becoming buddies

Our neighbor Emma Grace is two months older than Lydia - and I hope they'll be great buddies as they get older. Right now, Emma Grace mostly likes Julianna - she's a bit more interesting than Lydia. But, as you can see in the photo below, Emma Grace and Lydia are starting to develop some common interests... thats Lydia's holding the bat and Emma Grace has the ball!

Unfortunately, their relationship is not without its difficulties. Take a close look at the photo below - the paci in Emma Grace's mouth is attached to Lydia's bib! We were pushing the girls in the double stroller while Julianna walked, looked down and noticed that EG had STOLEN Lydia's paci. Lydia had to settle for chewing on the stroller straps!


L

ice hockey!?!?!

Well, my posting has been a tad bit slow the past few days, so I'll try to pick up the pace here for a bit! Wednesday night Matt and I went on a double date with the Huffs to an ice hockey game! I called it the "tribute to Matt's ND roots" date since he's the only one of the bunch who really grew up in an ice hockey culture!

Ice hockey is a rarity here too - there is one local team with an eclectic mix of local guys and some foreigners. Their competition was a rec team from Boston here touring the country and playing a little hockey on the side. I once saw a UND game (vs Alaska Anchorage) and could barely even keep my eye on the puck - those guys were incredible. The competition Wednesday night wasn't quite that caliber, but it was still a fun, and definitely unique, thing to do.

[the other guy in the photo is a driver that we frequently use - Uncle Qi - he's a good friend of our family and took us to the game. since it was free, he decided he might as well have a look!]

"if I fall, you catch me, right?"

We flew home last night after visiting friends in another city - great trip, easy travel and SO MUCH fun to be there with them! They live in a HUGE city (one of the mega-cities of the world), in a VERY TALL apartment building that is a 5 minute walk from STARBUCKS!! [I went three times while I was there - can you believe it?]

While there, we got to hang out with two different families - at times there were four mamas and 7 kids in one apartment... the oldest in the bunch turned 5 last month, the youngest is 5 days younger than Lydia.

We stayed with Alan & Shannon and their little boy Cameron. Cameron and Julianna practiced "sharing" toys - geez, that's a tough concept for a 2 year old.


Shannon made chocolate chip cookies ... Lydia was determined she was going to have a bite!

Just-turned-5 Maggie holding Lydia... that's one of Maggie's brothers, Isaac, giving Julianna a "hug" in the bottom corner of the photo



I LOVE that Julianna is so talkative these days. It's so neat to hear her express what is going on in her head and heart.

On the way home we had not-so-great seats right behind the wing. Julianna talked and talked about wings and airplanes and flying and somehow got on to the topic of "what if she could use her arms like wings and fly". At one point, in the midst of a long discourse about flying, she looked up at Matt and said, "and if I fall, you catch me, right?"

Wow, what a sweet hope for a little girl to have.... knowing she will fall, but trusting her Daddy to catch her. Of course, what she doesn't yet fully understand is that she has a good and perfect Heavenly Father who will providentially ordain moments of "falling" in her life - and who will always be there to catch her. And that's a sweet hope for all of us - not just for a little girl who dreams of flapping her arms and flying.

on the road again...

It's been 7 whole weeks since the girls and I took our last flight so we've been itching to get on the road again. Ha ha ha :) Travel just seems to get more and more complicated, so I'm not sure I'm ever really "itching" to get on the road . But, travel is a big reality in our lives. Thankfully, the girls and I miss out on much of it. This is the only trip for the girls between February and late June! [Matt and I are hoping to go to a friend's wedding in early June, but assuming Lydia is willing to take a bottle, we have no plans to take the girls with us on that trip!]

But, all that said, I am looking forward to tomorrow's trip - we're flying to a nearby city to visit some friends there for a few days. It is SO FUN to fellowship with other expat families living here - we share similar struggles and joys and concerns.

So, it's worth packing up and heading to the airport for an opportunity to encourage and be encouraged by friends. Julianna can't WAIT - she loves airplanes. Unfortunately, her love tends to dwindle after an hour or so, which makes long flights a bit of a challenge. Thankfully, this is a short little flight, so we'll be ready to land about the time she gets restless.

