Where, oh where, have I been?

HELLO!!

It has been awhile since my last post, sorry about that. So much has been going on the past two weeks!

The Amies asked me and Marsha to be their Assistants for The Heart of the Matter. We are really wanting to expand and we have so many ideas! With Gregg out of town last week, it was the perfect opportunity for group meetings at night (I love google group chat!), and during the day the girls and I were either busy learning about China or enjoying the lovely cool weather (unlike this week which is yucky, sticky hot). Gregg came in late Sunday night and we have had a BLAST learning with him about China and reconnecting as a family!

So what have we been doing this week for school? Sunday night we decorated our kitchen for Daddy's arrival with handmade Chinese lanterns and a welcome home sign in English/Chinese. I know this is dangerous, as I believe I was told that one slightly wrong placement of a line in a Chinese character can totally change the word, but for our purposes it worked and was fun! The sign reads "We Love You Daddy! Welcome Home" and the words "love," "Daddy," and "Home" are in Chinese. If anyone can read this and it is insulting, my sincere apologies (LOL!) We had fun going through all of the goodies he brought us back from China -- a name chop (something I told him about from our books we read last week and he was able to find! It is a tiger with a stamp on the bottom that says our last name in English and Chinese!), two puppets (a Chinese dragon and a Chinese tiger), painted masks (something we saw in Children Like Me), Chinese dolls, jasmine tea and a very nice tea set, beautiful silk pillows, a pretty jade necklace and a black pearl necklace (all things China is known for).

We had a really cool tea ceremony on Monday! Inside the tea leaves was a flower and you put it in hot water.... as you sit and watch, the tea leaves open and the flower is exposed. Very pretty! I am not really a tea drinker....or a hot drink drinker at all.... but it was fun to see and try. The girls tried it, too, and had mixed reactions. They said it was good but made funny faces and chose not to drink anymore LOL but they did try!

Tuesday we took the girls to a Chinese restaurant for dinner. The look of the building and the whole atmosphere was perfect -- the food, not so hot -- but hey it was an experience. They had pretty vases everywhere and a gift shop, and TONS of fish. Outside the restaurant was a water fountain, two stone Chinese tigers, and two ponds with lots of beautiful fish. The girls LOVED the fish! They kept squealing and saying "Look, look!" So that was a success.

We have been reading The Story About Ping and Jan Brett's Daisy Come Home, along with Ms. Frizzle's Adventures in Imperial China and Mulan. Sunday night we are having a Chinese party and I am making my homemade dumplings, Chinese rice and Hot and spicy chicken!

Finally, in other words.... I have been a very bad blogging friend. My girl Marsha is having a Bloggy Birthday Bash and is giving away TONS of stuff!!!! Awesome awesome prizes! There are two days left so please head over there and wish her a Happy Bloggy Birthday and try to win some cool gifts!

Have a wonderful weekend!!!