4 Years ago...

We were in China and went from a family of 2 to a family of 3 and nothing has been the same ever since!

March 2006

March 2010

Weekend wrap up

We had a wonderful weekend and the weather couldn't have been more perfect. We made the trek down to the Delaware beaches for our annual beach grass planting spring weekend. This year we were assigned to Fenwick Island and had over 100 volunteers ready and willing to join in on the fun (I'm sure the beautiful weather had no affect on the number of people that wanted to come to the beach this weekend).



Friday night we headed down to Ocean City and checked into our favorite hotel (Thanks Betsy!!!) We packed our suits and headed to the indoor pool and swam, splashed, and floated around the pool until we all resembled prunes. Saturday morning had us up early and on the beach waiting for the beach grass and volunteers to arrive. Happily both did and after 3 hours on the beach we went back south to the boardwalk for some playing in sand, lunch and then back to the hotel for a much needed nap (for Madeline, really!). We then caught up with some of the guys for dinner which was good - we miss them all! Sunday was short and sweet frolicking on the beach, seeing Miss Betsy and then the long drive home to be there in time for Chinese school and the extra long Chinese Dance class as there is a performance this Thursday!!!


It's been a long weekend but a good one - I think Madeline would agree =)

i heart faces: bundled up

As soon as I read about this theme I knew exactly which picture I thought would fit right in. Thanks to the Snowpocalypse that hit our area last month, there were several photos of us all bundled up and frolicking in the snow. But this one is my favorite


Be sure to check out the other photos at i heart faces!

The Sun!!!

Yes! It was a wonderful weekend. Warmer (relatively) weather, lots of sun...it made it feel like spring is actually approaching. We spent a good chunk of time playing at the park. Over the course of our playtime, 3 friends in Madeline's class showed up to enjoy the park as well at different times for some unplanned play dates.

Hope all of you got a chance to soak up some of those rays!

Camp out! In the family room?

This past weekend we attacked Madeline's room with a vengeance. Things were thrown away, others recycled, even more bagged up for goodwill, there was a "fashion show" trying on all variety of clothes to see if they still fit (I swear she's growing like crazy!!!)


This is what she chose to wear for the day once we were done trying on clothes.

Ron built a new dresser for her and we carefully put everything back in its place - it's Wednesday and I have to say, so far, it's stayed cleaned up as well, which might be a record.

On Saturday, Mommy and Madeline also had a super special camp out, in our family room. We set up one of Maddie's play tents, piled it full with big pillows and blankets. Madeline picked out which dolls and stuffed animals had to join us and she placed them around her tent very carefully.

We also had hot chocolate and stayed up late and watched a movie just the two of us. Then it was time to snuggle in and go to sleep - her in her tent and me on the couch *grin*


The next morning, I was stiff (heh) and she was bouncing off of the walls so happy asking to do it again every night. I think next time it's a Daddy and Daughter camp out and Mommy gets to sleep in the icky, horrible king sized bed with lots and lots of pillows. Daddy had to endure that torture this past weekend. I just can't put him through all that again!

Considerate aren't I?

Fashion Friday!

It's been a while since I have posted any of the outfits that Madeline has put together, so on this glorious day off (which for some gosh awful reason had me up and awake at 4:30am when I could be sleeping in late) I thought I'd add a little something to the fashionista world.

Yes, she does pose. Yes, she does it with attitude.


I still don't understand why she thinks this matches.

I also noticed that these pictures were all taken as we were heading out the door somewhere - so yes, we do go out in public like this! It is amazing the big smiles you get from people when they see a little girl just excited and loving (or oblivious!) to what she's wearing.

Celebrating over the weekend...

恭禧发财 - Gong Xi Fa Cai - wishing you to be prosperous in the coming year

Saturday we spent a good 7 hours at the CACC. We signed up to help set up for the New Year Celebration, so Ron was moving tables, chairs, setting things up while I helped decorate and setting the tables until it was time for Madeline to practice with the dance troop for the performance that night.

There were 14 different performances on the schedule, the children's dance troop were to perform 4 different dances. Madeline was in one of them - the swallow dance.

