Introduced You To It

November Little Things

2020-04-05T15:29:00.000-05:00

On November 1st, down went the Halloween decorations and up went our Turkey!!

I was working from home so I could attend a party at the girls school and got to have a lunch date with my mom! The best!

That night we went to a birthday party at a new to us place.

That blur is Emma - safe to say, they had the best time!

She was feeling her lunch (nachos and strawberries) - and there is a peek at her pumpkin over there on the right.

Our cousin came over to check out Zoom Zoom Heart before we made our way to...

see Winnie the Pooh!! We went with Nonni and one of our cousins and had the best time!

The characters were signing autographs afterwards.

Which was so fun for the kiddos.

Everly has always had an affinity for Eeyore.

So she was delighted to meet him!

Tigger was so much fun and in character 100% of the time.

After the play, we picked up Wes and headed to a birthday party. The girls had a blast jumping on the bounce house and smashing the pinata.

Wes started to work on the Christmas lights since he has a light show to music.

I had my first red cup which always has a special place in my heart. Weird not to be in China getting a toffee nut latte.

We had a Braum's ice cream date with ice cream they scored by reading. Ev's is grumpy because I told her she wasn't going to like the orange sherbert she ordered and she refused to listen. Spoiler alert - she didn't like it. And I didn't buy her another cone.

We checked out the new to us Dream playground that had opened up at Trinity Park while we were gone.

The girls had a blast checking out all the equipment.

They have been into the monkey bars and they are soo soo good!

Those smiles!

We watched more soccer.

Got this cute girls soccer pictures back.

And I went on the longest trip I had been on since moving back. Ten days without my three favorite people is too long. I got to FaceTime Zoom Zoom Heart while I was gone.

The prettiest sunset in the Philippines.

And had my first Moroccan Spa experience. Since I was gone over a weekend, I really splurged and treated myself to the best three hour treatment.

Wes built ZZH a maze.

And she had the best time checking it out.

Emma's new favorite breakfast - avocado toast.

We love this sweet girl!

We got out our Nativity set prior to Thanksgiving.

And took a few pictures...

because we were headed to the Nutcracker!!!

I was excite to take the girls to the Ballet to kick off the Christmas season.

The next day, we had Thanksgiving with Wes's family. After not having been for three years, we were excited to see so many family members that we hadn't seen in quite awhile!

And sadly these are the only two pictures I got. Emma learning how to play Pokeman...

And a beautiful sunset. We really had a blast!!

Next up, our annual trip to Port Aransas for Thanksgiving with my family!

Meet Zoom Zoom Heart!!

2020-04-04T15:31:00.000-06:00

I feel like I would be remiss to start off the November Little Things post without first, properly introducing you to the newest member of our family - Zoom Zoom Heart. I am not sure if you remember or if I blogged about it but when we were still living in China we promised that when we moved back, Emma could get a hamster. Many of her friends got pets - her bestie got a cat and another friend got a puppy within a few weeks of each other and our girl was sad sad sad. I grew up with a hamster and felt like it was manageable so a hamster it was.

When we got back, life was crazy and we didn't have a permanent home but Emma kept asking for a hamster. We told her after the re-model was finished we would get the hamster. Well the remodel took longer than anticipated and our girl just kept asking and asking. We knew that we were headed to New York after the remodel finished so we waited a couple more weeks. Wes found some cages on Craigslist, we picked them up and the anticipation started growing.

Finally, on November 2nd the girls I went to pick out Emma's hamster.

She was delighted to say the least. She practically floated through the parking lot.

The nicest sales lady helped us.

I was surprised at just how fast Emma picked out her hamster.

Evsie's decided she wanted one too. Which we later returned - thankful for their two week return policy.

Emma was smitten right from the get go.

Her hamster didn't have a name for the first couple of hours, but we learned quickly that she was a fast little hamster.

Everly's Zippity (named after my hamster :)).

To be honest, our first weekend with Zoom Zoom Heart was not very smooth. She escaped from our hands at least three times that I can remember. Emma and I chased her around the house trying to get her panicking for our lives. She ran under the couch and most famously under the washer and dryer.

I was really second guessing whether we were ready for this.

We called Nonni and invited her over so we could show her off!

She acclimated to her cage quite nicely.

And Emma fell in love. If you know Emma then you know two things about her - she loves hard and she loves animals. This has really been good for her. She cleans her cage each Saturday, plays with her everyday and brings Emma immense joy. She even took a road trip with us.

Safe to say, the Mitchell Family would not be complete without Zoom Zoom Heart :) (ok, that might have been a bit dramatic, but Emma would definitely agree). We love this little stinker.

Halloween!

2020-03-28T08:38:00.003-06:00

Who doesn't want to hear about Halloween in late March? If this is not timely blogging than I don't know what is ;). But since this is more for me as a scrapbook, I am still going to plug away and try to get all caught up!

The weekend before Halloween, we decided to have a little pumpkin painting party - it was my in-town family and a little bit of Wes's family. The prep is one of my favorite parts! Emma helped me to make popcorn hands! Wes got flowers - it was our first time to host (other than Everly's birthday party!).

We made bat cupcakes!

And spider sandwiches :).

The whole spread! The girls were really into it until they were not and I finished everything up.

One of my favorite views in our house - I just love the front door with the tile with the wood with the rug!

We gave the kiddos options of whether they wanted to carve or paint. Emma chose carving and Everly chose painting. Look at what they found in their pumpkins - money!! My dad always did this for us growing up and it is one of my favorite Halloween traditions :).

We laid a tarp in our garage and let the kids go crazy!

And then we ate snacks and hung out - and sadly, I didn't get a picture of just Everly and her pumpkin but oh well :).

The next day, the girls got in costume and got ready for our church's Halloween festival. I love this chance of getting pictures of the kids before the big day because on the big day, they are all hyped up and don't want to stop for pictures.

Everly chose to be an LOL doll.

Is this not the most precious thing you have ever seen?!?

And Emma decided to be a dragon queen.

Just love that sparkle with her sparkly blue eyes.

This is my updated view point on Halloween costumes. As a mom, enjoy the first four years where you can basically coerce them into being little animals (my favorite!! remember Emma and Everly as the elephant! and the tiger!). Then they will start having opinions. We have just decided to let them choose because we know they will only be into it for a few more years - so who cares? And if they choose, they will wear it! Would I love for them to still dress up as lions and tigers and bear - yes! Do they want to? No... so we just go with it! And I think it turned out pretty darn cute!

Their scary faces. Watch out!!

We headed up to the church and they had lots of games for the kids to play.

Our kids did quite well and Everly even won herself an Everly-sized bear!!

They both won the cookie walk at one point or another!

There was even a cookie monster!

We decorated pumpkins.

hunted for treasure...

and tossed balls. All while winning too much candy ;).

We let them change into their regular clothes and bounce on the bounce house until it was time to head to Bobbob's for dinner.

On Halloween night, we ate pizza and we all got dressed up! We ended up taking the girls to Bobbob's house and walking a few streets in his neighborhood before heading to my parents and calling it a night. Wes's costume was so good, but the only picture I have has Bobbob's address on it ;) so next year I will make sure I get a picture.

Those two sweet girls loved trick-or-treating with each other!

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays and I feel like we celebrated to our full potential :).

New York Getaway!

2020-03-25T13:17:00.001-06:00

Back in October, Wes and I spent a long weekend in New York to celebrate our 9th wedding anniversary! Neither of us had been back since we went for our one year anniversary (and I was pregnant with Emma!) so it had been awhile! We love New York and it was super fun to get away for awhile (it happened about 10 days after we were done with the big re-model!).

We flew out super early and made it to New York around 11am. Love the city skyline from the plane.

Took an Uber to our hotel which was right in the middle of 42nd street! The last time we went, we stayed in New Jersey and bussed over every day so this felt like a small luxury staying right in the middle of it all!

We got dressed and were ready to hit the ground running!

First stop - lunch at Shake Shack! This is where we really fell in love with Shake Shack all those years ago so it only felt appropriate to eat it in New York as well ;).

Everything was decorated for Halloween which was so fun! We stopped at an Irish pub for a mid-day beer (no kids!).

Before going to see Mean Girls!!! It was so funny!

After the show, we strolled to Central Park - we had the most amazing weather. Took notes of this playground - we would love to bring Emma and Everly here one day when they are older.

So many people were out - we were just soaking it all in.

And wound up walking through Rockefeller Plaza and the ice rink was up! Is it up all year? I really can't remember, but I don't think I had seen it before.

For dinner that night we googled tacos and overwhelmingly this place came up - we knew we were in for a treat when we showed up and there was a line out the door!

These street tacos were soooo yummy (we actually ended up eating here twice!).

And we capped off the night with a drink at a pub.

The next morning we grabbed breakfast around the street and headed out to walk the Brooklyn Bridge! It is something that I always wanted to do, but never had done. The weather was crisp, the sun was out - it was just a perfect morning strolling from Brooklyn to Manhattan.

My initials (LM) were on those balloons way up there - what are the odds?

After we finished up, we had a few hours to kill so we stopped at Joe's pizza for lunch.

Seriously delish - I loved my white pizza so much!

Next up - we headed over to Metlife Stadium to watch the Cowboys play the Jets!!!

We love checking out sporting events when we travel and we were pleasantly surprised that the Cowboys were there while we were there!

The Cowboys lost, but we had a great time.

Another night, another pub - I looked up some recs before we left. We shared a flight of beer.

And some appetizers. Yum!

The next morning we headed to Greenwich Village. We stopped and got a bagel.

Ate it in this lovely little park - the leaves changing colors were just at the beginning stages, but I am so glad we got a feel for it!

Before we headed out on our food tour!!!!! We had the best time walking around with our guide and getting to try so many samples of different Italian food!

We met the nicest couple on the tour that took this picture of us! They told us we were exactly what they thought of Texans, haha.

Baked donuts!

One of my favorite parts of the tour was walking through the neighborhoods!

We stopped and talked to one of our tour guides friends who was sitting on his stoop!

The Friends building.

This was my favorite house - the cream with the hunter green was such a good combination.

After we finished up - we took the Staten Island Ferry so we could get a look of the Statue of Liberty.

I always love taking this ferry!

When we finished up there we decided to walk the Chelsea Highline.

And go through Chelsea Market.

We shared a lobster roll because we knew we would probably have a late dinner.

Went back to our hotel room, hung out for a bit and then hit up a tex mex restaurant for margaritas before capping off the night with tacos from our new favorite spot ;).

We wanted to wake up early the next morning, but we just didn't (ha!), we headed to get a coffee and banana pudding for later.

Before walking over to the Today Show! We only made it for the last half hour, but we still had a blast!

Walked to The Smith to have breakfast.

Checked out FAO Schwartz and picked up a little treat for the girls.

And then decided to head to the Central Park Zoo. If you have been reading for long, you know we love checking out zoo's when we travel. This one was quaint but had some nice views.

Where are the girls when I need them ;).

Those yellow trees stole my heart. We sat here and ate our banana pudding from Magnolia and soaked up our last kid-free hours.

For a late lunch, we headed to Katz's Deli and boy, was it an experience!

It was super crazy and loud but also somewhat organized? The nicest butcher made our sandwich - we looked up an article that told us what to order :).

We couldn't finish this - it was so huge!

We headed back to our hotel to pick up our bags making a pit stop at the M&M store to get the girls a fun little treat!

And then we headed home! Such a fun little getaway :).

Meanwhile, the girls were having the best weekend and two school days with my parents!!! My parents took such good care of them and we are forever grateful for the love they pour into these two! Here is a peek of what they were up too! Minus all the school stuff :) but I will say my mom was a rockstar making sure they got everything done!

Puzzles.

Working out - Emma loves working out with my mom here in the mornings!

Workbooks!

Making birthday cards for Ally.

Reading books.

These three cheered on Everly at her soccer game!

My mom took the girls to a birthday party at an indoor swimming place!

Avocado toast for breakfast!!

They went to the Kimble on Sunday afternoon and there were a lot of activities for kids to do!

They made glasses!

Got their arm/face painted.

And did lots of arts and crafts.

They had smores (I think more than one time ;)).

Made pumpkin energy bites.

And shared smoothies (the girls are still talking about the time that Papa George took them to get smoothies!).

Think they liked it? ;).

They had a great weekend!!

Coronavirus Check In

2020-03-20T18:52:00.001-06:00

We got back from a Disney Cruise a week ago (I know, I know but we left before it got serious) and I just wanted to check in, say hello! and with all this extra time on my hands maybe I will finally finally catch up on all my blog posts. Don't hold your breath, I just signed up for a 30 day Netflix trial and I may get sucked in...

In the meantime, here is what we have been up to the last week!

We were the only ones on the airport shuttle...

Day one back home we got to meet and greet with all the princesses (and the very important helper organizing the autographs - in case that wasn't obvious, it's Emma). First up, Elsa.

Followed by Rapunzel.

And Belle. The list went on and on, we met Vamparina, Ariel, Aurora, etc.

Wes has been a rockstar managing the home school (which has had a very steep learning curve for all involved, but we got our printer so things are looking up!) while I work from home. For arts and crafts, Ev's decided to build a house for her dolls and Emma built a maze for Zoom Zoom Heart.

I love watching their creativity come alive.

I organized my office and asked my family if they wanted my old stuff - spoiler alert, no one does ;).

A box was delivered!

In the form of Everly!!

This is what working from home looks like at times.

They have played nicely (maybe 1/10th of the time :)).

And I came downstairs and Wes had a box on his head!

I love finding little notes like this tucked under my door :), it makes this whole thing seem more sweet and less insane.

Pictured above: all the highlights.

Not pictured: that I am letting the kids bathe their hatchimals in the sink while I write this, the multiple texts I send Austin every day just to stay sane, the tantrums, meltdowns and number of glasses of wine ;). Just keeping it real :).

Little Things | October

2020-02-24T09:55:00.001-06:00

We will start with the last weekend in September since I forgot to include it last time :).

More time at the soccer fields!

We went to my sisters prior Church's picnic (theirs is always the day before our church's picnic and I would be missing ours since I would leave to Malaysia so we went to hers) - confusing I know, but I love a good church picnic.

Plinko!

Emma killed this one - using all her strength!

This was the girls favorite game - you won a stuffed animal (or two!) each time you played.

We love a bounce house especially when it is an obstacle course!

This was Everly's collection by the end!

Apparently in Malaysia this is the only picture that I took and I can't remember where it was!

