Four Random Things

One. We have officially lived in China for three years. Wow, it dawned on us this past weekend, that we have been here for three years! We had a weekend filled with friends - Emma hosted a BFF sleepover for her friends and then on Sunday we had a bar-b-que with another set of friends in our neighborhood. This adventure has been so so good for us in so many ways, but we are beyond excited to get home!

Two. Speaking of going home soon, decorating our house is at the top of my mind. I can't wait to get started. Besides scraping the popcorn ceilings, fresh paint and new floors I have been decorating our house in my head since we got here! Here is a sneak peek of the direction I am headed with our living room, master bedroom and Ev's bedroom. Of course, it is inspired by my too cute for words lambie ;). What do you think? Thoughts? Suggestions? A white kitchen is in order too ;).

Three. Reading for fun has been so great for me. I have read six books since Chinese New Year and I am loooooving it! I forgot how much I enjoy reading. So glad I just bought a book and went for it! Any good book recommendations? I like a wide variety as you can see above! But light and easy reads might be my favorite.

Four. Quick getaway to Thailand. I would consider us pretty spontaneous, but even this surprised me. Last Wednesday, I reached my breaking point for gray skies and bad air quality. Like literally bad mood. Will this winter ever end? We momentarily looked at a quick trip to Australia (flights were only $420?!?!!), but we didn't have the girls passports (they only had two blank pages left so they were getting new ones). Good news, their passports came back on Tuesday and we left Wednesday night. I am writing this before we go, but some sunshine is in order!  Vitamin D therapy is the name I gave this trip ;). 

Valentine's Day!!

We had the sweetest, low key Valentine's Day morning. The night before Valentine's day, we wrote things that we love about each other and put them all over the living room (we read them aloud too!). There were so many random things. Ev's loves my nose. Emma loves dad's snack bags. Nonni loves Emma squishy hugs. Daddy loves that Everly loves her stuffies (stuffed animals) so much, you get the point!

After the girls went to sleep, we laid out their valentines treats. It was really a team effort. Nonni brought a card and M and M's, Wes picked up stickers, I picked up the candy from work and made a card from Wes and I. We were excited for the girls to wake up!!

Oh, and I made chocolate covered strawberries!

Wes got me these beautiful flowers.

And got the girls a rose, which of course, they adored! Emma busted out with this cute little peace sign!!

Pictures with daddy before they left for school!

You really don't need a lot to make the kiddos feel loved! And we sure do love them!!

Visit with Nonni | The Panda's

The girls still had two days off when we got our car back- so one day, we decided to head to the Panda base since this was Nonni's last visit to China and her and Ev's both wanted to go! And who doesn't loooove pandas! 

We got there bright and early (7:45) and we could already tell it was going to be crowded - so many people still on their holiday! Loved the way they were lighting up the panda for CNY.

Ev's with the mom and baby panda.

They added this small sculpture area that of course Ev's loved. Can you spy her?

We walked down to a little lake and came across the cutest little baby swans. The girls were mesmerized, but we finally pulled them away because we hadn't seen any pandas yet!

Signs of spring on the way.

Finally, made it to our first panda!

This quartet had us laughing up a storm - regularly, they were "fighting" over the same piece of bamboo.

Then we saw the yearlings and they stole our heart. Don't you just want to take one of these home with you?

Next up, the red pandas.

I also love these little guys!

Love these two pictures I got of Emma :).

Then we found the babies!! If you didn't swoon over the yearlings, these are your guys! They were tooo cute!

Can you believe Ev's teacher tells us she's shy?

Nonni bought Emma, Ev's and all her other grandkids a panda - Emma chose a baby and Ev's chose a red panda. So sweet of Nonni!

As we were walking out, this was the crowd walking in - crazy, right? So glad we got there early!

Blue skies on our way out!

Next, we headed to Jin Li street for some street food. It was crazy busy, so I didn't get too many pictures - we enjoyed potatoes and squid while the girls enjoyed cotton candy!

Such a fun day with Nonni and a great way to wrap up the girls CNY holiday.