GIRL FUN

The girls are really liking spending time together. It is so funny to watch them react to one another. On occassion Lucy will have a mini meltdown and Lily just looks on out of concern, until finally she cant take anymore and she will cover her ears with those precious little hands and smile from ear to ear. But when the meltdown is on the other foot it is no laughing matter to her:) She is really getting quite independent. She thinks cause she took a couple steps she can make her own mind up. Well we have got a lot of learning to do I think:) She is so much fun and such an important part of our lives. She and Lucy were meant to be sisters I think. Each night I go to bed wondering what each new day will bring:)

Girls on the farm

This month has brought us some very pretty weather already. The last couple days the temperature has been in the 60's so I dragged out the sandbox and toys and the balls and the swings. I am looking forward to spending time outside this spring and summer with the girls. However, I have run into a not so small issue. Lucy loves the outdoors and like taking walks and exploring with us, but at the first sight of an animal the fun is over for all of us!! We have been working on getting her used to the animals. The larger dogs are now kennel dogs and all that is free to roam is the cat and Snix. But even the sight of them sends her into a tizzy. I sure hope w can get this fixed pretty soon, otherwise Snix is going to be scared to death. Everytime he comes towards us to be petted she sends out a scream and scared him to death! We will see what the months bring!
This has been a busy month for us. We had a couple family birthdays, Michael turned 16, Nathaniel 23 and we enjoyed having cake and celebrating with them. Lucy was also baptized two weeks ago on Sunday. I found the most beautiful dress online and as soon as I put it on her she started to scream. She hated the dress, but put up with it once she realized I was not taking it off. She was not too happy with all the attention she got at church during the baptism though. She likes it when everyone just leaves her alone:) I know she is my child and I should maybe not say this, but she was the most beautiful little thing with princess dress on and for once in my life I was able to buy a size 0 in something!
We took Lucy and Lily to have professional photos done the week before the baptism. Lily was of course her usual self ..... a camera hog with a huge smile. This time her smile was filled with four of the most beautiful little teeth I have ever seen. She is something else. She has begun to take a couple steps now with a little coaxing. I cant wait til she is walking too. The girls keep me busy and we have a lot of fun. This weekend we spent some time on the deck swinging. Then I decided to give them their first ice cream cone. So, I put them in their high chairs, gave them their small cones and stepped into the laundry room for a few seconds.....when I came back Lucy's hair was sticking straight out.....it was literally spiked all over....she looked hilarious! She had this panicked look on her face and I asked her what was in her hair. She took her tiny hand and patted the ends of the spikes and smiled a million dollar smile. She knew at that point she was too comical for me to get upset with. She learns so fast!

Did Someone Say Nap Time?

Looks like someone is ready for a nap...................

Playing with Horsey

Our Little Ladybug on Parade

Here is our little ladybug. She is such a sweet little ladybug, but she is no longer a camera hog. She thinks when Mom reaches for the camera it is a fine time to make her getaway! Therefore right now it is kind of hard sometimes to get a facial shot of her. She is so busy and into everything. I try to tell her she should be fearful of somethings, but she dont believe me. I have to say I think she looks so darn cute in those tiny Levi's. She is just precious from head to toe:)

Snow Princess

This week was a better week for the girls for a while. All seemed well with the colds being gone and they played so well together. Then on Saturday Lily began feeling bad again so I took her in and she has ear infections AGAIN!! Her doctor switched her meds and hopefully she will be better for good this time.

Daddy decided to buy the girls a sled, and he took Lucy sledding on Sunday. Since Lily was sick we decided we should wait, and looks like if all goes as planned we will have more snow for the weekend and Daddy can take both girls out this time:)

Lucy loved the snow, and cried when she had to come inside. Typical I thought, but it was so cold and we sure did not want to press our luck. She has been pretty good through all this cold stuff, and we want to keep it that way.

Anyway here is a few pictures of our snow princess.................

Lily Plays Piano

Looks like she is following in her brother's footsteps.................

Lily ...Come out where ever you are!!!!

Seems Lily like a challenge....she always takes the long way around and climbs through places instead of taking an open pathway!!! That's our Lily!

Our Girls

The Birthday Girl

Here are more pictures of our day with the birthday girl. She was so much fun. We played all day.

Happy 10 Month Birthday Lily

Hi Everyone yesterday was a very busy day for the girls and me. We got up early and made cupcakes for Andi's birthday. Yep, she is 10 months old!! Yay Lily:) After the cupcakes were made we designed their valentines to their Grandparents that had to be mailed. They had fun and enjoyed our day. Lucy did well with her crayons, while Lily wanted to eat them!!!! Fun, fun, fun!

