Happy Birthday, Chinese New Year!

Madeline turned 7 this past week. I really cannot believe I have a 7-year-old. As we were brainstorming ideas for the theme of her birthday, she suggested that because Chinese New Year (which starts on the 26th) was so close to her birthday, maybe she could have a Chinese New Year birthday party. I thought this was a great idea. Our children are all 1/4 Chinese, and historically we have not really done anything to celebrate Chinese New Year, so this would be a great time to start some traditions.

Madeline wanted a "Chinese cake." I had no idea how I was going to make a Chinese cake, luckily this came to mind. The center characters spell our last name in Chinese (I hope :) and the outside is surrounded by fortune cookies. Ironically, when I headed down to China Town, fortune cookies could not be found in any food store, so I am really questioning how "Chinese" they really are :). Each shop owner kept telling me that I had to head to Canal Street (the more touristy part of China Town) if I wanted to buy fortune cookies. Authentic or not, the fortune cookies were a hit, as each child loved hearing what their future would hold when we ate our cake.

Dinner was Potstickers, Top Ramen, fruit, and Izzys. Again, if we were having a traditional pre-New Year feast, we would have eaten fish. But, because I do not know any 7-year-olds that want to eat fish on their birthday, we went with the next most authentic menu :). The white fruits on the plate above are lychees, and these are actual Chinese fruits we purchased in China Town. They are delicious.

We found these gift bags for very cheap in China Town, to give out as "goodie bags." I have no idea what what they say- I hope it is something nice :). All of our party decorations were also found in China Town. We decorated with some Chinese New Year items that we will use in years to come.

For the party activities, we made some Chinese crafts. The first of which was a Chinese lantern, in honor of the Lantern Festival that occurs at the end of the Chinese New Year. The girls all loved hearing about what Chinese zodiac animal they are. Madeline was born in the year of the snake, Owen in the year of the Dog, and Eva in the year of the sheep.

We also made some Chinese "lion dance" masks.

Next, I told the some stories about Chinese New Year. One of which, was the legend of Nian. Nian was a monster that would come to the Chinese villages particularly around the time of Chinese New Year. He would eat the villager's animals, and even sometimes their children! The villagers found out that Nian was afraid of loud noises so they would light firecrackers to scare him off. They also found out that Nian was afraid of the color red, so they would paint parts of their homes red, and wear red during the New Year.

So, after telling them the "spooky story" of Nian, we played the Nian game. All of the children constructed their own villager out of pipe cleaners, and tied a string to it. We placed the villagers all in the center of our circle of children, and Nian (which was me with a big decorated lid to a pot) would roll the dice. Every time I rolled a "4" on the die (which is an unlucky Chinese number equivalent to #13 here) the villagers had to scramble out of the circle before Nian (my pot lid) captured them. For everyone who grew up in my household, this is very similar to mom's "cat and mouse" game.

Yes, it was a wild game :)

Next it was time for presents.

Madeline received a large hand-quilted blanket from Grandma Chenn, which she loved. Here are all the party-goers trying it out.

Here is footage of the "Happy Birthday" song (in broken Chinese:), and the birthday candle blowing. I LOVE this video because it sums up the entire party in one minute. Owen was on the prowl, attacking at the most opportune times. Girls were screaming squeals of delight- while Owen was screaming girly squeals of frustration over the fact that he wasn't exactly welcome at this All-Girl party.

Mmmmm, cake. Owen finally got his piece.

Temple Square

I am so glad our trip to UT included this trip to Temple Square. We met up with our good friends (and former New Yorkers) the Theurers, and had a great time. It was great to catch up.

Some fun in the snow before we took off.
Eva and Maddy in front of "Mom and Dad's Temple." They have been wanting to see the temple we were married in for some time now.
The whole group all together in front of the Tabernacle. Thank goodness for willing Sister Missionary photographers.

Ella was so sad to see us go!! Okay, maybe she was just sad to be back in her stroller, but it made for a dramatic ending to our outing.

