Quick Update

So...I suck at updating this blog and I really don't want to suck at updating this blog.  I don't scrapbook anymore because I don't even have time to update a stinking blog but I know when Hsin-Hua is like 20 and I can't remember all the silly "little" things I am going to literally kick myself in the tush for not keeping this updated.

My half a**ed attempt at something is a phone picture dump.  I have a ton of lovely pictures on my real camera, but that will have to happen another time.

I have been in England for work close to every 2 weeks for the last 3 months.  It has been really hard being away from Pauly and Hsin-Hua but it has been a great experience professionally, and I did get to see London and Windsor which was awesome.

This guy was in the London Heathrow airport.  He was in some sort of shorty short, leiderhosen situation made of like polyester.  It had suspenders and a hat (not pictured).  He was with a bunch of other guys that were all dressed normally.  Totally weird...had to take a picture of it!

The weekend I came home from my last UK trip we had a little dinner date with Hsin-Hua's besties Maram and Samira!  As always, they had a blast!

I often try to describe Mr. Peepers to people and words just don't do him justice.  When he is really in all his glory I sometimes feel compelled to take his picture.  He is large and in charge and he is a sight to behold!

For a graduation party this weekend I decided to curl my hair and Hsin-Hua asked me to curl hers too.  I had no idea how long it would last but it really looked cute and while it loosened a bit, it lasted the whole night.  She was so excited that our hair looked the same.

Out for sushi, Hsin-Hua and Daddy were praticing writing and sounding out words.  If you look closely the word "crab" is on there because it is Hsin-Hua's favorite kind of sushi.

These guys I don't even know, but they were at a wedding I attended this past weekend.  They were dressed in coordinating outfits, hung out together the whole time, and even had litte vests and caps that matched what they were wearing.  They sort of reminded me of the 2 guys in the balcony of the Muppet Show.  Again, had to take a picture of them!!!

Hsin-Hua's school year is wrapping up in about a month.  We have her dance recital next week, and then her school picnic the first week of June.  Then it is on to camp for the summer.

She is starting to do a great job with her letter sounds and is trying to sound out words every chance she gets.  That will be out focus this summer is getting her to begin reading simple words.  She is SO interested in being able to read and loves books we really want to help her achieve this as soon as possible.

Hsin-Hua and her boyfriend Carson are still besties at school and luckily they will both attend the same camp this summer.  They adore each other like nothing I have ever seen and act like an old married couple.  It is really cute.

We planted a garden again this year and we go out every night to check it and water it.  Hsin-Hua can't wait for everything to sprout so we can start eating our veggies.

Hsin-Hua has decided on a birthday theme already for this year and it is going to be a Lorax party.  There are so many great ideas for decorations, etc on Pinterest I kind of want quit my job and just party plan!  Just kidding, but a crafty Mom like me is in heaven planning a theme party like this.  I already ordered the fabric to make her outfit!!!  Horray!

We are trying to plan a few trips this summer like the beach and camping...we just need to nail down dates and places.  I desperately need some time off from work so I am really looking forward to some vacation.  Hsin-Hua is super excited to go to the beach again too.  She LOVED that vacation last year and keeps talking about going back.  Same with camping.  She is hot to do that again too.

That is as much as I have time to update now. As always, I intend to be better at updates, and will do my best.

Chinese New Year

Holy Moly...its been a month since I posted.  How did that happen?
This past weekend we celebrated the start of Chinese New Year - Year of the Snake.
We decorated our house last weekend with little lanterns and the special lantern we pick out each year.  Somehow we picked fish lanterns 2 years in a row!  Hsin-Hua and I even made a wreath for the front door out of ripped pieces of red fabric.  We thought it sort of looked like fireworks.

We had a wonderful celebration at Hsin-Hua's school on Friday morning first.
Paul read the kids a book about Chinese New Year, the kids decorated and made their own red lanterns, and Hsin-Hua gave each of her friends a bag with an orange and red envelopes of lucky money!  Hsin-Hua was so proud to have her Mommy and Daddy at school with her, and to wear the gold dress she picked out in Chinatown for Chinese New Year.

Oranges and red envelopes for Hsin-Hua's school celebration.

Gift bags for our annual Chinese New Year party.

Last year's lantern

Lots of lanterns in the window.

The wreath Hsin-Hua and I made.

Our New Year sign for the door.

Hsin-Hua ready to celebrate with her school friends.

Hsin-Hua's cluster and her wonderful teacher Mrs. E.

Daddy and Hsin-Hua read a story.

Daddy and Hsin-Hua hand out oranges and lucky money.

Hsin-Hua so proud in her gold dress and her jade necklace we bought in Taiwan.  She has worn it every Chinese New Year since she came home.

Kids making lanterns.

Saturday night we hosted our annual Chinese New Year dinner with our friends. We had some old and new faces at our celebration this year and everyone had a blast. We have dinner at a local restaurant we have gone to for years (I'd love to cook but its 30 people and my house is NOT that big) and then almost everyone comes back for dessert and for the kids to play until the wee hours of the night. Next year I think we will get little crackers for the kids to throw in the driveway like firecrackers.

Baking red velvet cupcakes.  One of our signature "red" desserts.

Chocolate dipped strawberries...with red sprinkles.

Hsin-Hua's doll Lucille got a Chinese New Year dress just like Hsin's

Gift bags and lucky money for all our friends.

