KIDSFEST!!

Yesterday was our annual Kidsfest. Every year it seems to get bigger. This year we saw more than 10,000 people. We had a carnival, blow ups, rock climbing, pony rides, preschool games and many food vendors. We enjoyed some bar-b-que and pizza.


This is Spicy Girl with a group of sisters. The one in pink is our pastor's wife. The one in blue is the wife of the Master's Commission pastor, and the one in white is Daddy Spice's administrative assistant. Spicy Girl adores them all.

We feel so blessed to be a part of this church and family. This was our 3rd Kidsfest!!

Its The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown

As you may have read before, I love the Charlie Brown specials. Well, tonight, The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown is coming on. Whoopie. Thank goodness for DVR.

Way Too Much to Blog About

I know that I have been blogging A LOT lately. It just seems like there is so much to blog about. I love taking pictures and finding stories in them. I am a scrapbooker, but I have not had the time to scrapbook since the summer. Since I can't scrapbook right now, I blog. It's so easy to load the picture and write a story.

So, Spicy Girl put these three bears in a bowl, brought them to me and said, "Look, it's Daddy (Winnie the Pooh), Mommy (colorful bear) and me (little bear).

How cute is that?!!? When Daddy and I hug, she cannot be left out. She grabs right on to us and joins the hug. Here's our family Bear Hug.

Happy Birthday Hubby!!

How do you know you're a Children's Pastor?.... When you get Operation and Flarp (the goop in a can that sounds like flatulants) for your birthday. Today is Daddy Spice's 37th birthday. We had the Panda family over to celebrate. What a blast. They are fellow Children's Pastors and parents to a daughter from China. We met and bonded quickly. This is what they brought D.S. for his birthday. Never mind that we had a blast playing.


The girls wanted to play too. We let them watch a little, then shoed them off to play their "own" games. We were playing a "grown up" game. LOL!!







Don't touch the sides!!!

Butterfinger!!! (remember the old commercials?)

Li'l Pumpkins

We took our little pumpkins to the pumpkin patch today. How cute are they? It's been a long time since we've gotten all 5 in one picture with no crying.

State Fair of Texas

When I was a little girl, I remember my dad taking me to the State Fair of Texas. Nana is in town for Daddy Spice's birthday, and since it was his day today, he chose to go to the fair.

That was alright with us! Spicy Girl was in awe the entire day. She got to ride kiddie rides and loved it. The bumper cars were a first, and she wasn't quite sure what to think about this girl who kept bumping into her. But she held her cool and did her best to manuever the car.

Big Tex was not as big as I remember him. It has been about 30 years since I've seen him though.



Another neat area we found was the little trains. It was a garden where little trains ran through little villages. It was a nice place to get away from the crowds. This is Spicy Girl with her Nana.




Time for lunch. Mommy Spice got her first roasted turkey leg. Way too much to eat, but yummy. Spicy Girl got a "naked" corn dog. Mommy couldn't find regular hot dogs close by. Can you see the excitement on her face?










Spicy Girl and Spicy Cousin got matching butterflies painted on their faces. Sooo cute!

Well, time to go home. Spicy Girl is absolutely warn out. This picture turned out really cool. Angels must be watching over her.

My Culinary King

My husband has always been a great cook. Early in our marriage, he made starters for homemade bread. He also made apple pie from scratch, including the crust.

It's been a while since he's gotten in the kitchen and whipped up something special. Tonight, my baby made homemade caramel apples. The caramel tastes like the stuff my grandmother used to make at Christmas. I haven't tasted that scrumptious taste in a long, long time. I am soooo impressed. I'm going to go sink my teeth into that tasty treat right now!!

"The Very Busy Spider"

Have you ever read The Very Busy Spider by Eric Carle? Well, I have many times. My daughter enjoys the book as well, but she's never seen one like this up close until today. She was not pleased. But look at that beautiful web. Spiders are amazing creatures. I could not stand them as a child, but when I began to understand the good they do for us, and that the majority of them are harmless, I felt a little less fear.

