So happy to be home

Between trying to get EG to sleep on a palate in the floor in our hotel bathroom and washing bottles and bibs and bowls and spoons in the bathroom sink, and cleaning up poop from said palate in the floor, Andy and I spent a considerable portion of our out of town time in a bathroom. EG has a busted lip, our plane was turned around when we were super close to home because of bad weather. Emotionally, I'm in about the same state as EG's lip-bruised, battered, bleeding, and ugly.

Ok, got that out of my system, so I'll move on...

Actually there were some highlights of our time-seeing some friends, eating Dairy Queen and Papa John's twice (in that order), a trip to Ikea, and EG having a chance to play with some of her friends. Also, my personal favorite highlight-Jack got even fatter-I fed him pizza and LOTS of bread since it was easy to carry and not too messy. We are happy to be home and enjoying using our bathroom for it's intended use.

We haven't made much progress on our camera issue. We really want one that has the SLR feature and also does short bloggable videos-but these two features together are kinda hard to find. So we are looking...we are thinking about buying a cheap something to tide us over until we can make a decision. So for now, there won't be many new pictures.

Ok, out to buy some errands with EG.

8 months

It's getting harder and harder to get good pictures of Jack in his "x months" shirts. Here the best two I got at his 8 month birthday! Andy said he thought Jack would crawl before he was 8 months and he was right on. This little man is all over the place. I look away for a few seconds and he's found his way into the bathroom or some other random/slightly dangerous spot in our house. We need to work on boundaries. It just all happened so fast. With EG, it felt like she took forever to learn a new skill-maybe that's because I was watching her every move so it felt like a more long and drawn out process. But with Jack, it seems like one day he can't do a certain thing and then the next day-WHAM-he can do it. (His first word was wham, actually. HEHE. Just kidding. Not sure why I said WHAM-just seems to capture how I feel about him learning new things. Ok, I'll stop using random early 90's words now.) Andy has also predicted he'll walk earlier than EG. I am a tad scared about that, but I think it's true.

Jack is moving rather quickly to table food. I am tired of dealing with baby food so I am pushing the table food. So far, he's had bananas, crackers, tofu, zucchini, spaghetti, bread and pancakes-all in adult food form, just cut up really small. I am pretty sure his two faves were the tofu and the pancakes. Just imagine when I start giving him syrup to go with the pancakes-he'll really go hog wild then. "Hog wild" also seems like an 80's or early 90's word me to word to me. I'm wearing leggings today, maybe that's why I'm feeling in an 80's mood.

We'll be out of town for a few days. not sure when we will post again-I'm hoping we'll have Internet where we're going. The city we are going to has Starbucks, Papa John's, Subway and Dairy Queen. We are excited! Random side note-we just found out our city is getting a Papa John's and a Dairy Queen! It's not Chick Fila, but it made me happy enough that I called Andy right away to "tell him the good news" as soon as I heard! Cool beans.

Camera News

Thanks for your comments to put a little pressure on Andy to get a new camera. It's working. Actually, he doesn't even know about the comments yet. I was gonna wait til I got a bunch and then spring them on him. But what is working to convince him is the fact that our old camera, though technically revived, has some major functions not working-namely the flash and the zoom. So, looks like my dream will come true! But if you wanna keep leaving comments and send him some emails, I'm sure it can't hurt!

PS-Kathi-we got out the camera this morning to take pictures of the Kacki Cakes-that's when we found out it was only half revived. EG LOVED the pancakes. She ate five! The pan you sent works really well. I dyed the pancake batter pink, which made the imprints of the animals even clearer. We had extra and put the freezer to pull out one day soon! Can't wait for you guys to enjoy some Kacki cakes when you come!

New Life

See those videos in my lats post? See how grainy they are? See how each one is only 15 seconds long? Yes, that's what I've been living with for the last 4 years. And on Monday night I thought my grainy-15-second-video days were OVER for good. Andy dropped our camera and broke it, or so we thought...

I had some pictures and video on the camera and so I tried to figure out how to get it off the camera and managed to FIX the dumb thing in the process. Let's be honest, I was severely disappointed when I realized I had resurrected it.

So please please, leave a comment or send me an email telling Andy why we should still get a new camera. Grandmas, plead your case!

