what she made

Lydia took one look at her new (shared with big sister) sewing machine and was ready to get started, but she's definitely a different personality than big sis!  When Julianna started sewing she took one look at the machine, picked a fabric, put the foot pedal down and started sewing.   Julianna's gonna learn by trying it out and making mistakes and honestly, she isn't too interested in your tips.  [of course my tips aren't worth much since I don't know how to sew, but still....]

Lydia.  different sister, different ball game.  I googled 'simple sewing projects' and we browsed a few.  She picked a lined tote bag.  We watched the video tutorial together, stopping after each step for her to do the work.  I helped just the tiniest bits (with the iron, and clarifying a few terms).  We re-watched a few sections of the video and simplified the pocket.

But hello, look what this girl did on her first sewing project!

We just might convince Julianna to join us the next time we watch a video tutorial.  Might.

She's a proud seamstress.  And I'm glad to have two littles in my house that are learning to sew.  Actually, I'm kinda thinking about maybe trying a little sewing myself.

our Christmas morning

The pictures that tell the story of our Christmas morning.

We got off to a not-super-early start.  Luke was our first riser (always!) and got in bed with us about 7.  I asked him, "Do you know what today is?" and he didn't!  ha!  Even after riding home from our big Christmas Eve party and all his talking "tomorrow is Christmas Day".... A good night of sleep erased his memory and he was happy to cuddle and wait for the big kids.  It was 8 before our resident lazy-bones (Lydia) finally joined the living room crowd and we began opening some gifts.

Cinnamon rolls waiting for the oven

Just a few gifts in to the pile.... the kids were eager to give their sibling gifts.  Always an eclectic collection of the treasures a somewhat-limited allowance will purchase :)  [We fund John Paul and Luke's present buying.]  Despite the low-funding these are easily some of the most anticipated gifts (for the giver and receiver) and one of my favorite parts of the morning is watching them give to one another.

The good news is there are some better-funded givers in the family as well ;)

I love Isaac's grin here; opening his deeply-desired and long-awaited Star Wars A-Wing Fighter lego set.

Luke is the final recipient of a treasure shelf!  OH how this boy has been feeling his need for a place to store his treasures, well out of access to all those pesky older sibs.

Nothing quite like a car transporter to compliment the ever-growing collection of matchbox cars.

A weaving loom is a sure winner with the elementary girl crowd.

More sibling gifts (pretty sure these are sparkle pens and... hmmm... maybe more sparkle pens?)

Happy boy, present in hand, new slippers on feet.

And Luke with a car transporter as well, never far from his treasure shelf and sporting his new pjs.

Just glad to have this man in the room with me to enjoy the love.

Waiting in line to open a present with Grandmama and Granddaddy on the iPad.  There was so much clamoring that I thought lining up might help :)  It didn't.

These two.  always up to something.

Our favorite 200plus page anthology of Curious George stories bit the dust; binding, pages, cover, the book literally fell apart at the seams, a victim of too much love.  Time for a new one.

Six year old + legos + heavily armed fighter jet + Star Wars = Isaac.

Two years after receiving her first little QuikStitch it was time for an upgrade.  And this time it was a shared gift - little sister is ready to sew too.

We used this set of advent candles this year and I added our little sculpture nativity scene to the middle.  We lit these candles plenty as we read Jotham's Journey in the evenings (just the big kids).

Luke is definitely our most intense child.  Happy to see him kicked back and resting in this picture :)  and wearing his new long underwear that he love love loves.

the activity slowing down, everyone in multiple layers of new clothing, Daddy reading the new Curious George book.

There are more pictures elsewhere (Matt's phone camera mostly) but for now this is what I've got and time is ticking on.

Merriest of Christmases for our family.  And a 5 year old birthday on the horizon!

on her real birthday day

Just a few pictures from Julianna's real birthday day!

Always a highlight of the birthday-day, a lunch date with Daddy.  She wanted to go to 饺子先生.  And she wore her new outfit, complete with scarf that Grandma made.

We skipped morning home school but she did head to local school for a few hours in the afternoon.  She really loves local school and there was no complaining about school on the birthday.  Especially considering she was about to get a four day weekend.  (one of the awkward things about navigating two cultures and two schooling systems - locals worked and schooled and everything else right through Christmas, of course.)

Birthday tacos.  this little lady is pretty easy to please in the food department.  She eats just about everything.  But mexican is her very very favorite.  One of mine too :)

More candles, more cake, more singing.  this time everyone got a candle.

