Snow!
Exciting news...Joshua lost his tooth! I mean, he had lost his first 2 teeth last year, but we didn't get to see it because he was playing and then the 2 teeth came out when Jenna head-butted him, and we think he swallowed one of them because we found the other in the carpet weeks later. So, it was quite non-eventful. But this time, we were able to "journey" with Joshua from when his teeth was getting loose, to it being super loose till it was literally just hanging there, to when he actually pulled it out himself! For some reason, I love his toothless grin!!
This is when the tooth was just hanging there, ready to be pulled!
Here's Josh with his missing tooth!
And then came the first big snow of the season! While other people dreaded it, we welcomed it and the kids had a blast playing in the snow. This was Becca's first time playing outside and she loved it!
The view of our deck (sorry, I should've opened the screen door!).
Our pretty snow-dusted street!
Jenna all bundled up and ready to go!
Becca! She reminds me of Ralphie's little brother in A Christmas Story. We borrowed the snowsuit from our friend, Wes. I know it's blue, but she'll only be in it for a season!
Let it snow!
Joshua making a snow angel!
Becca loved the slide!
I love my kids!! They're so goofy!
The girls playing "patty cake"!
Our first snowman, with crazy hair!
In the middle of construction...
Chinese New Year
We celebrated Chinese New Year on the 10th and 11th of February. Technically, Sunday the 10th was the first day. But since we had church, we had to celebrate it on Monday. Still, I was able to dress the girls up a little on Sunday for church.
Jared and Becca with church friends, Calvin and daughter, Sophia.
Becca and me.
Joshua's school had a Chinese New Year assembly on Friday which I was able to go to. They did such a good job with it! They had Chinese performers, storytellers, and both the Chinese Immersion classes performed a song.
Becca and friend, Mackenzie, waiting for the assembly to start.
Joshua's class walking into the gym. He's in his blue Chinese shirt.
I snapped a quick picture of Josh and his friend, Jordan.
Here comes the lion dance!
Joshua's class performing. Josh is right in the center in the blue.
Josh with carpool friends, Stefanya and Lucas.
I was able to sneak into his class and took some pics of the kids!
Joshua's class (sorry for the blurred picture...so much for a fancy iPhone!)
On Monday, I cooked a Chinese New Year dinner and invited family. It was my first time cooking the dinner all by myself! Okay, I bought the chicken curry from the store...but time was of the essence, and I didn't have time to make that dish. But we all had fun, and I'm so glad that we're able to celebrate Chinese New Year and teach my kids more about their heritage and to embrace it too.
The kids all dressed up in their Chinese outfits.
My cuties...Yee Keng, Li Lian, Li Ling!
The table is set!
I bought some fun CNY plates for the kids from PBK!
The red packets are ready!
Homemade wontons!
Wonton soup!
The dishes!
Our cousins!
The two Beccas!
For some reason, Josh wanted to pose like that!
The kids with Mimi and Papa.
Our family pic!
And we invited our good friend "Aunty" Jolinda to join us too!
Valentine's Day
And what's February without Valentine's Day? Jared and I wanted to do something special for our small group members. So, we decided to babysit their kids while they go out for a nice Valentine's Day dinner. Having 10 kids in the house, actually, wasn't so bad!
Jenna's ready for Valentine's Day!
Some of the kiddies that we had over that night.
Private table for 2!
I did get my favorite flowers on Valentine's day!
Narnia!
Joshua and I had a double-date with some good friends of ours. We went to a stage production of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe in Des Plaines with Andrew and James and their mom, Leslie. We first went to dinner (like any regular date!) at Jason's Deli. And then we attended the production at 6pm. It was very well done, much to my surprise. The boys all enjoyed it, and it was such a great night. My friend, Leslie, did such a great job blogging about it. So, here's the link to her post: http://outnumbered-ls.blogspot.com/2013/02/narnia-narnia-more-narnia.html
