Fun and Games at our House

For some reason our yard has always been a natural gathering place for our neighbors. It's one of the things I look forward to when the weather warms up and school lets out. Tonight, I looked out and saw a giant pack of kids who were getting a little too rough during their free play. I quickly went out and started organizing some games like red light/green light, freeze tag etc. Then it kind of evolved from there and we did some spoon-egg relays, tug of war, red rover and even the limbo. It was such fun. The only real challenge we had was Andrew so deseperately wants to keep up with the big kids and there are times when he just can't. The last picture just kind of breaks my heart. Here's to a fun summer with our neighborhood!

Our Favorite Tree

I'm not sure why, but the kids have one tree that they always climb on and play under. It's not just my two kids, it's all the neighborhood kids too. In any case, I snapped some cute pictures of both the kids sitting and playing in their favorite tree.

Happy Mother's Day

Five years ago, I celebrated my first Mother's day as a mom. Last year I got to celebrate it as a mom to two precious little ones. What can I say? This isn't a milestone year, but I still feel like I'm the luckiest mom on the planet. Happy Mother's Day to all the moms. May your day be relaxing and fun!

Art Show and Park Visit

Tonight we got to attend Lily's elementary school art show. It was really sweet as every single student in the school had something on display. Here's Lily's artwork and her smiling proudly before it.





After 2 weeks of sick kids, we finally had a day without fevers, medicines etc. It was so nice and I could tell the kids were just happy to feel good. We headed on over to a local park with a lot of gardens and had a picnic. Then we spent a good amount of time exploring the frog pond. Both Andrew and Lily loved spotting the tadpoles and frogs. Every time one of the frogs would make their strange little gutteral sounds they'd run in the direction it came from. We also spotted 2 turtles and 2 snakes. One snake was resting in the reeds and a teeny, tiny one was swimming in the pond. I'm not a snake person, but even I though the little one who was about the size of a pencil was cute. It was such a nice afternoon.

Look at How Big the Kids are Getting!

Maybe Andrew won't be the smallest kid in his class after all!

Spring Cleaning Andrew Style!

Mini Spring Break Trip

We are wrapping up one of the best spring breaks ever. The first part of the week we stayed home and had a blast going to the zoo, doing special activities with the kids (Lily and I got manicures and Andrew and I spent the afternoon at a the train table and pet store). Bill and I even managed to have a date night out at the gallery hop. Then the second half of the week went down to Cincinati. We've done this little trip for the past 4 years and it continues to be fun :) On the way down we stopped at the outlet mall and did a little damage. It was fun, we found good bargains and the kids are pretty set for summer.

Once down in Cincy we had a lot of fun. The hotel's pool was so nice and warm and Andrew really had a blast. He spent the first night saying "I swimmming!" to anyone near us. He was also sooo excited to go to the Newport Aquarium and see the sharks. He kept saying "I'm gonna see sharks!" to everyone in the hotel. Interestingly enough we got to the shark tunnel, Andrew said "No Mama. Sharks are too big!!" They had the jelly fish exhibit open again and I had a blast watching those odd little creatures float around. We also had the chance to catch up with some friends and meet their little cuties (one who is also adopted from China). At the end of our trip we visited an awesome park where the kids had a blast and then we ate at the best, most authentic Chinese restaurant we can find in Ohio. Since it was Saturday, they had their Dim Sum menu available and that was totally a fun experience.

A Great Spring Break and Easter

Sorry I haven't posted much. Between ending the grading period, getting ready for Easter and being outside, I haven't had much time.

Life is going well and we had a great Easter. With the perfect weather, whole family together and a delicious meal on my parent's patio, we couldn't have asked for more.

Finding Our Smiles

Andrew appears to be exhibiing a severe case of the Terrible Twos. Over the past 2 weeks, he's decided to grab almost any object and bellow "Mine!", say "No!" to everything and absolutely rage at me when he doesn't get his way. Whew! It's been exhausting for all of us. I know this phase will pass and trust me, we don't cave to his not-so-desirable behaviors. So, I'm posting this picture I snapped of the kids eating some Pop Rocks candy last night. It reminded me that there is my funny, sweet, silly little boy in there and I'm looking forward to seeing him more often :)

Worst Easter Egg Hunt Ever

Andrew freaked out during the neighborhood Easter egg hunt. Why? We don't know......but he sure was miserable.

