Here is us in full Christmas crafting mode!…I *heart* my new art room!

For 9 months now we have wanted to build this thing to finally get our ogling neighbors off our backs when we hang out on the patio…but little did i imagine though that while we were building it, we would have spectators ga-lore! (The most EVER!) We imagine that they mist be thinking that these laowai (foreigners) are some straaange people! I really can’t imagine how fascinating they think our foreign ways are, but somehow there are glued. Either that or there was absolutely nothing on China TV yesterday afternoon.

Anyways…Dave was home by noon yesterday, so after lunch we went to B&Q, pantomimed for the materials we needed, and rushed home to get started on our first ever DIY project! We weren’t awesome, but weren’t crap either, so after breakfast today, we’ll be building a second one just like it! =)…oh and yes we used our new drill again!! Whoohoo! =))

From Xiamen to the world…the four of us wish you all a very happy Easter weekend!

The Kiddies have been very creative these last few days…Enjoy their paintings, eggs, and OH YES!…see the cute little white vase on the right side of the table that Dave designed? It’s now ceramic! He just brought it home for me this evening and is adorable! I can’t wait for him to bring home other pieces from his new collection! (Manufacturing certainly has it’s perks!)

Together with some friends, we planned an Easter egg painting activity that was supposed to be held at Haiwan park. But due to the weather being very “mamahuhu” (so-so/comme ci comme ca) this morning, Heike offered to host this actiity in her living room instead - which was really great because we would have been sitting on wet grass and ff-reezing our butts off had we gone ahead with our picnic idea. This venue was *much* cozier - but we still ended up at the park after lunch run around and burn off some energy.

The Knipfelbergs have a fab place, with this fab view!

I would have had all the kids in this photo if I had my way, but it’s not easy rounding up 10 kids that all have their own agenda once let loose. Yup! you heard me TEN kids…We ended up being 9 boys and 1 girl. Poor Luise =(…it’s incredible how there is a dearth of little girls in this place. If ALL the kids who were invited would have come there would have been 13 boys and ONE girl!

Whee! The tree is up and anchored by lemons. Now, were just waiting to collect enough eggs to paint on the weekend. So far we’ve eaten omelette twice this week, and I predict that we’ll be having pancakes soon…

*Oh, and for those of you so inclined (like Mirs perhaps)…the tree is potted in a tin can that I covered with scrapbooking paper. Literally took 5 minutes.

…but not in China! Our Easter ritual unfortunately will be changing this year as Easter is not celebrated here, and will therefore be falling off the calendar. This is a huge shame especially since it offers a week long holiday, and a much awaited break for us Filipinos. Normally, it is our family tradition to head towards the beach, paint eggs, prepare our Easter tree, and organize the egg hunt that evolved into a treasure-hunt as the kids got older and hiding eggs was not enough! We’ll be missing out on all that beach activity this year, but we are trying to keep some aspects of it alive…so, i’m happy to announce that we have managed to prepare the tree so far…and eat lots of eggs!

I wish I could say that I made these cute little thingeys, but I actually bought them on Gulangyu!

Next weekend, we plan to get together with some friends for some egg painting, so I expect that my cheeks will be very painful by the end of the week from blowing out (and eating) all those eggs…so keep checking in as surely there will be lots more pictures of this to follow.

*sigh* …Allow me to reminisce for a bit…here are some pics from Easter ‘06

Since returning to our holiday, I have been such a lazy Hausfrau. The laundry pile is so large it’s taken a life of it’s own, my Chinese lessons have been postponed 5 times, the fridge is perpetually empty…BUT…I have been spending lots of time and money buying plants, shelves, organizing cabinets (read that as doing scrapbook paper inventory), and just generally doing FUN stuff that I really shouldn’t be prioritizing. Here’s the latest product of my procrastinatory streak (yes, that’s a word)…a valentine’s garland to go with the new shelves over our dining table! I know it’s really corny, but I love it!