Digging into fried noodles and duck sauce.

2 of Hsin-Hua's friends from school.  The boy on her right is her boyfriend Carson.

More friends!

Carson was NOT a fan of the snake!

Then all the kids got up and started to play with their snakes.

We have had the same waitresses for 4 years of parties...they are the sweetest ladies.

In between these shots of Carson and Hsin-Hua, they kept kissing each other and hugging each other.

They truly love each other and can't get enough of each other.  They are SO similar in personality too its adorable.

TRYING to get all the kids in one shot.  I'm pretty sure Carson is mad that another boy is standing next to Hsin-Hua :)

Back at our house playing in the playroom.

Under the dining room table.

I don't know what they were doing but they had a blast!  All the grown ups did too.  We didn't close down the party until 11pm :)

We wrapped up our fun filled weekend with a party for Keira at the Little Gym.  Typically these types of super physical parties are not Hsin-Hua's favorite, but she was super brave and had a blast with her friends!





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Christmas Post...Better Late Than Never

Holy sh*t people.  It is January 15th.  Did anyone else notice that today?

Yeah and the whole second half of December and the whole first half of January have passed with no posts.

Lousy, lousy Mommy.  This is of course supposed to replace the REAL scrapbook that I never find the time to update either.  It would be nice if I actually kept it current.

I digress.

We had a LOVELY holiday season at our house.  Christmas shopping was kept low key and organized this year and I sailed into the season feeling prepared and not stressed.  I even got all the wrapping done on a random Friday night about 2 weeks before Christmas.  Hsin-Hua got everything she asked for and then some.  She was a VERY happy kid on Christmas morning!  We spent time with friends and family and had seriously, a just lovely and relaxing time.  Hsin-Hua had a tough time being away from school for 2 weeks but we seem to have settled back into a routine at this point.

Well, without further chatting...here is the last month or so in pictures. 

I hope everyone else's Christmas was as wonderful as ours.  We are glad to be back to a routine and a clean and empty house.  I am slowly getting back into running.  I would like to run another 50k this year in September.  I am also having a lot of fun sewing and I am currently in the middle of sewing my first legit, basted, quilted and bound quilt (all the ones I've made in the past have been backed with fleece and quilted with ties).  I'm super excited to see how it turns out!!!  I'll post pictures when it is done.
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Before Christmas, Hsin-Hua had been asking to see her best girlfriends Maram and Samira so we had a last minute dinner/playdate with the girls and their parents.  These 3 little munchkins have a blast everytime they get together and we usually have to endure squealing laughter for hours!  We don't mind!

Hsin-Hua and Maram falling on the floor laughing.

Hsin-Hua, Maram and Samira about to start spinning themselves silly.

Can't even get a clear picture :)



For anyone that was not on our mailing list for Christmas cards, here is a little look at the pics from this year.

Each year Hsin-Hua's Christmas picture is of her and Shiu in front of a Christmas tree.  I can't believe how big my little girl is getting.  At least Shiu stays the same each year.

Christmas Eve arrived and we were all SO excited for Santa to come that night.  Before he could come though, we went to Aunt Susan and Uncle Howards like we do every year for Christmas Eve!  As always we had a FANTASTIC time seeing all of our family and 4 of Hsin-Hua's favorite Aunts.

Family picture on Christmas Eve.

Sweet Hsin-Hua Lin

Ready to eat some dinner at Aunt Susan's house.

I thought you were going to eat dinner Hsin-Hua?  That looks like a cookie.

In jammies and with our best friends Shiu and Hoppy.

New butterfly backpack from Aunt Liz.

Hsin-Hua KINDA liked the backpack!

Uncle Howard has the best tickle finger and can get Hsin-Hua laughing without even touching her.

A Daddy and his Hsin-Hua.

Santa arrived sometime around midnight with lots of gifts for a special little girl, including the "doll with black hair that looks like me".

Hsin-Hua didn't wake up until almost 9 in the morning on Christmas day.  She was worn out from all the fun the night before.  Mommy and Daddy were up and excited LONG before she was.  When she did wake up and I went in her room she said "Mommy, is it morning?".  I said "yes".  She said "Is it Christmas?".  I said "yes baby, its Christmas".  She said "do you think Santa came?".  I said "yes baby, I think Santa came."  She then said "do you think he brought me the doll with the black hair that looks like me?".  I said "I sure hope so love." She got up and headed down the stairs right away.

Later in the day our dear friends the K's came over for dinner and for the kids to play.  We had a lovely and relaxing evening while the kids had hours of fun!

If you can't see it in this picture, there is a HUGE grin on her face as she saw what was under the tree.

She was so excited about her doll.  She wouldn't open the box though until all her other gifts were opened.  Like she wanted to save it for last.  She ended up naming her Lucille Hsiao-Ling. 

In Hsin-Hua's favorite Christmas story, the little bear gets an orange in his stocking.  She was so excited that she got one too.

New Strawberry Shortcake movies.

Strawberry Shortcake dolls.

Jesus, Mary and Joseph statue from Daddy.

A marionette just like she asked for.

Getting ready for Christmas dinner with Nikki, KC, Keira and Nathan.



Keira and Hsin-Hua playing with ALL the toys.



Nate just couldn't hang.  He passed out in his ziti!

Happy New Year...may this be a healthy, happy and prosperous year for all!!!