Children's Museum Day

I was 'mom and the year' a few weeks back and didn't realize until the night before that Abby didn't have school the next day when she usually does.  So on a whim, we decided to go to the Children's Museum with my dad, Kirk, Lucy & Willow!  We live far from the museum district so this is a pretty big day trip for us.  Lilly was about Abby's age the first time we took her as well.  And boy these two couldn't be more different!  Unlike Abby, Lilly was climbing, crawling, sliding, playing with anything she could get her hands one.  Abby was MUCH more cautious so we were able to take a lot more pictures of Abby's first visit.  But most of my pictures of Lilly are a whirl wind blur because she won't stand still long enough for a proper picture.  But alas, we still got a few good ones to document the trip.

Abby building a magnetic bridge out of washers.

Mei Mei learning about....who am I kidding....she's throwing ping pong balls down a hole.

Both calculating gear ratios in their head...just kidding.

Both discovering the wonderful world of gears and how they work.

Playing music with Lao Yie!

Both taking naps in tradition "Groom's Quarter."

Abby still remembered pretending to be a short order cook and preparing a pretend meal for Lao Yie the first time she was here.  And she was soooo sweet.  She made my dad a plate of all of his favorite food: mien, xiao long bao, shrimp, etc.  My dad was touched at her thoughtfulness.  ♥

Mei Mei pretend eating her favorite: PIZZA!

Abby serving Lao Yie with his favorite food.  :)

Abby also LOVED grocery shopping at HEB and we probably spent a good hour in here.  They both had SO MUCH fun filling their shopping basket and checking out at the cash register.  I loved seeing their enjoyment the entire time!

Mei Mei shopping for her favorite food - bread!

Everyone went to Tot Town while I took Abby to the big kid stuff.  She really wanted to climb into this but I could tell she didn't have the nerve.  So we did was we usually do.  We stood on the side lines watching other kids do it.  Then a group of kids on a school field trip lined up to go through and I encouraged Abby to follow the kids so she knew where to go.  She got about half way down and the group got too far ahead of her and just as I was swelling up with pride because she finally did something on her own, literally seconds after I took this picture, she broke out in a scared cry because she was lost and didn't know how to get out!  "Mommy!!  Help me get out of here!!!!"  And what did I do?  I ran up the stairs and crawled in (with my purse in hand) to save her.  Then we were already half way down so I offered to go all the way down to the bottom with her.  Another mom saw my crawling in there and said to me "You are one dedicated Mom!"  Oh well....the important thing is Abby built her confidence up and we got to do something together with just the 2 of us.  I love my Abby.

My beautiful niece Willow!

Lilly LOVES turning switches on, then off, on, then off, etc.

And she was a pro on the slide!  Look at that smiley face!

Just look at her awesome hair!

Mei Mei having a solo tea party.

These two play so well together.

Abby was putting on a puppet show for Jo Ma!

My brother and his baby girl!

I hear a "Mommy!  Look!" and this is what I see.  Abby is milking the cow....I think.

The Big Sleep Over

The Baldwin's got in town a few days before we finally got to see them for our big sleep over at our house!!!  My mom got Abby and Elliott each brand new sleeping bags just for the occasion.  Abby was literally counting down the days until The Big Sleep Over - it was so sweet!  Everyone in her class new she was having a sleep over with her cousin that Friday, April 11 too.  :)

Abby could barely get through breakfast (waffles with Nutella, I know, not the healthiest but I knew she'd eat it) just waiting for her cousins to arrive!

A-Yi brought late and early birthday gifts for both girls and they all had fun opening the gifts!

Thank you A-Yi, Yi-Fu, Elliott & Tillie for our gifts!

Then it was CHEESE STICK time!!!  Their favorite!

It was the quietest the house had been all day.  :)

Abby really wanted a picture with Tillie!  Such a da jie jie.  :P

These two both scream all BOY and all GIRL!  ♥

Ruby and I took the little ones on a quick trip to Costco.  Lilly got to sit in Abby's chair for the first time.  I thought "uh oh..." and I was right.  She's been wanting to sit in it ever since!

Don't these two mixed kids look the cutest???

It was Tillie's first time in a double wide cart!  Welcome to 'Merica, Tillie!

We let them loose outside too and they played so well together!  

Abby really wanted everyone to watch Frozen and luckily everyone obliged or I don't know what would have happened.  :P

These two had the best time building a tent between the chair and the couch.  :)

They really wanted to have their sleep over under this tent.

Too bad this only lasted 2 seconds!

Elliott really likes doing Cosmic Yoga for Kids and Abby liked it too!

It's a really cute video - definitely recommend it!

