Feb 8th: FCC Chinese New Year

http://www.fccmidwest.com/
Chinese New Year Celebration Sunday, February 8th, 2009

FCC will celebrate Chinese New Year and the Year of the Ox the afternoon of Sunday, February 8th. This fun, family festival will include entertainment (some returning favorites and a few new surprises!), childrenʼs crafts, food, a silent auction, a marketplace, a parade and fireworks.

Bring your family for an afternoon of Chinese culture and family fun. Itʼs a great way to celebrate our children's heritage, to connect with friends, and meet new people.

Chinese New Year will be held at the FAIR School in Crystal. See below on how to register.

FCC Members click here to register

Non FCC members click here to register.

View Larger Map

January 27th: Toddler Tuesday at MOA

**UPDATE 1/21/09**
Meet up with other MN Red Threaders at about 9:40am at the Caribou that it is right by Legoland. Park on the east side first level - east side is the ramp between Sears and Bloomingdales. Park on the first floor, walk in the main doors that are in the middle on the first floor. Walk straight through the rotunda into Nickelodeon Universe and once in the amusemement park - walk around towards the left. You will see the Lego play area on your left (accross from the hanging swings ride) and there is a Caribou right there on the left by the Lego place.

Grab your kids and head out to Toddler Tuesdays for a morning of fun! Toddler Tuesdays is a program that provides events, free entertainment and discounts especially for toddlers. Events include special character appearances, arts and crafts, storytime and much more!

Events are every Tuesday from 10 a.m. until 12 p.m. and are free and open to the public. Quarterly brochures are available throughout the Mall and at all Guest Service desks located on Level 1 at Mall entrances.

Toddler Tuesday at MOA - Chinese New Year, Best Buy® Rotunda"! It's from 10 AM to noon.

You can get a .pdf brochure here:

The first link takes you to the official site and can answer your questions.

China Family Event: January 4th

*KIDS HELPING KIDS*

Chinese New Year is January 26th, and Red Thread Charities would like *YOU* to join us on Sunday, January 4th, 2009, to make New Year's gift packages to send to the children at Guiping and Lanxi orphanages. We'll send photos, treats for the kids and staff, and Happy New Year's cards and drawings that you will make. Danling Cai will share stories of her Chinese New Year experiences, and tell us what the orphanage staff does to celebrate the New Year with the children. We will also decorate cookies for our own enjoyment. Please say you'll come!

When: Sunday, January 4th, 2009

Where: Southdale Library Meeting Room 7001 York Avenue South

Edina, MN 55435

Time: 1:00 - 3:00 p.m.

PLEASE BRING 2 or 3 photos of yourself to include in your cards. The kids in China are very curious about your lives, so photos of you playing sports, doing activities with your friends and family, having birthday parties, etc. would be great!

A donation of $10 per family to cover mailing and other costs would be greatly appreciated.

View Larger Map

Christmas Card Exchange

We're doing a Christmas Card exchange! Check your email for a link to fill out a form and be added to the list. The form will be open until November 7th. After that I'll send out the final list and you can start sending cards.
If you're new and you've joined our awesome little group after Halloween and want to participate, get in touch with me and I'll make sure you're included.

Party at Mark and Nicoles

Thank you so much Mark and Nicole for letting us hang out at your place! It was a blast. The kids put stickers on pumpkins, played outside, and had a blast. Thanks everyone for the yummy food too!

A local screening of Found In China

 

http://web.mac.com/carolynstanek/iWeb/Site/Welcome.html

 “Found in China,” a documentary by Tai-Kai Productions, follows a group of six Midwestern families and their 9- to 13-year adopted Chinese daughters who climb the Wall, taste the tea, visit their orphanages and the people who once held them--all the while surviving the emotional and psychological demands of such a heritage trip.  For more information on screenings or to have a screening in your area, please contact:

Carolyn Stanek

carolyn.stanek@comcast.net

Writer, Producer and Director

Tai-Kai Productions

 You can find showtime information here.

• Start
  November 08, 2008
•  
  03:00 PM - 05:00 PM
• Location
  Bloomington Civic Center - Black Box Theater

Registration

• Individual - $5.00 (USD)
  one person attending
• Family Registration - $8.00 (USD)
  Bring the whole family for one low fee, we reccommend that participants be ages 8 and above
• Non FCC Member Registration - $8.00 (USD)
  per person
• Event Donation - $20.00 (USD)
  FCC strives to keep the cost for events minimal. WIth this in mind, event specific donations are welcome and are tax deductible

Charlotte's BIG birthday party

Since it was also a Red Thread party, I thought I would post the pics on here as well...