I'll probably be able to post a few photos while I'm there, so stay tuned...

food for Lydia

Today is the one month anniversary of Lydia's first encounter with solid food (first official encounter, that is.... Julianna tried to feed her a pretzel when she was about ten weeks old!) At 7 1/2 months, she's a big food fan! She's eaten at least 15 different things (not including the stuff she tries to steal off of my plate) and pretty much likes it all. At lunch today she tried papaya - I don't like it, but she cast her vote with Matt and Julianna- papaya was a winner!

All of Lydia's food is homemade... and, therefore, seasonal. Papaya is everywhere right now, so that's what's on the menu. If she wants to try peaches, she'll have to wait til June. I know making your own baby food sounds a bit like "Martha Stewart meets Laura Ingalls Wilder", but it's really very easy. Especially when you have 20 hours a week of extremely competent, wonderfully-part-of-our-family house help like Xiao Li! Here she is with a bunch of carrots ready for the food processor.


After the food is ground up, it goes straight to the freezer...

This is our fridge/freezer combo in the kitchen... it's pretty small (as in, SIGNIFICANTLY shorter than I am!) I also have a deep freezer where I keep pretty much everything else.

Lydia loves to try to feed herself. She's fairly successful with Cheerios and is very effective at spreading rice everywhere! Another of Lydia's favorite moves is to wipe her mouth with the back of her hand and then smear the remains on her eyebrows. It's pretty cute. But also a bit difficult to clean up. I've gotten in the habit of wiping off her eyebrows every diaper change, just to collect the excess crusted food she's storing up there!

Yes, I know mommies are supposed to keep their kids picture-perfect clean and camera-ready.... but if there was a mom-school class on "post-meal kid face cleaning" I'd would need to get some tutoring if I hoped to get a passing grade. I'm a fan of the "quick swipe with a damp washcloth" method which is mildly effective at best... but hey, the girls love it. Who wants to endure a thorough cleaning when your belly is full and you're ready to get back to some serious playing with your toys??

Dad's long journey home

Dad left yesterday morning on the long trek back to NC. 32 hours later, he landed at RDU... Mom called a few hours ago to let me know that he made it safe and sound. At the last minute he was able to upgrade to a more comfortable seat and got a lot of sleeping done on the trans-Pacific leg of the flight!

We had such a fun time with Dad here... Julianna and Lydia got to spend LOTS of quality time with Granddaddy, which was a big treat!

Our apartment is not especially large or spacious, but we do love to host visitors! Maybe one day we'll get to host you :)

Easter weekend

We started on Friday morning with a small Easter egg hunt... Alisa came out for the day and Julianna & Kayleigh "hunted" eggs together that morning.


The girls hunted diligently, until one of the eggs broke open and they realized that Goldfish crackers were hidden inside. Then, the hunt took on a different pace. Find egg, pry open, share crackers, repeat....


On Saturday night, we invited Matt's former student Whitny to join us for dinner. Whitny acted as a tour guide for my uncle Charlie, aunt Linda and cousins Kate and Emily when they spent a month in China last summer. Dad brought her at WFU tshirt


The girls got Easter baskets with little treats on Easter morning. Based on my cousin Susan's suggestion, I had made my Grandmother Doris Crissman's sweet bread the night before - I made part of the dough into a Swedish tea ring that we ate for breakfast. We talked to Grandma and Grandpa in North Dakota before heading to church.


After church, we went to the Huffs for Easter lunch - yum! I used the same sweet bread dough and made rolls that were delicious :)



After lunch was over, Erin Ashley and I got ready for the party while the guys did dish duty. We invited some of our friends from the neighborhood to celebrate with us (they know NOTHING about Easter or what it means or anything) - I made the salt dough cross ornaments and EA painted them with pastel colors.

When the guests arrived, we had them paint their names on a cross. It was a great way to learn names, and they had fun too!


After the painting, we headed outside for an Easter egg hunt. Thanks to her Friday "practice run" with Kayleigh, Julianna was ready. She was the first one out the door and ran straight for the yard. Mrs. Soon enjoyed helping her locate eggs.


