Happy Hallowe'en!

Kids LOVE Hallowe'en, and it's not just the candy - they also love the dress up!  Below are Natalie and Lauren and their cousins' costumes.  Also, this was the first year ever that they've gone trick or treating.  Thanks Deb for having us at Parkview this year!

Michael the cow.

Nicholas (a.k.a Ironman), Michael the cow and Victoria (a.k.a Tinkerbell) at their school. Lisa and Carol went for a special Hallowe'en visit to the school this morning and sent these photos along.

Lisa yee-yee with Tinkerbell Victoria.

Later, Porpor and I went to pick Lauren up from school and here she is in her cute bee outfit with her classmates.

Outside the school, Lauren the bee poses with me.

And with Porpor.

A bit later when Natalie (a.k.a Cinderella)'s bus arrived home, we snapped photos with her as well.  Here she is with Porpor.

And with me.  Happy Hallowe'en!!

Also, a couple weekends ago, uncle Brad hosted another Hallowe'en cookies and cupcakes making / decorating party at his place.  See photos below:

In the midst of cookie rolling and cutting and decorating craziness, Lauren was busy munching on noodles.

Meanwhile, big sister Natalie was very helpful rolling rough, cutting shapes and, once baked, patiently decorating tray after tray of cookies with orange, black and white icing, sprinkles and bone candies!

Ba-ba Clark was the support staff for expert cookie decorator Natalie.

Natalie particularly loved the bone candies.

Spidery cupcakes - yummy!

Here's one of Natalie's completed cookie trays.  Well done, Nat!

Pre-Ashley Stragglers

Whoops, found a few more photos from before Ashley was born.  Here they are below:

Beware of crocs!  Poor Nicholas got his shoe trapped and dragged inside an escalator step and was very fortunate to escape almost injury-free except for a nasty cut on his big toe.  No more crocs for our kids!  If you must wear them, keep them away from the sides of the escalator steps.

Thanks to my colleagues Claudia, Elna, Michelle and Pieter for the super cute mini Juicy Couture onesies!  

A self-portrait of Natalie and I taken by Natalie - nice shot, Nat!

Toby stopped by with his Ba-ba Kevy to drop off a nice birthday present for Lauren.  Lauren love Toby.  Here they share a farewell hug. Look how happy Lauren is.

While at tea with Viv, JC and Serena, Natalie spent time scavenging for dropped flowers at Pacific Place.  She was quite pleased with her collection and put the petals to float in a cup of water when we got home.

Dave impressing the kids while at A-List brunch at Zuma (post boys trip to Taiwan).

Lauren happily sitting with Carol yee-yee while watching big sister Natalie's swimming lessons at Stanford Swim School in Sai Wan Ho.

Ba-ba Clark bought these cool glowing drawing boards.  We drew glasses for Lauren and here she is "wearing" them.  She's got on her real sunglasses, too.  (Yes, she loves glasses!)

Ba-ba horse ride!  Both girls fit on Ba-ba's back (Natalie is hiding in the back).

Thanks also to Vivo Yee-yee and uncle Juan for the beautiful baby basket!  It's gorgeous and had some brand-new toys and blanket for the baby (instead of her sisters' hand-me-downs).

This is Lauren playing happily in the doctor's waiting room.  She had a runny nose and some congestion. Look how happy she is!

Ten minutes later, this is how she looked after crying through her steam treatment.

Clark attended a school performance at Natalie's school.  Here is Natalie dressed as the "dog" who helps to pull the giant turnip out of the ground.  According to Clark, she was super happy to see Clark attend the show :)

Cousins Time!

While we were in the hospital with Ashley, our "big girls" Natalie and Lauren spent a lot of time with Lisa and Carol Yee-yee and, of course, hanging with their cousins.  Thanks Lisa and Carol for taking care of our girls and sending through the great photos!

Lauren taking a bubble bath with Vanessa and Victoria.

Natalie taking a bubble bath with Nicholas and Michael.

Lauren playing connect four with Vanessa.

Natalie playing with Victoria and Nicholas.  Natalie plays super well with all her cousins and seems to get along with all of them.

Everyone watching tv and enjoying a yummy popsicle.

Lauren playing at the park.  She's an independent player and will climb up and slide down by herself.

Natalie just hanging around at the park.

"Big" cousins lego class.  Only Natalie, Vanessa, Victoria and Nicholas were able to attend this 90-minute lego "class" purchased via groupon.

Natalie posing with her lego creation.

Breakfast at Lisa's.

The cousins all made fun pancake shapes and gobbled them up!

During dinner time, the kids were playing "Do you like...?" and if you liked it, you had to raise your hand.  Even Michael played!  (But Lauren was too cool.)

Before Ashley

So what were we up to when we were still a family of four (before Ashley's arrival).  Below are some videos and photos.

Video 403 - Natalie loves to take pictures and now that Lauren is beginning to understand that cameras capture fascinating images (i.e. of herself) she's beginning to like them, too.  See how nicely the girls play together and how well Natalie treats Lauren, even when Lauren is being demanding.

Video 404 - Watch and listen as Natalie blows a birthday horn (after cousin Nicholas' birthday party at Jumpin' Gym).  While Natalie is able to blow the horn and make the noise, Lauren can't and instead makes the noise herself.

Lauren smiling.  She has her Baba's ears.

Baba Clark reading a book to our girls, Natalie and Lauren who are both carrying their own "babies" (which is how we tried to prepare them)

Natalie decided to create her own checklist of things to pack when she went to spend the day at her cousins' Vanessa and Victoria's place.  She had her own little bag and packed sunglasses, spare tissues and band-aids, along with various other knick-knacks.

Our girls playing at the Children's Clinic waiting for their pediatrician, Dr. Leo Chan. 

At least once a week, the girls and I would head down to the lobby and wait for Clark's taxi to pull up so we could greet him at the door.  The girls loved it, especially because they got to sit on his shoulders for a short time when he arrived.  Lauren called it being Baba's hat.

Natalie posing with the fake flowers in our lobby while we wait.

As part of the mid-autumn festival, Pofulam Gardens (where we now live) held a family fair with popcorn, drinks, games, shows, and Natalie's all-time favourite, a bouncy castle!  She went about 5 times and was all sweaty from jumping around.  We didn't get her to sleep until almost 10:00 p.m. that night (what a treat!)

Our girls playing nicely together.

Michael and Lauren watch from outside while the 4 older cousins take a bath together.

The cousins color together.  They really enjoy coloring now!  (And playing Go Fish card game.)

Jackie dropped by for a visit and the cousins all clustered around baby Scarlet.

Just a week before Ashley was born, Natalie accompanied me to Aberdeen where we ordered a custom-made mattress for the baby.  While waiting for Seahorse to open, we stopped by and share a Maxim's breakfast together.