Happy (Chinese) New Year!

The kids at Blacksburg Chinese School did another great performance. Archie went to so many practices and worked so hard! (Grace, on the other hand, was added to the program at the last minute.) It's funny how hard kids can work and how out-of-rhythm they can still get. Still, they were SO cute! (On the far right, are two older kids doing Chinese yo-yo tricks. It's pretty cool, but I'm not sure how much of it the video captures.)

I was so proud of Archie for remembering to walk through this door and strike his pose. (It's a common congratulations pose.) He kept forgetting at practice but remembered when it was important.

My little performers. Grace LOVED being on stage. She also loved her costume so much she wore it to church the next morning.

You may notice the dragon coming through in the video. Dragon dances are traditional at New Year's celebrations, and this is the year of the dragon.

Archie and his friend Theo.

This little girl is so cute! I love to watch her and Archie play.

Welcome to the World of Reading, Archie!

Archie has come a long way in a year. We've been working on reading for about a year now, and just last week Archie finally took off! We got him a Superheros easy reader from the library, something clicked in his brain about reading independently, and he's read that book about a million times now by himself. He's also willing to take on the challenge of reading other books to himself. He is a big fan of a Hot Wheels easy reader I bought at his school consignment sale. I never thought the day would come when he would be able to work through a book without me sitting beside him, but it's slowly happening! Grace is even enjoying listening to brother read!

Archie is getting a new Angry Bird stuffed animal for finishing all five levels of Hooked on Phonics, but more importantly he's getting the gift of enjoying a good book for life!

To see how far Archie has come in a year, click here to hear him reading last February.

The Good Samaritan (According to Grace)

Archie's class studied the parable of the Good Samaritan at church last week. I love that wonderful story where an injured man is passed over by a priest and a Levite but finally helped by a despised Samaritan. Hunt decided to share the story with Grace. Here's how it went.

Dad: Once there was a man that got hurt on the side of the road.

Grace: And did the policeman come help him?

Dad: Not the policeman exactly. A priest and a Levite came by but didn't help him.

Grace: That's not very nice. Santa's not going to bring them any presents this year.

Gotta love a two year old's perspective! Let's try to do a little better at helping our neighbors this year!

The DeJ Clan

After talking since Thanksgiving about making a family pic, we finally made one on New Year's Day! Thanks, Aunt Kay, for letting us use your beautifully decorated fireplace.

Taking pics of multiple people is tricky with kids. (Can I get an Amen from some moms?) I spent forever Photoshopping new eyes into one person's face whose eyes were closed...(Can't have everybody's eyes open/mouth closed for the same pic.) Then, I got to thinking. I really wasted my time. The first pic including everybody is the important one. No family pic is ever complete without Aunt Kay!

Speaking of Aunt Kay, she's one of Grace's favorite people to nap on :)

New Year's Travel Adventure!

It was CRAZY!!! The weather was great all of New Years. In Virginia Beach, there's not too much time out of the year you need a coat anyway, and we had hardly busted them out over the holiday. We had a great drive home all the way past Staunton (two hours away) and then out-of-the-blue: WHITEOUT. (OK, not a true whiteout but a lot of snow blowing at our windshield.) A few minutes later, we run into black ice everywhere on 81S, and nobody is going more than 15 mph. We pulled over for gas, heard about all the accidents and turned our afternoon trip home into a hotel adventure. One guy at check-in told Hunter he had personally counted 27 accidents on his way to the hotel. Think we made the right choice. The next day: cold but BEAUTIFUL!

The kids were super hyper but cuddled with Hunt awhile before Archie settled down in his bed and Grace in mine. Precious saying of the night: everyone is pretty much silent and all settled down when Grace suddenly busts out, "Mommy, I love you so much." AWWWW. "Grace, I love you so much, too."

The hotel had a small playground and the next morning the kids wanted to play. They lasted about five minutes.

Fun in the Smokeys! (Christmas Prelude)

T'was four days before Christmas and the DeJs had FUN! Yes, that's right! Fun was had by all. Kids enjoyed their parents' 8th anniversary in the best way possible - two nights at the Grandparents (no parents to say no, don't, etc.) Parents enjoyed two nights in the Smokies (no kids to beg for more TV, not to eat anything but cookies, no sleep, etc.) It was our first real getaway without kids, and we are deeply grateful to my parents. Unfortunately, since we had no kids to photograph, the primary subjects were ourselves (which I'm sure makes for a considerably less cute blog post). At least the scenery at the Great Smokey Mountains National Park is breathtaking!

Cataract Falls:

Park Entrance:


On the strip in Gatlinburg. Since I'm a genuine Tennessean, I've been to Gatlinburg many times, but that didn't make this time any less special. We went to Ober on the cable car, enjoyed the quaintness of the Village, enjoyed the indoor/outdoor pool in our hotel (yes, we braved into the outdoor pool for a few minutes), and enjoyed a few shows. Country Tonite was my favorite by far. It was just the right mix of regular country (first half) and Christmas show (second half). I must confess parts of it moved me to tears. While they were playing "Christmas in Camoflauge" and showing slideshows of Soldiers away from their families and later being reunited, I was weeping. Hunter was joking with me after the show that he had the exact opposite reaction and felt it was shameful to use such precious pictures for commerical purposes. Who doesn't get love a live Nativity and powerful rendition of "O Holy Night"? (I'm so glad Tennesseans still remember the most important Reason for Christmas!)

Here are a few more nature photos. Remember, we didn't have any subjects other than ourselves!

I love you, Hunter, and can't wait for Anniversary #9!!!

Christmas Memories 2011

My parents finally got to live their dream of the last five years and spend Christmas morning with the grandchildren. Everyone had fun watching the kids' joy after discovering Santa's presents. The fun started on Christmas Eve with some family pictures.

Grace then got dressed in her finest for the Christmas Eve service. (She was, admittedly, a little overdressed since Archie and I were wearing jeans but oh so pretty!)

After church, we had a delicious ham dinner and the opening of presents. (In my family, all presents are exchanged on Christmas Eve. The only Christmas morning gifts are the kids' Santa presents.) Archie and Grace selected gifts for each other. Archie picked out a Dora book for Grace with my help, and Hunter helped Grace select a nice Spiderman hat and gloves set for Archie. They were proud to have their own presents to give.

Archie is into Superheros now, and Grace took a liking to his new Captain America mask. Grace's favorite presents were her Minnie Mouse set and her Dora stuff. She is the Dora kid.

More to come on other Christmas celebrations later. Hope your Christmas was great, too. Jesus is the Reason for the Season!