Breaking News!!! Chan Clan Update!!!

Holy Cow! We haven't posted since October!?!?! Well, a LOT has happened...be prepared for a LONG post.

I'll try to get you all caught up on the happenings of the Chan Clan!

OCTOBER...

Of course, it was Halloween. We had fun. Almost everyone stayed around in the neighborhood this year so it was fun to see the neighbors and walk around. One stroll around the block and the kids were loaded up with plenty of candy!

Molly was almost 8 months pregnant at this time!

Aubrey with radishes from our square foot garden! Yummy!

Addy getting a good bite into a homemade caramel apple.

Aubrey eating her apple!

Speaking of apples - funniest thing...the girls have watched "Enchanted" about a million times. So now when they eat apples, they will fall on the ground and let the apple drop out of their hands and roll on the ground - like they have just been poisoned by the evil witch. Pretty funny. I must get that on video!

Dad and Addy enjoying a moment together after going out on Halloween.

The two pregnant sisters! I think Emily was due about 6 weeks before Molly.

Aubrey aka Tinkerbell

The whole gang of cousins at J's and Kristi's house.

Hmm...which pumpkin should we choose? The pickings were slim! :)

NOVEMBER...

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner and got ready for Christmas - our favorite time of the year!

Molly displaying her goods at Kristi's backyard boutique.

The cute pregnant lady - just a few weeks away!

Aubrey and Addy waiting for yummy Thanksgiving Dinner!

Addy's favorite decoration was the colored balls. Most didn't make it much further up the tree.

Addy apparently felt like the tree looked better with multiple balls on the same branch. Some branches had about 5 balls all together!

DECEMBER...

We had a wonderful Ward party for Christmas. We each walked through different rooms where different families were celebrating Christmas. It was very moving and the Spirit was very present.



The kids got their annual photo done at Bass Pro Shop in Mesa. They had fun playing all of the toys available, sitting on ATVs and looking at the fish and the taxidermy.



Then, on December 15th, just after 1 am, Molly started to experience contractions. We were praying that the baby would come naturally as Molly wanted to attempt a VBAC (vaginal birth after caesarean), but the baby was late and we were doing EVERYTHING possible (except castor oil) to get the baby to come. Rylan found a website that recommended acupressure and GUARANTEED that the baby would come within 24-72 hrs. So we tried it and Molly was a trooper for putting up with the extremely sensitivity that developed from massaging the pressure points, but it worked!!!

Her contractions were starting to come on pretty heavy and she tried to "walk" through them. At about 3 am they were about 3 minutes apart. We decided to call Molly's dad to come over so we could drive up to the hospital. As soon as we got there, we were triaged and Molly was already at about a 5. We were moved to a room, where she was then a 7. She got an epidural and Dr. Layton broke her water, after which she quickly progressed to a 9-10 and we started pushing! Molly must be super sensitive to the epidural, because it made her totally numb and they hadn't even hooked it up yet! She pushed like a trooper and at 6:24 am, Brayden Rylan Chan was welcomed into the world! There was a slightly tense moment right at delivery as the cord was wrapped pretty tight around his neck and he wasn't breathing. The nurses said he was being a lazy breather as his heart was beating strong. After a few seconds (which seemed very long) he was crying and breathing normally. Phew. We were so happy. Both of us were crying. It was so quick and so wonderful, except that Molly got a spinal headache afterwards from the epidural. She has since been in therapy to correct a really messed up back! Mom, baby, Dad, and the girls are all doing wonderful!

Funny enough, earlier in the week, Molly had mentioned that most babies don't come on the weekend, but Tuesdays had a higher percentage of births. Ironically, that also happened to be the day of Brayden's birth AS WELL AS Rylan's organic chemistry final! He called his professor to let her know that we just had a baby. Rylan almost decided to take the final that day, but since he hadn't slept, he postponed it until the next day. Fortunately, he ended up with an "A" and a 4.0 GPA! Yeah! Next step...that *!(*$&@ MCAT. :)

Here are some pics of the newest addition to the Chan Clan!






Brayden was our Christmas present, but we still had a wonderful time. The girls were spoiled once again.


JANUARY 2010...

