Christmas Day

Matching pj's that they were able to open on Christmas Eve. I had told them they could open one gift on Christmas Eve knowing that I would give them pj's. J asked if it could please not be something to build. After opening that gift, Miss K was ready to start on the rest of the gifts under the tree but we told her she had to wait until the morning.J asked why we wrap things in the stocking and I told him next year I might not do that. I know the debate about wrapping or not wrapping stocking gifts.

I was excited about my gift.

I had to check and make sure it worked. It works and I am enjoying coffee.

We finished up and then headed to see grandparents. Notice the smile Miss K gave.

We stopped to see Grandma/Great Grandma depending on who you ask.

Then it was to Grandma's house and visit with cousins.

Yes, there are boys there and there is one boy missing. I have 3 brothers. My father has 1 brother. My grandfather was one of 5 boys. Boys run in the family.

It was a fun day with family.

Delaware Museum of Natural History

Because of Miss K's therapy schedule as well as preschool schedule we don't have free days for field trips or other adventures unless there is an early dismissal. The other week was one of those days and so I decided to take the children to the Delaware Museum of Natural History. They had a dinosaur exhibit. I can't say it was anything super exciting. J would probably disagree as there was a video game of you being the dinosaur. I think he would have played that all day if he was allowed.

We got there and I don't think there was anyone else in the museum. Later a few younger children came. There was a page of things to look for in the museum and J did that. I will include that in our portfolio.

The nature corner was actually the most exciting place. The fun thing there was the children got to pet/touch a ball python. The snake was a bit soft if you can say that about a snake.

It was a fun morning, we enjoyed looking for the various things. I think we will go back again. There are other places that we want to go to on the days that we have free to go explore.

Christmas Photos

After our Christmas tree was up, I decided it was time to attempt some Christmas photos.

Last year after Christmas my mom bought a beautiful dress for Kylie. It needed a sweater or stole to go with it.

It is still a challenge to get a good picture of her. There are lots of attempts of photos that will get deleted.

I then tried to get a picture of both children.

Then I got one of just J.

I want to get some of these enlarged and put in frames. I will say that the thrift stores are the best places to find frames.

 

Christmas Preparations

We are having fun with Christmas preparations.

We made gift tags. Mama did recruit help for this activity.



I don't think these gift tags are going to be displayed in any magazine but the children enjoyed it and we do have gift tags.

We decorated our Christmas tree. It is a real tree. After years of living overseas, we enjoy a real tree and the wonderful smell.

The pickle was hidden in the tree.

We have had Christmas programs -- Miss K's preschool, AWANA, and Church.

We decorated our gingerbread houses. It is a tradition at Grandma's house. We use up all the candy from all the other holidays and have fun.

Miss K really did stick with the decorating and was quite pleased with her house. I will also add that she did consume some of the candy in the process.

We have baked cookies and eaten cookies so time to back some more.

We enjoyed a Christmas walkthrough program with some friends.

We mailed our cards except for a few that I need to mail.

I have been busy sewing. I would post pictures but I do think that some of my family reads my blog. Maybe if they ask, I will give a sneak preview.

I have finished my shopping and still have a few things to wrap.

We have read some of the Jesse Tree readings and enjoyed putting the ornaments on the tree.

We just have 2 links left on our paper chain.

 

Happy Birthday Master J

Last week Master J celebrated his 10th birthday -- double digits.

We opened gifts, did some school, went to Miss K's Christmas program, and had a nice afternoon at home.

Mama surprised him and invited some friends with their 4 boys and 1 girl over for dinner. He didn't have a cake with candles that day but did have candles to blow out when we took cupcakes to Grandpa and Grandma's.

Ten things about him.

1. He has three things that he doesn't like to eat -- shrimp, mushrooms, and black olives. He says there is more but his mother limits him to just three things.

2. He is very warm blooded and doesn't wear a coat most of the winter. Must be the Ukraine blood in him.

3. He is good at fixing things.

4. He does a good job helping in the kitchen.

5. He is improving so much this year in school. He still loves homeschool.

6. He loves to climb trees.

7. It has been wonderful to hear how Bible truths and sticking and how he remembers things.

8. He has removed Maine and Colorado from his list of places where he wants to move to because he says they get too cold.

