Happy Mid Autumn Festival 2016

Growing up, I remember excitedly marching around holding lanterns with my sisters while my parents sang traditional songs every Tet Trung Thu (Mid Autumn Festival). We would fight over who would get to eat the yolks from the moon cakes and have family and friends over for a big dinner. 

[via Thousand Skies]

Tomorrow night the harvest moon will be shining in it's full glory and we are planning to celebrate with a family dinner, paper lanterns and moon cakes! Passing these cultural traditions on to Parker makes my heart happy. Here are some ways you can celebrate with your kids.

*Watch this reading of the book Mooncakes by Loretta Seto which tells of the legend of Chang-E.

*Purchase mooncakes from your local Asian grocery store or bakery. If you're in San Diego, Ranch 99, 85 Degrees, Paris Baguette or Thuan Phat all carry mooncakes. Serve your mooncakes with a pot of hot green tea.

*Make your own paper lanterns using this easy tutorial from Handmade Charlotte.

[Photo credit Handmade Charlotte]

Confetti Eggs DIY

Here's a #throwbackthursday photo for ya! Easter 2010, the first year I bought confetti eggs for the Easter egg hunt. Best (and messiest) idea ever. Confetti eggs or cascarones can be bought in store or made at home. I wanted to make some this year but the store bought ones are such a time saver and what do you do with all those eggs? Maybe next year we can make a real mess with glitter filled eggs!

[Look how itty bitty my nephew Nolan is here!]

[Gotcha John! Haha]

Got some time to spare? Here are instructions on how to make confetti eggs at home from mom.me.

[For completely instructions and a supply list, visit mom.me]

7th Annual Pumpkin Carving Contest

Dig your tools out of storage and order your transfer paper! It's time to start prepping for the Chu Family's 6th Annual Pumpkin Carving Contest. My ultra competitive family gets together the weekend before Halloween every year to carve pumpkins, talk trash and partake in (un)friendly competition. Last year's winner was my little sister Tania who carved an incredibly elaborate Lion Fish for our "Under the Sea" themed party. There is no theme this year so everyone can let their creativity run wild.

[Tania totally got the year wrong on this year's flyer. I told her to update it and she said "I'm not reposting!" What a grump. Hahaha]