My lunch dilemma

Figuring out what to eat for lunch while living in China has been quite a challenge for me. Can I just say that the American grocery store is a wonderland of delicious, quick and healthy lunch options? You should do a happy dance every time you walk past the deli section and you should say a prayer of thanks every time you pick out a yummy loaf of non-sweet sandwich bread! My ideal lunch would be Boar's Head Honey Baked ham (sliced very thinly!) on whole wheat bread with some cheese and mayo beside some chips, fruit and a dill pickle spear! I can get the cheese, mayo, and fruit here-that's about as far as I get in my American lunch dreams. Now that Emma Grace is eating "big people food" I scramble even more to figure out what to make for lunch. We sometimes have peanut butter and jelly or some less than excellent ham on slightly sweet Chinese bread but those two options just aren't that appealing to either of us. It takes a lot of time and energy to gather ingredients and prepare for each evening's meal. Because I try to cook American food most evenings, I spend a good chunk of time each week working on them. I just don't have the spare time or energy to make a "real meal" twice a day. So lately I've had Xiao Li start cooking Chinese for us twice a week for lunch. It takes some of the burden off of me, it's delicious and also includes some meat and several veggies-which makes me feel good about the fact that EG is getting something nutritious. The other days we usually have leftovers from the night before or some random assortment from the fridge. We also go out on Mondays and get He Fan (box of food) if there are no leftovers. This week we broadened our lunch horizons a little more-we had Chinese dumplings and Emma Grace really liked them! Chinese dumplings (Jiao Zi) are made by placing a meat and veggie filling into a thin dough wrapper and boiling them. They are usually served with a soy-vinegar-hot pepper dipping sauce. They are a traditional food used to celebrate the Chinese New Year but are also eaten year round. Getting together with friends to make dumplings (bao jiao zi) is a big deal! I am really bad at this and mine turn out looking more like giant lumps of dough rather than the crescent shape they are supposed to have! Our beloved friend, neighbor, and deliverer of all things dairy, Milk Gmaw made us some last week. We froze them and pulled them out today to boil and eat. Emma Grace enjoyed them and I was so excited! This is a big deal for our lunch options. I can buy jiao zi pre-made in our grocery store (even in kid size) and pull them out from time to time when lunch options aren't so bright! I must admit I'd still choose most anything from the deli section at Winn Dixie over the chinese lunch options but they are slowly growing on me! Yeah for a new quick easy lunch option!

Merry Christmas!

We wish you a Merry Christmas...early! Since we'll be in America for Christmas this year and will miss out on celebrating with our friends here, we decided to host an early Christmas party with some of our local friends. It was lots of fun. The evening included Christmas music, Christmas cookies and a Christmas movie and the best part was our gift exchange. Instead of giving gifts to one another, we divided up guys and girls and went out and bought gifts to fill shoe boxes for the Operation Christmas Child project. There's a great video on their website that will get you excited about what they are doing! I was very impressed with all the stuff we managed to get. Our local friends were commenting on how these boxes might be the only ones from China! We informed them that this is true, but that everything bought in America for the boxes also comes from China! HEHE. Here are a few pictures from the evening!


If I had twins...

We are super excited to be home this year for Christmas. I am not sure how awake I will be for all the festivities, as I will have a one to two week old baby and will be lacking in the sleep department but we are tickled pink to be celebrating this important day with our families! Can't wait! We've already gotten out the Christmas music! My current favorite Christmas song is "I Heard the Bells" by Mercy Me. Check it out-it makes me cry every time I listen to it!

Silver Spoon and Veggie Wars

We had a really fun Saturday! We went to the Silver Spoon (a local western resturant) for lunch and Emma Grace had a great time. She liked our sophisticated food much more than her own grilled cheese! She loved my Chipotle Chicken Sandwich!
She also loved the Chocolate Chunk cookie we bought her for dessert! I also enjoyed my decaf vanilla caramel latte! Afterwards we headed to B and Q, our version of a Home Depot with a lot less selection and really ugly light fixtures. HEHE. We were looking for a new one to replace the broken one in our bathroom. We ended up with one that's not quite as ugly as the first one we had! Success!

