McKenna's Gymnastics

I put McKenna in a gymnastics class for 3-5 year olds once a week up at our school.  We were counting down the weeks, then the days, and then the hours (yes, seriously).  She LOVES it...minus having to actually hang from the bars.

She also has three friends in the same class.  One from work and lives behind us, one from work and were born in Georgia together, and one from church and lives across from us:

Allison's Nail Party!

On Friday night, at the local nail salon, Allison had a party to celebrate her 13th birthday.  She invited all her friends from her church Beehive class.  There are nine of them, and we were fortunate that all of them were able to attend.

They are a really great group of girls.  They filled their time, at the salon, telling jokes and riddles, reading the stories off of the Vitamin Water and munching on chips.  I had many a parent come up to me over the next day or two to tell me how much fun their daughter had.

TEENAGER in the house!

On Wednesday the 20th, Allison turned 13.  I think we've had a teenager for a while anyways, but now it is just official.

She requested Creamy Crockpot Chicken over rice for dinner.  She asked for a heart shaped, confetti filled, vanilla cake with vanilla frosting and chocolate chips.

She was blessed by her parents to receive a new camera and new necklace and by Grandma and Grandpa Wood to receive all kinds of fun Young Women and craft items (necklace, picture, notebook, CD, nail polish, fabric, pajama bottom pattern, etc.)

Backyard Rain

For some reason I thoroughly enjoy standing in my backyard when it rains.  I think I'll want to remember it later.

Our backyard is relatively small and has NO grass...all tile. It shares concrete walls with the side and back neighbors. It has an awning covering. Some of the neighbors have ones that come lower and can completely enclose their backyard from getting wet when it rains. It rains, by the way, up to three times a day. It can be anywhere from short to long or light to heavy.

P.S. Yes, that is my next door neighbor's plant vine coming across my fence...my only "green." Yes, those are air conditioners belonging to my backdoor neighbors, half way up their house sitting on a ledge. Yes, one of our neighbors down the way have a trampoline in their backyard. They have six kids. I think I would do the same. I've wanted to see how the rest of their space functioned with it sitting there.

Valentine's Day

Valentine's is one of Sarah's top holidays. Not so much this year...

Our traditions like so many others are the cards and decorations.
Valentine cards: Sarah paid SG $12.90 for Jeremy's, ouch
Valentine decorations: apparently ALL left in storage

Our personal dinner tradition includes new fancy dinner recipes, elaborate dessert, candles and sparkling apple cider, all shared with the kids.
Dinner: mac and cheese for the kids, take-out Indian for the adults
Dessert: rice kripsy treats...at least I got as far as heart-shaped (forget that they were supposed to be dipped in chocolate and put on a stick)
Candles: um yeah, where do you find tapers?
Sparkling Apple Cider: thanks to the base store for carrying Martinelli's! Bless the heart of the the manager.

Grandma and Grandpa Wood's cards and piggy bank money arrived. Grandma Dastrup's box of chocolates are still on the way. Oh the joys of living in a foreign country. Better try next year. Happy Valentine's Day!

Lion Dance

Lion Dance on our street!  I don't think we can express enough to let others outside of our current geographical region how BIG of a deal Chinese New Year is.  There is a lot of tradition that surrouonds this "holiday."  I have been waiting for the opportunity to see an "intimate" Lion Dance.  By this, I mean one in the neighborhood.  (I left dinner cooking on the stove to see it!)  The one I caught pictures and video of was on our street, just up a few doors at the neighbor's house.

Here's some fascinating history (thanks again be to Wikipedia):

Lion dance is a form of traditional dance in Chinese culture, in which performers mimic a lion's movements in a lion costume.  The Lion Dance is often mistakenly referred to as Dragon Dance.  An easy way to tell the difference is that a lion is operated by two people, while a dragon needs many.  Also in a Lion Dance, performers' faces are covered since they are inside the lion.  In a Dragon Dance, the performers can be seen since the dragon is held upon poles.

I willl not go too much into it, but to understand the extent of tradition, meaning, and importance of it, there are Northern and Southern Lions.  The Southern Lions are also further divided by several styles, regions, and cultures.  Different colors of fur on the head, stripes, bows, etc. help one watching to figure it out...if they know!

The Lion Dance is accompanied by beating of drums, cymbals, and gongs synchronized with the lion's movements and actions.

At CNY, lion dancer troupes from the Chinese martial arts schools or Chinese guild and associations perform the traditional custom of "cai ching."  This literally means "plucking of the greens" a quest by the lion to pluck the vegetables (like lettuce) and fruits (like oranges).  The lion will approach the "green" like a curious cat, eating it and spitting it out, or sometimes leaving a nice arrangement.  The Lion Dance is believed to bring good luck and fortune.

 

CNY Sparklers

They celebrate Chinese New Year for quite some time here.  Think a total of two weeks...ish.  We Americans enjoy it, too!  Here's what we did one random Monday evening with a couple good friends on the the street:

Braces

It has become time for Allison to have braces.  She got them on Thursday evening.

She only got the upper's on that night.  The orthodontist will put on the lower's in a couple months.  She wanted to move the top teeth around enough that the backside of the front teeth would not hit the brackets on the lower teeth.  We went with "self-ligating" brackets.  There aren't any rubber bands to hold the wire in place.  Instead, the brackets have little clips.  They can sometimes put two wires in and move teeth a little faster.  The product has been out for at least ten years.  It was a little bit more expensive, but Allison should be done in about 10 months (instead of the traditional 18-24) and there tends to be a lot less discomfort associated with these.  Now we just have to cross our fingers that we don't put too much tension on the front tooth that has been twice broken and the root of that tooth that it doesn't shrink.  The orthodontist is crossing hers, too!

Chinatown Field Trip

It's all about the Chinese New Year around here.  Parker's Kindergarten class took a field trip to Chinatown to see all the decorations and explore the culture.  Sarah and McKenna hopped on the school bus and went, too!

This is one of Parker's classmates.  They are also in the same church Primary class.  They also live across the street from each other.  Needless to say, they see each other a lot:

 This is the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple:

They leave these incense at the entrance as a prayer:

Some of the "shops" with the hanging red lanterns:

And other popular CNY decorations:

These orange "trees" are for sale EVERYWHERE.  Some people buy them for their own houses and others give them away.  They are in most demand right now:

We bought our own souvenirs...snakes.  Very relevant for this year:

Chinatown Building Complex Wet Market.  Didn't go shopping and wasn't crowded:

Definitely didn't buy anything.  Not even frogs or eels:

Chinese lunch and then back to school: