Christmas caterpillar

It's Halloween year-round in our house. Addie still pulls out her caterpillar costume from way back when. Bella got the hat this time. She was cracking me up in it.

baking time

I scrambled to get the baking done this week. I'm still not completely done but all the cookies are made. This year the baking wasn't much fun since I had to race around to make them in between school, naps, running endless errands. I made the dough at night and baked them the next morning because I was too tired or wouldn't have time to do it all at the same time. Addie helped a little bit this year. She's really enjoying eating them!

The girls have been sick this week. First Bella, then Addie with head colds, now both with the runs. It's not cool especially with a potty training 2 and a half year old.

In the picture above you can see Addie's limp stringy Vaseline hair from the "incident". We washed it forever then finally had to do some research. I rubbed a beaten egg all over her head and then rinsed it out and shampooed it. Well actually, it was more like I wrestled a screaming girl while she flipped raw egg all over the bathroom. After her regular shampoo that night her hair was back to normal. Sheesh! If you ever need some info on what to do about Vaseline "incidents" here it is. For the leftovers on the hair, here it is. The carpet is still unhappy...or maybe that's me I'm talking about.

Never have I ever

been so furious at Adelaide than I was today when I walked out of my room after a short snooze while the girls were taking naps. Or so I thought Addie was sleeping. I walk into my two and a half year old covered in Vaseline from head to toe with poop on her hands. Glancing in her room I saw that she hadn't been sleeping all this time, but emptying the large Vaseline tub on herself, the wooden stacking toys and the wool Pottery Barn Kids rug (I add this detail as crucial evidence into why I was so furious-not a cheap rug and my favorite). On second glance and a short walk around the room I notice that the entire wooden floor and playmats in the room are greasy with the Vaseline as well. There is poop on the carpet. My anger boiled and boiled as I hosed the screaming child down in the shower and proceeded to scrub the oil from her body as well as the poop. Then I noticed the poop on her face where she wiped her hands as well as on my jeans and shirt. This did not make me happier. I yelled and gave her the evil eye and told her that I was mad. I was so furious thinking about the pound of Vaseline rubbed into that carpet and how long it would take to remove it (if it could be removed at all). I was even more mad knowing that Addie knows right from wrong and knew that making this mess fell in the wrong category. All this anger and I just started to cry. This is when Addie knew I was really mad because she apologized. I told her I didn't want to talk to her and she couldn't look at me and to just lay in bed until I told her to come out. Then I went to hold Bella, eat some lunch, give my baby a teething biscuit, and remind myself that at Bella's age I remember thinking that there was no way Addie could ever do anything to make me so mad as I was a few minutes earlier. HA! Little did I know then. I called Justin at work and told him he just may have to come home so I don't throttle our daughter-he talked me down. When I went back into Addie's room she was asleep in bed. Her later explanation of the events were quite simple. "I was trying to rub my cream on my legs and it got on the carpet." Simple as that. The whole stinky scene made cleaning up Bella after her biscuit seem extra cute and adorable. Addie and I had a little heart-to-heart and all is behind us now. The Vaseline in the carpet, on the other hand, is not.

Tower Club

Last night we celebrated the Holidays at the Tower Club for an evening of eating, drinking, and merriment. Justin's office hosts an annual party that is always a really swank time. I had a cocktail dress made for the occasion. This time I went to Ann Cuatico, another favorite dress maker/tailor of the expat community. I was extremely happy with how it turned out. I'm even more in love with the gold vintage jewelry my Mom sent me as well as the little vintage clutch. I suffered through a night of clip-on earrings because I just couldn't NOT wear the little gold feather clip-ons she found. It really pulled the whole look together. Here are a few photos of some of the other dresses Ann made for the event. I ended up having a longer conversation with the DCM of the New Zealand Embassy than my husband all night so sadly there are no photos of the two of us together.Super zoom so you can see how cool my Mom is to find this jewelry for me!

Best Friends

Addie and Stella are best friends. They (for the most part) play really nicely together. Sunny and I only intervene when it gets heated. Bella and Tiger would totally be buds when they are a little older. Right now they just kind of stare at one another. Sunny is that friend that you just can't live without! It's so nice to have friends like these ones!

food experiments

As of now, Bella loves sweet potatoes, carrots, and cereal. She kind of likes squash and her organic molasses teething biscuits. She hates peas! Who can blame her, mashed peas are yucky! We all shared a snack the other day in the bedroom on a blanket just like a picnic. Mom was happy because I found decent crackers at Cash-n-Carry the other day which is becoming my favorite shopping spot for American snacks.

Evening in the park

Last weekend we walked to the new park that is down the street from our house. It's a nice new landscaped park in the middle of bustling Makati. Addie was disappointed because there was no playground, which really makes it a "park" for her. I couldn't agree more with her, a small playground would make the park a perfect place for families. While we were there I spotted another Expat with a nice big Nikon and figured he'd know how to work ours. Sure enough we got two nice family photos!