Mother's Day, etc...

Here are a few photos taken during the hiatus from my last post. I had a really nice Mother's Day. When Emily woke up she brought me a card she had been hiding in her room since the day before when she, brother and Daddy went shopping. It was difficult for her to keep it a secret; she kept telling me she had a surprise for me and to come see. :-) We then went to church, then got some family photos taken (a certain little 3 year old was not being cooperative so there are not as many with the four of us as I would like). Then my dear husband made us brunch...bacon and spinach quiche and hashbrowns. I read the paper and had coffee while he cooked. Then I planted lots and lots of flowers and worked in the yard. While yard work may not sound like loads of fun to some of you, I really enjoy doing it and usually am unable to get any done due to a child (or two) being attached to me. So while Jeff supervised the kids for most of the afternoon I got to indulge my green thumb. Oh, and I got a wonderful gift...a lilac bush for our yard. I love lilacs and the particular variety Jeff and kids found is called "Miss Kim." How fitting!!

My Mother's Day gifts! Taken at church...it was wear red day.

My kiddos. Me and my baby boy...

All of us again.

Last week we attended Emily's school program and recognition ceremony. I told Jeff this will be the first of MANY programs we get to attend. I love it! I know I had lots of concerts and plays when I was growing up and I don't think my parents missed any of them. That really meant a lot to me and I plan to do the same for my kids. Here are a few photos from last week. The kids sang four or five different songs then got a certificate at the end since their last day of school is this week. While I was busy snapping photos in between songs, Emily must have thought I was too busy taking pictures and not paying enough attention to her...she told me, "Put the camera down, Mom." Uh, sorry. I don't think so!

Receiving her certificate

Updates

We've had a good month since our last post. Nothing much really to report aside from some new photos. Emily loves her school. Last week's lessons were all about recycling (I think Earth Day was last week maybe). Recycling is something we do at home all the time so it wasn't a new concept to her.

Last week was the week of the young child here in town and we only made it to one activity where Horton Hears a Who was read and then the kids were able to explore a fire truck, an ambulance and a smoke house where a firefighter talked to the children about what to do if there's smoke in their house. Here are a few photos. As you can see in one shot, Emily was ready to get out of the smoke house. Brother was wearing her Horton hat. She covered her ears as Daddy rang the fire truck's bell. And we were lucky enough to run into our good friend from two houses down and they hung out together while we were there.

She likes making a beard of bubbles in the bath.

This past weekend we got together with a group of other folks around our state with kiddos from China (and one waiting family). We had an awesome bbq dinner then played on the playground. Emily told us all the way home that she didn't want to leave. I think she had a good time! On the playground, Daddy was on slipper slide duty.

This past weekend was also a reunion in Atlanta for all the families who were in my Hubei travel group 2 1/2 years ago. We share something pretty special with these families and little ones as we all met our daughters at the same time, in the same room. Unfortunately our family was not able to go this time. But one of the moms was kind enough to send me some photos of the girls. Here's one of them together. Pretty cute, huh? Hopefully we can attend the next reunion.

Benjamin had his six month appointment last week. He's actually nearly 7 months but that's okay. He's 17 lbs 3 oz and 27 3/4 inches long. Unlike his big sister, he is in the 95%tile for his height! Strange coming from parents who are 5'5" and 5'6" but that's genetics for you! The nurse called him long and lean. Not exactly my definition of his body type as you can see by the rolls of chubbiness on his legs! He still hasn't cut any teeth but based on his recent uncharacteristic grumpiness, I don't think it will be long. Here are some photos from the last few weeks...

Look at my big boy sitting up all by himself!

Picking posies...

Riding sister's bike--which did not go over well with sister when she saw him!

Two weeks later and he had already graduated to a really cool chopper!!!

Too Tired to Eat??

Here's something I've never experienced...falling asleep mid-meal! I guess learning how to do all this big boy stuff wears a guy out! By the way, after taking these shots I promptly wiped him off and put him in his crib for a big nap.

The BIG Six Months!

My little guy is six months old. So hard to believe how time is flying. He's now having rice cereal regularly about twice a day. We've tried carrots once and will likely try again soon. He's showing LOTS of interest in our food when we eat, sometimes to the point of crying when he we're eating and he isn't. All signs of a big boy ready to start on more solids. He's also rolling all over the place when he's laying down. He's doing pretty well on sitting up although still needs some assistance while doing so unless he's strapped in. And he's "talking" to us a lot now, too. Here are some photos of him when he was first born and now. What a change!!

I might add that he is almost too big for this car seat now!!

Big Sister is still enjoying school lots. Right now they are learning about weather and the days of the week. We are already looking forward to a class field trip to the zoo in early May. The whole family will be going. We attended her school carnival (the first of many we'll be attending no doubt) last weekend. I think she was a bit overwhelmed by all the people and noise but still had a good time and won some cool prizes!

Lots of Updates

It's been several months since my last post and we've had a busy month!

Emily started preschool last week. She goes Tuesday and Thursday mornings. It's a great facility and she really seems to enjoy it! All of the teachers were so welcoming and made her feel right at home. Here are a few photos of her on her first day. And no, Mommy did not cry. :-)

We also had two out of town trips this month. Jeff had a conference to attend about two hours away. It happened to be held in the hometown of one of my good friends who now lives in Minneapolis and she was visiting her mom the same time we were there. So we got to see her and her family a few times. We also went to my sister and Dad's two weeks ago to see my lovely niece Haileigh perform in her school play. She is in 7th grade and is really turning into a beautiful young woman. Here's a photo of Haileigh. It's very blurry...I had a wiggly 5 month old on my lap!

Of course this weekend was Easter. We had a very chilly day with temps in the high 20's Easter morning. I'm sad that we did not get any family photos but I did get a few of the kids. The Easter Bunny brought Emily (among other things) her own rake and shovel for working in the yard. Afterewtting home from church we heard Emily go out back and I snapped a few photos of what I found. Here is a picture of Emily coloring eggs (the big scrape on her chin is from a swingset "accident" last week, the kids together and Em out working in the yard (still in her Easter dress). :-)

Lastly, after church Emily hunted Easter eggs in our front yard (no big Easter egg hunts were attended this year...I know, I'm a horrible mommy but honestly, how much candy does one three year old really need??). Anyway, I told her how many eggs there were to find. She insisted on opening each one up everytime she found one to see what was inside (most had money and a few had candy). When she had found all the eggs, she insisted there were still more to find. Here are a few photos of her hunting the eggs but my favorite is the one with her finger on her chin. She had just said, "Hmmm...where are the other eggs hiding?"

Whew! I think that's about all to report for now. However, someone is turning the BIG 6 MONTHS this week so I'm sure I'll have more photos to post later!