In other news the funniest thing happened this evening. To explain I need to give you a little background. See, there are edible vegetables, like the ones I cook and (in my opinion) most Americans cook. They aren't bad, they're just...well...edible. You eat them because they are good for you and because they taste ok. And then there are mouth watering, make you want to keep eating them even when you full vegetables that Chinese people cook. In a country where meat was a delicacy for many and still is for some, these people have mastered cooking vegetables. While we are steaming and boiling and roasting bland veggies, these people are stir frying some of the most delicious vegetables you've ever tasted. Andy actually didn't really eat veggies til he came to China! I've started to learn how to cook veggies Chinese style as they are superior in taste to our American style! Today I was cooking a very American meal when the funniest thing happened! I was cooking mashed potatoes and green beans (both American style) to go with some BBQ chicken when our local friends came over with a gift. In order to thank me for some help I'd given them on a project, they brought over some stir fried green beans and some stir fried sliced potatoes with pickled vegetables that they'd just made. These two are both a speciality of this area of the country and are some of our all time favorites! We all got a good laugh when we realized the veggies they brought were the same ones I was preparing at the time. We decided to eat them both and man, I got showed up! Here we are eating our American veggies...

And our Chinese ones...

We both had less than one serving of the American style veggies and 2 of the Chinese style! What a fun day for the Huffmans! We can't wait for Buffy to join the fun!

The Great Outdoors...in our apartment complex!

Emma Grace loves to be outside! We try to go out at least once a day and lately we've been managing to go out more like 2 and 3 times each day. The sun is really strong here as we live at a pretty high altitude-a little higher than Denver. So she gets lots of use out of the UV protectant hat her Kacki bought for her! She's finally growing into it. But that hasn't stopped us from putting it on her for the last year! Here's a funny picture of her in the hat when she was only 3 weeks old: And I couldn't resist this picture. She was 8 months old hanging out on the beach in Thailand!
The hat pretty much fits her now and she has a blast hanging out in our apartment complex sporting it! Here she is picking leaves, her favorite new hobby! And what does she do with each and every single leaf she picks? Throw it in the water of course! She's also managed to slip a ball and a paint brush in the water because my reflexes aren't quick enough. On her way to the water...
Looking so grown up!
Xiao Li uses this cart to carry things from the market to our house twice a week. Between us and the Kvernens, we get a lot of produce so she really needed this thing. Emma Grace loves to push it around outside and collect grass and other interesting items in it!

The last few days have been rainy. I took these pictures on Tuesday-it was hot and sunny and we had a light summery meal for dinner. By Thursday it was rainy and cool and we had veggie soup and cornbread for dinner. Like the Chinese say, "The weather in our city is quite changeable!"

How I ended up on TV

My mom asked me if I asked permission to take a picture of the salad fort. No I didn't. I am a salad fort stalker. But I figure I am entitled to snap a few pictures of things I find interesting in this country since 1.3 billion people take pictures of my child and many of them don't ask!

On to my news debut-I was on the local 6 o'clock news because I found a 2 year old standing in the middle of the road. I was waiting on a friend to pick me up and noticed a small boy standing in the road at a very busy intersection. He was in the bike and motorcycle lane, which is less dangerous than the car lane, but still very dangerous. When I first saw him I thought he belonged to a man sitting on a bike waiting to be hired to haul stuff. I thought to myself, surely the dad will call him out of road soon. But as I watched the man did nothing. So I decided I had to get the child to move, even if I was stepping on the dad's toes a little. Turns out the boy didn't belong to that man or anyone else in the area. I was most saddened when the people standing around told me he had been in the road for 30 minutes! I was flabbergasted that they just watched him and didn't do anything. This is a great example of the indifference to suffering and need that I see in many people here and pray God will change as people know Christ!

