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Today was Sienna’s birthday party to celebrate her 3rd year here! The weather couldn’t have been worse (well, I suppose it could have been snow!) with rain and wind. Actually the rain wasn’t too bad, it’s the ferocious winds! I had a couple of cancellations but those who showed up had a good time! I’m really grateful to those that were able to make it. Sienna had a ball! I was up at 6 am (with the help of Sienna) to make shredded BBQ chicken in the crockpot, baked macaroni and cheese, devil’s food cupcakes and vanilla frosting (I made banana cupcakes and 2 different frostings last night) and zucchini’s with goat cheese (Allen helped big time with those!). I was in a bit of a frenzy during the party so I didn’t get the best photos. Hopefully Yves got some good video. I set up a game called “pin the party hat on Sienna” which I’m sure you can guess what that is all about. I blew up a photo of Sienna eating cake from her 2nd birthday. I also had prizes for everyone. It was probably unnecessary to do the game since all the kids had a perfectly fun time just playing with Sienna’s toys! I guess I’ll just remember the game for when she is older.

Frosting choices are strawberry meringue buttercream, vanilla and chocolate sour cream. (the photo of the dog is Crusher and is part of a swap I’m doing!)

the kid’s table

Sienna couldn’t wait to get at the cupcakes! I don’t know why Emma has the pear! LOL

Allen and Leah

Allen says something funny

Playing in the living room (you should have seen Sienna’s room!)

Opening Uncle Peeder’s present!

Opening Phoenix, Geneva and Layne’s present (Phoenix made that card herself!!)

Checking out the present from Emma, Leah, Jana and Allen!

A froggie bank from Phoenix, Geneva and Layne!

The girls playing on the bed

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Yves officially became a citizen today!! He took his test last month in Garden City and passed (with flying colors!) and his swearing in was today at Cadman Plaza. We had to be there at 8:30 in the morning. We left the house at 7 because of the transferring we have to do on the train (the Manhattan bound side is closed for construction) plus things always take a bit longer to do with a toddler in tow! Well, it was a good time to leave because we got there around 8 ish. Yves had to go into a room with the other people being sworn in to fill out some forms. Sienna and I went upstairs to the cafeteria to wait. There was a TV in there showing the room that Yves was waiting in. After they fill out their forms, they are allowed to come up to the cafeteria to hang out with us until the judge comes. We all had to go back to the room at 10. Sienna was relatively good considering her lack of freedom. She kept asking where Daddy was and wanted to go find him. The wait wasn’t too bad. The judge came in at 10:30, made a speech and Yves got his certificate by 10:50. Yay! We let Sienna run around in the park across the street and then went in search for some lunch. Yves wanted Indian but the restaurant wasn’t open yet so we just went to a diner called Grand Canyon on Montague Street. Typical diner fare and nothing spectacular but we were hungry. We were back home by 1. What an exciting morning!

The happy citizen!

Switching to the USA hat!

Yay! Sienna gets to run!

That’s not our train!

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Here are days 15 through 21. As always, see the all my TADs here. Only 1 more post about my thing a day 2010!

Day 15, a hedgehog made out of felt, an extra for a swap. I gave my partner the option to wear it as a pin.

day 16, another extra for a swap, a dog made out of felt. Sienna loved playing with these guys.

Day 17, the start of a Kokeshi stuffie embroidered. Haven’t decided where this is going yet. More photos at TAD.

Day 18, sewed this cute cupcake fabric onto a dishtowel for a swap.

Day 19, appliqued dinosaur shirt made for Yan Ling’s son Carter, who was born in the summer.

Day 20, a crochet cat pillow, or soon to be. This is for a swap too.

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Went to a playdate at Yan Ling’s house on the 19th.

I took this shot of me and Carter. I cracked up when I saw the look on his face.

Ethan showing Starr his tool set

Toys

I love Phoenix’s dancing style!

Sylvie is the next Picasso?

Yan Ling and Carter

The kid’s table

Computer time!

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SNOW!

So indeed the weather people were right again and we got hit with about 14 inches of snow last Friday. Actually, the snow started Thursday night but it was slushy snow so it was quite a mess. Then it turned into real snow. They were calling it a snowacane because of the high winds but it didn’t seem that bad. We woke up and it was still snowing. This is how it looked at 7 am!

