Christmas 2009

We have spent a nice, quiet (for the most part), restful, family Christmas at home this year.


For the third year Aunt Diane and Uncle Ted sent us a beautiful Gingerbread House. It is too pretty to eat. But we have taken it to the church for Christmas Eve services each year and the kids have no problem tearing it apart.

So off we went to the Christmas Eve services with Gingerbread House in hand.



All of the children in Chinese classes at the church performed in a skit. They all spoke in Chinese about the meaning of Christmas. Unfortunately, due to the snow storm last week, they never had a real rehearsal so they were allowed to read their lines.



"Hi Mom and Dad!"













Dallas even got into the act by singing with the English Sunday School class.











Once we returned home it was time for a quick bath and then straight to bed. Santa was on his way!

But first the kids left cookies and milk for Santa as well as a mini bale of hay for the reindeer.




Santa delivered!













Gifts to and from one another as well as many loved ones down south.

Thank you to everyone!!!







Last year Santa surprised us with a trip to Disney World. This year we all received tickets to see "The Princess and the Frog". Dallas' ticket said that he had to buy everyone popcorn!

Other than the voo-doo plot (which was a little dark) the movie was very, very good. The New Orleans background was beautiful! And the food, even though it was animated, looked wonderful. Etoufee, gumbo, jambalya, sauce piquante, and oh those beignets! It made us want to fly home to Louisiana immediately!





The poster for our movie was not available so the kids posed by Alvin and The Chipmunks.

Lesson learned: Tru is not ready for, nor is he interested in, going to the movies. He did not sit down at all and when the popcorn ran out he was distraught. Luckily there were not many people in the theatre.




Lin-Ley's most anticipated Christmas gift was the Cupcake Maker. The following day we finally broke it out of the box and made two cupcakes.





















Ta-Da. The finished product....













Quote Of The Day:

At one of the after Christmas clearance sales Lin-Ley found a pink stocking that she wanted to make her own. I told her it did not look very Christmas-y. She told me,

"Mom, it does not matter what our stockings look like or what color they are. It only matters that we remember that it is Jesus' birthday."

The pink stocking was then placed in the shopping cart. End of story.

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Searching For Santa

Dallas likes to take the kids by the pet store from time-to-time to look at the animals. They especially enjoy visiting with the cats and dogs that are usually there waiting for their forever families.
Last weekend we were walking around Petco and ran right into Santa. This Santa did not say one word to anyone. I told the kids to pose, I snapped this photo, and we moved along to see the rescue dogs. Santa never moved!



We usually make a special trip to the local mall to see Santa and take photos. This year we purposely avoided the mall because we knew that we would see Santa last weekend in Baltimore.
Lin-Ley has been participating in a children's television show for the past three years. They were taping their Christmas show last weekend and we were told Santa would be there. Last year there was a great Santa there and Lin-Ley was able to sit and talk with him for quite a while. Therefore, there was no need to wait in line at the mall. We would just see Santa at the show.


This is a photo on the set during a break in the taping of the Christmas show. Lin-Ley and Tru are on the bottom steps to the right. This was Tru's first time on set and he did not last very long.




We waited and waited for Santa to arrive...


And this was their Santa!!
















So a trip to the mall would be necessary after all!

We had planned to go see Santa yesterday but due to the huge amount of snow we did not risk driving on the roads. Dallas worked for several hours digging out the vehicles and walkways last night so we could go today. After another two hours of snow blowing, brushing and scraping this morning Dallas had Rocket out and we piled in.

When we arrived at the mall the snow crews were still clearing the parking lots and there were not many people there. We walked in to find Santa hoping that he was there. We had already discussed the possibly that perhaps he could not make it in from the North Pole because of the heavy snow.
We found Santa and there was no line!


Lin-Ley and Tru both pushed the button and registered on the nice list.














And there was Jolly Old St. Nick!














And... afterward we went to the pet store....

No, we do not have a new family member!!

It Is Looking Like A White Christmas

It began snowing around 10PM last night (Friday). Now, at 8:45PM (Saturday) it is still snowing.
We probably have around 15 inches now.




We were expecting this snow storm so last night I made sure we had the essentials: bread, milk, movies and library books.
Lin-Ley is now reading the Magic Tree House series. I brought home six new books. They are around 120 pages each. She is currently on the third book.


We let Lin-Ley sleep-in this morning. I finally went in to check on her and found her lounging in the bed reading.






Then at breakfast....







Before lunch....




After nap/quiet time it was time to go tackle the snow. Dallas geared up with the shovel and made his way out to the shed. The snow blower had not been used in close to two years so we had our fingers crossed.


Rocket is almost covered.



Dallas' car.



The kids were bundled up and stepped onto the front porch. The light, fluffy snow was blowing and they both got a face full. That was almost enough for Tru and he was ready to go back inside.



Lin-Ley jumped right in (literally). She began making snow angels and got her pants soaking wet.





Dallas finally got the snow blower started and began with the driveway. He called Lin-Ley over to the fence.





Lin-Ley went right over as Dallas was turning around the snow blower. Bad Daddy! He started the machine again and it blew the snow right onto Lin-Ley.


I hope he knows that eventually she is going to pay him back for all of these little tricks!



Tru enjoyed the snow very much!

The kids were wet and they needed to come in after only around 10 minutes outside. Lin-Ley was wet and covered with snow (thanks to Dad). She was more than ready to go inside but Tru refused. However, once I got him inside he was crying because his little hands were so red and cold.



Dallas resorted to the leaf blower to help clean off the deck.







Dallas handed Lin-Ley an icecicle from the deck.





It is supposed to snow through the night!

Due to the weather our church will be closed tomorrow and Chinese School has been canceled. Hopefully we can make it out to see Santa tomorrow. And hopefully Santa will be there!

See Lin-Ley and Tru On Santa's List

Lin-Ley made Santa's List:
http://family.go.com/santas-list/video/101634-jkh4jkh4/

Tru made Santa's List:
http://family.go.com/santas-list/video/102955-jkh4jkh4/

(P.S. This program would not allow me to spell Lin-Ley's name correctly. I guess the hyphen and second capital /L/ threw off the program. It told me that Lin-Ley's name was invalid! Watch it Santa!!)

Lin-Ley's First Chinese Character Test - 110%

Lin-Ley is in second grade at her elementary school. In Chinese School, however, she is in first grade. That is not too shabby as she clearly has a disadvantage in that she does not live in a Chinese language home. She has made great strides in Chinese School over the past four years and this is her first class where the teacher speaks no English!

She recently had her first true test in Chinese school. They have a quiz each week and she has had perfect scores. Then I learned that they were to have a test where they had to write 30+ Chinese characters as well as know a stack of flashcards.
Well, first of all, thank God for Lin-Ley's tutor. Mrs. Yuzhen is the best!
I helped Lin-Ley study for the test as well and gave her several practice tests.

And the results were amazing! 110%!!!!

This is her actual test:

In other academic news... Lin-Ley is going for Box Top gold. She has collected 220 Box Tops which means she will be entered into her school's contest 22 times. The contest is on Dec 11th so we will keep our fingers crossed until then.

Here they are. Now we have to glue 10 Box Tops to each entry form.












Quote Of The Day:

While helping Lin-Ley study for her Chinese test I was able to help her with some of the characters she did not know. She smiled at me and said:

"You are the best Chinese mom ever!"