Happy Chinese (Lunar) New Year!!

Happy Chinese New Year! (Shin yen qui lur!) We're trying to do more to celebrate this year, so we got decorations, made dumplings, gave the girls red envelopes (filled with treats and some $), and are attending a CNY party at Georgia Tech on Saturday. I was the guest reader in Olivia's kindergarten class today, so I turned it into a mini CNY lesson. The kids really seemed to like it. They loved the pictures of the Lion and Dragon Dancers.

Here's Brooke in her Emperor hat. I know it's for boys, but I think she look so cute in it! I got one for Olivia, too, and she promptly lost it. It's in the house, but we can't find it anywhere. I can just see it - 6 months from now, we'll pull it out from under something...

The most tasty part of CNY is the dumplings!! I rolled and cut the dough and the girls stuffed them. Brooke becomes very protective of the dumplings even before they are boiled. Notice how she's watching Olivia...

We could eat dumplings every day!

And on a side note - here's what's on our deck right now. Compared to what they are getting up North, we have it lucky, but I didn't expect this today!

Have a happy, healthy and prosperous Year of the Rabbit!!!! Wish us luck as we begin mandarin lessons for the girls and me. The teacher's name is Heidi (ha!) and she lives at the rear of our subdivision. You just never know who's living right around the corner!