*The Pool Babes*

The girls have really enjoyed playing at the pool so far this summer. They are both hesitant in the water but that will hopefully improve in a few weeks! I just thought that they looked too cute in their suits not to take a picture today! :) As you can see they gave me the fake cheesey smiles so that I would just put down the camera and take them to play!

Christmas in June?

Since my last post was all about Emma I thought that today it should be Sophie's turn:

I gave her hair a little trim on Tuesday. It is growing in nicely and getting thicker! You can't really tell from the pictures but I evened out her bangs and took off the circa 1986 points growing over her ears. I am hoping that I will be able to take her for a real haircut this fall, she does not have enough hair for that just yet! :)

Sophie's TRUE personality is starting to show through and it is STRONG! She is still very sweet and compliant a lot of the time. Yet, she can be VERY stubborn and manipulative! Of course she does not understand what manipulation means since she is only 2 1/2 years old...but she knows how to do it anyway. She cries dramatically over the smallest things and tries to play Greg and I against one another. If she does not get her way in a store she will cry and look at all of the strangers as if she is trying to get their attention..she is actually quite smart. :) And, it's even FUNNY when we are not feeling annoyed. ;)

She is continuing to learn new words in English, mostly through repeating what she hears us say. Her receptive language is definitely improving. She still speaks Cantonese too and kind of mixes it with English words sometimes. We met a lady at Panera that spoke Cantonese; I gave her permission to "talk" to Sophie. Sophie looked a little bit confused but did answer "yeah" to two of her questions! :) There are different dialects of Cantonese but it seemed like she understood what this lady was saying?

Sophie likes to "pose" for the camera as you can see from the pictures below:

My Mom "LAO- LAO" gave a music box to Emma for Christmas and bought one for Sophie as well. (We were hoping at the time that she'd be HOME for Chirstmas)! Emma was playing with her music box the other day so I brought Sophie's out and let her open it...I was really just waiting for the right time to present it to her. I assume that Sophie was intently watching Emma open up her birthday presents last month because she knew EXACTLY what to do! :P

PS: "THANKS LAO-LAO"!!! :)

Visiting the Zoo

The girls & I went to the zoo one day last week. We purchase a yearly membership & live less than 1O minutes away so we try to visit at least once a week. For whatever reason both Emma and Sophie elected to ride in the stroller during the entire visit. You'll see the trend via the pictures below! :) I got a good work out pushing them around but I was disappointed that they were not interested in walking around and seeing more of the animals. UGH! I guess that the next time I need to make sure that they have a lot of energy to burn off before we decide to go! (Or leave the stroller in the car...).

In the parking lot:
Heading in:

STILL in the stroller visiting the penguins:

At the entrance of the new Tiger Exhibit:

At this moment I caught on that they were NOT going to be getting out of the stroller:

A friendly orangutan who was looking at us:

The orangutan was our last stop:

*~~Memorial Day Weekend~~*

No words today....just pictures....enjoy! :-)

Ice Cream AND Cheetos...OH MY!!!

I took the girls to the grocery store on Thursday morning and proceeded to buy BOTH ice cream AND Cheetos! :o Oh dear me. We buy ice cream MAYBE twice a year and I have not purchased Cheetos since maybe the 6th grade? I suppose that is what having kids does to you?! :)

We are NOT the type of parents to say that our kids can't drink juice or eat sugary cereal ever. Everything in moderation is fine....I have just never bought so much crap in one shopping trip. Emma and Sophie were thrilled...and in a bit of shock as well. :p

When I told Emma that her serving of Cheetos was DONE for the day she CRIED. (Really hard). Sophie was signing for "more" wildly. Buying this junk food is like kid-crack. Really. :)

This is what our "dessert" normally consists of... THIS is what dessert was tonight... (YEAH BABY!!!!)

Here is the "Cheetos Crack" that brought Emma to tears...

Sophie said "MMMMMM" 3 or 4 times before I snapped this picture! :D

Here are the girls on crack.....

I love these girls SO MUCH!!! :)

Emma's Last Day of School! :D

I took THIS picture on Emma's FIRST DAY of school this year.... She looks SO MUCH younger! :) :(

Here she is! Emma on her LAST DAY of school, sporting her cool flip flops....

What a BIG girl!! :)

AND, she looks SO beautiful...
(Note: Beautiful Mei Mei Sophie is in the back round, too! Sophie was scolded for not holding hands in the parking lot at the grocery store today. She was still pouty when we got to Emma's school....). :(

The girls dancing to Emma's "Classroom Music Mix" before bed...

(Notice that Emma tucks her shirt into her shorts like a 9o year old man-LOL)!

Crazy Moves...

Emma likes to "fix" her barrette...see?

Sophie's New Word... ... ...

I have had a few people ask me if Sophie has picked up any new words lately. Well, as a matter of fact this week she added a new one to her vocabulary: "No, No, No"! (Note: That is not just one "No", but three)! :) It is really quite funny to hear her say it! The first time that she said "No, No, No"! to me was when I tried to lay her down for a nap one afternoon. (She still got the nap). Sophie continues to become more comfortable with us and that said she can be a bit ornery sometimes! Sophie is determined to get her way ALL OF THE TIME; where do you think that she learned the word "no"?! She is a VERY typical two year old! ;) (I am glad).

Can you see the "No, No, No" bubble over Sophie's head about her feelings on sporting the doo-rag? :P