Enjoying Some Early Spring Weather

We've been treated to a week's worth of spring like weather. You better believe we took advantage of it and played outside everyday. Parks, playgrounds, backyards, neighbors and sunshine were all thoroughly enjoyed. Lily and Andrew are truly outdoor kids who just enjoy the freedom of running in wide open spaces. It's fun to see them get so much enjoyment.

Kindergarten Musical!

Tonight we were treated to the 5 kindergarten classes in Lily's school putting on their musical. The theme was "ABCs", the costumes were fun, the songs were performed with gusto and the end result was adorable. I'm not sure what's more endearing.....100+ kindergarteners singing their hearts out or 300+ parents and grandparents snapping photos and waving. It's hard to say. Lily brought her "entourage" which consisted of 2 parents, 4 grandparents, 1 uncle and 1 little brother. Lily performed her songs well and we all had a great time. On a side note, it's no secret that Andrew thinks the sun rises and sets over Lily. When he first saw Lily in her queen costume tonight he said her name with awe. By the way, Andrew's Lily sounds like "Yeh-yeh." He just couldn't get enough of her and was rushing to stay next to her when we coming downstairs for pictures. In the first picture, Andrew is actually hugging her and saying "My Yeh-Yeh."

Celebrating the Year of the Tiger

Today, we went to our local Families With Children from China's Chinese New Year celebration. I believe this is the 6Th one Bill and I have attended (5 with kids, 1 as waiting parents). Once again, I always find myself moved to see so many families like ours, so many beautiful children and parents devoted to keeping a piece of their children's culture. There's something awfully endearing about seeing some middle age white man looking majorly out of place in a Chinese silk top taking a million snap shots of his daughter performing a traditional dance on stage. We are so very lucky to live in a community with such a large FCC chapter and so many resources. A local TV anchor hosted the event and she is a Taiwanese American. I introduced her to Andrew and I believe it was love at first sight for Andrew! We had a great time, saw many friends and took many photos!

Of course, I had to take a few photos of the kids in their silks before we went







We saw our friends who also have a son from Taiwan. These little guys were born 1 day apart in Taiwan, lived in the same baby hospital for their first 3 months and were adopted to 2 families who live about 10 miles apart. That never ceases to amaze me.




The Meyers have been taking pictures for years at the CNY festival. Of course we had to stop by and get our photos done.





In years past, some lion dances have gone on for over 15 minutes. This troupe was perfect. They were entertaining, good at the acrobatics, not too scary for the kids and they were much more efficient!



This is a local Chinese folk dance troupe that performed. The number was called "Red and Green" and it is my understanding that one of these beautiful dancers is in her 60's!

Picture Lily took..........

Here's a picture Lily took of Bill and myself last night. I think it's one of the best ones we've had done in years. Maybe she's a budding photographer?

Snowed In!

This morning I chuckled thinking that our local weathermen had made a huge fuss over nothing as we didn't have a single flake of snow in sight. Well, the weathermen certainly get the last laugh. We've got about 6 inches and I think we're going to get another 4+ more! Thankfully, we're all home safe and sound. Bill did a quick grocery run yesterday so were set. I'm actually looking forward to some quite, lazy, snuggly family time :) We did take the kids outside for about 20 minutes and ofcourse I had to snap some pictures.

Come on Spring!

Doesn't that look like what Andrew is saying? Today, when we had a small window of almost 40 degrees and sunshine I impulsively took the kids to one of our favorite parks. I didn't tell them and the moment we pulled into the park they both yelled "Yeah!!" We got in a good amount of running and playing for about 30 minutes and then we felt chilled enough to go about our errands. We're doing really well this winter, but we'll all admit we are ready for some spring and outdoor fun. Here's hoping that groundhog was wrong about 6 more weeks of winter.