Cousins!

My sister-in-law has three adorable girls. This is one reason Justin and I had a good laugh when we learned that our third child would be a girl as well. What are the chances that one family would have 6 granddaughters and 0 grandsons between just two families? Rachel, Trey, and their sweet family live in Hawaii and we've waited for the day that we could unite all the girls and let them finally get some cousin play time.

Well the time has come! The girls and I made pinkalicious cupcakes as a welcome present for their cousins. We figured a little sugar might help with the severe jet lag from Hawaii. We aren't new to the extreme jet lag experience! Arabella sat out the decorating session to focus on licking the frosting off the beater. What? You don't cook in your panties and Crocs?The two eldest girls, Addie and Riley hit it off right away. It took about 10 minutes for them to figure one another out and then from there they needed a common interest. Addie packed some dress-up clothes and her tea set for day two of playing with Riley; that and her scooter so they could ride around Poppy's cul-de-sac together. Addie and Bella really had fun with baby Emrey. Seeing the tenderness they had with her made me even more excited for our new baby to arrive. It was so fun to finally see the children together and catch up with Rachel. We've missed them so much.

Preschool in America

It's the second week of Adelaide's preschool experience in America. Above is her first day of school. Below is another day that she wanted me to photograph her carefully chosen outfit. I wish I was as cool as my daughter. I chose a community run/ parent co-op preschool system that is just three days a week for 3 hours each day. It's about a 3 minute drive from our house. After her all day, 5 day a week pre-k program in Manila; this preschool is very loose and more play oriented. Most the kids are 3 and she's easily the most mature 4 year old in the classroom so my goal to have it be a social growing experience if it wasn't going to push her academically, isn't really working out. She's enjoying the arts and crafts and the outdoor play time. Her teacher is really great too. I think the program will be fine knowing we're only going to be here for four months of school before moving her to the International school in Addis Ababa for the pre-k program there. The price is right on this program as well compared to some ridiculously priced preschool programs in Arlington, VA. But along with the low price tag comes a commitment for me to volunteer once a month in the classroom (hence parent co-op). This has proven to be challenging for two reasons; 1. Arabella 2. my huge pregnant belly! We're making it work though.I really wish Arabella could attend this preschool. She's definitely ready for the classroom and I have to beg her to give up her seat when it's time for us to leave Addie at school. A lot of this also stems from the connection Addie and Bella are cultivating as sisters. It's so sweet to see how close they've become. Hand holding is a must when we are walking anywhere and Bella asks me a million times "where's Addie?" "Addie at home?" "Addie?" when she and I have our three hours together when Addie's at school. Picking her sister up from school is Arabella's highlight of the day. Thank you to Auntie Brienne for the matching sparkly Hello Kitty t-shirts. Adorable!

35 weeks pregnant

I definitely know how pregnant I am now. No more guessing at the month or week. Our baby girl is getting big and making me very uncomfortable. Sometimes at night when she wakes up and starts moving around I have to get out of bed and kind of rock her back to sleep by moving around. At this point she might as well be out and nursing and getting snuggles if she's going to be keeping me awake at night. My maternity support belt is a must right now. Lord help me if I forget to put it on. Yesterday, at the preschool open house a mom said I took the cake for my "fake pregnant belly" pregnancy. It's definitely in that freak show stage. Have a look.

checking in

Life has been pretty busy for us lately. We quickly settled in to our rental home in Arlington. It's was nice to make it our home in such a short period of time. I guess that comes from moving often. We love the neighborhood. Last night all the girls who live in the homes around us made a huge hopscotch game in the street. Adelaide is in heaven with all the new kids. Preschool starts on Monday, we attended an open house and parent meeting last week. Addie told me she thought the class was too crowded and I have to agree. All the parents and siblings of the classmates made the open house feel chaotic. We weathered the hurricane with a short power outage and then this past week day after day of heavy rain that caused a power outage and flooded the basement. Not awesome but we are managing. Thank God our consumables haven't been purchased yet and stored down there.

The girls and I are loving the freedom of walking to the park or driving to the store during the day. We've visited every grocery store in the area just because we can.

I'm savoring every second we have in America! Taking over all the cooking, cleaning, laundry, and shopping is wonderful. There are moments when I miss Cora and it's mostly when I realize that my expectations for myself to keep everything in order are way off base; especially this pregnant. After having things done a certain way for three years it's hard to realize that I can't possibly do it all by myself 9 months pregnant. It's a sad realization every time it comes to me. But you better believe I'm doing the best I can.

Here are some cute photos of the girls in our new place. We started baking again immediately!