Driver Yan finding an egg hidden in atree (look at Dad laughing! he was the "egg hider")


"Grandma Wang"... she lives in our complex and delivers milk & yogurt to our house every day. She mainly snuggled with Lydia, but also managed to snag an egg during the hunt!


When the hunt was over, we headed back inside to open the eggs. We used the "resurrection eggs" - in each egg was some candy and also a symbol from the Easter story (things like a little plastic donkey, a crown, a spear, a stone, etc). So, we got to tell them the Easter story using the symbols. Here's the whole party gang together!


What a fun way to celebrate Easter weekend!

surprising Matt

I had a good time last night - Matt was speaking at a meeting and didn't expect me to come. But, I arranged with another friend to help me surprise Matt and I got to hear him talk. He did a GREAT job and I had fun hanging out with the folks who were there too!

It has been nice having Dad around.... once I have fed Lydia, put her in bed, and gotten Julianna in her pjs, I have lots of freedom to go out since he can stay with the girls.

We've had such wonderful weather the past few days, and enjoyed a fun afternoon together on campus. But, the weather took a terrible turn for the worse last night and I think the girls will have to wait and wear their Easter dresses when it gets a little warmer... we'll be all bundled up for church tomorrow.

Dad is taking lots of photos, here are a few of the best ones.

I like this one because you can see how sweet Julianna is with Lydia. She really does love her little sister -


I am counting on Lydia to take over all domestic kitchen duties once she starts walking :)


This one is from Thursday afternoon when we went to campus... Julianna is really getting quite speedy!

here's a fun engagement story

My good friend here got engaged on Monday evening. It's a pretty unique engagement story, so I thought I'd share on the blog.... if you'd like to post a comment and tell me something unique (or just special) about YOUR engagement story, I'd love to hear it. [You can always post a comment as "anonymous" if you don't have a google login, just don't forget to sign your post, so I know who you are!]

Anyways, the engagement technically started on Friday morning.... he proposed to her on the Great Wall and she said "NO". I think there are probably many reasons, but she was definitely taken by surprise and didn't really know what to say, so she went with "no" just to be safe! They continued to enjoy a fun weekend together, but other folks were always around and the two of them didn't really get any time alone to talk through the proposal/refusal/etc. UNTIL, they boarded a flight home on Monday night.

Luckily, they were the only two folks in a row of three seats, and finally got to talk through stuff.... got in an argument, resolved it, he proposed again and this time she said YES! Unfortunately, the ring was safely stored in the overhead compartment... but, the flight had a brief stopover midway through the journey, so he was able to get the ring out then.

So, technically speaking, it's hard to really pinpoint EXACTLY where they were when she finally said YES. On an airplane, somewhere high above this big country!

Matt and I did get engaged at the Great Wall... and I said YES the first time! It's a good thing too, since when I boarded a flight home, Matt stayed in Beijing. We continued to live in different cities (and, for a few brief weeks, on different continents), until our wedding 6 months later. Here's a photo from that weekend... October 2002.


Ok, now tell me something about YOUR engagement story!

Dad's day downtown and other news

Today my Dad ventured out on his own - went downtown and had a grand time. The girls and I held down the fort here at home, and I checked email every few hours waiting for news on my college roommate Sara. I finally got the email I'd been waiting for a few minutes ago - her little girl, Hannah Elizabeth, was born four hours ago (3am local time).

This morning Erin Ashley and I planned our Easter lunch menu - I'm in charge of asparagus, BBQ ribs, twice baked potatoes and some sort of bread. I'm thinking about making a braided loaf of some kind, so if you have good experience with that kind of thing, please comment and let me know your tips! I've never tried a braided loaf. But, I can braid hair, so it seems like I should be qualified :)

Matt is actually doing the ribs... this is the third or fourth year in a row he's made them for Easter. Ribs are the highlight on the short list of "things Matt can cook" - other notable dishes on that list include scrambled eggs, French toast and instant pudding from a box. I love when he makes "breakfast for dinner".

Erin Ashley and I are also planning a little Easter Sunday afternoon get-together for some of our friends from the neighborhood. It should be a riot. The guest list is, well... unique. Top of the list is the lady who delivers our milk & yogurt every day. She has a 9 month old grandson. When I invited her this afternoon she was thrilled! "of course, of course I'll come", she said.

