Happy Birthday Kai!

Look who's 7! It's amazing to us that he has gotten so big so fast! We had a special birthday dinner for him tonight with his favorite, egg flower soup, and dumplings. We didn't go very big on presents for him this year, but he really enjoyed all the little things he got. And of course, the cardboard boxes they came in were even more fun! One of Kai's favorite expressions is "I gotta idea!" Here he is building a space ship after everything was opened...

Visit to Santa

Kai and Shen both LOVE Santa Claus! And I've got to admit that Tina and I are really enjoying getting to experience things like this a second time. We took them to the mall and stood in line for our turn to visit with him. I was really impressed with the jolly old man this year, he was truly in good form. I watched him take his time with each of his little visitors, and he was actively engaged in talking with each one of them and giving them as much time as they wanted. It may have meant the line moved a little slower, but it was very fun to watch. I would guess that being Santa in a busy mall the Saturday before Christmas could be pretty grueling, but this gentleman seemed to truly be enjoying himself and spreading the holiday cheer.

Happy Birthday Shen!

Today was Shen's 6th Birthday! We had a great little family celebration at home. Cam and Ben had work and school this evening but we're hoping they will join us in a joint Shen/Kai birthday celebration in a couple weeks. His big present was a new "Big" bike (16" wheels) which means he can now keep up with Kai out on the road. In this photo he is sporting a new night shirt hand-made by Gramma O -- check out the custom length sleeves, Gramma jammies are the best, no rolled up sleeves! And that hand gesture he's flashing, that's not a gang-sign, that's the Chinese hand sign for six (liu)! Cool thing about hand counting in Chinese, you can count to 10 on one hand, very handy for kids with one hand!

For the last year he's always seemed confused when asked how old is. He almost always answered "4", but today he seemed to be quite happy with being 6, and there was a lot of reinforcement. At bedtime Kai said that now that Shen was 6 they are twins. I told him, "Yes, for the next couple weeks they are twins." Then Kai said they'll be twins again next year when Shen turns 7.

And here's a shot of him riding the new bike!