Tag Archive | year of the horse

Happy Chinese New Year!!

January 31

Welcome to the year of the horse! Shin Nein Kwai Le!

This is our second Chinese New Year here in Minnesota  on our own. I always miss the den Otters and our other Chinese friends the most this time of year but we do our best to remember and celebrate.

We started with wearing red clothing for luck, Echo had a headband with red on it, but wore her Kai-Lan dress. After all that is where we learned a lot of our Chinese from! I am hoping that next year the girls can get some more traditional dresses in time for Chinese New Year! There are a little harder to find locally here but I am sure I can manage something.101_6048

We sat down with our horse themed sheets and wrote down all the things we remembered from our time spent learning all about China and the celebration. The kids all did well remembering some interesting facts.101_6051

Pictures of some favourite aspects

Pictures of some favourite aspects

I had red envelopes and lucky candy for the kids as well. Though they did not get them until the evening.101_6053

We also watched the Kai-Lan DVD I got from the library that included the Chinese New Year episode.101_6052

The kids learned all about the Shanghai tower with Ken. I actually knew nothing about this landmark as well, so we all learned something.

Complete with Chinese flag

Complete with Chinese flag

We had long noodles for luck and lengthy lives at lunch. Some of the kids even attempted chopsticks.1795720_10152203106306151_586961802_n

Echo did an adorable video on Facebook attempting to use hers

Echo did an adorable video on Facebook attempting to use hers

The girls and I had some after lunch game time with some of our favourites.101_6056

101_6060And for supper… the whole family had take out Chinese from our favourite place – Rose Garden. It was so delicious, and a perfect way to celebrate a special day with our family.1796489_10152203740496151_359733367_n

So happy Chinese New Year everyone. I hope the year of the horse is a prosperous and happy one for us all!!!! I will, of course, post our Chinese resources once we assemble everything later in February. (you can find the orange pattern – no selling, gift or personal use only – thanks to Nanaliciouz HERE)

Some lucky oranges

Some lucky oranges

January 2014… Successfully Enjoyed, Experienced and Now Remembered

January 23-30

And now we get into the end of the month. The FIRST month of 2014… And the final countdown to finalizing our decision to stop with 5 kids. I can honestly say that I feel no regrets, sending Ken to the doctor on the 24th for the in office procedure (I will spare you the picture he took of it). If we do feel the need in the future for more children there are those already in existence that need us more. Having the procedure on the Friday did mean an at home weekend. Not that the kids complained as it culminated in the cousins coming to visit as well!

But first the Thursday (23rd)… I decided that since this year we weren’t going to make our own fortune cookies that we could still make our own fortunes! Jumbo fortunes. Even Echo made her own (translated loosely by myself).101_5965

I went out with Ken to an appointment and stopped at a more local small Asian market where I lucked out with super affordable red envelopes and lucky candy for our Chinese New Year celebration. The kids and I are rather excited about our celebration. We even sent off envelopes for the den Otter 3.101_5966

We had a half day on the Friday.101_5995

101_5996With some time squeezed in with Daddy learning more about magnets. These kits from Christmas are REALLY coming in handy! We used the last of the kids’ Christmas money to pick up some strong magnets at Lakeshore which has made them even more excited about it. (and had us sit them down and discuss where we do NOT put these magnets – laptops, electronics, Daddy’s computer!!!!)101_6000

Nana went and collected the cousins before she headed off with Daddy to the doctor. It has become a family tradition here… she also took Ken’s brother for his. It went smoothly and they were home before we knew it… though then Ken headed right to bed to sleep off the medicine, stress and hopefully through the first of the pain.101_6001

The weekend was quiet… with lots of potty attempts. We are still rather hit or miss and I sense a long road ahead with this one.101_6007

Saturday was a whole day of cousin time.101_6002

Sunday was the beginning of what we now see as Echo’s “Helping” phase, which often is not so helpful!101_6008

We skipped Sunday School so that the kids could spend the time with their cousins before they had to head home. Emanuel and Daddy took a few minutes to finish a Scout task. They had to figure out where to go when there is a fire.101_6011

And then on Monday it was back to school and Chinese New Year as usual. This time with some panda learning. You simply cannot learn all about China and such without touching on one of our favourite animals!101_6014

101_6015101_6033On Tuesday the kids finally sat down and worked on their rubberband loom. So many pretty (though still very basic) bracelets. Enough to add some to the package to the den Otters and give some to me! I need to take some time and try this thing out for myself! We do not have the rainbow brand version that is one you can change the set up on, but if it catches on with the kids it will go on the list for the next holiday!101_6017

We had a minor but consistent argument about electronics that night, so I called an hour of no batteries and pulled out games and toys… we started with dominoes, first the traditional line them up and knock them down with moderate success.101_6019

101_6021And then doing a matching version. I think I played MOST of the rules right with the kids, but we had fun regardless.101_6022

And then onto the I Spy game with a BELL! That was noisy and crazy and totally enthralling to all.  Operation back to the basic fun — SUCCESS!101_6025

Mid week and we are back to the books. Education.com and Activity Village have been amazing resources for us! Though remember, now with Education.com you only get TEN worksheets free a month.101_6028

101_6030101_6031The twins headed outside to add to Nana’s ice garden. Simple water, food colouring and cold weather… we freeze ours out in the sunroom.101_6029

Miss Trinity and Miss Echo have been learning together lately. Big sister must impart that wisdom on her little disciple. Everything from school stuff to online gaming!101_6032101_6035

And to top it off… Emanuel had his first extra field trip for Cub Scouts — to the police/fire station! Baba took him as Ken got stuck at a dental consult. But Darcy shared pictures with me and I was told by himself and Darcy that it was SOOO much fun!IMG_5966

IMG_5992IMG_6010IMG_6016edAnd with that we are left with ONE day of January to see through and the start of Chinese New Year – year of the horse!! What a whirlwind month!101_6026