Hubei Family

We are on VACATION!! Yippee!! No School!! No Work!!!

Our vacation is off to a great start. We were blessed to meet up with one family in our travel group, the Dudleys. Steve, Stacie, and Lil Miss Lauren met us at Cracker Barrell for breakfast while we were passing close by in Georgia.

I can't tell you what we ate because we just enjoyed soaking up every second with our friends. There has been so much to just catch up on. Time flew and what seemed like such a short time, we had to part ways.

Lauren is so adorable! She has grown and developed so much in just a few short months. This was just a wonderful morning....

Gung Hay Fat Choy! Happy New Year!

Actually, Chinese New Year (CNY) begins on February 17, 2007, but our local FCC (Families with Chinese Children) chapter in Gainesville had their 2nd annual CNY Celebration on February 10, 2007 in Gainesville.

This is year 4705 by the Chinese calendar which is a calendar based on the lunar rotation whereas our calendar in the West is a solar calendar. This is the year of Ding Hai or the year of the Pig (boar).

According to legend, being born in the year of the pig means that you are chivalrous, strong, gallant, and tremendously honest. Those born under the sign of the boar do not make many friends but those they make are for life due to their loyalty. Here in the Register clan, we have a rat (Connor), a ram (Spencer), a tiger (Huey), a snake (Linda) and a monkey (Mikayla).

We had a great time at the CNY celebrations. There was food, crafts, activities, a silent auction, and a finale of a dragon parade, firecrackers, and a stage show. The stage show began with 10 adorable little Chinese ballerinas, followed by a Chinese story reading, and progressed to a Chinese folk song performed by Jen Mei (a student at the University of Florida). The night finished with a group shot of all Asian children and the receiving of a red gift bag full of goodies for all our newly aged children.

(click on the collages to enlarge).

Chinese Moon Cookies

With the Chinese New Year officially just one week away, I decided to try out my recipe for Chinese Moon Cookies. These are a traditional favorite during the Harvest Festival and Chinese New Year (CNY). I am told that these cookies often have a filling inside as well, but I thought it best to crawl before I tried to run. Hence, I made just the basic cookie.

I purchased two traditional wooden molds to use on our cookies. I followed the recipe carefully and lovingly tapped out my batch of Chinese Moon Cookies (with Daddy's help). They were brushed with egg white and sprinkled with colored sugar and baked at the directed temperature and for the directed time.

Since I have never tasted the authentic product, I will assume that they have turned out correctly. They are a different type of cookie than we are use to but that really doesn't matter. All that matters is that Mikayla knows her culture is one to be honored and observed.

Oh, and by the way, the boys have discovered they taste great with some icing on the top!

Okay, so Chinese Moon Cookies with American Icing....we could be on to something!

Gators 41, OSU 14! Gators Win! Dual Championships Reside at UF!

January 8, 2007: Tostitos BCS National Championship Game, Glendale, AZ

After 37 days of listening to all the "experts" lament that Florida did not deserve to be in the championship game and Ohio State was going to pummel the Gators, the time had finally come to settle it on the field. No longer subject to Herbstreit's pathetic, biased opinions on Ohio State nor Kornheiser's ridiculous accusation that Urban Meyer whined the Gators into consideration, the Gators could show the nation that the SEC is the superior conference. And show the nation they did. The Ohio State romp predicted did occur, it just started 16 seconds later than everyone (else) thought--and oh yeah--Ohio State was the one taken to the woodshed for the good, ole fashioned, southern whipping.

For those of us down this way, we knew the Gators had the talent, the team, the coach, and most importantly, the heart to win the National Championship. Afterall, our basketball team (rated 37th in the country at the start of last year's season) had done the very same thing just 9 months earlier.

So, for the first time in collegiate history, the same university holds both the NCAA Basketball Championship and the National Championship in Football in the same season. That university is none other than the University of Florida, our alma mater!

Thank you to all our Gator athletes. We know the majority of you are scholar athletes, and we appreciate how you showcase our academic and athletic superiority. We are so proud of you and for you! We are proud to be part of The Gator Nation!

New Year's Eve & New Year's Day

Happy New Year! 2007!

We went to church on Sunday, New Year's Eve. Mikayla, in particular, was dazzling in her beautiful new dress...thank you, Grandma!

New Year's Day was spent rather quietly. We just started on one of our resolutions for the year...clear out some clutter. So, Mommy & Daddy's closets and drawers look much better. Spencer & Connor's closets and drawers look better as well. After those tasks, we became couch potatoes and watched football.

We are enjoying the bowl games. However, we cannot wait until January 8th! The Gators face the Buckeyes (yucko) in the Tostitos Championship Bowl. Go Gators! It would be so GREAT for our football team and our basketball team to be National Champions in the same year!

Christmas, 2006

"Finally!"

That was Connor's greeting on Christmas morning. He was so very happy to see that Christmas had finally arrived! More importantly, Santa Claus had visited our home over night! (And yes, a PSP was left under the tree for Mr. Connor....that is the photo of him with shear joy and the package a blur as he ripped open the paper).

Spencer was inundated with Xbox games. He had originally wanted a Nintendo Wii, but once it was recalled, he decided to accessorize his Xbox. Whew!


Mikayla was a little hesitant at first, but she got on a roll. She loved her Hokey Pokey Elmo (thank you, Spencer), her Bitty Baby (thank you, Santa), her cash "Register" (thank you, Grandma) and her Ariel bicycle with training wheels (thank you, Mrs. Carrie & Mr. Charlie).

Mommy received beautiful earrings from Connor and a very cool Star Trek game for my Nintendo DS from Spencer. This year, the boys bought each of their gifts with their own money. I know they enjoyed the giving part of the holiday much more because of their efforts. I know Mommy spent much of the morning tearing up watching everyone's joy in receiving their specially chosen gifts.

We had a wonderful, wonderful holiday! How blessed we are to have one another and to be together as we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. His gift was, is, and continues to be the most precious ever given. We hope your holiday was as blessed....

Grandma's Visit

Life around the Register household has been very, very, busy! Grandma Sherouse arrived on December 15th for 13 days over Christmas. We started her visit by staying 3 days at Disney World. We enjoyed EPCOT for a day, and then Huey took our 3 wonderful kiddos to MGM the next day. Grandma and I visited the Mall at Millenia in Orlando for some Christmas shopping. We had a blast! We got to peek at how the other half lives as we window shopped at Louis Vitton, Neiman Marcus, Tiffany's, Coach, and Gucci.

I saw a little 4 carat bauble that was only 275K! Hmmm, buy a house....buy a ring......tough decision. :) I also left my fingerprints on a Prada handbag on sale for only $1500. Needless to say, we did not buy anything at these places. But, it was fun to look.

Here is what the rest of the gang was doing while we were window dreaming at the mall. Funny, but I wouldn't trade these guys for any of those things in the window.