Back at home, Wes decorated for Halloween and the girls declared our yard not scary enough! We are going to have to step it up next Halloween.

There were team soccer pictures!

Followed by a soccer game!

Our new rug arrived! and the girls and I were playing hide and seek. At first I thought there was a kid hiding under there, but they were smart and put their boxes of magnatiles under there!

I will never tire of this floor.

Or this front door! I think this might be our most complimented item of the reno.

Entryway table is in. It was so fun to get to see some of the items I ordered over the summer finally getting out of their boxes and ready for use.

I was taking these pictures to send to Ally and feeling pretty proud of all the progress that we had made, but I texted her this picture of our light hanging down as a reminder, that we do in fact, not have it altogether. Actually, on February 23rd when I am writing this, we never got a new light so Wes just re-hung this one without the shade :). We will get there one day!!

This is where our rug was intended to end up! We looooove it!

The girls got mail from my parents! A new phenomenon for them ;).

More soccer practice.

She had so much fun at her sisters soccer practices she decided to sign up for soccer this season :).

I got some new crystals for my office.

These two cuties at yet, another soccer practice.

The lighting was just so good.

I couldn't get over how magical it all looked :).

And then I wanted a sister-sister picture and Emma decided to lick Everly rather than kiss her so there's that.

We made pumpkin chocolate chip energy bites.

We went to Target for Emma to settle on her Halloween costume (meanwhile, Ev's tried on this cute hamburger!).

Lazy Saturday mornings.

Emma "cooked up" a umbrella surprise.

Evsie's scored a goal!!! As you can imagine, we were so stinking proud of her and cheered with all our might.

Afterwards, we headed to Six Flags!

I love hanging out with these goofy girls!

Halloween time in Texas equals still scorching hot. I love the tank tops with all the Halloween.

Wes and I snuck away to New York for a long weekend (more to come on that).

We had a Sunday with nothing going on so we headed to the Dallas Arboretum to get our fill of pumpkins.

That smile!

Even though I did get some cute pictures, the girls were fairly uncooperative and it was super crowded... still fun, but I don't want you to think they like to sit there and smile for pictures :).

I looooooove this one!

Me and my girls :).

Twirly girlies.

Practicing for future engagement pictures ;).

Love this sweet family of mine.

She found some kind of creature and her life was made.

The girls are loving their gymnastics class.

We hosted a fun pumpkin painting party :).

Had Halloween themed donuts.

Wes hung up our curtains and I feel like this room is starting to come together.

After our Halloween party, all of her strawberries had to be served with a side of skeletons.

Emma went over to my parents house for some special time with this so we had this girl all to ourselves. We went out to breakfast and she ordered a cinnamon roll the size of her head!

She was such a fun little date! We came home and she messed around with our Halloween decorations.

Pretending she is a skeleton!

And then we headed to the playground.

A quick dress/shoe change because we decided to play soccer and do a few twirls.

And so many swing pictures because I just couldn't narrow it down.

After our church's fall festival we had dinner with Bobbob!

And rolled into November with our turkey feather complete (Emma's school project).

October was one of my favorite months after moving back - the weather was good, we love Halloween and for most of the month there were no contractors in our house!

Little Things | August and September

2020-02-09T20:44:00.001-06:00

Some of this may be a little out of order, but here is what we were up to in August and September! I am deciding not to be overwhelmed at how far behind this blog is and just embrace it - better late than never :).

Evsie's was so excited when we went to pick out all her soccer gear that she lined everything right up next to her bed :).

Looking way to grown up!

We took the girls to Six Flags (after we bought season passes)...

Just look at those smiles!

It is hard for me to believe that my six year old baby is tall enough to ride the viper ride and sit in the front all by herself! Who allowed her to grow up so quickly?

One upside of them being so big? They can ride a lot of the rides just the two of them :).

Those grins!

The same wave!

For the first full week after school started we were living at my parents - the girls loved playing at this table.

The best way to squeeze in dates with Wes is over lunch! We try to do this at least once a month and it's always my favorite!

Another weekend spent at the home improvement store ;).

I took a quick work trip to Mexico and took a picture of my ceviche ;).

The next weekend, we stayed with my sister-in-law (while the contractors were working on the stairs) and this one was so tired she fell asleep on the couch!

Up the next morning to have coffee and chat (don't really she is just holding my coffee cup, not actually drinking it!).

Meanwhile, back at the house this is how the stairs looked...

They finished the top three stairs, sent us this picture and I started freaking out. Maybe this is why people don't use backsplash on the stair riser?!? We ran by the house and decided to go ahead and have them take it all off. Strike one for the stairs.

We celebrated Papa George's birthday!

Then Wes and I met at a tile store to try to pick out tile for the risers again. We went ahead and ordered the top tile. While it looked awesome with the stairs, it didn't look awesome against the tile we already laid downstairs. Strike 2 for the stairs. Honestly, this is the only area of the house where we purchased something that we couldn't return and it was $500 wasted. Surprised this only happened once ;).

Pretty sunset at my parents house.

For a weekend we decided to shift our attention from the inside of the house to the outside of of the house.

It really came a long way!

Dressed up - not sure where we were heading, but she was ready for it.

As was she...

Cute girl in a cute house (plus a sneak peak at the tile we picked for downstairs).

Love seeing Ev's artwork at school!

Ahhhh so much work, but it looked one thousand times better than when we started. So thankful that my dad helped us with this.

Aquabeads are her favorite - me watching her craft is my favorite! Those boxes in the background - my least favorite ;).

This girl had her first soccer game! and we were pumped!!

We cheered our hearts out for our girl!

Both of my out of town sisters were in town for the weekend and Everly might have had her largest cheering squad ever!

My favorite part of being back - hanging out with the cousins!

We took pictures the next day of all 8 cousins and I snapped this picture of my girl - love when her cheek dimple shines!

Another weekend - another soccer game! Nonni came to cheer Everly on!

This sweet girl played some H-O-T games! I forgot how brutal the heat can be!

Ordered a new rug for our back living room!

Clearly out of order, but this was before her first soccer practice.

She was on the cutest team that wasn't very good, but we were so proud that Ev's played with her whole heart!

Night swimming.

My dad and I went to check out a bathroom store... so many decisions to be made.

This was their favorite hangout spot this summer.

After soccer practice shenanigans.

Two little monkeys!

As soon as we found out that the Rangers stadium was closing (they are getting a new ballpark), we knew we had to take the girls to a game!

They were here for the snacks!

Wes got us some pretty good seats.

Me and my girl :).

We snuck in a date night!

Is a Target run complete without trying on costumes as Halloween approaches?!?

Another afternoon at Six Flags!

That cat is looking a little grumpy :).

Bye sweet girls!

This unicorn was cute, but turned out to be a no-go for her.

Sunday night pizza dinner at Bobbob's.

We celebrated our 9 year anniversary with dinner at Gloria's (we had a big trip planned the following month).

Oh happy day! Our appliances arrived! And after more than a month of cooking on a griddle, we could not be more excited!

We really scored in the date night department during September - we have season tickets to the Bass and went to our first show Phantom of the Opera!

While my mom and dad took the girls to a concert!

The girls got to spend the night since the show was late and they were up and at em early making pancakes.

Meanwhile back at the house, backsplash went up, countertops went in and we got a new sink!

Ahhhh this progress felt so so good. Those boxes felt so so overwhelming :).

