Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day!  To me, not only is it a romantic holiday to share with a sweetheart, but it's a family holiday for those close ones we love.  Being sick this year, however, I felt helpless.  Fortunately, when I woke up that morning I got a bit of a break from the death grip on my stomach and was able to make it special for my girls.  I even got dressed, put makeup on, and did my hair...it's been 8 weeks.

For breakfast they got:

Pink milk

Pink scrambled eggs

Strawberries

Heart shaped toast

Sofie is still asking for pink eggs.

For lunch:

Pink Mac & Cheese (made me a bit queasy)

Heart shaped apple slices

(At this point I wasn't feeling as ambitious and that's all they got.)

The spread.  By this point, my feeling-good streak was gone, so Derek got to go buy heart shaped pizzas for dinner.

Placemats

Sofie was so happy about our "party" that she came and gave me a big hug.  

So sweet.  Thanks Dia for being quick with the camera.

Sofie was even nice to Dia, a rare treat!

My kitchen slaves doing the dishes.

For dessert we layered cupcakes with a pink mix of cool whip, yogurt, and pudding.  

The girls got to decorate their own cups with foam stickers.

Mei was in heaven with all those stickers!

Took her 2 days to eat it.

Dia's creation.

See, even did my hair!!  

(probably won't happen again for a while)

Cookies!!

Getting ready for Valentine's Day!

With some help, I got some cookies made, then for family night we got to decorate them.

Meili only ate frosting...

Dia's creation.

Cheese!

Cookie decorating is serious business.

I...participated.

The finished products.

Getting the decorations out and ready.

The girls had fun throwing silk rose pedals EVERYWHERE!!

Chinese New Year

One of my first excursions out of the house this year. 

 I'm grateful for the chance we had to go to Lehi High School and celebrate the Chinese New Year!

I don't have many pictures, but they had lots of activities, some food, and a few performances as well. It was a lot of fun, and of course, I love China.

The girls each got a beautiful calligraphy painting done of their names (sofie's of course was a transliteration, but Meili's was legit)

Derek's friend shares a love of Asia with me, so she bought these darling outfits for the girls last year and it was such a perfect day to wear them!  All the Chinese ladies whispering to each other "Oh! Hen piaoliang ah!"

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Derek keeping Mei busy on the bleachers while we waited for the program.

The fun part is that the Chinese teacher at Lehi, who runs the festival every year, is Aaron Anderson. (the guy on the right)  He and I did a BYU study abroad together in Nanjing, China way back when.  It's great to see how he's put his knowledge to use and now the whole community benefits!

Dia got to sing with the choir in the program. "Gong xi, gong xi ni ya!"

Sofie missed out on the face painting booth, so Dia gave her a butterfly when we got home. 

Christmas 2012

For Christmas Eve and Day we went to my parents house and stayed the night.  All 5 of us were here this year, as well as spouses, so it was a fun full house.

At this point I started feeling the pregnancy in full force, so pictures got scarce and less fun to look at.

But here it is.

We set out a plate of cookies for Santa.

Meili decided the cookies were hers.

Chomp chomp, sorry Santa!

Opening jammies

Sofie making sure all the stockings were accounted for.

Matching jammies from Mom and Dad.

Santa's offering

Life size kitchen.  Wahoo!!

For hours and hours and hours of fun!

Dia looks like she needed a little more sleep.

Okay, we all did.

Opening gifts to each other before the crowd showed up!

Dia's school spirit blankie!

Meimei and uncle Banana Split (pretty sure that's what they'll remember him as).

The rest of Christmas festivities as well as New Year's Day and the gatherings in between were a blur for me.  Sick on the couch.  Stupid pregnancy hormones.  

Porcaro Christmas Party

Before the slowly-dying phase of my pregnancy, we had a fun Christmas party with the extended family.  We enjoyed the traditional Italian feast put on by Grandpa, a nativity, a talent show, games, and silly gift exchange.

Mei got to be the shepherd.

Sofie started out as one of the angels, but wasn't feeling well, so she didn't actually participate :(

With Sienna and Papa. 

Mei stuffing her face like the rest of us. 

I wish I knew what Dia was thinking...

My uncle snuck this shot of me while I was eating, fortunately I wasn't chewing!!

Dad teaching Dia a hand slapping game.

Poor Sofie had a horrible fever and crashed by the end of the night. :(

She stayed sick for a week, then caught another one as soon as the last fever went away.

Pre-Christmas Fun

Practicing their Christmas duet...

The first real snow (that's still frozen solid outside)

Loving it! 

Sofie making Meili all snug and cozy by the tree.

So cute!