Happy Chinese New Year

"Gong Hey Fat Choy" - Happy Chinese New Year!
My parents came over for the weekend and celebrated Chinese new year with us. While Ben and I were at the temple, the kids made lanterns and learned about Chinese New Year.

 

We all got NEW shirts, because you get something "new" on new years. They also brought their own Chinese dishes and we had noodles, oranges and tea (the tea that's ok to drink ;)

 

 

 

 

Noodles represent "a long life", the oranges are in she shape of circles which represent "fullness" or a rich life , and the Chinese drink a lot of tea and have many traditional tea ceremonies - (you always drink with two hands) Ben and I had one when we got engaged.

 

 

These are the lanterns the kids made. They cut out the center and put tissue paper for the windows.

 

Later that night, we put flashlights in them and stuck them on poles. We walked around our house in the dark. The kids thought it was so cool!

 

 

One great tradition is the red envelopes. If you say Gong Hey Fat Choy, Lai See Dou Loy ("Red envelopes come my way"), then the elders give you a red envelope with money. The red color of the envelope symbolizes good luck and is supposed to ward off evil spirits.

 

We finished off the night by eating out at a Chinese restaurant. One amazing thing we discovered was that our kids were really good while we went out to eat. Hmmm...we might have to do this more often if they're going to be this well behaved!

Thanks Poh Poh and Grandpa for a fun and educational weekend!

Let is SNOW!

We didn't get that much snow this year...until 5 days ago. And it has not stop snowing since. The kids enjoyed a nice 3 day weekend because school was canceled.

 

 

Teya and Kali enjoying hot cocoa!

 

Chris with his buddy...I guess they thought the umbrellas would protect them.

 

Kali was sweet enough to help me sweep of the stairs while I shoveled the driveway. Normally Ben does it, but I thought I would be nice and do it. Whew...I think I'll leave it up for Ben next time!

 

After it snowed all weekend, the whole family went out sledding on a big hill next to our house. We had so much fun...it was such a blast!

 

 

Caden's favorite thing to do is to EAT the snow!

 

 

 

 

Look at all that snow. It really looked beautiful!

 

Later in the week we made a family of snowmen!

 

Of course, Kali had to make her dog.

Crafty Kali

Like most kids, my kids LOVE to do crafts. They make tons of art projects at school and home. They love to make anything, especially my girls. They can do anything with crayons, paper, scissors, tape, and glue. But, I have to say that Kali goes above and beyond. When she sees anything (mainly from movies), she will make it out of paper. I'm mostly impressed that she'll just go and do it all by herself. Here are just some projects that I took pictures of....

 

Made the vest that "Tigress" from Kung Fu Panda wears. She even tied strings on it so it would close.

 

She watched Barbie "Three Musketeers" and wanted to be the girl with ribbon weapon. She even made Chris' sword so he could play along.

 

She had a cup cake wrapper and thought...hmmm...what can I do with this. Yep, she turned it into a hat for a scarecrow. She made the whole body and stuffed it with toilet paper.

 

Can you guess this movie? Toy Story 2. She wanted to be cowboy. Cool hat. I actually think I gave her a few hints in making the hat because she was getting a little frustrated when it wasn't turning out exactly how she wanted.

 

As you can guess...The Little Mermaid. This was a while back, but pretty impressive don't you think? She made this all by herself. I think it's a little incriminating as to how many movies we watch, but I think it's totally cool that she is being so creative.

Ben's New Business

Well, in the past two years, I haven't mentioned anything about Ben's new business. I'm a terrible wife! When we first moved here, he worked at Costco as an optometrist, but just as life was getting comfy, Ben decided to open a specialty clinic called Washington Vision Therapy Center.

It specializes in helping kids correct their vision (not just glasses). He trains their eyes to work together. Your eyes have to work and focus together to read, play sports, things like that, but if one eye isn't working with the other one, then it makes it really hard for them to read things. It has been really cool to watch this business starting from nothing. It has been so much work on Ben's part. Every little detail from creating all the forms, hiring staff, creating a logo, creating all the financials, designing a website, and much more. I've been so proud of him. It's been so many long hours, but he absolutely loves what he does!

 

Here's his fancy new sign.

 

Signs are definitively expensive, so I made this sign in the front of the office (just to get us by until he makes enough money to buy one). Not too bad, especially from my Cricut!

