Who?

So I did the celebrity look-alike thing for us...

Joe was matched with Sean Hayes of Will and Grace (not that there's anything wrong with that) and was very appreciative that George Clooney was in his bunch.

And my top two matches from two different photos were...Shirley Temple (at a young and tender age) and Emma Watson (of Harry Potter fame). Yes, I apparently most resemble two children.

And the most famous face that Jia was matched with? Bette Midler.

Hmmm.

A merry time was had by all

We had a great Christmas. We spent Christmas Eve visiting with family and friends.

Ready to go on Christmas Eve.


Presents from the day before made a vision in pink on Christmas morning! New pink pajamas from the grandparents, new pink boots and new pink stationery from Santa, and a pink butterfly costume from our friends (which they bought in New Zealand and brought all the way home for Jia!).

We spent Christmas morning just the three of us, hanging out. It was perfect. We made an indoor snowman. (The snow is yellow from sprinkles and not, ahem, anything else.)

We read a new book.

We painted with new paints.

Excited to go to the grandparents' house to continue the celebration.


Jia received a new baby to love from the grandparents.


And all things girly from Auntie Susie...


...including a tutu for dress-up! Is "sumo wrestler" a proper ballet pose?


We had a great time and hope you did too.

Merry Christmas Everybody!

Whenever Jia sees Santa Claus, she says, "I don't like that guy!" It's probably the beard. We'll report back on how she views him after she opens her stocking!

I have been learning digital scrapping and I just completed this. It is one of my first designs.

Jia often says, "Hello Everybody!" when seeing large groups of people. In honor of that: Merry Christmas Everybody!

Snow Day

We woke up to the most beautiful snow fall today. Every branch of every tree was covered with snow. So we went sledding!

Here is Jia about as wide as she is tall!


Cousin Han joined us. On his first ride down, he tumbled face first into the snow and flipped about four times. After much coaxing, he bravely went again and enjoyed it!

They liked to pull their own sleds for a while...

...but, of course, we spent even more of the time pulling the kids up the hill!


The kids had a blast. We also enjoyed watching a family from Panama experience snow for the first time. Both the mother and daughter were laughing with glee each time they descended the hill. It was a great experience.

How may I help you?

Someone wants to take your order...

...and she thinks it's pretty funny.

Five Special Gifts

We have been talking about the holidays and what is important to us. Gift-giving plays a small role in it. We needed to decide just how the gifts would be part of our tradition.

Last year we spent hardly anything on Jia's gifts for Christmas. Most of her presents were given to us as hand-me-downs from friends. Joe literally found her largest present on the sidewalk. He happened upon a play kitchen that a daycare was tossing out. We took it apart, cleaned each piece and refinished it (to match our decor no less).

After much debate, I think we've figured it out. When we're faced with older kids wanting one large item, who knows how we'll view this, but for now, we have a plan. A teacher gave me an article entitled "Five Special Gifts to Give Your Children." It focuses on giving items that nurture hearts and brains and bodies, and not going overboard. It is as follows:

A Gift to Hug and Love: A doll or stuffed animal; something a child can care for and treasure. Jia talks about polar bears non-stop. She is getting a stuffed one and sponsoring a real one through the National Wildlife Federation. It's worth checking out.

A Gift to Read: A book; a way to connect with your kid by reading together, encourage curiosity and bring discoveries. Jia is getting a book about helping others.

A Gift of Toys and Games: A fun toy or game that is designed to further learning and development. Jia is getting a matching and sorting game.

A Gift of Activity: Maybe a ball or jump rope or basketball hoop or trike. Something that encourages a kid to move with purpose. We're thinking of giving her a trike in the spring.

A Gift of Artistic Expression. Perhaps crayons, paints, clay, rubber stamps, glue, feathers, beads and cords. Something that provides kids with exposure to new sensations, and pushes them to use their imaginations. Jia tries to turn everything into finger paints, so we're finally giving her some.

We're also thinking about having her choose some of her toys that she doesn't use any longer to donate to other kids. I've heard from other parents that this is generally really tough for kids her age to do. She has chosen many books for her baby sister to have - so hopefully she'll understand this concept too! We'll see!

Hsin-Yen's first update!

We received Hsin-Yen's first update! Three adorable photos and a video! She smiles in the video and we can't stand how cute she is! We just want to cuddle her immediately!