Strawberry and Congree swamp

Cottle strawberry farm moved to their new location. It took us a long while to get there. But it's all worth it! The strawberries are big, fresh, sweet, and juicy. We quickly filled 2 baskets.

Iris kinda enjoyed it too. Only if she could see better...

We then went to Congree swamp to have a BBQ and a walk. We could have stayed longer if there were not sooooo many mosquitoes.

Happy Birthday to daddy

This year, daddy's birthday was on the same day as Good Friday and Earth Day. How cool is that? Both mama and Heidi had the day off, so we decided to make him a cake. It was supposed to be a secret between the two of us, but Heidi 'accidentally' announced it at the dinner the day before... Well, it started to rain friday morning, but we went to Publix to get the stuff for our cake anyway. Heidi had her new rain boots on, and of course her very own unbrella. She was cute. I wish I had my camera with me.

Heidi help me to make the cake from the very beginning. And she help me to clean the bowls with her tongue. I asked Heidi how old she thinks daddy is. She said, "Eighty?" Oh well!

Busy girl Heidi

Heidi had a busy weekend. Well, since she was busy we were busy too... as parents. We went to see the Disney on Ice show Friday evening. She was very excited before the show for weeks. But when the big moment came, she started to cry the at first second of the show. The poor girl cried loudely for 20 minutes. Everybody was looking at us. I had to take her to the very last row. She was still crying. I took her out the stadium and we had a 10-minute walk. When we came back to the show, she saw the princesses and felt much better. She kindly of enjoyed the rest of the show, cried twice but just for minutes. This was totally beyond my expectation. She was OK during the show last year. But I shouldn't be surprised since she is the most easily scared girl I've ever known. Oh well! At least there's some part of the show that she enjoyed!

We went to an Easter egg hunt at First Baptist church in West Columbia. This is our Easter tradition. It was windy and stormy, but she wanted to go so we drove to Columbia in the morning. Everything was indoor this year due to the weather condition. But honestly, I think she enjoyed more indoor. She still wouldn't hold the cute bunnies and chickens, but she patted them. The egg hunt was in the chapel this time. She found 10 colorful eggs, full of treats!

She dyed 2 eggs, decorated cookies and did some projects.

All done!

Sunday morning, the preschool kids sang in the beginning of the English service. Then they went to the nursing home next door to sang and talk to the residents there. Heidi did a good job. She shared her egg hunt story with an old lady and kissed and hugged her before we left.

After lunch, we rushed to Chunk E Cheese's to celebrate Lily's birthday. We pass Chunk E Cheese's everyday on the way to work, but this was our first time to go inside. Heidi had a pretty good time there. I had no clue about most of the games she played.

All right. We had to leave Lily's party a little early, because Heidi had to go to another birthday party at the Little Gym. To my surprise, she played very well there, following all the instuctions.

These three little girls are just too cute!

After dinner, we played in her sandbox for a while, and also she helped grandparents making dumplings. What a busy weekend!

Happy birthday to Heidi

Heidi turned 5 on Sunday 3/27. Her party was at Leapin Lizards. I let her choose between Little Gym and Leapin Lizards a month before her birthday and Leapin Lizards won. She chose Hello Kitty as the party theme. Finally she is interested in something other than princesses... It was raining that weekend; it rained a little bit Sunday morning. But that was a perfect day for an indoor party. Kids have to do something to let their energy out; so all kids were excited and played nonstop. Iris and grandparents were at the party, too. Iris made friends with Heidi's friends and played in the baby/toddler area. Heidi and her 20 friends had cake and ice cream.

I didn't even catch the moment that she blew the candles. It was so fast...

A room of happy little kids Our happy birthday girl, who already lost 2 teeth before she turned 5.