In our regular school routine

Since my last post, we have been in full swing of school mode in our house.  We've also had a few changes in that Abby and Lilly are now sleeping in the same bed!  It was 2 weeks of chaos, sweet sister bonding, little sleep, giggles, overall cranky pants and lots of smiles in the end.  We all survived the adjustment period - whew!  The other HUGE change is that Abby has made leaps and bounds in reading books.  I'm floored how much she is reading now compared to just 2 weeks ago.  So at night, Lilly asks Abby to read a book to her and Lilly is beaming with joy because Abby is reading to her and Abby is beaming with joy because she was asked to read!  It's a win-win for us all!  Both girls have since had their Parent Teacher conferences and I'm happy to report that both our girls are doing really well in class.  Bryce and I are proud parents!  They've also both had school pictures taken and I'm antsy to see how they turn out.  I took a few pictures at home just in case.  :P

This is how far we've gotten with potty training with this little gem!

Looks like we have another righty!

A typical morning at the bus stop.  ♥

Lilly and I went to the park one beautiful day.

She recently let us start putting her hair up in a pony tail and I love it!

Another rare moment of Lilly cuddling on Abby.

Notice a trend here with her tongue sticking out?  Silly chica....

Lilly got a huge Minnie Mouse for her half birthday.

Thank you Grandma & Grandpa!

Both girls are enamored with whatever new game Bryce introduced to them.  I just stay out of all that but mostly because I have zero interest in games.  These two, however, have inherited their dad's knack for gaming.  :P

Both girls seem to have hit a huge growth spurt.  This is Lilly finishing Abby's lunch one day.  Lilly has really started to lean out and it makes me sad.  :*(

One of the many pictures I took at home before her picture day.

Lilly's at home picture before going to school on picture day.  I'm dying to know if she stuck her tongue out for the real deal.

Sleeping in the same bed.  I love it and thankfully, so do they!

This is Lilly wearing MY 30 year old Mickey Mouse shirt from Taiwan.  :)

We're allowed to each lunch with our kids at Abby's elementary so one day I brought Lilly up too and these two had a blast!  Lilly was so good and sat in her chair the whole time too.  My sweet babies!

Another picture of my babies at the bus stop one morning.  :)

We had a family day at the park last Sunday and these girls had so much fun together!

Abby wanted Bryce to twirl her around but Lilly said "peace out" and ran off in her usual Lilly fashion.  :)

♥CUDDLING♥

School started, Bryce started new job, patio build, 1st lost tooth, chaos ensues

Let me start off by saying that since school started and I signed up to be a Kindergarten Coordinator at Abby's school, aaaaall that free time I thought I'd have is pretty much gone.  Don't get me wrong, I absolutely LOVE volunteering at Abby's school.  All this volunteering makes me feel quite at home and brings me back to my high school and college years when I did massive amounts of volunteering and held positions in various organizations and societies.  It's sparked an old flame in me and my Type A self is re-emerging.  But let's be honest - this is just my long drawn out excuse for just now making my first September post.

As I mentioned in the title, we're in the full swing of school now.  Abby started Kindergarten on August 25 and Lilly started 3 days a week at MDO on September 3.  I was worried Abby would be hesitant about riding the bus but she's been a pro!  She really likes her teacher and even came home saying "Mommy, I had so much fun at school today that I almost didn't want to come home yet!"  I like to hear that.  And Lilly has blossomed in school.  I knew she would love it and I don't have to worry about anyone messing around with her.  She's talking SO MUCH and comprehending so much more than I expect.  I forget that by 2.5 years old, they are essentially little people.  Poor Lilly has been plagued with mosquito bites so you'll see lots of band aids on her in these pictures.  She's a band aid pro.

Yes, Lilly is in her pajamas!  :)

Me and Abby in her classroom.

Hot sweaty mess and also discovered there's no A/C on the bus.

BOOM! - Reality!

It's Mei Mei's turn!

She cried a bit at drop off but then was a champ for the second I left.

I'm so proud of both my girls for getting the school year started on such a good note!

Shortly after all this happened, Bryce quit his job at Schlumberger and officially became the first paid employee at 11 Below Brewing Company.  It's been a really fun transition for us.  The girls love seeing their Daddy at home more and we all love the very short commute to and from work now.  

We also finally began construction to build our back yard patio.  The girls are so excited about it and we can't wait to enjoy meals outside with great seating and make use of our outdoor living space.  Bryce will now have a covered place to grill and brew beer as well.

The roof has since been shingled but I haven't take a picture of it yet.  Now we need the cosmetic stuff done as well as electrical.  We're slightly behind schedule because of all the rain we've been getting!

