New Dress

This may seem cruel, but Natalie recently opened her 3rd birthday present (yes, her birthday party was in June); however, keep in mind that she was away for 2 months (in Toronto) so we haven't had that many weekends for her to open gifts. Also, if you knew how happy she is to open her "presents cupboard" and just LOOK at all her wrapped presents, you would know this is the right decision.

Thank you to Dom, Lieny, Evana and Lauren for the beautiful dress. Natalie loves it!

Big smile from Nat. She's so pleased with her new "princess" dress.

"Isn't it pretty?" She asks. It's a perfect fit, too!

Natalie at School

Since September, Natalie has started school again at KCS (morning) and KCIS (afternoon). For both classes, she has new teachers and, in some cases, new classmates, too. Below are some pics of Natalie with her new KCS K2F class and her good friend Summer (thanks Lily!)

Summer and Natalie standing together and holding hands. So cute!
It's great that they're now old enough to understand the concept of "friend".
Snack time!
Hmm... I wonder how the kids eat the apples? Natalie still isn't great at biting into a whole apple and prefers it peeled and sliced and put in lemon-water so it doesn't turn brown and ugly.

The kids line up for a class photo together.
K2F class. The head teacher is the one in the middle. Can you find Natalie?
Another class shot.

Update

I know, it's been another little while since last update. Here are some random pics (some from Toronto, some since coming back to Hong Kong).

Lauren sitting on a toy in our backyard in Toronto. She's so balanced and coordinated now!

The girls brave the melon garden and pose under one of the bigger guas. They now own LOTS of matching dresses, too.
On the week we returned to Hong Kong, poor Lauren had a case of Roesella (baby measles). High fever and red dots all over, poor girl, but she's better 100% now.
Now that Lauren is better at sitting up, she and her big sis Natalie are taking baths together.
On weekends, Natalie and Clark like to make mini pancakes together. Mmm.. dee-lish!
Porpor stayed for a few weeks to help care for Lauren before Suparti returned from her holiday. Hmm... twins!

Wang Gang Hang

Also from June and also discovered on the camera were some photos of our family hanging at home.

Our girls Lauren and Natalie sitting pretty together on the sofa in our old apartment.
Sisterly hug.

Lauren looking alert and pretty.
Lauren does a scrunchy-face smile.
Clark with Lauren. Hmm... maybe her smiley-eyes DO come from Clark?
Wang Gang totem of Clark and his girls.
Wang Family totem - guess who took this great picture?

Lauren long eyelashes

It's been exactly one whole month since my last post. We've been on vacation and went unplugged... it was awesome. Now we're back and settling back to regular life in Hong Kong. Here are a few pics I discovered in the camera of Lauren from June 2011. Tons more pics to come!

Lauren has really long eyelashes. Not sure where they came from (not me and not Clark!)

A little chubby foot.
A little hand in my hand. I love little baby parts!

More Lauren milestones... we can't keep up!

Lauren is learning so much and so quickly we really can't keep up! Here are some last videos before we fly to Toronto.

See Video 370 of Lauren feeding herself a little staff puff she's holding. Her coordination is getting much better!

See Video 371 of Lauren drinking from a cup. Over a meal, she can drink almost half that little green cup of water.

See Video 372 of Lauren playing with her cousin Michael. They are 1 month apart and we hope they'll grow up to be good friends. Lauren likes Michael's face and manages to squeeze his chubby cheeks.

While Natalie enjoys time in Canada, little sis Lauren continues to hit new milestones.

See Video 368 of Lauren crawling and Video 369 of her army crawling across our slippery wood floor to get her favourite bear.

The Three Princesses

Natalie and her cousins Vanessa and Victoria dressed up in beautiful dresses in Toronto. Apparently, they needed costumes for "school" (summer camp) and of course they all chose to be princesses!

Natalie pretty in purple complete with a crown.
Big cousin Vanessa is a beautiful bride complete with bouquet and veil.
Victoria looks like a queen with her big crown and dangly earrings.

