More Christmas fun with cousins

To wrap up all the Christmas fun we've had with cousins over the past week, see:

Video 325 of Natalie and Vanessa following the dance moves in the "Nobody but me" music video.

Also see Video 326 of Vanessa and Natalie playing together. Vanessa is taller and quite strong and she is able to lift and carry Natalie (for short distances).

One other Christmas activity we did a couple weeks ago was decorating cookies! Aren't they beautiful?

This kit was perfect for them. Each "big" kid (Vanessa, Natalie, Victoria and Nicholas) had a chance to decorate exactly three of the same cookies.

Here they are hard at work.

Natalie really liked this activity. Nicholas was busy eating the yummy decorations.

Meanwhile, Vanessa could work independently while Victoria only needed a little bit of guidance and help. (And yes, we did have lunch at Burger King earlier that day.)

Christmas Day at Lisa's

For Christmas afternoon and dinner this year, we had a little Christmas party with turkey dinner at Lisa Yee-yee's house. It was great fun!

Here we fit 9 people into one taxi: Two babies, two kids, two helpers, two mothers and one friendly taxi driver.

While there, the kids tore up Lisa's house and played with all the toys. They also loved to play with Clark and use him as a jungle gym. Here they are attacking him.

...and pinching his nose and putting toys in his mouth and pulling his hair. They loved his anguished screams.

Meanwhile... the two babies had a nice little nap together.

Before a yummy turkey dinner, we tried to get the "big" kids to take a picture together.

This was the best shot. (We thought it was cute that the girls had the same outfit on.)

After dinner, it was time for presents! We asked the kids to sit down and listen for their names to be called.

Vanessa the oldest cousin decided to help distribute the presents to everyone.

Here she is handing a big present to Nicholas.

Here are Victoria and Natalie waiting patiently.

The kids were super happy and excited.

Time to open the presents!

Lisa did a good job maintaining order. The kids were old enough to know how to put the used wrapping paper into the garbage by themselves and generally kept things tidy.

Natalie LOVES opening presents!

So far (besides the scooter) this was her favourite gift... a little baby with a bath tub. She carries the baby everywhere, feed her milk and even sleeps with her!

All in all, a great day. Merry Christmas!

Christmas Day

MERRY CHRISTMAS, Everyone! We had a very super duper fun Christmas Day. But first, here are photos and videos from Christmas morning. We explained the whole Santa Claus concept to Natalie and she was so excited (after putting out her stocking and some cookies and milk for Santa) she almost couldn't sleep the night before.

Here is the stocking she left out. A very pretty and pink stocking! Inside was a candy cane, a small toy, and some other chocolate and wafers.

Natalie's little Christmas tree. She insisted the star be on top before going to sleep.

Look what Santa Claus gave to Natalie this Christmas! Two weeks ago, Natalie drew a picture of a scooter and we "mailed" it to Santa.

Also, see Video 324 of Natalie discussing what Santa Claus gave her Christmas morning (sorry, the sound goes a bit in and out because I keep covering the microphone by accident).

Natalie's School Christmas 2010 Performance

Last week on Friday, Natalie's class put on a Christmas performance for her fellow students and parents. It was a crazy affair with kids everywhere, cameras flashing, parents jostling for position and teachers trying to control the chaos.

See Video 322 of Natalie performing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star on stage. The video is shaky because parents were literally fighting for position.

Also see Video 323 of Natalie performing We Wish You A Merry Christmas.

The stage is set for the performances.

The students file into the room. Before this, we had not seen Natalie's costume and were a little surprised to see her wearing... the American flag?!

The students get into position on stage.

During the performance, here is Natalie and her classmate Elsa waving hi to me and Elsa's mom.

After the performance, the students returned to the classroom and had a yummy "catered" lunch. Here is Nat posing with her good friend Mia. The students all received presents from the teachers before leaving on Christmas break.

Lauren at home again

Poor Lauren doesn't get to go out much. It's what happens when you're only 2 months old and the younger sibling. But she doesn't seem to mind so much and there is already lots of learn at home. Here are some recent-ish pics.

