Beautiful March

We really had a beautiful weather in March! We were able to open the doors and the windows most of the time. If not, we were outside somewhere enjoying God's wonderful creation! Spring is the time for the new life. The kids squealed with joy whenever they saw a wild flower, a new bug, a squirrel, a bird, a rabbit, or a clear moon. Emily wanted to plant some flowers and vegetable. So we bought some seeds and started the container garden. Before long the new life was everywhere on our counter top. Have you tried to put the cut green onions or the cut celery in the water and just watch them grow? That's the most organic vegetable we've had since the green onions and celeries we bought were also organic. Here are a couple of pictures that I took a month ago:


During Emily's Spring break, we went to the In-synch Exotics in Wylie with Gayla and Mary Ellen to see the rescued animals. I was so surprised to see the large lions, white tigers, cheetahs, bob cats they had. We really had a good close look at each of them. Since it was close to the lunch time, we saw the workers feeding the tigers (meat, of course) right from their hands. Emily was scared when the lions roared to each other. It was my first time to hear the lions roaring right in front of me. The workers told us these lions were used to perform in front of people so they just put up a show whenever they saw people around them. Each animal there has their own story and had come a long way. We spent an hour over there. It was an unique experience.

We also went to the Herds museum in McKinney with Dawn, Austin and Dillon. It seemed that it took us forever to be able to get together since we each had the second kids. We had a wonderful time there. The kids looked at the animals in the exhibition. We then hiked a bit before we had a picnic lunch. Andy didn't feel good that day. You can tell from this picture:

David and Emily spent the St. Patrick's weekend in Austin while I stayed at home with Andy since he was sick. Emily had a great time at the fair. As you can tell from the pictures, Emily's new hair is coming out. So she has a lot of hair that is just an inch or two long. It pushes her longer hair in all directions. Her new hair seems to be more straight than the old one.


During the last couple of weeks of March, the blue bonnets just popped up everywhere. We drove by JCPenny's campus after dinner and took a few pictures. The kids had lots of fun there. A couple asked us to take a picture for them. As a return, they took a picture for us also. Here are some pictures:






A lady bug landed on Andy's neck. The kids were so excited. This lady bug crawled from Andy's arm to David's hand, and to Emily's hand. Thank you ladybug for playing with us!

Emily's school had a umbrella parade. Emily was so happy to get her new umbrella.

Although Emily didn't share her new umbrella with her brother, Andy was still in good cheer:

Here are several pictures of the kids playing together:

Helping Daddy to make cinnamon rolls

For my birthday, I got flowers, books, cards, scarf, organizer, craft supplies, check, cake, yummy food, and lots of "Happy birthday"s and hugs. I was spoiled! Thank you family and friends for thinking of me and blessing me!

Febrary is for LOVE

It seems like we can't summerize Febrary without talking about Valentine's Day. This year the kids and I did some new crafts that I got from Pinterest. I have to admit that I'm not a good participant or contributor for either Facebook or Pinterest. I visit them probably once a week if not less often and most of time I just glance through other people's input. But every time I visited Pinterest, I got lots of great ideas. As you can see below.

The kids and I started off with this cute heart shaped apple pie pops the weekend before Valentine's Day. I budgeted for a dozen thinking they were more than enough. Only if I knew better!!! Those apple pie cuties tasted so good! David said he could eat all of them without stopping. And the final result? I ate seven out of twelve because David showed his love for me! We will definitely make these again later.

The day before Valentine's Day, the kids and I made our cards for David and the gifts for Emily's classmates.

These are Emily and Andy's handprints

On Valentine's Day, David made a super delicious breakfast - Mexican cheesecake. It was the best cheesecake I've had and it didn't take long to make it. I already requested to have it every Valentine's Day :-) I made a peach cobbler after Valentine's Day.

This is the french toast for kids

Mexican cheesecake

Peach cobbler

Emily's class had a Valentine's party. I made a mistake by packing her lunch light thinking she would eat more at the party. Then she ate all the sweet on her plate and was packed with sugar. She was so excited to find more sweet in her goodie bag.

I asked Emily and Andy to stand together so I can take a picture of them. But as soon as I lifted my camera, Emily's classmate Isabelle jumped right in and stayed between Emily and Andy until I put down my camera. So I got pictures of three of them.

This first one was right after Isabelle jumped in. Andy looked at her: "Who are you? Why do you stand between my sister and I?"

The second one was after a few seconds, Isabelle didn't have any indication of leaving, Andy looked at me:" Mama, what shall we do?"

The last one: finally Andy realized we were going to take a picture any way. OK, smile!

Gayla and Mary Ellen dropped by in the afternoon to give Andy and Emily Valentine's gifts. Emily and Andy loved the balloons they got. They played with the balloons until they were completely out of air. They also had lots of fun with the stickers from Austin and Dillon. Thank you friends for the thoughtful gifts!

Febrary usually is the coldest month in Dallas. But we had some pretty weather, especially near the end of the month. We went to the library for the puppet shows and went to the nearby park to feed the ducks and play. We also bought some seeds to plant for the garden. Welcome to Spring!

This bubble toy generates the biggiest bubbles. On a windy day, the bubble can stretch from one side of the yard to the other side. Best of all, you mix your own solution with baking soda and the dish detergent.

Plano library state of art puppet show

Feeding the ducks and birds

Playing at the playground

Sitting together on the hill to enjoy the breeze

Lying on the grass

Normally I took more pictures of Emily. But this month as I looked through the camera, I found more pictures of Andy instead. He has such animated expressions that can steal anybody's heart. Here are a few examples:

But seriously, "I love milk!"

And Gummy Bears

As we center Febrary on the human love, we can't let one day go without fathom on how much God lavishes His love to His people 365 days a year. In Febrary we had so many blessings from God in a tangible form, from our new house, to our new TV, to our car, ... that's another post for later, to record places, people or things that trigger memories just as the memorial stones in Gilgal. (Joshua 4:6-7 (NIV) to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’ tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the children of Israel forever.” )

Now three of us sitting on one of the "stones" ...