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

The baby and the girls are doing great! We had a real fun time out at San Tan Flats in Queen Creek. The kids were able to hang out by the fire and make smores. It was a super cool place to go and I hear they have live music on the weekends.

Brayden catching some zzz's at San Tan flats.

Addy being bashful with Grammy and Papa.

Aubrey shows off her rodeo form to the delight of cousin Louisa.

The girls had a blast with the recent winter storm. We got a lot of rain and the girls were able to play with their umbrellas outside in real weather! It got pretty windy, but unfortunately, the pictures don't really do it justice. We have some trees in the front yard that are leaning quite a bit.

Aubrey enjoyed being outside in her new jacket and gloves. She was busy throwing leaves in the air and watching the wind carry them away. Oh - the simple pleasures of childhood!


Our two adventurous girls brave the elements during Arizona's winter 2010 "storm."

The girls love to blow bubbles. Here they are on the back porch blowing away! Coco had a good time too chasing down all the bubbles!


Addy being a big sister!

Tonight we had family night and Smores were the dessert. The girls had a great time, of course, and loved roasting marshmallows.

ANGELIC OR DEMONIC???

Aubrey 15 months old...

I know I haven't posted in a while (Rylan has been picking up the slack). Plus, we hardly ever post earlier than 2 months apart. However, these needed to be posted by me, since I was the one who witnessed such DIFFERENT aspects of my beloved 4 year-old's PERSONALITY. Please refer to pictures and explanations.

Now, first you might be thinking...'oh, how cute! A sleeping girl in a baby bassinett, with her book about colors'. Let me tell you the rest of the story. Today she has been constantly whining, crying, and uncooperative. Now I get that she is 4, however when it was during nap time she found a sheet of paper that was sentimental to me. Not only was it sentimental, but it was all written in color marker. So, she finds this sentimental paper and then got a sippy cup and filled it with water. Then she poured water all over the paper so she could observe how pink, purple, and blue water would slide off. The colorful water ("magic water" in Aubrey's words) would then stain her clothes, my carpet, side table, and hands. Okay at this point in the day, I have had it! I sent her up to her room for the rest of naptime. While I am working in the office I hear THUMP, BUMP, THUMP! I am concerned that it will wake up Addy, but I don't interrupt because atleast it's in her room and what could she possibley be doing besides jumping off her bed. Well, I had decided that it was time to get her out of her room BUT I can't find her in her room. I look in my room, in my closet, in her closet...I can't find her ANYWHERE. Then I noticed that all of her books that were in her book case were on the floor AND that is when I see her asleep in the baby bassinett. So, I SMILE and grab the camera.
Now, I think she is cute! So who is this girl? Story #2, it is shorter!

It used to be that when I did laundry there were generally 2 piles of laundry. My whites and my colors. I have had more kids, more messes, and now more laundry. On this laundry day while I was folding the first 3 loads of laundry on the couch. My last load of towels were done and I hear the buzzer going off. Aubrey then goes to the laundry room, puts all of the clean, dry towels into the basket and carries it to me in the family room. Now, Aubrey is not a BIG girl and this was not a LITTLE load of laundry. I just thought it was so sweet and helpful. What a darling! She continued to hold that heavy laundry even though I had to run to the car and get the camera.

So, I ask you ANGELIC OR DEMONIC?

I guess that halloween outfit was soooo appropriate. 90% little angel.

Camping

This was our first time camping with both girls. We went with Rhett and Emily and their family. We went to a place called Powell Springs up by Prescott. It was a lot of fun. The girls had a blast, but unfortunately, Aubrey picked up a fever the next day. We can't wait to go camping again.

What would camping be without Oreo's? There are better pictures, but probably too disgusting to put on this blog!

The irony with the picture is what is written on Addy's shirt.
Wow! Addy, your dad must be a looker! Dirt, juice, cookies, crumbs and all!

The kids hanging out in their camping chairs.

Addy helping place rocks around the fire ring.

Aubrey and Louisa sharing a moment together!

Cheese!

Good morning, girls!

The gang hanging out around the campfire.

Fold your arms, raise up young left arm, raise up your right arm! Tickle! Tickle! Tickle!

