It's snowing... blossoms!

It's a beautiful spring in Rochester. Almost every day now when we get home, we enjoy some time outdoors before heading inside to work on dinner, bath, bedtime, etc. I wish there were more hours in the day. I love coming home and enjoying family time with Felix and our little Miss Malea!

Playing hide and seek.


Smelling the flowers.



Exploring our neighbor's firepit.


The crab apple tree in our front yard is now in full bloom and, on a windy day that means it snows! Take a look at the video below to see Malea throwing snow blossoms!




I went a little crazy with the camera this month (150 pics posted) - enjoy!

April 2010

Arts & crafts

Here are some photos of Malea at daycare and some of her arts and crafts projects.






Malea seems quite intent on this colorful project!




I find it amazing that Malea's teachers can get the whole class to sit down and color!


The best part about finger painting with pudding? Eating the yummy chocolate pudding, of course!

iPhone

Malea likes the iPhone! Won't be long until she's more facile with technology than her parents. I'm starting to feel old... :)

A day at the park

Just a bunch of pictures of us enjoying the sunshine at the park. Flowers are popping up everywhere and there hasn't been any snowfall since before March. I'm finally hopeful that spring is here to stay!













Malea has recently started to walk (instead of crawl) up and down stairs. It's quite a workout, but she's so proud to walk like a "big girl!"

Happy Songkran

Yep, it's that time again - Thai New Year! This year, Becca and Nick graciously offered to host our annual Thai New year festivities at their home. Two big advantages... I got to use their beautiful kitchen (5 burner gas stove - yay) and our guests got to spread out and mingle without tripping over each other. Unfortunately, in what is becoming a yearly occurence, between the chaos of cooking and chatting with so many friends, only a few pictures were taken. Here's me with my cooking partner Shannon. We couldn't have pulled it off without her unflagging energy, sous chef talent, ethusiasm and incredible clean-up skills! Thank you Shannon!


We don't have a shot of the aptly named "Curry Corner" (four different Thai curries and one pot of Tom Kha Goong soup) but here are some of the other dishes:



The desserts included (clockwise from left) mango and sticky rice, black sticky rice with strawberry/ginger and mango sauces (courtesy of Mike), coconut custard, sticky rice, more coconut custard steamed in a squash, and bananas in coconut milk (made by Sarah).


My favorite part of the evening was when Malea arrived with Felix, dressed in a colorful Chinese outfit her grandfather had bought for her in Thailand. The best part, she picked out the outfit herself (over another party dress I had layed out)! Our girl must have known it was Songkran celebration time!



As always, it was wonderful to share food and fun times with so many good friends. Wishing you all a Happy Thai New Year!

She's a toddler!

Malea has definitely moved full bore into toddlerhood! There's fun to be had everywhere, but as Malea explores her world, Felix and I are quickly realizing that we will have to be ever more watchful of our little explorer / dancer / wrestler / all-around goofball! She definitely brings joy and smiles to our lives everyday.

Are you supposed to sit on a ride on? It's much more fun to stand!


Trying to escape from her crib.


Peek-a-boo with the Bilibo!


There's nothing better than swinging at the park with Papa Felix!


Our brave girl has learned how to go down the slide all by herself!


Hmm... this looks like a fun thing to stand/sit in!



When it comes to food, we're still lucky that our girl has a good appetite.


We have continued to expand her culinary adventures and a couple weekends ago, took her to ZZest for lunch. "Hmm... the Panini with abondance french cheese and prosciutto smoked almond pesto looks good, or maybe I'll go with the Creamy Polenta with wild mushrooms, spring peas, parmigiano reggiano an lemon olive oil. Or maybe Cheerios is where it's at!"


"Hey Mom, I have the best table manners, don't you think?"


Malea loves to be outdoors and has taken to running around on our three-season porch almost every evening. Felix very strategically placed our chairs to prevent (hopefully) any toppling over, but as you can see, our little toddler is starting to get herself into potentially troublesome spots.



Malea got a Zhu Zhu hamster for Easter from our neighbor's parents and it's her new favorite toy. Guinness is a fan too. For Miss Malea though, music will almost always trump other activities - this girl loves to dance (and mimic some WWF moves)!