CNY 2015

I love Chinese New Year.

It makes me super emotional, over-joyed, sappy, teary-eyed, and abundantly thankful.

I think about Mina's birth family and mentally obsess over how they are preparing for the big holiday. Wondering what traditions they honor, who does all the cooking, what they're wearing, conversations they have, and deep down I wonder if they think of Mina and what she's doing on this occasion. I fantasize about us all sharing a meal together one day. 

A few weeks before CNY, I usually pull out the suitcase we bought in China and filled with all our Chinese goodies. The silk dresses and outfits for the girls are by far one of my favorite things...

The girls squeal and beg to try some on, which I never say "no" to...

 

Then the big day of feasting arrives, and we get ready to chow-down and par-tay!

Hey Mina, guess what we're going to have LOTS of for Chinese New Year?
What!?...

DUMPLINGS!!!!!

She gets so insanely excited about dumplings.
A toast, to all the dumplings that will be going in my belly!

(Aubrey, as you can see in this photo, surprised us all by coming to the dining room wearing make-up for the big event. ?!?!)

Oh these girls. They are certainly my favorite dumplings of all! :)

Each year, it is my goal to try and make a Chinese dish with Mina.
The girls both love egg drop soup, and I found the best / easiest recipe here.

It was such a great day of celebration and family traditions!

Happy Year of the Goat!

My Easter Chicks

My sister called me one morning a couple of weeks ago and mentioned, "I need to get stamps to mail my Easter cards so they make it in time." Easter cards!! Oops. Totally forgot.
"Hey GIRLS...wanna try on your Easter dresses? I'll take your picture and send them to grandparents!"
I may have also mentioned that if they cooperated I'd let them watch Frozen.
That movie has power, y'all.
Dangerous power.

Okay, okay girls...you can show some personality!

Okay, tone it down.
Mina...

By the way, I dropped the ball on Easter dresses for the girls too. 

These were ones they already had in their closets.

But it turned out fine -- I think I'll forget to buy Easter dresses next year too.

The girls were thrilled to pick out what they wanted to wear. 

Gosh, I love this girl...

Sweet, little Mina. She is so petite. I want to eat her up.

"Dis my favwit dwess, Mama! I WUV it!"

Easter Eggs

This year I used the oven to make hard boiled eggs. 

(Put eggs in a muffin tin, bake at 325 for 30 mins. Put eggs immediately in cold water for 10 minutes.) 

I broke two during the process because I have a gift for finding ways to mess up the simplest things. 

I bought a speckled egg kit from the Dollar Tree. It was another fun (and messy) way to color eggs. 

Egg Hunt

Speaking of eggs, we had a little egg hunt in the backyard. 

This sure made me miss our Annual Laws Egg Hunt with our Oklahoma friends. :(

Easter Day

This is our second year of doing Resurrection Eggs on Easter morning. 

I plan on doing it until my kids are grown adults, and then I'll do it with my grandchildren. 

It's so easy and such a neat illustration of the resurrection for little ones.

Oh, I just have to include this random photo from our Easter lunch...it's my favorite. :)

Hope everyone had a lovely Easter!

Three Things Thursday

Thing 1: Weather

Signs of Spring started popping up here in Cleveland despite the cooler temps...

And then it warmed up beautifully and even exotic pets were out enjoying the fresh air!

And then this happened...

And we spent the afternoon watching (and singing) Frozen because it just made sense.

Thing 2: Books

Daniel started reading chapter books with Aubrey this year. I decided I wanted in on the action too because -- Good Lord -- Mina wants the same 10 page books read from dusk till dawn.

Curling up with my big girl and reading a book has been beyond delightful. It's the perfect afternoon wind-down after school and once I put Mina down for her nap. I'm going to miss that sweet time with her when she's in school all day next year. (Waaaaaaah!!)

A bonus is when there's a movie based on one of the books. After we read the book, we pile up and watch the movie together. I love how (so far) Aubrey's decided that she likes the books more than the movies. She'll often say during the movie, "That's such-and-such character?! I had a totally different picture in my head! I like my brain idea more..."

