October Little Things | Part II

October little things continued (in case you are the particular type, this starts with October 15th)...

^ up bright and early for gymnastics class.  I knew Emma would be thrilled because it was their first time to practice cartwheels (she has been dying to learn how to cartwheel!). ^

^ it's safe to say they have a long ways to go, but they are having lots of fun and that's what is important. ^

^ at the end they got to go for a ride - what was brave smiles turned into a little fear at the end of the 'ride'. ^

^ after that I headed to the airport! with a flight delay, I had  plenty of time to grab a pretty cup of coffee. ^

^ I had a layover in Hong Kong and we took the scenic route when landing ;). ^

^ my hotel in the Philippines had the prettiest view. ^

^ sunrise from my porch the next morning. ^

^ the views from the office were not too shabby ;). ^

^ so glad I got to soak in a few of these sunrises -they never got old. ^

^ got to see/have dinner/starbucks with one of best work friends before heading back to Chengdu. ^

^ I flew back through Shanghai and when I landed, Wes had sent this picture to me - couldn't wait to get home to my baby girls. ^

^ and then when I landed in Chengdu, he had sent me this picture of Emma winning the prize for her best costume :). ^

^ one night we ordered a ham and cheese pizza for the girls; I was very confused when this pizza showed up (ham on half of the pizza??). ^

^ on Friday, I worked from home so I got to take these two cuties to the bus stop. ^

^ their affection for each other continued throughout October. ^

^ three happy girls waiting for the bus! ^

^ Wes and I snuck in a lunch date at our favorite dumpling shop. ^

^ before surprising the girls and eating lunch with them at school! they were so so surprised and it was the best to see the shock and love on their face when they ran our way. ^

^ that evening, we fed the fish. ^

^ and petted every dog that looked friendly enough. ^

^ the girls sometimes get the sillies at night before bed.  on this night, they went into Everly's stash of pull ups and put them on all over and deemed themselves 'the pull up girls'. ^

^ on Saturday morning, we woke up with great plans to go to Loudai. I got the girls all dressed cute and headed out to take some pictures of them (it had been forever since I had pulled my 'real' camera out). ^

^ they were laying it on pretty thick for the camera. ^

^ and one was behaving a little bit sillier than the other one ;). ^

^ every time I look at this picture, I think it amplifies how big they have gotten. ^

^ that pretty smile! ^

^ those big brown eyes! ^

^ my favorite. ^

^ smooches! ^

^ after the pictures, we headed back inside and by the time our driver arrived it was pouring rain! ^

^ we decided to skip going to Loudai and instead headed to the Global Center because we had been wanting to try out their indoor playground. ^

^ while it looks cool, I could definitely tell that you get what you pay for - our favorite indoor playground is about 100rmb more expensive per kid, but totally worth it in my opinion.^

^ the girls had lots of fun though :). ^

^ so so big! p.s. I think she looks like Emma here. ^

^ after we rested for a bit, we were out for a bike and scooter ride! If you look closely, you can see Emma way ahead. ^

^ that smile! ^

^ stopping to check out the bug situation - Emma is studying living things in school right now and she is a self proclaimed bug/creature protector now ;). ^

^ so big, we are thinking about taking her training wheels off soon - she can almost reach the ground (we bought her bike a little too big, I think). ^

^ still petting every dog we see :), they are really laying it on thick asking for a dog/pet lately - hopefully we can just do lots of Jubal/Hatcher babysitting when we get back to the states. ^

^ two sweet besties. ^

^ they convinced us to go roller blading. ^

^ which is still hilarious, but they are getting it - it has just been a really slow process. ^

^ Everly put up her roller blades and gave twirling a go while we waited for Emma to finish up. ^

^ up early for Sunday morning gymnastics. ^

^ sis found Abby! ^

^ we let the girls do a craft - this was Evsie's first time. ^

^ so proud of the finished artwork. ^

^ the difference in their artwork is very similar to the difference in their personalities ;). ^

^ we stumbled upon a donut place and had the best donut we have found yet in Chengdu! ^

^ the girls agreed ;). ^

^ watching how the donuts are made. ^

^ Wes sends me bus stop pictures nearly every single day and I have to say this one is my absolute favorite!! ^

^ when it wasn't raining, we had some great weather in October in Chengdu ^

^ chalk - working on our letters. ^

^ Wes came all the way over to where I work for a lunch date at my favorite noodle place! ^

^ roller blading gang. ^

^ we painted our nails rainbow. ^

^ Emma painted her own nails :). ^

^ on a wild and crazy Friday night before Halloween, we found ourselves at our neighborhood night market. ^

^ where we became proud owners of a new mask ;). ^

^ and we found a huge pumpkin to take our picture by! ^

^ Saturday morning, we were up bright and early (and I gave the girls a new hairstyle :)). ^

^ before heading off to Loudai (more on that to come in another post - but let me just say one word sums up our experience - S.T.A.I.R.S!! so many of them!!). ^

^ it is a long story for another day, but we took an uber to our gymnastics class on Sunday - happened to be rainy while waiting so that was fun ;). ^

^ Emma dressed herself for gymnastics! ^

^ you are going to want to zoom in on this picture and catch Everly's side eye. trust me. ^

^ the two goofiest girls in the whole wide world. ^

^ gymnastics class! ^

^ working on our cartwheels again!!! ^

^ instead of doing a craft, we decided to let them play at an arcade.  not much overwhelms me with the girls, but I have to say- this completely overwhelmed me!! ^

^ a quick donut for the girls before heading out! ^

^ and then it was Halloween!!! after the dressing up festivities, Wes and I had a quick lunch date at Mike's Pizza - we hadn't been there in forever and it tasted amazing! ^

^ I bumped into Emma's art teacher and she sent me this picture of one of Emma's pieces of art - this is her first year to have an art teacher and go to an art classroom and she loves it! ^

^ after school, these two munchkins were ready to go to the neighborhood Halloween party (in style, I might add ;)). ^

^ this picture is pretty terrible, but they had the cutest Halloween decorated cookies! ^

^ the girls have been the loviest doviest ever this month :). ^

^ this is Emma - the girl that basically helps us on a daily basis (she works in our neighborhood and is our go to person for anything and everything). ^

^ they hired a photographer for the event and I love this picture of Evsie's. ^

^ so hard to get a picture of them trick-or-treating, but they loved it!! ^

^ checking out their stash of candy is always my favorite part of Halloween. and that is a wrap on October. ^