Springville Time

We loved our time in Springville. It was great catching up with my parents, my grandma, and siblings, and my nieces and nephews. Unfortunately, we didn't take very many pictures of our time together. We did, however take a bunch (and a lot of video) of our time all together at Power Tumbling. Our family rented out this gymnastics tumbling gym for a few hours one night, and had a blast.
Owen, trying out the trampolines. These were the bounciest trampolines I have encountered.

Owen showing Dad some of his power tumbling moves.

Eva crawling around in the foam pit which bore strange resemblance to quick sand.

Here is Marc, hoop jumping.


Did I tell you I have a very limber sister Mary.....


and Ana......

and Doreen....


and Angie?

Everyone else in the family: you are limber too, I just don't have video of it :)

But I do have footage of Mom and Dad taking the plunge:

Logan Time

We split up our time on our trip to UT between Logan and Springville. The first half of our trip was spent in Logan with Marc's family. The kids LOVED seeing their cousins, and grandparents and Aunts and Uncles. Here are some photos of our week together:

Owen was soooo excited to open these football pjs on Christmas Eve, as evidenced by this photo.Here are all of the kids together in their Christmas Eve pajamas.

Madeline loved playing the part of Mary (complete with baby Zoe!) as the cousins reenacted the Nativity.
She even got to ride the "donkey" Anika.
Eva, the (somewhat psychadelic) Shepherd.

Christmas Morning!! Eva opening her presents with Mason.

Madeline delighted with her Ear Muffs from Santa. She wrote him asking for Ear Muffs and a Snow suit, luckily he delivered! I am hoping that her Santa requests are always this practical every year.

Owen intently opening his new toy crocodile. He loves crocodiles, but he was a little leery of this one for a few seconds after opening it.
Maddy and Eva in their dresses from Great Grandma Chenn.
One of the rare moments Owen played nicely with cousin Kai. Had to document it.
A picture of some of the older cousins together. This is one of Eva's best.

Winter Fun in Logan

Previous to our arrival in Logan, the kids had only really experienced one (short-lived) snowfall in NYC this season. They were delighted to find out that Logan had received oodles and oodles of snow. We arrived to a winter wonderland. It snowed almost every day during our Logan visit as well. Sledding, snow fort making, snow angels and marshmallow roasting were enjoyed by all.

The girls loved making smores. Owen loved watching his mom panic each time he tried touch the flames.

Roasting Santa, Frosty the Snowman, and Ms. Claus, and Santa's Elves.

Snow Angels. Finally, enough snow to make one.

Eva and Uncle Mason on her first sledding run of the afternoon.

Unfortunately, they managed to find the one-and-only sledding jump on the hill. Eva (and her very sore bottom) were done for the day.

Marc and Owen shared the pink sled. Andrew showed us all up with his snowboarding skills.

Someone is absolutely delighted to be in the snow.

This picture makes me laugh. Marc, his brothers, and his dad set out to create a sledding luge "for the children" on the large hill in Gma and Gpa Chenn's backyard. This was a two day engineering feat. When they were finished, no mother in her right mind would let her child near it. In the end, the "big boys" all took a turn, resulting in a bloodied tongue (Mason) and some sore ribs (Casey).

Great Grandmas

Another highlight of our trip to UT, was the fact that the kids were able to see their Great Grandparents. I grew up knowing only one of my Great Grandmothers- and I cherish those memories of Grandma Angie. I feel blessed to know that my children will have memories of three Great Grandmothers: Grandma Dill, Grandma Chenn and Grandma Braithwaite.

Breakfast at Mimi's

There were many highlights to our trip back to UT for the holidays. This was one of them. The sisters (all of us but Sherie and Julie- who were missed) and mom went out to breakfast at Mimi's Cafe in Orem. Matt and Marc graciously agreed to watch all of the children we left behind. I feel so lucky to have the family that I do. 8 sisters, 3 brothers + me = 12, all under one roof growing up.

Of course, with 9 girls you can bet that there were clothing squabbles, bedroom territory issues, and even an occasional death threat. But, there were also some great memories created in those years we had together. Many of which make me laugh out loud when I think about them. I love these 8 sisters of mine. It was great to see you.