CNY Tea Treasures!

I have had an uncomfortable last week, with a tooth infection, extraction and now I have an even more painful dry socket.... Just my luck! I hope it does not bode anything for the upcoming year! It is also Chinese New Year tomorrow and Andy's birthday! Aubri's birthday is next Thursday! Life does not slow down when you want to hibernate... Getting myself animated to go to work this week, get the basics done here at home, get out to help him select his gifts and celebrate has been a bit tough, but in trying to find ways to do this while also soothing my nerves and sore face, we discovered a really cool kind of tea! Flowering tea!

The kids love to watch it bloom! Click on the photo of the tea to watch it yourself!

I had seen these little tea bulbs, so to speak while we were touring the teahouse in Beijing, when we traveled to bring Andy home. We never toured while bringing Sera home, but I know I also saw some in one of our hotels. I thought they were really odd looking and of course I was not brave enough at that point to investigate further. I read about the Numi teas while looking for some herbal relief and saw this photo. I had to check it out further. Turns out our local health food store carries it! It is tea leaves sewn together with flowers, which are also used as teas. When the boiling water seeps the tea benefits from the leaves, they unfurl and open. We don't have a glass teapot, but our glass measuring cup works great too! Maybe someday a teapot will turn up in my oldest's birthday gifts... Just maybe :-)

Now, finding this will not be all we will do to celebrate the CNY or Andy's birthday, don't worry! I just thought that it was a neat new experience and a different way to share my kids culture with them. Tonight we are going to our local Chinese community gathering for CNY. Andy has chosen to have pizza for dinner tomorrow, even though it is the real CNY. On birthdays, the birthday kids gets to pick the meal. so pizza it will be! He picked out very age approprite gifts which didi not break my bank! For that, I am so thankful!! He only wanted a Magna Bones Sabre Tooth Tiger, and Sp*nge Bob Lego kit and a Ben 10 DS game as his birthday gifts to open and a trip to TRex ( a huge restaurant with a fossil dig and animated dinosaurs) in Kansas City ( to be taken when mom is not on pain killers and can drive on the highway :-). Pictures will follow, don't worry!

This little boy is growing up so fast!! I so love the excitement on his face when he talks about dinosaurs, legos, Pokeman, Ben 10 and his DS! Oh, and when he even thnks about or talks about pizza and having a special day just for him, his eyes light up so brightly and he even bounces! It is just too cute!! I hope I can get some photos of that to share with you. It is the best!! Even if my face fell of, this old mom could not be more thrilled to watch him be so full of glee!

In the mean time, we are all getting our hair trimmed this afternoon and getting ready to celebrate the Year of the Ox. I wish I could say that I cleaned the house top to bottom to welcome the new lunar year...... But at least the kids have clean new clothes to wear, birthday plans in place and all their laundry is done for the week!

Now, we have heard it all!

Or maybe that just jinxed me to hearing more...

With Sera's lip and eye still unrepaired, we have grown accustomed to the quick repeated sideways glances, the abrupt double takes paired with blatant staring, the curious child like comments from both adults and children and even the really rude comments questioning why I would want a child with this problem.

This weekend, however, we ran into a totally different take on someone's first glance at Sera's lip. We had gone out to a school fundraiser at our local highschol. Sera and I had left the cafeteria building and were coming back in when a man rushed out of the doors and the big door hit Sera on the shoulder and head. She fell back into me and started to whimper from fright. I knew this was not a cry from being hurt, since Sera rarely cries from pain, but I was quickly checking her to see if she had been hurt. She was fine. The man was so shocked and apologetic for having rushed out of the building and hit her. As I tried to reassure him that she would be OK, he backed up and pointed at her lip and exclaimed, " Oh, no! Look what I did to her face!!". It was so hard to not laugh out loud.... He finally looked a bit closer and started apologizing even more profusely. I just told him that we were fine and not to worry any more and brought Sera in the building. Sera told me when we came in that he did not hit her lip at all, as if she also needed to reassure me that she was OK.

