Wig fun

Wigs are fun!  I bought a wig for a Christmas junk party with LoLo Sok-sok.  Only Ashley didn't want to try.  Ba-ba and Wendy yee-yee and Tuti tried it too but I decided not to post it without permissions (until later maybe!)

The Little Performers

Lauren and Ashley love to perform. Sometimes they get shy, but usually they are happy to show us what they've learned. This is why Lauren volunteers to participate in the various speech festivals, and I have a feeling Ashley may do the same when she's a bit older. Natalie takes a bit more encouragement, but when she's willing, it's great to capture her progress, too.

Video 825 - Ashley singing a Chinese song she learned from school.

Video 826 - Lauren loudly (very loudly) singing a Chinese song.  She's not shy at all, and I hope she never changes.

Video 827 - Ashley performing on stage at her Christmas School play with her K1 class.  Love how she marches on stage with authority.

Video 828 - Natalie reading a Chinese passage from her school book.  It's official... her Chinese is way better than mine now.

Video 829 - The girls explain their favorite subjects at school.

Getting ready for Christmas

We're all ready for Christmas!  Letters to Santa have been written, the gingerbread house and Christmas tree have been decorated.

Video 824 - Ashley "reading" through the Toys R Us catalog with Mommy to find the perfect toy from Santa (for her letter).

Lauren's English Speech Fesitval

Today, Lauren participated in the English Speech Festival and recited "My Cousins by John Foster". She competed against 55 other students aged 5 to 7.  Although one of the youngest competitors, she really held her own and spoke in a loud and clear voice and remembered all her lines.  Love my confident, eager, ready-to-try-anything Lauren :)

Video 823 - View Lauren's final rehearsal video from school.

The very scary Woofypitter

The girls spent 15 minutes of a car ride home creating a new animal called the "Woofypitter", half caterpillar half dog.  It has a long caterpillar body, 4 dog legs, and big fangs.  I think they scared themselves talking about it and decided to create safe spaces for themselves -- the Woofypitter is scared of beds and music :)

Just hanging around - Ocean Park, YWCA, Sophie's birthday, Ava's birthday, injections and more

Photos and video of us just hanging around. Descriptions included below.

Video 819 - Ashley rehearsing for her school Christmas show.

Video 820 - Lauren rehearsing for her school Christmas show. She hums when she doesn't remember the words :)

Video 821 - Ashley enjoys reading with Baba.

Video 822 - Ashley pretending to be a turtle and getting stuck inside a box. 

Ashley and Scarlett doing gymnastics while waiting for classes at the YWCA.

Lauren coloring.

Lauren loves mommy's bed.

Tuti gently does Ashley's hair.  Of course Ashley has her blue blanket.

Ashley hurt her upper lip again.

Natalie doing homework in mommy's room to keep me company.

Lauren and Ashley munching on bread with butter at YWCA.

Lauren the turtle.

What happens when Ashley misses a goal at soccer class.

Morning cuddles again :)

Natalie helping Lauren with her homework.  We spend a lot of time at the YWCA Garden Restaurant while waiting for classes every Saturday :)

Ocean park with Baba over Halloween -- poor Lauren!

Enjoying our neighborhood.

Before injections.

Lauren didn't cry after her injections, except she did a loud yell with the second injection.

The girls FaceTime with me while I'm in Danang.

Sophie's 6th birthday party -- can't believe she's already six :)

The girls wrote a tiny little note for me while I was away in Danang.  It says "To: Mommy" on the outside and "I missed you." on the inside.

Ava's 5th birthday party.

After Natalie's exams, we celebrated with a mommy-daughter sushi lunch.

Natalie and Lauren at Chinese calligraphy class.

Ashley had a lot of phlegm (I know, sorry, gross) but she was really good at spitting it into the toilet or garbage.

Starbucks break.  Lauren and Ashley really love the orange juice there, while Natalie enjoys the chocolate chip muffin.

Natalie's "see" food.

Where's Lauren?

Ashley's face plant

Poor Ashley fell down and scraped her cheek on the sidewalk.  She's fine now and in good spirits as it heals.

Hiking to the Peak and Cafe Deco

On Sunday, the girls and I, along with LoLo Suk-suk and Laure Jeh-jeh hiked up the peak together.  We started before 10:00 am and made it to the top in time for lunch.  It was fun!  Hope we can continue to hike more now that the weather's cooler.

 We celebrated our successful ascent with lunch at Cafe Deco.

Kids photos at school

Just thought this was too cute.