Advent and such

One of the best family gifts we received was this book from Poppy and CC last year: The Advent Book. It is a compilation of various versions of actual scripture and has big beautiful doors on every page that are so fun to open. It is a gorgeous book and the girls have loved reading it this year, they can pretty much quote the scripture on every page since almost every night they start from the beginning and read the story. We also do our normal advent calendar, having the girls take turns putting that days' character on the quilt/calendar. We did add a Jesse tree this year and Sophia has done a great job of cutting out the ornaments and we read along a little snippet and prayer that follows 'the line of Jesse' to Jesus. This sounds like a lot, but it all takes just a little bit of time each night. We may or may not continue each of these things, but we will keep doing The Advent book, a true highlight.

Our week has been jam packed already. I think I made about 12 loaves (4 batches) of pumpkin gingerbread as gifts for neighbors and other ex-pats in town. Today Sophia and I made 60 cookies for her classmates (which her teachers let her give out, she loved that), Thursday we will have some local girlfriends over for a movie night (David will go out and meet with some local guys), Friday I will start making the pies for Christmas Eve dinner. Christmas Eve day we will go to a wedding of a local friend and that night we will have another American family over for dinner! It has been fun, really, but non-stop!

Our 2.5 year old

Bella boo is still Bella boo. This girl keeps us on our toes, and is a riot to be around. She makes us laugh out loud every. single. day. We are so thankful for her.
Following a format from a friend blogger, I will tell you what Bella is up to:

She eats: almost anything, but can get picky at times. She LOVES plain rice and small mandarin oranges that are in season now. She can eat over 12 dumplings if we let her (which is what an adult eats, these are small compared to the dumplings of the North east). She really is a great eater, but tends to get a little lazy, quitting before she is really full, but will then finish if you feed her.

She sleeps: lighter than all our others. this could be a function of her age, not sure. She hears any noise and says she is scared. We hear firecrackers a lot, not just at the new year because we are on the funeral route to take the body up the mountain to bury, so the procession comes near us, this always scares Bella and is always during her nap. But she has generally slept through the night since about 2 months old. Sometimes she will have a 'night terror' and wake up crying and not really be awake. Also, when she has a cold, we can expect to be woken up a few times at night. At bedtime she likes to talk to Sophia, who is usually tired, because she doesn't really take naps. This makes for interesting bedtimes sometimes. She still takes one nap a day, and loves for Sophia to tell her a story, sing her a song, turn out the light, and crack the door (this happens while I nurse Tobin).

She speaks: Clearly and a ton. She continues to amaze me with her sentences, and certain words that she knows in Chinese. This morning she said: 'mommy, this marker does not work very well,' and yesterday I heard her say to her baby doll: 'oh dear!' She also used the Chinese word for 'fart' when her tutor was here and came to me to change her diaper. BUT her maturity certainly is not up with her speaking, so she whines a ton and can throw a good fit to try to get what she wants. We are working on this, and she is getting better. She can put on a good act. When asking her why she is getting discipline, she starts with an 'I don't know' sometimes but then always ends up clearly telling us what it is she did.

She jokes: she also knows she is funny. When we are trying to get her to redo something or say something because it is so funny, she will cut her eyes laugh and not do it. I was asking her to say:
I love you Tobin. And she did. Say: I love you Mommy. She smiled and said: I love you chair. Say: I love you mommy. I love you stroller (giggle). Say: I love you mommy. (laugh) I love you orange. (laugh, laugh, laugh) I love you mommy.

Playing with her tutor one day I came in to check things out and she said sincerely: Go away mommy. I told her that was not very nice, so she said: Mommy Please go away. !!!

She plays: she loves to cook in her kitchen and be a mommy to her baby doll. She loves to drive her car outside, and she loves to play with Sophia. She does love to draw and favors her left hand in just about everything. She loves to draw on anything, sometimes that includes paper. She is the one that has drawn on the walls, and on other things. Not as an 18 month old unsupervised, but right now. The conversation goes something like this:

'mama, I drew on the wall'
'you did? where?'
'in my room.'
'with what?
'a marker'
'are you supposed to draw on the wall?'
'no'
where are you supposed to draw?
'on paper'
and then the discipline takes place, and the scrubbing of the wall.



