Artist in Residence : )

Our current exhibition in the main gallery (aka the kitchen) showcases her love for giraffes, the beach and Ari*el and anything involving markers and paper. I love her current work and am looking forward to seeing what else she has coming our way. I am no art critic but I think this beautiful five year old is quite talented : )

Here she is bringing me a new one to hang.

I am thinking this one may need to be framed!

These are some she did at school during "free" time. The top one is of Ari*el, Sebastian & Flounder at the beach (love the colorful clouds) and the bottom one is of her and two friends from school on the beach.

Here she is on the beach with GiGi ~ notice Ari*el is in the water trying to "come play with them" LOL

Turkey hand made at Thanksgiving

She does a pottery class once a month and she loves it. They start with a lump of clay, pound it out and then create the project of the month. The teacher allows parents to stay if they want but there is strict instruction that they are not to help. The kids do it on their own~ they do a family class twice a year though and she loved having Daddy there : )

This nativity scene was actually done in the family class~ meaning Daddy was able to stay and help. The inspiration for the colors is all her own : )

The dragon (named Loverly) and pumpkin were done last fall with no help but the turkey was in the family class with Daddy. The feathers are all four of our hand prints : )

This is the snowman bowl she made last month. She was particularly proud of how the carrot nose turned out. When I picked her up after class the teacher let me know she did this project 100% without any help ~she is the youngest one in the class so I think she was just letting me know : )

She is constantly doing arts and crafts and I can't save everything but I do take pictures of things I am not keeping so I can remember them : )

*sorry, should have made it clear that I will NOT be tossing this stuff *

They love their loveys : )

The other night my two cuties were snuggled up in the chair under their lovey blankets. Coby has his dragonfly one from Heidi who is in China right now meeting sweet Sophie~ her son is from the same orphanage as Coby) and Annslee has her white blanket she has slept under since she came home from China. It was Daddy's baby blanket and Gigi gave it to her. It is really worn, the trim has ripped off and it no longer covers her entirely but she LOVES it : )





Notice Coby's fingers in his mouth and Annslee taking them out which was cracking him up. We don't let Coby have his lovey to walk around with like we let Annslee and that has definitely helped with the frequency of the fingers being in his mouth. He only does it when he sleeps and I am so happy. Annslee did it all the time and it was so gross as she touched everything then in they went!

Year of the Tiger!

Our first Lunar New Year party was with our local FCC group and they looked so cute in their silks before we left : )

Daddy stood behind me to make them laugh

Our family photo tells it all...Annslee is such a party girl and poor Coby our little introvert takes a while to warm to the crowd

Daddy found that the Chinese drum brought smiles finally!

I remember when she was terrified during the Lion Dance but not anymore. She readily fed it her red envelope.

I did catch a glimpse of Coby during the Lion dance ~ check out that face LOL

Our neighbor Wendi was there...what a cutie!

After dinner using your chopsticks for drumsticks is such fun!

My beautiful Hubei girl with the drum~ I get this one every year ( I need to do a then/now post)

Our second party was our FCA (Families with Children from Asia)party and it was such fun. It was so great seeing children from all over Asia (and as a bonus several boys!!)

Coby and Charlie loved driving around

The bikes were a hit~ they looked like rickshaws : )

These two Vietnamese cuties were not into the photo op

What a great group of kids! There were a few who didn't want in the pic : )

Coby really enjoyed this little ride on

He did NOT enjoy having to share it! Seriously that boy can really put on a sad face can't he!

Annslee and Jia are from the same SWI ~ a tiny little town in Hubei~ amazing that we live in the same city

We are so blessed to have so many friends to celebrate the Year of the Tiger!!

Sweetness!!

I have a ton of Lunar New Year pics to post but need to sort so these will have to do for now : ) This morning when Coby woke up and came downstairs Annslee announced that she had a surprise for him. Daddy had brought home some Dun*kin Donuts and the two favorites were chocolate iced with heart sprinkles and chocolate iced with chocolate chips~ Annslee ate a half of each and then in pure sisterly love she gave the other halves to her baby brother : ) You would have to know what a sweet tooth she has to know how surprised I was that Coby didn't end up with the plain donuts LOL

Alive and Kicking

OK..I know...I am a slacker. Anyone still reading?? All I hear is crickets : ) Sorry everyone, Fac*ebook is just so much easier to load pictures on and so I have been neglecting the blog. I need to catch up and I will (Coby's birthday, my birthday, etc...) For now I will just load up a TON of snow pictures to tide you over (this is mainly for my mother-in-law who couldn't believe it has been so long~ here you go Gigi!! and for Colleen who I don't think is on FB) I will warn you I took a lot of pictures because we rarely get snow~

Saturday~

We bundled up bright and early to go enjoy the snow

We got 4 inches which is big for us and they hit the ground running!

Daddy got some disks to ride on and Coby looked unsure but laughed some and did it a few more times then said "all done"

Annslee did it again and again!

Sunday~

Riding with Daddy was a little better

Mommy took a turn with Annslee

I tied a jump rope to his and he loved being pulled around~ here he is trying to hand me the handle to pull

Going on her belly made her even faster!

She looks so little in this one to me : )

Coby decided to help Daddy shovel snow

In the meantime Annslee started a snowball fight with the neighbors : )

We had enough snow for a snowman (princess) and so they got started on the head

Monday~

We headed back out for 2 more hours of fun before it melted

My body will regret pulling 68 pounds around but the laughter was worth it!

What is in here Mommy?

We definitely enjoyed the snow and are hopeful for more this winter!!