End-of-year gifts to the teachers who have been working hard for the kids.
Sophie chose OSU colors to bead the necklace. This is for her classroom teacher.
Laura has 5 teachers she would like to give Thank-You gift. Here are what she has finished so far. She'll need to make one more.
Just have to show off what I got from this year's Public Libaray Used Book Sale:
也有说，“二十九，做米酒”的，不管怎么说，米酒和馒头都没做！（照片是以前的，拿出来充充数。）
妈妈和爸爸都是无锡人，那边地方的人把除夕的前一天叫“小年夜”，也就是二十九。妈妈很少做面食，家里大多数时间吃米饭，喝米粥。只有过年才会包一次饺子。年夜饭很早就开始准备了。像笋干差不多两个星期前就开始泡了。泡了，切，切了，再泡，再煮，再泡，这样到最后，笋干发得胖胖的，经过这么多次“洗礼”，居然还是笋香阵阵的，然后再和熬得鲜鲜的猪肉上慢火炖，那是我小时候最最喜欢的一道菜。其他每年必备的菜还有鸡蛋饺，酱牛肉，蒸熏鱼，红烧黄花鱼，和红烧带鱼。妈妈的凉拌菜腐竹拌芹菜也是我的最爱。（喜欢的都是素的，嗒嗒这点儿像妈妈)。
小年夜吃什么呢？好多好吃的都已经做好了，可是记忆里只有除夕那天桌上才是满满的。饺子也是除夕吃完晚饭才开始包。看着春晚包。到快午夜的时候，饺子下锅，听着震耳欲聋的鞭炮声，全家一起在电视机前吃刚出锅的，热气腾腾的饺子。
蛙蛙和嗒嗒一听“熬一宿”，兴奋得不得了。“妈妈，能熬一宿吗？Please!” 现在知道了，答应她们就是了，免得孩子们扫兴。实际上，让她们熬，她们都熬不住！这不，刚过十一点，俩丫头倒头就睡着了！压根儿就忘了这个茬儿！ 也难为她们了，第二天还得上学呢！
“妈妈，为什么熬了一宿，还要上学呀？”嗒嗒问道。
“因为这儿过年不放假！你要是在中国，过年的时候要放三个多星期呢！过完十五才开学。这样除夕晚上就可以晚晚地睡，因为第二天不用上学！第二天，妈妈可以带着你和姐姐去逛地坛的庙会，吃棉花糖，糖葫芦，买风车，买面人儿；第三天，咱们可以上北海去看腊梅花；第四天，我们去陶然亭划冰车；再下一天，妈妈带你们去大观园看“元妃省亲”；然后还有颐和园的宫廷庙会，龙潭湖的民间杂技，天桥的老北京绝活... ... ”
“我想回中国过年！妈妈！”
我也是。
一听炖肉，小蛙的眼睛都亮起来了！
“耶！耶！” 嗒嗒也在一边跟着起哄。
“天天不都有肉吗？” 我指着饭桌上的清蒸鱼，“鱼肉不是肉？”
“不是，妈妈。肉是猪肉，排骨，什么的！”
孩子馋肉了。怎么像我们小时候似的。年龄相仿的朋友一定还记得肉票吧。每家每户，定期定量供应。记得那时我拿着肉票，到“9号楼” --- 副食店在9号居民楼的一层 --- 去买肉。排队，眼巴巴地，还很紧张，因为生怕等轮到我的时候，那片肉太瘦。得是有肥又有瘦的才好。肥肉妈妈可以给我和哥哥炸油渣吃。刚炸好的时候，满厨房的香。洒点盐，脆脆的，还烫着就吃完了。瘦肉妈妈用来炒肉丝。妈妈会放酱油，再加水，这样连汤带肉的可以做出一大碗。接下来的几天，每次炒菜的时候，妈妈就往里面扒拉点儿肉，不用太多，有肉香就行啦！
过年才吃“大肉”呢。爸爸掌勺，会烧一大锅的红烧肉！盛在大碗里，可不能一次吃完，得慢慢地吃。一碗热气腾腾的红烧肉摆在饭桌最中间，感觉很隆重。爸爸会给我和哥哥一人夹一大块，然后微笑着，看着我们吃。红烧肉放在米饭上，鲜红的肉汁儿会渗到米饭里，一会儿半碗饭就下肚了。再想吃一块，理论上是可以的。可是我和哥哥很懂事 --- 这碗肉下一顿还得吃呢！哥哥忍不住，会趁着爸爸离桌去添饭的时候，迅速地夹一块，埋在米饭里，然后再把大碗里的肉扒拉扒拉，回复原样，好像没人动过一样。妈妈便会再夹一块，放在我的碗里。不是爸爸妈妈不给吃，好东西得慢慢享用啊！
买来五花肉，蒸了一碗梅菜扣肉。
蛙蛙激动得很夸张，嗒嗒很淡定。尝了一块，“有一点点好吃。” 就是不好吃的意思。多照顾妈妈的情绪呀！小蛙呢，一块，两块，三块...
