Laowai

Well Christmas is packed away. And my girls, after a very long break, are back to their school routine.

They are growing so fast and sometimes I look back wistfully at old pictures. It used to be so easy to make them smile. Now they are happy young girls but keeping them happy is a little more complicated than tickling their chubby chins. Here’s a photo I found hiding in a random place on my computer:

It’s confusing this parenthood thing. I waffle between worrying if I’m setting the right example and guiding them correctly and then thinking that they are their own people and they have to learn to be independent and make their own way. I know it’s all normal stuff but this is certainly the first time I have raised a ten (almost eleven) year old. I can feel that Bea especially has something growing in her that makes her want to reject most of her parents ideas lately. Lots of eye rolling for everyone and we aren’t even into the teen years yet. And I don’t mean to sound negative – my girls are really fantastic and I am so proud of them. It’s just the changes that make my head spin sometimes.

Here are few random photos from the last few days:

We took a little trip to Basel to see the Marc Chagall exhibit. I like Basel and the few times I’ve been there – I always leave saying “we should come here more often”. It seems to have a lot of museums and big interesting public art. It feels like Switzerland but it also feels really creative. 

I like swans:

Here are some photos of things my girls have made lately. Bea has an after school art club that she is enjoying. The art room is big and amazing and she can choose what she wants to make. The mosaic is from that club and then she made those exuberant cupcakes. Claire is into making stories with her Finnish friend – one of their characters is Ms. Gummy Bear. I love the detailed style of her drawings. We are working on her letter d…

Claire and I made this marker caddy. The girls seem to have become some sort of marker addicts. They love, love, love to acquire any new or different writing implements. After they got some more goodies for Christmas we felt a new organization system was in order.

Finally, Bea has been making some cute stop motion videos: Not sure what that pink thing is – must be some sort of candy.