Well, our dryer broke. 'nothing that can't be fixed' says hubby, but not too soon, we are swamped. And I am fine with that. I will join the billions of people in the world without dryers. Our first few years we were without one, I liked line drying, when we had a huge patio and place to do it. Not so in this apartment. So I went to the supermarket and bought this thingy to hang clothes out to dry, buckled it in tight and drove home. so far so good.

rehearsal day Dec 30

Pictures documenting the fifty year history of the school

They built a stage, put up scaffolding for all the lights, and even a big screen


there's Harry Potter (the dog's name) all in the mix


this dance troupe is...can you guess? Nurses, how fitting.

Sun blaring, two girls wait and watch in their costumes

rehearsing in their costumes, with jackets on because it was a little cool in the shade

Sound techs, why is it sound techs always look like cool dudes?

unlikely he is a US Marine, despite his shirt and camos


Sophia makes herself comfy as we watch some of the rehearsal

checking things out from the third floor classroom windows

another interesting outfit

Christmas clothes

the crown, on backwards, looks pretty cool

checking out big sis

love this outfit. In the end we had to cut a little slit in the neck because of her quite large head, the hole was just too small. But the outfit itself she still has room to grow in.


Poppy and CC's neighbor gave this and the below outfit to our girls. Super sweet


this is a 12 month outfit, and is too big, but since we layer so much in the winter, it is fitting pretty well.

november videos

Interesting conversations:
video 1:
'guo lai zuo zai zheli, hao ma?...' (come over and sit here, okay?)
....Baby doll....guo lai...'

'Don't take cell phone from me....
...please don't video me mommy...'

This was November 19th, it was around this time she really did not like me videoing her. And one day outside it dawned on me as she had the same reaction from people taking her picture with their cell phone. We use a FlipVideo, it is very tiny and you hold it to video like you do a cell phone. I think she just equated the two and didn't like it. By the way, if I could promote anything it would be the FlipVideo, our best purchase by far. love it, worth every penny.



video 2:
when answering what she did with Xiao Chen (her tutor) she answers:
'stand up on my bed (a no-no)....sit up on table and looked at not some 'geges' but gezi....xiao niaos (little birds) on the tree...one...two...'

her mix of languages here is interesting, and how she makes sure we understand what she is talking about, she is probably completely repeating what her tutor told her about the difference between 'gege' (pronounced guhguh) and 'gezi' (guhzi), 'gege' means big brother, and 'gezi' means pigeon or dove, but they are the same tone. They were most certainly looking at birds as she later says 'xiao niao' which means little birds.

Christmas blues

literally. Christmas night David got VERY sick. It wreaked havoc on his body from 11pm until about 4 am I helped him on and off until about 3 a.m. and then slept on the couch (just in case it was viral). He was so exhausted that he slept all the next day and recovered a bit. Finally by the 28th he was back to normal pretty much and quite a few pounds lighter. It certainly was some kind of food poisoning and don't you know, I cooked the food. I think the lettuce may have been the culprit, though I ate it too. You never know. We were so thankful that no one else got sick.

In other news, it seems the campus we live on, the nursing school is turning 50 years old, it is getting a new name (and supposedly a higher level). To celebrate all this, for weeks now the students and faculty have been practicing for a huge performance that will take place on New Year's eve. Possibly two nights. The start time is uncertain. the day too. I have heard four different things, that is just how it is around here about everything, you don't know until it happens. Sophia has been outside dancing with them as they practice every day, she loves it. And now we heard that because of the big shebang we will not have electricity for the next two nights. So much for our new year's eve movie. It will have to be a book and candlelight.

Merry Christmas!

and the light shown in the darkness...










vitamins, perhaps her favorite gift

talking to family back home


serving wooden watermelon after using her new cutting board


Bella wearing her princess crown that Abby bought her

with loved ones on Christmas

Blessings to you from the Cokers on Christmas!!!

traditions, icing the cookies

above pictures are from the morning session with Abby and Sophia's teacher. Below, Daddy took over and iced cookies (supposedly for the first time ever, I guess it is a girl thing). In the middle of our time Sophia did not listen to mommy and the green sprinkles went everywhere, hence the tears, and a few minutes of cool down before resuming.










her last cookie: goobly gop man...good job Sophia!

traditions, the cookies

Though these pictures don't show it, this was a very hard day. Sophia woke up at 3:30 the night before and whined and fussed. Bella now sleeps in there with her and in order to prevent two screaming babies, I slept in the other bed in Sophia's room. But Sophia would talk every so often (she has a slight cold and kept wanting me to blow her nose). Neither of us got much sleep. (somehow Bella slept until 7:45???!!! go figure)
Our Christmas cookie tradition was waiting to be commenced....and so we pressed on in our weariness, she and I. She super fussy, me super impatient. Don't you love the blog world that hides such ugliness? In reality, I apologized to her a few times and she apologized to me a few times (with discipline and the 'tell mommy you are sorry' routine). And we did have a joyous day, long, but joyous. Mindful and so thankful for Immanuel, who takes the ugliness away and gives grace, which includes simple things like making Christmas cookies for the first time with my two year old. Sweet blessings, always sweet, even when my complaining heart doesn't see it.

Day one: make the dough, roll the dough, cut out the cookies. Sophia did an excellent job of using the cookie cutters, I was impressed.