Week 224 and Week 136.5 - Tough week

I am coming off a tough week.  Sort of a 'question my faith in humanity' week.  Nothing I want to get into on this blog (though painfully honest at times I don't want to get into it here) but needless to say it is easy to discern the people who are looking out for you and those who are not.  The men from the boys.... (insert more blithe cliches here).  So - I will have a bit more time on my hands in the short term and can spend more time on this dear blog!  Yay!  A silver lining is everywhere.

Speaking of silver lining- my current 'tough week' situation is the sort of thing to throw myself into a tailspin - sort of a dark side of a ruminating mind kind of thing.  But it is hard to stay in this mindset when you have 2 rambunctious girls... and cupcakes to be decorated.  I suppose this is the gift of kids - to get you out of your head (and it is very easy to be in your head when you don't have kids) and realize that there are flowers to be smelled.  Honestly the kids could care less about my life and worries - and that is a good thing really.  They just want hugs and chocolate sprinkles.  And that, my friends, is what life should be all about.

Here are some pictures - all from the same day last week when we went to Singing Bean Cafe at the Macau Tower:

Char is overwhelmed by the crazy bungee jumpers:

I love this photo - it is like some sort of High Street fashion ad in its seriousness:

Sophia!

I tried to take this photo from afar - and Matt kept adjusting his clothes:

I love this hat:

Photo of the week (all pics taken with an 85mm f1.8 lens):

Week 223 and Week 135.5 - Busy week

I was not able to take any pictures of the girls prior to Saturday as my week has been super nutty. 

Friday night Matt and I saw our friends fight at White Collar Boxing at Venetian.  It was fun - and Michael Buffer was the announcer (the "Let's get ready to rumble" guy and I got a picture with Freddie Roach (the coach of Manny Pacquiao - he was super nice and gracious).  Do you know who those guys are?  I did not.  I am the most casual of boxing fans.  And no one throws an event like Venetian!


Sophia was again grumpy pants at her swim class today. 

We realize what makes Sophia so cute when she talks is that she has this baby high pitched voice.  It is rather disarming to hear a baby (who would ordinarily just speak something incomprehensible) to speak full sentences.  We don't remember Charlotte having this voice when she started talking.

When we were walking around Thanyapura in Thailand we would ask Charlotte what her middle name was, and she would reply 'Moon.'  Then we asked Sophia the same question and she would say 'Moon' too.  "Sophia Moon Drake" (her real middle name is May).  This exasperated Charlotte so much - she got so angry she did not even want Sophia saying the word "Moon" (and she did of course just despite her).  It was really funny.

Charlotte started a new school this week (Learn with Me Macau) and her swim classes are going really well.  She basically swims or does Capoiera every day!

On a totally unrelated note - I have fulfilled a lifelong goal of being able to do a 'boy's' pull up (starting with feet dangling).  I have been working on it for 5 months... I am super excited as I never really had sporting goals growning up or... every really.

Matt and I en route to boxing (in a rush with little thought to the backdrop) - good thing Matt is not wearing shoes (while I am):

Sophia finally looks at the camera!

Charlotte likes to walk in my shoes - and she is pretty graceful in them!

Sophia mugging at Ocean Club:

I love the Three Musketeers hair!

 

Char loves swimming!

 

She does not really need the vest except that her feet don't touch the bottom of the section of the pool that she trains in:

Ivan - Charlotte's coach.  Despite limited English he seems to be a good coach (and clicks well with Char Char):

I forgot to bring clothes to eat in - so the girls ate dinner last night at Ocean Club in their jammies:

Week 222 and Week 134.5 - Ketchup Song and Abby's birthday

So we have been driving our car (a twelve year old BMW which is in immaculate exterior condition - I wish I could say that it runs better) for a year.  And because it is an older car it has an older sound system, inclusive of a Dolby tape deck and a CD changer in the back.  We have had the same CD's in the changer for as long as we own the car.  One of the CD's is by the Red Hot Chili Peppers (as I mentioned before the kids love Californication, or as they call it sometimes, Calicornication).  They have recently become fond of the song By The Way, which has Anthony Kiedis kind of rapping in the middle while shouting out words like "Steak Knife," "Card Shark," "Con Job," "Boot Cut."  My kids can discern a surprising amount of lyrics but this is just to staccato/fast for them.  So they just sing along "Ketchup", "Ketchup", etc.  It is very funny how much my girls love the Peppers!

I got back into the swing of work and things have been busy - and I have not had a ton of time to update le blog - so I am here up early on Monday trying to get it done!

Abby had a birthday party this weekend - and it was super fun!  You can't go wrong with Filipino party games for a good time and a laugh!  At the end of the party Abby came in to the toilet with Charlotte, Sophia and I (everyone brought in a cake or a piece of candy).  Char said to Abby, "You must really like Sophia and I " and Abby gushed "I do!"  It was a very cute moment inside the toilet cubicle.

We also met up with Lauren and Sean, some folks who just moved from Vegas with boys who are 6, 4, and 2.  We had lunch at Din Tai Fung (here in Macau finally) and spent the afternoon at Qube2.  We took the girls swimming early on Sunday (with a second lesson for Sophia - and she was epic naughty again!  I think she is taking 'not listening' to a whole new level) - so they were tuckered out and napped forever yesterday.  Charlotte was interested in Wii's Mario Kart at Qube, so we pulled it out last night after their naps.  Char knocked Matt out at boxing and Sophia really liked to play golf.  A good use of our Wii which we have not turned on in probably 2 years!

After our break last week Yaya joined us for lunch:

I generally love taking pictures at Paradise Gardens at Sands Cotai Central - but we took these Shrek photos at a goofy sun time (hence the weird shadows here):

Girls drawing:

I did find time to sew Charlotte a shirt last week!  I need to make one for Sophia soon:

The girls love my heels!

Abby's party - Peppa Pig!

Char and Wendy:

Sophia getting her face painted - as a bunny rabbit AGAIN:

While Char is again the pupa growing into the beautiful butterfly:

Party scenes:

Sorry V - did not have a great angle for this shot!

The girls and boys at Qube - this is me fiddling with jump shots!

She looks like my mom here:

Running stance:

Boys:

Char playing Mario Kart at home:

While Sophia plays Wii golf: