Ba-ack!

Finally, our laptop is fixed and back! It had been fixed and worked for a short while, but then returned to it's old tricks of being really slow and then eventually crashing. It seemed like it's future was bleak, but then our IT friend Matthew thought we could try replacing the hard drive, which only would cost about $75, and then if it still didn't work after that we'd know we'd done what we could and we would have to get a new computer. So far so good... but I think we'll be very distrustful of this little macbook until it proves itself to us that it really is fixed. I don't think we can afford another macbook if they only last 2.5 years! For the price you could just buy a brand-new PC every year. But here's hoping it's fixed!

So what's new? Well... not too much... let's see...

- Annika lost her second tooth, so we got to use the tooth fairy pillow again.

- Leila's going to have her chance at fame. Remember this post about getting "discovered" at Stanley? Well, out of the blue, Nicolas & Bears gave me a call wondering if Leila would be able to model for their spring catalogue. She's already attended a fitting and the photo shoot is next weekend. I'm very curious how this is all going to go down. The clothes are very fancy. She will be getting a gift certificate for the store for about $200, but it won't go very far. The fitting that she had was basically her standing there while they put on about 20 outfits on her. I helped take off a cardigan at one point and noticed it was really soft. I looked at the tag and it was 100% cashmere! Just a little bit fancier than the Old Navy and Joe Fresh that she's used to! :) Leila was far more cooperative to have so many clothes put on her than she would have been for me, so here's hoping the photo shoot will be successful!

- We figured out what to do next year with Leila for school. CAIS had been planning to start a K2 program that she would attend, but it ended up getting postponed for another year, so we were left with nothing lined up for Leila for next year and schools are competitive and costly to get into. It's not like she *has* to attend school at 4 years old, but in Hong Kong that is practically a sin, and the rest of her little friends are going off to school. Also, kindergarten would be a HUGE jump if she hadn't gone to school at all. Already it was pretty big for Annika to go from two mornings of preschool to all day/every day kindergarten in Hong Kong. So... we found a "local" school called Sun Island English school that will take place every morning, and is bilingual English/Cantonese. We'll try it out and see how she does. My personal hope for her is that she'd actually be able to learn Cantonese and could play with the little kids in her class/neighbourhood and speak their language. I guess we'll see!

And... a few photos since it's been so long...

This is yesterday (Saturday) on our outing to Snoopy World. It's kind of a random-themed playground outside of a mall in the New Territories. The girls didn't really even know who Snoopy was the first time we went, but then we showed them some Charlie Brown Christmas clips on YouTube during Christmas, and it made it all that much more exciting. Mostly they really like the empty Snoopy school bus that you can climb inside.


Unfortunately the whole playground part was closed. It has been rainy and misty lately with humidity between 95-100%. It's like living in a cloud! They like to play it safe in Hong Kong and avoid potentially dangerous situations if at all possible, so that meant shutting down the playground for the day, even though it didn't seem that wet to us.

After I took this picture of Leila a whole crowd gathered to get their own shot of her. She stood there like a little model with the forced smile that we've been practicing for next weekend!

Annika wasn't about to be left out and wanted to pose as well with this random stranger.

This is the mall the playground was connected to. Very crowded and busy! Malls in Hong Kong go up, rather than sprawling like WEM. Lots of escalators!

And a couple of Sunday afternoon shots taken in our bedroom.

cute

Remember this photo?

Today Leila was in the same shirt and it made me think of this picture of Annie so we decided to take a new version!

Can I help it if I think my kids are the cutest no matter which one of them is wearing the "put-a-bird-on-it" shirt?

Also, I gave Leila a haircut yesterday. I tried to take her to a local place, but she would have none of it. Even though it was getting long, it wasn't looking very nice, so I did the best I could and I think it's an improvement....

Kung Hei Fat Choy!

Here is the only picture I took of Mike spending time with his old pal, Paul. It was really great to get to know him (the girls really loved him and his friend Mark as well!), and Mike really appreciated getting caught up after so many years. We now have hopes of visiting him in Shanghai!

And a video of Annika singing her CNY song that she learned in Mandarin at school.

photo shoot

Yesterday we headed to Kowloon Walled City to attempt to take some family photos to make a New Year's photo card since I didn't get around to making one for Christmas. I made one and ordered it, and once they arrive, I will send them out. But it was a glorious day to take photos, and the girls were cooperating, and I was happy that we had lots of shots to choose from, so I decided to post the "left-overs". It helps that the Walled City is SUCH a gorgeous setting to be in! Also, it was nice and sheltered from the cold wind, and now the temperatures have dropped and will be cold for the rest of the week, so we were lucky we went out when we did!

(year of the Dragon shot!)

(and I don't even have an iPhone... haha)

When our friend Matthew fixed our computer, he was kind enough to put Aperture on for me, and I just discovered how to use some of the settings. Otherwise, I don't really know what I'm doing in Aperture, but it seems fun!
Thanks to our dear friend Jocelyn for being the photographer of the family shots!

Annie was born in the Year of the Dog.

