Chinese New Year

Thanks Mr. Peabody for the use of the Wayback Machine, today we're traveling back to late January 2011 for some of the pictures of our adventures in Kansas when we visited the Hisles for Chinese New Year.

We had a great visit, got a chance to catch up on happenings, and have some fun. Plus, the weather was a lot milder than we had been having in Iowa.

We went to a very nice celebration at the Nelson Atkins Museum in Kansas City, which included a shadow puppet performance.  A really neat traditional way of telling a story.

Arts and crafts for the kids.

Miaya playing with a Chinese yo-yo, the performers were truly amazing in the tricks they performed.

Super neat!

The next night, we had a truly great meal at a local Chinese restaurant in Topeka.

The "less mess" method of eating egg drop soup!  The straw is good for more than just beverages, what a concept.

Zia Joy putting the cheater chopsticks to good use.

Both girls did really well with the cheaters.  It was Miaya's first real time eating with chopsticks.

"My Best Friend Buddy"  as Miaya describes Zia Joy.

The yummy kind of arts and crafts -- icing sugar cookies at the Hisles.

Look at that concentration!

Time to add the sprinkles! Now, we EAT!

Spring Blooms

The McCarty Easter was enjoyed by all, I hope! We had a great time with all of the kids. Miaya enjoyed taking her John Deere around to find her eggs! When they finished emptying their eggs it filled Miaya's little wagon...quite a haul for the Easter Bunny!

Time is ticking

Time is ticking away for Ciara's days in High School. We've watched her grow into beautiful woman. These are a few of the pictures we have taken just in the last two months, to include her starring role in "Anne Get Your Gun" to her Senior Program...  Time does fly! My little Ciara...I will miss you!

Buddies

Buddies come in all sizes. Miaya has a little of my sister (Karen) in her. She was always able to make "buddies" with the cats and kittens before anyone. I guess she was the cat whisperer in the family. Grandpa Charlie use to do it...kind of skipped a generation though....although my dad wouldn't probably admit it, but I would see him pet the kittens when we were kids. He would come in the house and tell us that he had a surprise and expose the hiding place of the newest batch of kittens. 

This cat was a stray that adopted us. We named in Tuck. Tuck has been her patio friend for quite awhile. He would really like to be a house cat....but we are ready for a no pet zone as soon as Toby goes back with Lyla. Toby unfortunately loves my dried flowers....plays hockey with them...and thinks our remaining carpet needs to be thinned out. Thank goodness he doesn't claw the furniture....otherwise he would be taking a one way trip to South Dakota.!