Birthday parties

Below are some photos of Natalie at recent birthday parties. Natalie LOVES birthday parties and as soon as she knows we're going to attend one, she knows we have to bring a gift and that there will be singing and a cake :)

Natalie painting at her friend Summer's birthday party.
Proud Ba-ba watching our budding artiste.

Natalie poses by her masterpiece.

Natalie and all the kids at Tyler's balloon birthday party in Stanley.

Friend Siena sitting together with Natalie.

They had someone come in to show various reptiles and insects to the kids, including this snake. Natalie was so brave being close to this snake.
She also touched these two giant lizards.

And this little frog. She said the frog feels sticky.

Here she is touching another snake. They were dry and smooth.

Lauren and I got up close and personal to the snake, too.

There was also a tarantula spider. Natalie said it felt soft.

And then came Natalie's favourite part... singing and birthday cake! In this case, they had yummy colorful cupcakes.

Natalie nabbed one of her favourite colours... pink!

Porpor and the Zoo

Porpor was in town again for a quick visit and it was sooo nice to see her and have her here again. The kids (all 9 of us!) really love having her here in Hong Kong. We took several shots of the Porpor, her 3 kids and 6 grandkids, and this was the best one (only minor photo-shopping required).

The sofa-sitters from left to right we have Carol Yee-yee, Porpor, baby Michael, Victoria, Lisa Yee-yee, baby Lauren, Nicholas and Tracy. Natalie and Vanessa are seated on the floor in front.

More Lauren

Here are more pics and videos of Lauren. She is growing so fast!

Video 354 of Lauren learning to play with her tongue. This was actually taken in March. Yes, we know, she's a genuis :)

Video 355 of Lauren chowing down with us at Pizza Express. Don't worry, while the adults ate pizza; the baby ate baby food.

Lauren is all smiles with her Ba-ba Clark.

Natalie plays with Lauren while being held by Lisa Yee-yee. Little cousin Victoria looks so cute snuggling up to them.
Lauren, rolling around the couch, somehow got her little hands on my lens cap. She seems to be saying "Do you know what this is?"
Everything fascinates her now, including patterns on my t-shirt, the sun on the sofa, her shadow and anything she can reach out to touch (or eat).
Whatcha looking at, Lauren?
She is playing with her Lisa Yee-yee.
Lisa Yee-yee is lots of fun and knows how to sing a lot of songs and play silly games.

Lauren also gives a nice smile to the camera.

Lauren highchair

Lauren continues to grow and is meeting her little baby milestones. Most recently, she's learned to play with toys and sit in her highchair without us padding it all around with blankets and pillows to support her.

Here she is in her highchair watching me watching her while I cook.
She has a book and her favourite chew toy to keep her occupied.
Although she really likes to play with a real person instead.
That works out well... we like playing with her, too.

Day at Shek O Beach

A couple weeks ago (I know, I'm behind on my posts!), we spent a full day with family and friends at Shek O beach. Besides photos below, also see the following videos:

Video 351 of Natalie jumping the waves at Shek O beach with Lisa Yee-yee and her cousins Victoria and Nicholas. For someone who used to be terrified of the sand and waves, she sure loves them now!

Video 352 of Lauren at the beach. She loved looking out over the gentle waves. When we first put her down, she was smiling and quite fascinated by the gritty sand and the cold water touching her feet. But by the time we got the camera out, she wasn't as happy and actually started to cry. It's a cute cry, tho :)

Video 353 of Toby, Natalie, Ethan, Nicholas and Vanessa playing together with sand at the beach. Seriously, sand + kids = a good thing. Now I understand why sandboxes used to be so popular before we all became germ-aphobes.

Toby, Natalie, Ethan and Nicholas playing with sand at the beach. The sand is actually pretty nice. It's soft and fine, not like the small pebbles at Stanley beach.

Great photo of Natalie with her family and friends. We have 4 umbrellas grouped together to form a big protective sun-barrier for the kids (and the big people, too).

TheWangGang (less Lauren) family photo.

Lauren spent most of the time asleep at the beach, but when she finally woke up, she was really cheerful.

Later in the day, we took out some pre-boiled eggs and a dye-kit for the kids to decorate Easter eggs.

They loved it and it was great because we didn't worry about accidentally dyeing our sofa a soft pastel shade and the kids had colored sand to play with afterwards, too.

So pretty and colorful. Great job, kids!

Ethan and his mommy Annie.

Helpers. Lauren is sleeping and looks like a sack of potatoes on Suparti's lap.

Our small area on the beach.

Great beach.

Great day.

Dennito the Bennito. Thanks again for the slow-cooked, hour-long chicken wing!

Honestly, we've got to do this again!

Lisa and the kids hopping waves at the beach.

Can you guess the owners of these feet?

More school photos from KCS K1F

Here are more photos from Natalie's morning school at KCS. On this day, they were preparing a food stall similar to in a dai pai dong.

Here they are rolling red pieces of paper in to little balls.

Natalie "Watermelons" working together.

Now they are sticking the red balls onto red popsicles. Looks like a delicious red bean popsicle!

The popsicles go on display in the stall.

Look at all the wonderful food! Natale waits her turn to purchase some goods.

What a creative activity for the students!