Matt and I went on a date Monday night, and are going again tomorrow - living it up while Dad is in town! Matt's a bit stressed with some stuff on the work-front, so that's no fun.

Go Deacs!

(this post is dictated by my Dad)

loved the Russian MIG fighter


Lydia just learned the Deacs were "1 and done" at the ACC tournament


Julianna learning "let's Go Deacs!


Xiao Li and the girls with their Deacon gear

photos from the last few days

reading Sports Illustrated together


Julianna playing with her cars after church yesterday afternoon


Lydia is really loving this exersaucer. I think she feels like she's part of the action -

Dad and Lydia sitting on the couch


Dad put these rings on Lydia's ears... she thought it was funny and moved her head carefully to keep them from falling off. The girls definitely look A LOT alike, especially when you compare photos of Lydia with photos of Julianna when she was 7 months old. The main difference between them is that Julianna's ears stuck out more - if Lydia keeps hanging these things from her ears, maybe she'll look even more like her big sister!

nope, I'll be sleeping

I'm not a big "party person"... it's not that I don't like parties, or get-togethers, I just don't need a whole lot of social activity. I like quiet, I like to be alone, I like to have time to think and read without the chaos of life interrupting me (doesn't sound much like life with two little kids, does it??) So, every now and then, I find myself searching for an excuse to not attend a party.

Last night, I didn't have to look far. I guess it wasn't technically a "party", but Matt and Dad and Andy planned to get up in the middle of the night to watch the ACC championship game. "Nope, I'll be sleeping", I assured them. Before we fell asleep Matt prayed that God would give us a restful night. I chuckled... afterall, the alarm was set for 12:55 am! But, God answered :) The alarm didn't go off right, or something... and Matt slept til 1:50 (missing the first half).

But, as soon as he realized what happened, Matt hopped out of bed, got Dad, and the two went over to Andy's to enjoy a UNC victory. When Matt came back to bed a little after 3 am, I rolled over and asked if Carolina won. Yep, he said. I smiled and went back to sleep. That's my kind of a party!

We're enjoying using our new camera, and I've got lots of photos of Dad and the girls together. I just need to figure out how to upload them to our computer, and then I'll be able to post some. It's Monday morning, Matt's day off, and he plans to work on getting the photos loaded (and teaching me how to do it myself). So, hopefully, I can post them later today.

photo collection - mostly Matt and the girls

I just got some photos that Erin Ashley had on her camera..... and put together this little photo tour from the past few months.

This is an older photo from our time in Thailand this past January... that's Matt with his old roommate, Jeff. Things sure have changed since their single days, haven't they?


multi-tasking Matt... holding Lydia and working on the computer. See where he parks his bike? Yep, it's hanging from the ceiling. When you live in an apartment with no closets, no garage, no basement, no attic, nothing for storage.... well, you get creative!



At the birthday party for Matt... Julianna was waiting with him for the cake to arrive so she could have a front-row seat for the candle-blowing!



from our "snow day"... March 1st. This is only the second time it has snowed since we've lived here - it's pretty unusual! Matt was so excited to introduce Julianna to a taste of his childhood in North Dakota.

returning to normal

Well, our visitors have left and life is returning to normal around here. Kind of. Matt is with traveling with the group, and Dad is here with me and the girls. We're having a good time.

We sure are missing Matt... he's had a full week. He got to take a bit of time off on Wednesday afternoon to hang out with us three girls, which was fun!

Julianna is sporting lots of new clothes that she got as hand-me-downs. My cousin Julie gives us tons of GREAT clothes... all my friends here can't wait to borrow them when Julianna grows out of them. Julie's little girl Caroline is 14 months older than Julianna. Julianna now thinks all clothes come from Caroline - a few days ago Lydia had on a top that Julianna hadn't seen before. She took one look at Lydia and said, "oh, Lydia wear Caroline's clothes too!"

thanks Julie and Caroline!

The clothes from Julie and Caroline were part of the load of goodies I got when the visitors brought in all that luggage - suitcases full of stuff like salad dressing, pudding mix, kitchen spices, books, clothes.... lots of fun stuff! I've got it (mostly) all unpacked and the kitchen pantry is literally overflowing!