Hard to believe it’s only St. Patrick’s Day, and we’ve already done so many fun things this month. Here’s what we’ve been up to:

1) A short but very sweet visit from my former college housemate Amy, her husband and 3 boys. Maddy and Hayden just loved playing with Nathan, Chase and Aiden, and especially having them sleep over in their respective rooms. Despite the weather wimpy-ness of our Southern Cal visitors, we all enjoyed Multnomah Falls, the Portland Air Tram and Out of this World Pizza. Hayden’s still talking about those “Guys” and missing them.

2) While Dave was in NYC for the Big East Tournament, we had a fun girls weekend (plus Elijah and Jared) at my sister Maren’s house in Lebanon. Hayden and Maddy took turns holding “Baby Yia” and thankfully didn’t drop her. Maddy and Eva played/grabbed-toys-from-each-other, and I took the girls to see the Lorax, which was a great movie. Eva sat quietly and watched the whole thing intently, while Maddy and Hayden sat still but interjected with questions every 3-4 minutes (mostly from Hayden: “where’d Yorax go, mummy?”). We also had a really great visit with my grandparents and Aunt Doris, who all doted over the kids and played fun games with them.

3) I got to watch Maddy and Hayden’s last “Sibling Dance Fun” class of the Winter session (they loved it so much, they’ll be taking it again in the Spring). I wasn’t surprised to see Maddy do her performance thang, but I was quite impressed at Hayden’s ability to follow along with the instructor and successfully do some semi-real dance moves.

4) Last but not least, I took Maddy to check out our local elementary school’s Kindergarten round up this week. We’re not sure yet if she’ll start in Fall 2012 or 2013, but we figured it couldn’t hurt to get her used to the idea early. It was a little overwhelming at first, but both Maddy and I managed our nerves well, and she loved doing “kindergarten stuff” with the teachers and other kids in the classroom while I attended the Principal’s presentation. She even went on a little school bus ride with the other kids, which she absolutely loved despite her initial fears. I was so proud of her for keeping it together and handling being away from me in a new, big place.

February was a month FULL of fun for us Phamsters. In addition to New Year’s there was Valentine’s Day, which we celebrated with a super-fun neighborhood party, a school party and lots of treats. Next was Ba Ngoai’s (grandma) birthday, which we celebrated with some cheesecake and yet another impromptu performance by Maddy:

Then things got really fun, when we left for a family vacation in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico at our Aunt Sarah and Uncle Jaimy’s villa. My college roommate Joanne joined us there with her husband and son, and we all had a fabulous week of relaxation, sunshine and more than a little wind. Here are some favorite pics of the trip (check out this slide show for more):

Highlights included the many whales we spotted on our whale-watching cruise, hours of fun at the pool, and Maddy’s focused rock/shell collecting on the beach. Maddy practiced her swimming and got around the whole pool quite well with her floaties. She also got in some good Spanish practice. Hayden loved wading around on her hands in the shallow end of the pool, but was not as fond of all the “messy” sand at the beach. What she did love about the beach was taking control of the vendor situation. Every time someone would approach within 20 feet of our chairs with goods to sell, Hayden would yell out “Non gracias!!!!!!” as loud as she could.

Here’s a very belated Happy New Year to everyone celebrating the Year of the Dragon. We met up with cousins at Portland’s Vietnamese Tet Festival a month ago:

(note the lovely Christmas Tree Maddy requested for her cheek)

The girls loved their red envelopes, and we especially appreciated being able to celebrate with at least some family (even though it’s not a holiday my blue-eyed family knows much about).

In other news, Hayden’s using the potty quite frequently and even tells us when she’s ready to poo. Pee is a little harder for her to predict still, so she just does that on the potty when the timing works out. We’ve been spending many hours reading her favorite Dr. Seuss books while she sits there hoping to get lucky, and so far she’s managed to stay dry all day today (big milestone)!

She’s talking all the time, and loves to repeat things Maddy says, like “that’s beautiful.” Hayden’s adopted a British accent from Peppa Pig and calls us “Mummy” and “Deddy.” She puts together pretty complex sentences and sometimes finds her own ways to explain things when she can’t get the right words. For example, every time she wants/sees 2 or more of something, she says “3-5-6″ all as if it’s one word, meaning “multiple items.” For example, if she has one crayon but wants more she says “356″ over and over again until we give her another.

More on Maddy and other recent Phamster adventures shortly…