I've been cooking Chinese food a lot more since we moved here. I don't know why. Maybe it's because there are more Asian people here? Maybe it's because I'm cooking more than I ever have? Or maybe it's because the kids do pretty well eating it? Yes, it's probably the last one.
Anyway, did you know that we have many ties to the Asian culture? Let me give you a run down: My dad served a two year mission for our church in Taiwan back in the 70's and learned Mandarin Chinese. When I was little, our family moved to Hong Kong for a while for my dad's work. Several years later, my brother served a mission for our church in Hong Kong and learned Cantonese. (Did you know that the church decides where you go? Pretty amazing, right?) Then, we went to pick up my brother after his mission in Hong Kong. After he got home, he learned Mandarin. Aaron served a mission for our church in San Jose, California (and learned Mandarin Chinese there). While we were dating, Aaron went and bummed around in China for a little while. Aaron and I went to Beijing, China right after we were married and taught English for a summer. And, now my brother lives in Shang Hai.
Whew! Did you catch all that? Anyway, when Aaron and I went together, we bought some fancy ceramic chopsticks and bowls. We decided to pull them out one night and show the kids how to use them.
Cal preferred the STAB method.
Aaron looks really happy here. I thought I'd share this one.
Eventually the chopsticks turned into drumsticks and two were broken before the meal was over. Boo. From now on, WOODEN chopsticks will be used for the 3 and under crowd.
::: In efforts to get bring an exciting diversion to Tillie's little life, we signed her up for a little dance class. She LOVES it. We knew she would. But, here's the kicker, we don't know if she loves the class more or the fact that she gets to have a stamp on her hand at the end of her lesson. Nice.
Regardless, she makes one stinkin' cute little ballerina. We took a few shots of the little Miss before one of her lessons:
She learned all of her tricky dance moves from her mother. This next one included.
Cal wanted in on the fun. He's pretty darling too.
::: On one of Aaron's days off, we decided to explore different parts of the Dallas area. News flash: Dallas is HUGE!
Anyway, while we were out and about we opted to check out one of the malls here. I had heard that an H&M was opening up, so I wanted to check it out. Ummm... yeah, there were about a BILLION people who wanted to stand in line for a few hours to check it out too. I quickly decided that I'd "check it out" another day and we happily went downstairs to the play place. It was PERFECT for our two toddler kids. Here they are whoopin' it up:
Blurry photos, I know, but they were having so much fun. And, for some reason, Calvin is looking SO old to me these days! Maybe it's his longer hair? I don't know. But, I feel like he's 8 or something!?!
::: Luckily, upon moving here, I found a great friend! (insert Hallelujah chorus!) I have my sister's friend, Ellen, to thank! She "set us up" after we moved here. It's so nice to have a nice, normal, REAL, and funny person to hang out with. Anyway, we've had several little play-dates at different parks around town, thanks to her expertise. Here we are one morning feeding the ducks. The temperature had just dipped down to 44 degrees, so we pulled out our "winter" wear.
You can tell by their faces, the kids were NOT happy to be there. Oh wait...
Let it be known that I HATE geese when they are up close and personal. They are aggressive and mean! We ran away from them because we were so scared!
I love these next shots of the kids. The lighting is great. The kids are happy (and cute). Pretty sweet.
The first few days of November. I told you I had a lot of catching up to do...
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They don't call me "the connector" for nuthin'.
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