Here are a chunk of the books we have read: The Jungle Book, Peter Pan, The Secret Garden, Ramona the Pest, Shanghai Secret, and The Lion's Paw. Daniel has also been reading her the Chronicles of Narnia set. I asked her today what her favorite one has been so far and she said The Secret Garden. We just finished The Jungle Book last week, and she's trying to decide between Mary Poppins, The Voyages of Dr. Doolittle and Pollyanna right now.

And, just a sidenote: When did Aubrey turn into a full-blown big girl?

Thing 3: Recipes

My friend posted this Cafe Rio Shredded Chicken Copycat recipe on Pinterest. I have never heard of Cafe Rio -- much less eaten at one -- but after trying this, I'm pretty sure I'd want to eat there at least once a week.

It's a crock-pot recipe (three cheers!), and you can eat it any way you like: taco salad, soft tacos, or just on a bed of romaine lettuce. My girls gobbled it up in quesadillas. It's SO good.

Cafe Rio Shredded Chicken with Cilantro-Ranch Dressing 

       (Image via here)

PREP TIME:  10 MINS

COOK TIME:  5 HOURS

TOTAL TIME:  5 HOURS 10 MINS

SERVES: 6

INGREDIENTS

• 2 pounds chicken breasts
• ½ cup zesty italian dressing
• ¾ tablespoon minced garlic
• ½ tablespoon chili powder
• ½ tablespoon ground cumin
• 1 1 oz package dry ranch dressing mix
• ½ cup water
• 
  
• Optional toppings:
• minced cilantro
• roma tomatoes, chopped
• olives
• fresh lettuce
• cilantro ranch dressing

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Spray the inside of your slow cooker with cooking spray. Add all of the ingredients except for the chicken into your slow cooker. Mix until combined.
2. Add the chicken and cook on low for 4-6 hours or on high 3-4 hours until the chicken is no longer pink and cooked throughout.
3. Remove chicken from the slow cooker and shred. Replace the chicken back in the slow cooker and mix with the juices. Enjoy!

Cilantro Ranch Dressing

      (Image via here)

INgredients

1 packet Hidden Valley Ranch mix (not BUTTERMILK)
1 cup buttermilk
2 tomatillos, remove husk, diced
1/2 bunch of fresh cilantro
1 clove garlic
juice of 1 lime
1 jalapeno (if you like it mild, just remove the seeds)

INSTRUCTIONS

Mix all ingredients together in the blender or food processor. That’s it!

I just realized this would be a perfect dish for Cinco de Mayo!
How fantastico!

Just Crazy Old Life...

It's official: we sold our home!

We had the closing last week -- money in the bank, y'all.

We are currently packing up for our two upcoming moves.

One across town in two weeks.
And one across country to Cleveland in seven weeks.

Have you ever had to pack up a house with two kids still living in it?!

But enough about packing and never-ending messes.

Here are a few snippets of daily life when we don't have a tape gun and Sharpie marker in our hand...

We have been outside every chance we get!
Mina is not exactly tall enough for the tricycle, but she sure looks cute pretending to be a big girl!

This cutie goes by the name Adventure Girl Aubrey!
Outdoors is definitely her happy place.

While the picture below was taken at midday, this is the same exact face that pops up at 6:58 a.m. each morning (or earlier...) on my side of the bed. Cutest alarm clock ever!
(By the way, she's a drool machine. She has four new teeth to thank for that!)

When Daniel's home, I know where the girls are going to be...

Oh how they love their Daddy!

Aubrey wanted to have a picnic dinner in the backyard one evening, so we did!

Mina was invited to a birthday party at Gymboree and had an absolute blast!

I'm already looking up Gymboree classes in Cleveland.

Daniel flew to Cleveland (20-hour-roundtrip) and miraculously found a rental home for us.

And this is what happens when your husband leans over your shoulder while you're scrolling through recent posts on Pinterest...."WHAT ARE THOSE?! LET'S MAKE 'EM!!" (In case you're wondering, it's a chocolate chip cookie dough brownie bomb, and good heavens above it's delicious.)

And now, to conclude this totally random post, here are two videos that completely encapsulate Aubrey and Mina:

I started videoing midway through Aubrey's latest performance.

Aubrey is full of imagination and dramatic play these days.

Oh how I love this girl...

Mina "SHHH"ing me in the middle of my singing.

She is seriously the happiest girl on the planet. 

I sure do love my crazy life, my crazy husband, and my crazy girls!