Valentines, Swimming, Etc...

I hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's Day! Here are random photos from last week to the present...

Miyah made some window cling hearts and flowers.

Sister hugs. Mei Lin is in there somewhere, too.

Miyah's decorations (notice dog collar and bunny ears)

It "snowed" on Wednesday and the girls were SO excited. Really, there was snow covering the deck and nowhere else, but you'd think we were in a winter wonderland they were so excited. Miyah scraped off every square inch of snow and put it in a ziploc bag. Her "snowball" is in the freezer. When she came inside she talked for an hour about how fun the snow was and asked why Nana and Bumpa get all the snow and we don't get very much.


Valentine-making...
Valentine morning, Megan and I had a surprise waiting for us. What a sweet husband and father we have! The little girls got balloons (below) and Matt got a gas card and candy.

Later that morning, it was award day at gymnastics.



All those are just for our immediate family. That's a lot of love...and glue and construction paper.

Megan got a purse, candy, and scrapbooking stuff.
The girls got candy and some toys...

....and ballooons. I don't know why the balloon looks like it has three eyes, but it really is a two-eyed ladybug.

Matt was off on winter break and Pat was home, so we all went for a Valentine's lunch.

. Miyah tried to eat her banana while posing with her balloon. The girls are dressed and ready for Sara's Valentine's Day party!

Okay, so I forgot to take pictures until it was time to leave the party. Our neighbor, Jennifer had a beautiful table set with treats and I forgot to get a picture of it. The girls had fun playing with the neighborhood kids and I enjoyed talking with the moms.

(below) Sara, Mei Lin, Miyah
Mmmm....Sara's cupcakes.

Just too cute not to post. Look at those bangs. The girls had hair appointments a couple of weeks ago to have their hair trimmed and Mei Lin screamed and thrashed enough that Allison only got one cut, then I told her to just leave it and I'd finish when I got home...not a good plan! Mei Lin has an extremely high hairline and I don't know what part of her hair on the top should be bangs and sides, so I left a bunch to grow on the side, but they keep hanging in her face.

What was the drama about??? I think the fact that she'd had shots at the doctor the week before made her terrorized of the chair and stranger messing with her.

Saturday morning we heard Mei Lin yell, "Somebody help, please!" Daddy went into the living room to see this....

Matt and Megan playing the Wii

The girls started swimming lessons this week. Neither of them were too excited about it, but even amidst tears they managed to do what their teacher asked them to do. They go for short lessons every morning and the second day they let them go under while trying to get them to reach for something like the top pool step, holding them all the while though. Well, Miyah's scream reached an all new decibel. She'd screamed so hard she popped blood vessels around her eyes! She's immediately relieved when she gets out of the water and yesterday she said, "Fish are the bravest animals ever!" I thought her new appreciation for fish amusing.

Mei Lin cried and said "all done...mommy" each time she'd come up. I had to smile and clap and pretend I wasn't nearly crying myself. I was warned that the first week or two are hard, but I watch the other children who've been there a while and they're learning an amazing life-saving skill even as young as 1 year old. We have a pool in our neighborhood and last year Mei Lin had very little fear of the water, so I knew she needed to learn to swim. Miyah has an unhealthy extreme fear of water in her face, so I hope this helps her, as well. The fact that we're staying in a house in Florida with five doors leading to the pool is an incentive, as well.

I think that's enough for a while. Have a great week!