And just like that September was over. I flew out to Malaysia during the last few days of the month and by the time I got back our contractors were gone. While we liked them a lot, we were just so happy to have our house back to ourselves. After a crazy, hectic 3 - 4 months we were finally home!

Celebrating Everly's 6th Birthday!

2020-01-19T13:20:00.001-06:00

Nearly six months ago, our baby girl turned SIX years old?!? I would say, I could hardly believe it, but it has been six months and I have mostly come to terms with it. We were still living in a hotel so I asked Nonni if we could do her birthday morning at her house and she said sure! So there we were bright and early ready to celebrate our girl!

Nonni and the birthday girl.

It seems like just yesterday that she was a baby...

And now she's SIX!!!!!!

I will say this is the first birthday where there was minimal jealousy from the other sibling and we were so proud of Emma for how she handled herself - she was super supportive (even during present time!).

The sweetest girls :).

Present time :).

She was very excited!

Then we had cinnamon rolls for breakfast - her favorite!

Making her wish!

Who wouldn't love this birthday breakfast?!?

Apparently somewhere in there, Emma had a dress change - we decided to snap a few pictures before Papa George headed to work!

Love this one :).

Nonni and Papa George with the birthday girl!

And again with Emma!

And then Wes and I wanted a picture and this is the best we could get :(.

Love our family!

We let Ev's pick the activity and she picked going to see the Lion King (she actually picked this back when we were living in China and she found out that the Lion King was coming out close to her birthday!).

No complaints from me - I love the music from the Lion King.

Followed by Chick Fil A for lunch (also Ev's pick).

We dropped Nonni off and then the girls wanted to go swimming...

And just like that her birthday was over (I think we had pizza by the pool for dinner).

And it was onto her birthday party. We didn't have access to our house (there was only a toilet with no doors! and in retrospect, we should have had it somewhere else but we had already decided on a pool party just utilizing our patio. We woke up to rain... boo! So we moved the party back an hour and hoped for the best. It ended up raining and it was crazy, but I don't think it bothered the birthday girl one bit.

My mom really helped us out allowing us to use her kitchen to prep everything...

She was pumped about turning six!

Love it when Bobbob and Papa George can join.

We had pizza for lunch, a lot of swimming (all the pictures with Everly in it have other kids too so I won't post those) and then it was time for cake!

And a fun game that Wes made for all the kids!

These girls love their aunt Celeste!

I was trying to get a picture of Emma in her rainbow suit and rainbow earrings...

When someone splashed her!

And that's a wrap on Evsie's sixth birthday! We love her to the moon and back several times over and were so happy to celebrate our girl even with our unusual circumstances :).

Summer Little Things | Part Two

2020-01-01T17:37:00.001-06:00

Summer part two is much like summer part one ;), more house decisions, loads of pool time and spending time with family!

One day Wes and the girls met me for lunch and then we went to go pick out our countertop - when you want white quartz with only a little bit of veining, the decision is pretty easy!

The Clara countertop it was!

Demo on our kitchen started - they took out those lights, closed the box and put in recessed lighting!

We picked out flooring for the girls bath - spoiler, we love it! and so does everyone that has come over!! Inspo was from the first bloggers I followed.

Picked out a front door - we also love this! I am surprised with how much I still really really love considering how quickly we had to make decisions - maybe I will write more about this?

We had a pizza dinner with our favorite Bobbob!

New paint in the master! We went with SW Accessible Beige in the whole house - also super happy with this decision. In case it's not obvious - it's the lighter of the two colors.

The girls bathroom got demolished! We made a last minute decision to rip out that pony wall and we are so happy! This was a critical room because we had to have this room finished before we moved back in - we were still living in a hotel at this point.

Instant gratification for blog readers - the box was filled in!

Special date with my girl - she chose donuts and Target, a girl after my own heart :).

This is the master - floors ripped up and new floors about to go in after paint!

I mentioned in the last post we decided to do the downstairs floors as well - I was so happy we were not living here while they used the jackhammer to get up these floors! We did leave the fireplace - I just love that Wes did this while I was pregnant with Everly.

Master bedroom prepped and ready for paint and then floors - bye bye satin charcoal grey I thought was cool when I was 26 ;).

We got new plumbing - one of those expensive things you will never notice, but obviously have to do.

The pink room became the storage room.

This is currently my favorite view in the house.

With all that house excitement - Emma lost her front tooth!

We got to spend a weekend with the girls out of town cousins on Wes's side of the family! So happy we got to spend time with them and that Grandma and Grandpa could be there too.

Finally got myself a good picture of her missing tooth - goes down as my all time favorite Emma "look".

They don't love each other at all ;). This was the reunion after Nonni had been in Colorado for a week! How did we ever survive months at a time without seeing Nonni, I will never know?!?

Our sweet hayhead wanted a turn :).

We celebrated Everly's birthday (more on this to come).

We went to our bridge to take pictures (also, more of these snaps to come).

We moved back into Nonni and Papa George's house at some point (I think this might have been the point?) and made homemade watermelon popsicles.

They were great helpers in the kitchen.

Bobbob had everyone over for a bar-b-que with my cousins. Emma and Everly fell in love with my cousins dog, Moose.

We had a small birthday party for Everly!

Then, we headed out of town to San Antonio and the lake house for a few days before school started. The Sunday we got back, we had our cousins, Nonni and Papa George over for a swim!

We also came home to a painted master bedroom! Hooray!!!

And just like that, summer was over and it was time to start school! We have decided we will not be sharing any details of where we decided to send the kiddos to school, but they love it and we couldn't be happier!

Summer Little Things | Part One

2019-12-28T13:40:00.000-06:00

This summer was a blur. A literal blur because I hardly took any pictures (so unlike me, but as you can imagine it was a lot of stress). Here is a look at what we were up to this summer (minus a gazillion pictures of every time we went to Floor and Decor because really this post could be summed up as the summer we spent our life at Floor and Decor ;)).

June 26th in the San Francisco airport still not fully believing we were headed home. And if I am being honest with mixed feelings about heading home.

Everly and Papa George reunited!!! I guess I don't have a picture, but my parents picked us up at the airport and we stayed with them for a few days before moving into a hotel.

I am not going to go into the details, but our house was trashed (here is just a small glimpse of what we found when we headed over bright and early to check on it).

We immediately got started on renovation decisions - I had ordered some samples when we were still living in China.

My dad had painted some paint samples on our dining room wall for us.

It's hard to believe this was our old kitchen!

Funny, this is the combo we found on day 1 of floor shopping and is what we ended up going with. So many trips to Floor and Decor.

We headed to a concert one night with my parents...

where the girls promptly fell asleep ;). Jet lag is no joke.

We made lists upon lists upon lists.

Hard to believe this is what the girls bathroom looked like - just wait until I show you what we have done with it!

On the several trips to our house - the girls always managed to get in the pool!

Looking all bright and bubbly - they were pumped!

To go get their ears pierced!!! My mom came with us and it was one of those moments where I realized wow, it's going to be so nice to have my mom around all the time rather than twice a year!

Ouch!!!

We headed to visit our favorite pup (who hung on just long enough to see us - he has since passed away).

The earring aftermath.

Time with our Bobbob is our favorite! He is always ready with pizza and ice cream!!

