Happy Birthday Kate (and Happy Kate NaNa Day too)

Many of you who hang out here already know this, but October is a big month for Kate.  Her birthday, date of abandonment, Kate NaNa Day, and her adoption day all fall within 12 days of each other.  And for those of you schooled in adoption issues, you know that means lots of different emotions crammed into a very small window.  This topic could probably be a post all of its own, but suffice it to say that she experiences excitement, grief, joy, and deep introspection - often all within about an hour.  Those of you who have witnessed a child grieve, you know they express it in many ways.  Kate is no exception. Her heart aches at the thought that she will never meet her first parents or see her foster mother again. She tells me that she misses China and wants to visit again soon.  Her feelings are valid, because it is sad to lose those things. Yet she still loves us deeply, despite (or perhaps because of) her grief and loss.  Adoption is complicated and messy and beautiful and redeeming all rolled into one big ball.  For Kate it just all comes at the same time. 

Anyway, the first of these big days comes in mid-October, when we celebrate Kate NaNa Day.  This was the four year anniversary of when we met our girl.  In our family it is a tradition that we go out to eat Chinese food, and then Tim and I give her a small gift that we bought for her in China.  This year it was a purple change purse at P.F. Chang's.

 

Ten days later her birthday (which also happens to be her date of citizenship) rolled around, and she wanted to celebrate with pizza and video games.  It was a good night for prizes. 

And last but not least, we had her birthday party the following weekend. For her party, she requested chocolate cake and Chinese dumplings.  We make the dumplings, or jiaozi, from scratch.  So with about 25 people at the party, that was a lot of dumplings.  Chinese families often make these together during celebrations, so I decided to insert some Chinese tradition into the party. Most people who attended learned to make them. I had the filling mixed and ready, and the guests helped roll, fill, crimp, and fry the dumplings. It was a huge undertaking for everyone, but it was a lot of fun and delicious.  They were a big hit.

I also managed to make my first chocolate cake from scratch.  Our family tries to buy only fair trade chocolate, but it was a challenge to find a good scratch recipe.  My aunt ended up mailing me her favorite one for a chocolate cinnamon cake, which was a big hit.  I love the icing so much it makes me want to cry.

As I was putting her to bed the night of the party, Kate told me, "That was my best party day I ever had."  I was glad, and asked her what she liked about it.  "I got a Hello Kitty alarm clock, Daddy set off firecrackers, and I got to eat my dumplings."  Add a lot of friends and family to that equation, and it really was a wonderful day.

Kate,
I love you sweet girl, and I love being your mama.  I am glad you have a tender heart and process everything deeply. It is such a wonderful part of who you are and how you care about other people.  You are a joy to parent, and I can't wait to see all of the amazing things you will do with your life.  And if you really do move back to China when you are a grown up, I will still come and visit you - probably more than you like:)

Birthday Bash: Will & Jack

Last year we had one massive birthday party for all three kids, regardless of the fact that their birthdays spread across a 4 month time span.  It's a long story, but suffice it to say that it is much easier to throw one massive party than three big parties, when more than half the guest lists overlap. 

As the birthdays approached this year, they all wanted different parties.  Ben wanted to take a friend for pizza and video games.  Kate wanted to go to a local pumpkin patch.  Will wanted a pool party.  His only rule was that he wasn't sharing his party with his brother.

Except then we met Jack.  Whose birthday is six days after Will's.  And Will said, "Of course, we will just share the same party."  And I said, "But you said you wouldn't share with your brother."  And he said, "I meant the other brother."

And so we once again had a shared party.  Which is just fine by me.  And the grandparents who have to travel.  My uncle graciously agreed to open his home and his pool to us, and our craziness.  Thanks again, Ricky:)

Will designed his own cake this year.  C3PO kept falling over, so we had to push him way far into the cake.  Hence, his short stature in the picture.

Jack wanted to wave his candles out, but once I blew them out for him demonstrated, he did his best to pretend to blow.

And thanks again to Grammy, because this mama forgot the camera at home.  Yes, I am that awesome.  Oh well, at least my kids are awesome. 

Ugh. I'm Stuffed.

As usual, our family took three whole days to celebrate Thanksgiving - one with each set of grandparents and their part of the extended fam. Which means that over the course of the last 72 hours I have eaten enough to last me until... probably tomorrow afternoon.

But also, as usual, I realize that I have much to be thankful for. My children have more grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins to love than most people ever will. We all love each other and get along (for the most part ;-), and we actually enjoy being together. We have a warm house to sleep in, food in our bellies, and good friends. We have a Savior who loves us.

We are blessed.
For some reason I never remember to get my camera out, but we did manage to snap the annual cousins-on-the-stairs shot, and then we got one of Tim's family.
Happy Thanksgiving:)

Birthday Party!

