Qin Bailan's Belle Painting of Ancient Chi

Aberdeen has of late been providing us with great cultural experiences. One of these experiences was listening to Qin Bailan's story. She is an amazing painter with an amazing story. She was paralyzed from the waste down at the age of 19 in a sporting accident. She was flat on her back  for two years and slowly learned to be upright again after that. It was around that time that she learned about an art class being offered and decided it sounded like something she would like to do. As you can see the class paid off. She was enjoyable to listen to and Clara and I enjoyed our little date so much that we took all the kids to see her art the following day.

 She finished this picture in about 20 minutes.

 Clara was selected to have her picture drawn.

 We loved the art exhibit. Her colors range from beautiful softness to intense color. They were breathtaking.

 This was one of my favorite pictures.

 Clara's favorite.

 The details and colors are truly magnificent.

 Sabrina's Favorite

 I think the painting below was a favorite of both Greg's and mine. It was incredible.

 This is the story behind the above picture.

Happy Birthday to My Little Jacob

My little man just keeps getting bigger. He is such a sweet amazing boy. I hope you can see that in the pictures. This year he wanted a minion party. The only friend he wanted was Yixing.

He helped add all the special finishes to his cake.

 The decorations were fun. They always are!

 I kept trying to tape the balloons to the wall and they kept falling off. Finally Kate informed me that if I would rub them on her head they would stay on the wall. She was right and later Yixing joined in the fun of rubbing the balloons on her head to make them stick to the wall. It was a hair raising party.

 The minion glasses were a near hit...they made it really difficult to see out of.

 Jacob blowing out the candles. He never wants to smile for the camera.

Yixing made Jacob a minion  out of Chinese thread and gave him Chinese money.

 Bob got new boots and a banana.

 Here is the amazing Bob Clara made him.

 As soon as the presents were open we got to watch the minion movie. A Huge hit.

 Jacob only got one lego set this year. It was finished in a few hours.

Carcassone is one of Jacob's favorite games. He got the four player version for his birthday.

Happy Valentines Day 2016

Holding true to the tradition we celebrated Valentines Day with Spare Ribs, heart shaped rolls, heart jello, heart cut oranges, heart shaped cookies and pink yummy water. This year we celebrated with Yixing.

 Sabrina and Yixing made the rolls.

 Greg gifted me a great christmas gift so I got him back for Valentines day with a fantastic bacon man crate. It was THE BEST.

 Such Cuteness :)

Happy Chinese New Year!

Today we celebrated the New Year the Chinese way. Yixing was in charge of the party and she did a wonderful job.

It started with Chinese food. YUMMY. I loved the beef and broccoli, dumplings and eggs & Tomatoes. We had a really fun table too!

 After dinner we played some games and decorated our Chinese lanterns with wishes.

 A very kind Korean student gave Kate a ticket from one of the games and she won this Chinese book mark. It is a leaf impression. I think I am going to buy it from her.

 After the games we went outside and let the lanterns fly away. Katherine loved the view from my shoulders.

 Aren't we a fantastic crew!!!

Happy New Year! It is the year of the Monkey.