A Christmas Re-Do

Let's pretend it's December 27th. The hype and busyness of Christmas day has waned just a little. Everyone's pants are fitting just a tad tighter (but they're new pants that you unwrapped on Christmas day so it doesn't really matter...) and finally it's time for everyone to post pictures on their blogs of kids in Christmas pjs, festivities, parties, family gatherings, etc...

Great! I'm so glad I'm not late. Because, after all, how embarrassing would that be?!?!



That photo is about how every photo is looking these days; Salem with some sort of injury to his face (carpet burn on his nose this time), Eden generally overwhelming her baby brother, and Caleb a bit awestruck by it all.





Why is it that you don't understand the trouble your mom went through to do certain things for you as a kid until you attempt to do it as a parent?!
Hey mom, what were you thinking doing this with us every year?! Man, you were a sucker for pain! :)



But it was still fun (for me and a friend) to make it. And it was fun for Eden and Salem to eat lick every piece of candy that went on their respective side of the roof.





Turns out, the Gingerbread House was the main attraction at our Christmas party with Eden's preschool teachers. A tiny house made out of cookies, icing, and candy?! They loved it! and what's not to love?  oh yeah...the cesspool of germs living on it. Oh well. It was still fun to look at.



Eden's teachers are all so fab. And not once did they make fun of us for having crappy language skills. In fact they were super kind, obliged us in our silly Christmas trivia games, and cheerfully ate every single chicken salad sandwich.



I'm posting this next picture not because I want you to be sure and notice that I've soooooo NOT lost my baby weight, but so that you can see Eden's preschool teacher. This lady blesses me more than she can know.



After all the Christmas cheer began turning into New Year's cheer, and our Gingerbread House had served it's purpose, we made sure to dispose of it in a completely responsible way...

by giving our 4 and 2 year olds a hammer.





This was right up Salem's alley. All of his little boy power, tongue and all, poured right into that hammer.



Next year, I'm sure they'll gladly build another Gingerbread house, not only for the candy, but because of the fun it holds even after all the Christmas festivities have come and gone.

Yes, this is a post of JUST words...

This is the first post-Christmas blog post.
The blog post where there should be an endless amount of pictures for you scroll through.
Stories about children's faces lighting up at the sight of new gifts.
Recounts of our new favorite traditions for our family and stories of our first Jesse Tree Adventure.

Oh and has New Years come and gone, too?
Well then, I should be listing last year's happy memories and this year's resolutions.

Alas...I'm going to make a list of excuses for being such a poor blogger.
Excuses such as
- Christmas morning I woke up with mastitis. Which meant I did not attend the Christmas morning play put on by our house helper's daughter's kindergarten, but Brandon and the 2 bigger kids did. So Christmas morning was a bit lonesome around our house.
- Christmas evening at about 8 p.m. Brandon remembered Caleb and I needed new passport photos printed off for our trip up to the US Embassy in the Capital the next day. He scurried off to a local print shop to have that done while I watched It's a Wonderful Life by myself.
- The next day we dropped Eden and Salem off at a friend's place and the three of us went to the Capital for an overnight stay for Caleb to get immunizations and coincidentally for me to see a doc for the mastitis.
- Did not get to see a doc. They were overbooked.
- Next day. mastitis cleared up, praise the Lord. We came back home to a sickly Salem.
- Salem graciously passed along his cold to the rest of us...which lasted about 3 days.
- New Year's Eve, Eden's cold seemingly morphed into a stomach virus as well. We woke up after a couple hours of sleep to the sounds of a vomiting child, the worst sound ever.
- New Year's Day, Eden has officially made best friends with our sofa, her blanket, and our tv.
- Somehow we became even more insane over the past couple days and have commenced potty training with Salem. Yes, we've clearly lost our minds. As long as we're at home being mopey, we might as well be getting something done in the process, right?


While our Christmas day, the days that followed, and New Year's weren't exactly as we'd hoped, we're still grateful to our Savior for His birth, His gift of life to each of us, and yet another year to look forward to his goodness.

'Twas the Night Before Christmas

and all through the house...

not a creature was stirring...

not even a mouse...

Qisnep

When I was a kid I always thought that the 'D' in Disney's logo was a 'Q'.  One of those fancy, cursive 'Q's I guess.
I figured it was one of those tricky english language things like a silent Q that sounds more like a D type of thing.
oh that doesn't exist? Well as an 8 year old it did.
And a friend always thought the 'Y' was a 'P'.
Apparently that's Disney's one fault. They're catering to an audience that, truly, can barely read.