This photo was taken courtesy of Uncle Kevy's mobile device (blackberry). Lauren looks so mature and cute! BTW, while at the grocery store the other day, a lady asked if she was 10 months old.

Clark holding Lauren's foot in his hand. Her foot is the same length as his middle finger.

This is a oldie but goodie: Clark's first time feeding Lauren a bottle. Only about 8 weeks ago and look how tiny she looks!

Here is Lauren (a few weeks ago) enjoying she tummy time on a pillow. Instead of getting exercise, she fell asleep...

And it looks like she had some nice dreams, too.

All day at school

With me returning to work in just a little over one month, we have registered Natalie for afternoon school as well. Beginning January, Natalie will attend local Mandarin school in the morning (as per usual) and in the afternoon, she will attend the international section of the same school. Good thing she really likes school!

Natalie giving us a big smile in her school uniform.

Natalie modeling her school winter uniform for us, complete with pigtails.

Gingerbread house

On Tuesday, Natalie and I made a trip to the nearest Park n Shop and bought icing and decorations to create a gingerbread house (with the gingerbread house pieces from Vivo Yee-yee... thanks Vivo!) It was a really fun and yummy project. Photos below:

While I put the bottom of the house together, Natalie is busy decorating the roof. She's decided to put M&M's all over the top. I've put down the "glue" for her and she's busy picking colors and sticking them on (and eating some, too).

The roof is on! Here we are using an advanced technique to hold the roof up while it dries.

For the chimney, Natalie wanted to put animal candies on each one.

She also added a little flower on the top of their heads to make the animals all girls.

The roof is dry and the chimney is on. We've also added a marshmellow-rice-crispy tree and a santa doll. Almost done!

Natalie helps me to tap the sifter and sprinkle a liberal amount of "snow" all over the house and surrounding decorations.

Final result: A gorgeous gingerbread house. Well done, us!

The next day... disaster! I think the M&M's were a bit too heavy. Also, the moisture in the air caused the gingerbread to become crumbly. It's ok, now we can eat it!

More Videos

Here are some more recent videos of our girls at home:

Video 317 of Natalie carrying and playing with Lauren again. Making Lauren say "hi" and "bye" is her favourite game for now.

Video 318 of Lauren sitting on the sofa and complaining. She's so sad (and yet strangely cute) when she cries.

Video 319 of Lauren cooing while playing with me. She's starting to become very interactive which is so fun :)

Video 320 of Natalie acting as a cashier. She takes her role as the cashier very seriously.

Video 321 of Natalie playing with Clark and I with her kitchen set and a new tea set from Vivo Yee-yee.

The little photographer

Natalie has taken up a new hobby... photography! Here she is learning the basics with our point-and-shoot camera.

After taking this one she said, "Ba-ba, this one is too blurry. I try it again, ok?"

"Still too blurry, maybe we need to turn on the flash."

(Honestly, where did she learn this from?!)

That's much better! Clark is posing in front of our little Christmas tree. This size is perfect for our house and Natalie decorated the whole thing by herself.

"I also want to take a picture of my pants. Ha-ha!"

Progress

We had Lauren's 2 month check-up and vaccinations yesterday and she's really grown a lot over the past few weeks. Here are some stats for comparison:

Birth weight - 2.8 kg

Current weight - 5.3 kg (almost double!)

Birth length - 49cm

Current length - 58cm

Birth head circumference - 35cm

Current head circumference - 40cm (whoa... she's getting a big head!)

Not to be outdone, big sister Natalie is now 95cm (almost a full meter) and weighs in at 15kg. Also, Natalie had her 2nd chicken pox vaccination and she didn't cry at all. We're so amazed and proud of her :)

Lauren sitting up

Yesterday, I decided to prop Lauren sitting up on the sofa and take some pictures.

I know I'm her mother, but honestly, she's the cutest baby in the world.

Lauren happy: Here she is playing and cooing with me.

Lauren sad: Mum, can I not sit up any more please?