My kids' birthdays are at the end of June, August, and October. In the past we have done separate birthday parties, but that is a lot of cake and ice cream in a very short amount of time. So this year, with a little help from Uncle Jacob, I convinced them that it would be a blast to have one big ole party for all of them. OK, honestly, they weren't thrilled with the idea at first, but then I convinced them with promises of pinatas and water balloons, and they were on board!
We had grandparents, tons of aunts and uncles, no less than six cousins, and many friends and their parents. We even had Uncle Jacob here! (He was in town for a wedding.) I wish I could say that I am super-mom because I am capable of pulling off a party like this all by myself, but honestly, it took the whole family to get the job done. Every single person had a job - from my niece who filled water balloons and peeled carrots, to my grandmother who was the welcoming committee, to the men who washed dishes, to all of the relatives who brought food. Somehow we managed to feed 40 people, and the party was a huge success. Once again, Will declared it the best party evah!
Don't be hatin' on the cake pictures. I had to snap them fast before the flames melted Luke Skywalker's light saber!
Now I am wondering what I will have to bribe them with next year so I can get away with only one party again...

The Garden

It won't be long now:)

What Was on My Camera

I lost my camera earlier this winter. Whenever this happens (thankfully it hasn't happened often) I always wonder what photos may have been lost forever. I knew it happened sometime between Christmas and our mid-January vacation, so that was only about 3 weeks. I couldn't remember if there were any major events, or if I had captured a Kodak moment.

Yesterday I was loading my computer into its bag, which I hadn't used in a couple of months, apparently. When I opened one of the pockets, I found the treasure and eagerly hit the "on" button to see what was on it. I had completely forgotten about our gingerbread men. This year at Christmas, Will discovered that he really likes gingerbread, so I bought some of the easy cookie dough mix, and one night in January we rolled and cut out little men and flowers. (Evidently my cookie cutters aren't very interesting.) It took them a couple of days to decorate and eat them all, but they had a ball doing it.

We had about 10 gingerbread pics, and then there were about 65 pictures that looked a little something like this:

I think we need to work on his photography skills, don't you? Most of them were either too blurry to figure out what they were, or they showed how filthy my house it. And he captured the cuteness of his toes, but his still life leaves something to be desired:)

Happy New Year!

Chinese New Year, that is. Happy Year of the Rabbit!

Chinese New Year began on Thursday, and we have spread it out to sufficiently stuff ourselves for an entire week.

On Monday Tim and the kids and I made potstickers to share with friends. Super yum.
On Tuesday I made a beef-broccoli-noodle thing. It was pretty good.
On Friday we went out to a nice Chinese restaurant and had a delicious, and really loooong, meal with another set of friends.

Today we went to a FCC event with Tara and her family, and we did Chinese paper cutting, made paper lanterns, and watched a CNY show. Then we went back to their house and cooked. We made homemade egg rolls, mushu, noodles, and tea eggs. It was all pretty good, but the egg rolls were fabulous. Shout out to Tonggu Momma for her post about CNY recipes and other fun stuff!

I have definitely achieved my one-new-Chinese-recipe-a-year goal this year!

Oh, and if you are wondering where the pictures are for all of this fun, they are a bit lacking this year because I have somehow managed to lose my camera. I can't for the life of me figure out where I have left it. This is par for the course for me. In the last month I have managed to lose my glasses, my wallet, a pair of earrings, my favorite Burt's Bees lip color, and my favorite nail clippers, in addition to the camera. Everything has turned up except for the camera. I am still hoping.

In the meantime, Tara and John took a ton of pictures of today, so maybe they will show up somewhere?

More Garden Goodness

Mmmmm...

Fresh zucchini, tomatoes, peppers, and onions, straight from the garden.

One of the reasons I love summer...

Everything in this bowl came out of my garden. Strawberries, lettuce, and zucchini. I love it:)

Ben: My favorite first grader:)

Last week, Ben had a big research project due for his reading group. (Yes, he is a first grader, and yes, he did actual research, although guided by his reading teacher and I.) He got to choose from 4 broad topics (he chose nutritional value of a recipe). From there he picked my recipe for roasted asparagus. It's one of his favorite foods. (For those of you who don't like asparagus, I'm gonna guess that you've either eaten it out of a can or you've had it boiled. Gross.)

He had to type up the recipe, figure out where it went on the food pyramid, and make a poster to tell the class about the nutritional benefits of the food.

He learned that asparagus is one of the healthiest foods out there. It can help prevent birth defects, keep your heart healthy, and lower your blood pressure and cholesterol. Plus, it's yummy.

Being a seven year old boy, he delighted in discovering that asparagus can also help remove warts, while also preventing constipation and diarrhea. (Insert giggling fits every time he thought of it.)

***

Later in the week, he also got do to the ever-popular elementary school activity: laying down on a big sheet of paper and letting your friend trace you. His favorite part was designing a T-shirt for his drawing, but I noticed his smart teacher had also made him measure different body parts on the paper. We love Ben's teacher, who has done an amazing job of challenging him this year. Ben loves school and just absorbs everything right now. He is so much fun:)

#3

As I've mentioned before, Kate loves to discuss what she has for lunch at preschool. When we get home, she usually wants to eat lunch again with Will and me.

