7 Weeks to 7 Years

I open up my toasty warm down, knee-length, winter jacket and draw my shivering eldest daughter inside. We are standing outside our church as part of our midnight Pascha (Easter) service.

As I do, Pascha 2008 comes flooding back, when my just-over-7-week old Magnolia slept, tucked inside my coat, while I sang the resurrection liturgy. Now, inside my coat again, my just-over-7-year old is awake and joining me in song.

The years have passed so quickly.

Spring Break 2015

After spending most of spring break working on the renewal process for my national board certification and catching up on housework, the girls and I headed to Spokane for the weekend.  The trip was primarily prompted by Kaleia's eye doctor appointment (a separate post coming), but it was a great excuse to spend some extra time with my aunt, uncle and cousins.  

We were able to fit in a dinner and games at Chuck E Cheese's with Erica, Ryan, Titus and Micah. The next day we celebrated Micah's first birthday with the whole crew.  He is a pretty happy kid. 

We all loved his strawberry cake!

The girls lots of fun with cousins new and old...soccer, board games, pretend.

We also got to meet our newest cousin, Corbin Leone. 

Baby snuggles are so relaxing after busy weeks, especially when you get to give them back when they cry. 

Go, Canada, Go!

Happy Canada Day 2013!

Want to see how much the girls have grown? Check our Canada Day posts from years past!

2012 2010 2009 2008 

*2011 is missing because that month was insane!

Canada Day 2012

Our first visit to Brian's home and native land after our year in China was fittingly Canada Day. We had a great evening reconnecting with Great Grandma, Auntie Lori, Uncle Travis, Cousins Noah and Ella, Grandma and Grandpa Rush, and of course, our dog Trudy. We ended our visit with a quick trip to White Rock Beach for some fireworks.

Mother's Day in Beijing and Children Paradise

For Mother's Day, we had two wonderful meals out, brunch and dinner. Both happened to be at Element Fresh, though at different branches. After some refreshing afternoon naps, we headed to Si De Park for some "quiet" and "nature." Overall it was a great day. Below are some of my highlights.

Easter Egg Hunters

Click below to see more pictures

Public Service Announcement: Leap Year Birthdays

“I’m almost four!”

When a grown-up asks a child how old they are they usually ask because they love the way their face lights up or the way they hold up the appropriate number of fingers, proud that they know the right answer, but also proud that they are getting older, getting bigger. 

Living in a world designed for incomprehensible giants--door handles at head height, sinks and toilets you have to climb on to, sentences riddled with words that sound like gibberish--it is no wonder that kids always want to be bigger, older. 

They create imaginary worlds where they can work out the adult world in their pretend play. We encourage their desire to grow up as we mark their growth on the wall, celebrate when they are "big girls," and promise "When you are ____ years old, you can do ______." So, naturally, they can’t wait to get to the next number. Do you remember how cool it was to be in the double digits? Or reached the teens?!

Armageddon or The Morning After

I emerge from our shelter knowing we need food. It is the morning after, not Armageddon - though it feels like it. It is Chinese New Year. I hope at least one grocery store is open. It is quiet, eerily quiet. And empty. The cars, people, and bicycles, all usually vying to get ahead, are absent.  Only the red papered litter leaves evidence of the war zone that had been.

Yesterday, Chinese New Year's Eve, the morning air was some of the cleanest we've had with an index at 39. By midnight, it is in the 400's (the cart stops at 500), nearing the worst we've experienced. As I push Kaleia in the stroller to the grocery store, trying not to be too unsettled, I notice that, along with all the people, the air has nearly cleared, but it still has the scent of gun powder. The expensive Western-style store, mostly for expats, is open, and we pick up the bare necessities. As we make our way home, the first few kernels of Day 2 begin to pop. It is only 10 am. Part of me can't help my excitement. But most of me still remembers sharing my bed with two scared toddlers. 14 more days, I sigh, what will it be like?

Xin Nian Kuai Le or Happy (Chinese) New Year

2012 is the Year of the Dragon.

Red decorations -- lanterns, banners of Chinese characters, and diamond-shaped Chinese knots -- begin to adorn every door, street light and window. Shops post signs indicating their modified hours or return date as a new world record for largest human migration is again set. People from all over China return to their hometowns, and Beijing empties.

Here in Northern China there are few of the traditional Chinese New Year celebrations, although the girls' preschool did lots of crafts and cultural lessons around the topic. As part of the school celebration, they hosted a Lion and Dragon Dance. Make sure to click after the picture to see some videos and continue reading.

Maggie Cam: Christmas

Maggie cam pictures have been few lately, because we haven't gone outside much due to the cold weather. Well, and life has been crazy. But her grandparents gave her a digital camera of her own for Christmas, so hopefully, there will be more of her documentation in the near future. 

