Happy New Year

It is New Year's Eve here, 9:30pm, we are about off to bed, seriously. It will be 1 p.m. on our 1st when the clock strikes 12 a.m. in the US (EST). We did go to a friend's house and watch a the new video on J. Frasier which was great, it even included a friend of ours commentating some! Super cool.
Tomorrow I am cooking Chicken for lunch and then David's old teacher is coming over and we will hang out in the afternoon and for dinner.

Here is more silly Sophia. Sometimes while David works he will leave the door open to his office, but not often. Here Sophia just ran in and plopped right down in between his legs and stayed there for a few minutes, until I snuck in with the camera:


Yes David now stands at his desk to help his shoulders neck and back, he is so ergonomically savvy. He loves it.





NEW GLOVES.
A dear friend gave Sophia these new gloves. They are too big but she still loves them

18 months old...

check out this adorable dress from Poppy and CC


Sophia is 18 months old today. Amazing. What is she up to now?

• she can run pretty well but not all out
• she can walk up stairs with a railing
• she can repeat almost anything you say, and understands on a ton of stuff
  
• she can say a handful of Chinese words and understand the use of them
• she can name her body parts and so many animals and make their sounds
• she can help us sing a few songs
• she can help put her toys away (sometimes)
• her favorite word or thing is still 'airplane' and saying 'bye bye + whatever she is walking away from at the moment)
• she will do something like put a puzzle piece in correctly and then tell herself 'good job' and clap her hands
• she prays with us, holds our hands and bows her head, and says amen really loud when done
  
• she is starting to put a few words together
• she loves to laugh and joke around, hide, play 'airplane' with daddy (he flies her around way up high above his shoulders
• she just started giving this sly grin and pointing at you with her fingers as if to say 'gotcha,' it is adorable
• she thinks she can count but she really just says 'two and five' and motions her hands like she is counting
• she still LOVES dogs and is not scared of them, she also still just uses the Chinese word for them
  
• she eats a lot. And since we dropped her bottle, she really only gets milk/dairy in her yogurt and cheese, but we are still trying to give her milk in a cup and through a straw...
• she can eat 12 chinese dumplings (probably more but we stop her there), I eat about 20 or less
• she has 8.5 teeth
  
• she can shriek/scream really loud when we take something away that she really wants (like when a random person on the street gives her their cell phone to play with)
• she still naps a little in the morning, maybe 20-30 minutes but I keep her in her crib for 45 usually, and naps at least 2 hours in the afternoon
• she now has a third snack right before bed, usually a little oatmeal with wheatgerm and applesauce, so, she has a small morning snack, a little left over yogurt (to put her medicine in), then a slice of cheese and possible cracker, afternoon snack is bigger, usually fruit with cracker or if we have some peanut butter on bread, the girl can eat.
• she still goes to bed at 7:30 and sleeps until then too (usually)
• she is affectionate, she gives great good night hugs and kisses
• she still loves her books
  
• there is so much more she is doing but that is the gist of our little toddler, we are so thankful for the past 18 months...
  

Earthquake...and more

Thanks for the emails we have been receiving. Yes, there was another earthquake, 4.9 or so about an hour from here in the border town. No one was killed and about 20 hurt, some old schools and buildings damaged. It was in the middle of the night and we did not even feel it. Which is pretty crazy since it was closer than the last one but not as strong. We must have been sleeping pretty good, because it woke other people up that we talked to...

Anyway....

Last night we went out with this lady and some of her friends. Her name is Victoria, she owns a coffee shop in town. We have been friends with her since before we even moved here. I don't really see her much since we moved to the other side of town, but every Christmas we get together for a meal. She took us out to a really cool restaurant with some of her friends. We ate some interesting things, including eggs cooked in really strong liquor (I did not partake, after a sniff), chicken cooked inside a pig stomach (I didn't eat the stomach part,but the chicken and soup was really good), and goose meat (taste a little like duck).

