Chinese New Year

My two friends and I hosted a Chinese New Year recipe group last month.  Every month someone in our neighborhood hosts, and we all get together for a girls night out of delicious food, friends and fun.  In December my friend Karen asked if she could host January's slot.  She then had the brilliant idea of doing it around Chinese New Year.  Since my house already has ans Asian vibe, she asked me if I wanted to host with her and another friend and do it at my house.  I was all in!  Especially because I am very comfortable cooking Asian food.  Since my Asian "knowledge" all comes from Japan, we decided to Asian inspired food and not just Chinese.  We all had our jobs, and it came together beautifully.    

on the menu:
Asian asparagus, edamame, gyoza and YUMMY homemade dipping sauce, yakisoba, fresh pineapple, cabbage salad, wonton salad, Asian slaw, spring rolls with YUMMY homemade dipping sauce as well.  Jasmine rice, brown rice, szechuan chicken, apricot chicken, and coconut curry chicken and veggies.  I am geting hungry again just thinking about it!

For drinks we had ice water, sweet water, and herbal tea.

We made sure it looked as beautiful as it tasted.  From food labels,

to plants,

to decorations.

We even dipped fortunes cookies in chocolate for dessert.

My BEAUTIFUL paper umbrella from Japan.

It was such a fun night, fun to host, fun to see friends, and even more fun to look forward to next month when all I have to do is show up :) 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

New Year's Eve, we had a little bash.  My Aunt and Uncle came up, and we made a weekend out of it.  

We had a big dinner, but I still wanted to set up a "bar" with munchies and have a little party.  I used printables I found on Tom Kat Studios.     

 Corey was being a goof, but I'm glad he was, cause I didn't take any other pictures of us!

 The cute banner

 confetti, I had to put some purple in Jenni's

 cute quote picture

 silver ornaments in clear vases

 yummy treats with cute toppers

 goodies from Jenni and Corey

 Chips and salsa

 and of course Sparkling Cider

 with cute stem tags :)

All of us stayed up, and counted down to the New Year.  We toasted, kissed, and didn't go to bed until 3:00 am.  It was a very fun night.

Playin'

It's been fun to watch them play with all their new toys.  A big hit was the HUGE palydough kit. Hours and hours of fun!   

I loved this, waffles with syrup and blueberries!

Another big hit is their HUGE doll house.  With a working lamp, a toilet that flushes, a piano that plays, an elevator, windows that open and close, decks, sky lights etc...I'm kind of jealous...it's fun to see how they use it.

This is a "Polar Express" party, with Helen and Annie, and yummy food.  So cute :)

It's Christmas!

Sometimes I feel like I'm not really in the moment when I'm taking so many pictures.  So I didn't take any until after all the presents were open, so I could really enjoy the time with my little family. 

We heard a little pitter patter around 7:30.  It was so fun to lay in bed with Dave and hear Aubree's discovery of Santa's arrival.  The tree with presents, and the stockings are in different rooms, and I kept hearing little feet running between them :) We let her have her moment, and then got Soph and went down to join her.  It was such a fun morning.  

Sophie loved all her presents.

She was here for at least an hour:

Then found her sticker book,

and coloring book

I was SO PROUD of Aubree.  After our incident Christmas Eve with her one present, I was really nervous for this morning.  We have always had hard Christmases, and birthdays with her Low Emotional Threshold.  We did have a long talk the night before about appropriate reactions, and how we can help her, etc...and she did AWESOME.  She figured out that she was okay as long as no one was watching her open the presents.  As soon as she discovered what it was, she invited us to look too. :) We didn't have ANY eruptions, and she actually wanted MORE presents, which has never happened.  It was amazing.  Small victories :)

She was super excited to find flarp at the bottom of her stocking.

And she had so many new toys, she didn't know where to start!

She was very appreciative, happy, and sweet.

After presents, we got ready and went to Sacrement.  I was proud again when they didn't put up a fight to go to church on Christmas!  They did bring as many toys as they could hold, but they were great the whole time :)  Then we went up to Grandma's and did it all again :)  We spent the day there.  And this is where my favorite memory happened.  We got Dave's Dad, 17 Miracles, for part of his present.  We had never seen it, and during nap time he put it on.  Aubree didn't have to take a nap (Sophie wanted too, or she could have skipped too) and so she ended up watching it with us.  My favorite memory being this: comforting Aubree as she was just sobbing after watching the movie.  It took about 30 minuets to console her.  This is one thing I LOVE about her emotions.  She feels the spirit stronger, and the emotion in movies.  She was so concerned about us dying, and the characters in the movies.  She felt their pain and loss.  At first I was a little scared that it ruined her Christmas.  She just wanted to be held, and go home.  But after letting it ride it's course, and a little encouraging, she was up and playing again.  It was a precious moment I got to share with her, and I am very thankful for it.  

The rest of the day and evening was fun, normal, and restful.  I got to talk to my family, wish them a Merry Christmas, and instead of being sad that they're far away, be grateful that I have them.  It was a FABULOUS CHRISTMAS!!!!