Anyway, my friend Marlene arrived and we found some security guards who told us they would notify the police and file a report. I just didn't feel good leaving him with the guards (who were about 14) until I knew he would be taken care of. So we waited and the little guy munched on some crackers I had and drank some water. He was the cutest little guy and I was already calculating in my head how long it would take him to learn English if I brought him home to live with us. But I am pretty sure I might have gotten in big trouble for that so we just waited. After about 45 minutes of waiting, the security guard told us kids get lost at this intersection all the time-that was disconcerting. He asked if we would drive him and the little boy to the police station to file a report since the police were not coming (they were apparently slowly enjoying their lunch break) Right as we got up to leave the mom came! I was so relieved! And just as we were talking with her, the news crew showed up. We told them a gazillion times we did not want to be on the news but the reporter was a little pushy and the camera man a little sneaky. At one point Marlene told me he had the camera down at his waist and was pretending not to film me, but he had it pointed up right at my face. Oh well-so I made it on the local 6 pm news! The mom started to cry after we started talking and told me the little guy had left the second floor of a building they were in and wandered out. I think is was lost for about an hour and a half. Scary. I was just so relieved to know he was back with his mom and dad! I can't imagine the feeling of losing your child!

Book It! Celebration

Last night Andy and I went on our BOOK IT celebration date. You might remember our summer reading plan and our plan to celebrate with a personal pan at Pizza Hut when we finished our reading list. (just like in elementary school) We didn't end up with the personal pan but we did enjoy some pizza in reward for our hard work. HEHE. Andy did the hard work-he read the books to me and patiently reread them to me when I fell asleep. Now a whopping 3 books is not that big of a deal but for reading them out loud and overcoming my sleeping issues we feel very proud of ourselves! Outside of these 3 books I am pretty sure Andy read about 10 others while I managed to read 2 or 3 on my own. Here's my review of the books:

Jane Eyre-loved it and hope to read again

Swiss Family Robinson-Andy says we will read again to our kids. I hope I am doing dishes while they read.

Count of Monte Cristo-loving it. We are not through yet-as pregnancy is causing some serious falling asleep during reading. (But we decided to go ahead and celebrate.)

Here are a couple pics...

Pizza Hut in China is really interesting-it is much fancier than America and people often eat Chinese style-they order lots of small things and share. This may include onion rings, dessert, waffle fries, a small pizza and some weird soups. They don't go and pig out on just pizza like we uncouth Americans do! (Andy and I tried to be Chinese and also had fried shrimp along with our pizza) They also usually end up with a salad. My favorite part of going to Pizza Hut is observing the salad bar. See, in China the salad bar is not all you can eat. It's one trip only and it costs 35 RMB, which is A LOT OF money for a Chinese person (for perspective-Xiao Li cooks lunch for me, EG and herself for about 10-15 RMB). So I can't really blame the Chinese for the way they approach the salad bar. I mean, if you're paying that much for lettuce and canned peaches, you should do all you can to get your money's worth! Check this out....

This is what I call the salad fort. Notice the intricately designed and built wall of cucumbers and pineapple. There is plenty of room in the middle of the fort to place those more vulnerable and hard to manage veggies like peas and peaches! These people thought about this thing for a long time before building this massive heap of veggies! I love watching the care and precision these people these people take to ensure they get their money's worth. I've seen people spend 30 minutes working on their fort wall. Cukes seem to be the most commonly used and most effective wall building material. I tried this once and I decided to branch out and use celery for my wall but I really should've taken a clue from those around me and stuck with the cukes. After 30 minutes or so of tedious work these people will take their fort back to their table and share it with 3-18 other people.

While Andy and I were still dating we decided that salad fort building should be an Olympic event. There is no doubt that the Chinese would take gold, silver, and bronze but I think the world would really get into this event! As you can see from this picture, this salad fort is being built by a team of two. They could have single and doubles salad fort building competition. What do you think?

