The Cabbage Patch

Spa Party

Honey wanted a spa birthday party after reading this Spa Princess Cookbook.  Today at 2pm, 2 of her friends came over to have some spa treatments, spa food, and some glamour.  Of course, her sisters were invited as well.  Dad and Brother played the role of spa helpers.

 

A berry facial mask with cucumbers soaked in a cran-pomegranate/mint leaf concoction.

 

 

Pumpkin hated the cucumbers.  I could barely put the mask on her at all.

 

Do you know how hard it is for little girls this age to just lay there and let their feet soak in the mint foot soak and let the restorative effects take place on their faces?

Don't they look cute?

 

This is my first attempt at making something out of a cake.  It turned out terribly.  Hopefully, with practice, the next time I attempt one like this, it'll look better.

Beauty

I hate my brother.  Really.  Okay, I'm just kidding.  My brother got all the talent in our family.  He's very artistic and he got the beautiful singing voice.  He used to sing with a cover band for a while.  His specialty is Breakfast at Tiffany's.  We even forced got him to sing it at his wedding reception.  It was great. 

I wanted to share with you these breathtaking photos he took before and after the baby's birth.  Absolutely breathtaking.  Please click through; it'll be worth it.

I don't hate him.  Really.

Arranged Marriage Part 2

Both boys (Part 1) are from the same family.  Their mom* is one of my best friends. 

 

*My friend miscarried her baby.  Please keep her in your prayers.

Rappelling

On Thursdays, the older 3 have a rock climbing class.  This past Thursday, they were rappelling.  Brother made it to the edge, but backed out at the last minute.  Sister was able to do it.

 

 

 

 

It was great watching her.  They gave the moms a chance to do it as well.  There are no pictures, but I did make it down too.

The Year of the Ox

Happy New Year!!  Today starts the new year on the Chinese Lunar calendar.  We had a feast of sorts yesterday at my mom's house.  She's an awesome cook.

This is a fish dish that is dredged in flour and then dipped in egg whites.  It is fried in a bit of oil.  It's pretty healthy regardless of the frying part. 

Then we have the beef version of this.  Usually, there are also many variations of this using different vegetables.  Also, you can have pancake type dishes.

 

This dish is called jap-chae (not pronounced with that strong "j" but a softer one). 

 

And, our main course:  mandoo gook aka dumpling soup.

 

This is a labor intensive soup.  Everything was made from scratch from the dumpling wrapper to the broth.  My mom is an awesome cook.   

Photography by Cho

My younger brother (by a year), Sae (pronounced "say") has always been a talented photographer.  He is now trying to get his business off the ground with his wife, Brittany.  Check out his website.  The picture that pulls up first is one of my newest sister-in-law, Erin.  Doesn't she look beautiful?  If you go to the galleries and look through the wedding ones, you'll see more of the photos Sae took.  You can also get a glimpse into the Pae-baek which is the Korean wedding ceremony.  The ceremony is beautiful.  My children are in the photo of the whole wedding party.  In the family photos gallery, you can see my sister's family including my nephews.  They're all dressed in red. 

Blessings

Number of Christmas gifts to make:  Too numerous to count

Number of loads of laundry to do:  See above

Number of children's lessons to update in their folder for the week:  3

Number of things above accomplished:  Zero

Number of happy smiles after a day out geocaching and finding dinosaur footprints:  6 + 1 friend who led the way

Cost of a day like today:  Priceless

Best Laid Plans

Extra-large LLBean bag full of library books.  Check.

List of books our library has of this month's Author Fiesta author.  Check.

Children.  Check.

Start engine.  Click, click, click.

Well, darn.  I guess we're not headed to the library yet.  Just when I think my days are ordered.  God really likes to keep me on my toes, doesn't he?  I think he knows that I like ordered days. 

Ben, bless his heart, knows even less about cars than I do.  So, I called a friend's son.  The irony has not escaped me that this son's nickname on her blog is Carkiller.  I am grateful for the help.

Hopefully, it's just the battery and I can get going by sometime tonight.

Good Intentions

I've had good intentions to start in with all the good stuff for school this week.  I've also had good intentions to start my exercise program.  More good intentions to blog more regularly.  But, life has intruded.  I'm excusing myself for a few more days (maybe this weekend) because Pumpkin was in the hospital for the past 2 1/2 days with serious pneumonia.  So, we're recuperating at home.  Prayers for continued recovery would be appreciated.

WALL-E

Today, Ben and I took the children to see a movie.  This was the first movie theater movie for my girls.  Brother had gone with his therapists to help him work on overcoming his sensory issues (Thank you, Kris and Liz) a few months ago.  They loved it!  The movie was a lot of fun.  This also was the first movie I had seen at the theater since August of 1999.  A lot has changed since then.

I couldn't believe the price of tickets.  Needless to say, we did not purchase snacks.  We did get one large drink to share amongst us.  We arrived early so we could snag good seats and all in one row--something we had to consider since we are a, by today's standards, a big family.  I also liked how the theater had booster seats for the little ones.  Pumpkin sat in one and could see well and didn't fold herself up in the seat.  My only gripe, and it's a big one, is they started the movie so late.  Fifteen minutes late.  That's the beginning of the previews!  If I were out by myself I wouldn't have worried so much, but I had this fear that all the good behavior was being used up.  I thought that by the time the movie started, the children would start acting up and things would slide rapidly downhill.  I went to complain and not much later the previews started.  Whew!

So, not a bad return to the theater.