All Things Elise & Alina: July 2015

Monday, July 27, 2015

Elise & Alina's New Room

Elise & Alina's new shared big girl room!

The girls are officially roommates now! This is the result of months of debating on what to do to make our tight four bedroom home work to accommodate baby brother on the way and still maintain our office work space. They both expressed excitement over the prospect of a bunk bed although initially they weren't exactly keen on sharing spaces and toys (mostly Elise, who's been used to having her own room for the past 6 years). We're happy with the end result, mainly because we found a nice quality bunk bed that works well for the space and being a twin/full combo they can grow with it over the next few years. I had to get plenty of photo documentation as this may be the cleanest we see their room EVER again...hah! We are now working on turning Alina's old room into baby brother's nursery. More photos to come once his nursery is finished. Stay tuned...

Their lovely cherry hutch and floral chic bedroom decor

More shared spaces and the view from Elise's top bunk

Tuesday, July 21, 2015

Little Red Cheongsam and our Yin and Yang

Alina in her little red cheongsam dress

I bought this adorable little red cheongsam dress years ago with the intention of Elise wearing it at some point. Unfortunately for me, at three-years-old Elise had a strong aversion to the color red, anything covering her neck or mom telling her what to wear. She flat out refused to put it on. I tried again with Alina and finally had success! She not only wore it, but posed for me and grinned the entire time. I've always found it amusing how kids can have such strong opinions at young ages. Elise was fighting me on clothing choices since before she could talk. Alina will usually wear anything I pick out without much fuss.

This brings me to the bigger picture and how I see my girls personalities as completely yin and yang. Honestly speaking, they are opposites in most ways, but through all their differences they bring a sense of harmony and balance to our lives in revealing such different personality dynamics and rewards. It's amazing how much perspective they've brought into our lives and while we can spend hours attesting to all their differences, ultimately I wouldn't imagine or want them to be any other way. This really gets me wondering what baby boy's personality will be like. I already have my yin and yang girls, so how will he fit in the mix? I wonder, will he be more like one or the other? As he grows, it will be very interesting to find out and watch his personality reveal itself. As for now I have my yin and yang to keep me on my toes.

Pretty floral embroidery and cute curls

Friday, July 10, 2015

Happy Fouth of July 2015!

Fourth of July festivities 2015

Cuties all ready for fireworks

Hanging out with Nana & Papa

Smoke bomb fun

Alina's first sparkler of 2015

Such a joy to watch the girls play

Happy Fourth of July 2015! We enjoyed a very fun and festive display on our court this year. The grandparents joined us along with some close friends and the kids thoroughly enjoyed lighting up the night sky with sparklers and fireworks. The biggest hit each year have been the smoke bombs. They love the colors and running through the vibrant smoke filled air (whilst plugging their noses and laughing hysterically of course). Later in the evening, once the fireworks were exhausted, they moved on to glow stick dancing and we had to drag them inside by the end of the night. It was a very fun holiday and so nice to be able to enjoy all this just right outside our front door, no crowds or traveling involved. We're certainly loving these lazy summer weekends.