Water Baby 137/365

With temperatures now in the 90s (32C) I thought it was time to pull out the kiddy pool.  Baby Girl and I spent our day sitting outside in the pool.

I'm so thankful to live in a place where we can do this outside (with no neighbors to see us) and in a place where the water is safe for baby to drink. She LOVES drinking the pool water. I'm so happy not to have to stress about the safety of the tap water here.


Other Summer activities include spending the whole day naked or in her diaper and trying on everyone's shoes...

And then there's post bath time family tag through the house and then cuddle time.

Life with Baby is never dull.

Growing Braver and Stronger 136/365

 Look how big our Baby Girl is getting. She's growing up so fast and getting more talkative, more opinionated, more perfect and more beautiful every day.

For the last couple of days I've been trying get her to not be afraid of one of my old dolls. We send about an hour every day playing in her closet and I hold the doll while she stands and stares at it.  Every day she gets brave enough to stand a little closer or touch a toe of it. Today she seemed to decided it wasn't so scary after all and after sharing her bottle with the "mei mei" (Chinese for "little sister"... she calls all other babies and little kids this) she picked up the doll and gave it a kiss.  She tried to carry it around but it's still a little big for her.  She's such a sweet Angel.

Summer is Upon US 135/365

Memorial Day always marked the beginning of Summer when I was a child. School was out and it camping was in order for the 3 day weekend.

Just like old times, this Memorial Day brought the temperatures in the 90s (over 32C) for the rest of the week.

Today was so hot that even Baby Girl couldn't stand it and asked to go back in the house. She didn't ask to go out again till after dark when it had cooled off significantly.

I guess it's time to find some indoor activities for the hottest parts of the day and maybe time to buy a little kiddy pool.

On the up side though, William made ice cream again tonight. It looks like we'll be able to look forward to lots of homemade ice cream this summer so send along your favorite recipes. We'll be happy to try them out.

Surrounded by Love 134/365

This three day holiday thing is quite fantastic.  We didn't do much of anything... except eat, but it was wonderful to just hang out and talk and even nap.  Before everyone showed up we made a good plan for all our meals so that when everyone got here we knew exactly what we were going to feed them.  That cut out the "what should we have for dinner" question and it was great for making sure we had enough food for everyone to get stuffed (a MUST in family gatherings and good hosting).

In between meals every one played outside and enjoyed sitting around drinking ginger ale. William and my mom made homemade ice cream and baby and I took long naps. Everyone slept as late as they wanted, it was nice to not have to wake up early. It was perfect.

Last night we talked about renting a movie or playing a game, but then we decided to just sit around and talk and watch the boys play video games. Which was much more fun anyway since me and mom hate board games.

Of course Dad stuck with tradition and fell asleep before 9pm. It was just like old times. (he did also work outside all day and had some horrid allergies, so it's understandable)

Today, after sleeping in and eating a late breakfast (a MUST for holidays and vacations) everyone headed home.

Uncle Stevie was a huge favorite with Baby Girl. She always smiled and laughed when he was around.

She's a pretty big fan of Auntie Annie though too. Rosie loved getting her nails painted, watching Annie put on her make up, and even helping Annie pack. I know Baby Girl will miss them both.

She was very excited to see Papa and would say "PAPA" every time she heard him laugh and then go off to look for him. She finds him very entertaining and I think she loves having someone around that likes being outside almost as much as she does.

It was a very nice weekend, even if it was just a couple days. We laughed, we ate, we all gained five pounds and now it's back to work, school and real life.

Thank you for coming everyone! We will miss you and we look forward to seeing you again soon. Happy Summer!

A few of my favorite things 133/365

Happy Memorial Day weekend. May you have a restful weekend filled with family, fun, laughter  and ice cream.

Family Fun 132/365

This is the first Memorial Day we've celebrated in 3 years. There is no Memorial Day in China and we'd almost completely forgotten about the holiday. 

Then Stevie and Annie told us that they were coming down for the weekend.

Steak, BBQing, Family, and sitting outside drinking homemade ginger ale.  I think I love Memorial Day.

New Toy 131/365

When we lived in Shanghai William and I both had really nice bicycles. I was really sad when we had to sell them but William promised we would get new ones again someday... even if we did live in America.

Most people in China have bicycles as their main form of transformation. Some people are lucky enough to have electric bikes or scooters. You can fit a lot of people on a scooter, a whole family really.

A few weeks ago my parents bought a new bike to help William get around on the 70 acres better.

It's not quite what William had in mind when we said we'd get new bikes, but we can and do fit the whole family on it.

Baby Girl loves going for a ride. She asks to be taken out on the bike every day.  If she's really tired she will even take a nap on it.
She doesn't like to fall asleep in her car seat, like most babies do, but she'll fall asleep riding on the ATV.  She's such a good little farmer girl.

Growing big and strong 130/365

Remember those baby goats that were born back in February? Well they are growing so big so fast! 
Here's a video of them playing with their mamas on one of the fallen trees.

Graduation 129/365

It's that time of year again. The time of year where school ends for the summer and students rejoice in a job well done (or at least done). For High School Seniors this is an extra special and bitter sweet time.

Graduating High School is always exciting but also a little sad and scary. It's a lot of work to get through those four torturous years and that's exciting when it's finally done. But it also means leaving friends behind and growing up... a little.

There's a great big exciting world out there waiting for these kids and it's always exciting to hear about the plans and dreams people have after High School.

Last week we attended a graduation at the local High School. We have a cousin, Hanna, who was graduation and we wanted to be there to cheer her on. She was Salutatorian of her class!

This was the best  graduation I have ever been too. It was well organized and short!  And best of all it was totally about the kids and their accomplishments. We didn't have to suffer through some teacher or preacher giving a long boring talk that no one cared about.

Hanna gave a heartfelt speech that left everyone teary eyed. She did such a great job reminding us of the excitement of the future and the sadness of growing up and leaving things behind. There wasn't a dry eye in the place.

At the end of the ceremony all the graduates did a victory lap around the gym and then made a circle, did a cheer and tossed their hats in the air. It was GREAT fun! 

 (William took these pictures with his iPhone)

The Gym was so full I think that every one in town came for this graduation!

Hanna looked beautiful and of course she gradated with lots of honors and a four year scholarship to the college of her dreams.  We couldn't be prouder of her.

On our way out of the graduation we found this car in the parking lot. I thought it was funny. It reminded me of people in Shanghai that would paint their cars in Transformers or Hello Kitty themes, except this car is owned by a high school student instead of an adult.

To celebrate such a wonderful gradation and official beginning of Summer we stopped at Dairy Queen on the way home and baby girl had her first ice cream.