Merry Christmas from the Brandt Kids in Tianjin

Celebrating with you the day HEAVEN came and dwelt among us as a baby.

Down on Christmas Day

We are thankful for a fairly healthy season in our family, but Hayden finally came down with a cough and is feeling very much under the weather on Christmas Day. Here he is, so tired from the morning's festivities...

Christmas Eve

The night before Christmas, the little ones were busy writing letters to Santa

We left out a cookie for Santa near the Ping-Tai (balcony, no chimneys in 28 floor buildings)


Stockings hung conveniently on the door to the ping-tai.

Happy Birthday Daddy!

The kids helped frost Daddy's birthday cake.

Guess who got to help Daddy blow out the candles?

Going out for Indian food to celebrate!


BEST food ever! Thinking about moving to India...

Christmas Cookies

Baking Christmas cookies with friends!

Helping Mommy Mop!

Giving Hayden a haircut

with a Bob the Builder chainsaw...

Christmas Picture

None of them turned out perfectly, but these were some of the top choices.

Jingle Bells

It's Christmas time again, and we bring out all our fun Christmas decorations for the house. Grandma gave Lizzy this little toy a few years back and it's fun for the children every year as they grow and appreciate it as different ages. This year, Hayden was sooooo cute singing the song with Lizzy. I wanted to film him being cute, but as usual, when the camera is out, the act disintegrates. This video clip was take 3 or 4 so Lizzy knew enough to put on the performance but Hayden totally bailed halfway, here you see the effort Lizzy put into trying to complete the entire act. Sorry Lizzy! We know how hard you tried!

Beard Papa's Cream Puffs

Our favorite treats - Beard Papa's Cream Puffs!

Messin' around

Taking pictures one day while out at a restaurant waiting for food.

Special Thanksgiving Memory

This Thanksgiving was very special for us because we'll always remember it as the Thanksgiving when Lizzy lost her first tooth!!

Here she is with her little gap-tooth smile

We finally put Lizzy's toothfairy pillow to good use


The back pocket is for the tooth!

She already knows the tooth fairy is mommy (apparently her friend Hudson spilled the beans), but that actually gave her comfort because she was a bit worried about random mystical beings visiting her bedroom while she sleeps. She got three Chinese coins and a piece of gum for her tooth from mommy-toothfairy. She asked me if I was sad, because she knows Mom gets sentimental about her milestones sometimes. I was excited for her, but yes, I will miss my baby's baby teeth.

Happy Thanksgiving

This is our fifth Thanksgiving in China. And Thanksgiving in China is, well, nonexistent. Yes, China has no clue it's turkey day, and students still need to go to class, and teachers need to teach. Therefore, our community of friends decided to celebrate Thanksgiving on Saturday so people can actually come. However, our little family (+ adopted family member, Shannon :) ) decided we couldn't go without a Thanksgiving Feast, so I fixed up a mini pre-Thanksgiving feast. (pumpkin pie not pictured!)

Lizzy and I spent Thanksgiving morning making a special Turkey breadbasket for our feast, how cute is it?!

Science Museum

One weekend, we took a family outing to the Tianjin Science Museum. There were all kinds of fun little games, gadgets, what not for the kids to play with. Best of all - it was free! Next time we might try to catch the 3D dinosaur film.

Where is Hayden?

It depends on the day. Some days he's playing in the tent with his friend Moyer:

Other days he's out with Mommy to KFC:

or at home hiding out in the toy storage system:

sometimes he disappears into thin air:

or relaxing in a massage chair at the mall.