put plastic around the vegies. He watched in amazement and then when they would put the wrapped vegies in bins he proceeded to help them.

All in all he had a great time and mom had fun getting to finally go on a fieldtrip with one of the kids. I told the girls I would try to go on at least one fieldtrip for each of them this school year. I hope they get to go to some fun places too!!!!

Happy Halloween!!!

Yes, even here in China we celebrated Halloween.  There are several different ex-pat communities that open up for children to go trick-or-treating and we went to one with our friends the Castles and Butters.

 We went to the fabric market and had all of our costumes made.

 Quite a different experience for me since I have made all my children's costumes since they were born.  Even David and I got into the spirit and dressed up this year.

 The kids got about a 5th of the candy they usually do but they had a ton of fun.

 The day started out rainy and yucky looking but the evening was dry and perfect and not cold. We had fun getting candy. 

We even got a few Chinese "treats" that we would never eat but that's ok, it's all part of living in China.