an original gingerbread creation

Our girls have grown up thinking houses with yards were such a novelty, since they have lived in tall cement apartments since they can remember. So of course, we decided to create a different kind of Gingerbread Home this year....a high rise apartment building out of yummy graham crackers. It was so fun to see how high we could build it...well, until we had used almost 2 entire boxes!!

Can you see the awning we built too? 

Here's a close up of the front door (dan yuan) and the short dog that our neighbor lady would take for a walk everyday (the green tootsie roll).  It was good to remember these little things together, and laugh about our memories of home. 

 

And here is the demolition:  

(which actually looks like many buildings in our city, and reminds us of our Ice Cream Factory that was officially demolished in February 2012.  sniff sniff.)

 

holiday crafting....

for the newest family member (cousin) ....due in Feb 2013!!

These are my new favorite crafty gifts.  I buy onesies at the 2nd hand store (nicer ones, of course) and create a fun felt character on the front.  I made some for a friend last summer, and I hope she enjoyed them.  I searched online for images & ideas -- while trying to stay neutral with the gender, since we are all going to be surprised with this soon-coming-miracle!! 

 I also made a bunch of these child-sized aprons for a certain birthday girls' party this month, and I got pretty fast at whipping these out -- so I made a few for gifts too.  These two were sent to cousins in Ohio! 

The girls made these simple owl ornaments - even Sydney (5yrs) stitched her own!  I really love working with felt, as it holds its shape & position so well.  I love how they turned out!

These were made with dried pinwheel pasta and lots of glue!  ...then painted white and strung with some ribbon & beads.  Simple but fun!

Not sure if these are quite visible, but we just used a brown cardboard star (from the craft store) and used colorful tissue paper to paint on with glue/mod podge to cover the entire star. 

So there you have it....some of the fun gifts & crafts we made this year!!

Jesse Tree part 2

Christmas crafting has come and gone in this house, but its been a good 4 weeks of sewing & such with the girls.  I attempted to make Jesse Tree ornaments last year and only finished about 10-15 of them.  This year, I added a few more to the collection, and I imagine I will finish them next year.  I never realized how intricate of a project I was undertaking, but I am having a great time piecing together each ornament and making it our own.  The kids really love hearing the stories & lessons along the way too, which is the MAIN reason I am making these!  This year the girls each took turns reading during our evening family time, which makes it even more sweet.  I love hearing them read aloud, and finding lessons we can learn from this rich Story!

Anyhow, here are the most recent additions to our tree:

Rahab & the spies

Ruth & Boaz

Jesse

Samuel

David - shepherd & king

Elijah

Daniel

Ezekiel - God's word is our food!

Isaiah

Zechariah & Elizabeth

Watching & Waiting

On the back of each circle of felt, I stitched the book & chapter of the reading for that day, which is what has taken me so long to complete these ornaments.  I really enjoy coming up with my own design for the front, but the tedious part of stitching words isn't my fave.  Anyhow, it has been so fun & therapeutic to make each of these in the evening after the girls are in bed.  I have about 6-7 more ornaments to complete this project, which I will hopefully attempt next Christmas (2013). 

Happy Birthday Jesus!!

It's not about presents, or glowing lights on the tree, or even family or yummy food. And even though its hard not to get homesick (or family-sick), I truly appreciate these foreign-land Christmases, where we can quiet ourselves and focus on the birth of our Savior, without all the hubbub, and just remember the humility, the scandal, the provision, and the beauty! To remember the poor little family that gave birth in a dirty stable, and had to wrap their baby in cloth and place him in a feeding trough to sleep. Its amazing that 1 birth + 33 years = a life that has changed this planet more than anyone. Happy Birthday Jesus! We celebrate you! May we increase your fame on this earth!

december festivities

We made a Christmas movie this year - these 7 kids wrote the script, painted scenery, created costumes, and acted superbly! We hosted a "premier" with little snacks, so all the parents could enjoy the end-product! It was really great!

We've played in the snow - even though the temps hover right around zero during the day. The kids are just now getting used to the long johns, the layering, the gloves & scarves and ear muffs too. Its really beautiful after a snowfall - so white and crisp and fresh. We'd love another fresh layer so we can maybe take the girls sledding. C'mon SNOW!!


Lots of holiday baking happening around her too ~ I even made some famous cinnamon rolls to share with our neighbors. I think they love me more now.

We inherited a puppy last week. Our business partners had to return to the States last minute, so we are taking care of their little puppy, Oreo. She's not house trained, so we have to take her out 5x a day, and also clean her feet every time we come back inside. She still has accidents, which are not fun. Nor is her constant high-pitched barking. Asia has been very responsible to take Oreo out for her potty breaks, and its incredible to see her rise to the occasion. We aren't going to keep her much longer, only because we don't know when our partners will return, and puppies in apartments during the winter is insane. The girls are loving her though!!


Someday, we will have a puppy for reals. :)

Harvest Party 2011!!

This is our 3rd annual Harvest Party extravaganza...and I think we have gotten a bit out-of-control with the amount of people we wanted to invite, so we decided to ask a local restaurant to host our party this year! Thankfully, the wonderful 'Texas Cafe' has agreed to cook up an amazing Taco-bar, and let us play games in our costumes. This was the perfect alternative to having our home trampled by candy-crazed kids and messy carnival games, which isn't usually that crazy (unless you try to fit 50+kids & parents inside).  We are getting much better at planning these types of events, and we even made a fun Activity Book for the youngsters.  It has become such a fun tradition, that all the families across the city look forward to this holiday - and we've never even gone trick-or-treating!

The girls decided they wanted to dress up as Native Americans this year, which was so fun for me.  I loved finding material & creating a pattern for each of them.  We even found this incredible Kazakh ribbon that looks authentic, and bird feathers at the park too.  They each added beads to the arm tassels and a headband to match.  I just love this little tribe of mine. 

Syd (4) Eden (6) Asia (8)

 Another fun treat:  One family we know lives kinda far out in the countryside, and they decided to plant REAL pumpkins this year.  They must have brought their own seeds in, because the only pumpkins we can buy at the local markets are tiny (about the size of a huge grapefruit).  Well, somehow we lucked out - and they gave us a beautiful BIG pumpkin - ready to CARVE!! 

Believe it or not, this is the first time the girls have ever tried carving a pumpkin!  They needed a little coaxing, as the stringy pumpkin guts were not their favorite.  Maybe next time it won't freak them out so much.  My favorite part is roasting the seeds! 

the girls named the pumpkin:  PUMPY (so original)

sharing PUMPY with our neighbor friends

photo time with PUMPY

PUMPY with a candle

the whole gang!

Wing Feather & the Sheriff

Little Fawn & Batgirl

Magpie & Space Cowboy

Happy Harvest to everyone!!

Happy National Day!! 国庆节

These little ones sure do love this precious country!!  

Guóqìng jié kuai le!!

gotta love these little world changers!

birthday & bagels

Happy birthday to the best dad these girls could imagine!!  You are so incredible!! 

 

We bought daddy a special glass teapot that is customary to this part of Central Asia.  The tea pot sits above a small candle to stay warm.  We love to make our own unique tea-flavors, especially when we can add fruit and spices of our own.  We'd love to have you over for a visit!!  

We also decided to make some pretzel bagels for the birthday boy/dad.  These are such a labor of love, but so worth the work. It involves a bunch of mixing, rising, rolling, boiling, baking & basting.  But homemade really is the best!!  Many hands make light work though, right?