As we left the Walled City to head to a playground as a reward for cooperation we came across this man walking around playing some Chinese tunes. He stopped and played for us, and then played for the girls "It's a Small World after all", which they recognized and loved.

Then, he took out some origami paper and tore little animals for each of the three girls. What a nice guy!

(I love this one!)

Year of the Dragon!

Happy Chinese New Year! Mike and Annie just finished their last day of school for 10 days. We are excited to see what life is like in Hong Kong for Chinese New Year (CNY as we see abbreviated often). Last Friday, CAIS had a CNY evening for families of staff to come and participate in a few activities and eat some CNY food. So we came- the girls looked the most festive of everyone! haha... actually the Chinese ladies all seemed to love seeing them in their Chinese dresses. First we learned how to make lanterns and fish from the red envelopes.

Oh Annika...it never gets old! Actually, I have heard her say "Do you want to see my funny face? My friends Jesse and Diana from Canada taught me how to do it."

I learned how to make dumplings, which probably isn't much different than perogies or vereneky. I thought it was a lot of fun to stand around as a group and make them.

The girls especially enjoyed eating the dumplings that we made, and the noodles that were cooked!
Lastly, Annika's class had a "twin day". This is her new friend Ruby who just moved here, and as you can see, she probably looks closer to Annika's twin than the rest of her classmates would have! Ruby is from the USA, but actually says she's Japanese since that's where she's lived her whole life! So cute!

Happy New Year!

Tooth be told

Annika has had a loose tooth since just before Christmas. This morning, we were already running late for school since she just wasn't waking up, so Mike and I decided to just let her sleep and I would bring her in late. She slept all the way until 7:45, which is pretty late in this house! As she was getting ready, I noticed her tooth looked like it was barely hanging on, so I asked if I could try to pull it out, and all it took was one little tug. Excitement! I had to take a few pictures of her new smile, and of course we were later than ever! But the first thing she did was run and put the tooth in the pocket of her "tooth fairy pillow".
What do you do to keep your tooth from getting lost under your pillow? Well, when I was a child, I was lucky enough that my mom made me a special pillow with a little pocket where I could keep my teeth. Really, I think it was so that it would be an easier job for her to find the tooth and exchange it for a quarter. But I loved the pillow- it was pink with lace around the edge and a pocket in the middle with a white hippo on it. I'm sure I still have it, and I know exactly where I'd go look for it if we were still in Spruce Grove so I could pass it on to Annika. But now it's packed far away in the depths of a storage unit. And unfortunately for Annie, her mom doesn't have the skills to make her a pillow. But... FORTUNATELY for Annie, her Grandma still does! Must be something about being a grandma, because this pillow seems even fancier than the first!

So tonight Annika is in bed with her pillow at her side, dreaming of the tooth fairy to leave her enough money to buy a toy. Probably it will only be enough money to buy some Puccho or HiChews. And today marks the first time I've ever had to be a tooth fairy! Crazy!

Hong Kong Mom

At my Tuesday mom's group, we were asked for ideas to compile a list of "You know you're a mom in Hong Kong when...". I just cut and pasted from a previous blog entry, which mostly worked for this little project. We got to hear the list yesterday and I thought it was cute. I haven't even been a mom in Hong Kong very long, and already I can relate!

You know you're a [expat] mom in Hong Kong when...

~ 'Escalator' and 'Elevator' are among your child's first words

~ you long for even the smallest patch of grass for your kids to run around on!

~ You enjoy grocery delivery

~ People take pictures of your children-with or without asking- or even pick them up without asking to have them in pictures

~ You shop at several grocery stores looking for a precious ingredient for a recipe from home and you are willing to pay triple the price for such items

~ You can't believe you don't put your kids in car seats in a taxi

~ Your son chooses dim sum over McDonalds for breakfast

~ Your son tells you his classmates were asking to trade snacks with him the day he brought dried cuttlefish to school

~ You use your stroller to "part people" as you walk through the crowds

~ You come home with SEVEN colorful bottles of medicine after a visit to the doctor for your child who has a common cold

~ You nod and smile when a local elderly woman scolds you for letting your child play with a stick she considers "dirty" *(actually I have nodded and smiled for all kinds of various scoldings- like how my children aren't dressed warm enough when the temperature is actually in the high teens)

~ Your children run in circles in your living room and/or up and down your hallway on a consistent basis (a result of having no yard...)

~ Your children see hula dancers at a Disneyland performance and say "I sure liked the dance of the Filapina helpers!!"

~ Your children SQUAT on a Western-style toilet to go potty (yes, Annika has learned how to use the "squatty potties" and actually takes great delight in using them)

~ You return for a visit to the States and your children keep asking to play in the park, and it is actually someone's YARD!

~ Your child cringes when you take off her shoes in the grass because she doesn't like the way it feels

~ Your daughter asks to go shopping at the Mong Kok market

~ Your stroller costs as much as a used car

~ the locals like to touch your kids blond hair (golden hair = good luck)

~ Your kids think 700 square feet is a big house

~ You can juggle two kids, a stroller and several grocery bags no problem, you can even haul all of this on a mini bus by yourself... just another day in the life!