Gung Hay Fat Choy

.... oh, you don't speak Mandarin either?  I'll help you out.  According to the internet it means 'Best wishes and Congratulations. Have a prosperous and good year' and is a typical greeting in China at this time of year.  Last night marked our third Chinese New Year (CNY) celebration with Tyson and our first with Lucy.  There is a (self-explanatory) group in our area called the Hampton Roads Families with Children from China, or HRFCC for short.  Last night the HRFCC held their annual CNY celebration.  My guess is that there were about 300 guests mostly clad in Chinese dress. Oh, what a site! They had dragon and lion dancers, musicians, caligraphers, merchants and a whole bunch of other stuff that would put even the most calm person on sensory overload.  And our kids loved.every.minute.of.it.  Tyson sat in rapt attention as the performers did their thing.  To occupy his time when the performers weren't on stage he fought his new and old friends with a 'what was his mother thinking?' newly purchased wooden sword. We often talk about our favorite part of our day but last night Tyson started to tell me about his '100 favorite parts of the night' before I cold even start to ask him any questions.  I think that we'll be back again next year:)  Lucy liked all of the things that she usually enjoys- food, music and her family.  
We had the privilege to celebrate with the Phelps family for the first time. Savanah is also a spicy Nanchang girl. This was our third year celebrating with the Sanzone family but heir littlest one, SarahJoy, is still in the hospital and we missed her so much.  SJ- we can't wait until next year when we're ALL together.
In true Melissa-style I photographed and videoed almost every second (well as much as one can with a two year old in tow).  So, I leave you with pics of Lucy and Ty.

Gung Hay Fat Choy!

THE boots

I just recently heard from a few of you that you are still reading along so I thought I'd throw up a few pics and a quick update.

We went to the beach for our annual New Year's Day visit to the ocean.  I think that it's important to start the year off right by hitting the beach, even if I grossly overestimated how warm it actually was.  We lasted all of about 10 minutes before the kids were ready to commit mutiny and hitch a ride home with an adult who was wise enough to keep the kids INdoors.  

As you may notice there are definitely more pics of Lucy.  This is because she is my main 'subject' as I practice with my new digital SLR while Ty is at school. She tries to cooperate with my seemingly endless attempts at getting the perfect shot but usually gives up after about 5 snaps of my camera.   We're still working on the act of 'smiling'.  Whenever I suggest that she 'smile' she basically holds her face in a real pained position.  

Not too much is going on right now. Tyson's likes are still the same-- toys, video games and friends.  He is learning to read and write in Kindergarten.  It's definitely harder than I thought it would be!  I'm pretty sure that he would agree. 

Last week we had another snow day and the kids were less than impressed with the snow itself.  After what seemed like 30 minutes getting the kids ready to go outside in it we headed out to play.  About 9 minutes in they were ready to go back in.  Uhhh... no way.  I wasn't lettin' them go in until play time equaled the prep time.  I really do like being home with the kids.  I secretly love it when Ty's school is cancelled for the day so we can hide out and play games and just relax.

Lucy's Winter-loves are her boots and Tumbles class.  Whenever I put on my boots she insists on wearing hers too.  (See pic below).  All week she longs to go to Tumbles (a kids gym) class.  I'm not sure if she truly loves it or is just excited to go to something that is totally focused on her. 

I hope that your year is truly blessed! I'll try to put up some Chinese New Year pics next week.

One tooth less than the day before

Lulu playing dress up in Ty's first Halloween costume

Every kid does this at least once, right?

THE boots

Happy Valentine's Day

Very Merry Christmas!!!

What a big month December was for Lucy. On the 19th she turned 2. We can hardly believe that she's no long our 1 year old baby, but is now our 2 year old little girl! She loves to sing Happy Birthday. Mostly she just says 'happy you you' over and over. Her favorite part of her birthday was definitely receiving presents. She patiently opened each card, commented on whatever was on the front of the card and then peeled off every piece of wrapping paper. It was too funny to see how calm she was while opening each present. Her brother, on the other hand, could barely contain himself. He wanted to play with her gifts the second she cracked them open.

Unfortunately Lucy was sick for the days surrounding Christmas. She perked up enough to go to GPa and NaiNai's for dinner on Christmas Eve but then felt poorly again on Christmas day. Tyson enjoyed every part of the Christmas season. This is his third one in the states and he seems to fall in love with the season more and more each year.

Almost as a surprise to everyone, we got walloped with a snow storm that started Christmas night. The final count was about 14 inches! Thanks to hand-me-downs from Lane & Angela, Lucy was outfitted in a snow suit and boots. (For our family far away- owning snow gear is not the norm for Virginia Beach residents).

It was the very merriest of Christmases for me personally. I finally have our two children home & safe for the holidays. This is the most beautiful of answer to many years of praying. I hope that the new year is a blessed one for you!

Icicles on our icicle lights.... in VB?!?!

Our candy canes on the 26th & it snowed a bit more after that! 

New use for the beach buckets

Our candy canes on the 25th

Wooden fruit anyone?