Sunday, April 14, 2019

Benjamin's 14th B-day

Happy birthday, Benjamin!!! He wanted to have an NCIS party. He actually just started watching it, but he knows that Mom and Dad are fans of the show and he likes solving crimes. He came up with all the ideas for decorations on his own.

The girls went outside to play for a bit...mostly because the boys needed the girls to go out for a bit ;)

This is Benjamin's REAL birthday (April 5) and he asked for breakfast for a meal. It was the first meal after being sick as well.
We let him open his gift from all of us. The box was huge and it was HEAVY. He got a work out bar for pull-ups. Now he doesn't have to use his bunk bed anymore, and I don't have to worry about him tipping it over since he has grown SO MUCH!!
Birthday cookies (His party was a few days away and that's was good so that we could make sure he was better)
His friend Nic...the NCIS hats were party favors...gotta love Taobao.
The crime scene. I'm not sure we ever figured out who did it ;)

No boy party is complete without a little gun fight.
I think this was one of the best gifts he got and right up his alley. Jumbo Playing Cards.
His little sister knew that he really needed a new iPad case, so she picked one out for him. He was very excited about it.
but not quite as excited as he was when he got money!! :) Every 14 year old loves money! Side note...it's really hard to get pictures of him opening presents when he has this hat on!!
Here is the cake :) I tried my best, but my energy level after having a sick house for 2 weeks was not great. I think he liked it though! :)

This is while the girls went outside. The chaos in the house just got a little too overwhelming and he needed a break, so these two friends enjoyed a few minutes Minecrafting together!
Benjamin did not really want a group picture, but was kind enough to do one for his mother who loves pictures....even if he's not a huge fan.
He came to the door and said, "Pick a card, any card." :)

Jonathan said that we looked ridiculous ;)
The day after his party we had some friends from Zhongshan come visit. WE had not seen them in about a year. Annie saw us and came running. Annie is exactly a year younger than Lauren. Lauren was a little nervous because Annie has always been about the same height as Lauren because she's pretty tall for her age. When they arrived Lauren was soooooo excited because she is a head taller than Annie.

Me, Melody, and Xiao Wei
He was a very content and funny little guy. Oh no! Not more pictures!
But he did think I was funny, so that's always a plus :)
Annie gave Katherine and Lauren 2 silkworms each. So, these are our new additions to the family ;) It's silkworm season and kids all over have them for pets right now.  They are quite fascinating. They have literally doubled in size in just one week. Benjamin is hoping that they will make enough silk to sell ;)
Lauren wanted a turn to hold the baby :)
This one is funny...Each kid looking at his/her own mother :)
The girls did a ropes course.
There was a bit of a traffic jam because a little one got too scared to continue. They had to wait for one of the workers to come so they could all pass her by.


After the park, we had to say goodbye. They were headed to their car, and we needed to catch a bus back home.

Katherine took this picture.
Group picture after lunch.
He chose me over his mom :) Made me happy...but then his big sister came along and he chose her over everyone else.

I'm so glad that families can choose to have 2 children now. These two just love each other so much!!

Try playing a game of speed with jumbo cards ;) It's not very fast...haha! I am officially caught up! YEAH! I hope I can stay that way ;)

March 31

HAPPY 10th BIRTHDAY, LAUREN!! I can't believe she is 10 already! I think I say that every year about every age.  She is my lover of all things dance, so it was fitting that she asked for a ballet themed party.
Regan had been sick off and on for awhile. She was afraid that she wouldn't get any decorations done for her party. She came through with some cute additions dancing around New York City.
Lauren wanted to decorate sugar cookies at her party. I was so excited that I found a ballet shaped cookie cutter when we were in NY. She was so surprised.
These are two of her dance friends decoration cookies (and apparently the plate, too) Yi Fan and Qian Qian
Some of the kids got to the party a hair later than others so we had half eating pizza and half still decorating their cookies.
I love seeing all of the different ways they decorate. This was one of my favorite plates.
The party...(back)Tang Rei, Yi Fan, Qian Qian, Winter, Katherine, Regan, Yoyo, Benjamin (front) Grace, Kay Kay, Lauren, Hay Hay, Isabella, and Hudson
She's growing up. She got a beautiful little ring from Katherine. She LOVES it! And I love that smile!
One of her friends gave her a money box...I thought that she had her money in it, but no. She is keeping her CANDY under lock and key. haha!
Cute little ballerina earrings from Qian Qian
A ballet figurine
This was her gift from us (Mom and Dad) A slime making kit.
After presents, they piled into the elevator to go play outside.
I'm pretty sure this was a game of tag.
But I guess they got tired because they moved into a game of duck duck goose ;)
cutting the first piece
Kay Kay and Hay Hay
Lauren enjoyed using her Instamax camera the party. The only bad things she had me take the pictures for her so that she could be in them....so I didn't have these on my phone...and they were SO GOOD!!

Here is the final product. This was by special request...Lauren said she wanted Regan to draw her something for her birthday. I like it!




Regan took this picture before they came back upstairs.
Katherine and Kay Kay
The contents of the slime kit!!!

So I have been seeing this picture and many similar ones ever since. They love experimenting with the slime and making all kinds of slime.
After the party this guy said he didn't feel well and wanted to sleep on the couch.  Poor guy.
Hudson had a few hands on projects this week.  He really enjoyed the Oreo one because he got to eat them afterward :)
This one is his world. He was supposed to make one similar to earth, but NOT earth and name the land and sea. That's why we have Hudson country :)
The girls put some of the boxes (aka trash) to good use. They wanted to make a playground for the hamster. They did a good job and the hamster enjoyed the extra exercise.
Well, after a few days, it was obvious that Benjamin was not getting better but worse. So off tho the hospital we go. It's so different here. The doctor ordered blood tests and a chest X-ray. I had to take him to the right places, print out the X-ray and reports myself and take the tubes of blood that were drawn at one location to the lab to be processed and then wait for the reports there, too. Turns out that  he had pneumonia.
No wonder he looks like this! The kids haven't been sick in a long while, but we had quite the illnesses around here. Regan we thought was on the mend, but relapsed hard with strep, laryngitis, and the flu!! Lauren had a terrible cold and headache, and Hudson had an awful cough and needed his inhaler a lot for a week. Thankfully, as I type this, everyone is doing MUCH better! Hence the reason I have a minute to work on the blog.

Lauren really wanted a yellow shirt for her birthday! She now calls this her Auntie Em shirt because it has flip flops on it and everyone knows that Emily loves flip flops :)
I think this was her favorite card so far....pugs in tutus.
Benjamin's medicine is working...he wasn't off the couch yet, but he sat up halfway and opened a present that came in the mail...and even smiled!
This is the picture of truly worn out shoes!! Hudson and I went shopping for some much needed new tennis shoes!!
These are the ones he picked out. Out of all the ones he tried, they were probably my favorite as well, but I think he chose them because the ladies kept telling him how handsome he was in them ;)
Katherine was told to draw he friend....she asked the teacher if she could draw her dogs instead. I told her it made sense to me. After all, a dog is man's best friend.
She was cracking me up trying to get pictures of the dog.
Hold still, Scout. Yes, just like this. That's cute. :)