Pool membership

There's not too many places in Tianjin that are fun for kids. And the weather here is such that there's only a short window of time that it's not too hot or cold to be outside. So I decided to sign up for a membership to use the pool nearby. I saved Lizzy's swimsuit from last year and it still fits her okay. Hayden has definitely outgrown his swim trunks from last year and we cannot buy swim diapers in China (Chinese babies don't go swimming). So while we're waiting for Grandma to send us some, Jason and I thought it would be okay to just have him wear a regular pull up that we had left over from Lizzy.

Thus, the pink pull up. HOWEVER, we did not think it through all the way...what happens when you put a child with a regular diaper into a swimming pool. Within one minute, Hayden was hauling around the most bloated pull up I have ever ever seen! I mean, those things can hold A LOT of water! He still managed to have a blast though and Lizzy is learning fast. I hope we can go swimming often enough to make my membership worth the money.

Shopping "Car"

Surely those of you with kids and even those who don't have noticed these shopping "cars" that make it fun for kids while Moms/Dads grocery shop. Well...I hate them. They take up twice the space of regular shopping carts, they don't maneuver near as well, and there's about half the space in the basket for actual groceries. I think I let Lizzy use it a couple times when she was a toddler but after that, I've refused.

Sometimes Hayden will point at it, and I'll quickly distract him away from it. One day, I finally discovered my conscience and let him have a try.

He loved it, of course. Have fun while it lasts, Hay!

two little posers

My kids sure love to pose for pics!

Easter Egg Hunt

On Good Friday, we invited Lizzy's class to come over for an Easter Egg Hunt. Mrs. Scroggins talked to all the kids about the story of Jesus dying on the cross and raising from the dead.

Each kid brought a basket of beautifully dyed Easter Eggs (see previous post for Lizzy's basket)

We hid the eggs in our apartment complex, inviting curious Chinese glances.

I found one!

Lizzy found lots of eggs and chocolate bars

Here's everyone with their basket of goodies.

We had so much fun!

Easter Eggs

Trouble with doing Easter Eggs in China: quite hard to find white shelled eggs, and from experience I know the brown shelled ones don't work. Ayi found these ones that weren't too bad.



Spiderman Themed Easter Eggs, complete with webs and all!

Toy Store

Often our Saturday mornings are filled with guests. This past Saturday, Daddy was holding a meeting so I had to find a way to preoccupy the children. So I decided to take them to the toy store, and shun bian shop for some toys for Hayden's birthday. Lizzy found a little coloring activity and soon became engrossed with it (which I later found out cost $$, I thought it was just a freebie).

It was hard to keep Hayden from ruining Lizzy's artwork, so I put a little stool in front of the Transformer toys section and sat him there. It made him happy.

Hosanna in the Highest

Today is Palm Sunday, celebrating Jesus' entry into Jerusalem. The children celebrated by walking down the aisles of the church waving their palm branches. Here's Lizzy!


Here she is standing on stage, craning her neck to try to find her parents (she did find us)


The children led us in singing "we want to see Jesus lifted up"! It was very much a "proud parents" moment.

Setting up

Lizzy's nightly ritual is to clean up her room before bedtime. Sometimes she gets quite creative when she cleans up. She sets up her toys and books in specific ways and admires them. These are pictures from different nights.

Starbucks

Mommy has fallen in love with the Caramel Macchiato at Starbucks. I bring Hayden along, with his age appropriate drink in a sippy, and we both share a delicious chocolate cupcake! Yum!


Then we went out for Thai food. Also yum.

Reading together

So one day the kids were being too quiet. I opened the door to the room and there they were. Does Hayden look comfy or what?! Lizzy taught Hayden to pronounce about half the alphabet perfectly! She's such a good little older sister/teacher.

Happy Birthday Mom!

Yes, Mom turned 30. (Notice Hayden staring at the cupcakes... :)

4th uncle

My uncle visited us briefly in TJ: the kids were very happy to see him.