Pretty dress

Wow! I love this Gymboree dress, Sophia looks perfect with it!

Christmas morning

What did Sophia get from Santa? A wooden bike! Add a lot of other toys from mommy and daddy.

Sophia's Christmas party

I took an hour off on the 20th to attend Sophia's Christmas party at daycare. Sophia was a little confused when I just got there, she thought it was time to go home. But she then felt pretty good to have mommy at her party. So I think I'll do it again next year.
The party started with a concert by the older children singing. Then they went back to their own room to decorate and eat cookies. It wasn't very long.

Concert

Yummy cookies

Children's art work: Christmas trees

Children's art work: reindeer

Sophia's new addiction

Wooden blocks, ketchup and chocalate covered crackers

冬季美食

几年前，在学校的时候，一个东北的同学教了一个菜，一直都是我们冬天最喜欢做的菜。好吃，简单，又有营养。但是不确定是不是东北菜。说来很简单，就是把大 白菜，大虾，豆腐放在一起炖。要领是多放水，因为汤很好喝。昨天我们又做了这个菜,额外下了一点干虾米和金针菇。一大碗，又有汤，又有菜，吃的很舒服，懒 人的最爱。
也是宁宁的最爱，宁宁一反以前只喜欢虾米米，这个菜宁宁最喜欢的是汤，一共喝了五碗。开始她还是一勺一勺地喝，最后索性捧起碗来，一饮而尽。

December wishlist

Half of the month has past, I only used a very small fraction of my budget this month on some cardstock and ribbons. What else I wish to get?
KI memories tin kit
distress inkpad
More stamps
mod podge
wool felt
Nothing big, not like a Christmas wishlist. Okay, here goes the big one:
I want my scrap space to be finished!

Rug update

We finally bought one at Lowes last nihgt. It's not top quanlity but serve us well.

Trendy

I haven't been following the trend since I had Sophia. I don't have time to, or don't have the mood to. I buy whatever fits me, I wear whatever makes me comfortable.
My favorite winter outfit is cotton sweater + jeans + sneakers + wool pea coat + cashmere scarf + snoopy cavas purse.
After hibernating a couple weekends I went shoe shopping with Lyb yesterday. We both got two pair of shoes. I got a pair of Puma sneakers, and a pair of Converse sneakers. I love them both, so does Sophia.
It has been discussed at CKMB that it's been very trendy to make a layout of people's feet. Hehe, probably I'm gonna to catch this trend. Instead of making a layout of feet I'm planning to make one of our shoes.

Rug delima

Basement is 99% done. It's time for me to go shopping. First thing first. I want to have Sophia's playroom part done first so that she can enjoy it early. To make the laminate floor warmer and also to define her playarea we deciede to buy an area rug. After shopping for the whole weekend I'm stucked.
Design? I wanted it with bright color, warm color, so that it can pop and warm up the area. But should I go with mordern design, a kid's design, or a geographic design?
Material? Wool or synthetic?
Thickness? Wzg insisted thiner one is better, but I like the plush feel.
Size? The bigger the better?
Budget? I don't want to spend a ton on a playroom area rug, we sure have a lot of other spaces need money.
Anyway it's a hard decision.

I'm proud of you

Looking the pictures of our basement in the last year I feel so proud of wzg. What a big change he made! He did almost everything by himself. He borrowed books from library, he talked to experts at home improvement stores, he learned everything that needed to finish a space. He learned an archetecture software to do the planning, he did framing, he did electrical wiring, he installed the insulation, he did the dry wall (this part was very long), he did painting, he did carpentry, he did lighting, he did ceiling fixtures, he did doors and trims, he did flooring, carpeting.
I know he still has numerous of home improvement projects in his head, but he should have a break to enjoy our newly finished basement.

I painted!

I was always afraid to use paint in my scrapbook. Saturday I was working on the Christmas paper bag album in the kitchen. Since it's very close to sink and easy to clean up I feel like to try some paint. I used white paint from Wal-Mart, and some cardstock stickers from DCWV as mask. It turned out very easy and neat. I dared to try some foam stamp with the white paint. I used the 87 cents snow flake foam stamp from Wal-Mart on a lot of things. It worked great. I started to love foam stamps. Sure I'll try more paiting with the cheap Wal-Mart paint on my card making and paper bag albums. When I feel confident I will use them on my real scrapbook.
Amazingly, I haven't used ribbons on any of my projects for a while. Maybe they're just too pretty for me to justify to use them. I'd rather looking them in boxes than using them up.
By the way, I'm moving my scrapbooking supplies to downstairs gradually, hopefully I can make them to basement soon when all the furnitures are set.

