Wonderful Thanksgiving Part 2

 Our Thanksgiving was so wonderful it deserves two posts.

By the time Thanksgiving Day finally rolled around Ross and Jenny had taken us bowling, feed us great food, took us shopping and the boys had played on the farm with the ginormous tractors. We'd also put up the Christmas tree and watched Christmas cartoons and old classic movies.  AND we'd made friends with the cat, who wasn't so sure about us sometimes but was really loved by Rosie.

We decided that we should have Thanksgiving Supper instead of a Dinner/Lunch so that my mom, who was flying in around 5 pm, could eat with us. So that meant we didn't have to get up early to start cooking. It also meant that we needed to decide what we wanted for lunch.

Since Ross had shot a deer the day before you can guess what we decided on. Yup. We had venison steaks wrapped in bacon for lunch on Thanksgiving day. This was William's favorite part of the whole trip.

 Not only did we have venison for lunch but Ross is an excellent meat cooker and it was cooked to perfection. Yeah. it was amazing.

 Then it was back to work on Thanksgiving Supper. William and Jenny did most of the cooking while I washed dishes. We also had the pleasure of "watching" Seven Brides for Seven Brothers while we were cooking since Jenny has a TV in her kitchen. This meant we spent the day singing show tunes as well as cooking.

Jenny planned a completely Gluten Free Thanksgiving dinner. Everything on the table Rosie, my mom and I could eat. Even the stuffing. I can't remember the last time I had stuffing. It was incredible.

My mom's flight came in a little early and we all had Supper together.

 Jenny started the meal by reading Psalm 100 and Ross prayed for the meal and then we all age to our heart's content and drank 3 bottles of Sparkling Apple cider.

It was  perfect and wonderful Thanksgiving.

Rosie loved it too. Her favorite was the Turkey leg. This is the only picture I remembered to take during the meal, because I was enjoying it SO much.

Afterwards, Rosie played "horsie" with William, we sat around and talked and then opened Christmas presents.

Rosie loved looking out the airplane window

 The only part of our trip to Ross and Jenny's that we regretted ever so slightly was having to leave so soon.  We flew out the day after Thanksgiving, which by the way is an awesome day to fly if you don't like busy airports.  But it also means you miss Black Friday shopping, which was especially sad because Jenny is much fun to shop with, and have to get your Thanksgiving left overs at breakfast time.

Ross and Jenny are some of the most hospitable and welcoming people we've ever visited.  Not once did we feel like we were in their way or like we'd stayed too long. They are so much fun and laid bad. And did I mention they fed us really really? It's not easy or cheap to feed a pregnant lady and a toddler but with Gluten Allergies... but Ross and Jenny managed it. Thank you guys.

The most wonderful Thanksgiving Part 1

My family "adopted" Jenny a number of years ago.(you may remember I attended her wedding last summer). She's really more of a member of the family than a friend. She's spent Thanksgiving with the whole Coleman gang a number of years now and she's also been inviting all of us to spend Thanksgiving at her house, in South Dakota, for a few years now.  So this year William and I and my mom and dad decided, whether she meant it or not, we'd take her up on her offer. And off to South Dakota we flew.

Luckily William and I still had frequent flyer miles we collected while flying back an forth from China. This trip was our last gift from China.

We used the tickets well.

This was also Rosie's first time to have her own seat. She's over two now so can no long fly free as a lap child. She was very proud to have her own seat.

She is such a good traveler. She especially enjoyed the toys in both the Nashville and Dallas airports and she enjoyed looking out the window on the airplane.

We did so many fun things with Ross and Jenny.  The first night we were there Ross's family generously included us in a family birthday celebration and took us bowling. This was Rosie's first time Bowling and William and I haven't been since the Halloween before we were married... 7 years ago.

Rosie LOVED bowling and got a better score than I did. Actually I was so bad I just let her play most of my turns. She giggled and danced and cheered for every one all night long.

 Rosie also really loved playing Jenny's piano. Jenny is a wonderful musician and sings and plays amazingly well. I've always loved listening to her. This trip she had her Christmas song book out and would stop and play something almost every time she walked passed the piano.

Rosie thought this was splendid and loved playing the piano too. We may have to get her one.

My favorite part of the trip was our girl's shopping day. Jenny is wonderful to shop with. She's so much fun.
While the boys played on Ross's ridiculously large farm equipment we girls when to town, got Starbucks, and went shopping.

Jenny took us to Sephora and taught us how to shop there. I've always been completely intimidated by that store and have never gone with any one my own age, gender, and color. (the Sephora in Shanghai had nothing that would match my skin tone. Everything was too yellow or too pink.)

I've never had so much fun in that store before and now I feel much more confident about going back. Rosie also loved shopping in Sephora. She loves make up and loves colors and walked around and looked at everything with Jenny while I got a make up consultation.

