Wednesday, February 06, 2008

새해복 많이 받으세요!



That's what they say in Korea--"Receive many New Year's blessings." This is a picture of Kate at a recent ward activity. We have activities every month at church (usually), generally with some kind of theme, and they like to do a Chinese New Year themed dinner around this time of year. I think it's kind of too bad to focus exclusively on China, when there are other cultures that celebrate the holiday as well (especially since we do have Korean and Japanese members in the ward). We have been insinuating Korean foods into the Chinese dinner since we've been here. This year I'd been busy working on design stuff and didn't have time to prepare anything, so we just went down to Paldo World in Lakewood and picked up a few things.

This is the year of the earth rat. Our friend Scott was born in an earth rat year. He's been through the whole cycle and will be turning 60 this year. We'll have to throw him a rat-themed bash. We can watch Ratatouille. (I googled "rat-themed party," out of curiosity, and came up with a story about rat-themed panties. I don't think Scott wants any of those.)



They had these little dragon decoration things on the tables. Kate spent the entire time we were there playing with them. (You can see she's got her coat on--the heat had been off earlier and it was very cold in the building!) We're probably going to be flying somewhere this summer (either to Ohio or possibly California), so we've been keeping an eye out for things that occupy Kate's attention. The dragons were certainly a hit. I'm not sure if it was the dragon-ness or the accordian-effects of the honeycombed tissue paper that she especially liked. We ended up bringing a couple of them home. Maybe if we put them away they'll be new and exciting again by then, and she can play with them all the way to Ohio.

5 comments:

Amy Sorensen said...

Has Kate discovered Littlest Pet Shops yet? They are SOOOO cute, she might just love them!

My kids never eat anything at church dinners besides dessert and maybe a piece of chicken. I can't imagine how they'd revolt at Asian food, lol. And I think it is impressive that your ward does big parties every month. That's great!

cami said...

Right back at 'ya! (The new years wishes, that is).

If Kate likes folded paper, you might try some simple origami with her. My oldest DD has a learning disability and had occupational therapy, and among other things, they did origami to strengthen finger muscles and build fine motor skills. My youngest daughter, who was 3-4 at the time, LOVED origami. We made little cats and dogs, purses, houses, pianos, simple things- not the swan-type origami with many folds!It's fun, builds finger strength and coordination, and as an added bonus when waiting in lines, etc, I can tear a square of paper from a napkin or some trash and they can be occupied! Maybe buy some pretty squares od origami paper at Michaels and stash them in your carry-on?

Anonymous said...

Jenni pointed out to me yesterday that Amanda and Maehalia were both born in the Year of the Pig. So go figure that they both seem to channel their Grandpa Van Orman.

Kathey said...

Enjoyed the picures of Kate. Those dragons do look like good airplane toys.

Have fun with Scott's party. When is his birthday? Love, Mom

p.s. couldn't resist looking at the rat-themed panties article. :-(

Anonymous said...

Happy Ratness to you too!

I had stocked up for about six months for goodies to keep Jaylene occupied during our 10-hour flight (12 on the way back). One of her favorite things is a plastic cell phone that has a screen that you write on with a plastic pencil. She also likes the guessing games (a deck of cards, guess the next card's color/suit/number/odd or even. Guessing if the next person to walk by will be a man or a woman. Those sorts of things. Good luck on your flight.