The Twelve Days of Christmas

Every year, I always become a little bit sad when I realize that you guys don't get to experience the excitement of Christmas at home. So, we decided to start celebrating Christmas a bit earlier by asking Santa to come a couple of days earlier so that we could open up a few presents before we left. 

First, we set out some cookies for Santa, because they are his favorite. And instead of milk, Nathan suggested that we set out some coffee for Santa because he may be tired from delivering all those presents. 

 Hannah also contributed some water to the spread because Santa might be thirsty.

 The next day, we smashed both of our gingerbread houses and started to enjoy them before they got too stale.

 Gumdrops are not our favorite.

"Christmas" morning at home was not terribly exciting. The kids woke up, just like every other morning and headed right for breakfast. Nathan took a peek at the cookies and coffee and announced that Santa ate the cookies, but immediately afterwards asked for a bowl of cereal. 

Alas, Santa brought most of the items off the wish list: For Nathan, a nerf gun, lightning mcqueen slippers and a lego set. For Hannah, a teddy bear, hair bows, and a set of skating protective gear. 

On the day before Christmas Eve, we drove up to Dallas to visit Auntie Momo. We spent the night there and then flew to Chicago to spend Christmas with Daddy's side of the family. 

So, without further ado, 

On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, a happy family and a huge Christmas Tree. This picture was taken in front of the Dallas Museum of Art where we spent Christmas Eve morning. 

The DMOA is one of Auntie Momo's favorite places and they had a pretty amazing Children's area. You guys tried your hand at still art and tracing. 

On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me, 2 trolley rides.

Well, technically not on the same day, but we were able to ride 2 trolleys during the Christmas break. Hannah loves riding the trolley and kept asking if we can stay on. The first trolley was the McKinney St. trolley that went through downtown and uptown Dallas. 

 The second trolley we rode in Kenosha, WI. We boarded the car, and between all of us, did not have exact change for the fare. We asked a couple in the car if they had any change for a $20 and they decided to pay the fare for our family! What a nice gesture.

On the third day of Christmas my true love gave to me, 3 costumed mice (including a mouse king). One Friday, we went to go see a Children's theater production of the Nutcracker. It was pretty neat for me to look over at Nathan and see how his slight lean forward and how his eyes were just lit up. He really enjoyed the show. Hannah really liked the "princess" (fairy) dresses. 

On the fourth day of Christmas my true love gave to me, 4 crazy cousins. While we were in Chicago, our cousins from Florida also joined us at grandma and grandpa's house. You guys had lots of fun together. Hannah enjoyed having other girls to play with and Nathan enjoyed having older kids to play with.

On the fifth day of Christmas my true love gave to me, 5 mammoth fossils. On our drive up to Dallas, we stopped by the Mammoth National Monument in Waco. The tour lasted about 45 minutes and it was really neat to learn about the Colombian mammoth and be able to walk through an active archaelogical dig site. 

On the 6th day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, 6 exotic animals in the animal show. The Palatine library is pretty amazing. Not only are their bookshelves filled with multiple copies of each book, hold regular story times (even during the holidays) they also have some pretty cool special programming like the one we went to a few days after the new year. We were able to see a hedgehog, a weasel, a turtle, a boa constrictor, a large rabbit, and a frog. Hannah was interested in going up to be a volunteer and raised her hand each time. It was pretty cute. 

On the seventh day of Christmas my true love gave to me, seven Jelly Belly samples. We drove about 45 minutes north to the quaint city of Kenosha. We took the jelly belly factory tour and had samples of different types of jelly beans. It was a fun sugar rush filled day. 

On the 8th day of Christmas my true love gave to me 8 Train Cityscapes. We visited the Trains at Northpark, which benefits the Ronald McDonald Foundation. When Nathan was in the NICU, the 1 afternoon where we were able to use their facility was an amazing blessing. It was neat to be able to point out the different things that we've seen in real life. 

On the 9th day of Christmas my true love gave to me, 9 Sick Havlirs. It all started with Grandma and Hannah getting sick on day 1. About 24 hours later, people started to drop like flies. It was a house with surround sound puking. (Sorry for the graphic description...) can you guess who was the only one who did not get sick? 2017 will forever be remembered as the year where we almost all of the Havlirs in the house got sick. 