We ate dinner with my parents before heading to the Fourth of July festivities - I snapped this pictures in my parents backyard before we headed out.

So many sillies.

It is even the Fourth of July if you don't have snocones?

We had a family get-together on the 4th at our pool!

Got ourselves some texas donuts one morning.

New flooring was delivered.

More paint samples were debated.

And the ceilings were getting scraped - hooray for no more popcorn!

There were cousin visits!

And tons of swimming - we really fell back in love with having our own pool!

Everly turned into a mermaid.

And we visited floor and decor for the umpteenth time ;).

We found ourselves at the playground when the weather would cooperate (read: not too hot!).

Belly flop!

The girls played for hours on these stairs.

We admired the sky every chance we could get (from one of the many hotels we stayed at)...

We made a last minute decision to get rid of these floors (I have never been happier).

We ate watermelon with friends!

And that is a wrap on the first part of summer!!

Lake House

2019-11-19T01:40:00.000-06:00

After we left the Marriott, we headed back near Austin to visit my Aunt's lake house. They have a beautiful house and we were so happy we got to spend some time with them!

On our way in, we were treated to some deer sightings!

Almost immediately, they took us out on the lake!

We weren't sure if they would be lake girls, but yes, indeed - they sure are!

We really had the best time! After an hour or so, we went back to the dock to pick up Adge and her fiance - we were so happy they could join us!

Back at the house with incredible lake views. We had to teach Adge and Dennis Exploding Kittens and then finished the night with an incredible meal.

The next morning, we hit the swimming pool before heading back home.

We had all the school things to get ready for, but I am so glad we had this time together. My aunt and uncle were the best hosts and we had so much fun with them!

The Perfect End to Summer

2019-11-17T01:20:00.000-06:00

We knew that when we moved back it would be crazy (we honestly, just didn't anticipate how crazy!), so with that in mind - we booked a quick summer getaway to the JW Marriott Hill Country Resort for the weekend before school started. Dare I say, it was the perfect way to end summer (loads and loads of quality family time and more importantly this time no house decisions to make ;)). Here are a few pictures from our quick getaway.

We woke up early and headed out - any guesses as to our first stop?!?

That's right - we had to go check out all of the hubbub about Chip and Joanna Gains Magnolia.

It was not crowded at all and I felt like the grounds lived up to the hype.

It was so pretty everywhere you looked!

Just keeping it real ;). Someone (not naming names) was not in the best mood.

Ahhhhh, I love my family.

We got cupcakes to go!

And took them to Austin! We met up with Adge (my sister) at Zilker park.

It was so stinking hot, the girls took a dip in Barton Springs before we got back in the car! Barton Springs is infamously cold - so it was fun to see their reaction.

Ahhhh, finally made it to our destination. I don't have any pictures from the first day - but we jumped right into the pool and made ourselves at home. After dinner, we headed out to find the giant fire pit where they offer smores every evening.

These two!

And then we found this spot on the golf course that was a photographers dream (I only had my iPhone and thought the pictures turned out great.

Capturing those real smiles is my new life's mission ;).

Up, bright and early the next morning - my hayhead had strawberries for breakfast.

First ones in the pool!

Breakfast tacos by the pool!

And then I got brave with my phone and took it into the water :).

The girls made slime!

And this was pretty much my view for 50+ hours.

We bought a ball and played rounds and rounds and rounds of Monkey in the Middle.

Where I captured so many of those natural smiles I was talking about.

After we were water logged, we cleaned up ate dinner and took twirly pictures. Because you know I love a good twirly whirly girly picture.

We finished our night with smores and several rounds of Exploding Kittens.

The next morning, we had breakfast by the fire before jumping back into the pool to do it all over again.

This sweet girl constantly makes me smile!

After lunch we packed up, hit the road and headed out for one more small adventure. I really think this may become an end of summer tradition - I loved stealing them away before the routine, homework and schedules overtook our life :).

Well, hello again!

2019-10-20T20:26:00.000-05:00

Hi! Anyone still there?!? I have missed documenting all the little things over the last several months. Let me just start with repatriation is crazy. There were so many things to do both in China and the US, it is unreal and sometimes overwhelming to think about all of the things we have done over the last three to four months - I won't bore you with all the details, but suffice to say, life has been nuts.

Our girls - they have been the best. They have adapted and rolled with the changes like champs. There have been hiccups, but they have truly handled everything unbelievably well. We are super proud of them.

Also on that note, big kids are the best. I love being able to just take off with these two with no naps, no strollers and obviously, no diapers. Also, they are just so much fun to hang out with. Here is a little look of what we were up to this weekend.

On Friday night, we had pizza and made a batch of pumpkin energy bites.

Before heading to Target to pick up Emma's Halloween costume. I won't give it away, but I will show you the cutest hamburger in the world (too bad she won't eat one ;)).

Slow Saturday mornings are the best. The girls played and played (for long time readers it seems like we have officially moved on from hatchimals to barbies - please help me!) while Wes and I continued to unpack - it really seems like we will never be unpacked at this rate!

We headed to Everly's soccer game.

She scored her first goal!! We were so so proud of her!!

After the game, we headed to Six Flags - life with them is never dull!

Capturing her real smile is my favorite.

Posing with creatures of any kind is her favorite ;).

Game changer: they can ride several of the rides all by themselves! How did they get this big?!?

On Sunday, we headed to the Dallas Arboretum to check out the pumpkins - here are a few of my favorite snaps.

We asked them to pose like they just got engaged :).

More accurate of their personalities ;).

As to the frequency that I will be blogging - definitely unpredictable. Maybe once a week? Maybe once a month? Stayed tuned...

Steam Train Weekend

2019-05-20T03:20:00.000-05:00

The first weekend in March, we packed up and hit the road with the necessities - each other, tablets for the kiddos and Starbucks for us!

We headed about three hours south of Chengdu to ride one of the last (only?) steam trains left in China.

We went at peak time - grapeseed flower festival was going on and it was quite crowded!

We were happy that our train was half an hour late because we had arrived just in time so this gave the kids a little bit of a break to stretch their legs! And get their sillies out!!

Boarded the train! We were ready for an adventure!

The view as we pulled away.

Waving bye to our driver!

These flowers are some of my favorite - they appear in Chengdu for 2 - 3 weeks away (these flowers make canola oil).

Those blue skies didn't hurt my mood either...

The funniest thing happens - the train lets you out and gives you time to get to a viewing platform, then the train backs up and comes towards you so you can get a good picture. It made my photography loving heart super happy!

The sweetest kiddos!

And the best daddy!

And the chaos, because travelling with 8 kiddos will always be crazy.

Love this picture of me and Wes!

The kids started screaming when we were heading through tunnels much to the other passengers delight (or annoyance? I will let you be the judge). I got out my camera and got a few funny snaps!

A yummy dinner that our drivers had helped us to order once we arrived in the town where we were staying for the night. That night the kiddos played and the adults chatted before heading to bed.

The next morning, we were up bright and early - after breakfast, the kiddos were putting on some kind of performance/play.

And then we headed out on a guided walk and had the best time exploring this ancient town (truly an ancient town, not commercialized (yet!)).

Loved this swing!!

And this door - the colors!

We stumbled into the most amazing coffee shop!

And, then, wound our way through town to the museum.

At last, it was time to head back to the train to ride it back to the town where our drivers were waiting for us. It was a short, but fun! weekend adventure!

