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.