Christmas in the City

On Saturday, December 15, the Center City District will host this exciting FREE festival from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

Talk about fun! There will be a Holiday Treasure Hunt, Karaoke sing-a-long with Frosty the Snowman, plus seasonal arts and crafts. Children will enjoy Story Art, presented by Philadelphia Parks & Recreation and the Free Library of Philadelphia; Snowflake Science, courtesy of the Franklin Institute; Cold Weather Creatures, presented by the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University; and Cookie Decorating at Milk & Honey Café. The Philadelphia Parks & Recreation’s Young Performers Choir will offer a concert of songs of the season.

To top it all off, Santa will be there! Make sure to bring your camera, and get ready to enjoy exciting, kid-friendly WINTERFEST!

A Chinese Thanksgiving

 Saturday after Thanksgiving we headed over to the Chinese church Dave works with for a special program and dinner. Lilia was thrilled to see some of her Chinese friends from school. She had a great time with them.
The audience was a sea of Chinese faces hear songs, skits and preaching of the gospel. I understood NOTHING, but I loved being there. It felt like 2 things...
1. I was in China for a stretch of time, but the atmosphere was with Christians, so many Chinese Christians. It was beautiful.
2. It was a glimpse of heaven.

After the program, which was all in Chinese (naturally for a Chinese audience) we had a big feast together. They prepared Turkey and all the fixins...egg rolls, peas & shrimp and seaweed. Dessert was red bean soup with tapioca balls. I tried most things. I liked most things, but not enough to go back for seconds.

Rittenhouse Tree Lighting

I believe we have a new family tradition. On Wednesday we trekked over to Rittenhouse Square for their annual tree lighting ceremony. We walked over with another family who has recently joined our team, the Flenners. Lilia and Alex adore their kids. Afterwards we walked back to their house and all had dinner together. It was a really great night that we hope to do year after year.

Peddler's Village

Every year my parents go to Peddler's Village with their friends to experience the tree lighting ceremony. This year the kids and I got to go because Dave was away at a conference.
As you gather around in the dark, the countdown begins, 10, 9, 8, 7...3, 2, 1! Suddenly it's as bright as day as every tree, bush and even building is covered in an assortment of colored lights.

Horses and Tractors

Lilia and Alex were in their glory on Saturday as we spent the afternoon at Tony and Patty's.
Lilia got to feed the horses carrots and help Patty get their dinner together. She also got to ride Crem, a former race horse.
Alex got to ride on the gator around their 23 acres, as well as help Tony drive this small digger-type machine.

Tony & Patty's House

 Tony has been cutting trees for his whole career. As a result he is an incredible ability to make any and everything with wood.
This is their house. Someone came in to custom build the house, but Tony made a lot of the furniture in the house, including the banister and rails on the stairs and second floor.
My mom and I requested some tree cookies (a sliver of a tree trunk). We all headed out to his wood shop, which is bigger than our down stairs, to come cut some goodies.

The Bird Sanctuary

Big Leaves

 We spent some time at the Horticultural Center this past weekend. Alex was sick, but we had to get out of the house.
We found these huge leaves. We were figuring our which animals we could be; an elephant and a jack rabbit.

 This was up in a tree house. We actually hung out for at least 10-15 minutes and saw some awesome birds; blue jays, cardinals and a pileated woodpecker.

McCarthy Stables

Dave and I discovered this gem this summer, but both kids were asleep in the car. This time they were both awake. We pulled up and Lilia unbuckled herself before the car was in park, stood up and exclaimed, "Horsey, horsey, horsey," over and over. I think she was a bit excited.

This picture to the left is a random goat that roams around the property in search of something scrumptious to eat.

We asked about riding lessons and volunteering opportunities. She can volunteer around 7-8 yrs old and take lessons at any point. The best part is this place is about 10 minutes from our house! It's back in Fairmount Park, near Belmont.

Thankfulness

Pinterest is my new obsession. I get so many great ideas for recipes (which I post often on katiesgoodeats.blogspot.com), gardening ideas, decor and kids crafts. 

This one is a board of Thankfulness. Each envelope (made easy from Target) represents a day in the month of November. We pull out a card at dinner and I write down what each of us are thankful for that day. 

This is something we will use year after year. Next year we will look back on the things we were thankful for and smile and laugh.

If you would like to make your own for the rest of the month or even next year, here is the tuturial.

Keep in mind, you can keep it simple by punching a hole through index cards and using a ring. Simply write the date and what you are thankful for on each card. Use the back of the card next year.

City Livin'

This picture is Alex at the Please Touch Museum; which we visit once a week.
Leading up to Halloween they had a trunk full of dress up clothes. Alex's favorite was this Spiderman costume.






Last Sunday we headed to Rittenhouse Square. I loved Lilia's outfit so much that I asked her to pose here so as to take her picture. She was a little on the sick side (a cold) so she wasn't up for smiling.