That’s the snow hanging over from the roof! 7 am folks!

Unfortunately, Yves had to go into work so it was just me, Sienna and my dad to play in the snow. We got our butts in gear and headed out at 9:30.

This time I put on like 5 layers of pants on Sienna. She lasted a lot longer in the snow than last time.

Sienna making a half a snow angel!

sittin’

I think this was Sienna’s best snow angel to date!

Sienna wants to help shovel the snow too.

The overhang from the outside!

Snowacane 2010 from Lisa on Vimeo.

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I’m behind in my postings for thing a day. You can always see my current/all thing a days by clicking here. I  left off at day 7 so here is days 8 through 14 (any pattern links can be found at my thing a day posts).

day 8, a brooch made as an extra for a swap.

Day 9, the start of a toddler messenger bag for Sienna’s friend, Emma.

day 10, stamping resin beads. This was a lot of fun. Next time I think it’s better to stamp using a real dark ink. It will show better on the ears. (extra photo at TAD)

Day 11, a Zakka cat pillow using a pattern from Stitching magazine, fall 2009, for a swap. More photos at TAD.

Day 12, a felt snowman that Sienna couldn’t wait to get her hands on. I let her play with it before I sent it to my swap partner. More photos at TAD. I also finished Emma’s bag!

Day 13, a sock bat for a swap. My first sock creature. The eyes glow in the dark.

Day 14! Valentine whoopie pies with a cream cheese filling. Quite yummy (‘despite how it looks’ according to Yves!)

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So that big mega snowstorm they were predicting a couple of weeks ago (the 10th) actually did happen! It actually started Tuesday night around 10 pm and didn’t really stop until about midnight Wednesday (there were a few times it actually did stop snowing but then it started up again.) I think we might have gotten about 13 inches? Yves was excited to finally be able to use the snowblower. Most everyone got off of work and Yves almost had to go in later that night for a special event that eventually got canceled. Yay! The day before the snowstorm, me and Sienna rushed around trying to find a snowsuit. No luck. I tried BRU, Target and S&D kids. As a last resort I bought what I thought were kind of waterproof spring pants that I figured I’d layer on top of pants and leggings on Sienna.The snow soaked right through. Oh well. I felt so bad. My dad spent the night from Tuesday through to Thursday and my mother stayed home. Well, what a delightful time we had with my dad. So nice and relaxing without the tension of my mother’s presence. After about 10-15 minutes in the snow, Sienna was ready to go in and have hot cocoa. After everyone finished shoveling snow, I made popcorn (big thanks to Geneva for showing me about making popcorn on the stove top. I’m never buying microwave popcorn again!) and we all watched 101 Dalmations.

Did I tell you that Sienna likes making snow angels?


Grandpa showing Sienna how to properly shovel snow

Sienna loves to help!

She was pouting a little bit. I didn’t make her go inside, she wanted to and I think she was pouting because even though she didn’t want to go inside, she was cold and wet and knew it was best to go inside.

Skippy seemed to enjoy the snow, except for the salty bits

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My SAHM friends and I have been talking about going to dim sum and we finally decided to do it 2 Fridays ago. I asked my parents to come so they can better translate and tell us about the dishes. There seems to be less English speaking in Brooklyn’s Chinatown than there is in Manhattan’s Chinatown, or so it seems in my mind. We met at East Harbor Restaurant at 11:30. There was 10 of us. It wasn’t too crowded. We got the standard stuff we usually get and a couple of different things. Everyone was more than willing to try everything…except the chicken feet. It was the very last dish and I actually wouldn’t have ordered it except my parents misunderstood and ordered it when they saw it. I was joking that I hadn’t seen the chicken feet and that I usually try to make the newbies eat it (I actually don’t mind it, it’s all about the sauce baby!). It was actually really tasty as it just came right out of the kitchen. The kids all liked looking at the fish tank. Everyone had a good time!

Poor chicken feet! No one wants to suck on them…except me!

