Chinese New Year 2009

Happy Chinese New, almost. Last night we celebrated the lunar new year with our Chinese friends. As usual, the girls donned their chi paos and the boys, their Chinese pajamas and set out to bring in the new year. I think it was the BEST celebration that we ever had. There were children everywhere. We ate long noodles for long life, oranges for a sweet life, and made our own red envelopes. Of course, the red envelopes were filled with chocolate coins. Maggie informed me that the chocolate coins were her favorite part of CNY. Then we had the lion to chase out the old year and our traditional bubble-wrap fireworks to scare away the "evil spirits." The only thing we didn't have was the dragon to bring in the new year...we will have to work on that for next year. Mac and Grace Ingram, "Ace," joined us. Getting to listen to the three girls talk and giggle in the car was almost as much fun as the actual party. They are growing up so much. We were listening to Raffi on the way there, and I was informed that Raffi is baby music...so there you go...

Maggie Learned to Roller Skate

The firsts are coming so fast at our house it makes my head spin. Today we met up with our good friends, "Ace" and Mac Kenzie, for an afternoon of roller skating. After a very hesitant start, Maggie mustered up her courage and took off. Once again, I am so proud of her.

Loose Tooth Round II

When I picked Mag up from school today, she was excitedly waiting to tell me that she lost her other loose tooth today. We had a little scare tonight when none of us could find it, but it finally surfaced...in the garbage can, where I had accidentally tossed it. It's all good, and we are expecting a visit from the tooth fairy later this evening.

Happy Birthday to Ms. Dauphin

January 5th was the first day back to school. I was surprised at lunch with a lovely birthday cake mader by the mom of one of my students. What made it especially touching was that it was her daughter's birthday as well, so we were able to share our birthday celebration. The whole school sang Happy Birthday, which was quite embarrassing, but sweet nonetheless. The other memorable part of the experience was this: One of my students said, "You are 45? You don't look 45." I responded, "Thank you...I will love you forever for that." Then she reflected a moment more and said, "Yeah, I think you look young because you dress young. Your face looks 45." Out of the mouths of babes...

Shoe Strings and Loose Teeth

Hayden was charged with the task of teaching Mag to tie her shoes, so that her name (Mag's name, that is) can be written on a shoe and placed on the white board at school. This would indicate that she can tie her shoes, and since 4 of her classmates have already accomplished this fete, Maggie is feeling the heat to learn, too. Since Hayden was under the impression that she was in need of the Heimlich maneuver, Josh stepped in to relieve Hayden in her teaching efforts. While taking a break from the tedious task of shoe-tying, Josh observed that blood was dripping out of Mag's mouth. She has had a loose tooth that has been holding on my a thread for several days....today was the BIG DAY....only Mag needed a little coaxing to pull the tooth out. It was a family effort. The three big kids were all in the bathroom cheering her on, while I sat on the commode and took pictures of the sacred event. Finally, Hayden just reached in Mag's mouth and pulled the tooth out....Maggie didn't even feel it. We concluded the loss of this first tooth with a phone call to daddy to share the news with him.