Easter weekend

Spent the weekend mostly in Wisconsin. We had an uncle who was retiring so went extra early to help cook and help with the party. The color theme was gold and I was (along with everyone else) worried about finding the right dress. I ended up ordering mine. 

Lillian was a doll as always. 

Here are more photos from the party. 

Anyways we just got home this morning and today is Easter! I wanted to take a picture of Lillian to compare herself to last years photo... turned out hilarious. 

When we got home we went for a nice walk and played around the park nearby. 

Lillian loves being outside. The sun was shining and everything was perfect!

Ending my night on the couch waiting for laundry to be done. Almost perfect weekend. I love my family, I just wish I can enjoy and spend more time like this instead of stressing out over everything and everyone. 

Goodnight all. 

First real day of spring.

Started out the morning by making a quick breakfast then went off to meet a guy from Craigslist and ended up purchasing a new car! 

Yes I know. But we do need another car. 

Anyhow we finally had time to take a nice long walk around the neighborhood and played in our back yard. 

 

Lillian was running around having so much fun!

I'm loving this beautiful weather and I'm so excited to do fun activities with my baby bear!

Hallelujah!

I just got an iPhone tonight and there's so much to catch up on! I'll start blogging again soon!

Without my iPhone

Long story short, I accidentally washed my iPhone in the washing machine. Fail, I know. I have to wait until April to be able to upgrade, until then I'm using a prepaid phone.

Anyways, Lillian is now crawling! Well, kind of, she is sliding everywhere. This little one is strong.
Our baby sitter got a job down the street so now Soua and I are stressed about babysitting.
Work sucks. Super busy, everyone demanding everything, and I can't get to where I want to be next because of the economy!

One bright thing in my life right now is a new found hobby! I am borrowing a friends sewing machine and started crafting. So far I've made 10 pillows and diy-d a coffee table and turned it into an ottoman! I will post photos another day since I'm blogging on this prepaid phone in bed.

Goodnight!  Tomorrow is Friday!

Busy!

Everything from A to Z has kept me busy. We took Lillian to get her ears pierced last Friday. My silly bunny was mad at home and reused to look at me on the way home. 

Besides that we were busy at my inlaws all weekend. All week was filled with work. I'm still trying to get promoted so I've been putting all of my free time getting to know people. 

We are trying to trade in our civic for an SUV this weekend. We are going to wake up early and head to the dealerships. 

Here's some pictures of the past week. I am really getting into diy-ing projects. I made 10 pillows and 1 pullow case for my booger. 

And I'll update another day... we want to have a family night. Here's a cute photo of Lillian to end your night!

Hmong Blessing Ceremony

We prepared all week (more like all month) for today's event. We even took off Friday to buy veggies and prep the house. We managed to squeeze in the state fair early in the morning then headed off to purchase everything else. 

Basically what a blessing ceremony is is a Hmong version of a baptism. We cook a lot of food, invite family, a shaman performs the blessing ceremony and everyone ties a white string around her and our wrists to wish is luck in life and give Lillian gifts (money). 

After every new mom has a baby, our culture requires us to do a "spirit calling" ritual before the mom-to-be gives birth to make sure both mom and baby arrives safely. 3 days after birth, the family calls the spirit again, just for the baby this time, to ensure the baby's safe arrival to our world. Then when the family is ready, a big gathering is done to bless the entire family. 

Our culture believes in spirits and that every person, whether unborn, born, alive or not, forever has one. We also believe in reincarnation which cycles through the same spirits. 

I find it beautiful how much support our culture has on family and the bond that ties everyone together. It's always family first. However, being that we live in the US, it is quite difficult for us to find a balance between the two. I'll explain more in a later post, for now, enjoy the photos from Lillian's Hmong Blessing Ceremony we had today. 

My good girl was sleeping during the hand tying ceremony. Such a silly bunny!

The last piece of cake...

I made sure I had it!

It was a long and stressful day. I woke up at 4:30 am to make rice. My sweet sister in law and brother came over at 5am to help and it was just us until about 7:30 am. 

I am so blessed to have such an amazing and supportive family. Everyone lent a helping hand and the party was a success. Thanks everyone for coming! We love you all!

Prepping

This weekend we were prepping the house and buying a million things at SAMs club for Lillian's blessing ceremony next weekend. We both took off Friday so we can clean the house and prep food. Ugh, I'm going to be so exhausted. 

So anyhow, I plan on ordering a cake for her ceremony so I decided to dress her up and take a current picture of her so I can put it on the cake. 

....... Look at my pretty princess!!!