Chan Clan Reunion

At the end of July/beginning of August we traveled up to Rylan's hometown for a little family reunion. We traveled by Allegiant air which flies out of Phx/Mesa Gateway. It was such a pleasant flight and experience getting right through check-in, security, and boarding. Our flight attendant was a "flight attendant Nazi." Addy was trying to pick up a grape that had fallen on the floor. Just as she was picking up the grape, the flight attendant announced (not so subtlely), "Babies on the floor are a definite no-no!" Now, let me preface this by saying that we were just boarding the plane, we were not moving, not in flight, and not even doing anything of significance. We attempted to explain, but it fell on deaf ears. So the flight attendant then procedes to announce to the ENTIRE cabin, "no kids on the floor - big no-no!!!" Are you freakin' kidding me??? So in case you are wondering what happened to the grapes that Addy picked up - well, they are now back on the ground firmly entrenched into the rug of the plane courtesy of my shoe. Have fun cleaning that up! Other than that, the flight was wonderful. We flew into Great Falls, MT and rented a car and drove up to Canada. It was a 2.5 hr car ride and we just had a great time traveling.

It was great to see the family again! The girls had a wonderful time with cousins and finally, FINALLY being able to play for extended periods of time outside! The temperature was a balmy 70-80 degrees. The kids had fun at a really fun park, went swimming, pretended to be Shamu with Uncle Byron, played at more parks, watched movies, played with cousins, jumped on the trampoline, and swung on the swings -- again, again, and again! The sun set after 9pm and the kids just had a blast playing with cousins. We had a fun time at the reunion that actually spread out over 3 days. It was actually an educational experience learning about my extended family and their histories.

One really interesting thing was the genealogy that my dad had been doing. He contacted someone who had an extensive line of genealogy. We found out that we are actually descendants of the eldest son of Chen Hui who is a descendant of Huang Di - or the Yellow Emperor. Huang Di is often credited with being the individual who instituted the first principles of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and Martial arts!!! So Aubrey and Addy are literally Princesses!

We had a great time, but wish we could have stayed longer. Molly had a great time serving Chinese food at Heritage Days and it was fun tasting food from different cultures. I had African food and the girls had Chinese.

We barely made it back home. There was absolutely NO traffic on the freeway to the border, but once we got there - it was grid-lock! We were starting to get a bit nervous since we were not moving at all and we were still 2 hrs from the airport. Fortunately, it was divine Providence that two more lanes opened up and we got to the front of one of them. Molly prayed that we would make it on time without being pulled over and we flew down the freeway with as much care, but as fast as possible. We made it to the airport with about 10 minutes to spare and made it safely on to our flight. It was good to be heading home, but we sure had a great time.


Here are the cousins with Grammy and Grampy. It's hard getting everyone to cooperate at the same time as you can probably tell.

Addy spending some time with Uncle Mike.

This is actually one of the better pics we have with the kids actually being quite good all together.

Here's our little family!

The cousins with Great Grandma who is turning 90 next year!

Molly giving the thumbs up while serving at Heritage Days.

More cousins (not all) hanging out at Henderson Lake park.

Addy is sad, but still so cute.

Celebrating the birthdays again!

Addy trying to roast her marshmallow.

Addy enjoying her Smore.

Trying to get the best spot for roasting.

Addy playing in the grass.

July Birthdays

OK -

I know it has been a VERY long time since we last updated our blog, so we'll start with July...

We had a busy summer with a couple of birthdays coming at the end of July with Rylan and Aubrey sharing the same lucky day! We had a family gathering with Rhett also sharing their birthday. Since we were leaving for Canada for a reunion, we also had a little party for Addy as well.

Grammy and Papa gather around Addy as she eats her cupcake.

Rylan and Rhett share a banana cream pie for their birthday.

Addy blows out candles on her birthday cupcakes.

Aubrey is super excited about her Tinkerbell birthday cake!

Molly made this wonderful Tinkerbell cake that also has ice cream in the middle. I think she did a wonderful job decorating it complete with Tinkerbell and friends.

These are the beautiful fairy cupcakes that Molly made as well.

Grammy and Papa share some one on one time with Addy and Landon.

The girls got dressed up in their Princess dresses and watched Beauty and the Beast and danced around. It was super cute.