About Me

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I love to laugh and love with my family, read, exercise, cook and sew, all the while giving thanks to God for his immeasureable love and faithfulness to me.

Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Hello!!

Hello, hello!!  I don't know why it has been so long since I last posted...but it has.  Eeeks--sorry!
The girls celebrated a fall break a couple of weeks ago.  We didn't have much planned--just hanging out and chillaxing ;)  We hit up a new park and on the morning when we went, we were the only ones there.  This park is HUGE, so it was pretty fun having the place to ourselves.
It had rained the night before, so lots of the equipment was still wet (and slippery), but we didn't let that stop us!  There was only a small hiccup, when the Noodle didn't see a bar up at the top of a piece of climbing equipment and bashed her face into it.  OUCH!!  She gave herself quite a shiner.
After that we hit up Trader Joe's.  Going early on a Friday morning is nice because it is pretty empty and sane.  I don't look forward to going back to work and having to shop there on Saturdays and Sundays.  Craziness!

Are my two the only ones who love to put the stickers on their faces?  They get such a charge out of the goofy eye one and even passed them back and forth, making a pair.
Here the Noodle is helping Mei Mei get her's into position.  I always warn them about pulling them off--but they keep doing it so it must not hurt too much!
Saturday, after the Noodle went to Chinese school, we baked some Halloween cookies.  She is participating in American Heritage Girls (AHG) and is working on her baking award.  Don't you just love the "hairnet"?  It is actually a surgeon's cap from the pretend doctor's bag, but since her hair was dangling down, it certainly did the trick!
After we were finished baking, we decided to take a few over to a neighbor who wasn't feeling well. We walked outside and found...a traveling toilet!  Yes, you read that right--a potty.  It is a fundraiser for her former elementary school.  She couldn't believe that we had a toilet sitting in our front yard.
There was quite a bit of discussion that someone in the neighborhood would get confused and actually use the potty.  We kept reassuring her that that wouldn't happen.  Ha!
On Sunday, the four of us worked up at church at the food pantry checking dates, sorting and stocking canned goods. Both girls had a lot of fun with this and it provided some great discussion about how the food pantry works and who benefits from it in our little hometown.
It was also crazy windy on Sunday, so we decided to take the kite out.  The Noodle had made a kite the day before at Chinese School and wanted to fly that as well.
Both girls had a great time running around and flying the kite.  I'm thankful to report that we didn't lose any kites this time as everyone kept a tight grip on the string!
We ended with a big pot of soup for dinner--the best way to end the weekend!

Friday, October 2, 2015

Dumpling Making Party


Our friends invited us over for a dumpling making party the other night.  Pau Pau (grandma) and Gung Gung (grandpa) were in visiting and it is a tradition every time they come.

We were only too eager to join in the fun!  One batch was pork and shrimp and the other was vegetarian (pickled veg, cabbage, mushroom and cilantro).

The Noodle ended up getting pretty good at twisting the edge of the dumpling to make it look pretty. I just stuck to the traditional 'fold and pinch' method.  Mei Mei was a focused machine.  Ha!

We probably made about 150 dumplings in all.  Not too shabby!  In the end, only the adults were left making them since after a plate or two the kiddos trickled away to play ninjas, dress-up and eventually were lured by the glow of the video game screen.

Once we got all the jiaozi made, Pau Pau cooked up a big batch and we froze the rest for a later treat. Those, coupled with the noodles and broth, made the perfect meal on a rainy, windy night.
We finished it off with birthday cake and mooncakes.  Definitely mixed feelings around the table about mooncakes, but since Mid-Autumn moon festival had just ended, we all went with it.  Green tea, white lotus blossom, red bean and mixed nut were all sampled.
It was a great night spent with friends laughing, eating and learning.  Thanks for the fun!!