smile for the camera

Here are the latest photos that Eric took of the girls.  Gracie is starting to have some fun getting her picture taken but you have to click fast as she loses interest much sooner than Molly.

Date with Molly

The girls now have an amazing babysitter every Friday morning, her name is Ginny and she is a young Chinese mom that has three little ones of her own and she recently taught at a Mandarin immersion preschool.  She is working on teaching the girls Mandarin as well as basic preschool activities.  I have been looking for someone like Ginny since we brought Molly home and am so grateful we found her.  The girls love her and so do we.

So last week I used my Friday mom time to have a little one on one time with Molly for the first time since we brought Gracie home.  I told Molly in the beginning of the week that on Friday Gracie would stay at home with Ginny and she and I would have a special morning just the two of us.  She talked about it all week and as we were going out to the car on Friday morning she looked at me and said, " I am so glad it's finally our special day Mama".  I almost broke into tears.

Molly and I both love the beach so I took her to my favorite beach cafe for breakfast and then we collected sea shells and built castles.  She had no idea where we were going but was so excited when she got out of the car and felt the sand on her toes and saw the ocean.  We had a perfect morning and we decided we would need to do it more often.  

Molly says the darndest things

Admittedly a lot of it is her tone of voice and a little bit of you-had-to-be-there but Molly said three things today that just cracked us up.
While driving in the car we were talking about how the teachers at her school run a tight ship and don't let the kids get away with much. I asked her, "Molly, Teacher Chris can be tough, huh? She really makes you guys stick to the rules?" To which Molly responded, "Oh, don't worry about me, I always have good behavior."
We laughed.

Later, when we were out at the park playing soccer on a full sized soccer pitch, Molly was having a blast and when Marie took her off to take a bathroom break she told Marie, "Maybe I don't want to be a princess when I grow up. Maybe I want to be a soccer player."
We laughed some more.

Then when we were doing some shopping for a birthday party the girls are going to Molly was taking a break in the stroller after Gracie got out. Of course that only meant Gracie wanted back in so we told her she could sit on Molly's lap. As they rode around Molly turned back to me and made yet another comment about her fantasy of being married. This month's choice is Miles from school. Stay tuned for the next flavor of the month. Anyway, she turned and said, "Maybe Miles and I will have two boys and they can do this too."
We laughed, sure. But also reminded her that she has a lot of time to think about such things. But who knows, if she can give up her dreams of being a princess, maybe she'll back burner the whole get married and have babies thing. At least until she turns four.

Wo ai ni (I love you)

Eric and I  always say wo ai ni when we tuck the girls in at nap or bedtime and they always say it back.  Today at nap time Gracie and I didn't say wo ai ni and about 5 minutes after I left her room I heard her through the monitor saying "wo ai ni mama, wo ai ni mama."  I went back into her room for another kiss and a wo ai ni and then she went off to sleep. 

The last few days have been kind of rough for Gracie and the rest of us as she has her molars coming in and has not been very happy about it and who can blame her but this makes up for all of it.

Photo taken by Molly post done by Dad

Trying to play blog catchup

Well caring for two kids and juggling all their enrichment classes is proving to be A LOT to handle for this mom as I am sure you have gathered by my lack of blog posts.  This makes me so sad because there has been so much to blog about and I want us all to be able to look back and remember all of the fun and crazy days we are living now.

Gracie and Molly are so in love with each other, I couldn't be more proud of the loving big sister that Molly has been from the start and Gracie wants to be just like her Momo(Molly) and copies everything she does.  At bedtime they can't give each other enough hugs and kisses before getting tucked into their beds. 

So sweet!

Like always Eric has taken lots of great photos of the girls so I'll do my best to get caught up . . .

The girls at Disneyland

Gracie has already been there three times and she loves it almost as much as Molly does.

Photo shoot with the girls in the front yard.

Playing Robot

So Beautiful!

Molly draws a family portrait on her placemat out at a restaurant.

Molly very excited about getting her own library card.

We have visited the $1 bookstore one too many times and have no space left on the bookshelves. 

Now we go to the library every week and borrow books.  Molly loves books more than ever and has moved on to listening to chapter books.  

Gracie and I go to storytime together every week and she is starting to love books too.  She is doing a great job sitting and listening these days and loves singing songs.

Gracie learns her name

First conversation

This morning Eric and I woke up to hear Molly and Gracie over the video monitor having their first real conversation in their  bedroom.  Gracie was sitting up in her bed and chatting with Molly.
Molly:  Gracie let's go
Gracie: No
Molly:  Come on Gracie let's go to Mom and Dad's bedroom
Gracie: NO
Molly:  Come on Gracie
Gracie: Why?
Molly:  I want to see Mom and Dad and Maybel
We see Gracie crawl out of her bed and hear the pitter patter of little feet coming toward our room followed by laughter when the girls see we are awake.

What a great way to start the day!