With the patio build, we've been playing musical chairs with all of our cars so I brought Lilly with me to move the Volvo back up the drive way.  Yes, I let her sit in my lap while I drove the car up the driveway.  This is the one, and mostly likely going to be only, picture of Lilly in my beloved car.

We spent a day with Lao Nian and Lao Yie and these little fairies didn't like that it was raining!

The thunder and lightening were scaring them so I told them to do what Ruby and I used to do when we were scared: they put on one of my dad's shirt's and immediately felt safer.  ♥

Abby and her Lao Yie!

Two goofy girls.  I love, love, LOVE that they are playing SO MUCH together.  ♥

Cowgirl Lilly.

My dad spent the day with us one day and after Lilly's nap, she wanted to stay on her Lao Yie some more.  My sweet baby.

Lao Yie and the giiiiirrrllss!!!

This was taken after school one day.  I wonder how long this "sticking out tongue smile" will last.

SPOILER ALERT: They will be Elsa and Anna for Halloween this year.  After a YEAR of begging, I finally gave in.  And I'm glad I did.  The living room re-enactments are priceless.

And of all the stuff we've got going on, the big, big, BIG news is that Abby lost her first tooth!!!  The tooth fairy came and when I asked her what she got the next morning, she said "I got 2 quarters!  I didn't know she was going to do that!"  :)

And lastly, Abby has been on yet another drawing spree and she made this one for her Daddy.  They have always said "beering" instead of "brewing" so this is a picture of her riding her bike while Daddy is beering.  Bryce has a pint in his hand and her juice box is on the table.  Bryce loved it so much that I had this laminated and it will now hang in his office at 11 Below.  ♥

The Last Day of Summer 2014

Tomorrow, my first born will be a Kindergartner.  I'm inwardly sad but outwardly happy for her sake.  For me, these first 5 years at home is the reason why I decided to be a stay-at-home-mom.  Selfishly, I wanted these 5 years to be OUR time.  And tonight, I can look back at these past almost 5.5 years and feel satisfied that I did the right thing.  Not even an hour ago I was lying in bed with her consoling her heart and putting her mind at ease about the big day tomorrow.  It was so hard not to cry with her.  My baby, my baby, my baby.  As strict and as hard as I am with her, I'm also a huge softy and the biggest sucker around her.  Those that know me know I'm not a worrier but for the first time in my adult life, I'm a mixed bag of nerves, anxiety and what looks to be a sleepless night.  If I could make one wish tonight, it would be to see a huge smile on her face when she steps off the bus tomorrow afternoon.  Let's hope I'm not a mess again when Lilly starts in 1.5 weeks.

In the last few weeks of summer, my girls have been spoiled with spending LOTS of fun time with family, family, family!  We even got to spend an evening with my cousin from NY and all of her wonderful kiddos!  Abby and I hadn't seen them since we were in NY this past January.  I've got a bunch of random pictures to post again....I hope to be back into my usual posting routine once school starts.

Bryce built them a fort built out of couch cushions again.  Our bi-annual couch vacuum tradition.

This sums up a lot of our summer - eating popsicles to beat the heat.

Can you tell Mei Mei likes it? She eats faster than Abby.

This is what they all do when I ask them to smile.  Thanks, Bryce!

The Baker Girls!

Lao Nian and Mei Mei.

Abby and her look-alike!

Lao Yie came with us to gymnastics one day.  The girls loved it!

A rare gathering of about half the cousins!  I already know I'll be looking back at this picture for years to come.

We spent a few days at a Hill Country Resort in San Antonio.  Unfortunately I didn't take a single picture of us in the pool or lazy river.  It was just too hot and wet to bring a phone or camera downstairs.  But needless to say, we had a BLAST!  They made smores every night by the camp fire and we even watched Frozen on the front lawn one evening!

Watch whatever you want on the Kindle Fire?  Sure!

Eat chips in bed?  Sure!

Why not?  It's a hotel and we're on vacation, baby!

We had to ditch hotel food for Chick-fil-A one night.

Lucy took us and the girls to a bouncy house place by their house.  All 3 girls had SO much fun running around and working up a good sweat.  I love it when they get to hang out together!

How Lilly likes to smile for the camera.  :P

This princess bouncy house was a hit for all 3 girls.  :)

Can you tell Lilly was ready for her nap??

This picture is out of order but I really liked their smiles so it made it here.

Last Friday we went to Abby's "Meet the Teacher" and here she is filling out her "All About Me" sheet.  Her teacher seems really sweet and I can't wait to see how much she'll learn this year!

Lilly insisted on putting tattoos on today so Abby obliged.  They sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star once and then remove the wet towel.  It's so cute!

They insisted Daddy get a tattoo too and he was more than happy to do it.  Definitely a dad of two daughters.  ♥

Real men wear Hello Kitty!!!