But of the many things they're doing right: Hong Kong Disney.
I'll admit that I was skeptical. Sure it's Disney, so it should be awesome...but it's still in Asia. I know, that's sounds so very...ummm...American of me. But that's just me being honest. I wasn't expecting the fabulousness of Orlando to have stretched all the way to HK.
Lo and behold, good ole Walt pulled it off. When the Christmas parade starting coming down Disney's "Main Street" and everyone was happier than what should be legally permissible, I got all teary eyed. Sure, Disneyland is fun as a kid. But I'm convinced it's more fun as an adult. Seeing my kids wave at the princesses, give Pluto hugs, and dance with sugar plum fairies was more than my camera could handle.

Here's a glimpse of our day.


Started the day off all bright and cheery eyed...or maybe that's just sun in their eyes...



We arrived just in time for a Christmas parade.


See that smirk on my face? That smirk says, "oh...uh...I just realized I'm the only parent out here dancing and acting like a fool."  My bad. I thought they were inviting me to come dance, when apparently they were probably only inviting my cute, blonde kids.



The parades were probably our favorite part.
These images will forever be frozen in my brain.


Her giddiness. Her wave at all the characters. The way she turned around and announced to me every "person" that she saw. It was so much fun to watch her.



It was a gorgeous day, despite being a bit chilly.
Caleb was less than impressed. Poor buddy...I promise to take you back someday when you actually care about Buzz Lightyear.


HK Disney has recently opened up a big Toy Story Land. It was the one area of the park where I felt that they fell short. Our kids were too young for all the "rides" so we didn't stay in this area very long. Just long enough to snap a picture with Rex.

The whole area is meant to look like it's in Andy's back yard. But in my opinion it just looks like Walt needs to dust off his lawnmower and get to work.

If you ever visit HK Disney, one thing you should know: GROWN UPS stand in line to see Mickey and Minnie. I take that back. They stand in line to see all the characters. I'm talking 54 year old men in business suits. Does this happen at Disneyworld? I can't remember. None the less, I thought it was weird. And then they thought it was weird that I didn't want my OWN picture taken with Minnie.

Eden's favorites were of course the princesses.


Salem was less than impressed. He wears his emotions on his sleeve.

Scratch that. He just says exactly what he's feeling. Right about this time he informed Snow White, "you scary." Yes, this movie has scarred him for life.



Really, he was thinking that he'd just rather go back and see Winnie the Pooh again.



I can't blame him. I was kind of envious of Pooh and his big furry yellow suit. It was pretty chilly out there!
Salem was smitten with Pooh. His eyes say it all. He gave Pooh a "present leaf" and hasn't forgotten about it.


I loved that Pluto had a touch of Asian flair to him.



It was such a fun day. One that I hope our kids have fond memories of...or at least enjoy seeing the pictures someday. We did the tea cup spinning thing and Salem almost vomited. Maybe he won't have fond memories of that part. The day ended with the two "big" kids asleep in the stroller, Caleb asleep on me, and Brandon and I nearly falling asleep in the subway. = Success!

When life hands you travel delays...

Spend nine hours in a Big Chicken airport with three children under 4.
No seriously. Go try it.
Because I'd really like to know if it's possible for anyone else to come away from it a sane person.

Last week, we were fortunate enough to have such an experience. Record breaking fog (yes...I know that sounds completely made up) delayed a recent trip to Hong Kong by three days. For one of those days we were in the country illegally.

Well ok. Maybe that's not entirely true.
But it's so much more fun to say.
Our visa expired and we had to leave the country, (for some reason, Hong Kong counts) but because of the 3 day flight delay we supposedly got a visa extension.

I'd like to think that they gave us the extension because of the kindness in their hearts and not because some random cranky white woman almost went ape on them because she'd been entertaining toddlers with pay phones and duty free stuffed pandas for nine hours.

But after all of our travel, our kids feel right at home in airports.
Don't believe me?
Ask Salem.



Plus, it afforded me plenty of time to take another picture of my favorite sign in China.


Eden, truly didn't miss a beat. She loves airports and thought that a nine hour flight delay was completely normal. She passed the time by actually partaking of the free meal they passed around.


That photo says so much about my daughter. The mastery level of chopstick skill.
The mantou bun she's eating, of which I've never acquired the taste for. The peace sign she's flashing at the camera, something she's seen every chinese person under the age of 23 do when a picture is taken.

But alas, after three days back home (and not unpacking the suitcases) we headed back to the airport to attempt our trip again. This time, success!
Turns out, Caleb takes after his sister and is comatose on airplanes.


The other two might as well be too.


We spent four days in Hong Kong, one of our favorite cities in the world.
Choice mode of travel in Hong Kong: MTR. of which Eden is becoming quite an expert!


I guess if I were going to be stuck in an airport with three kids for 9 hours, I wouldn't rather it be with anyone else. They're pretty great travelers!

Up next...Hong Kong DISNEY!

