My baby Elliott turns 4!

Well, a post every six months is probably as good as it gets around here.  The weather cooled down and it's officially winter down under now.  We went home in April for 3 weeks and spent 3 nights in Dubai on the way there.  The delta of that time was travel....ugh.....Perth really is in the middle of nowhere!  Those 3 days at the Atlantis were the only relaxing time of the 28 day trip.  More specifically, when Matilda slept in my arms for 3 trips around the lazy river at the Atlantis water park for ~40 minutes was the only and most relaxing part of 28 days.

Fortunately, no one got sick the whole time even though I'm pretty sure Matilda did the equivalent of licking the entire airplane seat.  We recovered from jet lag in 5 days which was not too bad either.

Since then, we've signed the kids up for soccer on Saturday mornings, took Elliott to Chinese school Saturday afternoon and continue swim class on Sunday mornings.  So....we've been a bit busy here and there.

As the title said, Elliott turned 4 today!!  He's in bed now and I thought I'd take the time to put up some pics.  So much social media and forums of sharing photos - iPhone, gmail hangout, Facebook, Flickr, etc - I thought I'd just document some stuff on here.

We invited four families to help celebrate at Mighty Jungle (same venue as last year) and had a friend's friend make the cake.  Elliott is very into TMNT lately, along with his classmates so it was pretty easy to pick out this year.

 Elliott and his best friend Ewan

 All smiles!!

 Our attempt at a family picture

 Pure joy!

 Matilda at 21 months, first time on a bouncy castle.

 He's all sweaty from the jumping and fun!

 Quite proud of the TMNT cupcakes we baked and decorated.  My first time to use roll out fondant, didn't even know what that was a few weeks ago.  They turned out great and I now firmly believe "anything is possible" and unconditional love really makes you do things you never even would've attempted.  

I love you Elliott!!

Dropped these off at school today and the kids had a great time.  Teachers brought Matilda over to celebrate as well.  

 Elliott assessorized the other day with the Baylor beanie, a wristband from his new ball/glove gift and Matt's City to Surf medal from last year.  She liked it too and put it all on by herself!  She's so cute!!!!

I love my other baby!!!!

She's picking up more and more words everyday and does the cutest "oh no" and "elliott" face, arm, and body expressions.  I need to get it on video because it is the cutest thing.  We have our tough days with her as she is very determined but overall, she's not too much of a handful.  Her teething seems to bother her more than they did for Elliott.  Definitely a big girl too, approaching size 2 clothes at 21 months.

February 2014

February was a very busy month with two trips to Adventure World (no pics) which is a much smaller version of Astro World and Water World combined.  It was great fun, but very long days out in the sun.  Elliott rode all the rides he could for his height of 100 cm.  He even rode the straight up/down ride by himself!!!  He was reluctant at the water park but we got him to enjoy himself on the second trip.

A girl with two phones because one isn't enough.

Happy Daddy feeding the kids Goldfish. 

Tillie throwing a fit under the dining table.  She was so sweet and so chill, until the 12 month mark.  She's got some spunk to her and knows what she wants.

A morning at the beach at Salt.

Where is Elliott you ask?  In the suntent.  It was as if Tillie was our only child, who loves to play in the sand and water.  Elliott never cheered up til we bribed him with ice cream at lunch.

Our cutie Tilliee playing in the sand.

 Can you spot Elliott?

Lunch at Salt.

What a view!?!?!

Time for the chocolate ice cream.  These pictures were just too cute to pick one or two.

How do say no to this face??

Daddy put this on me and Mommy put me in this basket.

Riding bikes in the garage.

They both love this minion, but she REALLY loves it.  Always gets her to smile and laugh.

She started to climb on my back lately like a little monkey or koala.

Sunday evening was spent at the Perth Zoo to see Play Along with Sam from The Wiggles.  You can bring all your food, drinks, blankets and the entertainment was fun!  Kids loved it!!  This picture of them was on the grassy area just outside and Elliott was so cute protecting her from another random kid about to run into her.  He put is arms out in a starfish formation in front of her with authority.  Very cute. Reminds me of the story we heard about Kirk doing that for Rosa and I when a dog approached us when we were little kids.

Fun times starting!

Getting up and dancing!  They loved it!!  So did Matt and I.

Getting sleepy.

Dancing with my babies.  The joy on Elliott's face was immense!

