pajama day!

Some times you just need a pajama day. Every once and a while we plan a pajama day.  This is a day where we stay in our pj,s all day long!  Last Friday we had an unplanned pajama day.  Thursday afternoon we got a package from Poppa and Granny.  They sent the kids matching warm pj's.  It is a Christmas tradition.  Friday morning after the kids had dressed, they decided that they needed to try the pj's on "to make sure they fit".  Once they got them on, they did not want to take them off!

In the package there were also some comics.  The kids spent at least 5 quiet minutes looking at the comics.  It was very peaceful!

I did make Hallie put on her regular clothes to go to Chinese class, but when she got home, she put her pj's back on.  We had the kids put on long johns on ( some older matching pj's) under their pj's and we went out to eat.  We had to walk to the restaurant.

 

The kids thought it was great fun.  No one blinked an eye at what the kids were wearing. You see it is not uncommon to see people out in their pj's.  We see it all times of the day.  We once asked a Chinese friend about this.  He never thought about it being weird at all. We see it most often on the weekend, but it can be at any time.   See?

When in Rome...  The kids are looking forward to their next pajama day!

Thanksgiving

We had planned to have our big Thanksgiving celebration the Saturday after Thanksgiving.  Thanksgiving is not a Chinese holiday and most people had to work.  I had originally planned on making some chicken and dressing for our family.  I ended up inviting 3 other people.  We dined on chicken and dressing mashed potatoes, gravy, sweet potatoes, green beans, corn, rolls, and pineapple upside-down cake.  It was delicious (if I do say so myself).  Afterwards we played charades and laughed until our sides hurt.

Saturday we had our BIG celebration.

 We got a turkey.

We had so much food!  Heather brought black-eyed peas!  BLACK-EYED PEAS!!! We were very excited.  They were so yummy.  Everything was so good. 

We all ate as much as we could.  Some of us were miserable.  It was a  nice time to be with Americans and eat some good Western food.  After everyone left and took some food away, we packed the rest up and put it away.  Our refrigerator was stuffed.
For supper that night, Jon made some sandwiches with left-over turkey and rolls.  I had a little taste but was really still too full to eat. 
We ate left-overs for at least 3 full meals.  There are a few things still lurking in the fridge, but  finally our fridge is back to normal.
We are truly blessed!

She baked a cake!

Recently we have been talking about the fact that Hallie needs to learn to cook.  She loves to help me in the kitchen.  I started thinking about what she could cook by herself.  I thought that she could try her hand at a cake.  She has helped and watched me enough that it was not that difficult for her.  It was hard for me not to jump in and help her too much. A few times, I just left the kitchen and told her to call me if she needed help.

She did wonderful!   She made a pineapple upside-down cake (from scratch).  We served this cake for dessert on Thanksgiving day.

Beautiful and yummy!  Way to go Hallie!

Hallie's 10!

November 9th was Hallie's 10th birthday.  It is really hard to believe that she is 10.  It seems like just yesterday she was a baby.  We gave her a cell phone for her birthday this year.  She was thrilled!  I actually wrapped the empty box and we hid the phone behind the pillows on the couch.  We were going to call it when she opened the present.  However, Jon had entered her number in his phone incorrectly.  It would have been funny to have the phone ring.  Oh well.  She was still very excited!  Now she has a new way to tattle on her brother and sister.  We went out with out the kids (the ayi stayed with them) and she texted us to tell us something the younger ones had done.

Hallie picked this butterfly cake out of a decorating book that we have here.  She really liked it, and enjoyed helping decorate it.

The weekend after her birthday, she had a slumber party.  She invited her BFF Bliss and another American, Michaela.  Bliss lives near us.  Michaela is from the Chicago area but lives here in Hangzhou.  She goes to Bliss's school and Hallie met her at the Halloween party.  They were instant friends. 

The girls watched movies, painted their nails, ate more cake, and played on the computer.  They also stayed up until past 4:30!  I know because their giggling woke me up again at 4:30.  Poor Bliss had to get up and leave a little past 7.

They had a blast!!