~ " NASTICS " ~

Mia joined a gymnastic class that her buddy, Meggie was in the other day.

The smile says it all! She just loved it and cannot wait to go back.

When we left, she kept saying "nastics over??"

I kept trying to explain we'll be back next week :)

She's been modeling her new nastics outfit a few times a day too!

Cutie

~ THE CNY PARADE IN FLUSHING ~

We drove into Flushing, Queens on Saturday to see the Chinese New Year parade with our friends and neighbors - Paige's parents and big brother ~ however, we never got to see it! It was over an hour drive and the traffic in Flushing was horrible...we drove around and around and around looking for a parking garage, a parking space; but there were none! We finally found a spot quiet a few blocks away, but by the time we got to the parade route - we were told by two nice policemen that the parade had ended! Oh no! We were told we could catch the fireworks and quickly walked down the block and around the corner. We did catch the very end of the fireworks and the dragon dance:

(I am having trouble with my new - adorable purple laptop :) - so I could not rearrange the photos in this post! You'll get the idea though):

Lisa and I -

Lisa had me try a bubble tea; which is very popular in Taiwan (where Paige was born). I got a coconut bubble tea and she got a taro bubble tea. Mine was delicious and tasted just like a sweet, sweet tea with lots of milk, ummm except this had tapioca beads on the bottom. I enjoyed the tea; however slurping those beads through the straw and chewing them was less than desirable to me. The tapioca beads have a gummy bear consistancy and freaked me out a bit!

This photo is of the "Dumpling Stall" -

I had printed out a sheet of good places to eat in Flushing and this one sounded great; however, we should have read into the "Stall" part and realized it was just that a STALL, a tiny little, walk up dumpling shack! We turned around and had to walk all the way back the opposite way in search of a place to have lunch...
The Dragon Dance!

Mia on daddy's shoulders

The firecrackers were loud!

Me and My Girl!

We went inside the Queens Mall because we heard there would be some cultural events going on (not so much, just a few tables with solicitations and one selling books), but the dragons came inside and graciously posed with the kids ~ it made our day!

lanterns!

Silly brother: Coleton & Anthony

After our "Dumpling Stall" fiasco, we found a great place to have lunch! It worked out so well and we got a big table in the back of the restaurant. It was very authentic and the waiter did not speak much English and had to get another waiter to help us out.

Mia had me pour her apple juice into the tea cup :)

John, Lisa, Paige, Coleton, Anthony, Mia, Me, Eddie and Ed
We had such a great lunch and SO much fun together!

Mia & Paigey

Auntie Lisa reading Mia her new Chinese/English book

What started out as a frustrating, traffic-filled morning ended up being a wonderful day we will remember forever. We will be celebrating Chinese New Year this coming Saturday - where all four families will each make a dish - we are so looking forward to seeing everyone!

~ MY GIRL ~

I was looking at these photos on my camera and just really liked them. Mia just LOVES Mickey Mouse and all of his friends right now....which is great timing since our trip to Disney World is coming up in April :)

Mia 'modestly' stands next to the picture

she drew of Mickey Mouse~

not bad!

She's always a very busy (messy!) girl ~

if I don't hear her near me, I better move fast...

I know I'll always find Mia with STUFF all over!

~ SLEIGH RIDING TOGETHER ~

I cannot believe I didn't take any Valentines's Day/Chinese New Year photos on Sunday! It's not like me, but we did have a real nice day together :) We had a new french toast (I made heart shaped pancakes when the kids had their snow days during the week - so I thought I'd do something a bit different) - it was called Fluffy French toast and I got it from Allrecipes.com (which is where I get many recipes these days). We ate our french toast (which was good, but no different really from my own; which I dip in egg and sprinkle with a cinnamon and sugar mixture) and then we exchanged Valentines - fun!

The kids went outside in the snow - the weather has been nice to just go outside for a couple of hours at a time, building snowman and snowforts.

Brothers :)

I asked Eddie to build me a "much needed snowman",
since I haven't had one yet this year ~
I don't know who's cuter...ummm, yes I do!

A work of Eddie-art!

On Friday, I was the mystery reader in Eddie's class~I read a "Bunny Love Story" and "Dragon Dance". He was so surprised/happy to see me - that he came running over and must have hugged me for 10 minutes straight :) We've had some trouble with Eddie's teacher this year - she's not the ideal teacher for him; which is putting it mildly. I worry so much about him while he's in school and I love these moments when I can "see" what his class is like. He is a trooper and we will stick it out for this year, but next year I will make sure he has the right teacher!

Anyhow, we ordered in Chinese food for dinner and then we all watched the movie "Earth"; which was beautiful, but the kids did get bored and wanted to know when it would be over!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Daddy was off for Presidents Day and it was such a nice day out (in the 40's), that we decided to ALL go sleigh riding together at a nearby school. It wasn't the best hill, but we sure had a good time - it's been years since I"ve been on a sled and I don't know who had more fun :)

I love this shot of Anthony jumping onto his tube/sled behind daddy!

The boys couldn't get enough!

Anthony gives us a great big push!

Eddie had a ball and I love all these smiley pictures of him!

Mia and mommy resting for a bit

Eddie got hungry

My handsome boy!

Eddie-boy!

I cannot wait to go back...

oh, and the kids too :)

~ "GUNG HAY FAT CHOY" - with a friend ~

On Tuesday, Mia dressed in her Chinese outfit for school. We (along with Meaghan Grace and her mommy) where going to talk about Chinese New Year (which begins Feb 14th) in the girls preschool class. We had a great book to read (My First Chinese New Year) and a dragon puppet craft to do with the class ( which we found in the back of this book:"Dragon Dance".

mommy tried to get some photos:

and finally succeeded :)

Mia in her preschool class

She sure is a China Princess :)

Mia & Meg's friendship has really grown this year ~

They always ask for each other

and they play SO well together :)

What a blossoming friendship it is!

Mia wears her Jade bracelet; Meg wears her pearls;

Mia's Chinese name was "Jade"; Meg's Chinese name was "Pearl"

The teacher asked the girls to stand and explained that

Mia and Meg where adopted from China.

It was such a special moment,

the girls being able to stand together ~

and not alone was and will be SO meaningful to them!

Mia and Meg listen to Michelle read about their China~

After reading the book, we helped the children make the dragon puppets,

four kids at a time ~ it was fun! We also put together a goody bag for the kids;

it had Chinese themed pencils, pads, yo-yo and noise makers(drum).

It was very special being able to do it all

Together :)