I am pretty sure there won't be a lot of reading for us in the near future. That whole having a newborn and being sleep deprived really puts a damper on any extra curricular activities! Stay tuned for my next post-how I ended up on the news yesterday! I am too tired to write about it tonight! Good night!

All the way, right away, with a happy heart

Here's Emma Grace playing on her special blanket while we were out of town last weekend. The Dickeys made this quilt for her-how cool! She loves it. We have "blanket time" every day and she has to stay on the blanket and play for about 15 minutes with whatever toys I pick out. She gets so excited when I pull out the blanket-it's the only time she gets to use this special blanket and she she plops right down on it when I pull it out!

Parenting is such an interesting thing. I love it. Watching Emma Grace grow and loving her has been on the greatest privileges in my life. Andy and still think back to the day she was born and comment, "Wow, that was really cool!" We left the "I just lay around and drink milk and look cute phase" long ago and we're now in a mini boot camp of sorts-learning how to eat, how to communicate kindly, how to obey, etc. We have lots of fun together and she amazes me with how quickly she is learning.

One thing that's interesting about this new phase of parenting, which includes lots of training and some correction is what it's doing to my own heart. Parenting Emma Grace is causing me to be "re-parented" in a way. For example, having to constantly work with her on x issue has caused me to face those same issues in my own heart! What a neat thing God is doing in me through her. As I call her to live a life that is pleasing to her heavenly Father, I am often reminded that I don't meet the same standards I call her to.

For example, she and I went on a picnic today. It was a blast and she ate A LOT! Mondays are a tough day for lunch. We usually finish up all the leftovers on Sunday so our fridge is a little empty-all except the 2-3 cartons of milk we have delivered. So Mondays usually find us outside looking for something to eat. Today we ended up with a sweet potato, baked in the giant barrel by a street vendor. (I brought my own butter-yummy!) We also got "he fan" (box of food). There are a couple vendors in our town who roll in right about lunch time with an assortment of meats and veggies and rice. You can load up a box for about 50 cents. Our box included potatoes, rice, stir fried zucchini and eggs and tomatoes. Then we topped it all off with a banana and an orange. She ate everything I bought and we were having a delightful time under a nice shade tree until...the man with the red arm band came and told us to get off the grass. These red arm bands are given out to a force of "rain on your parade" workers whose main jobs are to keep people off the grass and pick up trash. I politely said yes, we will move and then began my internal dialogue of all the reasons we shouldn't have to move. "Isn't this a park? Aren't parks for enjoying nature, i.e. grass? Doesn't he know I have all my stuff spread out here with my one year old and it's a little tough to just put lunch on hold and relocate to the sidewalk? He's walking away. He won't see us if we stay. Well, we'll just stay til we're finished eating and then we'll move. " That was the decision I landed on as the red armed party pooper disappeared to find some other party to poop on. That was what we did for a few minutes until...God kindly and gently reminded me of something we are trying to teach EG. Obedience is all the way, right away, and with a happy heart. Otherwise it's not really obeying. Ouch. You got me. I was obeying this guys rules, and thus God on my own time....when we finished eating. So I wasn't really obeying at all. Man, parenting is good for calling me to God's perfect standard. We promptly got up and moved as I explained to EG that mommy had been wrong to not obey the man immediately. (I am pretty sure she didn't understand at all but at least I told her)

The thing about calling EG and thus myself to God's perfect standard is that neither of us will meet it in our own strength. But that's where the good news comes in! We have Christ who serves as our righteousness and provides forgiveness for when we don't measure up! He is also constantly changing my heart to help me be more like himself. So as we both face our shortcomings and sin we are given an opportunity to turn to Christ and receieve his sweet and abundance grace and help. if I never saw my sin, I would never see his grace for me. What a gift.

So I am pretty sure this parenting thing is as much about what God wants to do in me as it is what he's doing in Emma Grace. What a neat gift. (I still think the no sitting on the grass rule is dumb, but hopefully next time I'll obey all the way, right away and with a happy heart!)

