Is It Summer Yet?

We are all getting that cabin fever waiting for summer to arrive. I have been having so much fun listening to all of the new words that Julia has been coming up with! The other day she said to me, " Mommy, Daddy is a nice man...Evan is a nice man......Mommy is a nice Mommy and Jewwwya is a nice girl........we are all friends." She has so much fun building towers with her Daddy and listening to her brothers crazy music and dancing to the beat!! Her daycare teacher, Miss Jill, gave Julia pigtails the other day and when I came home from work she said, "Mommy, Miss Jill made me pretty"(My camera battery died so I wasn't able to get pics) She insisted on sleeping with them in....you should have seen her hair the next morning...she is a restless sleeper. Everytime we are driving somewhere she usually will get upset when there is talking on the radio...she always looks at me and says Songs Mommy!! Evan will be a teenager in a couple of years ...yikes!! I keep thinking that I am shrinking because he keeps growing taller and taller! Baseball season is around the corner for him and it should be fun to watch some of the games.

There will be no pictures of Julia sitting on the Easter Bunny's lap this year....she likes him from a distance and will wave and blow kisses but when she is up close....there is a complete meltdown!!

Julias playtime fun!

It has been so much fun watching as Julia grows up and learns about the world around her. I love watching her play with Playdough creating her own piece of artwork with a blob of dough and my kitchen utensils...she loves the drawer where I keep my utensils and investigates new ones each day! Another love of Julias is her dog Huey...he is 14 years old and pretty much goes with the flow except when Julia gets a little too affectionate. She watches me scold Huey and she now sticks her finger out at him and says No Huey...stop! I caught a picture of her sunbathing in the kitchen with Huey. Julia Loves doggies or puppies and kittys....I found a shirt with a cat face on it at a local store and she wants to wear it every day along with her black shoes with cat faces on them. She sits in the car with her cat shoes on and moves her feet up and down telling me, "Look mommy kittys are running" Evan loves racing up the stairs with her to encourage her to get ready for bed which requires a lot of coaxing! She discovered Evans MP3 player and loves to put it on and dance to the music...she can keep a good beat and she loves the music!

Happy Chinese New Year

Julia trying to get comfortable with the Lion

Evan leading the Lion Dance

Julia wondering what she is all about

Chinese New Year Pictures

Happy Chinese New Year

Julia trying out chopsticks

Dance with fans

Evan and Julia making a Chinese Drum

Happy Chinese New Year...the year of the Tiger! We were so excited about being able to celebrate The New Year with the Families with Children from China. The celebration took place in our county at the Washington County Fair Grounds and was terrific! I could not decide what Julia should wear since most of the clothes that we purchased in China were actually a little small on her. I ended up with a dress that I recently purchased although now that I look at it it almost looks Scottish...lol Evan and Julia has so much fun doing all of the crafts. They were making Chinese lanterns and drums and sun catchers and stamping up inserts for cups with all kinds of Chinese symbols. There were so many things to shop for. I did purchase a dress for next year for Julia and one of the Chinese Tiger Marionettes. Julia was actually afraid of the Chinese Tigers this year and cried during the parade but then was okay when John took her around to see them up close. I could not believe how many little girls were all there with their beautiful Chinese dresses. The Chinese Lion Show was outstanding!! Some of the men played the drums and the cymbals as the Tigers danced up and down the aisles. Evan got the opportunity to go into one of the heads and parade around as well! I think I have had my fill of Chinese food for the week! It all was so good. I have so many pictures! Wishing everyone a wonderful New Year!

Happy Birthday Joseph

We had a busy day yesterday so did not get to post. We first went to my nephew Josephs birthday party...he turned 10! My sister had a nice party with sit down lunch. She made a Nintendo DS cake for Joseph this year which was pretty creative. We then got home to have Julia slip in a quick nap before we were off to Evans classmates home for dinner. It was a wonderful evening full of stories and laughter and good food/good friends I could not help but think of Sierra and her birthday celebration yesterday. Happy Birthday Sierra..Hope you had a terrific birthday with your friends and family!

Funny Christmas Gift

Kathie and Scott , friends of ours from our travel group, decided to send Julia a Christmas gift and said that she will like it but we will laugh. Kathie said she was sending me a hint before it arrived and to check my email. The background to this story is that while we were in China we all went to a restaurant called Lucy's where they serve fairly American food. We were all finished eating and John decides to place a lettuce leaf on Julia's head. I snapped the picture and Kathie sent this to me as a hint. On Christmas Eve Julia opened the gift that arrived and in it were two very cute cabbage patch babies with adoption certificates and bottles and change of clothing. I kept looking at the picture as a hint wondering what it meant and John was behind me and said...oh that gift is going to be a Cabbage Patch doll...what a very thoughtful gift!!