 

But, as crazy as life gets, he always makes time for me and the kiddos!


Here's his website if you want to see it, go to www.wavtc.com

 

So, it's been two years getting this business going, and it was a slow start, but the Lord was always blessing us and still is, and it looks like it's finally starting to take off (a lot of cools stuff is happening).

For one, Ben entered this 3 month long business plan competition. He mainly wanted to do it, to let the community know what vision therapy was, and to get feedback from business people if his business plan was right. He had one written up already, so he though it would be no big deal. Well, it actually took A LOT of time, and he had to get the business plan and financials perfect.

There were 32 businesses that they started with. First they submit a short business plan that is reviewed by a panel of judges. Ben passed that round where they eliminated half, so now he was in the top 16 left.

The next round, he had to set up a booth in the convention center with the other 16 businesses. He even made a brochure of the “What and Why” about his company with a few numbers, so it would be easy for the judges to look at. They had 30 judges, read the business plans of each of the businesses ahead of time, and then they would go around and interview each of the businesses. They wanted to know more about the business, asked them questions…very grueling. These judges are from big companies, investment firms, CEO’s, etc. I’m proud to say the Ben did VERY well. Many of the judges told him that they would invest in him and that he was on the top of their list. There was even one judge that told him he waited until the very end to see him, because he really didn’t have any questions for him because he had the best business plan.

Well, he made the next cut, and was one of the top 8. They then had to submit their final business plan and give a 10 min oral presentation in front of a panel of judges. Then they would award the winner at an awards banquet. The top 8 were some really good businesses. I thought, he's gotta at least make the top 3. Once they read off the 3rd and 2nd place, I thought, oh no, maybe he didn't win at all. But then they announced his name as the winner! It was so AWESOME! The money was wonderful, but mostly, just the validation that his business could succeed, made it worth it. Great way to end the year off!

My Cute Little Boys!

 

(and Girls too) My kids photo moment with Santa during our church Christmas party. Santa's pretty tough having all four of them on there at one time! Our first year that no one is crying.

 

I just thought my boys looked handsome in this picture, since they looked nice for Teya's piano recital. Then the next moment...

 

They are wrestling on the ground...are all boys like this?

 

I've been waiting for this day for a long time...when Caden was old enough to play with Chris. Now they are best friends! Well, at least when they are not fighting with each other!

 

Kali's Surgery

My little Kali is sleeping and....NOTHING...music to my ears! Usually she's snoring really loud or waking herself up because she would stop breathing. Thank you, thank you to Dr. Ryan Black...an awesome ENT, and in our ward bishopric! Finally a good nights rest...well at least after she recovers from surgery! She had her tonsils taken out and her adenoids. We knew her tonsils were really big, but we couldn't see the adenoids...it turns out, the adenoids were blocking 80% of her airways. Poor thing. She will be so much happier now. She's been such a trooper, taking her medicine and drinking all her fluids. We are so proud of her!

 

Grandpa Winters drove all the way down just to see her! And brought her a couple of gifts too! What a huge surprise!!

 

These are the two shirts that Ama gave her.

 

Caden wanted to be in the picture too!

 

Then, grandpa Dong and Popo sent her a teddy bear and flowers! She loved the flowers. Kali is pretty lucky to have such loving and wonderful gandparents!

Christmas at the Winters

We had a wonderful Christmas vacation at Ben's parents' new house up in Spokane, WA. It was so fun to see the family, especially their cousins, Braedyn and Ainsley, who they don't get to see that often. The vacation was filled with eating, swimming, fooseball, ping-pong, sledding, movies - especially Kung Fu Panda 2, swimming, the "play room", eating, swimming, and more eating! It's so fun to be around family during the holidays.

 

 

 

This is the tree that we cut down from the grandparents property to use as the Christmas tree. Our kids first REAL tree!

 

And to top it off, the kids loved Christmas! Somehow Santa always comes through. Kali and Teya's favorite gift was a little dog that had a skirt that matched their new dress. Their dogs even came with a matching bracelet to the dog's collar and a flower head bow that can be worn as a ring. BIG hit! As for Chris, his favorite was a bow and arrow (something he has loved for the past two years), and Caden...a garbage truck and swords.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We got everyone a nerf gun for their Christmas present...combine it with A LOT of ammo, and you get a fun filled nerf war! The guns were easy enough to use that even the little kids could fire them!