Chinese New Year 2018

Chinese New Year started on February 16th this year. Briana absolutely loves Chinese New Year. She gets so excited when I decorate the house and loves seeing her friends. This year is extra special because it is the year of the dog and Briana was born in the year of the dog 2006. It is her year!

I actually really enjoy decorating the house...

I love putting out all of Bri's art creations...

I love the glow of our decorations at night...

Mei loves Chinese New Year too...

Briana always dressed in a qipao dress in elementary school for CNY, but it is a bit more difficult to dress in a silk dress in middle school ~ especially when you have to change clothes for PE.

So this year, I found B a cute t-shirt online and she wore it to school the first day of CNY...

Doug and I got Bri a few CNY gifts - including this panda pillow case and a stuffed dog...

Bri and I played around on FB a little that morning before school...

What I really, really missed doing this year was my CNY presentation for Bri's classmates. I did a presentation every year in elementary school (except 1st grade) and the kids really seemed to enjoy it. I got really nervous before each presentation, but it was honestly such a gratifying experience. Bri was very proud and excited for me to come to school each year.

Looking back on all the elementary school years...

The reason I didn't do a presentation in 1st grade was because Bri's teacher did a whole unit with the kids on CNY that year. She put together an adorable play for the parents to watch and also had the kids parade a Chinese dragon around the school. Bri was asked to lead the parade. She was beaming...

One tradition we did keep this year was our annual visit to the local art center for a CNY workshop/craft. I wasn't sure Bri would actually want to go this year because she is getting older, but she said to me, "Mom! This is my year! I have to do a craft there!" When I went to sign up, the workshop was full. Yikes! I had to call the art center and explain my situation and they allowed Bri to join. :)

This year the craft was a kite...

The kids were asked to draw Picasso's dog "Lump" in the middle of the kite. Then they were allowed to do whatever they liked. Bri put a number of Chinese images on her kite. B is really quite artistic and talented...

With her finished product...

We came home and immediately added it to Bri's CNY art collection...

We have attended 6 CNY workshops over the years - year of the dragon, horse, monkey, ram, rooster and dog. Somehow we missed the snake workshop! Here she is with her creations...

We rushed home from making the craft in order to get ready to meet our friends at a nearby Chinese restaurant.

We got all gussied up...

Thought I'd take a couple of selfies of myself since I actually had my hair combed and put makeup on (snort)...

Look how pretty the girls looked that evening (Bri, Imerie, Ella and Mary)...

Smiley faces...

The older brothers were there too!!

The mamas...

The dads...

I brought a "year of the dog" craft for the girls to work on as we waited for our food. The parents also handed red envelopes out to the kids...

The dogs ended up so cute...

Doug, Bri and I are so blessed to have this amazing group of friends to enjoy CNY with!

The year of the dog is finally here!! Hope everyone has a wonderful year!

This And That

It's been a few weeks again since I have blogged. Usually I don't blog because I am either super busy or dealing with sickness. This is quite rare, but life hasn't been all that exciting since Doug's birthday in January. And I am totally ok with that. Doug was sick with a bad cold last week, but he seems to be feeling better this week. We've had lots of rain. Bri is back at school (finally!) after lots of time off for snow and ice. I've been catching up with several friends over breakfast or lunch. I've also been cleaning and purging stuff from Bri's play room - that has been quite the project.

SSA soccer finally started a couple of weeks ago. Bri, Ella and Megan are now officially members of SSA Chelsea Black (carpool selfie!)...

Unfortunately, they have had like two practices because of all the rain Georgia has gotten lately (can't play on super soggy fields)...

The team was scheduled for a big tournament this past weekend. It was completely cancelled due to a super soggy weekend. I was pretty bummed. Winter break is next week, so I am hoping after the break, soccer will kick into high gear.

I have been in purge mode in Bri's playroom. There is no doubt that my daughter is a complete hoarder. I was sick for so long, and when I got back on my feet, I had to do all the "regular" housework and didn't pay too much attention to all crap stuff that my daughter was collecting in her playroom.

She has been great though in letting me get rid of a lot of the toys/stuffed animals/games that she hasn't played with in forever. I've made several trips to Goodwill.

I sold all of her American Girl furniture (though I kept her dolls). The furniture went to good homes...

A few years ago, I lent Briana doll clothes that my grandmother made for my Cabbage Patch Kid back in 1983/1984. She was using them on some of her dolls. I had such a special grandma...

And this is my actual Cabbage Patch Kid that my parents bought me for my birthday (I think maybe it was my 10th - that would have been 1983). I still have her. I got her during the CPK craze and the dolls were almost impossible to find. Someone came to my dad's work and was selling them. He grabbed me and my sister the same type doll. This is Dolly Rikki (wearing an outfit my grandmother made)...

I'm still not done purging Bri's playroom, but I have gotten a whole lot done.

Bri had two card tables full of Lego sets in her playroom. I would walk in her room and feel anxious looking at the jumbled mess. The Legos were starting to lose pieces and she couldn't really enjoy her sets.

I put up three shelves in her play room in order to display all her favorite Lego sets. What a job!!

Doug and I purchased this Star Wars light for Bri at the Pioneer Days Festival back in Sept and we finally put it up for her...

Mei Mei has been enjoying Bri's shoe chair...

You can see behind Mei all of Bri's Barbie stuff. That is my next purging mission.

Speaking of Mei Mei, she is still quite chill and loving life...

A couple of weekend ago, Doug and I took my parents to shop for gas logs. That is our gift to them for their wedding anniversary. This was a display at the store...

We stopped for lunch that day at a great restaurant called "Your Pie"...

You get to create your own personal pizza...

They had yummy gelato too...

And of course, we watched the Super Bowl on Feb 4...

I bought some shrimp for an appetizer...

And I made ribs in my new Instant Pot (and then crisped them up a bit in the oven)...

They turned out pretty good. I think I would get a different type of rib next time, but overall, I think they were yummy.

It was fun watching the Eagles beat the Patriots...

I think most of the country was rooting for the Eagles - except for New Englanders of course. (Suck it Tom Brady. Sorry if I offend. Heh.)

And I met my friend Kathy for coffee one morning because she had a very special birthday coming up - I had a little gift for her. Kathy had made cupcakes for her daughter Chani and her classmates (Kathy and Chani's birthdays are one day apart), so she brought one for me. :) So good...

We have a number of fun events coming up, so I will be blogging again very soon. Valentine's Day and Chinese New Year are this week and our winter break is next week. Lots to blog about!