A day in the life of the Bakers

Every once in a while, I try to take pictures of us just doing regular ol' daily stuff.  Instead of being cute posed pictures, it's more of a documentary of our daily lives.  I think they will be fun to look back on when the girls are older.  And there are, of course, just regular pictures of our random doings/outings throughout the week.

But I'd like to add a quick note on Lilly.  She's 23 months old and in the last month, her vocabulary has really blossomed. I hear at least 4-5 new words a day and I just stopped being impressed and just go with it now.  I guess what they say is right: the second kid really absorbs a lot from big sister/brother.  With Abby, we sat her down and taught her the alphabet but somehow, Lilly learned it on her own.  I just quizzed her on all the upper case letters and she got all of them except for N, J and V.  And she knows some shapes too: circle, triangle, heart, star and square!  And she knows some colors too: pink, red, blue and green.  My favorite thing that she says right now is "pony hair" instead of pony tail.  It's just so cute to hear, for some reason.

Looks like regular old pigtails, huh?

There were actually 3 pigtails - per her request!

She asked, so she received.  Don't worry, it didn't last long before she lost all interest.

A picture of Abby eating at the dinner table.

A picture of Lilly eating like a big girl at the dinner table.  She just started doing this a week or so ago.  No more washing the tray - yay!!

They were in jewelry heaven!!

She looks like a little person in this picture.  And that's her favorite doll on the bottom left corner.  It's name is Cheep Cheep.

How many Bakers can fit in a wagon?

Lilly eats so much faster than Abby and this is her trying to eat Abby's share after already finishing her share.  And Abby doing her best to protect her food.

Still trying....

I just thought they both looked cute.

Abby insisted on putting Mei Mei's diaper on.  She said "I can do it!  I've seen y'all do it so many times!"  But alas, she was too slow so we gave her an A+ for effort.

And last but not least, this past Tuesday was Go Texan Day at school so they both got all dressed up in cowgirl attire.  We got 2 uses out of Abby's Halloween costume, which was an added bonus.

Happy Valentine's Day

Abby doesn't have school on this Valentine's Day so we went to the park to enjoy the beautiful weather today!!  It's FINALLY warmer and the sun has come out.  I don't know about most mom's but taking my two girls to the park by myself is a lot of work.  I've got a big kid who's a scaredy-cat and always needs my help and a crazy little dare devil who is all over the place.  I'm working on making Abby do things on her own and it paid off today at the park.  I was very impressed with her new found bravery and independence.  It was VERY windy today but it didn't bother the girls at all.  Here are some cute pics!

We started the morning off with strawberries while watching Sesame Street.  These girls could both eat their weight in strawberries.

Mei Mei exploring...

This may not be a big deal to other parents of 4 year old's who are 44" tall but for our little Abby, being able to walk across these steps unassisted today was a BIG DEAL.  Our cautious baby is setting new records every day.

These things always remind me of my childhood pictures at Herman Park.  Kids love them.

Somewhere I have a picture of Abby wearing exactly what Lilly's wearing at this exact same spot.

She's so tall.  That's all.

Happy Lilly!

This deserves a second picture.  Good job, Abby!

Some where I have a picture of Abby sitting in this exact spot too.

Both were so excited: Abby to push her sister and Lilly to be pushed by her sister.  ♥

Of course, Lilly loved this slide.  It was just her size.

She even mastered climbing back UP this slide.

It was so windy!

Check out her hair!  Reminds me of her mohawk when she was a baby.  :)

Abby was ready to go home.

The fun continued at home.  A wagon ride around the block whilst eating Cheerios.

This is my new favorite picture of Abby!!!

My littler poser.  :)

I still can't get Lilly to smile into the camera.  We're working on it!

The Q and U Wedding at Abby's School

Every year at Abby's school in February, they have a little wedding for the letters Q and U (since they're always together anyhow).  It's a pretty cute idea and the kids get to dress up in wedding attire or in princess/prince/knight costumes for the full effect.  After the wedding ceremony is lunch time and then they all attend a Royal Ball.  And Abby danced with a boy for the first time!  It was all rather sweet and all the kids had fun.  Tomorrow is their class Valentine's Day Party so it's nothing but fun this week!  Here are a few pictures from earlier today.  :)

Abby just loves her sister...it makes me so happy!  ♥

The matrimony of Q and U.

There was a guest appearance of Flynn Ryder and Rapunzel!

Abby dressed like a princess!

The Eagle Class with Flynn Ryder and Rapunzel.

Abby's first dance with a boy!  :)  He's a knight in shining armor.

I gotta say, she was totally leading and she twirled herself too!

When we got home, Abby shared her ring pop with her sister.  I love these two girls!

Abby's so happy to share and Lilly's so happy to receive!  Great team work!

We want warmer weather

Cabin fever has officially set in.  I don't like cold weather to begin with.  I don't like wearing jackets and I prefer sandals over boots.  Apparently the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree because Abby is just like me.  We had some snow/sleet this morning and I felt obligated to ask if they wanted to go outside and see it and both said no.  They could care less about the cold weather.  Fine by me.  I dodged a bullet.

Just a few notable notes about Lilly recently.  She's growing like a weed.  She's already wearing 3T and she's only 22 months old.  She's my muscle baby with the appetite of a lioness.  She's also VERY chatty now.  I love this stage.  I've always known that she knows what's going on but now she can express her thoughts and feelings verbally and it's just great.  If ever we don't understand what she says, all I have to do is ask her trusty decoder, Abby.  Abby speaks 'Lilly.'  :)  And Abby is an awesome reader now.  She impresses us with each new book she picks up.  I love that she wants to read books to us and we don't have to coarse her to do it.

These two really are inseparable now.  Watching them interact is still as exciting as it was the first time.  It's times like this that I'm so glad I quit my career to be able to watch the bond grow right in front of me.  Lilly is officially Abby's little shadow which thrills them both to no end.  I love my girls. ♥

See how short her 2T pants are?  She's feeding Cheep Cheep blueberries.

Busted out the castle again and they love playing with it together.  ♥

Abby loves to read to Lilly.  So sweet!

Xin Nian Kuai Le!

Happy Chinese New Year!  It's the year of the horse!  It's times like this that I realize just how American I am.  I have to admit I do not know enough about my own culture.  But I'm thankful for living close to my parents so they can help me instill Chinese traditions for my girls.  And I'm also thankful that we live in a large city with a huge Asian population.  This year I told Abby that we would try to see a dragon dance so by golly, we did.  We've had a full week of school, play dates and general no napping so we were pushing our luck today.  But in the end, all went well and within 10 minutes of coming home just now, every one is napping except for me.  I'm thoroughly enjoying my quiet blogging time right now.  I wasn't able to get many pictures since we were all eating at a restaurant (you know how that goes with kids...) but here's what I was able to get.  I'm just glad we got to spend time with family today!

Xie xie Lao Nian, Lao Yie!  Xin nian kuai le!

We ran into an old friend Hsu bui bui too!

The Chens!

Lilly wasn't having any of this since she was sleepy so Bryce was walking outside with her.  Wish the Baldwins could have joined us! 

We made our way to the Chinese Community Center and Abby finally got to see dragon dancing!  She had the best seat in the house.  :)

Lilly is barely hanging in there...what a trooper!

Haha, she and my dad both need hair cuts!

YAY!  I love hearing the drums beating.

Abby and Lilly each got a little lantern from Lao Nian and Lao Yie.  We had so much fun today!