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Chinese (Lunar) New Year fell on the 14th of February this year, aka Valentine’s day. We didn’t do much celebrating for Valentine’s day and I’m ok with that. I don’t know, I guess as I get older, it’s not a big deal to me. Yves is a great husband every day of the year (some days are better than others, of course! LOL) and I guess if you have a hard time showing affection, Valentine’s day is an easy way to show it. Yves doesn’t have that problem! I also think it is way too commercialized but I won’t get into that. It is, however, the anniversary of when Yves asked me to marry him! We didn’t celebrate that either but I did help Sienna pick out a card and a small box of candy. Normally, I would help her make a card but we were in the store and I found this card where you can record a greeting. I thought Yves would love to have a recording of Sienna saying something. He can bring it to work! So Friday I rehearsed with Sienna and helped record her saying “Happy Valentines Day, I love you Daddy.” It worked out well but she spilled the beans as soon as Yves came home. She kept repeating the phrase to him and I kept telling her to shush and we have to wait until Sunday. LOL

Anyway, this post is about Chinese New Year! It’s really hard to get a photo of my mother smiling. I had to tell her to smile! So I’m glad I got this photo, which is why I put it up top there. My family’s tradition is that we celebrate with a big dinner on the eve of the New Year (I don’t know any other Asian families that do that!) and then on the actual day, have lunch together. Here are some of the dishes.

Fried Rice (made for Yves)

Vermicelli with dried shrimp (one of my favorites and it only comes out during New Year)

Yves favorite (as well as Sienna’s!), chinese sausage and roast pork (sorry for the bad photo)

Turnips (not a favorite)

Chinese Broccoli

Abalone, another favorite of mine that only comes out once a year. My mother likes to tell me how expensive it is. Last year it was about $30 for a 12 oz can. Not sure how much it went up this year.

Traditional chicken

My view of the table. See that bowl of rice there on the far end? That’s for my brother Kenny. LOL. He always has a place setting even though he is never here for Chinese New Year. Made rational by some weird superstition of my mother’s.
Here is the dishes on the actual day, pretty much the same.

Offerings for the Buddha

The Buddha blessing station (aka fire hazard according to Yves)

More chinese sausage and roast pork!

MMMM! My favorite and apparently has become a Sienna favorite! Shrimp chips! My dad bought these on a whim because he saw them at the chinese bakery. It’s a rare treat as I only eat these at banquets.

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I had a busy month of swaps in January! I had fun doing them all!

Be My Valentine, Stitch and Bitch Embroidery Group (make 1 finished valentine theme stitch project)
I sewed her a shopping tote (pattern from a new bag book I got) and used the heart pattern from Badbirds. I received a cute heart wall hanging from my partner.

Fake Fabric Food. I made a T-bone steak for my 2 partners. I received fish n chips and a valentine cookie from my 2 partners.

Various heart ornament swaps
Crafting Queens group:

What Does Your Heart Say?

These 2 heart patterns from Orange Flower sketchbook but I don’t see it on her site anymore.
Handmade Heavenlies group:

Made using my sizzix!

Japanese Magazine/book Inspiration swap in the Zakka group. My partner likes eyeballs with wings.

Hand Carved Swap. My partner likes the Japanese characters Monokuro boo

One of my favorite swaps, Wacky, Silly and Unusual Holidays, February.

February 20 is Love Your Pet day (pattern from the long thread)

A heart brooch for Valentine’s day. The other 2 holidays I chose were the 7th, send a card to a friend day and the 23rd International Dog Biscuit day (I printed out some homemade biscuit recipes and included a cookie cutter)

Crocheted a heart bookmark (Crochet Spot) to include as an extra in one of the packages.

From the stitch and bitch embroidery group, Weekender Embroidered dish towel. The Love pattern is from Floss Box, the cupcakes from Lolly chops and the heart from an embroidery pattern book. (Notice that pink gingham yet again? It’s one of Sienna’s old receiving blankets I’m reusing!)

An extra to include, a crocheted flower brooch (I used a thicker cotton yarn). Pattern from goodknits.

Handmade Harajuku swap in the Harajuku girls group. Make 3 handmade items!

My partner likes Miffy. Pattern from This and That.

Pucca keychains made using Tim Holtz’s fragment charms. I was delighted there was an official Pucca website with images to use!

Hello Kitty magnets printed on magnet paper and topped with Diamond Glaze. I didn’t like how the diamond glaze came out so  printed out some more without putting the glaze on.

And last but not least! Sweet Treats in the Crochet Cuties and Amigurumis group!

A chocolate cake from my Tasty Crochet book. It came out pretty big!!

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