In Daddy's closet

David and I did an organizing day. We started in Sophia's room and went through her clothes and her closets (our only storage in the apartment, so everything is in there). While we did this we turned her highchair into a chair and table (it is supercool like that) and had her draw for a little while. Then while I went to the supermarket, David cleaned out his side of our closet. Sophia meanwhile stayed in his closet while he did this. It is not a built in closet, but more like a wardrobe...we caught her being so funny, because that is what she is...


one of my favorite pics of Sophia, ever.


with daddy's new NC state hat and her new cell phone she is quite the busy girl


yes, I know I am too cute


The line is busy, haven't they heard of call waiting...


I love the closet

More Christmas...

new outfit from Poppy and CC


New Christmas dress from Poppy and CC, I know I look cool


Caleb gave me a little doll baby, my first real doll baby. Mama is trying to teach me not to shake the baby or throw it down, but I have trouble with that...


check out those curls, this is Sophia's most talked about feature

Christmas day pics

peering out of her tent, she likes it closed sometimes, and then yanks it open


giving daddy a swig of her 'water'


closed please


Just me and George Monkey in my new tent, I love it.


none of our family pics turned out well this year, oh well...
(also this is not in our house, not our tree)

Celebrating

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve we went with some friends over to another friend's house and had a delicious Chinese meal with peach cobbler for dessert. The children (she has two girls), performed a play, even including Sophia as the sheep (because she can 'baaaa' on cue, though she did go astray here). It was such a precious time with friends. We sang carols and hung out before going home to do our own family time of celebration.


Young Mary with her new baby...



The Angel, Mary, Joseph, Baby Jesus, and a straggling sheep


Back home we did what we have done every night since the beginning of Advent, We read a devotional that has to do with some aspect of the Christmas story, we talk about it, pray together, and then sing a song. Next we let Sophia take the picture out of the pocket on the calendar and put it on the quilt, David then retells the story, getting Sophia to help with animal noises or telling us what certain things are. This has been a precious time as family (Sophia not sitting still the whole time of course, but always shouting a big 'Amen' at the end of prayer).




The baby has arrived! It is Christmas!
Merry Christmas everyone!

Quiet Christmas

This was our first Christmas ever with no guests or no traveling. It was a wonderfully quiet Christmas morning. We ate breakfast (David made french toast, eggs, and bacon), we worshiped together as a family and then gave Sophia her one gift, a small tent (pictures to come). We sang songs and rejoiced in the hope given by the incarnation. The 'Light of the World' has been our theme:
John 1:4-5: Life was in Him, and that life was the light of men. That light shines in the darkness, yet the darkness did not overcome it.



"I have come as a light into the world, so that everyone who believes in Me would not remain in darkness." John 12: 26

Praising Him for light and life this day. Merry Christmas!

Singing...(2 videos)

Here is Sophia filling in the words to one of her fave songs. And Here is another of her favorites.

Joy to the world (video)

Here is Sophia dancing to Joy to the World. I know this is a deluge of videos, and I have more, consider them our Christmas gift to you! Next up will be Sophia singing along with some songs...stay tuned.

Happy day (video)

A few weeks ago we started hearing Sophia say "happy day" in the cutest way, with the words running together. It was clear what she was saying and we had no idea where she got this from, I did not remember ever saying this. Then one day she was looking through a book and started saying 'happy day' again. The picture she was looking at was a birthday cake with a candle, then it all made sense. Around November 18th we went to eat cake to celebrate our friend's birthday, the cake had candles and we all sang happy birthday...this was the source. Now when we light candles around our house (for Christmas, Advent), she starts saying it...and here is a video to prove it.

dressed alike

Sophia and I were matching in our pink and black so I put one of her barrettes in my hair and we took some pics.







Here David and Sophia are reading separately but together

a year ago...

Last Christmas at almost six months old..


The Minicks and their friends who joined our table last year, freezing in London now :), we miss you guys

Martha Lou's Dress

This is Martha Lou, Sophia's Great Great Aunt, who bought Sophia the cutest pink dress that seemed so huge when we got it, but fits her great now! While it is winter here, it is still warm, low 70s in the day, 50s at night, so Sophia could wear the sleeveless dress as she ran around for a little bit outside, not getting dirty of course. sorry these pics are not great, and don't do the cuteness justice...








okay, so she got a little dirty... :)

Going to see... (video)

In just a few short weeks we will be meeting the Cokers (poppy and cc) and the Crafts (Laura and Lee) in Thailand for vacation in Bangkok and the island of Koh Samui. We are so excited about this and have been trying to tell Sophia about it... Here she is saying who she is going to see...her pronunciation is pretty good (we think), She is a great mimmicker.

giggles (video)

Here is Sophia giggling as I tickle her feet. We love her laugh, and love that she is such a happy child!

