What a fun week!

We managed to get a lot of fun play time in for the girls in the last week despite Lilly having a wicked virus that had her out of commission for almost 4 days.  When Abby got sick at this age, she was a serious cuddle bug.  She was pretty much lying on my chest 24/7 until she recovered.  But not Lilly.  She only cuddled when her temperature was over 103 deg F.  She even threw up twice during the peak of her illness.  That was new for me.  Thankfully Abby was a really big help and helped me corral Lilly away from the vomit while I cleaned up.  As a reward, we went out for ice cream later!  Ok, onto the pictures!

Our nightly ritual.

We spent last Sunday in Pearland and Abby got to chow down on homemade jiao zhe.  Yum!

Our attempt to take a cousin picture.  Lilly just wasn't having it!

I love my little niece!  She has awesome curly hair and the best arm and leg rolls.  :)

Jo ma getting a glimpse of what her future with Willow will be like. :)

Lilly will sit on anyone who will feed her a banana.  I'm so glad my kids love bananas.

Lilly really enjoyed exploring my parent's back yard for the first time.  Much like me as a baby, she wasn't a fan of sitting on the grass.

Our main goal for going to the back yard was to feed the ducks bread but they never showed up so the girls ate the bread instead.

For some reason Abby was giving Lilly a shoulder massage.  ;P

Mei Mei and her Lao Yie!

Mei Mei and her Lao Nian!  All she wanted to do was pluck all the petals off.  No-no Mei Mei!

The ducks were missing out on whole wheat bread!

Xiao Xiao always watching out for her Mei Mei.  Both girls are such carb-monsters!

This is what a sick baby looks like after she breaks her fever during a nap.  Abby was so attentive and wanted to brush her Mei Mei's hair.  Lilly let my mom hold her like this for 30 minutes.  That's a record.  Poor little baby!

Fast forward to today and Lilly is definitely on the mend.  She just has the residual post-fever rash and continues to nap/sleep longer than usual but other than that, our sweet go-go-go butterfly baby is back!!

Bryce was brewing today so Abby got to play in the kiddie pool all day today!  She was in this thing for over 5 hours!

Mei Mei finally woke up from a nap, had lunch and joined her sister in the kiddie pool for the first time ever! It's safe to say she LOVED it.  We'll definitely be doing this again this summer.  :)

"Mei Mei, whatcha doin'??"

Lilly really enjoyed the slide and Jie Jie was right there ready to catch her!

Playing well together.  ♥

Dance Recital and General Goofiness

Last weekend Abby had her end of the year Dance Recital.  She missed a few classes in the last month due to illnesses so I was a bit worried with how she would perform.  It was a grand family affair with both sets of supportive grandparents cheering her on - all sweating bullets in eager anticipation.  Abby's group had 2 performances and I'll admit, Abby did better in the first dance versus the second dance.  But in the grand scheme of things, she did really well and, of course, we were all proud of her.  This is most likely her first and last dance recital so I'm glad we got it on video.  The most fun part for Abby was when I put pink eye shadow, blush, lip stick and lip gloss on her.  On a personal note, I couldn't believe that I had a child old enough for me to put make-up on.  It was a surreal moment for me.  The rest of the pictures are once again, random pictures from the last week and a half.

Here she is backstage waiting for their performance.

Pink pink pink pink pink pink pink.  And pink.

My little ballerina.

My little model.

Similar to my child hood, we do fashion shows after we go shopping (or when shipments come via mail now).

Did I post this one already?  I don't know why I didn't do a side pony tail for Abby sooner.  Love her wavy hair (so different from my own - thanks Bryce!).

This is one of my favorite pictures of Mei Mei.  ♥

We are blessed to have two girls who are WONDERFUL eaters.  Abby is chowing down on a family favorite - grilled ciabatta with olive oil and garlic rubbed all over it.

Lilly, Lilly, Lilly.

Our sweet, crazy, mischievous little one.  Always up to something.

Like father, like daughter.  The resemblance is uncanny (except for the nose and complexion).

One day last week we visited my mom at work and she has a co-worker who has a ton of these "press here" dolls which the girls LOVE playing with.  It kills about 30-40 minutes easy.  Heck, I'm entertained as well each time I play with them.

As I've eluded to before, Lilly is our wild child.  Abby was and still remains our sedentary child on one end of the spectrum and Lilly is super crazy fearless nonstop waaaaay on the other end of the spectrum.  This photo captures what she's like 99% of the time that she is awake.  Just go, go, go.  You won't find her in the same place for more than 5 seconds.  No joke.

This is our free ad for Google.

Two peas in a pod.  Addicted.

A picture of Abby with her two favorite dolls dujour: Platypus and her purple and pink unicorn.  

These three are currently inseparable.

My mom feeding Lilly.  Somehow or the other, my mom raised 3 kids with no high chair.  She fed each of us on her lap like this.  Can you imagine??  Supermom.

We introduced our kids to Barrel of Monkeys.  Remember this oldie but goodie?  They love it.  :)

And lastly, for some reason, I love seeing kids eat corn.  I just think it looks so cute and grown up.

Happy Mother's Day!

Abby had pink eye and then a double ear infection last week so she missed school all week which meant ---- all we've been doing is play, play play!  For Mother's Day, Bryce and I cleaned the house (much overdue) and he is now making a wonderful dinner for us girls - grilled sirloin and halibut chimichurri with grilled asparagus and saffron rice.  YUM!  Nothing too much to report so here are the pictures!  

Mei Mei getting a ride on Jie Jie (with the help of Daddy).  ♥

My rock star.  We were getting ready to go swimming yesterday.

Showing off her temporary tattoo.  :)

Mei Mei likes to pick up tree bark off the ground.

We had an impromptu trip to the park after Mei Mei's first nap.  Both girls had so much fun exploring!

Abby likes to swing...but not TOO high!  Such the opposite of me as a kid.  Swings were, and still are, my favorite.

MUUUUULLLLLCCHH!!!  So fun!  Mei Mei is rocking her new swim shoes at the park.

Aww.....  ♥

Abby actually climbed UP the slide and slid down.  Never done that before.

Whheeee!!!!!!

Random pictures

I am happy to say that Lilly can finally drink out of a sippy cup!  She's starting to talk more and more too.  She's repeating what we say all the time and man, is she active.  My mom and dad helped me out this week while Bryce was gone for work and they both slept well the night after they helped me chase Lilly around the house.  I can't believe it but they say Lilly is more active than Elliott.  That's hard to believe! We knew Abby was very sedentary but Lilly is way on the opposite side of the spectrum.  Lilly has no attention span whatsoever.  Having said that, she's super coordinated, has great sense of balance, great dexterity and cat-like reflexes.  She's all muscle under the layer(s) of baby fat.  People always comment on her height when they meet her too.  On to the random pictures....

Abby first thing in the morning.  Needless to say, she's not a morning person.

Abby, my little helper, loves to help Mei Mei.  What a lucky little sister!

Much to Bryce's chagrin, both girls love drinking out of his "sippy cup" and they never refill it for him!  :P

My kids are slightly chubby - 3rd to her cousins Matilda and Willow!  :o

My little Abby in the middle during her Mother's Day Program.  ♥  They sang such sweet songs and Abby did a great job doing all the hand motions.  :)

Abby picked out their outfits - she wanted to match with her sister on this special program day.  :)

Me and my first born!  ♥  I love you, Abby!

Mei Mei showing off her sippy cup abilities!