“蛙蛙，吃! 啊！能吃多少就吃多少！” 蛙蛙无比幸福，感激地冲我笑着。
“年肉, 年肉，一年就这一顿！”
？！
姐姐剪的大提琴和立体的春字。四个小“刺球”( Sophie calls them spike balls ) 是嗒嗒的杰作！
Happy Paper Cutting!
春节的装饰都摆出来了，圣诞树只好被请出去了后院儿。我还真舍不得！摆在那儿，把灯开上，可好看了！
小时候过年，妈妈从两个星期前就开始大扫除了。
妈妈细心，家里什么都得洗干净，换干净才能过年。床单，被罩，窗帘，沙发套，电视罩，椅垫，桌布，靠垫套子... 也许是北京多灰，妈妈习惯什么都要做个套子。罩子，套子都是妈妈自己做的。沙发是帆布做的，边角都有滚边装饰；靠垫是耐脏的花布做的，电视罩子是深红色的天鹅绒，窗帘是淡金色的锦缎稠... 做得比店里买来的还服帖，还好看！只是我没跟妈妈学来这手艺。那时没有洗衣机，都是手洗。洗完了，再清干净，晾在楼下的院子里，等拿上来的时候，往往硬得像块板儿。太冷了，都冻上了。
现在有洗衣服，有烘干机，可人比妈妈那会儿懒多了。过年，又是蛙蛙的本命年，怎么也得隆重点儿。来美国，有多少年没有回家过年，已经记不清了。春节对我来说，是缠绵无尽的乡愁，也是记忆里最美好的往事。而这都是妈妈给我的。
洗被褥，扫地，洗尘... 看！就数我们嗒嗒最勤快了！
We went there for the Exhibition "Illuminations: Rediscovering the Art of Dale Chihuly". He actually got his first degree from University of Washington in Seattle! The collection here at MOA in OKC is one of the most comprehensive one of his glass in the world. In the slide show below, if you watch patiently, you could see several oil paintings in there. They're done by Dale Chihuly, too.
Go check it out when you get a chance.
Sisters' new project today - decorating their doors with Benderoos (Sophie's Chrismtas gift from Santa this year). They decided to put things that they liked on the door.
For Laura, a toy cello, a Irish dancing hard shoe, a bowl of Instant noodle, a tennis racket, a hand-made earing and of course, a little frog.
For Sophie, a toy cello, a paint brush, a cherry, a banana, a bunch of grapes, and a little bumble bee!
Looks like Santa is not only coming to town. The Santa is coming to "sea" this year. I'm wondering if Sophie's favorite Puffer Fish is on the nice list. Here, Sophie is saying "Hi" to the underwater Santa Claus at the Oklahoma Aquarium on the day of the Christmas Eve.
Girls also enjoyed the Christmas lights enormously.
"Sophie, did you love the lights?"
"Mom, this is the best day ever!"
Sophie "preordered" these plushes, and I made sure they're "delivered" by Christmas.
Took pictures before wrapping them up. The girls are in bed. On the chair by the Christmas tree, set the food tray for Santa. This year, girls decided to put Clam Chowder instead of milk and cookies. Laura even put a lemon for Santa in case the sleighride "sick" happens.
We're ready! For the sweetest and happiest moment of the year (for the girls)! I wish you do too!
Merry Christmas!
With all the dramas along the way, I have to say it's been a quite smooth ride. So much more pleasant than I expected.
Here are some moments captured along the "Journey". It's such a joy to watch her taking music to her heart.
She was 4 when she started, so she treated her cello pretty much as one of her toys. She played cello for her then-favorite doll, Selina. She got the doll from her auntie June in Seattle.
Sophie tucked her Cello for a cozy nap with her.
Both cellos were wrapped up cozy on carpet after a rainy day out for lessons. Sophie said they caught cold and needed medicine, a tomato and some bagels.
Sophie has been enjoying playing wherever she goes: 1- in kitchen showing me what she just figured out while I was cooking; 2- on backyard patio on a pleasant weekend afternoon; 3 - on driveway when the fall sky is high and sun is still warm; 4 - on the lawn in backyard in early spring.
Once Sophie insisted playing cello for the ostrich in the Oklahoma Zoo. She wanted to bring her cello and play outside the fence. Only for that request, we kindly rejected. But for others, they're quite acceptable: 1 - outside the local Community Center while Laura's having dance lesson inside; 2 - outside the Seretean Performing Arts Center right after her cello lesson(She looked pretty serious, she's playing a sad song she just made up); 3 - in the park; 4 - in our minivan( doesn't it feel like a limo?!)
No instrument, no problem. See how Sophie makes music on the go without her cello: 1 - in hotel on our Vancouver Trip; 2 - in car on the way back from our Houston Trip; 3 - in bed.
Sophie learns fast. She listens to the songs on CD, then she can play it on her Cello. By that I mean she can make the tune right, but not necessarily the right bowing strokes. "Mom, I want to figure out the next song!" That's what she likes to say most. And she always did, at least so far when the songs are not very complicated.
