Hangin' on the Driveway....

One of Emma and Sophie's favorite things to do is play on our driveway. They could literally be out there ALL day, EVERY day. Of course they are only allowed outside with a grown up...so these excursions are as MY schedule permits! :)

Emma is admittedly obsessed with the "stripes/lines" on our driveway. Apparently the masonry is not top notch because according to Emma the lines are crooked. And, do you know what? I BELIEVE HER. Emma can see things differently than most of us. If she says that they are crooked...then they are. :) Emma has had a challenging time at school holding herself together...so I let her blow off some steam Wednesday afternoon. She likes to follow the lines with a car...it is VERY autistic....but, she needed the release of doing it. So, I let her. With out redirecting to a more "typical" form of play. She was happy. :)

Sophie had a good time too! She is completely different from LAST year. Oh my. She LOVES to fly around on one of her bikes. :) A change from the days of her sitting on her bike with out moving with tears of terror in her eyes. ;)

My Sweeties!

I love, love, LOVE it when the girls fall asleep together in Emma's bed! :-) I stood and stared for a minute or two, then I just HAD to grab the I probably took 12 pictures! Here are a few...

Meat Floss and Moldy Moon Cakes...

This is the fourth Mid Autumn festival that I have celebrated. I love this Asian holiday & the meaning behind it. If you go back to my post last year (September 2009) I had entered a little synopsis from the Internet about the holiday. If you are not familiar with Mid Autumn Festival...also known as Moon Festival....think of it as an Chinese version of Thanksgiving.

We had the best intentions of celebrating last weekend and somehow things really did not come to fruition. When you have a 3 & 6 year old sometimes you just can't "make" things happen. :) Being more of a seasoned and experienced parent I know that I am not scarring them for life if we don't celebrate every holiday "perfectly". :)

Remember in my previous post that I had announced that we were going to go out to eat? *Cough*. Well...Emma and Sophie did NOT want Chinese food....or ANY Asian cuisine for that matter on Saturday. They did not want to eat IN a restaurant for that matter! They BEGGED for their ONCE A WEEK treat of a Happy Meal instead. It was 5 o'clock, it was pouring rain, they were starving and grouchy, I had a headache....so we told them yes. I believe that I muttered something about a cheeseburger being round like the moon? (Greg & I opted for Thai food)!

We *did* visit a new Asian market. It is geared more toward Vietnamese culture. But, the owners were friendly & it did not smell TOO fishy. And, they had moon cakes! So, we bought a box of 4 figuring that we could eat 2 at home and Emma could take 2 to school to share with her class. I was naively pleased that they gave us $5 off of the box and assumed that it was because Moon Festival had started on the 22nd and most boxes had sold out. Come to find out the next day when I opened the box...the moon cakes had MOLD beginning to colonize on them....Ewwwww! Needless to say we did NOT try eat them. :( Emma DID find some snacks to bring to Kindergarten for her Moon Festival celebration tomorrow. I *thought* that they were cookies. Ummm, yeah-they are not. Upon closer inspection at home I saw that they were called "Corn Rice Sticks w/Vegetarian Meat Floss". :D LOL! (If anyone knows what vegetarian meat floss is please let me know)!!! The girls wanted to try one. Emma took one bit and spit it out announcing that she did NOT care for it. Sophie ate hers AND the rest of Emma's! She has eaten a few more since. Greg and I took a tiny nibble and I would describe them as corn chips w/a peanut butter center. Gross-gross. I am curious to see the reaction of Emma's classmates tomorrow as they try them....LOL....I know, I am mean. :D

Here are a few pictures:

"Yummmm, I think that I remember eating these unique snacks in China"!
It was difficult to get a clear shot of the package...
Moldy Moon Cakes anyone?

What Have The Girls Been Up To This Week?

Well, since you're wondering.....



Miss. Sophia Grace wore her first braids! She is sooo adorable she drives me nuts.
She was working on her book of "Abstract Art". ;-)
Miss. Emma Kate's braids keep getting longer! My beautiful girl.
She was working on her book about "Llamas".

I let the girls choose a "$1-treat" at Target. They found these masks....and they LOVE them. :-) They both fell asleep with them on the first night. (Yes Mom, I took them off)! ;-)

They had fun playing with their Daddy after work. I think that he had fun too! He is about as good as they come in terms of Daddies! :)

The girls are both adamant about making their own choices these days (Especially Emma)! We allow them to express themselves with in reason. :) Emma decided that she wanted Greek pizza for breakfast the other morning. (She also calls it Spanish pizza or grape pizza). :) Greg told her "Yes" and she was THRILLED! (I think that Greg was gagging-ha!). Sophie made a more traditional choice of pumpkin bread. For HER this was a big deal because she always mirrors Emma's choice.

*MY NEXT POST WILL BE ABOUT "CHINESE MOON FESTIVAL 2010"! WE ARE TAKING THE GIRLS OUT TO LUNCH OR DINNER FOR ASIAN FOOD OVER THE WEEKEND AND THEY WILL BE DECKED OUT IN THEIR GUANGZHOU SILKS! AND, NEXT WEEK EMMA WILL BE CELEBRATING WITH HER CLASSMATES! WE MAY EVEN TRY OUR HAND AT MOON CAKES?! I DON'T KNOW ABOUT THAT....I DON'T WANT TO GET NUTS!!!!!* ;-)

Just Playing :)

Emma and Noodle

Our dogs Jack ("Noodle") and Mikey were enjoying a little bit of left over homemade pizza that we ate for dinner last night. :) We were surprised when Emma sat down next to Noodle and "helped" him eat. She was moving his plate closer to him, petting him and telling him "Good boy, you eat Jack". Her actions were soft and controlled. Jack trusted her enough to not snap or growl. For those few minutes Emma had control of herself. It was awesome. :) And, as you can see Sophie preferred to just sit and take her time eating!!!

Spongebob Squarepants?

I am so NOT a fan of the cartoon; Spongebob Squarepants. I don't understand the point of the show...in fact I don't think that there IS a point to the show. Luckily my girls do not watch a ton of TV. And, when they do it is often a cartoon with a cute little lesson at the end-so at least they are getting something out of it. Awhile back they discovered Spongebob....*sigh*. It does not help that he is commercialized on yogurt cups and underwear...etc. I know that the phase will pass and fortunately they don't watch it too much. But still.
That said, I created some fun for them last Sunday morning. I made two Spongebob costumes in 30 seconds and it kept them happy for a good 30 minutes. :) I would just like to say that the ladies chose their OWN pajamas, the mismatched outfit and long sleeves have nothing to do with me. ;D

-Sophie's 1st Day of "School"-

Monday September 13th was Sophie's 1st Day of "School"! We have enrolled Sophie in a class that is called "Starlets" through our Early Childhood Educational Department. The class meets once a week for 90 minutes & each student attends with a parent or favorite grown up. :) It is structured a lot like preschool. Sophie REALLY enjoyed her first day and was very compliant about posing for the obligatory pictures below! She insisted on carrying her bag of supplies all by herself. ;)