ni hao

Ryan and I have been in CHINA for and entire week now! We're loving it so much, but miss our kiddies terribly. Check back soon for pictures and our entire travelogue!!

We've seen and experienced amazing things thus far and I can't wait to blog them! The Forbidden City, The Great Wall, Beijing, The Olympic Stadium and other such buildings, all of the fun we've had here in Shanghai, etc.

We've been running around like crazy trying to squeeze in everything fun into every possibly second of our days. I will blog them as soon as I possibly can!

Zai Jian!

a little christmas tag

My first Christmas tag! Answer the questions and then tag a couple friends. Spead the Cheer!

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper with pretty ribbon. (My mother-in-law creates the most beautiful packages, I love hers)

2. Real tree or Artificial? Love to have a real one, but we have a 24" fake one
3. When do you put up the tree? Tecnically, we put it up Thanksgiving, but this year I was too excited and had it up on Halloween.
4. When do you take the tree down? Januray sometime when I get to it
5. Do you like eggnog? Heck yes I do! Dawson and I love it.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? This little blue tent I got when I was five. I remember reading "Oh Say Can You Say?" by Dr. Seuss in it.

7. Hardest person to buy for? My brother Aaron. I don't have any idea what teenagers do today.
8. Easiest person to buy for? My kids. Carter plays with boxes...hmmmmm. That's cheap!
9. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes, I collect them.

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? a little of both11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? I honestly don't remember. I'm sure it was too horrible to mention, so I've blocked it from my memory.
12. Favorite Christmas Movie? Muppet's Christmas Carol, definitely. (A close second is Christmas Vacation, I do admit)

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? February. I got done by July this year! And got the gifts delivered by the first week of August.
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Not really, I'm a hogger and love presents.
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Mom's Orange Rolls and Charlotte Jensen's bread goodies.

16. Lights on the tree? Yes
17. Favorite Christmas song? "O Holy Night" by Josh Groban. Anything by Harry Connick Jr.
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Travel! Off to China in 5 days for Christmas!

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen, Rudolf. (What about Olive?) You know, "Olive, the other reindeer..."
20. Angel on the tree-top or a star? Neither, ours isn't big enough to hold anything.
21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or Christmas morning? Christmas morning
22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? snow snow snowy coldness.

23. Favorite ornament, theme or color? I love all of them--we have a little bit of everything on our tree--Simpsons, SpongeBob, Disney, Nativity ones from the Holy Land...etc.
24. Favorite food for Christmas dinner? Ham and Potatoes
25. What do you want for Christmas this year? a trip to China....oh yeah, I've already got that!

26. Who do you tag? I tag my Mom, Aimee, Ashley (both of you!) and anyone else who needs a little Christmas Spirit today!

sweet strattons

My sweet friend tended my kids a couple weeks ago and when they were at her house, they made Gingerbread Cookies! One of my most favorite Holiday goodies!! They had such a great time and as always, they come home exhausted so I just throw them in their beds...a double bonus! My kids always love going there and constantly ask if they can go back over!

I guess that Carter just loved Emma's candy and kept stealing it from her cookies, so she just decided to go ahead and make it easier on him...by feeding it to him. What a good sport!

Totally stole these from her blog, thanks Ash! They always have so much fun at your house and I appreciate you!

first snowfall of the season

No music for this post....however, turn up the volume so you can hear Carter's precious little voice on the videoclip below!


Bluggghh! There's nothing worse that can kill my Holiday Spirit better than SNOW! I hate driving in it, I hate playing in it, it's cold, it's just awful. However, it's the most magical part of Moscow! It coats everything in this glistening and pure beauty that you can't see any other time of year.

Carter loves watching out the window and as it started to lightly snow, I caught him admiring all the action outside. Listen for his cuteness and don't you just love his little hot breath against the chilly window?!

no longer a baby

What to do when you get your first official haircut:

1) Get up on the high stool thingy with your Hummer and Lolly in hand.

2) Concentrate on eating that Lolly really hard if you get nervous.

3) Whimper a little bit.

4) Show off how long it is.

5) Admire all those curls.

6) Again, devour that Lolly.