Here is Madeline getting ready for the big show! Her shirt says it all...She's full of sugar but can turn on the spice in a heartbeat =)

Here she is in her costume, yes that frilly pink feathers on her wings was my homework assignment that happily I finished in time *grin*

They practiced and practiced and even did a dress rehearsal in one of the classrooms before going onstage.

In the end they did a great job. Bill filmed and took pictures...I'll post the link to the dances when he loads them online for the grandparents to check out. I spent the majority of the time back stage helping herd 4-8 yr olds and organizing costumes, flower balls, etc. I didn't see all of the performances either & we missed the Lion dance which kicked off the evening. Madeline was not amused, she was sooo looking forward to seeing it.

Sunday we went to the Delaware Art Museum.

Beautiful glass in the main entrance windows! It was a celebration for the Chinese New Year done in partnership with Chinese School.

In class the kids had made art projects which were on display at the Museum. Madeline, who remember, wants to be an artist, was very excited to see the lantern she made hanging in an art museum!

Art from the kids in the class were hung around several areas while there were other activities going on, such as having your name written in Chinese calligraphy.

Lots of craft areas, and a shadow puppet show titled "Tiger Tales"...

learning how to play with a chinese yo-yo (Madeline was better at it than Ron!)

Madeline was happy to finally see the Lion dance - my favorite!

新年快乐 - Xin Nian Kuai Le - Happy New Year

This coming week we have 2 more dance performances at different places around the town plus gymnastics. It's going to be a busy week again, and more snow is forecast for tonight!

I Heart Faces: Dancing Challenge

I Heart Faces Challenge this week is dancing...so here is a picture taken at the MD Renaissance Faire this past fall.

Xin Nian Kuai Le - Happy Year of the Tiger

Had a lovely day celebrating - part 2 is tomorrow, don't worry, there will be pictures, but in the mean time...

From our family to yours, wishing you Xin Nian Kuai Le

38.2 inches...

That's the official amount of snow that came down where we lived...yes it's combined between the 2 blizzards in less than a week. The first one was 25.4 inches was all light powdery stuff - which was great and very easy to shovel. The second one was 12.8 inches of heavy wet snow which was very hard to shovel and also resulted in us losing power for about 12 hours.


We shoveled the snow multiple times, played Princess of the mountain - not King of the mountain, well, because Madeline is a Princess and most definitely not a boy so it can't be King - or so I was told. We practiced throwing snow balls and kept warm as best as possible because, without electricity... we had no heat! All 3 of us ended up piling into one big bed around 6:30 all in our pjs with tons of blankets on us playing word games in the dark until around 8 when we decided it was time to try and get some sleep.


The power actually came back on and stayed on around 11:30 last night so now our pellet stove is working but we're still having issues with our regular heat - Ron gets to figure that one out.


There are several cars just stopped on the road as I look out our window which means they got stuck trying to get out and are now abandoned making any plowing that hopefully will take place sometime today difficult to say the least.

But I know we'll be having some fun outside shoveling yet again =) And did I read that there may be snow again on Monday?!?

Snow-pocalypse?

Well, the record breaking Mid-Atlantic storm hit...we got a good amount of snow, probably around 2 feet when you don't take into account the drifting from all of the wind (then, in some places it would be 3.5 ft or more!) We spent a bit of time shoveling the driveway (a couple of times) and Madeline had a blast playing in the snow in her brand new snow pants. It's amazing how well they work in keeping you warm! Next is to try and find actual snow gloves that fit her tiny hands...her gloves just didn't cut it.

There was quite a bit of climbing around in the snow and only one attempt at a snow angel as she said that the snow was too deep.

But it wasn't too deep for her to pretend to be "swimming"

I think you can tell by the look on her face that she was having a lot of fun.

Throwing snow balls was also a fun pass time...they started out small, but...

soon they were almost as big as she is. Thankfully Daddy was the primary target =)

Photo of the back patio around mid-day...note the snow against the fence in the back.

This whole snow thing would be much more enjoyable if I didn't have to think about how to get to DC tomorrow for work - looks like I won't be able to get there until Monday sometime...

Just a couple of pictures...

Found an indoor play center in PA not far from us and decided to try it out on a bitterly cold day. They had two different play centers that you could climb around in throw balls around, etc. They also had this cool climbing wall which Maddie loved. She made it quite high but never rang the bell at the top. She says she'll do that next time...