These are not the typical garden spiders that usually make webs like this one. As a matter of fact, I'm not sure I've seen these spiders making such "obtrusive" webs out in the open like this. They are everywhere around our house. We have two that have made webs in front of the entrance to our house, which we will unfortunately have to knock down. Does anyone know what kind of spider this is? Are they around your house too?

Having a Spot of Tea with Friends

Today, in honor of Panda Girl's recent birthday, we went to a nearby tea room for lunch. Although it wasn't as "tea room" as we would have liked, we still had a wonderful time. The girls split a plate with cold cuts, cheese, fruit and a muffin. For dessert, they had a yummy bowl of vanila ice cream with chocolate sauce. Our "little ladies" had a great time, as well as the mommies!

Peanuts

Timeless. One of my "warm fuzzy" memories is sitting on the sofa waiting in anticipation for the Charlie Brown holiday special to come on. My favorites are The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown and A Charlie Brown Christmas. Nowadays, there are so many holiday specials that come on t.v. for kids, but when I was a kid, this is what we had to look forward to. When I was about 10, my grandmother got me a stuffed Snoopy. I still have him to this day. He was not to be packed away in a box for the attic, or given to charity. He received special honors at the head of my bed all through high school, college, and yes, even those first few years of marriage. He now resides close by on a shelf in my closet (not in a box!). My daughter loves to pull Snoopy out and play with him.

After going to Wendys for lunch yesterday, she got her very own "mini" Snoopy. The girls were knocking each other over just to point to the Peanuts character they wanted.

I still get excited when I see on the t.v. guide that Charlie Brown is coming on, and I announce it to the family like a little girl whose going to see it for the first time. By the way, The Great Pumpkin.. should be coming on soon!!!

CULTURE DAY

Today was awesome! It was Culture Day for the FCC- Families with Children from China. It's an event that takes place once a year for families to get together with their adopted children from China, and celebrate Chinese customs. The morning started off with Kung Foo and then a Chinese Choir, both of which we missed due to heavy traffic. We did however get to do crafts, eat lunch with friends and see the Lion Dance. The Lion Dance has scared Spicy Girl in the past, and although she wasn't crazy about the loudness, she stayed on my lap and watched, hands over ears. We bought some new books, Chinese clothes, jewelry and the cutest panda slippers.

I coudn't believe Spicy Girl got in this panda's arms. She is getting to be such a big girl. He would have scared her to pieces last year.

CULTURE DAY

We met up with one of our playgroup friends who is also a Hunan Spicy Girl. This sign says Hunan. The girls got to take pictures with other girls from the same province. We missed the picture taking, so we took one of just our girls. All of the girls got a stuffed panda when they arrived. Aren't they cute? Panda Express catered lunch and donated all of the bears. We love Panda Express!!

I asked Spicy Girl what her favorite part of the day was, and she said when the panda picked her up. She asked me what my favorite part was and I said I enjoyed seeing all the other children from China and meeting their parents. It was a great day! Daddy Spice was sick and had to stay home, but we showed him all the stuff we bought and pictures we took. He'll have to go next year.

That's My Girl!!

The other night, Spicy Girl's cousin, who is more like an aunt since she's 28 years old, came over for dinner. Spicy Girl and her cousin adore each other. Spicy Cousin brought some brownies to make for dessert. Dinner was just about ready as we began the brownies. We wanted them to cook while we were eating dinner. Well, Spicy Girl got to take her first lick from a brownie batter bowl. Let's just say, after allowing her a few licks before dinner, I had to physically grab her hand out of the bowl to stop her. Then she proceeded to run around the living room screaming, "I love chocolate!!" All I can say is, "That's my girl!!"

What is it about rocks.....

For playgroup this week we went to, what I know refer to as Bee Park. The girls did play on the swings and slides for a time, but what is it about rocks?

Ever since Spicy Girl was a baby, she has loved rocks. We took her to this great park in Austin one day to see the ducks. I thought that she would go wild over the ducks. No, she fell in love with the rocks. We took our shoes off, stepped in the water to get closer to the ducks, but that only made the rocks more sparkly.

Who really needs playgrounds? Just dump a huge mound of rocks on the ground, and they are happy.