T

Alex's Quote of the Day

Back in August or September I had bought Alex a few matchbox cars at a thrift shop. I hid them away in a trunk at the bottom of our bed for his birthday, which was in October.
It was the week of his birthday and I saw him playing with some cars that looked kind of familiar. Then I recognized them as the ones from the thrift shop. Keep in mind as you read our conversation that Alex has 2 imaginary friends named Binda & Cinda.

I asked him, "Alex where did you get those cars?"

He replied, "I got them at a yard sale with Binda and Cinda."

Treating the Neighbors

 We were getting out of the car the day before Halloween when we saw our neighbor Kim and her son Joshua (4yrs old).
We got around to talking about Halloween plans and I mentioned how we go trick-or-treating at designated houses after a parade over by Clark park. She is due any day with her 2nd child and that sounded like a better plan than walking around our neighborhood hoping people are giving out candy.
So Josh came with us dressed up as the 1st black doctor to do open heart surgery. (I forget his name.)

We ran into most of our friends in the neighborhood since it's the best way to trick-or-treat around here.
The 2 other girls are classmates of Lilia's from Spruce Hill. Maggie & Wes (Alice & Tweedle Dee) as well as their parents are a new family in town and they have quickly become our new best friends.
Alex did not want to participate in the picture.

Strike a Pose Buzz and Jessy

For this year's Halloween I present to you Buzz Lightyear and Jessy, the cowgirl.
We borrowed Buzz costume & the Woody accessories from a friend.

This is Alex's "action" face.

Banana Bread & Fish Balls

 This is Fei & June. They are grad students at Penn. I had them over the other week to learn how to make banana bread. Chinese kitchens don't have ovens so they don't learn how to bake things.
They had fun learning how to put ingredients together and create something to eat.
Fei (in the stripped shirt) brought something she made. It was a porridge. I of course had to try some; after all I was going to make them try a sweet American "cake."
I asked what was in it after spooning some in a bowl. She replied, "rice, mushrooms, fish balls (it's the shape not the body part), and scallions."
It tasted pretty good until I got that fishy taste in my mouth. She also prepared some sliced pork that was amazing!!!!! Oh, and I asked when they would eat something like this. Her reply was, "for breakfast." I would have to pass on that as a breakfast food.

Lilia and Alex had fun showing the girls their rooms as well as some of their favorite things. Lilia's latest is oil pastels.

Experiencing grief that leads to hope

Many of you know our best friends, Tom & Danae Hudzina. One of Tom's sisters just lost her 5 month old son yesterday. Jenn wrote this on Facebook yesterday, "November 2, 2012 at 8:21pm, our son, Roman Troy Bussetti, Jr. went to be with his father in Heaven. Baby Roro, well done good and faithful servent, your work on earth is done. Praise God!
Tonight, as our son prepares to give the gift of his heart, somewhere locally, a baby girl prepares to receive it. This miracle we were praying for, the Lord did it.
Sweet Roman, we will see you again but will miss you until that day.
As we give all the glory to God, great things he has done."

Jenn & Roman

Jenn and Roman found Roman Jr. in his crib on Saturday not breathing. He's what Danae (Jenn's sister-in-law) wrote, " He was found in his crib yesterday blue and not breathing after he'd been napping too long. He is currently at CHOP, in a comma and non-responsive. Pray for a miracle and that he would come through this!"

Jenn & Roman decided to do a study that they've been doing at CHOP for 2 year where they chill the baby's body and sedate him. After 48 hours they slowly warm up his body and take him off the meds. Roman was somewhat responsive, but he didn't totally come through.

My heart has been so heavy and affected by all of this. I prayed in faith with them that God could do a miracle and heal Roman fully. I had such hope that God could do it. Instead of all of this causing me to be mad at God for not being able to understand His reasoning, it has pushed me in a different direction. 

After I read Jenn's post last night I sat and cried so hard. I couldn't imagine going through this and how hard this must be for her. However, her perspective is what's pushed me in that different direction. (I know that the hundreds of people praying for them has helped her through this.)

I was blown away at Jenn's selflessness to give her dead sons heart to a baby girl, in order to give this girl life and her family hope. I know that is a decision almost all parents would absolutely want to do, but with faced with actually making that decision, could you follow through?

I was also moved by her eternal perspective. She knows and trusts that this life isn't all there is! She has hope in a loving God that will eventually restore ALL things to perfection, and death and destruction will be no more! Sin will no longer have a grip! It has really moved my thinking past this world. Think about this; what if this world was all their was. That thought is UTTERLY depressing. There is so much hardship and sorrow in this life that overcomes the joyful and happy times. Thankfully there is going to be a new Heavens and a new earth we can look forward to. Thankfully all things will be perfect one day. Praise be to God.