Santa Claus came to town

We had a wonderful holiday this week here at home in Indy. Christmas Eve dinner was with Ama and Akung and then Gramma and Opa arrived Christmas day in the afternoon. I'll post more pictures soon of wrapping paper ripping, train tables in use, princess dresses being worn 24/7, and the like. For now, here are the letters the kids wrote on Christmas Eve. I was thinking I would write the note with them telling me what to write, but they wouldn't hear of it! It was worth getting them off to bed a bit late...

Dani wrote with Daddy's help:

translation: Dear Santa, Please leave presents under the tree. Love, Dani (the stickers are there to cover up drawings which did NOT please Dani. She is VERY particular about the results of her artistic endeavors.)

Alex wrote with Mommy's help:
translation: Dear Santa: Daddy said to take toys. But he is silly. Love, Alex (this was in response to an idea Jack had earlier about what Santa should REALLY do when he came to visit...)

Ben was on his own. Not bad for a 20 month old! (Mommy helped with the name)

Winter begins

It's been a very wintery few weeks while we get ready for the holidays. The kids enjoyed getting outside for last week's first snow and we've now baked cookies as a family for the first time with Ben. It went surprisingly well! Ben loves doing anything his sisters are doing and his sisters have become quite skilled in all things crafty/homey. Alex exclaimed multiple times during our cookie making, "I love baking!" Hooray! So do I, Alex. Dani especially liked the decorating, which is not a surprise to us - she LOVES drawing and making things look pretty. They both enjoyed painting pottery for the first time a few weeks ago (items to be revealed soon! Can't spoil the surprise!)

So from all of us here at Chez Wei - Happy Holidays!

Dani:

Alex:





Cookies!







First snow, first snowflakes Ben has eaten on purpose!

Dani's play

I've been very very behind in posting, so here's a quick synopsis:

- Before Halloween: I got sick. With the flu. It really knocked me out. Not sure if it was H1N1 but it felt bad. And lasted for weeks. Ugh.

- Halloween: Dani was Cinderella and thoroughly enjoyed her costume and all her Halloween parties (3). She made her own crown. Alex was a butterfly with beautiful wings that she painted herself and was miserably sick. She missed every single party that whole week. Ugh. Ben was a panda who refuses to keep on its ears. He played the part well.

- After Halloween: Chrissa came from Philadelphia for a week's visit and a picture book conference, and she got sick. Ugh. Just for a day, luckily. We are a bacteria factory. But she and I had a wonderful time at the conference, learned a lot about how to make our book better (ie shorter and more marketable), and even got critiques from an editor and art director from a major publisher. We're working hard to get it ready for another submission. Exciting times!

- Week before Thanksgiving, Ben came home from school with an ear infection. We got him meds and drove up to Chicago for a nice visit with Omi, Gramma, and Opa.

- Week after Thanksgiving: Dani gets sick with a high fever that lasts 4 days. She's finally healthy now and have fingers crossed that Alex and Ben (and Jack and I) avoid the fever sickness (we already have colds).

But it hasn't all been snot and Motrin - we've had some fun too! Dani adores her Cinderella dress so much that she wears it almost every day. A few weeks ago, she asked us all to watch a play. I've been trying to post this video for weeks but my iMovie skills are lame and it's a long video. So here is Dani's play in three acts. Enjoy! (It's long, but funny.)