Valentine's Day, Chinese New Year, and President's Day

Three holidays in one week!

First of all, I am so sorry these are all so belated, but you will see that I was especially busy this past week with all our fun parties and get-togethers.

Last Tuesday, our enrichment committee (which is basically myself and one other girl who is the leader) put on this really great Valentine's Day Eve party where we taught the girls how to make all sorts of fun cards, envelopes, and homemade chocolate candy. We had yummy desserts too - Chocolate with raspberries cake/pudding trifle, chocolate truffles, and meringue hearts! Preparing took forever for it because we had to teach ourselves how to do everything first to make sure our cool ideas worked and that we would have everything ready. It's a good thing I love to craft because it is so time consuming that I had better love doing it all. I'm sorry I didn't take pictures while we were there, but these are the cards and envelopes we made.


So, this past weekend was the beginning of the Chinese New Year celebration! It is the Year of the Pig, which is my year, so I thought it would be fun to have Rachel and Shmike over (and Price since he was in town) to celebrate with Bart and I. Well, Rachel and I sort of dressed up and we ordered chinese food from our local chinese restaurant that delivers. We all hung out and played Mah Jong together after we ate our dinner and reminisced about the past year. I gave out the traditional red envelopes with 2 dollars and an explanation of their birth year.

I am the pig: People born in the Year of the Pig are chivalrous and gallant. Whatever they do, they do with all their strength. For Boar Year people, there is no left or right and there is no retreat. They have tremendous fortitude and great honesty. They don't make many friends but they make them for life, and anyone having a Boar Year friend is fortunate for they are extremely loyal. They don't talk much but have a great thirst for knowledge. They study a great deal and are generally well informed. Boar people are quick tempered, yet they hate arguments and quarreling. They are kind to their loved ones. No matter how bad problems seem to be, Boar people try to work them out, honestly if sometimes impulsively. They are most compatible with Rabbits and Sheep.
Is this me to a tee or what?

Hunstville and Family
This weekend, after the Chinese New Year party, we all went up to Huntsville to hangout with Mom and Dad the whole weekend. We went snowboarding on Saturday where I helped Shmike with his first time on a snowboard, and watched Price try to weasel out of going of the blue square runs, and I saw Dad (who has only gone a couple of times ever) look better than me on the hill. It was a little sad. I guess I can contribute my suckiness to the fact that I have gone once a year, on average, for the past 3 years. Talk about digression.