Karina has a sheet of fake sticker earrings—the kind made out of shiny plastic that you peel of and glue into your ear lobe.
Using her power of persuasion, she convinced her two younger brothers to wear a set too! Gabe was coaxed into wearing them because it has green in them (his favorite color). And she gave Xiao Yu a pair that has yellow—a color he likes.
Before we knew it...it was December already. And December 1 was a day Gabe has been waiting for for a long time...because that was the day the kids got their advent calendars.
Gabe was the first kid to wake up, and examines the loot laying on the table...
In addition to an Advent calendar that gives you a daily chocolate, each kid also got another Advent calendar. The boys got a Lego Advent calendar and each day, you get a little toy to put together.
Karina's 2nd Advent calendar is a Playmobil one. And Eliana got an Advent calendar that everyday gives you a new charm you can add to a charm bracelet and charm necklace. We actually got the charm and Playmobil Advent calendars for both girls to share, but Eliana likes jewelry more and Karina likes toys more and so they decided to each have one.
Last weekend was the only weekend before Christmas we were free, so despite the rain and soggy weather, we headed out to the tree farm to get our tree. Despite appearances, the kids really are excited about it!
As you can see, the pickings were a little slim this year. Xiao Yu doesn't seem to mind though!
The struggle is that the kids want to pick the tree. And they all have different ideas about which tree they want. And they don't really care about whether the tree is symmetrical, shaped well, or any such nonsense like that... You can see Gabe gesticulating that he wants a YUUUUUGE tree.
Knowing that whatever tree is selected is a compromise between everyone's opinions, Eliana decided that she wanted her own tree. At which point all the other kids said they wanted their own tree too. That idea, needless to say, didn't go anywhere.
Finally, three out of the four settled on a certain tree.
After much huffing and puffing, Elvin finally fells the tree.
Elvin's jeans were soaked from having to kneel in the mud to cut it down. It also turns out that for some reason, while at the station where they shake and then bale the tree, there was a mix-up and someone else walked away with our tree. And so we brought home the next one that they baled and it was one that we didn't select. It turned out to be the perfect size (we were afraid that the one the kids chose was too tall) and very nicely shaped! We feel sorry for whoever took home our tree thinking it was theirs. (Also, we have not told the kids about this turn of events and the only way they will find out is by reading this blog! Hopefully that doesn't happen until after Christmas!)
And then came time to decorate the tree. First went on the lights.
Then the tinsel. Karina wrapped herself in tinsel.
And then it was Eliana's turn. The pink and orange things in her hair are curlers. She has them on because her hair needs to be curled for the musical theater show that she is in.
Once the lights were on, then it was time for the ornaments. Each kid has their own shoebox full of "their" ornaments that they've been accumulating since they were babies. When one of the boys complained that they didn't have as many as the girls, Karina, our matter-of-fact person in our family, answered back: "Well you haven't been alive as long as us."
Here is Xiao Yu re-acquainting himself with his ornaments.
Eliana dangled her ornaments on her fingers.
And now it's finally looking like a real Christmas tree!
And the final touch--the star on top. The kids fight over this privilege every year.
And also the Christmas village got set up on top of the piano.
And the stockings were hung. Santa, we're ready for you to pay our house a visit!
If you remember, last year Eliana participated in a musical with the local youth theater group. This year, she wanted to do that again. She tried out a couple of months ago and got a part in the musical called Elf, Jr., which is based on the movie, Elf, starring Will Ferrell.
So she went to rehearsals regularly to learn her parts--she was an elf in Santa's workshop in the North Pole. And also she was a "New Yorker"--the movie takes place in New York and she is a person in the general crowd in New York.
Being an elf required that Eliana's hair be curly, for some reason. And since she has really thick and straight hair, we had to buy these plastic curlers which go on wet hair and need to stay on till dry. This meant that she sometimes went to bed with them on, which meant that she often had a hard time getting a good night's sleep.
Here she is with the curlers...you can see that she looks a little tired!
And when they came off, Eliana had curls!
Karina, of course, was watching the whole time and decided the SHE wanted curly hair too. So on went the curlers...
And she got curls too!
A couple of weeks ago, the dress rehearsals started in earnest. All the kids had to put on their costumes and so here is Eliana in her elf costume, which she really likes. The people on the costume committee are all volunteers and very talented!
And then came the big night! Elvin went on opening night and had a great time.
He was sitting in the fourth row and got to see everything up close.
Emily and the kids went the following week. Here is Eliana on stage again, in her New Yorker garb.
And lots of friends from church also went to see the show.
Eliana did a great job on stage and had a great time with the show!
For the past few weeks, Karina has had two teeth that are increasingly getting more wiggly.
And then just the other day, it came out at school!