Mid Autumn Moon Festival

Last night was the Mid Autumn Moon Festival, a Chinese festival that's been celebrated for more than 1,000 years. Americans have been trying to carry on the traditional Asian celebration here in the states for several years now. Until our adoption of Spicy Girl, I never really knew what it was about. Now that we have Spicy Girl, we try to celebrate some special Chinese holidays as a family. Well, this is one special family celebration. It's celebrated a little like Thanksgiving. Family gets together to give thanks for a bountiful summer harvest. A common part of the meal is the Moon Cake. I have never made moon cakes, and didn't get around to it this year, but intent to next year. Moon Cakes are a semi sweet pastry filled with bean or lotus-seed paste, topped with a duck egg, which is in the shape of the full moon.

We cheated!! I didn't realize what day it was until I got an email from a friend. I knew this day was coming up, but I wasnt' ready, so instead of running around to get the ingredients to make moon cakes, I went to the local grocery store and got Moon Pies. Ok, so they're nothing like moon cakes, but I had to improvise. We still enjoyed time with our family... Spicy Cousin came over. And...we sure enjoyed the chocolaty, marshmallowy treat!

Where will the wind take us?

We had a short but wonderful visit from the grandparents this week. We had one whole day to get out and explore new places we've never been, or at least haven't been to in a long time. That's what's so much fun when they visit. We never really know where we will end up.

As we set off, heading north to a mall we had not been to yet, we felt a little "rumbly in our tumbly's", so the question was, "Where do we eat?" We were downtown, Big City, Texas, and remembered we were close to a great old area with lots of fun restaurants. Spicy Girl had never been to Spaghetti Warehouse, and it had been a long time for us, so there we were. The atmosphere there is so much fun. We had an enormous, deliciously sinful meal followed with teramasu for dessert. S.G. is sporting a tall glass of lemonade here.

After our meal, we went to the fancy mall, and dreamed about the clothes we'd like to purchase from Neiman Marcus and Barney's of New York. We did however find some really cute dresses for Miss S.G. It was a wonderful day, and we can't wait for another visit from the grandparents.

One Man's Trash is Another "Butterfly's" Treasure

Well, Daddy Spice was leaving for work this morning and asked me to come outside and look in the trash can. What do you know? One man's trash is another 'butterfly's" treasure.

I found a fun online shopping store from another blog. Check it out. You can personalize shirts, bags, stationary and so much more. You could find fun Christmas presents for the family.

Enjoy- www.mandysmoon.com

What's that smell?

I walked into Spicy Girl's room this morning to get her up for Mother's Day Out. I noticed a "soured milk" smell lurking. I figured she must have a sippy cup of milk stashed somewhere. I didn't see one anywhere but figured we'd search the room when we got home. Well, this evening, while Spicy Girl was reading books with her grandmother, I decided to search her recently cleaned room. The smell was faint, but nonetheless, I was getting to the bottom of it. As I stuck my head in to her recently cleaned out closet, I noticed the smell getting stronger. I keep her overnight bag stored underneath her hanging clothes, so I pulled it out and.....jackpot!! It wasn't a sippy cup of milk. It was a rotten banana!!! We visited the grandparents 2 1/2 weeks ago. I noticed our bananas were getting ripe and I didn't want them to get bad before we got home, so I threw them in the side pocket. Spicy Girl ate 2 of the bananas, but we left one in her bag. Well apparently, I unpacked very quickly and forgot to remove the banana. Wouldn't you think we would have smelt it before today? You would think, but no. It is disgusting. It smells like vinegar, and even had little white bugs all over it.....Maggots? Absolutely revolting.

The overnight bag is now in the trash can outside, and I have lysoled the closet. I am disgusted!!!

Happy Birthday Princess Panda

Today was Panda Girl's Princess Party. She was a beautiful Belle. All of the girls looked precious! That's Spicy Girl as Princess Jasmine watching "Belle" open her presents. Panda Mom sure plannned a fun birthday party. The girls had a "ball." We are so blessed to be a part of this group!

Happy Birthday Panda Girl!!