Joyeux NOEL

travel sketchbook

In my student days, I used to travel around Europe in the summer; at the end of the trip, I come home, not with bags of souvenir, but stacks of drawings.  Now with Noel, traveling around and sketch sounds like a luxury, but on this last trip to Seattle, I still have to come home with a stack of drawings.  Guilty though, not a single one by me.

 

These are about half of what Noel did while we were on the trip, she can sit down, draw, write, and come up with story books for an hour straight. 

 

I have hard time throwing away my own drawings, and now, I am left with a big stack of drawings....everyday, on the trip or not.

 

and when she draws on loose pages, they get scatter around, I am sure the sequence of these drawings are way off, but hey, what's a mother to do....especially when I don't have the heart to throw the very nice ones away.

 

I need to hunt down a gallery that sells talented kid's artwork.  Noel is so productive, I may be the next million dollars mom!

Space Needle

YES we are here, in Seattle!

The rain has finally stopped, wait, doesn't it rain a lot here?  So let's enjoy the rare sunny moments.  Noel and mama decided to visit Space Needle on Christmas Day, and it turned out to be a great decision.  Sun was out, line was short, and we had a great time!

 

 

poor Noel, all she can see was the sky, her mommy was too weak and too short to lift her up.  By the way, see her cute new down jacket?  Santa was able to hunt it down at Crewcuts , I wish I have one to keep me toasty warm too.

 

Merry Christmas from us....way up in the Space Needle!

be aware of dino

 
Noel is admiring her favorite dinosaur - triceratops!
But watch out, if you are too much into something, you might just turn into one!!

And look, she's got an egg, I am about to become a grandma dinosaur!

all smiles in Hawaii

Okay, two reasons why I am posting these photos.  Honestly, as cute as yesterday's crying pictures are , I cannot take it any longer.  When I see that sad face on my computer screen,  it just does not motivate me to do any work.  So here it is, an ALL SMILE photo of Noel.  Reason number two, as you can see, Noel is not the only person missing Hawaii.....

They are the ones we traveled all the way there for, a big thank you to the happy couple!  Maggie told me there are literally hundreds of photos taken and they are slowing coming my way....

Noel told me yesterday : "hey mama, I had a job in Hawaii..."    "And what is that?"  I asked.  Her answer was quite appropriate : " I sometimes shovel sands, sometimes go into the big water....."  Nice job! 

and this is Noel's favorite auntie Kris.  They bonded the very moment they met in the airport!

Another rare mommy and baby photo.

My beautiful flower girl!  And for these of you shoe Divas out there, I know I know, her sandals are terrible.  the true is, I DID buy her a pair of nice ralph lauren white shoes but they were too big.  I did not want Noel to trip in the ceremony.  Lesson learned - never to buy kids shoes on the internet!

I don't think we are able to post the professional photos from Hawaii due to the copy rights, so this marks the end of our Hawaii photo journal.  Where are we going next summer Noel?

my Hawaii

(Picture from auntie Maggie's friend)

Noel: "Mama, can we go on the airplane like this and go to Hawaii again?"

see the cloud?  How cute is this?

Noel : "...and we are going back to the 'big water' ...." (Noel calls swimming pool and ocean "big water")

Mama : " I should probably check and see if Hawaii University needs an art professor?"

Noel's travel sketchbook Hawaii VIII

Before Noel, When I travel, you will find sketchbooks, and more sketchbooks in my backpack, well, those were the good old days, now, my backpack is filled with FOOD (because of Noel's peanut allergy, we are extremely careful, and let me just say, this is the biggest pain in the neck, all moms with PA kids, you can understand!) and even if I can find that little space to squeeze in that sketchbook, where on earth am I going to find the time to draw? (travel means spotting everywhere for "peanuts", chasing Noel and taking her photos...etc)

Noel loves to draw, but I am not going to make a 3-year-old keep a sketchbook while on the trip, but interestingly, she kept one herself and I did not realize it until almost half way through our vacation.  I first noticed that she took the hotel notepad and started making drawings on them, no big deal, she draws a lot....but then I noticed that I have never seen such images, hmmm, what are these drawings?

For examples, take a wild guess.....

Noel said this is "where the air comes out".... and sure enough....

The A/C vent!

and.....

