Chinese Mid-Autumn Moon Festival........................

Yes............................those are the crazy Wetzels eating moon cakes out on a sheet in the driveway in the dark! We like to celebrate a Chinese tradition each year called the Chinese Mid-Autumn Moon Festival. In late September each year, as the moon becomes full and rises, the Chinese people celebrate with their families, watching this event. They eat moon cakes and watermelon. They spend time together. They say they eat moon cake because moon cake means "reunion." If they can't be with family, they can at least express their feelings to them. I think they are comforted in the fact that we all are looking at the same moon in the sky, wherever we are.

There are 3 legends passed around about why this tradition was started. 2 of the 3 were not really that interesting to me, but the third, I'll summarize for you. A Chinese hero, Hou Yi, was given a drug that would keep him alive forever. He gave it to his wife, the beautiful, Chang E to hide for him. A bad man, Peng Men, threatened her to give him the drug. So he did not get the drug, she ate it. When she ate it, her body floated to the sky and dropped into the moon. Of course, Hou Yi (the husband) missed her dearly and called for her (moon festival night). The moon shined really bright, and he felt he saw her shadow in the moon. So every moon festival each year, he sets up a table with her favorite fruits, in her favorite garden to memorialize her. The people who lived around there heard of the "fairy in the moon, Chang E" and the tradition continued.

No, we don't believe there is a fairy in the moon, but we thought the idea of spending time as a family while the moon rises and shines on this day would be a fun Chinese tradition to follow, especially since two of the cutest Chinese girls in the world happen to live at our house!!!!! We never would give up the opportunity to eat a special treat, too, although we passed on the real moon cakes (some are made with red bean paste....sounds yummy, eh?). It is fun to think that the moon that we are looking at in TX is the same moon our family in OH and in other states is looking at, too!!!

Too bad for the pictures, the clouds were covering up the pretty moon. We just missed the photo opportunity for it to be in full view! :)

Youth Group Fun!

OK.........Paul and I are WAY too young to have a child old enough to attend youth group activities already! Yikes! Derek attends Fuel Groups on Sunday mornings during his Sunday School hour. They have their own building called Pier 4:19. It is a spectacular setup. There is an auditorium for worship, game stations (as in PlayStation's, Wii, etc.), 2 basketball courts caged in and stacked on top of each other, pool tables, air hockey, a cafe, foosball, a skate park right outside, sand volleyball, and more. This is all right on campus, so they don't have to go far to have fun. After church this past Sunday morning, the middle school and high school fuel groups competed against one another in fun, MESSY games! Derek came home with everything from spaghetti, queso, green beans, corn, shaving cream, mashed potatoes/gravy, pudding, etc. in his hair and all over his clothes. He had to be hosed off before he ever thought about coming in the house, once he got home. Needless to say, he thoroughly enjoyed being all gross! His team (one of about 40), the Fuel Funksters, didn't win, but they probably were the messiest!

Check out Ava!

Just had to try out the newest blogger feature. No more having to upload videos to Youtube or other such programs to post them. Yeah!!!!! Ava played a good game today. Thought you would enjoy seeing her in action! She is kicking off for her team, the Dragonflies. Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!

Some More Firsts!............................

Ava had her very first soccer game (after 2 practices) this morning. We felt very proud of her, as she was one of a few who actually ran after the ball and didn't cry! :) We were a little shocked, being first time parents to a preschool girls' sporting event, when 3 of the 5 starters in Ava's team started to cry and stand completely still when the whistle blew at the beginning of the game! Ava's team consists mostly of 4 year olds, and boy were they so not ready to go out and play ball! Many of them cried on and off in the game, and most did not really acknowledge the ball at all. Ava did a really good job of going after the ball and trying her hardest. She did not seem to like that they switched soccer nets after halftime, and it took into the next quarter to convince her otherwise! She LOVED running through the tunnel at the end of the game and, of course, loved the snacks and drinks provided afterwards, They each are awarded a bracelet at the end of the game for different qualities. Ava got one of the best offense bracelets. As you can tell from Ava's picture, it certainly was a hot one out there. WOW!!!!!!

Daniel played in his first flag football game. He is always full of excitement. He got to play all over the place on the field today. His team did very well. Daniel LOVES to celebrate when his team does something good! It is all about high fives and hand slaps for him! They run a very organized sports program at Lake Pointe Church! There had to be thousands there throughout the day today. Daniel received the bracelet for the most Christ-like. What a great quality!

Derek has a bye today for his football team, so we get to enjoy the A/C the rest of the day! Thank goodness!

Me, too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok. I loaded those pictures all weird, but they're on!!!! Aslynn went to her first day of preschool Pre-K at Lake Pointe Church. She attends 2 days a week from 9-2. She was thrilled to finally get to go today with her backpack and lunch! I did not get the best of pictures, because as soon as we stepped outside this morning to snap her first day of school pics, the lens on the camera fogged all up from the humidity. Thus, the fuzzy outside shot. We waited to get a few at school, but by then, her focus was elsewhere. Please take note of the shoes she picked herself to wear to school. What mom lets her daughter buy pink sparkle shoes for school? Only a mom of 4 kids who decided that choosing battles is a much better choice than HAVING them all the time! :) I did get to pick out some tennis shoes of my choice! I had exactly one and a half hours to myself this morning before going back to pick up Ava at her half day Pre-K. I get that twice a week. That is it! Just enough time for a quick run through Target with no children with the "gimmes."

The other pictures are a few shots of the older kids' new elementary school. Obviously, there is still a bunch of work to complete it and the landscaping is not all in. I took the pictures out my car window (most of them) driving in front of the school to get as much of it in a shot as possible. That is how big it is. And this is school building #11 out of 12 in the district. There are 2 more already voted on to go in after this. The building is incredible inside. Much too nice for an elementary probably. The technology is going to be top of the line. The decor is very maintenance-friendly, but BEAUTIFUL! I'm sure the landscaping will be as nice looking as the inside of the building eventually. They predict that the attendance at this school will grow very quickly, so kids in our neighborhood will be changing schools again in the near future to a school right in the neighborhood here. Rockwall County is the second fastest growing county in the nation. And they think/thought they were a small town! If they only knew!!!!