Natalie's First Day - VPK

Today was Natalie's first day of VPK. I think she was excited because she hasn't been in the school type environment since July 10th, just before we left for Taiwan. We were very excited to watch her spell her name for the teacher, not every kid in her class could do that. For the first two weeks she is only going from 830-1130, the VPK portion, once mommy & daddy go back to work she will be there all day, along with Nicolas. And we know he is excited because the first thing he asked when we left was, "Where's Sissy?".

First Time at Seaworld

On Thursday we decided to take Nicolas to his first theme park. And because Se*world is our favorite we decided it was the best place to go. We all love the animals and the more relaxing environment than the other parks. Nicolas was in awe of the dolphins and stingrays and Shamu, of course Shamu. It was an extremely hot day so we did not stay as long as we wanted to, but we all have passes it won't be long before we go back.

A Visit from the D'Auria's

Yesterday we got to see the D'Auria's for the first time since we left. Natalie was all excited to see her friend Rebekka and Joe and I were excited to hang out with MaryBeth and Steve. The kids all got along well and were so cute together. It is funny because Nicolas seems to take a liking to all of Natalie's Asian friends and we wonder what he is thinking. Every time he sees an Asian friend they speak English not Chinese. :) But he makes the best of it. MaryBeth and Steve brought balloons for all the kids and you would have thought they brought them the world. They played with those balloons more than they played with anything else. All three of them got dressed up and danced to music, but it was so funny to watch Natalie and Rebekka with their dress up. They would go into Natalie's room and shut the door and tell Nicolas that boys aren't allowed. They would do dress changes and come back out, dance a bit and go back in for another dress change. I really didn't notice until the end of the night, but they had makeup on. Too cute! Daddy isn't crazy about the makeup-thing, but they are just playing and only 4. :)

Since it was raining we decided to bring the picnic table inside for the kids to sit at and eat and it worked out really well. They ate well and got to have cake, after they decide what color balloon on the cake they each wanted. The cake was beautiful, as you can see from the pictures. Thanks, MaryBeth and Steve for all the goodies. We had a great time!!

Nicolas' new bike

Natalie has her own bike, but Nicolas did not. So, daddy took Nicolas to pick out a bike. There is a guy, not too far from the house, who rehabs old bikes and sells them. Joe found Natalie's bike there and it is looks brand new, so he went there to look for Nicolas' bike. We figured the kids will not be on these small bikes forever so we might as well get second hand. They work just like new. Natalie was a little jealous that Nicolas' bike was a bit bigger, but we explained to her that boys bikes are bigger. She doesn't want to think that her little brother is bigger than her.

HGVC

I really want to catch up with all the pictures but some days are just too full with two kids. You wake up one minute and the next it is time to put the kids to bed. Anyway, here are a few shots of the visit to mommy's work, HGVC. As you can see everyone enjoyed meeting Nicolas and seeing Natalie again. It isn't like anyone was really excited to see me . . . .This week we will be visiting daddy's work and hopefully the pictures will be posted sooner than later.

Somewhere over the rainbow . . . .

I had to add the rainbow picture in here because it was so beautiful. We were are the Davie's for their Taiwan beauty's second birthday party and this was part of the party. :)

Anyway, we can't believe that it has been 2 weeks since we got our little cutie-pie. Nicolas is such a blessing to our family and one of these days he will understand everything we say to him and us to him. In 2 weeks he has learned alot of English, become accustomed to American food and understands alot of what we are saying. He fits in so well and Natalie and him play very well together. You know when they are getting tired because then they start bickering, sometimes it is cute.

Nicolas amazes us each day with something new in English. The other day he said "Mama, I'm hungry", I was blown away and about to give him anything he wanted to eat. His favorite thing to eat is peanut butter sandwiches that daddy makes into dinosaurs and bananas. Oh, don't forget the shrimp. Him and Natalie don't just eat the shrimp the inhale it. It is a fight between Nicolas, Natalie, Scooter and Oscar. Joe and I have to wait for left overs, if there are any. Also, Joe was teasing Nicolas the other day and he said "Stop it, Papa". It is so funny when he says things because we just stop and look at each other and laugh. He knows if he does something good we always say "good job". So, now he says it for himself. Nicolas loves to play in the yoyo and to play with other kids. I think alot of what has helped him get acclimated is that there are so many kids in the neighborhood for him to play with, and, of course, all the older girls adore him. We took Nicolas for his first ice cream cone the other day and he liked it alot, but wasn't sure how to handle it. Both him and Natalie had to get bowls before the licking was over.

These past 2 weeks have been trying, at times, but also such a blessing. It has been so much fun to share alot of these fun times with friends and family and we can't wait for more. :)

First full weekend home

This was our first full weekend at home and it was full of things to do. Friday we went to HGVC where everyone, where I work, got to meet our son. What an impression he made. He had allot of fun playing with Norma, or did Norma have allot of fun playing with Nicolas. :) Then Friday night Auntie Gail got to meet Nicolas for the first time as she introduced him to different types of wings from Flyers. Then the Souzas, from across the street came over and while the adults hung outside the kids played inside. Nicolas really enjoyed all that interaction with the kids.

Saturday we had the community BBQ which was nice. The kids had so much fun playing with all the other kids it was tough to pull them out of the pool 3 hrs later. By that time Joe and I were french fries even with lotion because the sun was that strong. Then the Souzas made dinner for us and it was all very yummy! Again, we got to have adult hangout while the kids got to play until they started dropping one by one.

Then today, Sunday, the weather was kinda good, kinda bad. It was mostly rainy so we weren't going to go in the yo-yo (pool) today and we had a birthday party at 4pm, so what's the next best thing to do . . . .. bake brownies. Not sure if this was Nicolas' first time, but as you can see from the pictures the two little chefs enjoyed this immensely. We even let them throw in some mini m&m's. Of course Nicolas wanted to be stingy with the m&m's because he just likes to "throw 'em down. :) Also, Uncle Ronnie stopped by to meet his new nephew. He played with him with the toys he brought before he had to go. Natalie and Nicolas both had a blast at Morgan's 2nd birthday party because there were so many kids and it was raining but it didn't stop them from playing outside. Good thing they had their swim suits because they were ready to go with the rest of the kids. Now, it is time to get the little ones to bed, it has been a long, but busy, but fun weekend for Natalie and Nicolas, and even mom & dad.