They were made for each other

Over here in this giant country, outside a giant city, in a little no name town, in a 4 bedroom apartment, there's a friendship blooming. It may seem an unlikely pair...a jolly little fellow who has a penchant for eating non edible items. He's all boy-crawling and rolling and tumbling off the couch. He's usually happy unless he's hungry and then he finds some stickers or a book to munch on! So there's this little guy... and then there's this little lady...

And she's all girl for sure, usually toting a stroller and baby doll to the store while we "buy some errands." She's full of excitement and questions and is way sharper than we give her credit for!

And this odd little pair are building quite the friendship. They started off a little rocky in their first few days together and we still have our issues daily (namely sharing), but overall, these two are becoming fast friends. One thing that binds them together is their love for entertainment. One of these little ones loves to entertain and the other one loves to be entertained so it works out great for everyone-including Andy and I who often sit back and watch the two of them interact and just marvel (and laugh) !!! We are so grateful for the friendship that's being built and pray it will grow stronger and deeper over the years!

Check out these videos to see which of this dynamic duo is the entertainer and which one is the entertainee!

New Camera

We went to the airport on Monday to pick up our good friend John and his daughter Kayleigh. I had plans to take some pictures and post for his wife who is still in the US. But...Andy dropped our camera and it currently won't even turn on. I was 49% bummed about it since it is a good camera and takes good pictures. It's seven years old and still works great. (Thanks Papaw!) The other 51% percent of me was happy-I've really been wanting a new camera-specifically one that does videos longer than 15 seconds. We have a video camera but you have to go through a lot of hoops to finish the disc, edit the clip you want and post. I just want to be able to easily post short videos on our blog. SOOOO-here's my big chance. I was so thankful that it was Andy that dropped it. Otherwise, he might have thought I did it intentionally. HeHe. So, we won't have new pics for a while but the good news is we're gonna get a new camera soon! Yipee.

Chick...

Sorry it's taken me so long to reveal what was in our package! I was waiting on Andy to edit some video for me. Here we are opening our "Chick" package...

Unfortunately, our package did not include a Chick-Fila Sandwich, nor my Grandma Chick-either of which would have had me flipping cartwheels! But it did include CHICK CHICK, a giant stuffed chicken who Emma Grace adores.

About a month before we left America to return to China, Andy's family bought Chick Chick for EG. It was an impulse buy at Sam's club, one Andy and I strongly advised against. While Andy and I were shopping for items to take back with us, EG and her lovely Aunt Mary, Kacki and Poopaw went "browsing" around. They came back with EG grinning from ear to ear holding this giant yellow chicken. Of course, being the party pooper parents that we are, we told them it was wasteful to buy the Chicken since there was no way we were gonna take that thing with us to China. They bought it anyway and EG slept with it every time she stayed with them until we left. They of course tried to convince us to take it as a carry on when we came back to China!!! Chick Chick has made his appearance on many web cam calls in the last few months. I guess Kacki, Poopaw and Mary just couldn't stand it when EG cried when she couldn't actually touch him on the computer (you were torturing her!!!!) so they decided to send it. But sending a giant stuffed chicken in the mail is not easy. So they vacuumed sealed it! It was at the bottom of our package and EG loved it! She's been sleeping with it every night!!! As a very important side note, if anyone wants to attempt to send either a Chick Fila Sandwich or my Grandma Chick over, I would be forever grateful-though I don't think my grandma would like the vacuum seal very much. My dear friend Sheryl brought over 10 Chick Flia Sandwiches one time...it was amazing. All this has gotten me really hungry. I found a copycat recipe online for their fried chicken. Do you think it's even worth tyring to make it? Andy and I had this long discussion yesterday about how Chick Fila really is the best fast food restaurant in the world. I mean, their chicken sandwich will only be topped in the new heavens and new earth, and they have nice ladies, like Jeanie (in Burlington) who come around and ask you if you need a refill and give you butter mints. How great is that? Ok...I digress.

Thanks Huffmans for sending CHICK CHICK!!! We feel very loved!!! Next time you send something that starts with a "Chick," make sure you include extra pickles!!

Chick...

Any of you who know anything about my love affair with the #1 Combo at Chick Fila might be thinking that our package included one of these bad boys...I'll let you know tomorrow if you are correct.

CHIC....

