on a happy note

so here are some pictures that make me feel better after posting a more heavy post (see below).

One afternoon playing on the bed with puzzles...

This is samantha making one of her favorite faces - the "ohhhh" sound. she truly does it all the time. She'll turn around and look at us really fast, cock her head, and then make the "ohhh" shape. she doesn't actually say "Oh" which kind of adds to the fun of it all. :) and one more of mantha, whipping up some dinner for us at her favorite hangout, the kitchen. So I've been lamenting the fact that my apartment complex doens't have anywhere for me to let the girls play. I've had this raging debate in my head - I don't, absolutely DO NOT want to move, but I want a place where the girls can play. Then, I finally listened to my house helper (who is almost always a source of very accurate and wise advice, from all matters practical and otherwise) and we took a trip down the street to a public park. It's only two bus stops down the road from my house, even faster if I take a taxi (which I SO like to do, because let's just face it - it's no fun hauling a baby, a stroller and a strong-willed toddler on a bus. Anyway, we all went last week and had a really great time. The park isn't quite as fab as the brand new one we went to in the States, which had all manner of state of the art toys, top-notch safety standards, and everything else a young paranoid mother would want. But, we had a great time. Here are a few pics...

This is emma holding mantha's hand (as I often do with emma when she is in the stroller), while our house helper and good friend is moving them along. Emma felt like such a big girl - a feeling that is becoming and more important to her - by helping mantha and holding her hands.
On the seesaw, which emma really likes.
mantha working on her steps... And, for ten cents you can buy a bag of colored pellets and feed the six million pigeons that flutter all around the play area. Of course, emma wanted to feed the pigeons and of course my friend thought I just must do it, as it would be so fun. So emma quickly used up all her colored pellets and made friends with another little girl who then donated to emma more pellets. Emma was real happy - she loved all the birds.

and this one of emma was taken yesterday as we were out enjoying the warm, spring weather. I just thought she looked so grown up holding daddy's hand and walking down the street instead of riding in her stroller.