Today, I asked her, "What did you eat for lunch #1?"

Her reply?

"I not number 1. I number 3."

I guess I need to stop referring to the kids by numbers, huh.

Happy Chinese New Year!

All this week our family will be celebrating Chinese New Year's, aka the Spring Festival. We are still learning the ins and outs of this holiday, but several things we want to participate in:

• Spend time with friends and family. We are doing pretty well with the friends one (we have plans to hit several Chinese restaurants this week), but next year we need to do better and include more family.
• Do spring cleaning. I got an early start on this one with the whole getting new flooring thing. Since I had to move every single item in my home (unless it was on a high shelf), it was a good time to purge. Today I plan to sweep and mop and finish off the spring cleaning. (That is, if I can get off the computer long enough.)
• EAT! If you know me, you know that I firmly believe that food is the one of the best parts of almost any holiday. Preparing and sharing a meal brings people together.

I have decided that I would like to learn to make a new Chinese dish each year so eventually we can host a real celebration. Last year I failed miserably at that task. This year, I was determined to learn to make Chinese dumplings. I found a really easy recipe (although time consuming) and bought all the ingredients (I had to ask the Kroger lady for help in locating the Napa cabbage, and I had never even heard of white pepper). Will and I even watched videos about how to roll out and fold the dumplings. We were ready.

One of traditions involved in making this food is that the whole family is supposed to participate. That was probably the most challenging part:), but we did it. Ben read the recipe to us, while Kate and Will mixed the filling. They all took a turn rolling out the dough, and then Tim, Will, Kate, and I stuffed and folded the dumplings. Mama had to do the cooking, of course. Our friends Alex and Christa came over to share the feast with us.

I was a bit nervous about how they would turn out, but they were sooooo yummy. We all ate way too many (well, ok, Ben and Kate didn't really like them, but they can be picky), especially Will. After eating 5 or 6 of them, Will came and curled up in my lap. He said, "I have decided I don't like Chinese dumplings." Well, did you eat so many that they hurt your tummy, or do you not like the taste? "I ate too many," he moaned. So yes, they were a hit. Next year I will have to come up with a recipe that the other two like.

The dough, the filling, and the leftovers:

Can't wait to make 'em again next year!

Sweet Ben

A month or two ago, Ben had the flu. The only thing that sounded good to him was chicken noodle soup. After all, what else do you want when you are sick? Being the culinary genius that I am, I pulled out the Campbell's condensed. Ben liked the soup, quite a bit in fact, but it started a conversation about the world's best chicken noodle soup. My grandmother, Ninnie, makes the best chicken noodle soup. Ever.
So the next time Ben saw Ninnie, he started in on her about wanting to learn to make it. Now, I had been trying to get her to teach me for awhile, but Ben has a certain charm that I just do not have.

This past weekend, he went and stayed with my aunt, and while there he visited Ninnie. Of course, she taught him to make chicken noodle soup. And of course, he took notes, just like his mama told him to.

And how cool is it that my son loves hanging out with his great-grandmother?

For lunch today, we had the world's best chicken noodle soup, while Ben explained to us everything he and Ninnie did to make it. He told me that eating this soup was even better than watching Ben 10. He must really like this soup.

Ben has had us all charmed for the past seven years, but he has put no effort into it at all. He is kind, and considerate, and a complete joy. He loves to snuggle and cuddle. He just loves spending time with the people he loves.

He is crazy about his brother and sister (even if he does get a bit jealous from time to time), and honestly tries to be fair and kind with them. He reads them stories, makes them handmade gifts, and helps them with things that only big brothers can do.

Ben, you are a treasure. I love you more every day, and I look forward to going on more "dates" with you.

PS. Pictures are courtesy of Daddy John, who spent Friday at Ben's school helping him make the gingerbread house. Well done, by the way:)

Kate's Birthday

First, I finally got my memory card back and loaded onto my computer, so I can now post a picture from Kate NaNa Day. (That was the anniversary of the day we met Kate, aka, Family Day.) We went out to a local Chinese restaurant, and we gave her a blue Cloisonne bracelet that we bought in Guangzhou. She was so excited that she insisted on wearing it for about 24 hours, at which point we went to Chick-Fil-A. Once home, Kate informed me that she had left the bracelet at the play place. After questioning her about where exactly it was, I called and made a poor employee climb up into the play area to look for the bracelet (talk about good customer service!). No luck though. But not to worry... I found it a week later in the van. My van is such a mess that there could be anything in there and I wouldn't know the difference.

Kate has been anticipating her birthday since MY birthday a month ago. And because of extenuating family circumstances this year, it took a couple of weeks to fully celebrate Kate's birthday. Thus we had two cakes.

Actually, four cakes were involved, but only two of them had candles. Any reason to have cake is a good reason, right?

Of course, our family and friends showered Kate with presents galore (She loves that yellow hat), and she loved telling everyone "Happy Birthday!", including random store clerks and people at church.

She may not have understood the birthday thing last year, but this year she was ready!