It came in our package this week. It starts with a Chic, it was vacuum sealed and it made one female in our family very happy! Any guesses as to what it was?????

sending some love your way

We got two big boxes of LOVE last week from some super special people! My cousin, Jane, who I don't think I've ever actually met in person, has "adopted" our family. She is a huge blessing to me. She sends great emails, asks great questions about our life here, prays for me, and makes us feel super loved.

She leads a group of kids and they worked really hard putting this stuff together for us. Each week the kids brought in their own money and saved it up to get these goodies for us. They went to Walmart and had a blast getting stuff on our wish list and other surprises!

We had a BLAST opening it and we're enjoying all the stuff!! Thank you guys sooo much for all the time, love, money, and energy you put into getting this stuff to us. Andy and I both said we felt so loved and cared for. TO TEAM KID: Your package crossed lots of land and water to get here-my guess is it was on 3 or 4 different planes! And when it arrived it was still full of all the love you put in it-and the goodies too! My box runneth over! Jack in the BOX!! We couldn't resist-we opened the craisins immediately!

Jack ate the box while we ate craisins.

OH BLESS YOU STARBURST SENDERS!!! EG LOVED EVERYTHING!!!!!

She's figuring out how to work Jack's toy!

Thank you guys soooo much for everything! I can't wait to make this new cake I've been wanting to try. Now I have the ingredients to make it! Andy thanks you! Emma Grace has already put the craft items to good use! We had craft time today and used the color pencils! And for the puppy and the giant boxes, Jack says, "YOU GUYS ARE AWESOME!!"We feel so loved. Having some American goodies is such a fun treat for us! Thank you for all you did for us. We are grateful.

We also got another package this week and it had something in it that starts with a CHIC...can anyone guess what it was? I'll reveal that in my next post!!!!!! My clues: It starts with a CHIC, it was vacuum sealed, and it made one female in our family VERY HAPPY!!!

Bowls

It's funny the things that entertain our family. Last week we had lots of fun playing with bowls. Check out all the fun uses we found for them!

HATS!

We thought Jack looked like an acorn! And a rousing game of Skee Ball.

I creamed Andy!!

One Hour of Greek

The last 10 days of July were pretty warm-a few overcast days and a couple of thunderstorms but nothing that could help me win the bet. Andy had already won our July weather bet by the middle of July. Sad. But Andy will admit that the locals say it's been the dryest rainy season in a LONG time! On June 30th and July 31st we had pouring rain all day-those days book-ended the dryest, warmest, most beautiful rainy season this area has ever seen!

So Andy will get an extra hour to study Greek and my blog will have to stay the same for a while.

4th Anniversary!

On Wednesday, Andy and I celebrated our 4th Wedding Anniversary! What a blessing it has been to be married to my best friend for these four years. I've always told Andy that it was his kindness that won me. This year, more than ever, I have become aware of how undeserving I am of God's kindness to me through this man. Our marriage is truly a good gift from my Heavenly Father. It's a gift that strengths me, humbles me, brings me so much joy, refines me, and fills me with thankfulness. I am becoming more of the woman God wants me to be because I am married to Andy. Thank you Father.

We started the day with some homemade cinnamon rolls and we watched our wedding video-not the actual ceremony but the one with all the pictures from growing up. EG loved it! Jack looks a lot like Charlie when he was little!

Then Andy and I got away for 24 hours!!! We got a really great deal on this hot springs and spa place in our city. The scenery was great!

We stayed in a little cabin type thing that opened up to the pool!

(Which was freezing so we didn't swim) But we did enjoy the hot springs fed hot tubs. This area of the country is famous for it's hot springs and you can find lots of resorts that boast of hot springs fed pools. (Though my friend Laura thinks some of them might just be using really hot water!!) Some of the pools had minerals in them, which made your skin feel weird. So we mostly stuck to the fresh water ones.
We also opted out of this option....
That's a man's foot with hundreds of little fish eating off his dead skin. It's a pretty popular treatment. We just gawked and took pictures. No flesh eating fish for me, thanks.

We enjoyed a foot massage, a long walk at a nearby lake, and the highlights of our trip were AC in our room and sleeping in til 7:30!!! I feel unbelievably rested! Happy Anniversary to us!!!

Our 24 hour break was fun and much needed. I returned to be thrust right back into the adventure of motherhood the moment I walked in the door!!! When we came home EG was supposed to be napping already. She had gotten up and somehow managed to lock herself in her room. She was crying and Xiao Li and I had to dig out this big ring of keys and Andy tried each one until we finally got her out!! Welcome home Mom and Dad!!!