So at night, she did NOT tuck the tooth under her bed. She was paranoid about losing it (Daddy once flushed one of her teeth down the toilet--long story.) So she made Elvin write a note to the tooth fairy (which in our house is a tooth tiger fairy--another long story.) The dictated note said: I don't want to lose my tooth so it's not under my pillow, but please leave the money anyways.
Pretty audacious but it worked!
The tooth tiger did come by, and dropped off a one dollar bill along with a note.
A couple of weeks ago, Gabriel was using the restroom downstairs and the toilet paper ran out. Apparently, this must've been traumatic for him, because he then took matters into his own hands to make sure that this never, ever happens, ever again.
The downstairs bathroom is now stocked with plenty of toilet paper. Lots of it. A tower of it. Thanks, Gabe.
A few weeks ago, we decided to take the kids to the local pumpkin patch. Emily's sister and brother came along as well.
It was beautiful weather.
Karina wanted to go through the haystack maze.
Xiao Yu enjoyed riding on the tracker tricycle. They look cool but are not well designed for riding as the pedals have very short axles.
Gabe rode as well.
The boys wanted to husk some corn.
Then you put the de-husked cob into a machine that separates all the kernels from the cob.
And then you take a handful of kernels and put them through a grinder.
We got handfuls of these and fed them to the animals in the petting zoo section. Xiao Yu thinks it's fun because their tongues tickle your hands as they slurp up the corn.
Gabe usually doesn't like doing this type of stuff but joined in as well.
And then it was on to the corn bin. Uncle Charles was the only adult willing to get into the bin with the kids and risk getting kernels everywhere.
Needless to say, having an adult who is willing to be a jungle gym made the kids very happy.
Then we went to the pumpkin launch. You have to try to get these little pumpkins into those white colored plastic bins far away. Xiao Yu wanted to pull the launcher himself but doesn't have the strength to pull it back very far. His pumpkin travelled about 15 feet.
And then we were off to the pumpkin patch to pick out pumpkins--a process that can take over half an hour as the kids deliberate over which one is their favorite.
It has become sort of an annual tradition that Uncle Charles balances a pumpkin on his head.
And then we brought then back to the washing station.
And the kids also enjoyed freshly pressed cider.
It was very sweet.
And Xiao Yu drank maybe 6 or 8 of these little cups' full.
Several weeks later it was time to carve the pumpkins. The kids "helped" to cover the dining table with newspaper. Lots of newspaper.
Eliana was away at a practice for her musical, so it was the three kids carving...or attempting to.
Boy, it can be hard getting the top off!
Eventually Ruffy got it out!
Karina also needed a little bit of help.
Gabriel got really into cleaning out the slimy seeds inside. Usually this job is reserved solely for Daddy.
Although Xiao Yu refused to touch the seeds and said he needed help.
The kids picked the pattern than they wanted on their pumpkin. And then one by one they slinked away to play in the living room, leaving Daddy to actually do the actual carving. After carving three pumpkins, he was all done with carving for this year!
And here is how they turned out! Gabe asked for Chase, from Paw Patrol (a TV show he watches online.)
Xiao Yu wanted Curious George.
And Karina wanted a "princess witch."
And then the trick-or-treating began. The kids were lucky because there were several places in the week before doing trick-or-treating and so they got to go three times this year.
First, the week before Halloween, they went to a nursing home.
Here is Karina's costume--a mermaid.
They walked around and got lots of candy from old folks. Probably the easiest trick-or-treating ever!
And then the Friday before Halloween, Elvin's work organized a party for kids. Xiao Yu decided that he wanted to be a flower.
The party had face painting which Karina and Xiao Yu took advantage of.
Xiao Yu got a caterpillar.
Karina got a pink heart, which is so like Karina to ask for that.
Here they are posing behind some silly things. You may have noticed that Eliana is not in the pictures. She was at school, so wasn't able to partake in these festivities.
The kids also got prizes at the "fishing" booth.
At this game, Gabe somehow was able to get the velcro-covered balls to stick on the target--three times! No other kid was able to get even one ball to stick. We're not sure what happened here as he has not displayed skills in other sports.
Afterwards, the kids wanted to see Daddy's cubicle.
Here it is and the little fireman is helping to undock Daddy's laptop!
And finally...the big day arrives! It has been sunny all week. We cannot remember when it was the last time that it was not raining on Halloween.
The trick-or-treating began. We mainly walked around our street.
Xiao Yu was slightly under the weather, so after 3 houses, started asking if he could go home. Gabe only lasted for 20 min. more, but the girls went through all the houses in our loop.
And now it was time for the kids to analyze all the booty that they have accumulated in the past week. Both girls were able to fill up a entire gallon Ziploc with candy!
Very happy with her take.
And then commenced a fairly intense bargaining session between the siblings. Karina does not like and does not eat chocolate. Eliana does, but does not care for Snickers.... Gabe does... etc. etc. We suppose that these are important life skills which will come into use later on?
