We rang in the New Year with an interview for Emily since she is very verbal now. It went really good. We plan to do this every New Years Eve and put all the clips together in one DVD every five years. This first one wasn't very long. We asked her "What's your name? How old are you? Who is your best friend? What do your mommy and daddy do during the day? What's your favorite toy? What's your favorite video? What's your favorite song? What's your favorite food? ... " All the basic getting to know you questions. She answered all of them with ease. When asked who was her best friend, she answered "Andy!" When asked what was her favorite food, she answered "Chocolate!" When asked "Do you like Andy better or Chocolate better?", she answered without hesitation "I like Andy better!" She spoke from her heart and we know how she loves her brother. She always asked about Andy if he was not in her sight. They play together all the time and she always keeps a watchful eye on him. Yesterday she came to me and said quietly, "Mama, I didn't flush the toilet because I'm afraid it's too loud and it'll wake Andy up from his nap." When they played outside while I was cooking, I often overheard Emily saying "You did it Andy! Great job!" Or she would run to me, "Mama, look! Andy is doing it! He is doing such a great job!" That happened when Andy climbed on the slide and slid down without her help. When Andy was frustrated today, Emily walked to him, "What's the matter, sweetheart? (it always made me smile when she called him sweetheart :-)) Let me give you a hug!" Whenever Emily heard Andy crying, she would request "Mommy, can you go hold Andy please?" if I was in the middle of somthing. If I give her something, she always asks me to give Andy some also. She is just such a wonderful sister to Andy. Of course, Andy loves Emily too! When David's uncle passed away two weeks ago, David and Emily drove to Tulsa while Andy and I stayed at home because Andy was sick. When Andy saw Emily after they came home, he ran to Emily and gave her a big bear hug! I was not at the right position to take this picture. But I was glad I was fast enough to grab the camera and took the picture.
It made me happy when they see each other as best friends; when they practice kindness toward each other; and when they make each other laugh and giggle. They always respond when one of them wants to play together. Here are some random pictures when they played together:
This picture was over exposed. I wish it wasn't because both kids just giggled and laughed off their heads. Andy laughed so hard that he put his head on Emily's shoulder.
After the New Year's Eve Interview, we asked Emily, "What is the one thing that you want to do in the new year?" she said painting. On New Year's Day (Sunday), she was so excited after the Bible class, "Mommy, look! I painted!" She couldn't believe her wish became true so quickly! She showed her paining to everyone she met at church. Look what she painted:
Then we knew how much she really wanted to paint. So next day we took out the paint materials for her and Andy to paint. Since then they had several painting sessions at home. We had fun at every one of them.
Emily is a very good communicator. She talks like an adult and she is very sensitive to others. She also began to ask many questions like "Where is God, Mama?" She was afraid of the storm and heavy rains. One night she got scared when the rain knocked on the skylight while she was taking a bath. She told me that she was scared. I asked, "What do you do when you are scared?" She said, "I just told God that I was scared. God took care of me. He slept next to me until I fell asleep and said 'You are welcome!' to me." Another day, Emily asked Andy what he thought about God. Andy didn't answer. She asked me the same question. I said "I think He is great! What do you think?" She said "I think God is beautiful! He made everything about us and He loves everything about us!" The Sunday school teachers definitely did a great job! Emily started requesting to say our dinner prayer recently. She used to do that at bed time. Now she is just brave enough to say it in front of everyone. Andy normally is the one who initiates to pray. He just stretches both his hands and says "Pray! Pray!" One night Emily threw up after she ate some grapefruit and Macaroni cheese. David took her to change her clothes. She told David:" Daddy, my tummy was sad. My tummy said, 'Oh no! I lost all my yummy food!'" I started collecting all her words that made me smile into a 2012 Jar to read on the New Year's Eve as a tradition as well.
Andy is growing very quickly also. On his 18th months checkup, we calculated that he could say over 120 words and several two words sentences/phrases. Now he can count to 10 in English and Chinese. He knows most of the alphabet, colors and shapes. He likes to play puzzles, blocks, and balls. He is a social guy who loves to interact with others. He loves to sing along with others and dance to every beat and music. He loves his Bible class. Every time when I stopped at the foyer talking to other people, he would turn my face toward him and look into my eyes, "Class, class!" He was promoted to the 2-to-be class last Sunday. His teacher said he did really great! Andy is very into phonics and letters recently. When we drove, he would point out the letters he saw on the signs. When we read bedtime stories, he would notice the letters instead of focusing on the pictures as he used to. He has some things that he hates: wiping/cleaning his face, eating vegetable and brushing his teeth. More often than not, some food stains still hang onto his face when I drop off Emily at school. Well, I tried.
We had a Chinese New Year's party at Friendspeak. Emily and Andy had a good time there.
Both Emily and Andy love singing. Both kids love reading the books too.
I often found Emily reading in her room during the day
A while back Dawn recommended a place to us called Safari Indoor party. We used the coupon this past weekend and happily found out it was very close to our house. The kids enjoyed it very much. Emily still talks about going back.
We haven't really talked about it with many of our friends. We are building a new home in McKinney (Off Hardin and Virginia). It will be very close to David's work. We had looked at that community for half a year before we signed the contract after Thanksgiving. It started building on January 9th.
Picture on January 10th
Picture on January 17th
Picture on January 29th
Side view picture on January 31st
David said they put the angle frames on today. So everything moves rapidly. We pray that there will not be problems during the construction and we will be a positive influence for the community.
Since our oven broke during Christmas, I made up for some cooking after it was fixed. Here are a few new things I made from the scratch:
Home made cinnamon rolls from the scratch
Creamy chicken pot pie cups
Whole wheat cinnamon pancakes
Whole wheat butter horn rolls:
January this year had some pretty weather. We were able to play outside several times. We had a couple of play dates with our friends Lori and Dawn. The kids enjoyed them and I enjoyed them more. Thank you Lori and Dawn for inviting us to spend time together!
Emily enjoyed everything: making the crafts, hanging the ornaments, and reading the stories. What Andy enjoyed the most was watching the Christmas lights. He requested it almost every night before going to bed. Luckily we are just a block away from the famous Deerfield. We watched the Christmas lights probably more than anyone else. Emily usually asked in a more subtle way, "Can we see Baby Jesus tonight?" because every time when we watched the lights, she and I would be on the hunt for Baby Jesus. We could spot as many as 21 baby Jesus in about one hour! 
This one is my favorite "Wise Men Still Seek Him"
David's favorite was one with Santa, reindeer, elf, snowman, penguins, rings that were lighted and danced to the music from a radio station. That was very impressive.
We went to the annual Breakfast with Santa at church. Again we all loved it! The ladies who organized this event put so much effort in it. We decorated the wooden snowflakes, stamped the gift tags, mixed the reindeer food, decorated the bag, took pictures with Santa, and listened to Mrs. Claus' Christmas story ... Look at these happy faces:
On Friday we went to the Gaylord Texan to see the ICE exhibition. It was too cold and dark inside for the kids. So they wanted to be carried all the time. I think we will have a better time when they are a little older. But the kids had tons of fun just in the hotel.
As 2011 drew to the end, we wish you all have a richly blessed 2012!
