Wondering what's on her mind???

Miriam loves art.  More specifically she loves to draw.  Daily she makes a new creation with a piece of paper and a pencil.  Well, her masterpieces are not limited to paper and pencil.  Over the years I have found her art work on various surfaces about the house: on the bottom of the shopping list, on a sweet little note tucked under my pillow, on the white board, my jewelry box, on the pages of my Bible, her wall, the dresser... (we won't talk about the consequence for some of these drawings ;)  Her drawings have gotten more detailed as she has gotten older and I love to look at her drawings and see what is going on that little mind of hers.

Here is a collection of some of her work over the past year.  I love what it tells me about her.

Miriam drew this family portrait before Jedidiah was born.  She is holding hands with Chris (far left), CJ and Eliza are holding hands, Eliza (curly hair) is pushing a baby in a stroller, and I'm on the far right (notice the bun in my hair).  I love the anticipation of her baby brother's birth that this displays.

Miriam is very orderly... her stuffed animals used to be on her bed in order- from large to small.  She no longer had room to sleep in her bed so the ever growing collection was moved.  

Here is her drawing of the above mentioned stuffed animals.  I was shocked by the detail.  Even before she told me about the picture I knew exactly what it was.  From Spring 2011.

The below picture was probably one of my favorites just because of the story that went behind it.  One Sunday I noticed Miriam looking a little suspicious when at a friends house for our weekly church time (we worship with other foreigners in each other's homes.)  I thought she was trying to hide something and, sure enough, she had some unwanted snack stuffed in her pockets- she was picking out what she wanted from a trail mix and was planning to throw the remaining unwanted items away.  Later that day when I was home with her I wanted to talk a bit about the "sneakiness" that I saw in her eyes and countenance when at our friends house.  We talked a bit and I brought up the fact that even in the Bible there is a story about that same time of sneaky behavior.  Now, keep in mind that I didn't plan this conversation- I was just chatting with her and brought it up without planning the whole conversation out...  She inquires about the "sneaky" story in the Bible and the first thing that I could think of was Cain and Abel.  I told her, "In the Bible there is a story of a man who killed his brother and thought that by being sneaky he could hide it from God."  As soon as the words came out of my mouth I wished I could have taken them back.  I knew that Miriam is so detail oriented (imagining things in her head with such detail) that this might very possibly lead to some nightmares.  I was trying desperately to cram the toothpaste back into the tube.  "I mean, remember the story of Adam and Eve?  The ate the forbidden fruit and tried to hide it from God."  Her reply, "Mom, let's get the Bible out and look up that story about the man killing his brother."  I tried to ignore her request and talk more about Adam and Eve.  She wouldn't have anything to do with it.  Somehow I distracted her and we got off the subject... but later that day this (below) is the picture that I saw on the white board in our living room.  

Miriam's drawing of Cain and Abel... Cain with a very angry face and a very large Ninja knife in his hand.  Abel- headless , tongue hanging out and blood dropping.  UGH!! 

So, if you ever wonder what's on Miriam's mind- pick up her sketch pad and take a peek into her world.  (By the way- most of her sketches have lots of hearts and family scenarios in them- this is the first thing I've seen like it- quite shocking.   I say this all in case you were doubting what type of parents we were... hee hee :)

What wattage?

40 Watt or 100 Watt?

So, this picture is from a recent trip on the plane, but I thought it showed the shape of Jed's and Chris' head well.  One neighbor pointed out that their heads looked like light bulbs and even added a comment about the wattage.  Made me giggle!

Game of the week- what in the world is that???

What ?????

Ok, so I have been collecting pictures on my cell phone for months & today was the day that I decided to sit down and share them.  The first one I came to was this picture I took in the grocery store a few months ago.  Since we live in such an enormous city we rarely go to market- there are a gig-gazillion grocery stores within 5 minutes of our house (we can talk the pros and cons of that another time).  Anyhow, despite it being a grocery store there are still items in ours that you might expect to see at market but would most likely not see in the grocery stores in America.  This one is from the meat section- obviously.  I'm sure some of you won't take long figuring out what piece of meat this is- but I thought I'd ask since a few that received the picture in a text from me were a bit stumped.  Leave your guesses in the comments section. :)

While uploading the above picture I remembered a video I took of the kids in the grocery store over a year ago (look how much they've changed).  The kids love this part of the grocery store.  It's like visiting the pet store and the grocery store in one stop.  They are incredibly curious when butchering time comes but I'm not sure if they have ever stuck around to see the deed completed.  * Take note in the video how I catch myself... EW (I mean) yummy?!