Correction: Matilda is talking, and has been

Karen Wei is visiting from Houston and we hung out for 12 hours on Sunday....so much fun girl time!!  She and a few others have corrected me this weekend in my definition of "talking."  Matilda has been saying "ma ma," "ba ba," "da da," "yell-yi-yot," "ba" for ball and "hua" for flower in Chinese since she was a year old, when I was in South Korea.  By and large, she does more grunting and pointing for her communication so I had it in my head that she wasn't talking. 

I stand corrected. 

She loves to eat, LOVES all fruit (well, not mangoes), wants to feed herself at the big table at school (not the highchair), walks very well (took two months to perfect, started while on holiday in Hamilton Island at 13.5+ months), adores her brother, loves to put objects in her mouth (we used to comment that with Elliott, we could leave buttons and pennies on the floor and he wouldn't put it in his mouth) so we have to be careful with paper books, toys that come apart (the Spiderman head on a figurine) and everything else. 

She is a very chill baby but definitely knows what she wants and can get fiesty when she doesn't get it.  I guess that's like someone else I know.  When she is excited, she SQUEEEELS with delight and it cracks us up.  Her favorite song is "Row Row Row your Boat" which I only found out on our Margaret River trip over Christmas 2013 when I was singing random songs to her and her face lit up!  Clearly, I, who did not make the third grade choir, can not sing well so I don't do it often (except when putting the kids to bed) but day care evidently does.  She does the "ro ro ro" and "merrily merrily" by moving her tongue over her lips over and over almost like a turkey gobble sound.  It is soooooo cute and it's been a month and clearly, it is her one and only favorite song. 

Other top favorites are when the "horn on the bus goes beep beep beep" and she does the motion, the "if you're happy and you know it, stomp your feet" and she kicks her feet in glee and also "itsy bitsy spider" and she moves her little fingers.

Post bath time over the long Australia Day weekend. 

 For the last week, while I'm in the kitchen, she has made a mess of an already messy drawer.

 See?  She loves drinking out of all of the empty sippy cups and throwing/dropping plates.  It's not annoying at all.

Karen Wei at Cottesloe Beach just after lunch at Indiana Tea House on Australia Day.

The gang on Australia Day.  Thank you to the Greene's for hosting.

Someone had some fun the night before.  Doesn't she look guilty here?

 Mei Mei eating zhao zhe!

Mei Mei eating a pear.

Welcome 2014!

It's been over six months since my last update and I thought this blog was gone for sure.  But here are some cute photos from the new year.  Elliott is 3.5 years old and Matilda is 15+ months now - walking but not talking much.

Very briefly, here is what we've been up to since June 2013:

• Family Singapore trip that Matilda was very sick for
• Elliott's 3rd birthday at Mighty Jungle, an indoor play center
• I returned to work full time which coincides to when the blog went on hiatus
• Stayed indoors in July-August with the cold and rainy dark winter
• Lao Yie came over for 5 weeks in Sept for Matilda's 1st birthday!
• I went to Okpo, South Korea for a week for work in Sept
• Family vacation to Hamilton Island and saw the Great Barrier Reef
• Grandpa and Grandma came to visit over Christmas for 2 weeks

Two Batmans to Save the Day

They love each other so much.

 Big cuddles for Mei Mei!

 They love pushing each other on the zippy go ride.

Now it's Elliott's turn for a ride.

They've been doing this for awhile, but hiding under the blankets and playing peek-a-boo is one of their favorite activities.

The kids love playing with Matilda's lego cupcakes and these are our creations on a pink platter.

Elliott used Matilda's feet as a safety belt.

She used the opportunity to cuddle him.

Morning milk in her chair.

 Happy face!

Lately, they have been playing peek-a-boo in the shoe closet.

We went to a friend's house for a super hot day, 40+, to play in the pool and the kids loved their trampoline.  This was Elliott's first time to walk over on his own and attempt a new activity.

 

Water table play

Mei Mei's turn to jump!

Our friend's playroom and garden to the pool.

 It's a hot one!

More closet peek-a-boo.  I love the little feet. 

Matilda LOVES peaches and nectarines, especially likes to ken gu tou (eat the fruit from the core seed).

Matilda being silly with her breakfast spoon.

More blanket hiding for both of them.

I spy an arm!

She LOVES her shoes and always wants to play with them. 

Matilda saw Elliott on the ground zooming his cars and she did the same.  I saw her at childcare doing it too.