One of her birthday presents was dress up jewelry including earrings. She loves them and has been prancing around all dressed up for the past week. She wore this little get up to our Homeowners Association Meeting one night this week. She was just too happy for me to make her take it off to go with us to a boring community meeting.




Attitude personified. We had another few inches of snow around here Saturday and of course Madeline enjoyed it. She put on her "holly jolly hat" as we were heading out to Chinese school today and "posed" for me as we were getting into the car. Of course that hat I bought for her when she was 2-3 yrs old. When we got there she didn't want to take it off. She said her head was cold and she wanted to wear it all through the class. Well, when I came to pick her up the hat was off...I forgot to ask how long she kept it on - heh.

I really haven't taken that many pictures this month...I'll try and rectify that situation come February...oh, that's tomorrow isn't it ;)

She's 5 and Fabulous!

Yes, my baby has turned 5 yrs old. She woke us up bright and early so very excited because she is 5 and wanted the fun to start.Madeline picked out her own outfit (dress of course - and summer dress at that).

She enjoyed a special birthday breakfast made by Daddy - heart shaped pancakes and "juicy" bacon (our girl doesn't like it crisp) there was some playing and movie watching until it was time to get ready to go to her very first every birthday party with friends!

We held it at her gymnastics place and she picked out her favorite leotard (the one with the hearts!)

I do have to say I was getting a little worried when at the start time only Rae and her boys where there (Hi Rae!) all of the others came in soon after that though and they had a blast.

The foam pit was a huge hit - here they are having a race across. I don't think I'd be able to do it heh


Walking on the balance beam, trampoline, bars, rope, rings, parachute play, you name it, they did it!

Now, here is where Mommy messed up *grin* The gym for a party, that was good, but I chose poorly when it came to the cake. Madeline didn't like it one bit. The only thing she liked was that Silvermist (a fairy) was on the cake. Oh well..

Come to think of it...she also asked for ear muffs for her birthday and we didn't get them for her either - heh. What I did do, was break down and I bought her some dolls of the Barbie variety. What caused me to turn away from my anti-barbie stance. Besides the fact that she had asked for them before, it happened one night when Madeline had gathered up toothbrushes and started playing with them like dolls. All the poor child wanted was some dolls to play with and due to my own barbie issues she was resorting to toothbrushes! So, we did not get her ear muffs, but she did get 3 diverse barbie dolls and various outfits to change them into.

All in all she said she had a good Birthday and that's all I could hope for in the first place.

La Petite Spa...yup, for kids

Madeline was invited to one of her friend's birthday parties this weekend at a Spa. Madeline had a blast, yes, my girly girl was loving all of the dress up, microphone singing on stage, and pampering that came her way. Oh, and the sparkles...so many sparkles in her hair, on her arms. She was in heaven.


The entire place was PINK. I mean, really, really pink all over the place.

Madeline had a choice of having her fingernails, toenails painted or having her hair done. She chose having her hair done. Some sort of fancy combination of partial french braid with a pony tail and curled hair at the back with a curling iron. Then all topped off with sparkles. Whew

Once everyone had on their dress up clothes and had their nails or hair done, the staff at the Spa provided a photoshoot for each of the girls and then did a group shot. There was a big sign to my left where it says "no photos during photo shoot" which I read after I snapped this one and got a dirty look. Of course (if you want to purchase any of these pictures that they take during the photo shoot, the spa is more than happy to oblige - heh).

The rest of the party involved pizza and taking turns on stage singing into the microphone.


I had multiple parents exclaim that Madeline is such a performer and is certainly not shy - She was up there every minute she was able to be...

The party was fun, although a tad odd. It was an hour long party and the birthday girl arrived 20 minutes into the party! For the first 15 minutes there was just Maddie, her friend R from school rocking the dress up costumes, then a couple more guests arrived but still no birthday girl. One guest got lost and they arrived with 10 minutes left in the party!

Next week is Madeline's 5th birthday - we're counting down the "sleeps". She is super excited and can't wait to be 5 - I on the other hand have, shall we say, mixed feelings about it as my baby is growing up.