Ok, this is really neat....I finished writing this post, but didn't have time to check the spelling and publish it as I needed to work on dinner. Over dinner Andy told me that he felt like there was an area in his life God was calling him to be obedient in. This is what he said to me, "EA today I was reading a book on parenting and it was talking about teaching our kids to obey all the way, right away, with a happy heart and I realized I am not doing that in my own life." WOW. God is really bringing this lesson home to our whole family! HOW COOL!

Well EG is down for the night and Andy and I are having getting ready to have dessert. We usually eat a couple oreos with milk after dinner-occasionally we even include EG on this but other times we wait til she's asleep. But tonight we are pulling out some homemade chocolcate chip cookie dough and making a few cookies to enjoy! Hope you have a great Monday!

Saturday Fun

Saturday evening here. We are having a relaxing day. Yesterday I got the chance to go to the school where Andy teaches English and eat dinner with one of my old students. It was fun to visit campus but I was also reminded how much I love my current job of being a mommy! Much more fun than being an English teacher! Thought you might enjoy a couple of pictures of where Andy works! Here's the entrance to the school.
Here's one of the massive buildings where he teaches. Emma Grace had a fun day. I had a mom's breakfast this morning so Andy took his baby girl on a date to McDonald's for breakfast! We managed to go through several outfits today. One because of a poop incident. She doesn't really get poop on her clothes anymore, as we are far past those newborn poop explosion days. But today I left the dirty diaper in her reach while changing her and it didn't go so well. She ended up playing in the living room like this...

She ended up with one sock, a diaper, and my bracelet on!
She did try to get dressed again after a while. But she doesn't quite have the motor skills to dress herself yet.

The second change of clothes came when EG dumped a bucket of water on herself while at a "fishing" pool in our town. It's just a little plastic pool with plastic fish in it and for 30 cents you can catch fish with a little pole or net. She loves going there and we had a great time until she dumped the water on her and on me! So fun to be a one year old!

Pregnancy Brain vs. The Taco Bake

As you know from an earlier post, my pregnancy brain is in full effect. It caused me to lose the recipe for my taco bake and now has caused a semi taco bake disaster. After losing the recipe, I finally got it again from my Grandma so I could make it this week. It was good. Just very, well, meaty. Here's what happened. I asked Xiao Li to get me 4 lbs of ground pork for the week. Two for my taco bake, which I planned to double the recipe and freeze half and two for chili later in the week. (we use ground pork in place of beef because the beef is not very good here and we live in the land of pork) So after making my taco bake, eating it and then starting on my chili yesterday, I realized I didn't have any ground meat left for the chili. I had used ALL 4 lbs of meat for the taco bake-double what it called for. I was a little surprised when I had a hard time cooking the meat in my normal pan and had to switch to the Chinese wok, but it never occurred to me that I had 2 more lbs of meat than needed! After I told Andy what I had done he kindly noted, "yeah, I thought it was a little meaty but I didn't want to say anything." I have such a kind hubby. HeHe. So once again pregnancy brain is out to get my taco bake. I too will admit, it was a little over the top in the meat category. I am pretty sure this can only mean one thing-I should be exempt from cooking while pregnancy brain is in full effect. (And after Buffy is born, while I adjust to having a newborn, and when we come back to China with two kids...I will need some time to get settled in a get everyone over jet lag....and after that I'll be so out of practice that there will be no use in me starting to cook again...you see where I am going with this!)

IT'S A...take 4!

We went for our third try to find out the sex of the babe yesterday. The girl was really nice and very willing to tell us. But she wasn't exactly sure. So she had me come back this morning and she was very sure this time! It's a.....



BOY!!!!

And the name is.....