"Bye Bye"

Sophia has been saying 'bye bye' for a long time now, but she has just recently began saying "bye bye" to both animate and inanimate objects. For example, the orange that was left on the ground, as we walked the other way she said 'bye bye' to it. She also has began to put more words together. When she gets up from her nap, she drops 'moo moo' (her cow blanket) in the crib and says "bye bye moo moo," today as Sophia and I were about to leave on the bike, David was leaving on the moto and she said "bye bye daddy" almost five times and long after he was gone. But what really made me laugh was when I was wrapping up a poopy diaper and throwing it away she said "bye bye poo poo." Even more impressive was that she told me she had the poopy diaper in the first place.

Christmas week

This will be our fifth Christmas overseas. Three out of the last four we have spent with the Minick family eating a Mexican feast (oh how we miss you guys). David and I contemplated: what kind of family meal we would like, no matter how much trouble it took, what would we like? We decided to stick with tradition and have enchiladas, salsa ( a new recipe), possibly guacamole, tortilla chips, and for dessert, Snicker Cheesecake. I had to plan my week well for all of this to happen. Lets hope it does. This is my week plan to get it all done.

• Saturday 20th: Bake Toffee for gifts, make Snicker cheesecake and freeze (check)

• Sunday 21st: make strawberry muffins for group (check)

• Monday 22nd: go to market, make double batch of Chili (to eat throughout the week) (check), make Enchilada sauce (freeze possibly)
• Tuesday 23rd: make salsa, guacamole (if I find an Avocado)
  
• Wednesday24th : make tortillas (I might see if our friend's helper will help with this, it is so tedious), buy Duck wraps to make tortilla chips (these are just already made tortilla like wraps that are too thin and small for tortilla use, but great for making chips)
• Christmas Eve: going to friends house for dinner
  
• Christmas Day: for dinner eat Enchiladas and dessert.

My first ever attempt at Toffee, I thought I had burnt it, but it turned out great. The second batch I did not cook long enough so it did not really become 'Toffee' oh well. It was still good.


Snicker Cheesecake (with chocolate chip cookie crust) yum, yum!

The Moto

here he is on the new Honda, it really is a nice ride


He and J are almost the only two folks in town with these helmets, of course most people do not wear or fasten their helmets...


this is typical Chinese style, as many folks as possible on the bike, we of course do not let our children ride...


Ready to go...


too cool,

More animated reading (video)

Here is another video of Sophia reading a book in her room. I will stop now with all the 'reading' highlights...but that is just what she is into right now, and hopefully for forever!

Bagels, Brocolli, and other stuff

I attempted for the first time to make bagels from scratch. I love a good bagel and cream cheese and have been craving them lately. Was it worth two hours and all the work? You bet. They don't look great, but they taste like a real genuine bagel from a bakery (not Lenders frozen kind). We thawed out our cream cheese and have eaten them for breakfast every day. (we have enough for four more days). Just fyi, When you freeze cream cheese and then thaw it it is very crumbly and must be mixed really well to regain its smoother texture. I ran into a few snags that probably had to do with baking in a toaster oven and a dark pan. The Bagels stuck and didn't seem to be getting real done, but I made some adjustments and overall super yummy!

David allowed me to spoil myself a little with a joint Christmas/ birthday gift and order some things from pampered chef. Everything arrived (thanks Cokers) two days ago, and I LOVE it and have already used many things. One of which was a big deep dish stone, which fits perfect in our 'oven' which is really a large toaster oven. I then made a Chicken Brocolli Braid (a pampered chef recipe altered by K and given to me, thanks again). It turned out really well and the stone did its magic. No burning!




here's our oven.