"Halloween Doo" & "Poochie"

I gave Emma a creative little hairstyle for school today. ;) She IS opionated about how she wants her hair done, but she still lets me have my way...... sometimes.


Emma has become very interested in all of MY old toys. In the first picture she is holding "Lady" from Lady & the Tramp. I got this toy when I was 7 so that makes it 28 years old...*yikes*....but Emma LOVES it as much as if it were brand new.


In the 2ND picture Emma is holding "Poochie" that I received sometime around the age of 7-10, I think? DO NOT be fooled though; Emma is VERY MUCH looking forward to Christmas this year. She has figured out that this Santa guy brings toys and that you can make a list. :)

1:1

Sophie enjoyed some one to one time with Daddy before bed last night. :-) It lasted for about 5 minutes and she was out!

One More Picture!

I thought that I uploaded this picture with the others from "Auntie Molly's Visit". I liked this picture of Emma with chopsticks! :)

Auntie Molly's Visit!!!

My sister Molly came to visit us over the weekend and we had a GREAT time!!!! Both of the girls (& the dogs, too) ADORE their Auntie Molly! Emma wanted to hold her hand and sit on her lap every second. Sophie was content to stare at her and smile. :) For some reason we did not take a lot of pictures so this is all that I had to upload.....

*Auntie Molly making salsa for us with the produce from the "Apple Orchard".* *We thought that it'd be fun to go to a real orchard and pick apples. I'd heard of this place from another local Mom and the website was cute so we decided to venture out and try it. Unfortunately we found out that we were NOT ALLOWED to pick apples....what?! Yes, due to insurance reasons people can no longer pick their own apples. *Sigh*. The owner was VERY nice though and we did not want to look like snobs so we stayed. We walked a grasshopper infested $6 pp maze that was created with crime scene tape and bought over priced fruit & veggies.* ;)

Sophie and Emma enjoyed their baby pumpkins and coloring books from the "orchard"!

The girls were both bundled up and ready to pick apples. Aren't they too cute?!

Sophie enjoying some potential cavity-causing fruit snacks. :)

Emma INSISTED on sitting here. She really was HAPPY about it contrary to her face!

Emma is wearing new feet PJ's that Auntie Molly bought for her!

We went out for sushi Molly's second night here. The following are pictures from her camera...

Catching Up with Random Pictures

Emma has been practicing writing the letters of her name! Our next step is to write them in sequence.

Emma has also been styling her doll's and stuffed animal's hair & fur. Doesn't Dora look great? ;)

What do you do if it is POURING out and you don't own a rain coat or rain boots?

It was a VERY lame Moonfestival celebration this year. It kind of snuck up on us for the first time. I did not want it to pass without allowing Emma to at least celebrate it a school as I have for the past 2 years. So I created a coloring page. Next we bought fortune cookies WHICH IS NOT EVEN A CHINESE THING & rounded out the nutritional value with bananas. Both Emma and Sophie are from southern China and their county of Yangdong is known for growing bananas. (THAT IS RIGHT; IF YOU DIDN'T KNOW...BOTH OF THE GIRLS ARE FROM THE SAME COUNTY! BUT, OF COURSE DIFFERENT SWI'S 60 MILES APART). :)

Emma brought in some Chinese culture to share with her teachers and classmates. I tossed things in a bag the morning of school. :)

I love this picture of Sophie taking a nap. She still looks like such a BABY! :) This was my first true attempt at french braiding Emma's hair. It did not turn out so great. Luckily Emma did not care. ;)
I used a blow drier & round brush to style Sophie's hair. I thought that it turned out VERY cute! I think that Sophie was pleased with the results as well.... A sneak peak of what Emma's school picture will look like this year.
I still just LOVE seeing BOTH of my daughters TOGETHER! They are TRUE sisters in ever sense of the word. :)

"I Love My Mommy"! :)

Emma has been VERY sweet lately. She has been requesting hugs and snuggles from both Greg and I. She is asking to be held. The other day she even came up behind me and hugged my waist! :) Sometimes physical affection is uncomfortable for Emma so it is always on her terms. We are just used to it..... because that is just how it is. :)

I have ALWAYS known that she loves me. But, again she does not demonstrate it in the way that most 5 year olds do. Just knowing that she felt it was always enough for me; when you are the parent of an atypical child you readjust your expectations and learn a lot about acceptance. In 3 1/2 years she has NEVER spontaneously told me that she loves me. That has never stopped me from telling her that I LOVE HER every single day, a thousand times a day.

Tonight I was sitting with Emma and Sophie as they ate their dinner. Emma asked me to sit next to her on the bench and I did. She kept reaching over and rubbing my back and smiling at me. She was saying things like "I like bread and butter" and "I love preschool". THEN out of the blue she said:

"I LOVE MY MOMMY"!!!! :)


My eyes welled up with tears and I hugged her. I thanked her and told her that I loved her too. Sophie kept eating her mashed potatoes across the table. ;) Then I snapped the above picture to commemorate the moment.

The "Look"

Sophie is our drama queen. Last night I received the "look". She is age appropriately VERY independent and does not want any help...even when she NEEDS it! Of course she ends up crying immediately when things do not go her way. And she cries pretty loud. :) This is a daily cycle in our house lately. Last night it was about the pictured nightgown. She was insistent on putting it on all by herself. There are buttons that you have to undo before you can get it over your head and of course she encountered some technical difficulties. Somehow apparently it became MY fault and she let me know it. She is SO "two"....ohhhh my! :)



"I'm M-A-D"! "You are a horrible Mommy to be taking my picture right now"!

Here it is; The "LOOK"!
"Did my Mommy mention that my new phrases are *I do it* and *Mine, Sophie's*"!!!

"Okay, maybe I overreacted a little bit. Can I go watch Kai-lan on TV with Emma now"? :)