Buffman Guffman Huffman (Buffy for short)

Let me explain. After inspiration from one of Dan's way back relatives who was named, NO LIE, Garfield Scarfield Barfield we decided to follow suit and go with the rhyming thing. Like it? HeHe. You can call him Buffy Huffy til we announce the real name at his birth! Sorry to keep the grandmas in the dark on the name!

We are very excited to have a boy and I've already started praying for he and EG to be great friends! Andy's gonna be a great dad to a little boy! The only drawback to having a boy is that we have to buy a whole new wardrobe in America. But the Chinese don't differentiate boy and girl colors so maybe we will just dress him in pink and save some money. HEHE. Just kidding. Andy would never go for that. Last night I was sorting through some stuff to take back and he got all up in arms over the fact that I planned to use EG's baby towels (which are pink) for him rather than buy new ones. He told me it was worth the 10 dollars to get blue and green towels-even if he will only use them for a few months.

We can't wait to meet you Buffy!

Huffman Happenings

Here's a rundown of our last week in pictures.

As you know, many of my neighborhood friends are grandmothers. In China it is very common for grandparents to keep the children during the day or even raise them full time while the parents work-sometimes in a far off city. (The retirement age is around 50 and it's mandatory so most grandparents enjoy having something to do for a few years when the grand kid comes along) This year I've had the chance to become friends with lots of older women who are caring for their grand kids while mom and dad work. There are a ton of kids EG's age who come out everyday to play in our courtyard. Here's a pic of one of my favorite grandma-granddaughter combos. Why do I like them so much? They are friendly but I must admit I also like them because I think they are super cute. They look just alike the and grandmother and granddaughter both wear their hair in pigtails everyday! How cute! This past week we celebrated the Mid Autumn festival, which is the second most important holiday in China. (Kinda like Thanksgiving for us) This is a time to give and receive moon cakes, which are round pastries filled with an assortment of goodies-from nuts and bean pastes to meat and fruits. They are round and symbolize the family all being together. So families gather to eat moon cakes and look at the moon, which is full on this day. This year we joined in the fun by passing out moon cakes to our neighbors. We actually don't like moon cakes and I am pretty sure some to many Chinese people don't either. But hey, what's Christmas without a fruitcake? Here we are on our way to Uncle Qi's house...


We gave some to the women who work in the management office of our complex as well as Milk Gmaw. Chinese people are big on returning the favor so it's rare to give a gift and not receive one in return. The ladies in the office just happened to have fresh pomegranates ready to give out when we gave them the moon cakes and just now Milk Gmaw delivered some freshly made dumplings to our house. She didn't have a chance to give us moon cakes since we were out of town on the actual holiday, so I guess this was her way of reciprocating the love! I bought EG a dustpan and broom last week and had them cut down to her size at the local shoe/bike/anything repair stand in the market. They have fixed our shoes, blown up our pool, and now cut our broom handle. These guys are handy to have nearby!

Blurry but too cute not to post...EG's hair is getting long. We are either going to have to get a hair cut soon or she's gonna have to start letting me put clips in her hair to keep it out of her eyes. It looks like she's opting for the haircut. She tends to pull them out within a minute of me putting them in. But today I did manage to get a cute shot of her with the bow still in. I usually put a bow on the side but today felt like a day for flare so I went with this look...

Well that's it for us. We have a very normal week planned. It's 8:32 pm now and I am off to get ready for bed. I love to sleep.

I love being home!

We are home and couldn't be happier! We had a fun weekend but it's always nice to get back to your own home-especially when traveling with a toddler! Emma Grace didn't eat much (or any) of the food where we went so she survived on a diet of crackers and bananas. She was so content when we got home and didn't make a peep when we put her in her bed to sleep. I think she's a homebody. We got home early enough in the evening that we were able to unpack and have a home cooked meal. It's nice to be settled back into life at home! The next plane we get on will be heading to America! WOW! Ok, hope to get some pictures up this week!