Then it was finally bed time and these two were so sweet together sleeping together on the floor.  Elliott was still experiencing jet lag and Abby was so sad when he fell asleep while she was trying to talk to him.  Which is funny because I ALWAYS did that when Ruby was trying to talk to me.  :P  They both lasted the whole night on the floor too!

Then it was time for (more) Shipley's donuts and kolaches for breakfast - yum!

More yoga after breakfast and then it was time for the Baldwin's to drive to Pearland.

Abby was left to play by herself after they left.  This sleep over will be really memorable for many years to come and we were already looking forward to our next get together at St. Arnold the next day.  Until then!

Hello, again.

Well, since my last post, the Baldwin's have been in town and it's been a whirlwind of 3 weeks!  Aside from obviously being happy to see my twin and her family, my favorite part of this all was seeing the cousins bond again.  Abby and Elliott are blossoming into big sibling rolls and both are so sweet and attentive to the 3 little dragon girls (all born in 2012!).  But before I get to the Baldwin pictures, I wanted to try to keep this somewhat in chronological order so I'm going to start with some random pictures before diving into the meat of it all.  I can't even recall what's been going on so I'm going to default to my picture folder and go from there.  :)

I got sick of the gross pollen inundating the car so I took Lilly through the car wash with me.  I wasn't quite sure how she would react.  She's pretty afraid of loud noises (vacuum) and I could see this being bad with her "trapped" in a car but luckily, she did great!  Her little thumb kept her company and feeling safe. :P

I guess we were out for a stroll because the weather was nice.  I don't even recall!  I just like this picture of my sweet baby Lilly.

One day I gave Abby a box of markers and a pile of old scratch paper to keep her busy while I was doing something around the house.  The next thing I know, she's illustrated the entire Disney Frozen movie!  There ended up being 20+ pages all together and she did an AWESOME job putting all of her drawings in sequential order.  This was such a great creative and learning experience.  I'm gonna *toot toot* my own horn here but I really think she draws well for a then 4 year old!  Then, of course, she had to take a picture of her masterpiece with her beloved camera so I decided to take a picture of her taking a picture.

The beginning of the movie/book.

She actually added a few more pages after I took this picture.

The most pinnacle part of the movie after Anna is thawed and then Elsa learns that LOVE is what thaws a frozen heart.  :)

And last but most definitely NOT the least, I have to give a shout out to my beloved Volvo 850 who reached the illusive 200,000 mile mark on April 17, 2014 at the tender age of 18 years of age.  Bryce risked his life going 46 mph while taking this picture (that I demanded) for me.  Now THAT is true love.  ♥

How to plant a radish seed

Today Abby came home with a super itty bitty tiny radish seed from school which we decided to plant it in our garden.  Here is Abby demonstrating the steps to planting a radish seed.

**Disclaimer - don't ask about her dress.  She asked to wear it to school today and I thought "why not?"  So she looks like a garden fairy**

Itty bitty tiny seed in the middle of her butterfly.

Step 1. Dig a small hole.

Step 2. Suck on a starburst candy and show seed.

Step 3. Drop itty bitty seed in hole.

Step 4. Cover hole back up.

Step 5. Pat dirt down.

Step 6. Water seed.

Random Pictures (again)

My little chickadees - what can I say.  Abby's my anytime-any-day super cuddler and Lilly, well...isn't.  I can get a great hug/squeeze and kiss out of her but only under her terms and conditions.  Poor Abby always gets rejected by Lilly when she asks for a hug or a kiss.  But sometimes, you can totally tell that Lilly's just amusing her sister because deep down inside, she loves her big sister and if this is what it takes to make her stop asking for hugs and kisses, then she'll do it.  Whew!  Sisters!  

Abby stealing a quick kiss and Lilly patiently obliging.

This is what I get when I ask them to SMILE!

Lilly's moved on...Abby's still hugging.  ♥

Lilly was so ready for bed after her bubble bath and she let her Daddy turn her into a pillow.  :)

As I mentioned before, Abby had created her own doodle bug habitat in a plastic container (I poked holes on the lid...don't worry) but I came across this little "bug cage" and the doodle bugs got to upgrade their living quarters!  They got to stretch all 14 legs out and explore their new home.

Great weather = playing outside.  Who wants to sit in a stroller when you can push it!

She finally wanted to sit in the stroller and I leaned down to take a selfie with my baby!

Lao Yie likes to take a quick siesta after lunch and Abby crawled into his arms and asked me to take a picture of her and Lao Yie - so I did!  

I couldn't have taken a worse picture of them if I tried.  My intent was to get them both taking big bites out of their kolaches but instead, I got Mei Mei picking her nose and Abby with her eyes closed and chewing.  At least her mouth is closed!