Gung Hay Fat Choy!

...translation "Happy New Year!"

Yesterday we celebrated Chinese New Year. Those of you who quickly consulted your lunar calendar and realized that the second new moon after winter solstice is not until Feb. 14th this year, may be scratching your heads. But considering we celebrated Chinese New Year last year in March due to 3 rounds of a stomach bug, we thought we better start planning early!

This year we expanded the party to include 2 preschool groups so we had to upgrade to the local Chinese restaurant (which is owned by my former student's family). They were so gracious and excited to celebrate with us they provided at least twice the food that we ordered. After all, this is a holiday about abundance!

The kids enjoyed the chop sticks and french fries (really? french fries? That was one of the add-ons from our hosts, they know kids!). The adults enjoyed lots of other tasty treats that the Toads will have on hand for some time to come if anyone wants to stop by for lunch!

Then we played a traditional Chinese game of Dominoes...

And crafted some Chinese lanterns...

And dragons for good luck!

I think all of the kids will agree the best part was receiving their traditional red pouch of good luck money!

...which turned out to be really GOOD LUCK because they FINALLY got to mob the candy machines for what they REALLY wanted!

Happy New Year! May this year bring LOTS of GOOD LUCK!

And Speaking of Little Ladies...

Congratulations to the Zeller's who recently welcomed little Lily into their home. We are SOOO excited to have another little friend to play with, especially since she is going to make an excellent playmate for our little yet-to-come Toad. So far, the best part for us is that Lily's Big Sister Sara and Big Brother Mathew have been freed up to come over for some play dates. They are kinda (understatement of the world) some of our favs.

To celebrate, I tried a new recipe on the kids. Who knew they would be such huge fans of OCTOPUS! Certainly not the appalled, inquisitive children who asked, "What's for lunch?" But once the dreadful lunch was served and they saw that the "octopus" was merely hot dog chunks speared with spaghetti noodles, the party started!

Just trying to keep it interesting. If you want the "recipe" check out Family Fun magazine...

Three Little Ladies...

Last year at this time, we had three little ladies come into our lives. The first was our sweet (and only female Phrogbottom) cousin who was born in Indiana. Sadly, we still have not met her in person. sigh. But from all reports she is an angel! Happy Birthday Little Belle!

(I'm sure her parents will love how I totally lifted a picture from her family blog, but when I have no pictures of my own, what am I to do? ...umm, with the glaring exception of asking permission first).

The next was the little sister of one of our favorite playmate's. Recently Cora spent the morning with us while her mom went to an appointment. This girl is a peach. We honestly did not want to let her go when her mom came back. Abz is campaigning hard to keep her as her own sister.

The last little lady was a Valentine lady. She is cousin Boo's little sis. We babysat Tiney back around Christmas time. She recently learned to crawl the week before her visit and she hit the ground running (in a crawling sort of way). It was fun to see her transform from a docile, observant little infant to an engaged, playful BUSY big kid in 1 visit. We love all of these little ladies!


This weekend we celebrated little Cora's 1st birthday with her! She was (and always is) in such a delightful mood it was as if she knew the big party was all about her. As a parting gift she gave each of the kiddos a balloon! Jackpot! These three balloons have been the source of all delight (with the occasional strife when they get tangled) for the last few days. The kids have raced around the house, drawn eyes, noses, and mouths on the balloon's faces, tied varying weighted objects to test the balloons lift, and snuggled to bed with their treasures. This is how we found them the night of the party...



We are so happy to have three more fabulous reasons to celebrate this time of the year! Happy Birthday Belle, Cora and Tiney!

Hybernating

It is COLD out side.
We have hunkered down...

snuggled up...
...and are counting the days until we can run and jump and play in the
WARM sunshine OUTSIDE!

Until then, we will just continue to release our energy by being
MANIACS INSIDE!

Snow Days

We have a true snow queen around here. Abz BEGS to play out in the snow all day every day. Every time we need to leave the house, Abz escapes to tromp through her winter wonderland... and it doesn't matter how her feet are accoutered. After making a run for it in her flip flops I thought her madness would be cured, but she didn't even utter one complaint. She just loves snow.
It is a good thing that she does because her enthusiasm draws some (if not all of us) out for a little fun. Her youthful enthusiasm is so contagious that even Pops caught it and initiated building a snow cave for the kiddos.
Pops admits that the best part is whipping out a few snow angels, with his little snow angel, before coming in for some cocoa-joe.

The rest of us (party poopers) just took a mid-winter's long nap.

(Thanks, Pops, for not disturbing our slumber by creaking the door all the way open for the pic)

Happy NEW MAC to ME!!!

...errrrr... I mean to US!
We all had a fun time playing on the HAPPY NEW MAC that joined the family yesterday. We are especially big fans of the new PHOTO BOOTH application. I think I can safely say that I won the scary face contest... but I will spare you that picture.

Not only is this HAPPY NEW MAC fun, but I feel like I finally have the tool I need to conquer the world, so watch out!

Christmas Did Not Disappoint!

Superkid was OVERJOYED with the arrival of his new pet, "Dragon, the Dragon". He declared, "Dragon the Dragon is just like I imagined him." Who knew Santa was a mind reader?

Abizella is relieved that her rapidly expanding Pony collection has been accommodated with some new fancy homes!
And it is double happiness for Tadpole, not only did he get Mac and Lightening McQueen but they are LEGOS! Finally he doesn't have to sit around waiting for Superkid's Lego cast offs!
The BIG WINNER this Christmas was Superkid. He gave the most beloved gift to Tadpole. Sheriff and Doc. These two little cars have not willingly left Tadpole's little mitts (even to sleep) since they first appeared Christmas Eve. They are kinda like honorary Toads, at least that is what you would think if you hung around here. We have all sorts of conversations with these two goofy characters who pretty much never stop talking in their gruff little voices.
This family enjoyed the BEST CHRISTMAS EVER! We are so thankful to everyone for the FABULOUS gifts that continue to delight us every day! Now come over and play with us!

All I Want For The New Year Is My Two Bottom Teeth!

Monday Superkid snagged a tooth while brushing his teeth. His two bottom teeth have been pretty wobbly for the past week, but it was still pretty shocking to find a hard little tooth floating around in the froth of toothpaste in his mouth.

The Tooth Fairy was a smashing hit around here. Superkid could hardly wait for the next visit, so he concentrated hard on that second tooth. He announced Wednesday night that he could turn his tooth in a full circle. I suggested he go brush his teeth and see what happens (since I knew he would NEVER give me the pleasure of plucking it myself). BINGO! Tooth #2 made its grand exit.

Abz was beside herself. She couldn't stand the thought of being past by the Tooth Fairy again. Superkid, being perfectly sympathetic to his sister's feelings cheered her up by triumphantly proclaiming that the Toenail Fairy would come visit Abizella after she lost a chunk of toenail later that night. Imagining the financial demands on the poor little Toenail Fairy with 40 little ephemeral piggy nails around here, I shook my head and said, "Silly Superkid! There is no Toenail Fairy! That's a good one, Toenail Fairy!" We all had a good laugh. "Don't worry Superkid and Abizella. Abz has just as many teeth as you and she will loose every one of them too and the Tooth Fairy will come and visit her too."

Superkid is a good big bro. He continues to let Abz sleep top bunk with him. She is so close it is almost like she gets a visit from the Tooth Fairy too!