Taco Bake and Coffee Talk

Pregnancy Brain is real folks. When I got married, my grandmother wrote out some of her favorite recipes for me, including a recipe for a Taco Bake that sounded super yummy. I can't get all the ingredients here so I have never actually made it yet. I have been planning to make it for a while and have been gathering all the needed ingredients for it-two of which had to come from America in some stuff my mom sent and another from a shop across town I rarely go to. So finally I got everything together and was excited to try it. Last week it was on our menu but something came up that night and I ended up not making it. This week it was on the menu again but somehow I have managed to lose the recipe card. I've had this thing for 3 years now and every time I open my recipe box and see it I think, wow, I should make that. Now that I am finally getting around to it, I can't find it anywhere! I looked in my recipe box, my cabinets, my folders where I keep lots of planning stuff-no where to be found. Sad. I am chalking it up to pregnancy brain. So, if you have a good taco bake recipe (that includes green chilies please let me know!)

In Emma Grace news-she loves coffee. Let me explain. When I was little the same grandmother who gave the taco bake recipe also introduced me to coffee. She and my grandfather love coffee and drank it black with most meals. I wanted to be like them so they allowed me to sip a small cup of coffee with them after dinner sometimes! I loved being like them though I didn't really like strong black coffee. But with time, it grew on me but I was only introduced to cream and sugar in college. After meeting the caramel macchiatto, my life was changed. I still like a strong cup of coffee in the morning with only cream-no sugar. But I must admit, I have a thing for any and all things that contain small amounts of coffee and lots of creams, flavors, syrups, whipped topping, etc. I was planning on waiting a little longer to introduce my daughter to the wonderful world of coffee, but my newly converted coffee drinking husband had other plans. He told me last night that at breakfast (I was really really tired yesterday so he let me sleep in) Emma Grace started pointing to his coffee. He thought it wouldn't hurt to give her a little, since there is no way she would like it! Boy was he wrong. With the amount of sugar and cream he puts in his coffee, it's no wonder she liked it! After her first sip, she said, "MMMMMMMMM" Her way of saying yummy. We often say this when we are pretending to cook and eat things. Oh no. Andy said he drank his coffee as fast as he could so she wouldn't be asking for more. I was thinking of starting her off with her first cup of strong black coffee at about age 3-letting her learn the ropes of coffee drinking like I did. I am proud to say I enjoy a strong cup of black coffee as well as a frappalattemocchacaremeldeliciousiousus (with whipped topping) as well. The coffee industry is a little over the top with the names of some of their drinks. I am not sure my girl will be able to appreciate the simple taste of black coffee like I do now that my husband spoiled her!

Sorry no pics this week. We've been living life and not really stopping to take any pictures of it. We'll be out of town til Monday night so we'll be off the blog for a few days! Have a great weekend!

Not much going on...

Not much to report around these parts. But here's a run down of the normal, everyday, not worth taking pictures life of the Huffmans as of late:

Polish Sausage and veggies on the grill Monday night. A fun scrap booking sleepover where, as usual, we didn't accomplish as much as we'd hoped. An amazing day with EG yesterday-I was convinced I had the perfect child. Until today. Now I am convinced I am the worst parent ever. The major swings in my perspective can't be healthy. Bought a broom and dustpan for Emma Grace today and a little push toy that I managed to break before we even got home. Maybe that's because it cost two dollars. Had to wash both "Peanuts" in the same day. (That's EG's stuffed elephant that she's seriously attached to. We bought a back up in case we lost the first and also to switch out when one is dirty.) Yesterday was a very dirty day! EG has been taking some great naps lately which has helped me to rest some-I'm getting varicose veins from pregnancy and my legs are sore. Noticed today that I am outgrowing some of my maternity clothes. This can't be good. I've got three months to go. Andy read a whole book over the weekend and our waiting-for-the-polish-sausage-to-cook conversation included him giving me the cliff notes version of the book and then him analyzing some of the literary themes while I listened. Man, I should read more. And finally, leftover Polish sausage and veggies from the grill for dinner tonight. Wow, this is so normal it's almost not worth writing...or reading.

