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.

Kung Fu

Kung Fu Panda is the recent family favorite. Hayden, especially loves to do kung fu moves. Doesn't he look tough in his lavender chenille strip from Lizzy's robe?

Bargain

A while back I took a shopping trip to Beijing with some friends to one of these markets, similar to the silk alley, where they raise the prices sky high, expecting to be bargained down. My original intent of going was to find a winter coat for Hayden, so when I passed by this coat, I thought,

"What an absolutely adorable coat for Lizzy, but I really don't need it, she already has as winter coat." But I still couldn't resist looking at it longingly. The saleslady of course seized the opportunity and told me the coat can be mine for 400RMB. I told her the truth, "I don't need it." And turned around and left. She, of course, thinks I'm just playing the bargaining game and said, "200 ok, 200 ok". Tempting as it was, I had told myself to exercise some discipline and ONLY buy Hayden's winter coat, so again I said, "I really don't want it." "How much you pay?" At this point, I just wanted to give her a ridiculous low price just to get her off my back so I said, "80 RMB" and again turned around to leave. "ok, ok, 80, aiyo, you good bargain, I go broke."

So, I walked away with this beautiful winter dress coat for Lizzy for the price of 10 US Dollars. She loves it!

Zoo pictures

This time I decided to pay the extra TWO kuai (equivalent of nothing in USD) to let the kids see the tigers and the lions.

baby tigers!

Feeding ducks!

Hayden isn't quite strong enough to fling the bread crumbs past the ledge, so there was a collection of breadcrumbs on the ground. The ducks were sort of angry about that, they saw him fling his arm, but yet no food in their mouths.

Almost always we feel like "the zoo", because people love to admire our biracial children. Here, a family asked to take a picture of the kids. It's nice when they ask, because a lot of times they don't.

Windy Days in Tianjin

desktop

Ah ma bought a new computer and needs a good picture of the kids for her desktop. We had a picture taking session but I"m not sure any turned out. No matter what, here they are:

He Answers Prayers!

For those who are weak in your faith - hear pastor Hayden's proclamation:

Lizzy's big news