Christmas Tree Decorating

I LOVE this time of year! As a family, we put the Christmas tree up and decorated it this weekend. Gabriella and I looked at all the ornaments and I told her the story about each one- she loved that! A tradition I started was to buy an ornament every year that represented something we did... this year we put-up the Disneyland 2010 ornament to commemorate our trip this summer. Gabby seems to really like this tradition too and this morning wanted to know about the moose ornament. She remembered where it came from, "It's from Yellowstone!" It's a fun way to talk about about family memories we've shared and special people in our life... Afterwards, we all watched "A Christmas Story." I'm happy to report that she is also a fan of the movie!

GymNees is Back!

Walking on the Balance Beam by Herself

Gabriella and Kellan

The Whole GymNees Gang

David, Kya, Gabriella, Lachlan, and Kellan

The Pink-Weenies and BFFs

Emily and Gabriella

It's really nice having PE teacher friends... they organize the coolest activities, such as GymNees. It has started up again and it's basically a time where the kids can do mini-gymnastic-type things, like balancing, running, hanging, etc. We meet every Sunday morning at 8:30 am. It's a nice time to catch-up with friends and for the kiddoes to get some exercise since it's so cold outside.

1st Annual Gluten Free Thanksgiving

Here's the Gang!

Gabriella (can't get her out of this outfit!) and Sophia

Gabriella and Leonie

 New Friends Who Both Have Celiac!

This year we hosted the first ever Gluten Free Thanksgiving in China, well at least that we know of... It was a great success! Not only was it the first one, many of the people who were there have never celebrated Thanksgiving. Travis gave a nice toast and we all felt thankful for finding such a supportive group of people... It was quite a multi-cultural gathering with people from  Norway, America, France, Panama, Australia, Belgium, England, and New Zealand. It was so nice not to worry about crumbs and cross contamination. I didn't realize the low level of anxiety I have when we go to parties with gluten... Gabriella still doesn't completely understand and neither do her friends so there's always that level of worry on your mind that she'll get sick. We supplied the turkey and stuffing and other people brought different gluten free itams. Travis is going to make some turkey soup and we have lots of yummy gluten free left-overs for some family dinners.

"The moon is following us!"

Gabby said this today as we were driving to school... Travis and I clearly remember asking our parents this when we were little... I've been waiting for her to ask. Anyway, it made me a little teary-eyed. I love that little girl.

Thanksgiving Thankful Turkey

I want Gabriella to understand and celebrate Thanksgiving like a true American, but unfortunately we don't get the days off and there won't be any cool art projects she gets to do in school... so I took it upon myself to find an activity that we can do together. I wanted it to be both fun and educational, so we made a "Thankful Turkey." Gabby was quite helpful! She painted, traced feathers, and pasted and cut-out the feathers (with some help from me). You can't really see, but on the each feather it says, "I am thanful for..." We talked about what we are thankful for, what does "thanks" mean, and why it's important to acknowledge this... Quite a challenging concept for an ego-centric 3 year-old to grasp, but I tried... When I referred to giving thanks as, "what makes you happy," she seemed to get it.

What we are thankful for: Family, Friends, Emily (Gabby's best friend), Health, Security (our jobs), Franny and Grandpa, Grammy and Papa, Mommy/Daddy/Gabriella, Chen Ayi, and the Celiac Support Group,  and the New Baby Brother/Sister

A couple of years ago I bought the DVD "Charlie Brown Thanksgiving," which includes the story about the Mayflower Compact, pilgrims, and Native Americans so we'll show her that too and talk about it.

Cara's Birthday Party

Alex, Cara, Velora, Stephen,

Scott, Nina, Geoff, Sue, Rob, Kirsten, Mark, Russell,

Nikki, Mary, Brooke, Sharlene and Travis

We are just missing Devon, Laurie, and Jenn

It was a mellow and lovely buffet dinner, cooked by Chef Song. Good people and food- who could ask for a better birthday!

Travis and Gabby-Fish

Doesn't Gabriella look like a pro in her new hot pink swim cap and goggles? I am really proud of how committed Travis is about teaching her to swim... Below is an excerpt from an email he wrote to his parents explaining what she accomplished this weekend.

Been swimming with Gabby a lot lately and we just love it. She floated for over a minute on her back on her own on Sunday. Every day when I come home she asks me to go swimming. It is our special time we get to be together and I can see that it has made our relationship even stronger.

Gabby's 1st Dentist Visit

Gabriella had her first dentist appointment today and Dr. Nazari said she did awesome! So far-so good. No cavities.

Gabby Swims Solo

Gabby and I have been going to the pool alot in last week. She has always been comfortable in the water, never afraid to get her head or face wet. Earlier this week we began doing submarine rides where she holds onto my back as we go underwater for awhile. I have been swimming progressively further and further with her underwater with each day until we can make it about a half a length at a time. She likes to say what she wants to search for each time we go down. So far the list includes; dolphins, whales, octopus, sharks, fish, and crocodiles. She will point in which direction she thinks the animals are in and off we go.
Swimming on daddy's back is one thing but swimming solo was a pretty scary prospect for Gabby. Earlier in my work with her she had a couple experiences where she went underwater when trying to swim to me and it made her pretty afraid to let go of me or the wall. As we have been working this week I noticed that she seemed more and more comfortable, hanging onto the wall with one hand while she would go under water to have a look around. The past two days I left her "floaty" at home, taking off the training wheels in a way. Yesterday I was having her do an exercise where we go to the bottom and she kicks to pull me up and "rescue" me. She really liked it and I could feel that her kick was getting stronger. I decided to take a risk and let her go once we got underwater to see how she reacted. As I let go of her she looked surprised but not panicky, she kicked hard and came toward me. I picked her up out of the water and she smiled as she asked to do it again! We quickly went under again and once again she kicked her feet and came toward me. The next time she asked to swim toward the wall about two meters away and I gave her a push to help her out. She made it to the wall and to my surprise, without taking a breath, turned around and pushed off the wall and kicked back to me. I couldn't believe how big of a breakthrough she could have in one day. On the walk home she wouldn't stop talking about how she wanted to tell mommy about what she had done.
Today we swam again so I could capture all of this on video. A new addition today was her use of hands in a breast stroke kind of motion. The next stage will be for her to float on her back without help and swim on her back. I don't know who is having more fun, her or me. Life is funny, teaching swim lessons in my teens is what helped me find that I wanted to be a teacher. Now that I'm teaching my daughter I get the same feelings I did back then.

Halloween!

Gabriella as Snow White...

Strike a Pose

Fancy Shoes

Gabriella and Emily

Getting Ready to Trick-orTreat

VERY EXCITED!

Cinderella and Snow White

Best Buds...

Always Holding Hands

Happy about Getting Yummy Candy

Thank You Granny-Franny

for the Halloween Card

It was a perfect Halloween weekend... mid 60's in temperature, clear-blue skies, and a huge compound of houses devoted to handing out candy for the trick-or-treaters. We went with two families and walked around our neighborhood. It was awesome! Almost every house was decorated and there were kids dressed-up all over the place. Loved it. As you can see, Miss Gabriella was Snow White. We bought this costume at Disneyland this summer and we've made good use of it. I love this holiday... I'm a bit sad it's over. Oh well- until next year!

Halloween Party #2

Gabriella and Kellan.

Their teacher (Ms. Sara) says they act like an old, married couple

Gabriella found a ghost!

One of the games they played at the party...

On Sunday afternoon, we went to Tareq's house for a "Spooktacular" Halloween party. The kids had a blast... cupcake decorating, ghost hunt, candy, and tons of new toys Gabby has never played with...