9. He wants to be a pilot when he grows up.

10. He is my son born in my heart and with lots of paperwork.

This is just our 3rd birthday to spend with him. I am sad at times that I have missed parts of his life but love that I can spend time each day with him teaching him, playing, laughing and just enjoying him. This year has been a year of growing for him in many areas. I am thankful that he is ours and look forward to what God is going to do in his life this next year.

Easy Banner

I was tired and bored with all the Christmas gifts that I have been working on for weeks and weeks. I think at times I have project ADD. So the other day I decided to make a banner. I got out the scraps from J's bed quilt. I have already used some scraps for a smaller quilt which is on the stack of things that need to be quilted. So from the scraps I was able to make this banner.

I got the pattern from here. I did this the easy way just one layer of fabric and used pinking shears. It does give a nice addition to his room.

Getting my money's worth out of a pattern

Last year I bought a jumper pattern. I made this jumper for Miss K. I made it big and she is still wearing it.

Then in the spring my mom came for a sewing day and we made these.



My mom got a bit creative on the back.

This was just plain and bright for summer.I had found the main fabric on a remanent bin and thought it was cute. I needed some other fabric to go with it. The top and the small bottom print came from some fabric from a friend at church. I bought just enough of the strip for the bottom.

When my mom came she brought her sewing machine. She got that 46 years ago and has been sewing and creating on that for all these years. I learned to sew on that machine.

I decided to make a jumper for Miss K for Christmas. I had an idea in my head and it just didn't quite work to use the same pattern. I then took a jumper that I had gotten at Goodwill and used it as a pattern but adapted it a bit. I might need to adjust the shoulder straps a bit.



Miss K practiced spinning.

I like this but I am sure I will make a few more out of that other pattern before she outgrows that pattern.

Sweet Siblings

J is reading a book to Miss K. It is one of those times that you know they both do love each other.

Pumpkin Pie

For a fun Thanksgiving treat I decided to make Pumpkin Pie play dough. I found this recipe. Miss K has enjoyed playing with it and it really does have a nice pumpkin pie smell.

• 1 cup flour


• 1/2 cup salt


• 2 teaspoons cream of tartar


• 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice


• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon


• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil


• 1 cup water


• Food coloring (6 drops of red and 15 drops of yellow)

1. Combine the dry ingredients in a nonstick saucepan. Add the oil, water, and food coloring and whisk until smooth. Stirring constantly with a rubber spatula, cook the mixture over medium heat until it forms a ball, about 3 to 4 minutes.


2. Turn the dough onto a counter, let it cool slightly, then knead the dough until it has a smooth texture, about 1 minute. The dough will keep up to a week in a ziplock bag.
   
    
   
    

Pretty Flower

I am catching up on a few blog entries. Miss K had a Thanksgiving program at her preschool. Pretty Flower was her Native American name.


For some reason when she see the camera aimed at her direction she thinks that smile means to stick her tongue out and put her hands up. Getting a nice picture of her is a challenge. I am hoping that she outgrows this phase quickly.

I did manage to sneak a picture when she didn't know that looks good. We are thankful for the preschool that has accepted her and given her an opportunity to learn in that environment. Miss K loves her school

Teaching Life Skills

can be a challenge when a child keeps adding to her name. This summer she started adding the "y" and "boy" to her brother's name. He didn't really like that so I said "start calling her 'sis'. So she started calling herself "Miss K sis". Then the other week she decided she really had some royal blood that she must have just discovered so she added "princess" to her name. So if you asked her, "what is your name?" she would respond "Miss K Sis Princess". I guess that was not enough because now she added "Abigail" to the name. "Miss K Sis Princess Abigail" Then she heard my maiden name and added that. Oh my will we be able to get her to say her name as it appears on her birth certificate? That is one of the goals for the year. She can say her last name but doesn't use that.

 

Remaking a dress

Remember this dress. She is a girl and that dress was often a pick. I allowed her to wear it to church the Sunday we were sharing and it got ripped. I figured that would happen because she plays and crawls. I didn't know what I would do with the dress but then I had an idea. I would turn it into a pillow.

Now I just need to get her bedroom decorated or at least the quilt done for her bed.

Hello my name is Beth,

and I am addicted to fabric - pretty fabric, colorful fabric, printed fabric, woven fabric, plaid fabric, striped fabric, matching fabric, fat quarters, charm packs. I found a fabric giveaway http://mmmcrafts.blogspot.com/2009/06/basic-messenger-bag.html maybe I will get some more fabric.

Have you even won a giveaway? I won a book once from my least favorite author. I laughed when I found out what book I won. My husband laughed when I told him what book I won. Maybe this giveaway will change everything.