Jack's first watermelon!

This blog is all about food. We Huffmans love to eat. All of us. Here's more information than you would ever want to know about our eating habits.

First all, there's breakfast. It's by far the most challenging meal for me to provide and I don't love breakfast foods to begin with so I kinda wish breakfast just didn't even exist. Cereal, a very reasonably priced and tasty option in America is rather expensive and quite boring here. Some American brands run as much as 12 dollars a box! Andy has found a brand of German cornflakes that he likes so I buy them about 5-10 boxes at a time for a little less than four bucks a box. He's memorized the German labels and attempted to read the back of the box in German. Reading labels is a little of an obsession for him. Der Nuperfriesh de start en den tag!!!! (a fresh start to the day!) Andy can eat cornflakes every day and be just fine but I get quite bored with them. So we sometimes opt for bagels. That sounds easy enough but the place we get the bagels is kinda far away. So I try to stock the freezer with bagels from time to time. EG likes a cinnamon bagel with cream cheese. Another option for breakfast is toast made from semi sweet Chinese sliced bread. It's ok in a pinch. EG's faves include oatmeal and yoghurt. I also make banana bread and other muffins from time to time. I made cinnamon buns yesterday, which were great, but way more like a dessert. I'd rather have it as a late night snack or something. Recently EG has started to ask for fried rice for breakfast. We often have some left over in the fridge so she and I have been enjoying that lately. In my opinion, it's the best of our breakfast options.

For lunch we eat Chinese or left overs. The Chinese is usually way better than the leftovers. Lunch may be my biggest meal of the day. I don't love breakfast so I eat very little and by lunch I'm starving. That on top of nursing gives me quite a lunch time appetite. EG loves the Chinese. Fried rice day is her favorite by far. That's when we take all the left over Chinese food or fresh veggies in our fridge and stir fry them with rice. By we, I mean Xiao Li. It's so yummy.

And then there's snack time. We have one in the morning and one in the afternoon. If she hasn't already had her yoghurt for breakfast, she'll have that for a snack. She usually drinks the yoghurt but occasionally we put it in a bowl and add sprinkles, which EG pronounces, "Sphinkles!" Otherwise, she has fruit, or pretzels, and some Chinese snack foods that are pretty normal tasting to our American taste buds. She loves running errands with me because it usually includes a snack-one that takes a while to consume, like a lollipop!!!

And dinner. Oh dinner. I spend a lot of time thinking and preparing for dinner as we eat American food and it takes a while to prepare. We eat everything from Spaghetti and grilled chicken to Philly cheese steaks and chicken salad sandwiches. We love food. We love American food. We love dinner.

Dinner is a little challenging for me, as I have two little eaters who need lots of attention during dinner time. From shoveling pureed pumpkin into Jack's mouth to cutting up noodles and making sure EG eats everything, dinners are sometimes a tad chaotic at our house.

We also love dessert. Sometimes we go the extra mile and have things like homemade popsicles! And then other times we do something simple like watermelon.

Speaking of watermelon, Jack got his first taste of watermelon this week in quite an unconventional way! Let me explain-I've been nursing him for almost 8 months now and making lots of baby food for him. I recently decided to wean him. The main reason was that we felt like I was just not able to keep up with how much he needs to be drinking per day. I was sad as I feel super attached to nursing him for some reason. But he seems way happier these days. He's started to eat Rusks. I know...what is a rusk? well, evidently it's a word for a teething cracker. I bought these vegetable teething rusks this week and he had a blast gnawing on one while we ate dinner!

I found evidence last night that Jack was not getting to eat from me. It seems he decided to take his hunger issues into his own hands. Last night as I was changing his poopy diaper, I found paper in his poop. Upon further observation, I recognized it was from a book we have! The funniest part is that the book he decided to snack on is called "God Made Food," a book full of pictures of food. I confirmed this by finding missing pages in the book. It seems his food of choice was watermelon!!

CONGRATS KATIE!

Way to go sister! We are proud of you! Danny is a great instructor! You should ask him about the first time he took me out to do a left turn. I now know you should break rather than speed up when turning left. It didn't take us too long to get out of that ditch, did it Danny?