Snug as a Bug

The COLD is here. This morning was 4 degrees C (that is 40 F). I know my family in the snowed in mid- west right now might be rolling their eyes BUT our concrete flats are as insulated as your garage. Not that I'm complaining-I am enjoying the Christmas, cozy factor.
My two solutions to the cold:
1. Bundle the Babies
2. Fly to California tomorrow (yipee!!)

Is there anything cuter than a baby in a cow costume?!?

How Sweet It Is. . .

Monstrosities

Classy, traditional, understated, simple, elegant. . .not words used to describe Christmas displays in Hong Kong. Each year we watch as the malls try to out- do each other with unique (oh yes), bizarre and down- right ridiculous Christmas displays. Here are a couple monstracities from year's past in the New Town Plaza.


This year the mall closest to our house chose the classy Christmas theme "Molly Bling Bling Christmas Ballroom". Huh? But after living here five years, we don't ask questions, we just robotically stand in front of the display and take a picture on our iphone. Shoot, Josiah's not doing the peace sign- I guess we've got a ways to go in training him in the ways of Hong Kong.

And nothing says Merry Christmas like Hello Kitty in a sleigh

Because I've Got a Thing for Babies in Santa Hats

Here are my two Christmas babies- such a delightful stage (Annette 8 mo, Josiah was 6 mo). Although they are oblivious to the whole holiday, they sure look cute amidst the festivities. Josiah is SUPER into Christmas this year. All day he anticipates doing the advent calendar, singing "Away in the Manger", blowing out the candles and reading Christmas stories. Every night before bed he kisses the nativity scene baby and says "night nigh baby Jeeeesus". Hopefully we are balancing out the material ridicuousness going on around us- more on that in the next post



Sorry the quality is bad on Josiah's, I took a picture of a picture

Here is a photo of Josiah and his best "frienemy" Jack
By the way, I wanted to share with you that Jack's mom, Emily, has a great craft blog Nap- Time Creations. For the month of December she is posting one fun Christmas idea/ tradition/ inspiration a day. Emily is the most "Christmasy" person I know. I'm not sure how she has time to host four Christmas dinner parties, make all of her Christmas gifts, and do this blog while taking care of her newborn and toddler- but she's amazing. Worth checking out here.

Francis Chan- Balance Beam

Francis used to be a pastor in Simi Valley, CA and would speak in chapel from time to time while we were at Biola University. His message of being sold- out for God really impacted Jason and I at that time. Francis is currently traveling through Asia and our school was blessed to have him speak to the middle school and high school students yesterday. Please take a moment and watch this clip. It really challenged me to live for more than my own safety and comfort

Kicking Off The Holidays

Yay Christmas is in full swing around here. I have been in project mode and it feels so good
-house decorated- check
- Christmas cards out- check
- Shopping - in progress
- Stockings made- check
- Rinehart Family Cookbook made- check (almost)
- 2010 photo book- in progress
- 90 cookies baked- check (be impressed I can only bake six at a time!)

This morning some friends got together for cookie decorating and a cookie exchange. It was such a fun way to get a great assortment of 7 different cookies. We had four 2 years old boys together for the event, so we had to take them out to run the sugar off!
These are the stockings that I made for our family. The most fun part for me is scavenging the market for materials since there is nothing even closely resembling a craft/ fabric store here. Now if we only had a fireplace. . .

Other Family News
- Annette is still not really crawling. She will get up on all fours, creep a little, then plop on her tummy to slither
- Josiah is now offically potty trained (I know it was a LONG time ago I did the Potty Time post, but I got over- whelmed and chickened out) Now 2 weeks with no accidents and no going back
-Jason is a stud
- I need to stop eating Christmas cookies
- 19 days til we fly to America!

So Thankful

Happy Thanksgiving! Emily and I organized the second annual American Thanksgiving dinner and the food and company left us with grateful hearts and bellies. I didn't do a good job taking pictures since there was a lot going on with the 80 some people who showed up. I love this photo of Josiah with his plate waiting eagerly for the grub (of course once we filled his plate he had two bites and wanted to play!) Annette on the other hand ate hartily as usualy, here she is stuffing her mouth with some bread. Jason said the prayer and organized the annual putting tournment after the meal. Although nothing beats Thanksgiving with family, it was still a great day



~ Psalm 111~
Hallelujah! I give thanks to God with everything I've got—
Wherever good people gather, and in the congregation.
God's works are so great, worth
A lifetime of study—endless enjoyment!
Splendor and beauty mark his craft;
His generosity never gives out.
His miracles are his memorial—
This God of Grace, this God of Love.
He gave food to those who fear him,
He remembered to keep his ancient promise.
He proved to his people that he could do what he said:

In Position

Breathe

This fall, as always, has been crazy for Jason. Last week he left for work every morning before the kids woke up and didn't get home til 10pm, long after they were in bed. Most of his out of class commitments are now finished (cross country, Guam, week without walls etc). Jason took a personal day this past Monday so we could have a nice, long three day weekend as a family. It was like a breath of fresh air for everyone.
On the (overly air-condionded) bus with their hoodies
Lion Nature Reserve. . . ahhh. . . nature



Sai Kung is kind of like Sea World, except after you admire the fish you eat them!


Actually we had pizza and gelato- yummy! A perfect end to a fun family weekend.

Story Time

Often story time is the saving grace in my day. Sitting down to a good book has a very calming affect on Josiah and he will listen to a story til I'm blue in the face or fall asleep- usually the later. He is getting into Curious George (probably he can relate), Clifford, Little Critter, Winnie the Pooh, Dr. Seuss or anything by Eric Carle. I have been getting books from the public library and ICS to keep up with his appetite. As you can see Annette has found some good reading she can sink her teeth into as well. If you have a favorite children's book please leave a comment below, we are always looking for suggestions.

My friend Emily snapped this, I'm with Joy, Max (precious!), Jack and Siah

Makes Me Smile

Oh Yes He Did. . .

It has been a heart pumping last week for me as a Mom. It began with loosing Josiah the "explorer". I meaning really loosing him. While on the rooftop garden with Annette I thought he was with my friend, only to discover 10 minutes later he had wandered off on his own. After a mad dash around our estate and shouting his name like a wild woman I found him far, far away. At the ripe age of two he had descended three staircases, crossed two bridges, passed 4 apartment towers and countless hazards (high balcony ledges, fountains, stairs leading down to the buses) to a rock- bed at the far corner of the estate. He was not the least bit concerned, but annoyed that I made him stop throwing rocks and come with me. That was Friday.
Sunday, after naptime we found a piece of corn lodged WAY up his nose from lunch four hours earlier. Another big release of adrenaline. My attempts with the tweasers jammed the corn further up his nose (it was like playing the game Operation, every failed attempt was like hearing the buzzer go off- if you don't know that game never mind). Jason had the steady hands to get that sucker out, avoiding a traumatic trip to the ER.

There is never a dull moments around here. But all of this is making me pray more, and that is a good thing.

Party in My Crib

Annette loves holding onto her crib bars to stand. It also provides a perfect mouth- level bar for teething and apparently the perfect setting for squeeling, which is becoming Annette's tradmark.




I love how 'boyish' Josiah looks next to Annette (it's probably the tattoo, camo. . .and the fact he is jumping :)

Precious Petite Pumpkins

Two years ago I took these. . . .


Today I had fun shooting these . . .







Happy Halloween! We decided not to dress up or celebrate this year. . . unless you count scarfing the Halloween Butterfingers Jason brought back from Guam (yummy!!)