Christmas family party

Once again, Christmas family party. I couldn't believe it has been a year. When we had this party last year, Sophia wasn't able to walk, she didn't even understand what was happening. All we did was getting a picture with santa and picking a toy in the toy shop.
This year, Sophia is almost 2. She enjoied much more than last year. We spent also two hours in the building. The highlight was the puppet show. The demonstrator was from Pittsburgh children's museum. Sophia clappsed for the puppets and music. I bet she will sing and dance with them next year. She also got a ladybug bracelet made by a balloon artist, a portraint by a painter, a stuffed dora from the toy shop, a not-so-good picture with Santa (she was scared by Ho!Ho!Ho!).
And her ginger breadman dress is super cute.

Lost some wisdom

I had my wisdom tooth removed on Friday. The procedure was short. But the pain was long. The pain killer I got from the dentist was the strongest I ever had. I wasn't able to walk after two pills. But thinking about not going to be bothered by those teeth, I feel much much better.
As recommended by the dentist, I need to have all of my wisdom teeth removed in the next 6 months.

Have you brushed your teeth?

Sophia started to brush her teeth since I first showed her how to a few months ago. She loves it ever since. If I forget or is too lazy to let her brush her teeth she will sure remind me. And she also requires me to brush with her, if I pretend she will point out and say "mama".
However Sophia's brushing teeth is basically eating tooth paste which has a very pleasent flavor. Brush is just her teether and gets worn out very quickly. She started to figure out how to wash her mouth a few weeks ago and really enjoys it a lot. When she thinks she's done she will hand me her brush, wash her mouth, wipe her face, and say "bye" to the "Sophia" in the mirror.

I'm not good at understanding children

Wzg worked in basement whole night last night. So it was all me and Sophia time. When it came to bed time I asked Sophia to clean up her toys. I was using a very soft tone and worked with her very nicely. The weird thing is after cleaning she walked to her timeout spot and faced to the wall, started to timeout herself. I was totally speechless. I didn't say anything bad to her, I didn't even mention timeout and we played very well through the whole night. How did she come up with "timeout"? I must say I wondered if she had similar experience at daycare. Maybe She did sth wrong and teacher asked her to clean up toys and timeout. I'm thinking if I should ask her teacher.
But after talking with fishies I felt that I don't understand Sophia very well. And it's probably too early to give her timeout. Redirection is a good way to tell a 22 month old what is right and what is wrong.

Before and After

Wzg made a great progress in basement this weekend. He laid the floor down. Basement looks so much more complete after the flooring is laid. I'm very pleased with the laminate wood flooring. It looks just like real wood but easier to install and clean, durable. I can't wait to move in.

Before

Plastic was laid

Half done

80% done

Sophia loves ribbon too!

I love ribbon. I try to use it every where, but more like to just look at them. They're eye candy. I wish I can incoorperate ribbon into my sewing someday. Today Sophia discovered my ribbon box, she fell in love in ribbon right away. She likes the lace type. She can't stop playing with it. I don't blame her, because I'm addicted much more than her. Ribbon is my favorite scrapbooking embellishment.

Lots of cards

This is the first year that I do handmade cards. I spent the whole weekend on card making. It was pretty productive and lots of fun. I think the person receives it will feel special, too. It has been much easier than making an album, because each card is a mini project.


So this is my favorite card


I even created my own seal with a stamp.

Sophia didn't cry

Sophia definitely had good fight at daycare today. I got this idea from a scratch on her face, more than one inch long, the worset ever. I was told she didn't cry. Knowing that it's normal to have some fight at daycare I still feel uncomfortable.

Cute

"Cute" is one of Sophia's most used words. She says "cute" whenever she sees something she likes.
My girl friend, Cxc bought Sophia this pair of boots and gave them to me yesterday at lunch break. They're so cute! I've been looking for winter shoes for Sophia since her feet turned size 6. Amazingly, Cxc, who has no child, got the right size, right style, perfect boots for Sophia. Thank you!
I helped Sophia to put them on when I picked her up at daycare. They look cuter on her. She sure said "cute".
Thinking about the temperature last night, upper 60's, not a great day to wear such warm boots. But I still let Sophia wear it to shopping, with her new Gymboree jean dress. They look perfect together. We got a lot of compliments at the store.
Now I start to wish snow, so that we can go out with boots, hat and gloves to have fun!