Dora's birthday cake. She's five today.

Tele-Pictionary

This is my all time favorite party game.  Okay, it's actually my favorite game, period.

Directions:

1) Give each person in the group a pencil and a stack of papers equal to the number of people playing.   

2) Number each sheet 1 through N.

3) On their first sheet each player writes a sentence or two about anything then passes the stack of paper to the person on their left.

4) The recipient of the stack reads the text, puts that sheet on the bottom of the stack, converts the text into an illustration on the next sheet, then passes the stack to the person on their left.

5) The new recipient looks at the picture, puts that sheet on the bottom of the stack, converts the image into text and passes the stack on.

6) Repeat steps 4-5 until the stack is returned to it's original owner.

7) When all are finished, take turns laying out and reading aloud the text-image-text-image sequence on the floor or a table.

8) Laugh really hard.

+++++

Overnight, he went from hairy hippy to shorn skinhead.

It was a clear and starry night when hobo Brian finally cut his hair.

The travel weary hobo gazed to the stars and moon as a tear gently slid down his cheek.  Raising the scissors to his hair, he thought of his Nazirite vow, what it meant, how he had failed.  His small pouch of possessions slid limply to the ground behind him.

As she left her lover's grave, she shed a tear as she sheared her long luscious locks in mourning.  But really, it was so no one recognized her from the bank robbery.

Bonnie rose from the dead to give herself one last haircut (your hair grows when you're dead, y'know) while Clyde drove the truck away with all the money.  The bastard!

Halloween 2010

This year's costumes were in honor of a favorite book at our house these days: "Frog and Dog have a Party."
The awesome pictures in this blog are courtesy of  Evantide Photography. You should check them out!

Maggie's First Pumpkin

We managed one block of Trick-or-Treating with our friend Lucy the Dragon

The knocking part was easy. Saying "trick or treat" when the stranger opened the door was not. A few of the less scary strangers did get a thank you.

This little frog loved everything about trick-or-treating--except when the door closed.  She threw herself at it at almost every house and then would take off running for the next house.

The sweet rewards!

Happy 4th of July '10

To all our friends and family in the USA...Happy 4th of July!


A look back at '09 and '08.

Happy Canada Day '10!

To all our Canadian friends and family... we hope you had a good holiday!

A Look Back at '09 and '08!

Three Christmases

Our first Christmas was near Leavenworth at a cabin with Nana, Grandpapa, and Auntie Alli. We played games, worked on a puzzle, had great food and drinks, and opened presents sporadically and spontaneously, which was a refreshing way of doing gifts.

Our second Christmas took place on the actual day. The four of us celebrated Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with services at our church. Then we filled up our introvert tanks with a quiet day at home sleeping, reading, and crafting. We're waiting to exchange gifts until Ephipany, but did enjoy stockings brought by St. Nicholas.

Our third Christmas was spent in Canada visiting Brian's sister and her family and staying with Brian's parents. The gift giving was frenzied the first night -- Magnolia definitely understands what a 'peh-peh' is now -- and the hockey was as plentiful as the treats! Brian and I also

got to go on a date (we saw Avatar) courtesy of Grandma and Grandpa's babysitting services! It all added up to a full and memorable holiday! We are now recuperating, getting acquainted with/finding homes for all the gifts that were showered upon us by our generous families, and preparing for Mama to be gone during the day again.

Two Little Monkeys Strolling through the Night

When we ask her what she is going to say when she knocks on the door, Magnolia says, "Cold milk." Well, actually, she says "Coe-Meh" but we know what she means. And for someone who doesn't know what candy is you might think this is a reasonable request but what it signals to us, the proud parents of this little monkey, is trick-or-treating is not going to last very long. "Coe-meh," besides being Magnolese for cold milk is, at this time of night, code for "nigh-night time."

Maggie starts strong. Despite being tired, the joy of putting small colored objects in a bag sustains her. Putting small objects in containers is pretty much the coolest and she can do it with the best of them. Doing it at night, at strangers doors, in a monkey suit? Even better!!

She never quite figures out "trick-or-treat" but her knocking definitely improves from almost non-existant to kinda audible as the night progresses. She is never scared and not even all that shy. She musters a few thank-yous and gives one enthusiastic "Bye Man!" After which she just stands staring at the door. She does this at every house as if to say, "Aren't you gonna invite me in?"

We only go to about ten houses--half the time with only her entourage of family and friends, and half with a bumblebee, an astronaut, piglet, eeyore and cinderella--before the other monkey--the sleeping one--needs a better bed than a walking banana, and Magnolia needs her coe-meh.

Our cute monkeys were part of a Halloween photoshoot with Evantide Photography...Check it out!