On the 10th day of Christmas my true love gave to me, 10 Antique Bowling Pins. Besides the game belonging to grandma when she was a little girl, it was also really cool to see how well Nathan and Hazel played together. For this game, one person would set it up and the other person would knock the pins down, then you guys would change turns...all on your own. 

On the 11th day of Christmas my true love gave to me, 11 Skating Havlirs. On the day before everyone else got sick, most of the family brought their cold gear, skates and drove to downtown Chicago to skate at the Ribbon. Nathan eventually got the hang of it and was able to skate around the 1/4 mile loop by himself twice. He even told Daddy not to follow him (but Daddy asked Uncle George to follow behind). 

On the 12th day of Christmas my true love gave to me, 12 People Splashing in a Pool. We went to 2 Christmas parties while in the Chicago area. One of them was at the great-grandparents' nursing home. We played in the pool with the cousins and then ate and played games upstairs. Of course, there was also the opening of presents. 

I left out a few other things because they didn't quite fit nicely in the 12 days theme, but I'm going to mention them below.

The other Christmas party we attended was at Daddy's other set of grandparents house. All the aunts and uncles were there, along with cousins. The Christmas band was small, but mighty, and the white elephant game...well, everyone didn't get as much...let's just say that we all ended up with gifts that we could actually use, which is a bonus in itself.

We went and watched Moana with the cousins at the movie Theater. This was Hannah's first time at the theater and Nathan's second time. Nathan got a bit upset and had to leave the theater at one point of the movie, but he was able to watch the rest with Daddy, sitting in the back row of seats. Hannah watched most of the movie not scared and during the scary parts, she sat on my lap.

We also visited the little red school house, a nature center at a Chicago suburb. We think this may be where we all got the stomach bug, but we are not quite sure. It was fun, there were lots of cool animals to look at and little activities for the kids to do.

Well, that wraps up our Christmas holiday vacation. Back to the swing of things!

Christmas Time Is Near

Dear Nathan and Hannah, 

Christmas is literally right around the corner and we've definitely had lots of opportunities to get into the Christmas spirit. 

Let's go back to Wednesday, when we had the Sunday School Christmas performance. The rehearsal in the chapel went awesome. All the kids stood in their spot, did the motions and sang what they could. 

 I even snapped a picture where you both look adorable and are not fighting with each other.

 But then when it was time for the actual performance, Hannah actually did pretty good. You stood there, with your cute pig tails and you basically turned your back to the audience and looked at the screen behind you. Ok, no problem. You are 2. But Nathan, as you can see, you are in the back, and the crazy dancing turned into a game of cat and mouse all over the stage. You threw a tantrum when we asked you to stop running around and later you even told me that you punched the person who asked you to stop. I was mortified to hear this. I'm glad it didn't take much explaining for you to understand what you did was not good, in fact, you were so embarrassed that you told me that you don't want to go to church again. Quickly I told you that everyone forgives you and as long as you learned from this performance and don't do it again, everyone will not think of you as a boy who doesn't follow directions.

 On Thursday, we received new track for the train! You were so happy you did a happy dance after we set it all up.

 The weather suddenly turned from a high of 78 degrees to a high of 43 overnight. Crazy weather we have in Texas. So, we have spent a lot of time indoors. Luckily I have a few craft kits hidden around just for this purpose. You did a great job and created 4 "stained glass" ornaments.

 On Sunday, our church held its annual Christmas around the world and our family represented Taiwan. To prepare for the event, we cooked 10 dozen hard boiled eggs, cracked them and soaked them in a 5 spice soy and tea sauce. I'm glad I had a lot of help with cracking over 100 eggs.

On Friday, we met up with a few friends and went to the Wimberly trail of lights. We arrived early and got to ride the train without having to wait in line. 

 You told Santa what you wanted for Christmas, and while Hannah, meeting Santa souned pretty great in the car, but when the man in the red hat was in front of you, you shied away.

