the last 2 weeks...lots of fun and hard work with family, school, and 2 sets of casts!

My in-house chef!  Aoli loves to cook, including cooking the food on the stove (especially adding her favorite spices), prep (chopping vegetables, spicing and rubbing fish or poultry), and is ready to set the table, and clean up as well (though not all necessarily on the same night).  Her favorite meal to prepare is lightly steamed bok choy with sauteed shitake with red pepper, and soy.  

Aoli is wearing casts for a couple of months to help correct a medical condition with her feet.  Though her parents may fret, she approached this in typical Aoli style by selecting a bold shade of purple and making fast friends with the casting clinic staff at Boston Children's Hospital.

Enjoying Halloween prep with her new cousins, whom she loved immediately and immensely.  She would like all of them to move into the house and has outlined sleeping arrangements for everyone.

Off to her first day of school in a whirlwind.   She  refused to stop for a photo and implored me to drive faster (in Shanghaiese Mandarin) the whole way!! Aoli is smart and competitive and doing very well in school already.

A. enjoys the Boston Public Garden, just like her Mama! 

Violet, dog-tired and settling in with the stuffed animals...