She said this is "the picture of the flower on the wall"

and here it is....

"Pictures of the palm tree" she said....

okay, must be this one....

and this one she said....

"it's the hotel ceiling...."

haaha, I am not gonna take a picture of that....

Now can you guess what this one is......

she said this is " the loud bell"

Huh?  I was confused, had her show me exactly what this is....and guess what, it's the YOU ARE HERE sign on your door in case of emergency.  Good observation!

and let's not forget the hotel bed and pillow!

I do not claim to be the best art teacher in the world, but after taught so many little ones and no-so-little ones, I learn to encourage them and accept the interpretations of their own works (the is definitely so for little ones).  Noel does not whine about it when she does not know how to draw something, she is confident in what she can do, and if she truly does not know, she came to me and said : "Show me, mama."

If you ask her nowadays, "what do you want to be when you grow up?"  She will answer you : " An artist that draws all the time...." But again, she also tells me : " I want to be a mama like you, but have 5 babies."  Well, we will see about that one!

just pictures....

Noel has a cold right now...... last time when she was sick, it lasted for 3 days, she then gave it to me which lasted for 30 days..... lesson learned - while taking good care of the little girl, take even better good care of myself.
Two cute pictures to share, more soon

Flower girl faces reality Hawaii VII

I know everyone is eager to see Noel's flower girl pictures, but I was carrying Maggie's camera on the wedding day and those photos are not available to me yet, I promise, I will post some more adorable photos of the little princess soon.  She's the second most beautiful girl at the wedding - no one is prettier than auntie Maggie!!!

By the way, Maggie is a dear friend of mine for over, gosh, 20 years?  I am so happy for her and wish her all the best in this new journey.

Noel is still having hard time coming back to the reality.  She continues her crying at night and tells me she is very sad.... Few times she was about to push me over the edge and of course, auntie Maggie came to the rescue - on the phone tonight, while I was complaining about Noel's emotional outbursts; Maggie's comment took me by surprise : "What do you expect?  Not to mention a 3-year-old having hard time coming back to the 'reality", even I have hard time dealing with the fact that everyone  has gone home, party is over...."

This remark gave me a whole new perspective and I feel guilty on how I have been handling Noel's emotions.  The hardship of motherhood....never ends.

At the reception, I caught this "funny" picture.  After seeing auntie Maggie saying I DO, looks like Noel is say I DO to Gordon (the engine).  Noel did a beautiful job walking down the aisle, so did I Hsuan (the ring bearer)  But do you know the tricks to keep these 3 and 4 year olds in line?  Now, this answer is worth a million dollar - as soon as the ringer bearer got to the groom, I Hsuan was handed an I phone with his favorite show "Super Why" playing..... it was kept at the pillow and the boy was occupied for the entire wedding.  I wish we had done so with Noel and hide the i phone in her basket.....  Noel was a show off, she was jumping with joy  : "I did it, I did it!!" when it was time for the bride to come in.  I had to took her to the side and bribed her with the gift of a new toy engine - Gordon.

The flower girl's heart is still in Hawaii, so true, who can blame her?  Let's take roll, whose heart is still in Hawaii, raise your hand..... and for the lucky ones like auntie Kris, hey, you ARE still in Hawaii!!!

whenever there is music... Hawaii VI

Noel was really a joy on the trip.  She was outgoing, and extremely friendly.  I cannot tell you how many times we were in and out of the elevators in the hotel every day, and every single time, she greeted the people she met in there : " Hi, My name is Noel, how are you doing today?"
And you see people's faces light up right there.....

Pineapple plantation Hawaii V

Auntie Maggie is so sweet, way before we arrive in Hawaii, she's got the week-long itinerary all set up!  We have 4 kids under the age of 10 in the group, so pinapple plantation sounds like a fun place to go!

Pinapple express, HELLO!!!  Noel was thrilled to see the train is RED - The color of JAMES (from Thomas the tank engine!)

Noel: "Hi auntie Maggie and I Hsuan !!!"

Noel : "Mama said the train is moving, so she could not take a nicer picture of the plantation... just say you are not a good photographer mommy....."

"....look, you took a picture of I Hsuan and my famous pink hat ???"

"....this is more like it....."

" and how can we leave the pineapple plantation without a good taste of...hmmmm, pineapple!"