Sophia's Birthday party: The Three Little Pigs

6.30.2011

I let Sophia get up early, and we read books together. I rearranged the whole living room (very easy to do with our couches), and she was so surprised.
Then Ayi came in with a gift, the way to her heart:

pretty shoes with a small heel that makes noise when you walk....she got Bella a pair too. The girls always put on Ayi's shoes, which are usually small heels of some sort.




The activity upon arrival was house building with marshmallows and toothpicks, or just eating marshmallows.



The first game was 'whose afraid of the big bad wolf?' Each kid had a 'tail' taped to their back, and David as the wolf chased them around and tried to take each person's tail. Sophia and Elias were the only two left, and they do a 'run by' marshmallow snack.

David then snagged Sophia's tail.

Next was the 'huff and puff' game. I loved how the kids got into this game. We are trying to see whose balloon goes the farthest with just one puff.




Sophia waits for us to start the next game: pin the pig on the brick house.





Much needed refreshments were next: cake, candles, and gifts:



Ayi and Tobin



eating the cake, yummy yum.





Caleb is explaining the picture on his card.


I am looking at a friend whose daughter gave this gift. She is waiting to see my reaction to the gift of 'Teddy Grahams,' chocolate ones, in a big box, it came from the provincial capital. What a treat.

Towards the end of the party we gave Sophia her big gift (seen in the next post), this was also coupled with her completing Lesson 40 of her reading, she is doing great, and can actually read. Crazy.

The gift

what is it???


A BICYCLE! It has a seat in the back for Bella and a basket for groceries :)




she rode all around the living room and rode and rode. Then we gave everyone rides, it was a little like having pony rides...

For dinner we gave Sophia the choice of three things (she loves all three): pizza, duck, or 'over the bridge' noodles. She chose the noodles, a true Chinese child.
Happy fourth birthday Sophia, we thank God for you and the blessing of the last four years.

they never tire of this...

Daddy and Me (Tobin)

6.22.2011

A thank you

The closing on my Grandma's house was last Friday. The previous week she was checked into the hospital with a possible virus and pneumonia. Once there she got worse, so much so that they checked her into ICU...
Meanwhile, leading up to the closing my bro, sis, and dad continued the packing. Grandma lived there 53 years and has a LOT of stuff. I called them a few times that week and heard the stress/humor/sadness all tied into this big deal of moving and big deal of a sickness that may take my Grandma. And I was just plain missing it all...

When I called my dad on Father's day the conversation went something like this:
"you in the neighborhood? Stop on by..." (he is laughing)
"I wish I could"
"how about you pay the shipping and I will send you this ten pound dinner bell" (among the many 'collections' my Gma has, one is 'bells', the pretty kind that ring when you dangle them) We both LOL.
(he continues)"you should see Julie and Herschel looting this stuff"
"REALLY?!" (I sound shocked because I can't believe there is a lot they would want to loot)
"Naw, not nearly enough!" and we both chuckle again.
and I am thankful for this conversation, both weighty and light at the same time, and my dad who can always make me laugh, when what I feel like doing is crying.
Aunt Beth, Julie, Herschel, my dad, have been champions through all of this and it is not over...the hospital saga continues and the decisions get weightier. I am praying for you guys and for Grandma of course. I thank God for each of you, more than you will ever know.

Gator Gals...and why

Yes, the Florida Gators are in the College World Series Finals, and so the girls wanted to wear these dresses. No, not really. We had no idea the team was doing so well until my dad mentioned it on the phone the other day....and I still didn't force the fanfare.
The true story is that I often let Sophia choose what she would like to wear with me having the approval or disapproval. The day before this she chose the NC State dress (Happy Birthday Lee!), only for its ability to twirl really well, and that is indeed the sole reason she chose the Gator dress...hoping that it would spin out far when you twirl. It did but not as well as the State dress. She is completely into the 'twirling' ability of a dress. But I did hear her later saying, 'do the gator chomp' so I said a few gator cheers and sang the alma mater (not really). Either way, Go gators.




I missed the twirl in the photo.

First Date

Okay, well that was like a gazillion years ago. But this is our real first date since having three kids. And since we have our friend's car, it was a special treat (AC!!!). We decided we would brave our helper putting all three kids to bed. We used to do date nights during dinner and come back in time to put them to bed. But with Tobin in the mix, the best time is right after his 5th feeding of the day, between 6:30-7:00, then we stay out really until whenever. This time we came back by 8:45. The girls did pretty good, they were at least asleep by the time we got home. I wrote Sophia a list of three things to do before bed, that I knew she could read (and we read it together before leaving): Pee Pee, Teeth, God. Of course that means: go potty, brush your teeth, and pray. .

We drove out to the countryside at the base of some mountains, and enjoyed the AC, and then turned around and drove back to town. Despite all the construction going on in our town it remains a very beautiful place to live. And with rice just being planted the fields are an indescribable green. We did a lot of talking about parenting, about my Grandma and her situation, about family life, and various articles, Bible passages we had been reading lately, etc. it was a great 'first' date. We hope to start doing this regularly again.