 I absolutely love the lights in Wimberly. Lots of things for kids to do. You guys got to write letters to Santa

 And we even got to take our annual in the world picture.

 There was a tap dancing demo where people could join up on stage to dance. Nathan, you were super excited to go up there to dance. Kid, you need to be in show biz or something.

 Afterwards, we got to roast some marshmallows to make smores.

 And Hannah got to take pictures with Elsa and Cinderella. Again, one of those things where the idea sounded great, but when it was time to actually take the picture, Hannah, you would just freak out and refuse.

 Before we knew it, 2 hours had passed by and we didn't even get to visit all of the exhibits! There's just a lot to do and see. We all had a great time.

 On Sunday, we had Christmas around the world at church. Nathan did a great job helping with the stamping of the passports. There was "Texas snow" for the kids to play in and food samples from 14 countries represented. It was a fun event. I'm glad we could've been part of it.

On Monday, you guys got to perform in the pre-school Christmas program. Hannah's class sang "Ring ring ring the bells."

 And you all were so cute!

 Nathan's class sang "Go tell it on the mountain." You guys did an especially great job with singing nice and loud.

 Today, we had planned on going to a trampoline house, but there were a lot of big kids there, so we decided to go bowling instead. It was both of yours' first time at the bowling alley, but thanks to the video games at Daddy's work, you two knew just what to do.

We actually met up with another family with kids around your ages and the 5 of you guys were a handful to keep track of. Balls, other families bowling, and small steps were all hazards that we constantly had to keep up with. But overall, you all played very well together.

Tonight, Santa is coming so we will be enjoying "Christmas morning" at our house for the first time. I've sometimes wished that we could just spend Christmas at home, but I also value the time spent with family. This way, we can have the best of both worlds!

We have 5 more days until Christmas. It's actually been really nice to complete the advent calendar with you gusy. Nathan, you truly look forward to the little story and message that comes with the hanging of an ornament, and Hannah, you just want to put all the ornaments up.

We are going to be having lots of fun this upcoming week! Looking forward to spending some quality time with family! 

Until next week! 

Love, 

Mommy 

Week of Making and Fixing of Things

Dear Nathan and Hannah, 

This week has been busy. About a week ago, our garage door broke. So after looking for parts locally and not being able to find anything, Daddy ordered some springs on-line and they finally arrived for him to fix the garage. That morning, I noticed that the house was eerily quiet. I walked out to the garage and I found everyone here. It was so cute how you both just pulled out the lawn chairs and was watching Daddy fix the garage door. I almost went inside to pop you guys some pop corn. 

On Friday, we had a MOPS playdate where we decorated cookies and had free-play. You both had a fun time decorating the cookies, but definitely were more interested in eating them.

 On Saturday, we had our another birthing group gathering. We moms have secretly met without you guys a few times since we all got together last time, but it was really neat watching you guys interact and actually play together. Even if "playing" meant plotting to capture your poor old 10 year old dog.

Our excuse to get together (if we even need one) was to build gingerbread houses. They were a bit smaller this year, which made them a bit easier to manage. And only one house completely collapsed.
Everyone did a great job sitting and working on their houses.

 Even Hannah, you got to decorate your own tiny little gingerbread house. On a side note you seem to like "tiny little" things right now. You want your pancakes "tiny little," cookies, and cups too. With little things you are pointing out how the little ones are the "babies" and the larger things are mommies or daddies. I totally remember Nathan doing that around your age.

 You also tried your first black jelly bean. I personally don't even know why anyone would think licorice is yummy by itself, but you seem to not mind it, (or not think it is disgusting). You didn't quite finish it, but you didn't spit it out. You look like a little goth girl with those black lips.

 And then there's the obligatory baby line picture that we do every meeting.

 I totally forgot to snap a picture of everyone with their finished products so I let you guys work on your houses a bit more the next morning and snapped a picture then.

 Hannah, you are getting to be such a medium sized girl. You are now able to sit through most of a game. For the first time, you were able to understand rules of a game and play it a few rounds.

