schoooooolllllsss out for the summer.....

Well the end of the kids school year is FINALLY here. Since Kael and Pippa attend a British school here we are off the US school schedule by about 2 weeks and it has felt like a very very long school year. Not sure if I have mentioned before but when we left the US ..we left. We sold our house both of our cars and when we land in the US again we will literally have nothing! Exciting and scary at the same time. So we will jump right into house hunting and finding me a car to lug these childrens around in. There are SO many things I am excited about when I think about returning to the US.  picking up the phone and calling my sister and best friends on the SAME TIME ZONE jumping in the car and driving to the library when I am in the mood for a new read actually smelling the pages of the book and holding it in my hand instead of reading it on my ipad. Diet Lemonade from Chic Fila being able to buy from cute companies easily on the internet exploring cities in and around Texas ( especially Chip and Joannas Silos in Waco )  so so much. There are however some amazing things here in China that I will miss also. First and mostly how safe it is, for the last couple of years we have literally been living in a bubble just listening to the horrific news that is happening in the US and we have not taken it for granted one bit. Coming home means turning on another switch with my senses way up. I will miss driving the Tuk Tuk, all the hustle and bustle of Shanghai, ordering groceries by texting the little lady at the store down the street and having them delivered in 10 minutes. I will miss watching the people here in their element so different than mine and getting a fancy massage for 20 dollars an hour. I will miss all the markets having clothes made , THE FLOWER MARKET, dumplings I will miss our ayi and our driver not their services so much as their presence in our day to day life and the relationship they have with my children. SO much SO SO much. So to ease all the bittersweetness that is going on in my head I made a awesome frozen rose to celebrate the start of summer in the Rogers household.

Frozen Rose

1/3 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
1 bottle of rose
1 lemon squeezed and its zest
1/3 cup lemonade

Directions :

Add water, sugar , lemon and lemonade to a pot and bring to a boil stirring to make sure that sugar dissolves.

Take Rose and place in a 9x13 pan and freeze for 3 hours.

Once Rose is firm scoop slush into a cup and add the simple syrup on top to taste garnish with a lemon and enjoy!

I added a splash of  diet sprite to mine to give it a little fizzzz....

Nursing + House Inspo

Well the time has officially come my youngest wants nothing to do with me and has weaned herself from nursing. Ohhhh so bittersweet! 16 months was a good run though and I am so thankful I have so far been able to nurse all of my babies. I never really go into nursing much because I feel like it is such a personal thing. There is SO much judgement out there from Moms and I am not one of those people. I never knew what I was going to do when I pregnant with Kael if I was going to nurse or not I didn't have a birth plan or anything I was just in the mindset of lets get this kid here safely and go from there. In terms of breast vs bottle I stand firmly in the " the kids got to eat " position. However that works out best for the baby and the mom then I feel like it is good. Nursing for me has come pretty easily each time but that doesnt mean that I havent had my ups and downs. Between not knowing how to handle my milk with Kael and getting overly engorged and worrying I wasnt making enough for Pippa because she was always on the smaller side on the growth chart. Each time though I kept with it and in the end it always ended up OK and my body adjusted to each child's needs. I think my biggest tip for new Moms nursing is to trust your body relax dont get frustrated and to feed on demand the first couple of months in order to ensure your body makes enough milk.I would also introduce the bottle after 6 weeks one thing I never got down was pumping and bottle feed so none of my kids ever took a bottle and that was very stressful at times and hard for me to leave them longer than a small chunk of time. With all that being said nursing all of my kids this long ranks up there with one of the things I am most proud of. Mostly because it is hard takes dedication and I pushed thru each time to give my child what they needed.

We are gearing up for our move to the US and I am currently OBSESSED with home inspo on pinterest. I have mentioned before I am hoping to take on a dated home with good bones and fix it up to exactly to  my liking. I have always had a passion for home interiors so this is my chance to really put that passion to use. Here are some of my favorite spaces on the web right now that have me so excited to get back to the US and find a perfect space for our little family.

image from Casa Haus

love the idea of doing something super fun and quirky in a small space in the house perfect for a little downstairs powder room or a laundry room. 

image from studio mcgee 

I am in LOVE with the idea of having a little kitchen breakfast nook a place for the kids to enjoy their breakfast and after school snack. With this house we can potentially be there for a while and I get giddy with the thought of my kids growing up in it.