Wes got this picture and it is my most favorite picture from the whole weekend!

Such a fun weekend!!

February and March Little Things

2019-04-17T06:32:00.000-05:00

Most of our February was spent with Nonni, but here is a little look of what we were up to the rest of February and during March!

The Saturday after Nonni left, we headed back to the mall to paint the girls pottery.

They chose the prettiest spring colors! and did a fantastic job!

We ate lunch at Mike's Pizza!

And then we headed to our neighborhood CNY party to learn how to make dumplings :).

We had the best time learning how to make dumplings.

Finished product!! Turns out they didn't let us eat the ones we made, but they brought us some very delicious professionally made ones for dinner :).

I looooove these calendars I make for my mom (they are always a lot of work so I order myself one too!). March 1st happened to be one of my most favorite pictures of Everly Gracie I have ever taken :).

On Saturday, we took our scooters and had an early lunch at our favorite dumpling place.

Looking extra cute!

A quick stop at Starbucks and we were on our way to our Steam Train Weekend (more about this in the next post).

Back at home and ready for school with Mommy's sunglasses :).

Wes made tamales!! They were delish!

Whew, we finally went back to gymnastics class!

A shark got Everly!!

And then it was Everly's turn.

That night, we went over to our friends house to let the girls play while the adults chatted!

This girl loves a pair of sunglasses and found a huge pair of pink sunglasses!

We met friends at our favorite playground!

Ahhhh, those blue skies. So infrequent this month!

Such a happy girl at the playground! After playing, we headed back to our house where we ordered in Indian food (our new favorite cuisine) for us and our friends!

Wes came to have lunch with me one day (I had taken my team out for lunch the week prior and they chose this new to us place with pictures on the menu for easy ordering). This is my most favorite dish - it is a cold vegetable and noodle dish!

We followed it with a sweet treat!

So thankful he made the long haul out to have lunch with me!

It was Emma's turn o take home Corduroy the bear! She was over the moon excited!

She and Corduroy had a snack together outside.

She made them matching bracelets.

And then, after dinner, she took Corduroy on a scooter ride. Not to be left out, Ev's chose one of her stuffies to take along for the ride.

Before turning in for the night, Corduroy and Emma did her online homework together.

The next morning, we had to send Corduroy back to school!

We had our family fun weekend which I already mentioned, but started with terrariums... (you can see more about that weekend a few posts back).

Came home one day to find the cutest striped girl!

A big moment for Em's - we hosted a much anticipated BFF sleepover that started at the trampoline park.

Picked up a few more kids along the way to have even more fun!

We took the kids that were still here on a walk the next morning and the cherry blossom trees were starting to show off.

We met one of the kiddos families for lunch before returning all the kids home!

Dressed and ready to go to her next play date with a plateful of chocolate chip cookies.

The blue skies were lovely - the kids rode their scooters and played outside while we had mexican food, tamales and drinks! This day also marked three years in China!

One day I came home from work and Everly was in her lambie costume - she just looked so darn cute to me that I couldn't help but taking some pictures of my very favorite lambie. Can she just stay this little forever??!!??

Then, for the final days of March, we made an impromptu trip to Thailand in search of some sunshine!!

Zigong | Lantern Festival

2019-04-15T07:06:00.000-05:00

After the dinosaur park, we met back up with our driver and she drove us about 15 minutes to the Lantern Festival. By this point it was cold and drizzling, but we decided to forge ahead because we heard great things!

We got there a little bit before dark which was cool because we have pictures in the daytime and all lit up at night. We wandered around for awhile taking in the sheer number of floats/decorations/lights that went into this festival before we settled into a place for dumplings while it drizzled around us.

After dumplings, the girls got a sucker.

And then, slowly, but surely all the lights started coming on! Looooved this peacock!

My other favorite was the walkways... I loved looking up at the different creations.

I am not sure if these pictures adequately capture how big this place was and just how many lights there were! It was pretty magical!!

After we walked around, we headed home arriving pretty late! The next morning, we woke up, Nonni walked the girls to the bus stop one final time and then I took Nonni to the airport on my way to work! We are so so thankful Nonni was able to spend three weeks with us!

We had the best time!

Zigong | Dinosaur Park

2019-04-08T06:08:00.000-05:00

On my mom's last day in Chengdu, we decided to head about two hours south of Chengdu to a town called Zigong for the Dinosaur Museum and the Lantern Festival. Our first stop was the Dinosaur Museum - we had low expectations, but it turned out to be a pretty fun little adventure.

Big dinosaurs greeted us right away! There was a fun little outdoor path that circled around through different dinosaurs.

Next up, we hit up the actual museum. There were quite a few dinosaurs in there (apparently there is an excavation site that was actually in Zigong that uncovered a bunch of dinosaur bones).

This was my favorite - for some reason the idea of swimming dinosaurs really appeals to me!

They were showing us what the bones look like when they found them.

There was an area where the kids could touch some of the bones.

And then, one of my favorite parts, the girls rode these little dinosaur cars! I mean!! Have you seen anything cuter?

Full disclosure, Ev's is a terrible driver and ended up crashing her dinosaur into the sidewalk. Hope this was not a peek into her future :).

Then we came across this little activity course for the girls to do!

We headed to the back of the park to see more dinosaurs!

Just a girl and her daddy!

There was this large dinosaur head with steps leading up to it and the girls couldn't wait to jump in.

The back side was a lot less crowded ;).

Just love this girls natural smile so much!

We had so much fun exploring the dinosaur park!

Happy 7th Birthday, Emma Lemma

2019-04-04T07:23:00.000-06:00

I can hardly believe I have been a mom for 7 years!! Even though it feels like it has gone by in a blink - we do, in fact, have a seven year old! And we couldn't possibly love her more even if we tried. On February 16th our sweet Emma turned 7 and it was literally icing on the cake that Nonni was here to celebrate with us!

Her birthday fell on a Saturday and we decided to have the party that day! The Friday before, we went to school to celebrate her with cupcakes!

We grabbed Ev's out of her class so she had a big crowd - Nonni, Dad, me and Ev's! all ready to celebrate our girl!

Beaming!

We had so much fun hanging out in her classroom - they were finishing up their 100 day celebration after we had cupcakes.

After that - we took my mom to our favorite dumpling place! Seriously, best dumplings in Chengdu :).

Then, we got home and started all the birthday prep! Well actually, my mom and Wes had already done most of the work so we just finished a few things.

This looks like it was fun and joyous, but I remember that it was a bit stressful. Especially when Everly dumped the wrong kind of sprinkles in a giant pile right in the middle ;).

Emma was all set to have a Unicorn Arts and Crafts party so we made unicorn bark to share with friends.

Then we tucked her into bed and I snuck in to take the last picture I have of her as a six year old.

These two were up bright and early on p-a-r-t-y day!!

And then it was present time! (and yes, we still give Ev's a few presents... we are trying to stop this, but as evidenced below, we are somewhat unsuccessful!).

Her very own purse to sew!

Mermaid hatchimals. Just when we thought hatchimals couldn't get any better than they already were - now we have mermaid hatchimals :).

Nonni got them terrariums.

And a new game for Emma!

Then we went outside to take some pictures! Nonni loves doing this pose with Emma (I think it started on Emma's second Easter) so I have many pictures of them rubbing their noses together :).

Little sisters...