During the process of posting this I recall when we first moved to China 6+ years ago when CJ wasn't even three years old.  At the time we lived in a much smaller city on the sea where fish markets were plentiful.  CJ would love to go to market and check out the daily catches.  One day he saw a patron choose her fish and someone prepare it- knock it with a bat and skin it (is that what it's called?).  A little later he saw the beginnings of a chicken getting a similar fate (I made him turn around for that "preparation").  He had a very sad face and I asked him what was wrong.  He told me "I don't want to go to a Chinese persons' house.  They will cut me up and eat me for dinner".  I quickly told him that Chinese people are very loving and don't eat children.  I told him that people, including our family, all around the world eat animals but he just never saw the preparation process before.  He understood and was a lot more at east.  Poor fella!  I'll never forget that day or his reaction.  

Birthday Boy, CJ

This year CJ was ecstatic about his Birthday.  Not only did he get to celebrate with a Lego theme but with lots of friends (who were also XY chromosomes and spoke in his heart language- this is the first time in years that this has happened).  This past May we were blessed to meet a native English speaking family with 6 children.  They have 4 boys in their family, three of which are 8,10 and 12 - or something close to that.  CJ has been in boy heaven.  Our families haven't been in the city together much this year because of various travel plans but when we have been together the boys have loved to play- soccer, Lego's, and all things boy.  CJ was beyond happy to know that, for his birthday this year, he would be able to celebrate with his sisters and this other family.

Our two families loaded up on the subway for a 45 minute trek to an indoor play area.  We brought along cupcakes, treat bags, bottles of water and lots of energy.  The kids had a blast and we were so thankful for a great day of celebration.  A day to celebrate our precious boy- Christopher Lane Hanley, Junior.

A ride on the subway to the indoor play area (a ride that is much more fun with friends).

These boys are an answer to prayers.

I wish I had an up-close pictures of the Ninja cupcakes and Weapons cupcakes.
  It was quite  an adventure making them :)

Lego was the popular gift this year- CJ couldn't have been any happier.

More Legos and a Dinosaur Fossil kit.... hours of fun in a box!

The Ninjago Cake!
  We used this cake during a separate celebration with our grown
 up friends a few days closer to his birthday!

Ma in her kerchief and Pa in his cap...

     Winter in our home is a bit chilly.  In China there is an invisible line that splits the country in two.  Above the line has government controlled heat from mid October to mid April.  Below the line there is no such heat.  Guess where we live?  Yep, below the line.  In the winter we do have heat, but it is an air conditioning/ heating unit in the corner of the living room that is not very efficient.  To try and keep the general living space warm and to keep the utility bills down we close all the bedroom doors and turn on the heat during the day hours.  We also have smaller heating units in the bedrooms but they too aren't very efficient.  So, we just layer up and pile on the blankets at night.

     Well, to get to my point....  Since Chris' recent hair doo (the NO hair look) he has started wearing a hat to bed during winter.  Actually he wears a hat all day too. :)  One evening after explaining to the kids "why" he wore a hat all the time they all decided that they too wanted to wear a hat to bed.  Here is a shot of the two that kept their hats on all night and the nights that followed too.

Princess Sleepover

Our friend Caroline is the best.  She knows our girl's love language and spoke it so beautifully to them last month.  She asked if she could come over to our house and have a Princess Sleepover.  Our answer, "Of Course!"  Caroline came with her puppy in tow (Miriam was in heaven) and the adventure began.  They dressed in princess clothes, ate princess strawberries (chocolate covered strawberries with sprinkles), watched a princess movie, made a craft and slept together in the living room.  We love Caroline!

Thailand 2012

Our family recently went to Thailand for a home school conference, yearly physicals... and vacation.  There were so many fun pictures of vacation I just couldn't decide what to post.  I tried something new- I uploaded them and created a link for those who are interested to view them.  Here is the link: Thailand 2012  (The same pictures are also in the side bar of the blog but the link has captions if you are interested in knowing more of the background of the picture.)