Winter Wonderland

And it's still coming down.  It's oh-so pretty and the kids are having fun.  A bit bummed though that it caused me to miss a fun gathering with friends today.  We are in a winter storm warning and they advise no travel unless it's an emergency.  I'm not one for taking chances...I don't want to be one of those emergencies.

What's really funny to me is to see a child or children playing in the yard or driveway, and I have no idea which child it is from the neighborhood.  Hats, hoods and snowsuits make it a little difficult to tell who's who around here!

But this one I know!  I can't believe how long she has lasted out there.  I guess the first big snowfall gives the kids extra adrenaline to fight the cold and wet.

Our backyard.  They are calling for an increase in wind, and when it hits the trees will no longer be painted in white.

Not sure yet how many inches are out there.

The man getting his exercise.

Kids building forts.  This is after I put the kibosh on Rose sledding into the street...

Happy that we will be having a white Christmas.  Not happy about the predicted high of 15 degrees for tomorrow.  Yikes!  Welcome to winter!

Mid-Autumn Festivities

Today is the Mid-Autumn Festival celebrated in Chinese (as well as other) cultures.  There are many stories that reflect the origin of the festival, but I like this summary of the tradition from moonfestival.org:

"Moon Festival celebrations, though still relatively new to the U.S., have been held throughout Asia for well over 1,000 years. This holiday is a time to reflect upon the bounty of the summer harvest, the fullness of the moon, and the myth of the immortal moon Goddess, Chang O, who lives in the moon. The Moon Festival is often compared to a sort of "Chinese Thanksgiving" because of its spirit of gratitude and its inclusion of abundant food - including the popular moon cake. Moon cakes are flaky, round, semi-sweet pastries often filled with bean or lotus-seed paste and topped with a duck egg, echoing the shape of the full moon. Many millions of moon cakes are gifted around the time of the Moon Festival."

Our family is sort of hit or miss when it comes to following some of the Chinese traditions. 
 If we have our act together and things fall together nicely, we celebrate.  

This year the Mid-Autumn Festival was a hit, thanks in part to it falling on a weekend.  

Starting Friday, Doug pre-soaked the lotus beans and red beans.  Saturday he prepared the bean pastes to go in the center of the moon cakes.  And today, he and Rose formed and baked the moon cakes.  

We like to go outdoors and share a moon cake under the full moon.  Tonight's weather was absolutely beautiful.

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival!

Future Fashionista and Other Fun

I'm supposed to be doing laundry, but I was distracted by this vision of pretty.  The bright green gel sandals, Burger King crown, and dress on upside down really made me go "hmmm and Oh My":

I realized I had a ton of photos on my iPhone that I had forgotten to download.  Here are some highlights of what we have been up to:




Took Rose, Lily and Rose's friend Cate to the Minnesota Children's Museum.  


They have a town setup where the kids can be doctors, postal workers, bus drivers, chefs, shop in a market, dance on camera and other fun stuff.  Here is Rose dressed up as a shopping doctor, helping Lily shop too.

They usually have a face painting station where they apply their own face paint.

The feature exhibit this visit was Storybooks.  They had interactive displays of favorite children's books.  My favorite is Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, and they had a tree that you put cardboard letters on, they would get conveyed up to the top of the tree, and then come crashing down a chute.  

C is for Rose Chong.  Or just plain cute.

Another big hit is the water works area.  Lily was soaking wet when we were done, even though she wore an apron.  She was in her element and would have been content to spend her entire time here.

Rose was making some awesome HUGE bubbles!

Exploring the beaver lodge.

And after a nice long day of playing, I got to enjoy some much desired peace and quiet on the ride home.

Our local chapter of Families With Children from Asia Midwest had their annual Chinese New Year festival at the end of January.  Here is Rose getting her face painted.  I don't seem to have any other photos from that event.

Doug gave Rose and I tickets to The Lion King.  She and I had a nice night out together.  Rose enjoyed her first time seeing it, and I enjoyed my third :)

Rose's school held their annual Chinese New Year festival as well.  Here are the girls burning off some energy.  Lily loves wide open spaces to run run run.

Rose and I volunteered to package meals for Feed My Starving Children through a local church.  She was a trooper, even though it got really tiring standing in one spot for so long.  I think it was eye opening for her to see the need by those less fortunate.

Our lazy, spoiled dog.

Doug snapped this photo, it warms my heart!

Whew!  I'm a little tired just posting about what we've been up to.  It has been a busy year so far.  We are now in the midst of selling Girl Scout cookies, Rose has a CNY performance for school next week where she will be both singing and dancing, and now we are trying to figure out what to sign up for this summer as far as camps, lessons, etc.


Just feeling fortunate to have so many wonderful opportunities and options available to us, and the ability to do some of them.  

Lily Cuteness

Just downloaded some photos, and can't resist posting some here!

When all else fails, snuggle with Elmo and Cookie monster in your favorite blanket.  We could all do ourselves some good to put this into practice every day.

 A marker is no good if it can't color body parts.

Warrior paint!  You should see her belly button.  I hope I don't have to take her to a doctor any time soon, because it will raise some eyebrows.

 Rose made this little nest in a play tent the other morning before leaving for school.  It's her favorite blankie and current favorite stuffed animal.  

Guess where Paul the Cat spent his day?  Cushie Cat.

Introducing a story of a Drama Queen!

But I want it!

I'm gonna cry and make you feel bad.

 That didn't work.  Let me try the pout.

Is she gone?  Can I get it now?

The End

Craft area messiness

Humbly posting photos of my crafting areas in hopes of winning some organizational supplies from online retailer Consumer Crafts via crafting blog Crafts Unleashed!

This is my general crafting and scrapbooking area.

This is overflow of mostly kid crafting stuff stored in the room right behind the paneled wall.

I'd say my biggest challenge is putting things away when I'm done.  I don't have many permanent homes for my items, especially my scrapbooking supplies since I take a lot of them with me when I scrap away from home.  I tend to leave them in their carriers.   I don't even take my Cricut out of the box, and it prohibits me from crafting spontaneously.

I feel a little overwhelmed with too much stuff, and not enough free space to be creative.  I  have a hard time letting go of items I haven't used or no longer use.  And I have a classic case of "but I might use that sometime".  It's hard to part with items I paid money for, yet the thought of trying to sell them seems like too much work.  Help, please!!