7) Whimper just a little more, for dramatic emphasis.

8) Have a little drink of milk if you like.

9) Tell Jessica 'Thank You!' because she's our favorite. (She cuts all of my family's hair)

10) All done! Whew. Did it.


Just for fun after dinner, take more after shots because you can. I'm so handsome!


I'm so proud of Carter! He never once threw a fit and didn't make any noise other than a couple whimpers. He sat still for 40 minutes! He never smiled, and was nervous but after a while, he got comfortable and was just fine! What a sweet boy. I can't stop giggling when I see him. He's no longer a baby. He's a good lookin' kid.

will the real ryanna please stand up

It was Shakesphere that said:

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet.

I don't know about that.

Ryanna has been bringing her papers home from school with just one incorrect thing on it. Her NAME! She has decided that she no longer wants to go by 'Ryanna' and has requested all to call her 'Ryenna' and has labeled her papers so.

This is stemming from years and years of others not pronouncing her name correctly. I understand it is an interesting name and she would kindly correct them, and we're used to doing that. The most common mispronunciation is "Ray-enna" and she wants to be called that now. There's also "Ree-ahna" among other ones. Kudos to those who get it right on the first try. And even if someone gets it wrong, after corrected, they usually get it correct from then on.

I'm not expecting everyone to get her name right all of the time. I do, however, expect her to get it right...since it belongs to her. She has plenty of nicknames, so I'm not sure what to do.

We've had several conversations about her name, that we named her after Daddy, and how important names are because they're ours. We don't have to share with anyone! Not convinced, but is compromising, she wants to simply be named Anna. That's a beautiful name, but it's not HERS!

Now she's signing her letter to Santa and other Christmas cards to her friends, "Ryanna/Anna."

Yeah, that's not confusing at all.

stress dreams and antibiotics

What I thought was pink eye turned out to be bronchitis and ear infections for the kids. This are the meds that they're on right now!
They've been home this week and I've had to cancel all my music lessons, which has thrown my routine off! As Ryan has been studying long hours for his finals, I've been trying to get ready for this big trip.
I've been getting to bed way too late and then getting up way too early. As little sleep as I've been getting, I have dreams. WEIRD dreams.
For the last few nights straight, I've woken up very frustrated. The dreams that I conjure up in my head always start the same: I'm packing and trying to board the plane that will take me over to my parent's apartment in China. Either I miss the flight (due to Ryan's lack of packing) or I get on the plane and then an announcement is made saying that the airplane is suddenly glued to the ground. (one dream it was actually broken in two pieces) WEIRD.
This morning, I woke up absolutely FURIOUS at Ryan. For what he did in my dream! Of course I wouldn't ever hold him accountable for what he does in real life for his behavior in my dreams the night before, but as I'm waking up, I'm still working through those emotions that were involved as I was asleep. However IRRATIONAL as they can be! I told him this morning that he didn't pack and actually wanted to take a nap before we boarded our plane. And we ended up missing our flight and we didn't end up going to China for Christmas!
So, I'm having stress dreams trying to get ready. Not sure why. I guess I'm nervous about being away from the kids for 10 straight days, worried about Ryan and how he'll do in his finals and concerned about flying in the air for 16 hours straight. I'll go stir crazy! I've never just sat and done nothing for that long, I need to bring a load of laundry to fold while I just sit!
I am very relieved that they'll be in good hands, people that love them will care for them and I'm not concerned about that. Thank you to my wonderful in laws, my dear friends and my sister and her husband for watching out for them while we're absent. I can't imagine leaving them in better hands!
Tonight I'd rather dream about vampires or something. I'll give it a shot.

delicious, thy name is candy!

American Candy!!

For Mom:
-30 oz (1.9 lb) Sour Patch kids
-32 oz (2 lb) Strawberry Twizzlers
-16 oz (1 lb) Hot Tamales
-28 oz (1.8 lb) Swedish Fish

For Dad:
-16 oz (1 lb) Cherry Twizzler Bites

For Aaron:
-box of Bottle Caps
-box of Rainbow Nerds
-box of Red Hots

Now that's a lot of high-fructose-corn-syrupy goodness! Can't wait to give it to you in a couple weeks!

r.i.p. santa

*WARNING*--a spoiler picture below. May cause some spontaneous tears.