Her Hair, etc.: probably her most talked about feature, curly and blondish. She now says: 'mommy my hair is in my eyes'. But will only wear a barrette for a little while. She is VERY particular about little things. If a sock doesn't fit perfectly on her feet she says it hurts, if she has something on her hand she whines to get it off, in this way she is quite picky about certain things, the way they fit or feel. David confessed one day, 'hmmm...she is like her daddy in this' and the light dawned and I said 'oh my! yes indeed'.


Very strong willed, brave, and hilarious, Bella is a precious child. We love you sweet girl, can't imagine our lives without you!

you girls are crazy

It was morning, and particularly cold, so I bundled the girls up to go outside, each carrying a little clutch purse....

yes, Tobin stared at these girls for quite awhile, with a 'what in the world' kind of look, I imagine there will be a lot of those in the years to come.

All Eyes on Tobin

This is what we need these days...all eyes on him. I am constantly saying, Soph, can you watch Tobin for a second...and she is a big help. He still hasn't quite sat up on his own, but he is pulling up on lots of things....

he pulls up on his basket and sits on his feet.


see that mischief I am talking about...written all over his face.


yes, his cheeks just might be edible.


he loves this bamboo table, and has fallen backwards on his head on our hard floor.




And Sophia comes in for moral and physical support.

Gifts, etc.

While the kids are getting stocking stuffers from us this year, we still received some gifts from family in the States. I had sent a list of things (mainly good books) that I thought would be good as a 'wish list' of sorts that wasn't even for Christmas (sent back in October). I was simply responding to an inquiry, and man did they come through. Granted, these few gifts aren't toys, so the excitement may not be quite as big, but it is for me, some of these are still wrapped under the tree. That was from my side of the family. And we just received packages from Poppy and CC too, so the bounty has increased a little. I will document some of these unwrapping days of fun as they unfold (unwrap :)).

We are so blessed...

What I love about both sides of our families is that they never over do it, ever. They respect our desires, they always ask, and never, ever do 'too much'. The gifts are never overwhelming, making the giving and receiving a very cherished and joyful time. Thanks guys, for blessing us so much and helping our children cherish Christmas as they should, as Christ-mas, filled with giving, receiving, and remembering the best gift ever: Jesus.



Here they unwrapped 'The Wind in the Willows' (a super-cool annotated edition) from granddaddy Johnson. You will love this classic, girls! They are always excited about a good story.

And then.....OH MY! Did my mom come through. Grandma Donna won our girls hearts with these ballerina/ballet outfits and shoes. Sophia asks to wear this every day. And she slept in the shoes the first night, then woke up at 2:43 a.m. (yes, I remember), came to my bedside and said: 'mommy, I lost my ballet slipper in my bed'. And she woke up so early that morning too because she wanted to put her leotard back on!


I post all three pics because they wouldn't stop looking at their little tutus or whatever you call them.





The above pics were day 1, and yes it was too cold to have these on, but they were just for a few minutes.

Below is day two, and Sophia really got her spin on...






Such sweet love.
Thank you Grandma Donna, they LOVE LOVE LOVE these!

Our 8 month old

Tobin is a smiley happy baby.
He dropped from 80-90% in weight to 50%, this is okay, but still a doc recommended that I start giving him a few snacks. This has really helped his night sleeping. He used to wake up b/w 5-6 a.m. now he goes usually until 7 a.m.

He loves to army crawl around the house and get into everything. We have makeshift 'fences' to reign him in. He can crawl off of his belly and has done it quite a few times, but always reverts to the belly on the floor.

He is making tons of noises and babbles. Sophia thinks he can say 'mama' and 'dada' but he is really just making the consonant sounds.

He is eating: brocolli, tofu ( a little), egg yolk, peas, carrots, pears, applesauce, sweet potato, some ground nuts, ground flax seed, brewer's yeast, wheat germ, rice cereal, and oatmeal. I am thinking of finally making my own yogurt and starting him on it. David really wants me to do this because he wants to eat it too!

He has NO teeth to speak of yet.

He looks just like David to me, except the blue eyes, which have remained a bright, pretty blue. He sometimes has this mischievous grin when we tell him 'no' or 'no touch', it reminds me of David...I can just picture in about 10 years, David and Tobin making mischief together like David and his dad used to do (dare I say, potato gun?!). So fun...

The girls: Christmas cuteness