JOY LUCK CLUB IN REVERSE

When the play was over, we made a run through McDonald before going over to Sara's house. Our good friend May's brother passed away and we wanted to give her our support during this rough time for her and her family.

Then it was on to the Jancola family home for our monthly China family get together. Linda thought that since Chinese New Year is coming up soon, it would be a good idea to learn some Chinese cooking. She brought it up at our last get together and since all of us women thought it would be a great idea and we all love to eat we agreed.

While the guys were in the living room playing cards, the women folk were in the kitchen learning how to cook potstickers and chow mein. Linda (pictured with her friend) has a friend whose name escapes me at this moment and this lovely lady agreed to come and teach us Chinese cooking. This lovely lady also gave the kids a small talk on subjects as the Chinese calendar and such. She also made it fun for the kids by having a contest and giving out prizes. The doll you see pictured is what Mimi won for giving the correct answer to how many animals there are in the Chinese calendar.

Besides potstickers and chow mein, we all brought food to share with everyone. It was soooooo good and yummy!!! Angie is another mom who has 3 exchange students staying with her and her family. They range from high school to college. So while the guys were playing cards and the kids were playing dress up and putting on a fashion show, us moms and the older girls had a really great dialogue with the exchange students.

Simona's daughter Damaria (wearing the blue shirt) is such a darling. I just love her to pieces. Well anyway Damaria who I think is 16 (?) asked most of the questions. The topics ranged anywhere from make-up to boys and dating, to school, to what is like growing up in China as one of the girls grew up in a boarding school in China (she comes from a wealthy family) to a little bit of politics.

Of course when Damaria asked about the dating and such, Simona who is a sweetie herself kinda gave her daughter the "evil eye" to which Damaria answered "whu-ut?" "I'm just asking her the usual questions that we teenagers talk about mom" Then someone said that Damaria should facebook these girls to which Damaria looks at her mom with the evil eye and says "my mom won't let me have one!" We all bust out laughing. It was one of those you had to be there moments.

SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS

When we first moved up here, Keri and I had taken the kids to see the stage show of Doran and Diego. Mimi did not have much interest in it. Then came the Lion King. Another sleeper for Mimi. Yawn...... So imagine my surprise when she came flying home last week with the news that she gets a chance to audition for a part in this play which is put on by the Missoula Theater here in Seattle.

If you saw my earlier blog then you will know that Mimi along with her friends Rachel, Olivia and Erin were picked to play the bats in the Black Forest. All of the girls were......should I say......extremely excited about the whole experience? That would be the understatement of the year.

I must say that ALL of the kids in the play did a really good job of getting this play together in just 4 days. The kids ranged in grades 2-5 with the more heavier roles going to the older kids. I found out later that each class held a lottery and Mimi along with Rachel and Olivia were chosen from their class. The older kids in the play were also paired up with the younger kids and they were known as the "bat buddies". Mimi's bat buddy was Snow White.

While the bats did not reherse as much as the rest of the cast, it was still tiring for them but they were sooooo happy at the same time. Mimi had rehersals on Wednesday from 3:45 till 5:45, Thursday from 3:45-6:45. Then they had to be at school at 8 on Friday morning and be back at school that evening for the night time performance. They also gave a performance during assembly time. They also gave a Saturday afternoon performance as well.

Besides doing the play, she had her schoolwork to do which included math and spelling tests. She work hard this week as usual and did very well. We're so proud of our little bat.

MIMI'S 8th BIRTHDAY PARTY

Hard to believe my baby turned 8 this year. She's growing up way to fast for me. Sob, sob, sob.

This year my thinking was since I am trying to save money for China, we would do a birthday/sleeover on her birthday which happened to be on a Friday this year. The plan was for the kids to come over to the house with their parents for dinner (pizza) and stay till the next morning. It also gave the parents a chance to visit with each other as we rarely get a chance to see each other anymore.

Long story short it was one wild, funfilled night. One parent asked what my plans were. There was no plans. I was just winging it. Actually there were a couple of more kids at the party that are not in the picture. The kids all just had so much fun together and the parents had fun visiting with each other.

The kids played Wii (Nathan's favorite), listened to music, Mimi's room was named "The Dance "Party Room".

The kids had so much fun that they did not want to go home the next day. Rhonda came by the next day with Emma to pick up Elsie and said they had errands to do but I was able to convince Rhonda to let the girls stay while she did the errands herself. Lisa, Art and Emily came back to watch the football game while the kids all played together. Then when Rhonda was all done, she came back to the house and we all had a really delicious dinner that Lisa had prepared for us. Lasagna........Mmmmmm good! That always goes good together with the Ceasar salad that I made and the garlic bread and of course the vino.

The next day (Sunday) was the day to just hang out in our pj's all day. By Monday, Mimi who is normally a happy, happy girl was a bit down in the dumps. I asked her why. She said she was feeeling down because it was all over till the end of the year. Meanning that Christmas was over and so was her birthday. Oh well, such is life.

NEW YEAR'S DAY

Our family tradition started when dad and I got married. Every New Year's Day dinner is Mimi's favorite Sukiyaki dinner. This year we invited Shad and his family over to share it with us. Corey asked if we could get it is a Japanese restaurant and I am assuming that we could. I always make our at home from scratch. I always get sushi when we go out to eat. None the less they really liked it a LOT. That made me really, really happy. A good time was had by all.

NEW YEAR'S EVE

This year started off with spending New Year's eve with Shad, Micah and Malaki. Their mom and dad had a chance to go out for the evening and so the kids came to spend the evening with us. We celebrated by eating cookies and sipping on Blueberry sparkling juice.
This year seems to be going by quite fast. I don't know if I'm coming or going sometimes. It seems that when Mimi was younger, I had more time to write on the blog. Somewhere along the line I lost the ball.
I tell you, when you break a bone and your kid breaks a bone, it really put a huge dent into my daily life and trying to get back on track is horrendous. Especially with the holidays and birthdays bombarding me from all sides. I am finally starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel though. Thank goodness.