Chinese New Year celebrations

Here we are getting ready for the first Chinese New Year "Vegetable" (festival) as Katie called it.
































...and the FCC Chinese New Year dinner.





























Lily got her nerve up enough to do the dragon dance holding on to her friend, Laura Joy.

My favorite time of day

Getting ready for bed is the best time of the day around here. We go back to their rooms and Phil gets the girls all crazy by wrestling, tickling and having pillow fights. They laugh so hard that they can hardly breathe. They get to read their favorite books and say their adorable prayers. Lily is daily thanking God for Ella and Emma's birthday party and Katie is thanking him for Kai-Lan (from that new show, Ni-hao Kai-Lan). Then Daddy gets his good night kisses from the girls (I'll have to post that one later as it is quite the event). Phil then tells him that he loves them more than a bee loves honey or a monkey loves bananas or whatever he can come up with and the girls answer back with more of the same. Lily sometimes says, "more than girls love chocolate." Kate's newest is "more than a grasshopper loves grass." Mommy gets her snuggles as I snuggle them to sleep lying between them. I love it! Below, Lily is in pink and they are being silly at bedtime, making faces and goofing off.

OK...got to go...I left them fully clothed listening to a new CD in the kitchen...now they are completely naked and laughing...which means they are bored and about to get into trouble!

Look, Aunt Lily, we had snow down here, too!

"Hurry, girls! It will only be here for a few hours and not again for 10 more years; let's go build Frosty the Snowman!" Poor Katie is wearing the first warm clothes I could find...tourquise tights with floods...no time for fashion...we are on a mission!













Kate LOVES to watch the Frosty the Snowman movie that Grammie and Grandpa got us, so this was an extra special event.

Ta-Da! He looks monstrous here compared to his actual 18 inch size.

Now...to learn how to make and throw snowballs...

Kate dodging Daddy's snowballs.

Lily gets the hang of it with her signature "I'm sticking my tongue out so I can concentrate better" move.

Watch out!

Rick Burgess' testimony

Most of you here in Alabama have probably already heard or watched this testimony. But many of my friends and family out of state still haven't and I promised I would send you the link. Rick Burgess is a comedic radio host. He and Bubba ("Rick and Bubba, the 2 sexiet fat men alive") are heard throughout the US and are hilarious. Rick's 2 year old son recently drowned. Following the morning graveside funeral for his son, Rick spoke at an afternoon memorial service for his son. His words are powerful and speak truths of the Christian faith. To hear him, go to the Rick and Bubba website, then click on the Bronner Burgess Memorial page, then click on the 3 videos you see there. I've never heard a testimony that I have pondered and prayed over so much.

The last of Christmas...

The week after Christmas, the girls were excited to be home and playing together. They are always like this after being out with other people for a while...they love coming home and it just being the two of them playing. I love it because I can plan ahead and get A LOT done around the house during this time since I know they will be absorbed with each other and happy.
Below is their day with Sarah after Christmas. (Lily with the glasses)














Here they are playing together in a tub of toys. This picture is so characteristic of their little personalities...Lily is looking in a mirror at herself while Katie is trying to figure out how the telescope works!


















And then...
The BIG one...we gave them our Christmas present. They were soooo excited! Notice how Kate is driving in most of the pictures. Of the first 4 hours of driving over 2 days, I think Lily only drove for 10 minutes. And the crazy thing is that they were both fine with that. Maybe Lily just got tired of Kate's persistent, "MY TURN!!!" requests every 60 seconds of her time behind the wheel. :)



















































































































I made a big bowl of tabouli that morning and since I couldn't get them off of the bikes/jeep, I let them carry it around in a bucket with a fork. They ate the entire bucket!














































Warning... when you see this scene on the road in front of you...get out of the way!!!

Christmas at Grammie and Grandpa's

Grammie always has fun family traditions around the holidays. Here is Kate learning to prepare collards for cooking and freezing. Man, did she get into this task. She loves taking things apart, so ripping the leaves from the stalk was quite the thrill.














Lily uses her organizational gifts to arrange the presents under the tree.




















Aunt Carol helps Lily decorate her gingerbread house.














Kate is more interested in eating the candy!
















Lily doesn't stop until ALL the candy is on the house.

















Baking chocolate cupcakes
















Kate hanging out with Grammie














Watching the Disney Christmas parade with Daddy













On Christmas morning, Kate would take one piece of candy out and eat it completely before reaching back to see what else was in the stocking.














Lily flew through her stocking and then organized it all back into its place.




















Kate and her candy.... Lily eventually gave Kate half of her candy since Kate was so excited about it.




















Sorry Michael...but you just look too cute in this picture, so I had to post it!















Kate and Lily loved playing with their cousins


































Marissa and Megan even taught them how to ride their new bikes!










































Their favorite gifts of all were their stockings. Not wanting to part with them...they decided that they made good bed buddies as well.