The year of the ox

新年快樂

-Seriously, if you can read that, you're cool. Happy New Year (what, New Years already happened? Well, today was Chinese New Years). It's been 6 years since I returned home from my mission. Wow, what a blur. I've been missing Taiwan and everyone I knew/met there so much recently. I came up with a crazy idea that I'd like to go back there and I have somehow managed to convince Ben to do it. The tickets are all but purchased and I'm excited. It looks like we will be heading over there in March!! (sans the kiddos, are you nuts? We're beyond grateful to those who've offered to help out on that front)

So anyways, since I've been thinking about all things Chinese for the past week I decided to make some Chinese food and have some friends over to celebrate Chinese New Years today. We made some great wontons, fried rice, fanquie dan, and egg drop with corn soup. Thanks Chartrands and Hongs (minus one) for coming to celebrate with us. We had a great time and I'm glad that we have these Chinese ties that allow us to get together and celebrate this fun holiday! Thanks Carrie for bringing some cute decorations! (In posting these pictures I am reminded that I never did post anything when we painted these rooms way back when. So here you have it-the red room is our downstairs living room and that goes leads into the kitchen which is that brownish color.)

Okay, so this picture wasn't from today. But it was cute, so I had to post it. Hunter and Hailey with their friend Danny.

I've been sucked in

...to the phenomenon that is the Twilight series...that is. Just over a week ago my friend and I took an impulsive trip to the theater to see the movie (thanks Carrie)-on the way home I decided it was time to just suck it up and read the books. I'm not a reader. But oh goodness I, like everyone else, got sucked in. My friend Jana lent me all four books last Thursday. Let the ignoring of the children and the husband begin. Finished Twilight Saturday, Started New Moon yesterday afternoon. I was so mad at the second book I just kept reading till something made me happy-I now have 50 pages left. I'm worried that when I finish the 4th book I'll start having withdrawals...there's going to be another...right??

a Hand-y update

So I recall that a while back someone asked how my hands were doing. This was no doubt prompted by the nasty picture I posted from this summer. Don't worry, I will post another for your viewing (dis)pleasure.

And here is the long story short(kinda): After something like 4 1/2 years of crazy/gross things going on with my hands someone finally suggested I see an allergist. So back in early December they did a panel of like 50 common ingredients in soaps/lotions/household items. They put a dot of each on my back and covered it with tape. I had it checked twice that week and finally was able to learn what might have been ailing me all this time.

It turns out I am allergic to chloromethylisothiazolinone, formaldehyde (in paints, glues and fabrics), and colophony or resin(in adhesives, varnishes, wart remedies, floss), I'm also sensitive (but not allergic) to something called cocomide DEA (in lots of soaps and lotions). So that chemical with the really long name is in a ton of stuff-in my case it's found in that great anti-bacterial soap from Bath and Body Works that I used to use religiously, it's in my baby wipes, and my shampoo and conditioner. So in the last month I have switched over to some expensive soapless soap and natural hairstuff and I just make my son wear his messy diapers all day (ok not really-he's been in underwear for about a month and when he has a messy diaper after bedtime I wear gloves). So by reading the labels on everything, taking my special soap everywhere and avoiding products with those ingredients and I've seen tons of improvement. It's crazy. So here come the before and after photos (drumroll please):

After:
Now all we have to do is convince the insurance company that they really do want to pay for all of this instead of fight about it...

Mom's visit

Just so you know, this post covers 4 different events, but all of them did happen while mom was here!

My mom came down for a visit just in time to celebrate some birthdays with us. We had a great time butchering my vision of the kids birthday cake. It was horrible. Let's just say when those things look so simple to make they're not...unless you are Larissa, or Terri. Anyways, it was supposed to be a castle, but it just kept falling apart. Finally at like 1 am we got things put together enough to go to bed, but when we woke up in the morning it had fallen again. I was so proud of myself that I never cried during the whole ordeal...we just stuck some knights on it with a catapult and claimed that they invaded the kingdom. The weather turned out just perfect and were were able to host like 30-something people in the backyard.

If this picture looks gross, that's because it was. Poor 3 layer cake was doomed from the beginning because of a silly pudding in the mix cake and too-soft homemade frosting...Now before we went off to bed in the wee hours of the morning this strange looking thing is the best we could do.Of course it didn't survive invasion during the night and if you'll notice on the cupcake in the bottom left corner there is a knight with a gumdrop catapult taking over the castle.Here's some of the guests. We were so impressed that all the kids just sat there and ate...quietly.Here's Hunter opening his first present. It was a great cordless drill like daddy's and he really didn't care to look at the rest of his presents after that-thanks for opening them for us Rex!Hailey on the other hand loved opening all of her gifts. Here she is with her cousin Megan and her friend Maryan in the background. Thanks to everyone who made their birthday so much fun!Later that day Ben and I got to get dressed up and go to the ExxonMobil Christmas party. It was a nice formal dinner that for some reason took nearly 3 hours to serve all the courses.Here we are with our friends Akilla and Amit. Yes, you get to take prom pictures to commemorate the evening. In addition to this one with our friends, Benjamin and I had three others taken of ourselves cause I wasn't satisfied with any of them (typical...right?).Here's a picture of the extremely rare snow that we saw here in early December-I'm sure my mom never thought she would see that in Houston.

On the actual day of Hailey's birthday we took a trip to the zoo with my mom and my sister in law Sharon and her youngest Ellie. We didn't stay too long because Hunter wanted to run away from every exhibit. Hmm, guess I didn't take many zoo picts. Well, the first one is Hunter petting a giant bunny.For some reason the only picture I have of my mom from her trip is petting a baby aligator. Way to be brave mom. Thanks for coming to see us-we loved having you here!

I guess I'm in a posting mood

So on the 12th of this month Hailey turned 4. It's amazing that my baby is so big now. She's very smart and oh just a little bit strong willed (who am I kidding...I guess we all are that way in this family). She loves playing with her brother and her friends and she loves everything girly-if it's purple or pink or princessy, she wants it. She was born two months early after my water broke for no apparent reason. She weighed 4lbs 14 oz. She stayed in the hospital for 5 weeks but you sure can't tell now that she was ever a preemie. Here's a picture of her a few days after she was born.

And here she is just before her first birthday.And here she is when she turned 2-looking a little mischievious. (did I spell that right?)

Now that is a pretty 3 year old.And here she is at 4 (I took this one...can you tell??)

What a big girl. My mom and I took her to get her fingers and toes painted (pink and purple of course) and then she got some pictures taken too. She had a great time.

Better late than never

Since December is such a busy month it's ok that I haven't posted the kids birthday stuff yet...right? Well, on the 4th Hunter turned 2. He's such a big boy. He loves playing with just about everything (but especially balls, cars and his sissy). He talks all the time and enjoys singing too. Now for some pictures...The first is actually not a basketball under my gown-that was probably about an hour before Hunter was born (he was a scheduled c-section at like 7 am or something). He was 8 lbs. 12 oz.

Here's Hunter Eugene at a few days old.

Here's Hunter enjoying some cake on his first birthday.And now a couple of pictures of the big two year old. We like him.

Family pictures

Finally, for the first time since just after Hailey turned one, we took the kids back to a studio to get pictures done. It was a very um, energetic experience-Hunter really enjoyed escaping from the studio and running out into the store. Somehow we managed to get a few nice ones and I'm glad we now have something updated in the house (and in all the grandma's houses too).