Hannah likes solids!

Our little Hannah, at 6 months, started eating solids. I know you technically can start at 4 months, but why would you when breastfeeding is so easy, convenient and clean (not to mention that breastmilk is the most important food for babies up until one year of age)! Here she is with her first meal of rice cereal:

And the verdict:

That's a "thumbs up" for rice cereal smile for sure.

Dana is 3!

Now that I have two daughters with birthdays in May... I wonder if I can have double parties for them in the future...

I had to make it simple this year, obviously, since Hannah's arrival makes life busier than usual. Featured below are the refreshments served, and we ordered pizza for lunch. I made the cake and cut up the fruit and a friend brought the fruit jello which was really yummy.

Here's Dana in her favourite present: a new summer dress just in time for the weather heating up. It's almost time to start turning on the air conditioning, that's how hot it is here (30+ Celsius these days).

Here are all the party guests pictured after a rousing game of "Duck, duck, GOOSE!" We also played a simplified version of pictionary with our chalk board and whoever guessed what was being drawn (by an adult) got a candy. Oh, and they could shout out the answers in Chinese or English.

And the happy birthday girl herself. She's excited to be a big girl and to be going to preschool in the fall. She is a very good helper to me these days too, helping me rinse Hannah's bum in the sink, bringing me water when I'm nursing, throwing diapers in the garbage for me and giving Hannah a MINIMUM of twenty kisses and hugs daily.

Dana turns 2!

Dana celebrated her birthday with her "Chinese twin," they are only 3 days apart and we thought it would be fun to celebrate together. It was a fun morning, Dana picked out her birthday outfit (the top was from her Auntie Pam in Canada) and her dress was one she got in Thailand.

Scott's dad was worried that our kids are "too healthy", here they are having juiceboxes with their friends on Dana's birthday of all occasions! He hopes to remedy the situation when we head back to Canada for a visit in late June! But we hope yogurt remains as Dana's all-time favourite food.

We made fruit kebabs for our mid-morning snack! Not only visually appealing, but very tasty!

Of course we had cake too! It was absolutely huge and brought over by a friend. (I don't have an oven yet in my new place! We did a lot of eating, washing hands, playing, (repeat). Following Chinese tradition, we had cake first, then pizza.

Eli approved of the cake, as you can see.

"Put the nose on the Elmo" was a game we tried to play. It was the adults that humoured me and joined in because the kids were not too into it. The kids liked watching their parents play and helping their moms or dads get the nose in the right spot though though.

Let's not forget the presents! By this time Dana was fading and thinking: "When are you all going home so I can have my nap?" I was thinking that right along with her!

springtime changes

This is one of Eli and Dana's last rides around in our old neighbourhood. Dana is content to be the passenger and Eli shows surprising skill in driving this "police jeep" It was given to us by a friend whose son had outgrown it.

We moved to a neighbourhood closer to Eli's school, only a 5-minute-walk away! We love our new neighbourhood because it is more convenient for buying fruit and vegetables (markets nearby) as well as having a great play area and courtyard that is full of kids in the evenings (when it has cooled off).

I love our new apartment itself as well. Although it is technically smaller than our old place (and quite a bit cheaper!), the common areas: kitchen, dining area and living room are more spaceous and therefore more suitable for having people over.

I thought I'd throw in the picture of Easter bread that I made for Easter too, using my new new Czech cookbook. It turned out pretty good!

And here's a great picture of Dana smelling the lilacs that were growing like mad this spring. "Smells good!" Dana would say after a big whiff.

thailand part 1: great family times

Okay, so one of the first things we had to do in Thailand was go to Swensens for ice cream. Eli had been talking for some time about "strawberry ice-cream with a cherry on top" and that's just what he got, with a cone thrown in, which he ate first.

Of course we had to get the exact same thing for Dana...

Scott got some kind of chocolate-y kind with pour-it-yourself fudge on the side.

Besides eating, we went and played either at the beach or the pool most days. This is a poolside picture in which the kids are playing in the showers...turning them all on and running through them like sprinklers, filling up cups and watering the plants nearby. (Eli also did a different sort of "watering" of the plants which I more than once pretended not to see...)

Eli and Dana in their "dragonboat" in the pool. Eli's sunglasses fit me too, I was originally going to buy them for myself, but they became Eli's when he tried them on. He wears them right side up most of the time.

We went out one afternoon to get pictures for the kids' visas as they had expired, so they had naps in the stroller as we went along afterwards.

Eli used some of his own money (given to him for Chinese New Year) to buy a toy "tuk tuk" which he fell asleep clutching in his lap.

