Merry Christmas!
Caedmon, Bree, Lily & Jin jin
We had a great time celebrating Christmas with about 10 other folks. Everyone brought dishes to pass and stories to tell.

The Gang
Lindsey, Lily, Cade, Josh, Josh (Angie's brother), Jason, Angie, Bree, Shannon

Wearing dad's Christmas gift: this yellow hat with red writing says "safety" in Chinese

Jin jin waiting patiently

Christmas morning! I didn't tell Lily that she would be opening gifts until Christmas morning when she asked, "Who are all those gifts for?" I learned after telling her a month before her birthday that we would get her some presents. She asked everyday up until then if she could open them yet!

Cow slippers for the Wisconsin girl

And Caedmon's favorite: LIONS!

A super fun package from the Stoffel's! So many surprises and special treats we can't find around here!

Josh wearing his new hat from the Gremore's and reading his book from the Stoffel's.

Tool Man Cade

Auntie Christa & Uncle Luke sent also sent a Christmas package (THANK YOU!!!)
Caedmon took his new sandals to another room so he could put them on by himself. He wouldn't even let us touch them. When he realized they light up, he did too!

Lily's dream gift

Along with MUD soap from Auntie Nat! At first I opened that little container of "mud" and said, "Look at this! It's mud! You can get dirty!" They both seemed afraid of it at first and neither wanted to get dirty! After about 20 minutes, "mud" was all over the place! (look at the chunk on Caedmon's shoulder :)

The water even turned BROWN

A field trip with Josh's Chinese class to a busy shopping street, after a ride on the light rail and the underground subway

Want some meat?

Which ones are not part of our family?

pretty sweet advertisements for the olympics

Josh never told me he was in one of them :)

The actual ad

snacks

I talked Josh out of this purchase :O)

The following few pics are from our Christmas parties.
Here, Cade is enjoying all the attention.

Making sugar cookies (without the frosting)
The designs were great

The equivalent of ordering pizza

Most had fun making Christmas tree ornaments

Is there a Wocket in your pocket?

BF

Josh helping make bread. He said that kneading dough is one of the coolest feelings. I agree.

Lately I've been finding Lily's dolls laying like this everywhere... on the couch, in Cade's tent, on the kitchen floor...

After a week of "studying" the letter "A" we made "Alligator skin" (like rice crispy squares only with corn flakes and green food coloring). I think Lily was anticipating the worst.

Cade will have anything to do with the word "Alligator"!

My attempt at healthy cooking. I really liked the flavor of the kidney beans, black rice and chicken, but after filling the families water glasses three times I got the feeling it was a little dry.

Caedmon and Lily's attempt at sugar eating! Some ladies in town and I had a Christmas cookie exchange. One gave us a bag to decorate our own gingerbread house. The kids had a fun time.

It actually snowed this month! The day after, you wouldn't have even known.

Time to break out the snowsuits from GG!

Who doesn't love getting a package in the mail?!

Cade began wheezing so after an appointment the Doctor sent us home with a nebulizer. I think he actually liked it. He sat really still and really liked holding the mask himself. After a week he was all cleared up.

Lily's birthday party (What a busy month!)

Lily and her friends decorated cupcakes, ate pizza and played so hard...

...that when we began opening gifts around 4pm I think Lily was ready for bed.

Caedmon kept trying to take Lily's new toys. Lily wasn't very happy about that. Looks like he got away with snatching Madeline's hat.

Lily was asking all week if we could go to McDonald's for her birthday dinner. Well, we went but she fell asleep on the way there.

And slept through the whole meal! Good thing we took a picture because on the way home she woke up so upset that we didn't go to McDonald's. We had proof :)

Two kids (in new jammies from cousin Gretta) ready for bed.