Friday Favorites | Our 3rd Week in China

Our third week in China was a bit rougher than our first two weeks- on Saturday night my foot swelled up crazy big seemingly for no reason while we attended a wedding hot pot and then on Tuesday, Emma got her first China stomach bug, followed by Everly followed by me- in the car, on my way to work!! And to top it all off, our washing machine is broken and the part won't be here for three days!  But we survived and we are excited about all hanging out together this weekend- we may even go see the panda's which has the girls pretty excited!  Even though there were some rough patches, the week was also filled with so many 'favorite' moments too.

Moving to China has really given us a slower pace filled with even more family time (as in immediate family - just the four of us!).  On Friday night, we busted out Hungry Hungry Hippos for the first time and needless to say, it was definitely the girls favorite :).

What started out as a wild Friday night bled over into a crazy Saturday morning :).

On Saturday morning, we got ready to head out to run a few errands.  I put this sweet girl into one of my favorite dresses and captured some pretty smiles :).

Emma didn't want to be left out of the picture taking (I know, I can barely recognize this new attitude too!).  Two of my favorite girls ready to go out on the town :) or to McDonald's. I'll never tell ;).

And yes, she really did wear her tiara :).

After lunch, the girls wanted to ride up the tall escalators (about 4 floors), but we did one of my favorite things and stopped and grabbed a Starbucks before heading up and down and all around :).

After afternoon naps, we got all ready to go to the wedding hot pot and since we were all dressed up, I wanted to grab a girls picture before we left.

Apparently, it was just too much to ask and this may be my favorite picture from the week ;).

Another favorite moment - our first traditional Chengdu hotpot and it was extra special because it was a wedding hot pot. 

Emma tried her first taste of traditional Chinese food (it was some kind of sweet, sticky rice) and used chopsticks for the first time!  And in case you didn't notice, we had picked up the girls some extra chicken nuggets at McDonald's to bring along with us assuming that they wouldn't eat the food (we were right for the most part).

This is where my foot started swelling up and I don't know if the spicy food was a contributing fator (probably not), but this steemed bun was my favorite dish of the night.

Along with this cold beer.  I emphasize cold here since you have to ask for it specifically.

Everly's favorite part of the evening - playing with all of the 'photobooth' props!

There was an adjustment period as she learned how to use the props :).

She would ask me to take a picture and then she wanted to see herself.  Watching her smile at herself was definitely one of my favorites :).

So silly and cute :).

One of my other favorites- this guy! Who agreed to travel and live with me all the way in China.  I don't brag on him enough, but he has been instrumental in us feeling settled here.  He solves problems, kisses boo boo's, makes all of our food and is so much fun to be with!!

Another favorite- the rows and rows and rows of flowers that we found in Tian Fu Center.  On Monday morning after we got Emma on the school bus, Wes, Everly and I headed here to file for our residence permit (there are so many steps to the immigration process!) and we had a serendipitous moment when we stumbled upon this beautiful square!

I will definitely bring both girls back here on a sunny day (there were flower walls too!) and I love that Wes caught me being the paparazzi and that sweet toddler belly!

Emma hangs on me all of the time when I am at home.  Like wants me to hold her and be in my lap from the second I walk in the door.  Wes assures me that it is not just me, but him too when I am not there :).  This picture of these two one morning before school is definitely a favorite!

Wes and Everly found a playground in our community this week and I know it will definitely be one of their favorites in the weeks to come!!

My sweet girl :).

In some ways, it feels like we have been here much longer than three weeks and in some ways it feels like we just arrived- we will be closing in on our first month next week- I can hardly believe it!

Emma's First Week at School

This may only be interesting to me and probably my mom (hi, Nonni!), but I wanted to share a few pictures that Emma's teachers sent me of her first week.  It turned out she was only able to go to school three days her first week (there was a public holiday on Monday and on Thursday we all had to register at the police station which took all morning) and it was probably the right amount of time for her transition week (she is only used to going to school two days a week back in the states).

Her favorite part of the day as she tells me- playground time! Which much to her delight contains a sandbox :).

Circle time just makes her seem outrageously big!

Painting her kite that we will see in use in a little bit :).

They are working on recognizing numbers this week and I thought that these two ideas (a dice and options where they line up in order) were really good ideas!

Friday was free dress day!! And they flew kites!

I am not quite sure what they are making here?

And last, but definitely not least, I just love to see them at lunch.  They are like little grownups at work - everyone eating lunch together.  Emma has chosen to buy her lunch so it is definitely a new and fun experience to hear about what she chooses to eat each day!

I am so happy her teacher shared a few pictures with us of her first week- it really warms my mama heart :).

Sister Weekend | Part 2

We are now going to jump back to the US to continue talking about our sister weekend.  If you missed part one, you can catch up here.

After we were well rested, we got dressed and headed back over to Nonni and Papa George's house for dinner- which of course meant selfies with my mini me :).

And Ally got in on the action!

And then we broke out the 'big' camera to get a couple more :).

This spot in my parent's backyard is one of my favorites :).  I like to think my dad keeps it landscaped just for me ;).

Then, our favorite cousins arrived and sweet Theodore was all about patting my mom's back :).

Such a stud!

His world will be full of girls (I imagine), but we feel so lucky that he is part of our family! And just for the record, I am going to go ahead and predict that he will be taller than Everly by the time we move back from China.

All of the girls were dressed in the some color scheme (not on purpose) and so we tried to get a picture of all the girl cousins.  Tried being the key word.

The one thing I really wanted from this weekend was a picture of my parents + the original four.  Love this family of mine.

We even managed to capture that gorgeous evening light.

And one more with our favorite Bobbob this time.

We had a wonderful lasagna dinner (my most favorite thing my mom makes) and seven layer bars (one of my most favorite desserts) followed by an outdoor fire (definitely the girls favorite).

Please note the hilariousness of Everly roasting a marshmallow.  In her words 'its really toasty'.  I bet it is baby girl, I bet it is.  My sweet, cautious girl would not get close to that fire :).

We were so happy that Bobbob and Colleen got to join us to hang out!

Most of the gang :).

After we were done hanging out, we headed indoors to say goodbye (until the next morning) and pack our things and snuggle baby Helena one last time.  Don't worry sweet Helena, baby Seodore had the same terrified expression on his face every time Emma held him for the first year ;).

We had 'hairplane' rides on Nonni and headed out.

Our hearts were brimming with love, the kind of fullness that you can only get by hanging out with the people that know you best.

We still had one last morning together before we would say goodbye to sister weekend!