She was so happy Nonni could be here for her big day!

She gives the biggest, squishiest hugs!

And the best I got with my girl!

Then we loaded up our van with all the party supplies and we were off!

Some of our friends live in a building that has a great space for parties and they were generous enough to let us use it! The last thing I wanted was arts and crafts party in our house! We got there a couple of hours early, sent Emma off to play with her bestie and then got busy decorating!!

Pinata!

When Emma joined us, she was excited to see all the decorations - she put the finishing touches on her cake!

Wish there was better lighting, but I think it turned out pretty cute!

My mom had brought these packages of unicorn stickers from the states so first up, everyone decorated their brown paper bag that would later be used to collect the candy from the pinata.

Then, everyone made these DIY unicorn necklaces. My mom and Wes had dyed a bunch of pasta in unicorn like colors and they strung it together however they pleased.

Next up, lunch (Mike's Pizza!) - and lots of chip and popcorn eating.

There is this awesome area for kids to play!

Goodness, we are going to miss all of the friends that we have made here!

Then, for the big unicorn craft, we did the craft that you normally see us do at the mall - it's called mud pearls (I don't know how to better describe it) and they decorated unicorns with the mud pearls.

Our driver brought by this cute hedgehog stuffie for Everly.

Nonni and Emma working on her mud pearls.

Next up, we did the pinata! I love seeing kids take a whack at pinatas!!

He was such a big helper before, during and after the party!!

Sweetest bunch of kiddos!

On round 2, the birthday girl was the one to knock it down!

Then it was time for cake!

We hope all your birthday wishes come true!

Last up was pin the horn on the unicorn - it was delightful and funny and cute way to end the party!

And just one note, we asked Emma to wait until the birthday party was over to open her presents (she did so good with this by the way, maybe age 7 is the age where they start reasoning?)... but, one friend was very excited about the present she was giving to Emma so at the end of the party they asked if it was ok if she opened it so, of course, we said yes and it was the most fabulous pair of pink, sparkly shoes! The next day, Emma exclaimed, "these shoes are just a dream come true!". I just want to remember the way she prances around the house in her fancy shoes without a care in the world.

Emma and her besties!

After we got home from the birthday party, the girls settled in playing with some of Emma's presents! In this case, dino excavator kits! before we finally called it a night.

It was such a wonderful day celebrating our sweet, lovable, spunky Emma Lemma! The day was made even more special by Nonni's visit to China!! We love you to the moon and back. and back. and back Emma.

Four Random Things

2019-03-29T06:44:00.000-06:00

One. We have officially lived in China for three years. Wow, it dawned on us this past weekend, that we have been here for three years! We had a weekend filled with friends - Emma hosted a BFF sleepover for her friends and then on Sunday we had a bar-b-que with another set of friends in our neighborhood. This adventure has been so so good for us in so many ways, but we are beyond excited to get home!

Two. Speaking of going home soon, decorating our house is at the top of my mind. I can't wait to get started. Besides scraping the popcorn ceilings, fresh paint and new floors I have been decorating our house in my head since we got here! Here is a sneak peek of the direction I am headed with our living room, master bedroom and Ev's bedroom. Of course, it is inspired by my too cute for words lambie ;). What do you think? Thoughts? Suggestions? A white kitchen is in order too ;).

Three. Reading for fun has been so great for me. I have read six books since Chinese New Year and I am loooooving it! I forgot how much I enjoy reading. So glad I just bought a book and went for it! Any good book recommendations? I like a wide variety as you can see above! But light and easy reads might be my favorite.

Four. Quick getaway to Thailand. I would consider us pretty spontaneous, but even this surprised me. Last Wednesday, I reached my breaking point for gray skies and bad air quality. Like literally bad mood. Will this winter ever end? We momentarily looked at a quick trip to Australia (flights were only $420?!?!!), but we didn't have the girls passports (they only had two blank pages left so they were getting new ones). Good news, their passports came back on Tuesday and we left Wednesday night. I am writing this before we go, but some sunshine is in order! Vitamin D therapy is the name I gave this trip ;).

Valentine's Day!!

2019-03-27T06:23:00.000-06:00

We had the sweetest, low key Valentine's Day morning. The night before Valentine's day, we wrote things that we love about each other and put them all over the living room (we read them aloud too!). There were so many random things. Ev's loves my nose. Emma loves dad's snack bags. Nonni loves Emma squishy hugs. Daddy loves that Everly loves her stuffies (stuffed animals) so much, you get the point!

After the girls went to sleep, we laid out their valentines treats. It was really a team effort. Nonni brought a card and M and M's, Wes picked up stickers, I picked up the candy from work and made a card from Wes and I. We were excited for the girls to wake up!!

Oh, and I made chocolate covered strawberries!

Wes got me these beautiful flowers.

And got the girls a rose, which of course, they adored! Emma busted out with this cute little peace sign!!

Pictures with daddy before they left for school!

You really don't need a lot to make the kiddos feel loved! And we sure do love them!!

Visit with Nonni | The Panda's

2019-03-26T06:21:00.000-06:00

The girls still had two days off when we got our car back- so one day, we decided to head to the Panda base since this was Nonni's last visit to China and her and Ev's both wanted to go! And who doesn't loooove pandas!

We got there bright and early (7:45) and we could already tell it was going to be crowded - so many people still on their holiday! Loved the way they were lighting up the panda for CNY.

Ev's with the mom and baby panda.

They added this small sculpture area that of course Ev's loved. Can you spy her?

We walked down to a little lake and came across the cutest little baby swans. The girls were mesmerized, but we finally pulled them away because we hadn't seen any pandas yet!

Signs of spring on the way.

Finally, made it to our first panda!

This quartet had us laughing up a storm - regularly, they were "fighting" over the same piece of bamboo.

Then we saw the yearlings and they stole our heart. Don't you just want to take one of these home with you?

Next up, the red pandas.

I also love these little guys!

Love these two pictures I got of Emma :).

Then we found the babies!! If you didn't swoon over the yearlings, these are your guys! They were tooo cute!

Can you believe Ev's teacher tells us she's shy?

Nonni bought Emma, Ev's and all her other grandkids a panda - Emma chose a baby and Ev's chose a red panda. So sweet of Nonni!

As we were walking out, this was the crowd walking in - crazy, right? So glad we got there early!

Blue skies on our way out!

Next, we headed to Jin Li street for some street food. It was crazy busy, so I didn't get too many pictures - we enjoyed potatoes and squid while the girls enjoyed cotton candy!

Such a fun day with Nonni and a great way to wrap up the girls CNY holiday.

Visit with Nonni | Part Four

2019-03-25T06:15:00.000-06:00

Right after we got back from Bamboo Sea, our driver went on her CNY holiday so we had lots of days to putter around the house together.

Wes and I snuck in a coffee date at Starbucks!

On the first day of my holiday, we took the kids to Luxelakes playground - I don't know how it is done (well, I do since they base CNY on the Lunar calendar), but it is always always sunny on CNY. Not that I am complaining, I am just amazed.

I guess Emma was so busy playing with her friends I didn't get any snaps of her until we were leaving!

The next day, we had a nice outdoor lunch at Iron Pig with my mom before we met a group of friends at the trampoline park to let the kiddos bounce their energy out!

The next day was bright and sunny again, so we headed back to Luxelakes playground with our same friends! Scooters are the way to gooooo when we don't have a car!

