May Little Things

I truly did not understand the people that told me they were so busy at the end of the school year. I always thought, it is just like any other time of the year, how could you possibly be so busy. Well, now I understand... May has been crazy, crazy, crazy in a good way - here is a look of what we were up to!

^ Wes took the girls to the bus stop on May 2nd (May 1st was a holiday and also the day we got back from Australia) and texted me this picture. When the flowers are in bloom, this is my favorite house on our street. I think it is stunning. ^

^ Everly could not look more like Emma here if she tried. ^

^ after months of begging, we busted out the water babies much to the girls delight. ^

^ when I look at this picture, it makes me think of the expression so big, yet still so small. she made the headband herself in her arts and crafts club, she picked out her outfit all by herself and she looks so big. Yet, somehow, she simultaneously looks so small. and she still fits in my lap, so there's that. ^

^ this girls stuffed animal obsession has me thinking she will stay small for awhile longer ;). ^

^ Saturday morning fish feeding. ^

^ before heading to the trampoline park to play with friends :). ^

^ supporting Cinco de Mayo from China with a margarita ;). ^

^ Sunday morning gymnastics for Everly! ^

^ followed by a Sunday morning donuts. man, we miss Texas donuts. ^

^ perception versus reality - had me cracking up! ^

^ the girls did a craft before we went to Emma's gymnastics class - Emma's craft is taking me back to my childhood days - she is currently obsessed with this. ^

^ while Wes and I enjoyed bar-b-que for a late lunch, the girls enjoyed ice cream on the stoop. ^

^ spider season in our house - yikes!! ^

^ this particular Friday night was gorgeous. ^

^ I wrote more about our Mother's Day weekend here, but that night we got to go out on a date! ^

^ the next day, we met friends at Luxelakes playground before I snuck off to have a massage and dinner with a group of moms. ^

^ the following day, we went to the farm. ^

^ a little out of order, but I love it and I am too lazy to move it ;). ^

^ Emma learned how to ride her bike!!! ^

^ and so we kept practicing every night (while Ev's and Wes were attacked by mosquitos). ^

^ Everly has been setting up scenes like this for the last few weeks - she adores getting out her favorite figures and coming up with games for us to play! ^

^ Everly had been wanting/begging to go to the indoor playground, so we made it happen for her. we ended up running into another family just as we were about to leave and the girls literally played for hours. ^

^ Emma and Everly both went to Sunday morning gymnastics class! ^

^ because we had a British Day festival to attend. ^

^ we rode our scooters over there, met some friends, went to a few boothes - it was so stinking hot, that as we were eating lunch, I told the girls if we leave right now, I would take them swimming at the indoor pool. ^ 

^ I made good on my promise ;). we met some other friends there later on and the girls had a blast. ^

^ roller blading practice... ^

^ that eventually gave way to scootering with no shoes on. ^

^ another day, another bike/scooter ride. ^

^ added bonus: gorgeous sky! ^

^ our neighbors have a dog named no-no and the girls love when he is out to play. ^

^ crazy hat day! ^

^ Emma won the art award for her class - we could not be more proud, must have been those arts and crafts book Papa George got for Emma ;). ^

^ we shook things up on a Friday night and went to the swimming pool after dinner. ^

^ Saturday, we took the girls to the trampoline park... ^

^ before dropping them off at a birthday party and sneaking in a date (who are we - two dates in one month ;)). this was a huge milestone for us, we have never dropped the girls off before! ^

^ we got back just in time for cake. ^

^ we hung out with some of the parents while the kiddos enjoyed each other. ^

^ sunday morning and afternoon gymnastics class. ^

^ our new favorite chinese dish - this cauliflower is great! ^

^ our neighborhood opened a new playground. ^

^ the girls were ready for their end of year concert!!! ^

^ she always stops to smell the flowers. ^

^ my girls and our bus stop mornings. I truly treasure the mornings I get a chance to walk them to the bus stop. ^

^ after the concert, I had to rush to work, but the girls got to have their friends over for a play date since our house is super close to the concert venue. once I download the pictures from the big camera, I will have to share. ^

May was a great month!!