Charlotte had a big party (as you all know) last weekend for her second birthday (our first birthday WITH her). As you can tell, she (and the other kids) had a blast!

Nico, Charlotte and Sidney:



Parachute fun:



And it was so beautiful out - and there was tons of space to run around:



Charlotte with my Mom:



Kira playing in leaves:



Mallory being cute:



Amelia the BFF:



How cute is Trevor?



The twins checking out the cake:



Maddy and the soccer ball:



My nephew Jake and Nico:



Olivia is not sure what to make of the crazy lady with the camera:



Charlotte and Adam's Mom in a stare-off (which turned into many giggles after I took the photo):



Charlotte and Cooper checking out one of the collages I made (there were 6 collages):



Charlotte getting a birthday hug from Elise:



Charlotte checking out Nicholas' new baby brother Andrew:



Samantha holding one of the party favors that went to all the girls (in assorted colors). The boys got monster stuff.



Charlotte with Leslie:



Cake time (one of our friends - Julie - from the MINI Cooper club made the cake and 24 yellow and blue cupcakes)...











Gift time!:



I love the way Nicholas is looking at Charlotte here:



Can you tell that she loves presents?







Who knew how much fun laundry baskets could be? (the basket is what I used to transport the flower favors to the party in):



Happy Birthday, sweet girl!



Just one more - this was from later that night (since we forgot to get one of all three of us at her party):

Get together at Country Sun Farms - Oct 4

Last year (maybe a couple years ago) Tracy and I made a stop at some farm just off of Hwy 36 on the way to Stillwater. They had greenhouses, a petting zoo, corn maze and pumpkins for sale. Right away Trace wanted to go back with Charlotte and get some pumpkin patch photos. We thought we'd invite you to join us as we head over there this year. You can stay as long as you like with no obligations - except maybe a group photo. And maybe a sign for Heather. ;p
We'll grab some cute photos of the kids at the petting zoo or in one of those "stick your face in the hole" thingies. Plus, the chance to meet people from The Group! And test your mettle in the corn maze.

Hope you can make it!
Where: Country Sun Farms
Time: 9:30am
When: Saturday, October 4th

You can use the map below to grab directions.


View Larger Map

Party at Mark and Nicole's!

Directly from Nicole's email:

Hey everyone...

We would love to have everyone over on October 18th.

Will send more info later...thinking around 4ish...potluck...password
to enter home is "I promise not to look at your toddler carpet"
hahahahaheehehehhohohohoho!

Hope everyone enjoys the rest of summer!
Nicole

An update has been posted in the group and you should have gotten either a Google Invite or maybe even a genuine Evite already. If you haven't let me know and I'll be sure to get you the info.

If you're new to the group, this is a great chance to meet some of us in person.

Hope you can make it!

Children's Culture Carnival

I just wanted to let the group know about a really cool event that is
coming up in a couple of weeks in Woodbury, MN. It's a cultural
carnival for kids (and adults too).

Here are the basics:

Event: Children's Culture Carnival - an educational, fundraising event
Place: King of Kings Church in Woodbury, MN
Date: Friday, September 12
Time: 5-8 pm
Countries Represented: Vietnam, Bulgaria, Nigeria, Afghanistan,
Guatemala and China

There will be food, music, crafts, cultural artifacts and native
representatives for each country. Admission is free and it only costs
$1.00 per activity. The children will be able to practice balancing a
basket on their head, find their chinese zodiac sign and write the
symbol for the sign on a bookmark, and many more fun activities.

Here is the website for Children's Culture Connection:
www.childrenscultureconnection.org.

Pool Party Pictures!

As usual - if you click a picture you'll be taken to Flickr where you can find several more from the party.







Charlott's a little shy after her MINI-nap:




"I'm still sleepy..."




Outfit planning is fun!






FOOD!








A rare slow moment for Ruby. She was going ALL DAY.


Charlotte and Olivia making the tricycle go on their own.




Time to say "Bye"


Thanks again Amy and Dave. We had a blast.