Food critics.

Our dinner table.

Last night.

Kenna says, "Mom, I give the green stuff a four and the brown stuff a zero."

The "green stuff" was a salad and the "brown stuff" was pot roast. And in her defense she really, really doesn't like meat.

And then Michal adds, "I give them both a zero."

Clearly they've both seen too much Food Network. Dinner is now followed by a score.

Later, while watching me get ready for book club, Michal said, "Mom, why are you putting on makeup? You don't need makeup. You are just as pretty without it."

And in that moment I decided she can give my dinner a zero any time she wants.

Maybe the judges on the Food Network should try that tactic. "We're sorry. You didn't win. But hey, we really don't think you need make up and that's something to feel good about!"

Valentine's Day

Making Valentines for school.

A heart-filled, Daddy-made breakfast and lunch. How cute is that french toast and pink milk?

Chocolate chip scones before piano lessons.

Roses for me and tulips for the girls.

Dinner for four at our favorite restaurant.

Sorting through the Valentines from school.

Happy Valentine's Day.

Valentine's Day aka Proposal Day

It's Valentine's Day and other than being a holiday predicated on flowers and chocolate -- and what can possibly be wrong with a holiday based on flowers and chocolate -- it also happens to be the day that one incredibly cute guy asked me to marry him.

On an airplane.

Well actually, the pilot announced to the whole plane that Eric wondered if I'd marry him before he asked me again, just in case I hadn't heard the pilot.

I said, "yes" and then he stood up and told the whole plane that I said, "yes." And then all the people on the plane cheered, and the flight attendant brought us champagne and told us the pilot would like to meet us.

It was a sweet moment arranged by an incredibly sweet guy.

He also happens to be incredibly-funny, fiercely-protective, as-handy-as-they-come, smart, kind, generous and an amazing dad. And did I mention that he's just as cute as the day he asked me to marry him?

So Happy Valentine's Day my darling husband. Thank you for asking me to spend my life with you.

I'm sure glad that I said, "yes."

The Winter that wasn't.

It's 35 and sunny today. This is the kind of Winter that I can get excited about!

A little dragon fun.

The girls had a friend over to play today.

We made dragon puppets.

Then the girls hid.

And jumped out and scared Eric.

Those were some scary dragons.

Celebrating Chinese New Year.

We had a Chinese New Year party yesterday for the families in our travel group who live in Chicago.

The party was originally scheduled for last Saturday but in the wee hours of Saturday morning Kenna came to our room, asked me to, "fix her tummy because it didn't feel right" and then promptly threw up. And then, just about the time I was sure she was fine, I figured out Michal had a 103-degree fever that landed us in the doctor's office. So with one child with the stomach flu, and one child with strep throat and an ear infection, we decided it was best to postpone the party until this past weekend.

This Chinese New Year party also had a very special twist to it. It was a surprise shower for our good friends, Fran and Bob, who just received their referral for their second child from China. They've waited more than five years for this referral and will soon travel to China to meet their positively-adorable son! Yep, a little boy!

After everyone arrived we ate lots and lots of Chinese food and the girls all sat together at their own table.

We played a couple games -- "Guess How Many Fortune Cookies in the Jar" and "What's in That Jar?" -- and there were prizes in both adult and kid categories.

Then Fran and Bob opened gifts and we marveled that we were able to just hang out and talk upstairs while all of the kids played -- loudly! -- downstairs. We actually couldn't get them to come back upstairs . . .

. . . until it was time dessert, which they happily ate, and then promptly disappeared downstairs again.

It was really a fun, celebration-filled afternoon!

(And that would be Michal's "big-eyed look" above. She's quite proud of the fact that she can make her eyes bigger than anyone else. Oh, the talent!)


In case you are planning a Chinese New Year Party any time soon, here are some of my sources:

Tassel Garlands - Pomflair.
Can I tell you how much I love these? Love them! I first saw tissue tassel garlands in Martha Stewart Living but they were made by someone else and were way too expensive in my opinion. I found these on etsy and think they just scream, "Party!" Plus, Carmen at Pomflair was a dream to work with. I can't say enough nice things about her.

There are also several good online tutorials on how to make these yourself but all include warnings that they're very time consuming.

Tablecloths - fabric is from JoAnn Fabrics and the tablecloths were made by my dear friend Michelle at My Modern Whimsy.

Red Round Lanterns - Hobby Lobby
Hobby Lobby now carries lanterns in many colors. They are really inexpensive, especially if you use their 40% off coupon or buy them during a week that they're on sale -- and that happens a lot at Hobby Lobby!

Chinese Lanterns - 99 Ranch Market in Cupertino, California.
I wish I'd bought more of these when I was in California. They are really beautiful and fold flat when you're ready to store them.

Drums used on the napkins - Oriental Trading Company

And these are some of the things that I made:

Cupcake Toppers - I made these from beautiful hung bao envelopes purchased in Chinatown. I just used a 2-inch circle punch and attached two circles back-to-back on a bamboo skewer.

Lanterns on the tables - I made these from red wooden IKEA frames. I removed the plexiglass that comes in them, printed photos I took in China on vellum and then reassembled the frames with the plexiglass behind the photo. I then hinged the frames together using red duct tape on the inside and put four votives on the inside.

Photo stickers - I "antiqued" the referral picture of our friends' new son, printed it on sticker paper and punched out 1.5-inch and 2-inch circles. I then used gold ink around the edges of the circle to frame the photo. I used the smaller stickers on the napkins and the party favor glassine bags and the larger stickers on the game prize glassine bags.

Chocolate-dipped fortune cookies -- I bought fortune cookies at World Market and Belgian milk and dark chocolate at Trader Joe's. (You have to use good chocolate!) I then melted the chocolate in a sauce pan, dunked the fortune cookies and put them on parchment paper to cool. The milk chocolate ended up with spots on it so I microwaved each of the milk chocolate cookies to warm up the chocolate again and then I sprinkled decorating sugar on it.

These were super easy to make and you could sprinkle anything on the chocolate while it's warm -- almonds or pistachios, rainbow sprinkles, chopped candied ginger -- or you could drizzle some white chocolate over the dark chocolate.

Golden letters - I purchased the large "D" at JoAnn Fabrics and the smaller letters at Hobby Lobby. They are made out of paper mache. I painted them with metallic gold paint, also purchased at Hobby Lobby. They actually looked like they were made out of metal! The same letters would be cute painted to look like they're silver or zinc.

My beautiful girls.

Kenna is in the gold dress and Michal is in the pink dress. They both are wearing their favorite color!

Long Nian Kuai Le! Happy Dragon Year! 新年快乐!