It was a sweet day celebrating a sweet daughter.

our Sunday morning Christmas party

We are crazy blessed by a great Sunday morning group.  Five families that faithfully gather .... what a gift!  [and we are looking to add two new families in the spring which will make our group even cozier]

We frequently order in or go out for lunch afterwards, but for this past Sunday we decided to cook brunch.  Yum.  Our family hosted the month of December ...

Before lunch we adults enjoyed a pretty awesome rendition of the Christmas story.

and then the kids did their present exchange.  this is becoming a fun tradition and a sweet way to start enjoying the gift-opening before Christmas day!

Then it was on to the food - yum!  I somehow missed adult pictures (children are just so beautiful, that's my excuse!)

When you live far from family, well, friends become family-like.  The kids in these pictures are as close to cousins as you can get without sharing blood.

And Aubrey Claire - who lived with our friends the entire fall semester and returned to the States on Monday morning.  She blessed the socks off our family and many others.  Aubrey Claire babysat for us and my kids adore her.  We miss her already.

her tenth birthday party

Julianna and I returned from our overnight date just in time to get ready for her afternoon birthday party.  First up, time to decorate the cake (she baked it, she decorated it... my girl loves to work in the kitchen).

too bad no one is interested in her work, huh?  She is amazingly patient with all the little people in her life.  I could not dream of a better big sister for this bunch of mine.

She wanted a birthday party with lots of games.  And a craft (of course).  We were a smidge late in the planning of the whole thing but Thursday at noon we landed on the idea of beanbags.  She cut some fabric squares and I had a local tailor stitch the edges leaving a small opening for the beans.

The girls loved dumping in beans and rice (in any and every combination... and yes, one un-sewn bag spilled and oh the beans and rice went everywhere! ha!)  We stitched up the bags and - obviously - our first game was a spirited bean bag toss!

Here they are on the bean-bag-toss medal stand.  Julianna had a nice second place finish but as you can see Lydia needs to work on her bean bag tossing skills!  

We also played 'pass the present'

and then opened real presents.

and, of course, the cake.  Matt and the boys (who were conspicuously absent during the making of the bean bags) returned home for the singing and candles and cake.  Those little brothers were so excited!  [And I did make them bean bags when the party was over!]

to think that I have had the privilege of parenting this treasure for ten years!  what a gift!

a great party day for this precious baby girl of mine!

a night with my oldest

As part of her birthday celebrating Julianna requested an overnight date with me.

I was happy to oblige!  Friday rush hour we headed deep into downtown on the subway.  I later told her that I wasn't sure there was a busier time to travel - the subway was jammed, the stations were packed, the crowds incredible.  She handled it like a champ.  We are most definitely raising a big city girl :)

We stopped at an upscale shopping area with tons of nice restaurants.  She picked an Italian place - yum!

After dinner we decided to do a little people watching and big city living.  She loved the panda-scaling-the-building! 

When I lived here 15 years ago this area of town was just starting to develop. Pretty incredible to spend an evening there with my almost-10-year old daughter!  It was chilly walking so we stopped for warm nai cha (a sweet treat!) - warmed us up nicely!

We even found some nutcrackers in a shop window.

and then finally our hotel (thanks to some credit card points from Daddy!)

It's a pretty neat view from the 18th floor and I have to pinch myself to think that this is the place my children call home!

I loved the whole date - and so did she!  We returned home a bit before lunch on Saturday, just in time to decorate for her afternoon birthday party.  quite the weekend, huh?

flying by

How in the world has another week passed us by?

Our internet is wonky and irritable and altogether difficult to work with...  and the days are full and the evenings filled with wrapping paper :)  I'm just not getting as many pictures and stories up here as I wish I was....

The temperature has really dropped BUT (insert many happy cheers!) we had two days of sunshine this week!  Blue sky days are a terrible rarity in the winter.  It's endless gray gray gray.  Wednesday morning I noticed sunshine peeking through, shadows on the ground.... we scrambled to finish a few things in home school, scrapped the rest of it, and headed outdoors!

The big kids on roller blades (my little two were at preschool) and I went for a nice long sunny walk by myself down by the river.  Amazing. [no worries about the rollerblading kids... the river isn't too far away and we have plenty of neighbors plus ayi was at home so if they had needed help it was available!]

[I think it had been over two months since I'd worn sunglasses!]

I got home with the little two and the big kids couldn't bear to go in.  They picnicked on the grass.  One day like this feeds our souls in deep and significant ways.  So thankful!