Some of Eli and Dana's favourite foods at the restaurant where we were staying was spaghetti and meatballs. It got so we just stripped them down and didn't bother with shirts or bibs...you can see why...

And if one dropped a meatball, so did the other...we had a good conversation about the song "On Top of Spaghetti..."after this happened...

One of the fun things that Scott got to do for three afternoons was rent a scooter and go exploring. He almost made it to Burma one afternoon, and he came back later than expected. I was so relieved when I saw him, I was reallly already imagining him bleeding in a ditch all alone somewhere...the things husbands put their wives through! The helmet was too small for Scott, but at least he had one that at least looked more durable than a coconut.

Ahhhh...the best part. The ocean, and the beach where we played in the sand, and jumped into the water on an alternating basis. I would hold Dana in my arms and wade in and she would point to the middle of the ocean and say "DIS WAY!" she just wanted to stay in the water and keep going further out with me.

The kids got short rides on the scooter in our parking lot. They (especially Eli) loved it. I like how Eli is trying to figure out how the scooter works in this picture.

A good shot of Dana concentrating on her "rainbows" which are actually toy horseshoes.

I'll never forget chasing Eli along the beach with a pail full of water to dump on him, or dipping Dana in the water and singing goofy songs to her, Thailand was a very refreshing time indeed.

Dana's birthday!

Had a birthday party for Dana, which was totally fun even though she won't remember anything about it! We invited some of her friends (and I told them they were allowed to bring their parents), chatted, ate and opened some gifts. I like that her birthday coincides with Mother's Day, she's the best Mother's Day present ever!

I probably have a little bit of whatever my mom has that makes her run around like a headless chicken preparing food and ensuring guests have more food than they could possibly eat. It's not a bad thing, it just may not be apparent that I am also actually really enjoying myself at the same time. Now I understand why my mom wanted to prepare my wedding cake PLUS do all (or most) of the food preparation for my wedding gift opening! I love that mom of mine, I really hope I can be more like her when I grow up.

I prepped lots of different fresh cut-up vegetables with homeade hummus, potato leek soup for lunch, and then a banana chocolate cake in the shape of a flower for dessert.

Tasted great, couldn't for the life of me get the icing to whip up properly, but whatever...Dana sure didn't seem to mind, here she is helping herself:

Here's to many more years Dana! You've been nothing but a joy to all of us! We like the way you can not only walk now, but dance as well. It's fantastic the way you are starting to talk too.

Watch this birthday "interview" with Dana featuring her first sentence: "mommypleasepickmeup". Impressive!

our first Christmas in China...

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everybody! We had a wonderful first Christmas in China, all things considered. We definitely missed being with friends and family, but made the best of things...what choice did we have?!

Here we are, spending Christmas Eve morning on a walk, just the four of us. We walked to where there was snow...at a ski hill where they make their own snow. This was at the zoo coincidentally and so we also went to see the birds. Eli really likes the birds and can spend a good half hour just watching them in the comfort and (relative) safety of his stroller. I really liked seeing the swans, I have no idea how they keep their feathers so clean and bright white...especially considering how dirty the zoo is.
Here was our decidedly non-traditional Christmas Eve meal, lotus roots, a spicy pork dish and mantou (Chinese buns), all made made by our beloved and much appreciated ayi (that's "auntie" in Chinese, but here it refers to our house-help or maid if you will). She's the one that truly makes it possible for Scott and I to study Chinese simultaneously.
But I at least made the vanocka (that's Czech Christmas bread). I didn't make the loaves beautiful like my mom's though, she braids the bread whereas I just made simple loaves. Too lazy you ask? Yep, and I didn't have any toothpicks to secure the braids on top of one another. Still tasted like my mom's though and that's what counts.
Eli very much enjoyed Christmas too. He received many new cars and trucks from friends and family. One of his favourites was a school bus from Scott. Here is a picture of Eli, engrossed in his new toys on Christmas Day.
Well if I had to choose my top three favourite memories of our Christmas this year, they would be:

1. the carol sing that we had on the 23rd. We invited about 10 people over and sang Christmas carols with Scott on the piano and someone else on the guitar. It sounded beautiful, and it chased away the homesick feelings that are especially strong this time of year. Eli had some of his buddies over and really enjoyed that evening too.

2. watching "The Nativity Story" on Christmas Eve. We plan to make this one of our traditions. The movie is so well done and it helped me see again how amazing this story really is. It helps the story not be so "same ol', same ol'" even though I've heard it so many times.

3. making cookies with a friend the week before Christmas. We spent the whole evening chatting and laughing as we made cookies and decorated them together (and yes, we sampled our fair share too). Hopefully we can do that again next year as well.