update

2014 new year party blogged, finally! click here!.
July 2013 Kaius's birthday celebration, here!

a keepsake from school

Today, Ming Ming brought home the coolest artwork from school. A scroll containing pictures and words describing the Purim story.  

do you know the story? here it goes... 

a keepsake!

I made this tunic/dress back in September last year. After six months, Ming Ming finally agreed to wear it. She complained that it was too wide, too short, too stiff, and not colorful enough (okay, she does not like tunic). Still, whatever I made, she has to wear. That is the rule if she wants more dresses from me (dictator mom)!

Winter days

We have a brutal winter this year, and it has not ended yet. For almost four months, we have continuous freezing and snowy days. we are now only ten inches short of all time snow record, and February's bitterly cold temperatures help rank this winter as Chicago's third coldest since record-keeping began more than 140 yrs ago. We had many under zero (in F, i.e. more than -15C) days, which, after counting windchill, can go as low as -40C. And twice, all schools were closed for two consecutive days (arghhh!) as the bitterly cold temperature endangered kids waiting for school bus.

I have no pics of the extremely cold days. It was simply too cold. For the first time I felt that leather gloves did not help, my hands still froze. We spent most of our outdoor times in the car, except when we were digging the car out (which Ming Ming loves). Our car broke down twice because of the extreme cold, which led to a total sum of $1300 at the repair shop.   

and here is one rare day (Jan 2nd) when the wind stops blowing and the brave kids played outside in the snow.

the snow is fine, dry, and hard... see the tunnel/slide they built..

another warmer day (Feb 18)... this pile of snow did not melt for the whole winter. 

then miraculously (March 10, monday), as spring approaches and we changed to day light saving time, it is warm for one day and everyone is out in the courtyard.

Kids play in the snow pile and water puddle

then, it started snowing again the next day, and on Wednesday morning (march 12) we wake up to this. 

the snow is considerably wetter and the wind is not so bad, thus creating a scenic winter picture.

I took these on my way to the university.

the view form the Regenstein library

celebrating Chinese new year and Avi's birthday

1st Feb, Saturday. It was Chinese new year and we had a big program in the agenda. first: dumpling making and Chinese calligraphy in the early afternoon. Then the kids had fresh dumpling for snack and headed for the Logan Center (a new building for the performing arts at the university) for a ballet show: the Hunchback of Notre Dame by the university ballet. 

I stayed behind to clean the house and prepare for a hotpot dinner. no photo for the dinner, I was too occupied. 

After dinner, we celebrated Avi's 6th birthday.

the birthday girl was very happy with the giant cookie her dad made!

singing

the parents

Yeah! Avi is SIX!

Commune New Year Party 2014

We came back to Chicago (from Montreal) on the new year eve, arrived home about two or three hours before the Greenwood Commune new year party was supposed to commence. And when we were opening our front door, our street window showed a lit house with two men moving stuffs in the living room. Door opened... it were Keven and Max!! 

We came back after ten days of absence to see a different apartment. The two guys not only moved most pieces of our furniture (including our Christmas tree), but also set up a stage for music and dance (moved in a piano and other instruments, amplifiers, computers, etc). Okay, we granted them the freedom to do anything with our place. It was decided that the party had to be at our place because, first, noise complaints had cut short our new year parties in the last two years, and second, both of our upstairs neighbors were coming to this party, so we could be sure of no complaints this time around. Since we would not be here to set up, Keven and Max were in charge.

The last-minute preparation was eventful, which included Hugo walking through the snow bare feet (snow blisters, poor thing), but we (and Hugo) were strong enough to persevere and hence a great new year party to start 2014!

a bunch of over-excited kids found it hard to sit down and eat dinner!

set up of dinning room

I tried some makeup, disaster!

first thing after dinner - kids' secret Santa! Each kid received one present from a secret Santa (another kid). Of course, straws were drew before the holidays to decide who would be whose secret Santa.

adults' term - Anne got a feet massage groupon from me

Keven got me a Jello cook book - he has a thing against gelatinous food and thinks that all Chinese desserts are gelatinous, hence the alternative he proposed. 

Antoine got a big pot of honey from Max

Helen got some nice things...

then it was time for the white elephant gift... each person collected and re-gifted something from their home that they hate or thought useless. It was hilarious! (I re-gifted three bottles of Pedialyte.)

Anne got "ugly" PJs that she actually like

the dancing party starts

the band getting ready.

Hugo slept, and the party went on till the small hours of the night..

last days in Canada

stopping at Quebec City on the way back to Montreal... my most vivid memory: frozen toes. My feet were so totally frozen after walking at the city center for merely 30 mins that I had to rushed back to the museum to rejoin baby Thomas who was taking refuge with his parents. It took me more than 15 mins to warm my feet up. It was dangerously cold for those inadequately dressed. 

Ming Ming and the rest of the Cadoux family seemed to do fine.

back at the museum of civilizations: MM and Alex playing dress up at the children's corner.

got back to Montreal, the two cousins bade a sweet goodbye before they went to bed.

Mamie read one last story to MM before we headed back to Chicago the next morning.