When Different becomes the Same

Do you remember that first time that you went to WalMart and saw a person in sweat pants out doing their grocery shopping on a thursday morning and you thought to yourself "hmm...that's kinda strange" but then now every time you go to WalMart you see a person in sweat pants and it's just normal?  You know what I'm talking about?

Or did I just make a really long run-on sentence and you have no clue where I'm going with this?

Well, that's kind of the way things have gotten for us. No...not the grocery shopping in our sweat pants.

The strange-stuff-is-normal part of the story.

Different isn't so different for us anymore. It's the same.

Ok. I'll stop being confusing now. Let me spell it out for you...

Make sense?!

Stuff like this has become normal for us. It's everyday. It's Same Same.

And I didn't realize that it had become our new normal until Brandon's parents and sister came for a visit and they started noticing these oddities.

Since when did it become normal in my world for cell phones AND Fruit Roll-Up to be sold in the same place?

And why don't I do a double take anymore when an elderly couple is waltzing to no music at the park?

How long have I been unaware that I'm taller than most of the "cars" around me?

and when did it become normal for me to buy cooked sweet potatoes out of a "trash barrel" at our local market? they smell so delish...I just can't resist it.

In our world, Same Same parking lots look more like this

and this

And I didn't realize my new world of normal-ness until I had some new eyes around me to see it through.

But then of course there are a few things that will never become normal. And I guess I hope they don't.

Asia trees will always be gorgeous and worthy of stopping to take pictures.

The sun shining. And on our apartment building, no less. It's glorious. I'll never take sunshine for granted again.

Incense burning. I pray it will never be normal to me. It's a good reminder that we've got a long way to go.

All of these photos are courtesy of Brandon's mom. Three new sets of eyes around me last week to notice the "different" in our normal world gave me insight into our version of "Same, Same, but Different."

But please, whatever you do. Don't start buying your groceries while wearing sweat pants. Trust me. It will never be the new normal.

A Thanksgiving to be Thankful For

After Brandon and I got married we had approximately 7 months to prepare ourselves for the "who gets Christmas? who gets Thanksgiving?" issue that married people face. You know the issue I'm talking about. The one where you have to divvy up how much time you spend at his folks' place and how much time you spend at her folks' place...etc...etc...etc...
That first year of marriage we felt that we had an especially difficult time because that particular year all FOUR sides of our family (ie...his dad's side, his mom's side, my mom's side, my dad's side...) were ALL in one city. And it just so happened to be all in one day.

So we did what every brainless couple would do and chose to attend every single event all in one day.
We tallied up about 3 quality minutes with each person we're related to, ate entirely too much turkey and pumpkin pie, and argued each and every minute of alone time we had that day.
We swore we'd never do it again.

Flash forward to a week ago, Thanksgiving day.
We were approximately 12,000 miles from said city where 7 years ago all of our family was gathered...save three.

Brandon's mom, dad, and sister flew those 12,000 miles to spend Thanksgiving with us!

It was a great day. Fabulous. It felt just like Thanksgiving is supposed to. A little chaotic. A little noisy. Food taking longer than it should to cook. An assembly line to fill up your plate. Aunt Terri's bacon wrapped green beans. Everything a Thanksgiving day should include (in my small world.)

Minus my folks, my brother, his gorgeous wife and kids, and my fantastic sister and cool husband.

But because God is so awesome, He provided family here in family's place.

And it made me realize that He's been doing that all along. It took me moving across the world to realize that having four Thanksgivings is something I should be Thankful for.

Now that I'm literally half a world away from all of that, I'd give anything to attend four thanksgivings again. I'd pass Caleb around to all 76 some-odd people that would surely hold him that day. I'd wonder what room Uncle Ron had run off to to read a book. I'd get smoked yet again by Granny in Rats. I'd eat an extra helping of Aunt Susie's dressing just because I could. I'd look like a total moron during Trivial Pursuit at Aunt Jeri's house. And I'd hug everyone really tight because that's what you do when you love people.

I'm thankful for FOUR sets of family. I'm thankful that "his" family is my family. And this year I'm so incredibly thankful that they endured overseas flights to have Thanksgiving China-Style.

We had a full house on Thanksgiving day...


That week we showed them some of the sights of the city.






Eden is unsure of that bright yellow thing in the sky that we so rarely see!


And when we weren't out exploring the town, we did a lot of just hanging out.





The kids opened early Christmas presents.


Salem was pretty smitten with Aunt Nay Nay.



You can't come to China without seeing the Great Wall, right?



And just to make sure that they'd all come back again some day, they each got a turn on the back of our new ride.


(more pictures to come!)

We love you guys and are so grateful you braved a trip to the Big Chicken to spend Thanksgiving with us!