Once she insisted playing even after the shower. In her pajamas, she tried and tried the new song, but couldn't get it completely right. Even if she messed up at the last note, she would start from the very beginning.
"Sophie, just do the wrong part. You don't have to start again." It's already very late.
"No!"
"How about we try it tomorrow?"
She ignored me, which happened quite often when she's into her playing. So almost an hour later, she figured out the whole song and played perfectly right.
Then came the problem.
It's not fair to say she didn't try hard on the bow hold when she paid so much attention to get the notes right. Just as Sophie started to cruise along the songs in Book One, she was asked to slow down and do "Cello Stuff" right. Cello Stuff here means: loose relaxed bow hold, straight back, even shoulders, tucked cello hand thumb, curved cello fingers, raised elbow, playing in "pasta", the right place where the bow is supposed to land, and keeping "T" shape, the right angle of the bow and the string!
I felt that's too much to ask for a 4-year-old child. I assumed everything would fall into its right place when she's ready, or when she's bigger. But Dr. Blecha was very firm and clear about her expectations, even though I didn't understand her zealous attention to details until later on. "If the child learn incorrect bowings and fingerings, it's very difficult to undo the learning."
Now looking back, I felt so grateful that she didn't gave in. We got the right instrument, the right program, the amazing teacher, all we need is the right attitude.
So we decided to handle those "Cello Stuff" one at a time. This week, let's just do loose bow hold, and next, we made sure the shoulers were even and straight, the following week, tackle the elbow... bowing, posture, finger, tone, dynamics, rhythm... one at a time. Each time, she had only one thing to take care of, and she's more relaxed and less frustrated.
Every day we practise, every day, we take on new challenges.
The 30-minute lesson is offered twice a week, one as group, one as individual. They spent first few weeks learning the Cello's parts, clapping to different rhythms, playing by plucking rather than bowing the strings, which is called pizzicato, probably the first of many music terms I learned along the way. It was not hard. By the time they had their first Christmas recital, they got on stage and "pizzicato" two short songs. It was cute. I remember Sophie kept asking me when it was her turn to go on stage again. She couldn't have enough. She enjoyed it.
That was 7 weeks since she started. Things went real smooth until...
About 2 months into the program, Sophie started to learn a brand new bowing technique - push bow, or upbow. The bowing appeared in song No. 6 in Book One, called "Oh, Come, Little Children". Up to that point, every song started with a pull (bow), although she only leraned 5 songs before that.
The seemingly-easy bowing became the first ever obstacle. It seemed that she had to break her life-long playing habit for it. Every muscle and every nerve had to be tuned and "rewired". She tried, then realized she did wrong; tried again, wrong again; one more try, even worse. It's not just the beginning of the song. Every sentence of the song begins with the upbow. She got the first right, then messed up the second one; She made it through the first 3, then she lost on the 4th. She didn't throw the bow, or stop. She kept on going, with tears swirling in her eyes. She was not only upset, frustrated, she was furious!
"I don't like upbow!"
"I don't like it either!" I acknowledged her feeling.
"Why does it have to be upbow?"
"It's the way this song is composed, I guess." What could I say.
"I don't like this song."
"You're very upset! Why don't we just stop here today?" I admit I had to try hard to resist the temptation to let her try even one more time.
We didn't practice the next day, which rarely happened. I just didn't want her to associate the negative feelings, if there's any, to cello playing. I was thinking about that all along though. That's when I say, "She started. We all did". You just cannot break away from it. How could I do it to help her? Which part did I do wrong? Or when should I back down and when should I push forward? Are there any better approaches?...
The third day, just out of blue, she said,"Mom, I want you to hear me play."
"OK! Just pick any song you'd like to do."
"Mom, guess which song I'll do first." She gave me this very mysterious grin.
She played "Oh, Come, Little Children" from beginning to the end, with every push bow perfectly right. "Mom, this is my favorite song now!" I remember that smile on her little face. The enormous joy and pride.
You thought you knew your kids. Prepared to be amazed.
For our annual Christmas Party this year, 10 BIG dishes.
It was a very merry night, not to mention the dish washing afterwards
.
Have a very merry holiday!
It's December. Everybody's busy, especially Moms. If you have kids, and still haven't shopped for teachers' gifts yet ( It's already 19th!), you might want to consider making some Holiday Biscotti. These twice-baked Italian cookies are delicious and easy to make. The best part is you could throw in whatever you like into there - like almonds, walnuts, pecans, cranberries, rasins, or clementie peels, and afterwards, you could decorate them in so many ways. You could dip them in hot chocolate, drizzle them with vanilla icing, or sprinkle them with peppermints... One of my American friends told me, "You can never go wrong with homemade cookies." So I made them for Sophie's Cello Recital, and they loved it.
Here is the recipe I found online that has both detailed instructions and a vedio, which makes it so much easier to understand and learn. The best part, you make once, and mostly likely, they're enough for all the friends on your list. (My husband liked it too, because these biscottis are not teeth-breaking as the one he had before.)
Good luck! & Have fun baking!
Happy Holidays!
