7 yo:  “Heaven is a very special place and you can’t get there by airplane.”

5 yo:  “You need a rocket!”

Once again, my 5 yo solved the problem for all those who are wondering about heaven.

This year, in the spirit of LotR fare, as enthusiasts of both the books and the movies, we offer to you our Halloween-costumed “hobbits” in this year’s production of The Lord of the Dings, starring:

Matthew Ding as Peregrin “Pippin” Took (as the tallest and most impulsive of the four)

Andrew Ding as Meriadoc “Merry” Brandywine (as the most sensible or at least sensitive of our children)

Emmaline Ding as Samwise Gamgee (cuz she loves to help around the house)

Calissa Ding as Frodo Baggins (cuz she’s least likely to lose the “precious” ring around her neck!)

(click the above to go to a full-sized image suitable for the average LotD fan to use as a desktop background =-p)

The kids gleefully tromped around the mall this morning barefoot.  Most shoppers looked at them with amusement, but one store employee, obviously a LotR fan, inquired as to why their feet weren’t hairy! =-)

OTHER CAST AND CREDITS

The Lord of the Dings – Evers

Costume design and production – Lois

Here are a few more photos from the “set”…

Cheerful hobbits grasping the hilts of their daggers:

Not quite forlorn “Frodo,” Calissa attempts to feel the inner angst of her character:

Donning hood and cloak, the hobbits offer the “monster faces” by which they plan to frighten any Nazgûl that may threaten to either harm the Ringbearer (or take their candy):

The most recent verse starts with the letter ‘B,’ from Matthew 5:9:

Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called sons of God.

By way of background, our 3-year-old daughter Calissa tends to be last in line during memorization time, so by the time it gets to her, she sorta has already picked up on the verse because her 3 older siblings have had to recite it clearly.

This evening, over the dinner table, Lois decided to quiz just Calissa on “Matthew 5:9.”    Calissa said in response, “Blessed are the cheesemakers for they will be called sons of God!”

“Cheesemakers?!” we said.

At which she giggled knowingly and added, “Matthew 5:9!”

But she didn’t stop there.

She pointed at her oldest brother Matthew… then pointed at each of her other siblings, and then said,

“Andrew 5:9!”

“Emmie 5:9!

“Bethany 5:9!”

Finally she finished triumphantly, “Calissa 5:9!”

Silly girl.  What a rascal!

But the story doesn’t end there.  We are currently revisiting our Chinese language skills because after all, our kids are ethnically Chinese.  Their grandparents all speak Chinese.  I believe speaking another language other than English is beneficial, so at this juncture, we’re determined to drill more Chinese into our kids’ vocabularies.  Today was the new beginning where I started speaking Chinese to them.  English now takes the backseat.  So, how did the kids do?

When I told my four-year-old in Chinese to go pee, she froze and just stood there.  Her face said it all.  Completely dumbfounded, lost, and clueless.   She could tell I was giving her a command but she had no idea what I was asking her to do.  Finally, I repeated the command in English and immediately comprehension was in the air.

Later I told my three-year-old to get me her milk in Chinese, she returned quickly with a CD.   CD, milk, they’re all the same to her.  At least she obeyed my command of “go get. . . . ”

When I spoke to my five-year-old in Chinese, he just giggled.  It sounded funny to him.  He understood the language, but not having spoken to for such a long time, the language sounded funny to him.

My seven-year-old is the most adaptable since he had the most language exposure.  He was able to reply to me in Chinese.  Now, that made me happy.

So, we still have ways to go with the kids.  We are now transforming our household (back) into a Chinese speaking household to the best of our ability.   I’m looking forward to receiving my newest Chinese curriculum purchase.

She stepped away for “just a moment” to change baby’s diaper.

She came back to the below… well sorta.  The following was taken after the children were properly chastened, but not before removing the evidence of their actions.

Me: “Andrew, I like the way you are.  Can you not grow up and stay this way all the time?”

He:  “I can’t!”

Me:  “Why not?”

He:  “Because you keep giving me milk to drink so I keep growing.”

[Note: at one point he was not a great milk drinker, and we told him if we wanted to be big like Daddy, he had to drink his milk.  This evidently stuck in his mind.]

Me:  “Hmmm. . . good point.  Can I stop giving you milk so you can stop growing and stay this way forever?”

He:  “Yes.”

So folks, there you have it.  I’ve divulged the secret to keep your child young and cute forever.  Just stop giving them milk.

Just to be clear, this personalized furniture (purchased originally from Ikea) is for the boy to set his feet on as he situates himself on the adult-sized toilet and reads his books.

P.S. Yes, the next installation in our series on relationships is coming soon…

Matthew: “Mommy, when we have our 6th baby, do we need to change our van?” (Just so you know, we’re having our 5th baby this year and we haven’t made any plans for baby #6 … and baby #5 will max out the capacity of our family minivan.)

Me: “Hunny, I’m really not sure if we’re going to have a 6th baby.”

Matthew (a bit perturbed): “But we’re going to have an odd number of children!!!!”

Me (smiling and amused): “Okay, hunny, we’ll see what the Lord gives us. Let’s just concentrate on having baby #5 for now.”

My boy loves symmetry and completeness, just like his Daddy the software engineer / numbers guy. Even numbers are good and odd numbers are just odd.