These colors above are all so beautiful soothing inviting and happy exactly what I hope our home is. 

Lastly me and Jay promised each other we would actually put effort into our bedroom this time. I love making happy spaces for the kids so my room usually comes last but this time we are going to make a zone for ourselves and first on the list is a new bed. Loving this one above from West Elm.

Lastly I wanted to share two awesome books that I have read lately. Being over here in Shanghai has been amazing in so many ways but difficult on some  personal relationships in our life. It is hard to be so far away from people for three years and at times that lack of face time takes a toll. One thing that I have taken away from these three years out of the country is the people who are truly happy for my family the people who want to see us succeed and spread our wings. Sadly this hasn't been everyone we have come to realize that not everyone wants to see you take a big different bite out of life and it has really confused and affected me and my husband. So we have been looking inwardly and trying to better ourselves. At the end of the day we are in control of only ourselves and we can either pick to get down about the situation or try to grow from it. 

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Japan

First let me start off by saying that Japan is the CLEANEST place that I have ever been. There was one moment when we were walking down a back lane that both me and Jay agreed we would be fine letting the kids set up a picnic no blanket needed it is that clean. I have been in love with the idea of Japan since I read the book Memoirs of a Geisha and it did not disappoint. We decided on Kyoto because it is supposed to be one of the last areas in japan that still feels authentic and not too commercial it also has two large Geisha districts. A lot of our friends here in Shanghai that have visited Japan did a airbnb because the hotel rooms are they size of my pinky toe. So we experienced our first airbnb and it was pretty awesome we will def use them again. If traveling to Japan with kids one thing you need to be aware of it EVERYTHING is small and quiet. Truly the most quiet orderly place I have ever been. They even have signs up telling you to whisper lol so yea that was fun with the kids. In truth looking back if we had the choice I would pick to go to Japan with just Jay. One highlight of the trip was we actually saw a Geisha which when you do research they say is extremely unlikely. Overall the trip was amazing and I would highly recommend Kyoto. The streets were so charming the sushi was amazing and the people were friendly and extremely polite. 

My Dress here is from Free People 

Girls posing for a magazine photo shoot in the Geisha district Selah is wearing A Zara Top and Gap Denim 

Our Geisha Spotting..truly a dream

still a babe we had to buy an emergency umbrella stroller Pippas little jumper is from Zara 

bamboo forest Pippas little dress is from Rylee and Cru 

the best traveler ever love my Selah girl 

The most common way to get around Kyoto is by bike and they ZIP around the city you have to really watch out. Here was an adorable mom daughter bike duo at the park. M

All I ate haha

Shaved ice and Ice Cream 

Me and Pips in the Geisha District 

Beijing

Hey guys hope you are having a great start to your week! I thought I would share some of our pictures from our trip to Beijing. We really lucked out on this trip. Just days before we arrived Beijing had a bad wind storm and horrible pollution. I didn't have high hopes for our trip at all. The storm ended and blew out all of the pollution so we ended up with a gorgeous blue skied days. The picture below is us on the wall and zero filter on it at all. The great wall was something I knew I had to see especially since I lived in China for more than a couple of years. Jay had to push me a little to book this trip because it was a lot of sight seeing and I am much more into beach trips. I am SO glad we did. Seeing the Forbidden City in Beijing and the Great Wall was so interesting both rich with so much history and so many awesome truly unbelievable stories. I still can not understand how they even built this wall. It took them 250 YEARS to complete. Our guide told us it is the longest tomb in the world because so many people died while building it and bodies were built into the wall. CRAZY. 

Nothing says The Great Wall of China like good ole Burger King afterwards

Here we are in the Forbidden City. This place was huge and so interesting loved hearing about all the emperors and they rules and scandal that went on inside these city walls. 

A little tired at this point lol

 people taking pictures of the kids just par for the course...

Here is a picture of the Terracota Warriors in Xian. After staying in Beijing we jumped on a plane to go and see them. It was awesome such a wild story. A farmer was searching for water in the 70's and FOUND these warrior and the signt of a emperors tomb. Truly insane.

After seeing the warriors we tried their local soup it was delicious! 

Amazing sky on our flight home