The three cousins seem to be having a great time. So much so that I can't even talk on the phone with them because they are too busy playing

More Lauren milestones

With big sister Natalie at summer camp in Toronto, we've had more time to focus on Lauren who is growing super fast and getting more fun every day.

See Video 365 of Lauren crying and getting a bit angry. She's funny when she's upset because she will cry and then STARE YOU DOWN. She's also started to enjoy eating and will cry when the food runs out :)

Also, Lauren can almost crawl! She can already move around by dragging the lower half of her body around, but now she's starting to get up on her knees, too. Also, see her little laughs and smiles in Video 366.

Lauren can also now pull herself up to a standing position in Video 367.

Lauren looking chubby and alert sitting on the table top at TBLS.

Looking cool in fashionably over-sized sunglasses.

And like in a princess in her purple throne.

School "Awards"

A delayed post from a proud father! Natalie received an "award" at her school for being a good student. We're so proud of her!

Here she is waiting with her classmates to be called on stage to receive her award.

Here she is with her class on stage (can you find Nat?).

Here is Natalie with her "Trophy" and Certificate (look how happy she is!).

And she wanted to take one more photo onstage with her trophy!

Congrats Natalie!

Natalie

It's been a while since the last post because we're in the process of moving apartments AND because on July 7, Natalie flew to Toronto to spend 8 weeks with her cousins and grandparents over the summer holidays.

We miss her and yet we're happy that she is having such a great time. See Video 362 of Natalie and her cousins playing in the backyard kiddie pool and Video 363 of the kids making jewellery together and Video 364 of the kids riding bikes and blowing bubbles in the backyard. Gotta love (and miss) Canadian summers.

Below are some recent photos of Natalie in Hong Kong.

Natalie wearing a mask and doing her fave pose: The "flamingo" (her own terminology).
Natalie and Ba-ba Clark creating a birthday present from Tristan and Tyler... a home-made kaleidoscope! Thanks guys! This is the 2nd present Natalie has opened (only one per week), so more photos to come.
During a school holiday, Natalie invited cousin Nicholas and her friends Siena and Olivia over to play.
Here the girls and boy are water coloring.
Natalie had her second-ever visit to the dentist and she was super brave. He even used the ultrasonic picky thingy to scrape her teeth and held flouride in her mouth for 2 minutes! She's also cavity-free. We're so proud :)
The completed kaleidoscope. Thanks again!
Here's Nat posing with a "cake" she made at school. She loved it and played with this for a while. Funny the things kids like...
Some school pics from the teachers. Thanks for taking such good care of Natalie throughout the school year!
Natalie posing with her "bread".
Natalie concentrating as she makes "bread".
School photo of Nat taken and printed for K2 class.

New Lauren Milestones

Lauren keeps growing up and can now crawl (kinda) in Video 360 and also feed herself in Video 361.

4th of July BBQ at Uncle Brad's

Today we celebrated the 4th of July at Uncle Brad's. As usual, we had a great time and ate way too much. The girls had a great time, too. Natalie even said to me that she likes coming to Uncle Brad's :) Below are photos exclusively taken by Serena yee-yee and stolen by me. Thanks Serena!

Me and the girls. Nat loves Uncle Brad's bow tie pasta.
Lauren can almost crawl. She's gets around by dragging the rest of her body around behind her. Somehow she manages to chew on a chair leg, a purse and the edge of Brad's sofa. Yum!
Lauren loved Auntie Esther and was totally calm and at peace in her arms. Auntie Esther didn't mind, not even when a drool trail dripped down to her elbows.
The girls hanging with auntie Esther and uncle Zen.
This is my new favourite photo. They are so sweet together!
JC, Clark and Que dig in to home-made cheese burgers. Dee-lish!
I whip up some heavy cream for strawberries.
3 pretty ladies. Natalie has developed a really lady-like smile.
Natalie and Auntie Esther.
Me with new mum Joy and her little husband --er, baby, Avery. Avery is only one month old and looks eerily like his dad so it's easy to get them mixed up.
Thanks again, Uncle Brad! Great way to spend the day :)