More weekends, more presents

Natalie is excited when weekends arrive because, although she loves school, weekends mean having the chance to open her presents cupboard, carefully examine each wrapped gift and choosing one to open. Thank you to the Huas and to the Hills for gifts opened last week and this week.

Thank you Uncle Kevy, Auntie V, Toby and Caleb for the wonderful girlie cook book and cookie cutters. How did you know Natalie loves to bake?

She helps to make a classic banana bread like this one. We've made it 4 times already and she is super helpful mashing bananas, mixing eggs, creaming the butter and sugar together, and shaking the sifter (and squishing the little flour balls).
Also a big thank you to Olivia and the Ma Hill family for the lovely card and beautiful long dress. It's super comfortable and a perfect "weekend" dress. She wore it just today :)

Lauren's school application photo

Here is Lauren's school application photo. Hard to believe she's already applying to schools. They grow so fast -- Cliche but true!

Another birthday gift opening

Remember how Natalie is only opening one birthday gift per week? At this rate, her gifts will last until Christmas, woo hoo! This week she was SUPER EXCITED to open her gift from the Simmons and discovered a princess-worthy stash of high-heel shoes and jewels. Thanks Mandy, this has you all over it!

Here Natalie is super excitedly posing with her new shoes and princess accessories.

Check out the cute little heels. Natalie wears them at home all the time until her feet hurt. When dancing, one fell off and she said it's ok, princess shoes always fall off, like Cinderella.
The princess crown and a sweet princess-y smile.
The (almost) complete look. She says she doesn't need the earrings because she has real ones, but she's keeping them so her cousin Vanessa can use them next time she visits.

Later, Natalie asked us to put her into another recent birthday gift - this beautiful princess dress. And now the transformation is complete!The little princess with her proud Ba-ba Clark.
And me, too!

Piano and hug

Natalie's begun to show real interest in learning how to play the piano properly so we may sign her up for lessons soon. See Video 373 of Natalie playing her first "song" (it's do-re-mi-fa-so) with proper fingering.

Natalie and Lauren share a hug. So far, it's still mainly Natalie hugging Lauren.

Birthday Party

Almost (but not quite!) as good as having your own birthday party is attending one! Lauren's friend Lauren Jang turned one years old a couple weeks ago and invited the whole gang to her party at Rolly Pollies. Thanks Lieny for the invite and the pics (below). We had a great time!

Group photo at the party. Although Lauren is only 1 years old, her big sister Evana also invited her "big girl" friends so Natalie also had other kids to play with at the party.
The two Laurens at the snack table together. Love the little hat on Lauren J.
The Laurens and mums share a photo opp.
There were a lot of activities to do at the party. This big pit of red sponges is great for jumping into!
You can swing from the monkey bars (altho Lauren decided she was too small still).
You can glide down the ramp on the car (or just sit around and watch others do it, like Lauren)
You can sit under the parachute and sing songs as it flutters around.

You can pull yourself up to a standing position by holding the climbing equipment.
And most fun of all, you can swwwiiiiiiinnng yourself on the zip wire into the red sponges pit.

After play time, it's snack time! Even Lauren had a little plate of baby-appropriate treats.
All in all, a great party!

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