There were so many games played every night. One night we all had enough of Ev's favorite game Hi-Ho Cherry-O so we suggested that she play with her hatchimals - it was a great idea! She won every single game!!

On Saturday, my mom and I took the girls to make pottery. We had a blast watching them make their creations!

The finished product!

We followed that up with some fruit tea from my favorite tea place and let the girls play some games before we took a Didi to meet Wes at Peters for a late lunch/early dinner.

The next day, we hung around the house before venturing out for some Chinese food at our neighborhood place.

Nonni and her girls!

Who can resist a silly face photo ;).

I was happy I got to spend so much time with Nonni during the Chinese New Year holidays :).

Family Fun Weekend

2019-03-22T06:57:00.002-06:00

We love hanging out with friends on the weekend, but we realized that we love when we have a rare chance for it to be just us four on the weekend, too! This past weekend we found ourselves with no plans and so we declared it - family fun weekend!

It started out on Friday, the girls were out of school for a PD day - but I still had to work, boo! Wes and the girls made their terrariums that my mom gave them!

They were pretty pumped and have been checking out the growth every day!

That night we went down and had Chinese food together. The next morning, the girls were up early and wanted to show Nonni what they had made so we gave her a quick call!

We had a little bit of down time before heading to gymnastics so we decided to color.

Gymnastics time!

Emma and Ev's are going to different classes now and Everly loves to play with all the toys during Emma's class.

There's a 45 minute gap between their classes so we played a few games.

After Ev's class, we walked to a new mall to eat at Peter's.

Love these three!!!

As we were walking out to grab a Didi (our driver wasn't available), we saw a Zara so we popped in to check out the spring arrivals. Emma is counting down the day until these shoes show up on her door step.

It was a blast! I realize that I have never taken the girls clothes shopping at a store (how funny is that?!!!). The girls each picked out a pair of shorts and a shirt for the summer. We had to head immediately to a bathroom to change clothes because new clothes, duh!

On our way out, we bumped into this cute striped wall and it was perfect to take their picture!

Doesn't she look sooooooo grown up here?

And so precious!

Want to know something funny. I don't let my kids buy character shirts. I actually despise them. I have a rule that what goes into their closets we both must like because I don't ever want there to be a battle over clothes. But you also know what - Everly's love for everything Mickey Mouse is so endearing that I gave into a giant Pluto sequined shirt! That's her prize for being the baby ;). And her one and only character shirt. She told me, now that she has this shirt we have to go back to Disney. Smart girl!

Sunday morning, we headed to the blue ball playground! We had our last two passes to use! The girls had a blast!

And after more than 6 hours of playing, we ended our family fun weekend with Indian food (for us, the girls wanted nothing to do with it)! Soooo yummy!

And blue skies! Which has been a rare sighting in Chengdu lately.

Such a fun weekend :).

Visit with Nonni | Part Three (more Bamboo Sea)

2019-03-18T06:23:00.000-06:00

On Sunday morning, we woke up to bright blue skies! After a breakfast of more "very famous" Yibin noodles, we packed up and set out to explore!

First, we tried to ride the cable cars, but it was closed... so we opted to climb up a tower and have a look over the national forest.

Stunning. Sooooooo much bamboo.

Can you spy the cable cars?

Looooved the sun shadow because it meant there was sun ;).

Next, we went to a bamboo path and we lucked out- no one was there!

The girls were in a picture taking mood, so I snapped away.

That smooch!

Love the way Emma is looking at Ev's.

Emma wanted to stand behind Everly because she's older... and soooo much taller ;).

I adore this picture :). Real sisters - real life.

Time for some close ups. I will never ever get tired of that cheek dimple.

And those baby blues.

My favorite!

Wheeeeeeeee!

A girl and her dad :).

We got to see a special kind of bamboo...

It grows naturally like this!

We went to a museum...

And then to a waterfall. We hiked and hiked and hiked... and counted numerous secret waterfalls to keep our motivation levels high.

I have said this a thousand times on this blog, but I love nothing more than watching the girls explore.

We made it to the final attraction!

After letting the kids run out their energy, we headed back...

So thankful Nonni got to spend three weeks with us!

Wes fits right in :).

Love this picture of Everly and Wes!

And then for our final adventure in the Bamboo Sea, we took the cable cars up up up! We didn't know these cable cars only sat two adults so my mom and Everly got in line first and away they went while we were like, oh my! what's happening?? Funny fact: my mom doesn't like cable cars! We didn't know this prior to going... yikes!

Wes, Emma and I got in the next cable car - the cable cars were open so Emma could stick her head out...

We were happy to be reunited! On the drive home, we stopped and had some spicy dumplings before finally making it back to our home! It was an eventful 48 hours!!

Visit with Nonni | Part Two (Bamboo Sea)

2019-03-14T06:39:00.001-06:00

Would you believe me if I told you the internet in Chengdu has been the w.o.r.s.t. lately. Seriously, the worst. It started with our VPN going completely down (about two weeks ago) and although it has recovered, it has taken me approximately 6.25 hours to load all of the pictures you are going to see today. The silver lining- I have gotten back into reading. Like really into reading. After a 7 year break (goodness, I am embarrassed to admit that), I have read five books in the last four weeks.

Anyways, enough with the chit chat, let's get back to Nonni's visit. The first weekend Nonni was in Chengdu, we decided to go to the Bamboo Sea (about three hours south of Chengdu) for the weekend. We got up bright and early and headed out. Once we arrived at the hotel, Ev's devoured her strawberries.

And we devoured our "very famous" Yibin noodles that were actually quite delicious.

Out hotel was inside the national park, so once we unloaded our things, our driver took us around to the various attractions. The first stop was Cloud Lake.

Evsie's brought Pandi along with us (since we were going to see so much bamboo!).

Long live the piggies.

This picture makes me smile.

Will she love stuffed animals forever? Someone, please tell me yes...

There was a lot of bamboo!

In case you are wondering why there is more pictures of Everly than Emma, literally she was asking me to take her picture all day!) and I am not one to turn that down!!

We arrived at the boats... and because we were literally the only customers, we convinced them to lower the price for a half an hour ride instead of going for the full hour.

Real life. Emma was pouting because she either wanted to be driving or sitting up in the front :).

There is a famous island here (not this one) where a movie was shot.

We gave the girls a turn at the wheel and needless to say, I am not ready for them to be driving anytime soon!

She looks so grown up here!

Nonni's expression is my favorite - cold? or unsure if she is going to make it off the boat without getting wet with Emma behind the wheel? I will let you decide...

Our next stop was a really pretty waterfall!

I love watching these two explore the world together.

Prettiest moss covered rock.

We walked to a different waterfall. Love this picture of them!!

Thought Ev's was going to fall in!

A different part of the waterfall - you could walk behind it! We had a slight disaster - Ev's fell as she was running through it, but it was nothing we couldn't handle.

I am pretty sure my parents have taken this exact picture! I looooove it!!!

Love this type of artwork.

For our last stop of the day, can you tell it was getting dark, we headed to a very dense area of bamboo to walk around a bit. We didn't last too long due to the cold temperatures.

That night we had a great dinner that included a bamboo dish! We followed up dinner with a game of bean-boozled that induced some pretty great laughs.

We love exploring more of China with our favorite visitor! More from day two to come next.