Fire Safety

Fire safety is a topic that is on every evaluator's list of things to make sure that you have taught during the school year. Last year I found some things online and we used that to talk about fire safety and also then had something to put in our portfolio. We had been talking about fire safety but I didn't have anything to include in the portfolio to make it easy to see that we cover the topic of fire safety.

Then I went to vote and our polling station is at the fire house and the firefighters decided it would be a community awareness event regarding fire safety so they put all kinds of brochures out for people. I snatched two of each and we came home and had a good discussion on fire safety. One of the brochures was a fire safety quiz. We took the quiz and our home and our family is safe regarding fire safety.

The kids earned their fire hats as a reward for learning about fire safety.

What do you use to teach fire safety?

Trip Wrap-up

Before we left on the trip we made a list of things that we wanted to do. It had been 18 months since the kids and I had been there. Daddy had made a quick trip last year. Daddy had a conference and we got to tag along. He said it was the best one that they have had.

Our list seemed to have lots of restaurants. The kids and I ate at Pret A Manger. It is a fast food but freshly made. I think it ends the myth that English people cannot cook. The avocado, basil, tomato, pine nut wrap is my favorite. I was not mean and called my husband while I was eating it to tell him how good it was. I bought him one to enjoy. It is both our favorites.

We ate at our favorite Turkish restaurant. They opened a new one that was closer to our hotel and had more seating. It reminded us of our trip to Istanbul.

Another thing on our list was shopping. When we lived there and would come home, a big thing to do was shopping. Sometimes I would buy things here even though I knew I could get it there but it was easier. I bought a few things there because of that same reason. I went to the fabric district and found some ribbon and accessories.

I went to the market partly for the memory and also because I wanted to get some rice bowls. We had broken a few at home plus we were able to use them for cereal while we were there. At 50 cents each it was a good deal.

I also went to the Jade Market twice.  It was fun shopping and I got some Christmas gifts.

We also shopped where we were staying.

We went up to the Peak. We rode the bus up and then came down on the tram.  By the time we finished eating it was dark and we didn't have much time for pictures.

I think that about wraps up our trip. Now we are home getting adjusted to the time and getting rid of the Hong Kong Crude/cold that we all seemed to get. We are back in the routine.

 

Transportation

One of the things about Hong Kong is the transportation system. The first year that we lived there we relied on public transportation and I would say that we got where we wanted to go without too much problems.

There are buses. Both double decker and light buses or as they are often called mini-buses. The mini-buses hold 16 people and have no room for standing so you always have a seat but they might fill up and you have to wait for the next one.

The MTR (subway) is another way to get around the city. While we lived there the KCR merged with the MTR. The KCR was the train that went to China. We lived near one of the KCR stations.

The Star Ferry has been crossing Victoria Harbour since 1898 or so. It is the cheapest way to get across the harbour. Miss K went through a phase where she didn't like boats but thankfully did much better this trip.

There are also taxis. As we were landing Miss K said something about the taxis being green and she was right. Where we lived the taxis were green. In the city the taxis are red. I was amazed that she remembered that or maybe she was paying attention to the welcome video that explained that.

Then on the island there are trams which are also known as "ding dings" because they have a bell that rings whenever they stop so they go around making a "ding ding" sound. We rode the trams just for the fun of riding the trams. It is a cheap way to get around, about 27 cents per ride.

I think we used all those modes of transportation during our stay as well as the Peak Tram and of course our own feet and Miss K did ride the stroller some.

 

Only in Asia

can you buy Hello Kitty brand balsamic vinegar and olive oil.

Chips and Soup in a Bag

We like chips and we like Borsch but I am not sure I would like Borsch flavoured potato chips. I didn't buy them.

The view from my window

A view people have mentioned to me to be sure to take lots of pictures. I am guessing that they would like to see those pictures and so this is probably the easiest way to share the pictures. At one time in my life I was traveling quite a bit and took pictures out of my hotel window so I will share a few from this room.

We have a few of the harbor. Yesterday morning we could see a cruise boat come in. This morning we saw a cruise boat come in.

For many years they were working on this building and it was behind a wall. If you were high enough you could look over the wall and see the work. Finally, it is finished.

These pictures were taken in the morning. The city here seems to wake up late but then stay up late. When we lived here we were amazed that the train was packed at 11pm.

I will have to get some pictures at street level.