I'm heading out tomorrow afternoon for a little time away. I like to go into the city on these days to sit at a coffee shop and read, think, pray, plan etc. But this time I am just not feeling up to the drive or spending the money to get there. So, I'm opting for a local tea house that's a two minute walk from my house. Should be nice to get away, even if instead of sipping a latte and listening to some soothing coffee house tunes, I'll be he-ing the cha and listening to some loud old Chinese men play cards in the back part of the tea house.

he-to drink
cha-tea

I love Oxi Clean

After EG was born, my dear cousin Brandi told me about the most amazing stain remover known to man -Oxi Clean! This stuff works wonders and it's a good thing because Emma Grace loves to get dirty! From the sandbox to learning to eat with a spoon, we are becoming professionals at getting clothes dirty and then getting them clean again! You can guess which one of us specializes in each of these skills. The great news-Oxi Clean is available here for about the same price as America. I found out the other week, right after I'd had mom send me some more from America. Oh well...now I know! I am even spreading the oxi clean love to those around me. I've started passing out samples to the grannies in my courtyard when they comment on how clean EG's clothes are and tell me they can't seem to get their grandchild's clothes clean.

That's right EG-the more sand in your pockets and on your clothes, the more fun!



Here's a clip of EG eating oatmeal with the spoon. Note she is using her left hand and that she says oatmeal right at the end! Sorry these videos are so short. My camera will only do 15 second clips and I need Andy to teach me how to upload video from our video camera to YouTube and then onto our blog. I should put that on my list with the other gazillion things I need to get done before baby number 2 comes!

Well I need to run rescue EG from her room. Actually she is playing very happily and quietly-actually too quietly. Seriously, I better go see what she is in to. Too quiet is never good.

Pregnancy Brain??

I have heard of people saying they temporarily lost their minds during pregnancy and I always thought it was just an easy excuse for the dumb things they did while pregnant. Now I am looking for an excuse for the dumb things I've been doing so...I officially say-I am a firm believer in what preggos call the "pregnancy brain." Seriously, my brain is not working right. I keep saying the strangest things in Chinese. I mean, my Chinese is not good to begin with but the other day I told Xiao Li, "Here is a list of things from the market that I need you to get for me next year." I meant tomorrow. And today I started the day by trying to put mascara on my lips! For those of you into the goth look, I think mascara is longer lasting than regular lip gloss. Then I took Emma Grace on a walk while talking on my phone. I realized after we got out the door that I was talking on my house phone-not my cell phone! No wonder there was so much static!

In other news-we've had a very low key week and I LOVE the thought of not having to go to the store again for a long time! Our bunker is full of enough goods for another Y2K or something so I am free to stay at home for the next 2 months straight! Julianna, our neighbor started preschool this week so that was the big buzz in these parts. She was so cute-we made a poster and stood outside to cheer for her as she left for her first day of preschool! It's fun to think about EG doing the same in a couple short years!

When Laura went to pick up Julianna, she dropped Lydia off for a little play time with EG. The girls were laughing at each other and practicing their clapping skills. It's so fun to have friends!! These girls will probably start preschool together!

EG is officially trying to drop her morning nap-so we are looking for fun things to do during those "I'm sleepy but won't actually go to sleep if you put me in my bed" times of the day. You moms know what I am talking about. Yesterday we spent about an hour outside in the surprisingly cold weather walking, talking, digging, picking up rocks and of course eating a few sticks, leaves, and flowers!

We are planning a scrap booking sleepover on Saturday with our friends John and Alisa. We are trying to set the record for most "sleepovers that are more for the adults than the kids" in one year. We are up to four this year I think! HEHE. The plan is for the women to scrap and the guys to take Kayleigh and EG to a fun indoor play area in the afternoon. Should be a blast for everyone! Also on Saturday our friends Marianne and David return from the land of good eats (America) and we plan to welcome them back home! Should be a fun weekend.