Kool Kids

A couple of wonderful pictures from Jia's cousin Melissa's 7th birthday party. These are rock stars in the making! Jia does have a bit of a runny nose, but, hey, that's a perpetual state these days. And Melissa, hello, can you say MOVIE STAR???

Beautiful

Back to our regularly scheduled program - pictures of Jia! Not much to say tonight but want to add a few pictures that will brighten your day!

I'm Ready for My Close-Up

Jia is an amateur photographer, in case you haven't heard! She loves, loves, loves taking pictures with her mom's camera. She even knows to put the strap around her arm so as not to drop and break the delightful contraption. It's getting increasingly difficult for me to get shots of her since she insists on being the photographer. Tonight I was trying to explain again how it works. She's got the pushing of the button down pat. She knows how to turn it on and off and that it's a no-no to do so in rapid succession. Tonight the lesson involved taking a picture of the intended object. She got a lot of shots of me during the lesson. I have the following observations about the pictures I've included:

1. Honey, hey, I'm over here.
2. See, point the camera a little higher.
3. I need a filter, God knows, but that's a little strong.
4. Your mom is old and tired, bug eyes should try to be minimized.
5. Ah, there you go - your mom even looks a little bit like a hottie. Heh. From now on, Jia takes all my pictures!

Cheese As Art

Random Monday evening - Jia won't sleep (typical with her Type A I'm Learning personality). It is late and she is playing in the kitchen while I make dinner for the Dad and lunches for the next day. Despite having eaten quite a big dinner she proclaims that she is "hungie". Jia loves to play in our kitchen pantry and while doing so I give her some of the standard orange processed American cheese. She eats the first slice and asks for another. Hmmm. Really hungry I think and peel the next slice from its plastic ickiness. Jia heads back into the pantry. Soon she is back out asking for "glue". Huh? "Glue mommy". Low and behold when I look in the pantry she has created quite the cheese art. She tore the second piece of cheese into various geometric shapes and slapped them against Nora's (our dog) big tupperware dog food bin but one piece was not quite sticking so well and falling forward. Thus the request for glue.

Have I commented lately about how smart our daughter is at 2.5 years old? Wow.

Love to all - here are some late and incomplete photos of cheese as art and also random making a cake with her dad photos.

The Leaning Tower of Toilet Tissue

I went grocery shopping Friday just before I picked Jia up at her Aunt LaLa's house. LaLa mentioned that she had been fussy and had not eaten all that well all day. Having that information I thought maybe it would be fun (and a distraction) for Jia to help her mom unload groceries once we got home. Well, it was a big hit. A tip to all of you who may have 32 month old children or grandchildren - just pop open a 12 pack of toilet paper and you're golden! I can't even adequately describe how much fun Jia had putting the TT (toilet tissue) away, bringing it back out and ultimately building the TT tower of fun! And check out the glee with which she most carefully tipped over the tilting tower of toilet tissue! (I'm having way too much fun with this T thing).


Anyway, all is hunky dory in Jia land. I made some breakfast for us this morning. Eggs, large, brown, cage free, grade A from vegetarian fed hens ( you tell me, is all that REALLY worth $2.50 a dozen? I didn't pop for the $3.50 organic version and feel a bit guilty about it.) A couple of these pictures are to show what a wonderful breakfast we had together. While I was cooking, Jia was working at her own kitchen and she created quite a surprise for her mom. She has these toy cupcakes which we store in a proper muffin pan in her kitchen. While I was cooking, she was preparing a special treat- she placed 4 cupcakes on specially selected dishware and explained that one was mine, one was hers, one was for her dad (who was still asleep) and one was for Nora (our dog). I love this child. We had a delightful breakfast of eggs, toast and rubber cupcakes.

p.s. I love this child.

Random Shots Around the House

Jia is talking up a storm. Full sentences! Well, modified full sentences - but you can understand what she is asking. And she is always asking! Who's that? That's the question of the month so far. She most often means "what's that" but we know what she means! We've had more snow, more snow, more snow with more snow on the way. I'll be glad when we're done with this winter. A few pictures to reflect our snowy realty and some to brighten your day!

Pack Mule BackPack at Two!

Kids go to school with massive backpacks - even at 2! I love these photos. This is Jia's backpack for school. We don't send her off with this on her back - no worries! She usually proudly carries this into her Montessori classroom but on this particular Saturday, she wanted to wear it properly on her back! She's a strong little one! It even has a special place for her phone!

All is well here. Very tired of winter - Jia routinely shouts "summer!" and I concur. She knows summer means pool, lazy days and the ever appealing trip to the beach. It will be here soon enough I suppose. Best to all.

Busy!

Once again I apologize for not getting new pics or posts up lately. We have been mind numbingly busy it seems. Where does the time go? Jia is doing wonderfully. She's in some kind of developmental/physical spurt! She is constantly "hungy" and I can't seem to get enough food into her. Her vocabulary is exploding and she is putting words together incredibly well. I have a feeling we'll have a little chatty patty on our hands in just a number of months. She's grown 1/2 an inch in the past month too. She's both charming and devilish - sweet with periods of terrible twos thrown in for fun. Whew. I'm a tired mommy. Add to all of that the fact that I think I'm getting a whopper of a cold and you'll surely understand the lack of posts!

Here a few more shots from Christmas!

Christmas - A Smashing Success

Tons of fun was had at this house this Christmas. Santa clearly understood what a wonderful little girl Jia was this past year! We visited family, played with new toys and Skyped with the Illinois cousins - not to mention the wonderful time off from work and school. Oh, to win the lottery! No alarm clocks, no schedules, no stress - ahhh - but I guess one must play the lottery to win the lottery. We still have several days yet of holiday to enjoy and we're going to make the best of it for sure! These are some pictures from Christmas Eve at my brother David and sister in law Lisa's (aka LaLa) house, fun with Terrell's mom, brother and family and, of course, at our house on Christmas morning. I love that first picture. A hammer and some lip gloss - what more does a modern day girl need, really? I'll get some more pics up tomorrow or the next day!

Happy New Year!

Our Winter Beauty

Jia is so happy - and so is her mom! We have sooo much fun hanging around each other and this winter break from work and school is heavenly. We're going to bake Christmas cookies today, do a little last minute shopping and just be a little bit lazy! These pictures were all taken within seconds of each other yesterday. She put on her hat (thanks LaLa - I believe this hat used to belong to her Mei Mei ( her cousin Melissa - but Jia calls her Mei Mei) and laughed and giggled her way through mommy's photo shoot! I have to post them - they're beautiful! (Please ignore messy shirt - but that too was achieved with lots of energy and fun while eating her morning "puffs"!)

Winter Wonderland

We really got socked by this snow - 17 inches is my best guess. Today we'll head out to build our snowman family! Jia is doing great! She's got a bit of cough and runny nose which seems to be a neverending winter state of being for her. Hoping she can kick it soon. We're almost ready for Christmas around here. I have a few things left to do and this snow certainly put a crimp in my shopping plans so I may be out on Christmas eve!

Hope all is well with all!