Four Random Things

One. While we are anxiously awaiting for Nonni to arrive in Chengdu (mid-July), we are heading out on our summer vacation now - we are so excited to be taking the girls to Europe!! Actually, we are pretty pumped too, we have never been to Europe together! We have about 10 days that we are splitting between Paris and London and yes, of course, we are sneaking in some time at Disney Paris!! We normally plan our vacations in great detail, but we have been so busy, that we just haven't had a chance - we are hoping this allows for a lot of serendipitous adventures ;).

Two.  We have been having so much fun with friends!  If you remember at the beginning of the year, I set a goal that I would invite one family over to our house at least once a month - well, not only have we done that, but it has paid off dividends for our happiness and well being. We have built a solid network of friends that we enjoy seeing on the weekends and keeping up with through the week. The first year was incredibly difficult for us and I believe building friendships is one of the reasons that year two was so much better! All of this to say, putting in the time and work to build friendships has been incredibly important to my happiness.

Three. Our local Starbucks has been advertising their new affogato for weeks and I finally got a chance to try it one afternoon that I worked from home - yum, it was delicious.

Four. It was show week at the girls gymnastics class - this basically means that the parents got to go in and watch the kids show us what they have been working on. The icing on the cake for the girls - they each got medals. You would have thought they won the olympics, they were so stinking proud.

School's Out!!

Today, is the last day of school for the girls! We officially have a first grader and a kindergartener and we could not be more proud of these two. They both had such a great year :) and we are so proud of them for adapting to life in China so well (it is not lost on us how challenging this must be for them).

I took these pictures a few days before the last day (I was home one morning so we could take a cake to Everly's class to celebrate her birthday!) and looking back to the first day, I just cannot believe how big they are!  

This girl came out of her shell this year. She is smart, kind, funny and will put a smile on your face. She adores when Emma calls her sissy. Her favorite part of school is the crafts. And she loves playing with friends.  She is not easily embarrassed and still beats to her own drum.  We are excited for her to go to Kindergarten!

First day of school :). 

My whole little world.

We remembered that Emma held Everly for the first day of school pictures so we had to re-create that :).

Perfect for each other.

And first day :).

Emma had the best kindergarten year. She made several, new, best friends, learned to read, loved going to real art class and adored both of her teachers. She gave Everly a big smooch every morning when they parted ways getting off the bus. She loves to play pretend with her friends - they play doctor, school, wild cats and their favorite mom and baby :). We cannot wait to see what first grade holds for her!!

First day of school :).

I love these two pictures - so big, yet still so little.

Now, I just have to figure out a way to slow down time - these two are growing up way too fast!

First Haircut

I honestly cannot believe that this milestone took nearly six years to get to, but alas, the girls finally got their first real haircut!! We have given them a few trims at home, but other than that we have done next to nothing. Emma sees herself as Rapunzel so it was hard to convince them/her getting a haircut is a good thing (this stage lasted for the last two years!)! Well, after seeing Ev's best friend get her hair cut and being promised a toy (I know, I know...) we were finally off to get their hair cut!

Before - you can see just how wild and crazy and scraggly it was getting.

It was touch and go for a minute and the only way we could get Ev's to lay down was to let her watch a video on Wes's phone (I know, again, please try to refrain rolling your eyes at me - getting your hair cut was seen as torture to my little girls even though I always rave about the experience).

Cute, nervous smile!

The first chop!!

Emma got her hair washed with Wes (no pictures) and came out to the chair a bit nervous. And a bit angry looking ;).

The after!! A huge rainstorm blew in while we were there so we had to settle for pictures inside.  They ended up loving the experience, Emma kept saying how soft her hair was and how good it smelled :). We will definitely be doing this again!!

Toooooo cute!! I am currently obsessed with their summertime haircuts!