In the end we came away with a little black and while bag that Rosie was very proud of and they even gave her some of her very own samples. She was so proud of them she wouldn't let them go the whole time we walked around the mall.  She is such a good little adorable shopper.

After some very productive shoe shopping it was time to meet up with "the boys". We'd left it to Ross and William to pick up my dad from the airport and then we headed to Falls Park, on the Big Sioux River. (that's where the city if Sioux Falls gets its name).

 We went there because it was magically decorated for Christmas and Jenny knew we would love it.

ALL the trees were covered in lights. It was so fun and magical I kind of forgot how cold it was.

We then ended our wonderful day with Gluten Free Pizza and hot tea.
Doesn't Rosie look so grown up with her own cup of tea?

By Special Request

We are LOVE the cooler Fall weather.

Sometimes we just like to be silly outside.

On this day she is 22 months and 4 weeks old. She weighs 24.6 pounds and she's 34 inches tall. I can't believe how big my little baby is. When did she get so big? She was such a little baby just last month.

Time with Books

My friend Joy and her babies came for a visit.

Aunti Julie and blowing things up

 Julie is Rosie's Godmother. Her and I were roommates in college and soon found we were bosom buddies.

Julie and I have been a part of every major life event for the last 11 years in each other's lives. I don't know what I would do without her.  Even though I'm the world's worst Keeper in Toucher Julie still loves me. And every time we go months without talking we can just pick right back up where we left off.

Julie lives in New York but came to visit us for the 4th of July.  The day before the 4th we went to a road side fireworks stand to buy our explosives. Julie was rather nervous about all the large things it is legal to shoot into the sky here. I was very pleasantly surprised too. In California most of this stuff is illegal, but here in Tennessee they have stuff that could rival the Chinese New Year fireworks in China!

As you can see, I am quite pleased with our explosive purchases. We bought two different ones that shoot up into the sky and explode like professional ones. So exciting!

 Of course it wouldn't be a holiday with out some decorations. So we hung a bunting on the front door.

It looks very nice from the street. Very festive.

While we were eating dinner that night Julie got to meet one of our neighbors.  Yogi was tormenting this little cutie in the back yard and we had to go rescue him.

He made funny noises at us and then waddled off.  

Here's a cute picture Julie took of our little nerd in the making. She's such a good girl and loves to play on the computer.

Rosie loved having her Auntie Julie around. She was all smiles and goofy the whole time.  She had Julie wrapped around her little finger. She didn't want any one else to read to her or chase her except Julie.

At one point William was playing the "who's this?" game with Rosie, where he points at each person and she says our name. When he got to Julie, Rosie looked at her, paused, and then said with great confidence "BOOK"!  Julie said she'd take and will forever be called book.

Here is the only picture of our fireworks that turned out. Rosie did a very good job at watching them and was only a little scared. She sat behind me with her arms around me and watched with big eyes.

A Perfect Saturday

 I love Saturdays. Bonnie Rose loves them too. Today when she woke up I told her it was Saturday and Daddy was playing video games with Nana and she smiled and said "DaDa" She loves to watch us play video games.

This Saturday morning I woke up to the smell of Coffee and Bacon. I love waking up to Bacon. And then, just as I was settling down to start playing "Fat Princess" with William the phone rang.

"Hello. This is Lukas from Switzerland calling for my friend Michelle."

We ended up talking on Skype so we could see each other... and more importantly our babies.

 We know Lukas and Heidi from Shanghai. They were some of our closest friends, especially after we both had babies there. Lukas, Heidi and Emil were our family in Shanghai. They celebrated every Holiday with us, including Thanksgiving.

It was so nice to see how much Emil had grown and to see their new life beneath the mountains of Switzerland.  But more importantly it was wonderful to talk to such amazing friends and to be reminded that no matter how far away we are from them they will always be our family.

We love them and miss them very much and we look forward to visiting with them for years to come.   Thank you for calling us Lukas and Heidi. We love you.

Now for another piece of bacon and that game of Fat Princess.

visiting 34/365

The last few days William and I have been spending time with some amazing people. We do love road trips very much, but we love being with Joy and Andrew even more that we have decided to stay a day long than we originally planned. I usually don't like to stay more than 3 days in someone's house. I hate intruding and messing up their usual routine and things usually start to feel awkward after 3 days. But with Joy and Andrew it feels like the longer we stay the more like family we become.

Maybe we'll never leave!

Most of our time has been spent sitting around their kitchen table and talking. It has been an incredibly healing and fun time. In their first year of marriage they lived in India, a difficult and life changing experience for them. They have also both received training and education in counseling and cross-cultural relationships. And to top it all off, they are pastors.

