Living in America...

means not having to eat orange peel.


Today at lunch she ate her noodles....and an orange...
and then tried to eat the PEEL!

She's never done that before.

I stopped her and said, "Don't eat the peel."
She said, "I ate it in China."
I said, "You live in America now. You don't have to eat the peel!"
She said, "It's good."

And this goes for chicken bones too! In China she ate the chicken bones. She wants to eat them now and again, my response is "You live in America; you don't have to eat the bones." I grew up not eating orange peel or chicken bones. Is it just me? Do other Americans eat chicken bones and the peel of an orange?

 WOW! She's so "Americanized" but sometimes these little things pop up and remind me that
less than 1 year ago she lived in China!

On the flip side, she's lost so much of her language...


She tried to sing a little Mandrin kid's song this morning

but only remembers the FIRST WORD!

But we all remember the tune....but we don't know the words!
Sad :(
But good, because she sure knows a LOT of English!

A New School Room

Ryan went with me to Ikea the week before Christmas
and helped me bring home this:

I saw photo's of Deidre's new school room on her blog....
showed them to Shawn...

Since he uses his laptop on the couch or at the kitchen table...
he gave up his "computer room/den"
for us to have a school room!

 

Not only do the girls and I do their school work here...
but now their crafts are neatly stored away!
Woo! This is SO awesome!
Thanks, Shawn :)

 

A Partial Family Picture

The kids' choirs sang at church today.
Here is a partial family picture.
I was hoping to get a picture of ALL of us
this Christmas...but since Christmas is now past
and Ryan is leaving for a CRU retreat,
I doubt it will happen.
So here is the family minus the college kids!
 

Christmas with Grandma & Papa

The Grandkids
missing Matt (who was at worship practice),
Jenny, Samantha and Madelyn

Playing Just Dance!

 

The Christmas Tree

I can't believe I forgot to post this!
So this is out of order.
This is Thanksgiving weekend and a certain someone
is very excited to decorate the Christmas tree
for the very FIRST time!

 

 

The last couple years Matthew and Ryan have been too busy

to care about decorating the tree, 

but this year everyone got involved! 

It made this momma so happy!

 

Even Ryan's roommate Rohit
and girlfriend Anna were here
and helped out!

 

It was so fun!

Zack playing some Christmas music for us 

Jake, you are so silly!

This year it's Jake's turn to be almost as tall as Mom!

I have 2 pairs of baby socks that Matthew and Ryan used to wear that I
hang on the tree like ornaments every year.
Look how little it is compared to Ryan's foot now!

Photo credit: Anna Goshinska!

Love this one of the two girls admiring the ornaments!

Happy 16 Josh!

12-12-12

We always post signs for the birthday boy/girl
to see when they first wake up!



Josh's birthday was on a school day, but at least it was a late start,
so he got to sleep in one hour and had bacon, eggs and french toast
at 7:15 instead of 6:15!

His sisters were there to wish him
"Happy Birthday!"

That night we had birthday cake.

 

 

 

Happy Birthday, Josh!

Baking Christmas Cookies

I had amazing little helpers this year!
Here we are making 16 dozen crinkle cookies!

Sophie, Katie and our neighbor, Grayson (Zack's best friend and my 6th son)
rolled the chocolate into balls and Zack
rolled the balls into powdered sugar!

They were so good about not licking their hands....

 until it was time!! Ok, now!

And of course with this girl, a little silly time!

Several days later....

time to make peanut blossoms.

This time it was Sophie who was sick with a cold
so she wasn't allowed to help. :(
She was working on a Christmas present for Matthew and Ryan!

But now Jake's cold is better so he gets to help!

So thankful that my kids like to make cookies
since we like eating them...
well, all of us except Sophie.
She still doesn't have a taste for cookies.
She is such a good healthy eater!