In case you didn't catch it in this post and this post, January was not our best month. But, we like to make the most of our situations and we still found lots of opportunities to smile, laugh and be together - I love sharing these little moments with you each month.
^ work annual dinner where we dressed up in traditional clothes and performed a dance ^
^ we are slightly overwhelmed by the amount of pink that is in our house ;) and stuffed animals/baby dolls ;) ^
^ strawberries are in season! we figure out the season is from January - April and we are letting our strawberry loving girl eat strawberries to her heart's content. ^
^ princesses come to visit us on the daily ^
^ anytime we would see the sun, we took a picture of it! Wes sent this to me one day while I was at work and it made me super jealous ^
^ earrings Austin got me for secret santa that have quickly become by go to earrings ^
^ i always want to remember this as the 'Everly Gracie' face ^
^ we bought a clothes rack to hang up all the girls princess dresses - in case you are wondering, they get worn every.single.day. and there are often multiple changes per day. ^
^ stocking up on waffles at Ikea always means ice cream at Ikea :). ^
^ busy working on crafts that were Christmas presents ^
^ morning bird hunt before running errands. ^
^ her Easter basket has been her go to for carrying her stuffed animals lately. ^
^ can you believe that a year and a half ago this girl was scared silly of any characters?? ^
^ L's birthday party!!! ^
^ i loved the avocado and shrimp toast, the girls loved the Elsa decorations ;) ^
^ and of course, the Elsa cake :) ^
^ ahhhhh, the sun came out again! ^
^ just because the sun is out doesn't mean the air quality was good - we always make sure to measure in the winter before spending lots of time outdoors! ^
^ the girls love these escalators at Carrefour (our big grocery store in Chengdu) ^
^ i love when they hold hands ^
^ before grocery shopping, we hit up the Starbucks that is within walking distance (i am not sure if I have talked about this before, but China knows how to do Starbucks correctly - there is always ample patio space, ample seating and they are all big (we can't wait to show my dad several of these when he comes!) ^
^ those baby blues ^
^ we picked her up a rooster this particular day ^
^ all decorated for Chinese New Year ^
^ yogurt with a picture of Everly bear on it - dreams do come true ;) ^
^ Emma chose broccoli as her snack - who is this kiddo?? ^
^ we followed up that broccoli with some Mike's Pizza and ice cream at Ikea ^
^ it was still proving to be a nice day and we needed a fun activity to do, so we hit up our favorite playground on a whim ^
^ will always stop to smell the flowers ^
^ "look, mommy! i am a princess!!" ^
^ I can still remember the first time we brought her here - she has grown up so much!! ^
^ "ready, steady, go!!" ^
^ i am obsessed with these jumping pictures! ^
^ we stayed for a few hours and the girls had the best time ^
^ we feel so lucky to have discovered this playground so early into our China adventure. ^
^ Wes sent me a picture of the girls in their CNY outfits on their way to the bus stop. ^
^ she is always thrilled to see me at school! i hope this trend continues for a long time :). ^
^ getting ready for the dragon dance ^
^ the cutest little kitty cat i ever did see ;) ^
^ the performance was really pretty good - our family had never seen anything like this before ^
^ on new year's eve - we got a visitor in the form of a rooster (which we are deeming as good luck since this is the year of the rooster), what are the odds, right?? ^
^ we had so much fun going to dinner at another expat's house - they have girls the same age as our girls and we always have a good time. the girls came prepared to play, play play. ^
^ wiped from the playdate ^
^ i will always remember the day she wanted to dress like a zebra ^
^ the rooster at our playground caused a lot of excitement ^
^ so did the marshmallows she picked up at the store as a treat ^
^ my girls! ^
^ ready for a bike/scooter ride - i have now lost count how many times that Wes and i have walked up and down our street with them ^
^ snack break is better when it involves a picnic outside ^
^ 7 days with no car means so many many many snuggles (with my girl that can never seem to keep her face clean ;)) ^
^ one morning we decided to bake cookies! ^
^ fun new animal shape cookie cutters we picked up from Ikea ^
^ their concentration was so good ^
^ but, their favorite part - definitely decorating ^
^ errrghhh, i mean eating the icing ;) ^
^ finished product ^
^ her best jammas (according to her, not me ;)) ^
^ peace! ^
^ ready for another bike ride!! ^
^ the last day of Chinese New Year holiday (for me, not for them), i decided to take them swimming at our indoor swimming pool - that little profile!! ^
^ always always always has a stuffed animal/lovie of some sort ^
^ Emma remembered how to swim and not prefers to swim without her floaties!! ^
^ we are so proud of our girls!! ^
^ after swimming, they were ready to go bike riding ^
^ but not without posing like a model first ^
^ they are in the stage where they love me to take their picture right now so sometimes I tell them to strike their best model pose and I am always in love with the results ^
^ and sometimes they hug and kiss unprompted ^
^ which makes me fall in love with them all over again ^
^ insisting she needed her own bike with pedals (spoiler alert: we got her one in February) ^
^ that smile! ^
^ i love her!! ^
^ one final picnic outside - i stayed inside for this one (brrrrr - it was cold!) ^
Wow - that was a lot of little things! Thanks for catching us up and the wonderful pictures! I think the rooster is an omen that this year is going to full of happiness, good fortune and love (but you probably didn't need the rooster for that :-)
ReplyDeleteI can't believe you had to do. Dance for work. Any videos??
ReplyDelete