xing nian kuai le!

it seems like she is cooking, but actually just posing with kitchen props

smiley little rat

i'd like to think she was banging on the pan to scare off nian, but she was just being silly.

we're welcoming the year of the dragon with a few pictures taken this morning. jia jia is posing here in an outfit we bought in china when we visited in 2009. we bargained hard for it (unnecessarily), and ended up spending around $5 or so. yeah, i know. it was ridiculous to even haggle.

the little rat started chinese school yesterday, and has been showing off her new year vocab all day. we talked to lao lao, jiu jiu, aunt hanh, ah yi, lao lao lao, and even yi lao lao, with siri saying "gong xi fa cai" followed by "hong bao na lai" (wish you prosperity...where's my hong bao? the latter addition courtesy of daddy). and, she's also been randomly spouting "chuan lian" and "hong bao" (new year scroll decoration and red packets, respectively). hopefully, the enthusiasm for chinese continues...

i know we need to catch up from the winter holidays, but it has truly been rather busy around here. i promise to be more diligent next month :)