 You two also found bottling beer to be very exciting. Nathan, you even decided to give up bedtime stories just to help out with beer bottling. Both of you did a great job at not breaking any bottles. In about 2 weeks, we will have a new batch of pretzel wheat beer...adult drinks. Plus they are fizzy and you guys don't like fizzy drinks.

 On Sunday, Nathan you had your end of the semester performance in Chinese school. You guys performed 2 songs for the group, had a party and played some games. You all were so cute!

Hannah absolutely loves school. You say "Hi" to your friends at school (even include their name in the greeting) and Ms. Kim says that you are a joy to have in class. She can't imagine what you are like when you throw a tantrum.

 Speaking of tantrums, you had an off day (you ended up getting sick the next day) which made me question having children at all in the first place. Everything I did was not right and everything I offered, you didn't want, but then did want, and then did not want, you know how it goes...

While most of the time you are really pleasant and polite, you are starting to get some sass and a sense of humor. For example: One day, you were helping me out with dinner prep. I had asked you to relocate the cubed tofu from the cutting board to a bowl. I turned away to work on something else and when I returned, half of the tofu remained on the cutting board looking like this:

 I exclaimed, "Hannah, I we don't smush tofu like this. I don't like to eat it like this!" and then you exclamed, "But I like it smushed!" "It's OK!"

And then here's an example of your sense of humor. Last week I talked about how you know that emperor Palpatine says "Goo-ud" a lot. Well, this week, while we were driving around the neighborhood looking at lights, you pointed at a Darth Vader and Yoda lawn ornament and said, "Goo-ud!" and giggled.

Hannah, you also like to play with little boys. When we have little girls over, you don't pay them much attention, but boys, you kind of go gaga over them. We had some dear friends over for a play date and you were pretty much enamored with Conner. You immediately started feeding him you snacks, asked him questions and later, as we were playing outside, you guys shared bubbles (for awhile).

We finally broke ground on our backyard remodel project. I'm looking forward to being able to spend lots of time outside, exploring, investigating and growing. 

Well, we have more exciting things to come this week and next week. Pretty soon Christmas will be over and we will be back to our normal routine. Until then, I'll cherish every memory that we make together.

Until next week,
Mommy.

Tis the Season

Dear Nathan and Hannah, 

This week has been a very nice week, almost a turning point in your relationship, for you two are now able to play together, hold a conversation, and not want to hurt each other for a good chunk of time. I'm really enjoying watching your interactions and Hannah simply just adores Nathan and Nathan is starting to realize that Hannah is pretty cool too and not just the annoying little girl who follows you around and copies you all the time. 

On Friday, we had another family service project night at church. This time we made blessing bags for the homeless, filled with things to help battle the bitter cold. The group was a tiny bit smaller than in the past, but we were able to make 22 bags to hand out to those in need. 

On Saturday, we decided to go to Home Depots monthly workshop, but when we arrived, there were no hammers left, so we were able to take the kit home to complete the project. We set up shop in the garage and you two hammered away (with some assistance). 

The hack we recently learned about using a clothes pin to help start the nail works! 

 On Sunday, our new pastor started a Christmas sweater Sunday. I was divinely inspired to make matching family Christmas shirts (this is Texas) and we all sported them on Sunday. Sheep are pretty much adorable. I wonder why I don't applique all my shirts with sheep...

 The weather has been cold and rainy the past 2-3 days. Perfect timing because you guys got to play with this new-to-us light brite set that another mom from church passed down to us.

As we get ready for the Christmas season, I have a renewed sense of appreciation for how our journey prepares us for the things that God has in His plans for us. At a recent MOPS meeting, one of the mentor moms showed us an advent calendar that she had for her children growing up. This helped me understand the role of the calendar and I decided to create one for our family. I think as we repeat the same devotionals each year for the next few years, we will all have a bit of a deeper understanding of the significance of Christmas.

As you can see, we only have 5 ornaments... making 25 ornaments is a bit daunting, so I'm trying to make at least 1 per night (before the night of the reveal). As you can see, I already made the sheep one, hehehe.

I am looking forward to the next few weeks. The holiday spirit is definitely in the air and I'm loving it!

Love you two very much!
Mommy