Grace the Diva

Saturday morning, Grace decided to get a little rest and relaxation. Now normally this would be fine, but this time, she decided that she was going to use her Build a Bear's Little Mermaid costume bra as a sleep mask...Such a diva : )

Summer 2010 Zoo Trip

Today we took our annual trip to the zoo. We had very limited time, so we focused on the new addition of our zoo - the African Safari Adventure. We fed giraffes, saw lions, zebras, and monkeys, and saw many beautiful floral specimens. It took about two hours to travel through the entire exhibit and there was a really net sky ride that Chris and Grace rode (Ella, Colt, and I stayed safely on the ground). There was also an exhibit of traditional African drums that the kids really liked! It was a beautiful exhibit and we are very lucky to have such a nice zoo in our city!

Ballet Routine

At the end of the girls' last ballet class, the instructor allowed the parents to come in and see what the kids have been working on. The class was a "basics" class for 3-5 year olds. I'm loving the Beauty and the Beast music!! Belle is definitely my favorite princess and her song fits my two princesses to a T! : )

The Last Ballet Class of the Summer

The girls' last ballet class was yesterday. Eight weeks just flies by! We're hoping to continue more classes as these were just "learning the basics" type classes. They both really had a blast and couldn't wait to go every week.

Ella and the Girls

Here's Ella on her birthday with her cousin Anna, who just turned five in April, and Grace, who will be six next month. I was playing around with FotoFlexer online. Very fun site! Adding frames and playing with the colors were really neat - lots of cool things you can do.

Ni Hao Kai-lan Birthday Party

On Friday, we had Ella's 4th birthday party. She decided on a Ni Hao Kai-lan party. We decided on a cupcake cake with Kai-lan on it since it seemed less messy. I also made some homemade cupcakes decorated like the sun from the cartoon with marshmallow clouds. Instead of traditional treat bags, I decided on Chinese takeout boxes with the phrase "Thank you coming to my party!" in Chinese characters. I also did personalized name tags of the secondary characters for the boxes - each of the children's names were in Chinese (the picture of the pink rhino). In the boxes, I had chopsticks, fans for the girls, Chinese candies that I purchased at a local Oriental grocery store, bouncy balls for the boys, and other goodies. I made a Chinese dragon that snaked around the room and I also decorated with Chinese lanterns around the room. For eats we had the regulars - chips, hot dogs, veggie tray, etc. - but Ella's Aunt Sarah made Chinese spring rolls, her Grandma Ruthie made almond cookies, and I made Bing Tang Hulu, which is candied fruit on skewers. They didn't turn out exactly as I planned, but they were still delicious. All of the food items and eating utensils had labels in the native Chinese (you can see this better in the food picture above). Ella wore her authentic Chinese dress and chopsticks in her hair. She was so cute! She received many wonderful and thoughtful gifts from everyone...We are so blessed to have so many fabulous family members! It was such a great day, we can't wait until Grace's birthday next month!

A New Look

For those of you who know me really well, this will come to no surprise that I have changed the look of our blog. I am never happy with the way something looks and am forever changing SOMETHING ; ) This will happen periodically, so don't mind me : )