I wish this whole thing did not make me want to giggle, but it surely does!

We went to eat at Taco Bell's really quickly today and there was a large group of people who spent more time staring at Sera, than they did eating. It was very uncomfortable for me. Sera ingored it completely, but it even upset a lady at a nearby table enough to come apologize for them! She thought Sera was just perfect. Most people do, who know her.

She has provided an education to many folks who had never seen a cleft and left them with a great impression of a wonderfully bubbly and intelligent little girl. She knows so many people now and has quite a fan club of kids at school. They all seem to know her and she just waves like a little celebrity when we see folks we know when we are out. I have to often ask her where she knows them from. If people meet her or even just see her and leave with an impression of disgust, they just were not bright enough to understand the content of the lesson!

Since the lady I talked to at Shriner's on Friday who was trying to track down Sera's MRI still assured me that they would be calling me on Tuesday, please pray that she calls with a surgery date!! I don't think I can keep this up! I think she has done enough educating.... She needs to just enjoy being the beautiful little girl that she is, with people looking at her only because she is so darn cute!

Is there a current D*nnis the M*nace Movie???

If not, I have the perfect star for the Asian version!!

My sweet boy should be named Dennis and all the troubles he finds himself in would just be excused so much more readily!

He loves spending time with Grandpa, and until this weekend, I don't think Grandpa had ever fully believed me that Andy must always be within sight....

He tried to reset the thermostat, because he was too hot. He tried to help wind a clock and got the key stuck and the clock stopped... He tried to practice writing his letters... in salt he spilled all over the floor. He fell asleep with popcorn in his lap and poured in down the chair. He tried to figure out why a remote would not work and took it all apart. Since Grandpa was a bit reluctant to share all that he did there... I will bet that he did more that that in one overnight at Grandpa's house!! I know that last week he tried to replace the halogen bulb in the living room and ended up breaking 3 bulbs.... I wasn't watching him then either. He does these things so FAST! I can only hope and pray that I can work with him to help him direct this energy to something positive, or who knows what he will get into when he is bigger!!!????

At least now Grandpa is fully on board with not letting this boy out of our sight! He is such a sweet kid, and he knows he is not supposed to be doing these things, but just cannot stop himself when the thought hits him. At least when he knows no one is watching! :-) He is sneaky, but at least he is trying to be helpful while he is sneaking! :-)

New Year, New habits.... I hope!

Well, making resolutions for the new year is a good thing. I really have not done many of them in the past, other than to lose weight :-)

This year, I decided to make a resolution to be different :-) I actually made some resolutions!

1. I want to be teaching my kids to help around the house more and to learn the value of money more... so my kids chore charts are now tied directly into their allowance and spending money. I made picture charts, paired with money allotments for the chores I expect them to do. I will pay them a quarter per big chore, and a quarter per week for the routine stuff, like keeping their socks together, clothes in the hamper, dogs fed etc.... I don't pay well at all, but it is money they will not have otherwise and added up it amounts to a bout 8 dollars a week for Aubri, five for Andy and three for Sera. Sera doesn't really understand the money concept and would happily accept pennies, but she is also very willing to put her money in her bank and will be grateful for it someday. Now I have to stick to checking off ther chores DAILY..... and getting MY chores done daily..... That will be the biggest feat!!

2. I want to get their memory books from their adoption trips and for Aubri's first year of life all put together digitally and bound.

3. I want to figure out a way to get my school work done in the time the district actually pays me to be working, rather than dragging it out longer and coming home more tired. I want to have energy left to devote more good time with my kids, rather than be dragging because I am so tired.

4. I want to have everyone drink more water and sleep more each night. I think that may help the grumpies that tend to plague Aubri and I in the morning as we get up.

5. I want to really try to push myself to actually accomplish the above 4, since the losing weight thing has just never come to pass.....

Now, I am writing this publicly, so maybe I will actually stick to it????