We got a kick out of this poor guy crying over Santa's grave. As if being a kid is hard enough, having to face this kind of reality is tough!

today I miss...

My kid brother!

He's taller than me, can speak Mandarin as well as any other chinese student in his class, got me listening to Linkin Park and Plain White T's, and he brings flowers home to my mom as a surprise, "Just Because!"

He goes to an international school, gets good grades and just finishing applying to colleges. I can't wait to see him and spend Christmas with him!

Love you, Aaron-Boy!

Team Twilight

Just got home from our Girl's Night! I'm so glad that so many could make it. We went to go see Twilight and no one else had seen it except for me. It was so fun to have my friends from my ward and my friends who also happen to be Dawson's preschool teachers! I love that they all came.

I tried not to giggle in the cheesy parts that I knew were coming up, but it didn't work! I sighed loudly a couple times, resulting in some laughs. I just get caught up in the romantic aspect of a human/vampire relationship! I absolutely am addicted and love the music. Actually, I like to think of it as being passionate. It's only my third time in the last week! I didn't realize that I would love it as much as I do. It's cheesy-wonderful and cheesy-terrible! It's fantastic.

I love being out with the girls! They're all so incredibly fun and I'm glad that we could go.

Now, let's all do The Jasper!

i spy with my yiddle eye

Our tree is very eclectic this year with all sorts of ornaments. We put lights on it and redecorated it. See if you can spy the following:

-SpongeBob Santapants
-Marge Simpson ice skating
-Buzz Lightyear ornament (Dawson's this year)
-Chicken Dance ornament (Ryanna's this year)
-Starbucks mug ornament (mine when I worked there)

-real olive wood handcrafted Nativity ornaments (that Mom and Dad brought back for us when they visited Jerusalem earlier this year) What a treasure!


I got a kick out of one of my piano students this week. He asked me where my Christmas Tree was and I pointed to the mantle. This is how our conversation went:

Him- "That's your tree?!" (with a raised eyebrow)
Me- "Yup. We can't have a big one because Carter will get to it."
Him- "But, where are you going to put the presents then?"
Me- "Well, I think in the other room is okay, don't you?"
Him- "No! But I guess that will just have to work." (he was shaking his head with disgust)
Him- "Are those your real stockings?"
Me- "Yeah, they're real."
Him- "Santa can't put much in those! It looks like you guys haven't been very good this year."

It was a hoot! I never know what's going to come out of my students' mouths. Ever!

Oh! Look I found another treasure. It was $3.99 at Goodwill. It's by Sweet Shoppe and looks fabulous on my new table!

somewhere a lawyer is laughing

I'm thinking this is our Christmas card this year!

my christmas/graduation/retirement gift

Guess what Ryan surprised me with today?!

Out went the old, broken and beat up set...


This set holds some sentimental value, it once belonged to my great grandmother, Nana. It was old even when she owned it! We loved it while we had it.

In with the NEW! I can't believe I OWN a matching set of dining room furniture! I have six chairs that match, are totally complete and in one piece, they don't have stains and mysterious gooey remnants on them and are gorgeous. The best part is about the table! It's so tall it comes up to my belly button! And I'm not that tall! It's nearly 3 feet tall. I love it!! Ryanna could hardly even lift the heavy new chairs. I'm just concerned; now we have a nice table to eat on, but it's too nice to eat on. I think the kids can just eat on the porch!

The old chair is on the left; see how much smaller it is?!
A beautiful NEW chair. Ahhhhhhh, you know you're a mom when chairs excite you.
Ryanna loves it, she insisted on doing everything up in HER chair.
It's only a 1/2 foot taller than Dawson!

These pictures honestly don't do it justice, I'm sure I'll take more. It's absolutely GORGEOUS! Thank you, Ryan, for my beautiful gift. Thank you for shopping around for it and picking it out. I wouldn't have chosen a better one, I love it.

Now, who wants to come over for dinner?