Happy Easter

Yesterday morning we went to the church Easter egg hunt. Because the girls agewise fell into the smallest age group, it was basically wait in line, walk into the playground and pick up their maximum 12 eggs, turn and walk out. There was no running as fast as you can, hunting, searching, all of the things an egg hunt is supposed to be. They did have fun singing and doing crafts, though.








On our way home, our neighbor texted to tell us our grocery store was having their egg hunt in ten minutes. We were right at the turn-off, so we whipped in, found a parking spot and the girls got in line. The place was PACKED! I think the store realized they didn't have enough eggs out, so they started bringing flats of pop and full-size candy bars and just throwing them out.

Here's Carli realizing there was pop and BIG candy bars out there -




AnLi was on the go - grabbing everything she could.


Carli got two eggs and sat down to open each up, so she missed out on the melee. When she saw AnLi's basket, Carli was pretty upset. When we got back to the car, AnLi gave Carli a pop and all of her eggs. Easter giving at its best!


Wishing everyone a wonderful Easter!

Boy, I'm on a roll! I think I'm out of my winter funk...finally!

Here is Ginger, the new addition to our family. She was a rescue dog my friend was fostering. Of course, the girls and Brian loved her, but I was hesitant. So, I agreed to let her come stay for a day to see how things would go. Well, she is now offically ours. She's a sweet dog, but getting through the puppy stage has been trying at times. Most of the Barbies don't have hands anymore, and keeping shoes away from her is a constant chore.



And then the school pictures:





And AnLi's first "cover" shot.
This is a picture from the summer of '08. NCH called and said they wanted to use her pic for the cover of their annual magazine and wanted to know what she wanted to be when she grew up. AnLi was SUPER excited to get the mail that day, and now thinks she's a "supermodel." It's amazing how much she's changed!


And finally... SPRING! Time to play outdoors with our friends.

Great Friends

At the beginning of March Jolene and Lily came to visit. We haven't seen each other since our short little get-together at the Orlando airport last April. The girls had a great time. We kept busy by doing the water park, the zoo and D*sney on Ice. Jolene and I were able to get out for dinner while Brian watched the girls. It's always great to see them and we don't get to do it often enough. Both of the girls had quite a few tears when they left. And AnLi has asked numerous times when she can see her "best friend" again. Hopefully soon!

Chinese New Year

It was FREEZING outside, but I wanted to get one shot in some light.


The lion dancers are like celebrities


Getting a coveted spot under the lion costume

Texas

At the end of January we made the 14-hour trip, by car, to see Nana and Papa who were snow birding in Texas. We thought we could escape the fridig temps, but we took them with us. Even though it was rainy and colder than we expected, it was nice to get away for a few days. We drove about eight hours the first leg, stopped early enough to enjoy the hotel swimming pool, then six hours the next day. The girls barely made a peep! They shocked us both. The only thing that was said about the long drive was about an hour from the cabin AnLi said, "I love you, but I can't take it any longer!"

The girls loved running down to the lake every day and collecting shells, feeding the ducks and fishing. One morning we toured a cavern. AnLi was totally into it. She asked questions and kept right up with the tour guide. Another rainy day we went bowling. It was really nice to get outside and get some fresh air between rainshowers. The girls were worn out early every night, and the adults stayed up and played Pegs & Jokers late into the night.

The girls running down to the lake.
The water level is so low. This whole area is supposed to be the lake.


The dock. Again, another example of low lake levels.
So while we weren't loving the rain, the locals were happy to have it.








Listening to the tour guide before going down into the cavern











Notice how they're squatting. :)






And then we came back to the frozen tundra and made a snowman.

Winter 2010

Boy, am I behind on posts. And have I heard about it from family and friends! I said I was soooo far behind I didn't even know where to start, so I'm just going to upload some pics from Christmas and our crazy, long, cold and snowy winter. I still have pics to upload from our trip to Texas, Chinese New Year, Lily and Jolene's visit and the exciting announcement of a new addition to the family.

Christmas at my mom's -















Unfortunately, I got sick around 4p on Christmas Eve, then both girls in the middle of the night. We were all awake around 6a, took showers and then opened gifts. I did not take one stinkin' picture. Thank goodness Brian and Frank had the videos rolling. I did get this picture of the girls and Brian sporting their new Iowa gear the next day, when everyone was feeling much better.


This has been the longest, snowiest and coldest winter EVER! At one point in January I figured up the girls had only been to preschool six days in seven weeks. We did get plenty of sledding done, which I think I loved as much as the girls.