…but only for 13 days. I know that that’s soo not the way it’s supposed to be done, but on the 13th day we leave for home, and…and…I have no further excuses! I did figure though that once they are home in Manila, everyday will be a treat in itself and I can get away with not providing any further presents until Christmas eve. For whatever it’s worth though, i did spend many evenings obsessing about preparing for it, so thank goodness it came out really cute in the end…even if I DID get fed up with sewing the pouches by hand and opted to use my glue gun instead. (I’m a cheater sewer…I know.) Well, It’s also because I can’t find a little sewing machine in China, can you actually believe that?? That’s the tragedy of actually LIVING in the land of manufacturing…it’s all made for EXPORT and nothing is actually available HERE! You cannot begin to understand the frustration!! Anyway…back to my kalender…

Update: It’s December now and the kids are so happy with their Kalender and it’s contents so far! Mission accomplished.

We just hosted a brunch yesterday, and it was wild to say the least! Imagine this…6 kids, plus 5 adults, on a mission to bake and decorate as many Christmas cookies as humanly possible, and then make as many felt tree ornaments as well. It was like mission impossible, especially since in the back of my mind I was wondering how this was all supposed to happen in our liddle home…but then again, I love these kinds of challenges since they give me an excuse to decorate and re-decorate depending on what the exactly the brief is.

In this particular case, space was the issue (as usual)… so I asked David to donate one of his old make-shift showroom tables to transform our laundry area into a functional and cozy space as well. I had already bought this fabric I wanted as a table cloth weeks and weeks ago (and had matching cushions made) for just this very purpose and was just too happy to see that it came together as quaintly as I hoped it would. It certainly turned this laundry space into something so much more, and we even had a candle-lit dinner out there the very next evening to celebrate it.

As for the inside of the house, I managed to convince Dave that it was high time I bought this (supposedly) antique side table for our sofa that I had been oggling for ages. I can now honestly say that there is no wasted space in this home - we are complete - and Kat, the housewife, is happy!

Back to the party…I had invited our guests to arrive at 1030 and since they are all European I just knew that they would be punctual and was getting stressed since I was in my undies up until 10:27 - with Nicolas standing by the door loudly announcing how many minutes were left til the doorbell would ring! I was ready to pull my hair out! Luckily, our guests got a little lost which bought me enough time to get dressed but not to brush my hair or put on some make-up. This was my look for the rest of the day.

The chefs Dave and Nicolas prepared a delicious brunch which was gone just about the second it hit the table. The french toast especially was a real winner - thanks to a Nigella recipe Dave saw the evening before on TV. Talk about coincidence!

Right after our appetites were satisfied, we started with the baking but first had to turn our dining table into a usable work surface by literally wrapping it with cling-film. The kids then huddled around the table and worked like little machines at an assembly line. Roll the dough. Punch the shapes. Glaze. Bake. Put icing. Decorate like crazy. Lick fingers. Start again. Too too cute!

At the same as we were doing this, the husband of one of the Mommies brought all these yummy ingredients to make his winter specialty - RHUMTOPF! Literally translated as RHUM-POT! That’s sugar, fruits, and dark rhum. This concoction then sits around for 3 weeks while infusing the fruits with all this rhummy-goodness. I believe it all gets somewhat syrupy in the end and is best consumed over ice-cream. Our pot is now sitting patiently in my office closet…tomorrow I will open it up just to take a whiff to see if it smells as good as it looks.

After this, (the day was still far from over) we moved the whole bunch outside to do some crafting with paper, felt, glitter, glue and that kind of stuff.  They made ornaments, painted pinecones, painted the floor, painted the wall…while us adults drank sangria and watched on. Kids happy. Parents happy. Fabulous!

Little by little the scent of Christmas is wafting into the house…Not just is the weather becoming “wintrier” but I have been busy making these orange/cinnamon/clove decorations that just infuse the room with this smell that I find just divine. (David claims he can’t smell it, and the kids think it’s gross.) Jeez! Rain on my parade will you! *snigger* Well I’m on a roll and no one can stop me now!

This Sunday we are hosting a christmas-crafting brunch in which together with two other families we will bake and decorate cookies, as well as make whatever we all feel we need in our homes. So exciting - I’m sure we’ll have loads of fun.