TipToe TipToe

Lucy The Model

Lucy has learned to love the camera. Now when she sees me pick it up she starts to smile....she is really having fun with all this attention:) Just like her little Sister:)

Beauty Pure and Simple

This is Lily's exercies routine each morning. Leg Lifts and squat thrusts.....and you thought this simple beauty came so easily didnt you?

One Last Cheerio

I know I can reach it...I know I can....it is the last Cheerio...I know I can!

Bathtime

Mommy said to wash behind your ears Lucy!!! ................Here let me get you a towel Sis!

Lily and Daddy

Lily is taking advantage of her being sick. She has had a lot of cuddle time with her Daddy. She loves her DA DA:)

Horsing Around

Lucy is no longer afraid of her horse. She rocked back and forth so hard she had her Dad sitting on the edge of his chair! She even took her sister for a fast ride on her horse!

Mommy and Baby

This week Lucy discovered her Baby Doll. She decided she wanted to be the Mommy. Lily was just relieved she was finally telling someone else what to do:)

Naptime

Lucy has proven she can nap anywhere....EXCEPT her crib! Here she decided to sleep in the room with Lily while she was napping. Then she decided she would sleep under Lily's saucer seat which is sitting beside my desk. Imagine my surprise when I looked down and saw she was in dreamland:)

Sickness Everywhere

This week we have all been sick with respiratory infections. The girls have also had ear infections, so not a really nice situation here. Poor Lily seems to have been hit the worst. Look at her sweet little face. She is beautiful even when she looks and feels like crap!

Lucy Comes Home

LOVE at first sight...........

Uncle Marc takes time out of his busy day to welcome Lucy home. Thank you, Uncle Marc :)

Getting ready for -40 degrees......

Lucy meets Daddy and Mei Mei.

Lily has fun with Dawn while hanging out in the airport! Thanks for taking time to welcome Lucy home Aunt Dawn :)

Hummer time!!!!!!

Finally after all these years, on January 15, 2009 Lucy arrived at the airport in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She is finally home! We left China on January 15, 2009 from the airport in Guangzhou, then flew to Narita, Japan. It was about a 5 and a half hour flight. Lucy and I played tea party almost the whole flight. She finally fell asleep the last 30 minutes of the flight. Then we boarded the next plane immediately on our way to Minneapolis.

Lucy and I played tea party some more and then Carrie took over with the tea drinking, I was so full of tea:) I took a little nap and then woke up in time to put Lucy to sleep. She slept almost the rest of the way home, except for mealtimes. She did wake up to eat. I could not believe how good she traveled. She did not have any crying episodes and really seemed fine, although she was getting a little jittery near the end. She like us was ready to get out and stretch out legs.

When we got to the airport we had to go through customs which took us all of 2 minutes. GREAT! I was so afraid there would be a long line, but we were the first ones there and got through quickly. Then we went to baggage claim where I would still be waiting if some man had not offered to help me with our luggage. It is impossible to push a stroller and a overfilled luggage cart without almost taking someones life! But the man saved us and those around us, and off we went to meet Lucy's Dad and Mei Mei. When we got there we had a lot of family and friends waiting to see us. There was grandparents, an aunt and uncle and two older brothers, as well as a four friends waiting to see our little Lucy. It was a nice surprise to see everyone, and Lucy did very well with all those faces looking at her:)

When we went out to get in the car....Daddy had hired a hummer limousine to take us all back to Eau Claire. It was a nice surprise and also nice to get to ride home with everyone. Lucy and Lily liked the ride cause there were no car seats and they could sit on our laps and move from one to another freely when the time came for them to change laps:) The downside to our homecoming was that we left 70 plus degrees in China and came home to -40F. Jeez talk about an eye opener!

We made it home!

We made it home from China. Lucy did so well for the 20 plus hours of travel. She is such a little trooper. We had tea parties for 4-5 hours then she fell asleep and slept most of the time left except for meal time of course:)

When we got to the airport it was -40 below in Minneapolis a drastic change for Lucy in itself since the weather where she was from was in the 80's or higher. We had a nice group of family waiting to greet us, Grandma and Grandpa Mathson, Aunt Dawn and Unlce Marc were there and Brothers Levi and Michael were there also. We had some friends there Doug and his three children came to see their long lost wife and Mom, Carrie who had traveled with me to pick up Lucy:) It felt so good (cold but good) to be home! When we went out to get in the car to leave Dad had a hummer limo waiting to bring us all home. He knew we would all want to ride together and that worked out well. One thought that kept coming to mind as we drove along was...."There is no place like home, and Lucy was finally home!"

I See You

Just when I thought I could get a nice picture she walked right up to the camera lens:)