A very nice weekend

This weekend was so warm that I brought all of our summer clothing. I can't wait for the summer to come. Sophia and Olivia spent a long time outside playing sand together.

Rainy day

What do you do on a rainy day? Sophia plays running puddles, with her Dora rain coat and strawberry rain boots. Even though she already grew out of Dora, but she was still so exited to wear that rain coat.

Egg Hunt

This year, it's not too cold, not too hot, just perfect on egg hunt day. Sophia did great, got lots of eggs and two prizes, two chocolate bunnies.

Cooking Bee

Since I got the KitchenAid Stand Mixer, I'm addicted. It's perfect together with the Williams-Sonoma Pasta machine. Even nicer, they're both in red, matches my kitchen color.

Whenever I take out my mixer to make something, Sophia takes out her toy version, it's very cute, too. The best part is it doesn't need battery.
After trying a couple batches, I finally figured out the tricks to make 北海道toast, it's the best bread I've ever have in my entire life. Nothing beats fresh bread just out of your home oven.

Spring is right around the corner

So, we can do more activities outside.

What Sophia is reading now

Really, she can't read. But she either asks me to read or pretends to read by herself.

Since the "Book it" program started, Sophia's been very into "Charlie and Lola" books. She reads Charlie and Lola books every day, has watched the TV shows and DVDs many times. Now her favorite drink is "Pink milk", because Lola loves it. She just named the paper gold fish she made "Charlie". She says her little sister is "small and funny", which Charlie used to call his little sister Lola.
As a mom, I love those little cute and funny stories, too. Here are a few Sophia's favorite.

You Can Be My Friend (Charlie and Lola)
But I Am an Alligator (Charlie and Lola)
I Can Do Anything That's Everything All On My Own (Charlie and Lola)
Charlie and Lola's I Am Not Sleepy and I Will Not Go to Bed Pop-Up
This Is Actually My Party (Charlie and Lola)

I'm Really Ever So Not Well (Charlie and Lola)
Say Cheese (Charlie & Lola)


Another collection she's actively reading is books by Julia Donaldson. I originally ordered those books in Chinese from dangdang.com. (I ordered tons of books from dangdang, will write more reviews in a seperate post.) I like the stories and illustrations very much. So I got the original English version and found they're even better in English.

The Spiffiest Giant in Town
Room on the Broom
Charlie Cook's Favorite Book
The Snail and the Whale
the Gruffalo
The Gruffalo's Child
Where's My Mom?

Fun activities on budget (3) - found at www.utahbabyguide.com

I found this article at www.utahbabyguide.com and I thought I would share it with you all. I thought there were some good ideas.

20 things to do with your baby that cost less than $2

1. Take her to the library for story time or singing time.
2. Treat her to a photo shoot in your living room
3. For boys: gel your baby’s hair to look like a Mohawk
For girls: paint her toenails bright red
4. Make his hand print into a greeting card and send it to the grandparents
5. Take your baby on a stroller ride using a new route on your walk
6. Let her finger paint with pudding –it washes out of clothes
7. Make a special mix soundtrack and dance to it together
8. Blow up a bag of balloons and throw them around together (make sure
she doesn’t eat any popped balloons- they are a major choking hazard)
9. Get a pet goldfish. The bright color of the fish will be mesmerizing to the child.
10. Make a tent in the living room using blankets and couch cushions
11. Get online and play baby games –try Googling “baby games”
12. let your baby “talk” on the phone to a relative that lives far away
13. Blow bubbles in the bath tub
14. Make your own play dough
15. Let her “help” you “cook” (Jell-o works well)
16. Play “roll the ball” back and forth
17. Paint or put stickers on rocks
18. Play in front of a mirror
19. record her voice and play it back for her.
20. Make sock puppets

So far we did 1, 2, 7, 10, 11, 12, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20.