7.29.2013

Whole lotta Lao Wai


We had a picnic in a park for a friend who had just moved here. 
There were 27 kids, from 7 families. That's a lot of kiddos!
We lined them up from youngest to oldest and we had the second oldest and the second youngest. No wonder I am so tired :)
 
knox and Daddy

They set off a couple of fireworks that shoot out parachute men--e was getting ready to go catch one!

7.22.2013

Tae Kwon Do

Everett, Moose Lao Shi, and Reid


 The boys took a Tae Kwon Do class this summer.
I think they really enjoyed it. There were some other fun friends in the class and it gave them something to do once a week out of the heat!

Stretching before class

instruction time

a lot of practice,

practice, 

practice!!!


7.21.2013

Tea for the Princesses

A sweet friend of Rylie's had a luncheon for her 4th birthday. The girls got all dressed up and thought they were hot stuff. Sadly, I didn't have my camera at the luncheon, but got some pictures on the way back.

Sydney, Lexie, and Rylie

7.19.2013

Visas in the Rain

So one of the things we have to do to stay over here is have a visa. There are lots of ways to get them, but right now Matt is a student on a college campus. 
Every 6 months you have to reapply for the visa, take your passports (and your whole family) down to the Visa Office. You must do this before your current visa expires. Sounds simple right?
Well, Matt had to get a letter from the college inviting him to go to school there. In order to get this you have to request the letter, pay the tuition for the year, and wait 2-3 weeks while they process the letter. Then you have to have a copy of every person's passport, authenticated and translated birth certificate, marriage certificate, and our registration with the local police. Some of these have to have an official red stamps on them and some of them can NOT have a red stamp. These rules seem to change every time. 
Then when you get there you have to fill out a form for each person in the family and attach a picture of each person to each form. Pictures must be a very specific size and have a specific background color. Again, rules seem to change daily.
This time they threw a new kink in the system and we had to go to Room 102 to get a red stamp put on the papers we filled out there. And Room 102 is of course located exactly where you would think--though a room on the second floor, down a long hallway, down the stairs, through the workers cafeteria, down another hallway. Definitely the first place we looked :)

So, the process is always so fun, and this morning it was raining. Pouring actually--we had to walk through sections of sidewalk that were covered in water up to our calves.

So we had no choice but to put our umbrellas up, put a smile on, and have fun!!

Dancing in the rain!!!

7.18.2013

7 months


Boy are you growing!!!
You started solids this month and you LOVE food. You might give Reid a run for his money in the eating department!
You have had rice cereal, banana, applesauce, squash, carrots, peas, and sweet potato. 
You have gobbled all of it down, but the peas weren't your favorite :)

You are a getting ready to GO! 
You can roll around and get where you want, but you seem to know there is a better way and are working HARD to get there!
You get on your hands and knees, and hands and toes ALL the time. And you are trying so hard t o get those hands and feet to work together!
You are a great planker though :)
You love to play with your toy cell phone, your giraffe, and any empty bottle we give you :)
You still have a paci to go to sleep, but not so much during the day anymore.


and those eyes! 
They seem to always be big and bright, showing joy to the world! 
You got a crib this month and you are doing great in it! We had to find a bumper because you kept getting your sweet feet stuck in the rails and were throwing your paci out the side!


and that smile!
Your mouth is almost always open smiling or laughing (or eating!)
I am a little worried about jaw problems later in life from the always open jaw.
You are babbling up a storm and say dada pretty consistently.

"oh you still want to take pictures?"

"sorry--I don't sit still much anymore! Hope you got what you need mama!!"

7.15.2013

summer bunking


So this is how the bigs have been sleeping this summer. And they love it! We will see how it goes once school starts but it has been fun to see Rylie transition from the baby of the family into the "bigs"!!

7.14.2013

sweetness


oh how I hope this bond lasts forever. 
Reid LOVES his little brother. They all do, but there is just something about Reid and Knox.
Something special. and I just love it.

7.12.2013

Underwater

These crazy kids are playing underwater Uno with waterproof cards.  

staying cool on a HOT summer day

loving the underwater camera



and then they pulled the game on to the deck.

7.11.2013

Want a bite?

First taste of food.....

and the verdict is.......

 he LOVES it!!!

And big sis even got in on the fun!!

7.10.2013

Water park

Another day spent trying to stay cool this summer!
 
  
We went to a waterpark in our city. There were a fair amount of people. 
But our people had a good time anyway :)

Rylie and Kayleigh

This is kind of like a giant, bouncy, slip n slide trampoline. SO FUN!

They loved  sliding each other across it!


Ry and Callie

7.09.2013

Strawberry Shortcake

And the 80's are back again......

Rylie had these wonderful girls over to celebrate her birthday

Strawberry Shortcake style!

They ate some yummy snacks, colored pictures of Strawberry and her friends, got their nails painted, and played musical strawberries. I think she really enjoyed celebrating with her friends this year!

getting ready to blow the candles out

 picture with Mommy

opening presents with friends

7.08.2013

4 years old!!

Happy Fourth Birthday sweet girl!!

 Ry woke up to her decorated door

had waffles with pink sprinkles for breakfast
 


went on a fun date with Daddy to get a milk tea
 
had lunch at Peters
 

 had cake and cupcakes with Aiyi
got some fun presents 

measured WAY too high on the growth chart
 
  
and enjoyed her day with smiles and laughs!!