All this, and the fact that they are just totally wonderful people, make them perfect to talk to about transitioning back to living in the US.

I really love these people.

Outings with Baby ... Carriers

Baby Bonnie and I often go out... of the house. At first we just took short walks to the store for some fresh air and exorcise but then we started getting more bold with our outings. Yesterday and last week we went to the fabric market. (you'll see the results of THAT trip in another post... and trust me, you'll LOVE it)

The one thing that has made our outings comfortable and possible are baby carriers.

For one thing carrying your baby close to you is very good for your baby. Research has shown that babies thrive when they are held close to their mothers (and fathers) and have lots of skin to skin or in arms time. They physically grow healthier and they are more confident and happy babies.
I'm not making this up... research it your self. (I'd recommend starting with Dr. William Sears.)

Also, Shanghai is not a Stroller friendly City.

The first carrier I got was my Ring Sling.
I got a really pretty one from BaoBeiBaby Carriers, run by two moms who live in Shanghai.

I liked to put Bonnie Rose in the cradle position but she didn't like it too much. She likes the upright "hug" position.

Here we are in the "Cradle" position in out of our first times using the sling.

This is a pretty funny picture of Bonnie and Me all Bundled up for an outing. I wonder what the Chinese people think when they see me. It was pretty funny when they would realize I had a baby under my coat. They would act all shocked.

I guess you can't really tell there's a baby in there.

After using the Ring Sling for a few months I decided to tray a new carrier that the ladies at BaoBei Baby Carriers were selling. They call it "The Wrap".

It's basically a long piece of fabric that you wrap around you a few times and then put the baby in. It's simple and super easy to use, but best of all, Bonnie LOVES it.

It's incredibly comfortable for both me and baby Bonnie. I like it because it distributes Bonnie's weight to both shoulders as well as my hips. I hardly feel her weight at all, which is great because she's getting pretty heavy.

Here is a picture of my new friend Gina. She runs the Bao Bei Baby Carriers. Which by the way means "Precious Baby" in Chinese. Please check out their site and consider buying something from them, they do ship to the US and their prices are very good. Also, they donate part of the proceeds from every carrier to feeding Chinese Orphans.

(They make REALLY great Baby Shower gifts)

We go everywhere with our carrier now. It keeps us both warm, it keeps Bonnie close to me which is healthy for her... And I have more control over who can get close to her because I can run away really fast.

Thanksgiving

I used to say that I didn't really care for Thanksgiving. But actually, I quite enjoy it. Especially in Shanghai. I don't know why but every year it gets better and better.
I really enjoy gathering my friends and sharing a big meal with them. And then later hearing what they are all thankful for.

This year we kept it simple and small. And this year we had to ask for a little help.
But isn't that what Thanksgiving is really all about? Gathering with friends and helping each other ... while being thankful.

This year Cathy made the pumpkin pie. (I only helped a very little. Mostly I held the baby)


It was her first pie and it tasted really good.


Lukas was the biggest so we thought he'd have the best luck with the whip cream. We ended up passing it around ... Fanny ended up being the best at it. I think she was the one who finally got it thick.


Our Shanghai Family.


In the end I'm not sure who the bigger star was...

The turkey or the baby.


Cathy liked the turkey.

Little Friends

Bonita Rose (or Rosie as I'm calling her lately) has a little friend.
She doesn't know she has a friend yet. But I'm hoping someday soon she will.


Our very good friends, Heidi and Lukas, had a baby boy about 4 months ago. This is him with William at Thanksgiving. Isn't he a good looking kid!

It's really wonderful to have friends that are new parents the same time we are. Plus they have 3 months more of newborn knowledge than us.

Heidi and I take "the kids" for walks and outings. Nothing really elaborate yet.
So far we have gone to Ikea, the mall,Starbucks and the grocery store.
We have plans to go to the park and tomorrow we will go to the German Christmas market.
These outings usually consist of feeding the babies in a public place. Changing a diaper. And having people stop us to stare at our babies and tell us how cute they are.
Also we get to share exciting news like "Today Rosie lifted her head by her self!"
Or, "Today Emil played Peek a Boo!"

Thanksgiving was the first time that Emil and Rosie really "met." Usually they are in the same room but in different strollers or concentrating on their own personal eating needs.
But this time we thought it would be fun for them to meet face to face.



Bonita Rose locked her eyes on Emil and tried to figure out what/who he was.
Emil, who is old and a little more aware, was amazed to see another little person. He kept staring at her and then looking back as his parents, as if to say "mom, what is that?!"

It was super cute and we all stood around watching and giggling and taking a ridiculous number of pictures.

It was nice of Rosie and Emil to be our entertainment this Thanksgiving.
It was by far our best Thanksgiving ever and we had so much to be thankful for.