Keely's First Day of School

Keely started school last Wednesday. Last week she went two hours a day, this week she'll start going three hours a day. We will be walking her to school and switching off (depending on schedules) between Jacob and Jordan and I dropping her off and picking her up. The next couple months it'll probably mostly be Jacob dropping her off and Jordan and I picking her up. Jacob typically walks her to school though it has been very hot, and it has been taking a lot of energy out of her. Today Jacob is going to try a different route that is shaded even though it is steeper. We'll see if that helps. When Jordan and I pick her up, we walk to the bottom of our hill and then catch our mini-bus up our hill.

She was really excited as we left for school.

All of us waiting for the elevator.

It was a very hot day, and the walk was almost too much for Keely! We were just a few minutes away when the sun was starting to get to her. I pulled out the umbrella to see if that would help. Here we are discussing sharing the umbrella.

We just wanted to get Keely to school in good spirits, and it was too hot to carry her so Jacob ended up holding the umbrella over Keely.

The three of us poising outside the school before we went inside. We had met one little girl in her class before and Keely asked about her as soon as we got there. All 25 kids and their parents waited outside for the principal to let us inside.

When she came out she was manned with a forehead thermometer, and every child and parent's temperature was taken. We have to take her temperature every day and record it before school and Keely's temperature will be taken before school each day.

Here is Keely playing before we left. The lady sitting behind her kept playing with Keely's hair and she wasn't super excited about it! When we picked her up, she talked non-stop about the days events. When we got home, she even asked to go back!

August Misc Pictures #2

Cute picture of Jacob and Jordan after playing at the playground last Sunday.

A couple more pictures from the day we went to Jumping Gym.
Keely on the Merry Go Round.

Keely on the train.

Yet another picture taken by Keely.

The Hong Kong Black Hole

In any foreign country it seems to take more time to do lots of every day things (and of course factor in small children in any place you live). We take public transportation (i.e. train or bus) almost everywhere we go. We have only taken taxis a handful of times because they are expensive and quite honestly I never think of taking one until we are almost home and realize the girls are melting down and I probably should have! It's always too late when I think about it! When I came, I knew that public transportation would take longer to get places than by car, but I'm really amazed at how quick we get to the train station or where the bus drops us off. Then the next thing I know 25 minutes has passed and we are just getting to our destination! Our friends helped us realize the cause of this Black Hole Of Time -- WALKING! It never seems like we are walking that long, but after I have timed it a couple times I have realized it really does eat away the time! Crazy!

One day we were going somewhere new. It seems to be a good rule to allow 45 minutes to get to most places, but we were running late and it didn't seem that far. We made it to our destination train station after taking our mini bus and a train in 20 minutes! We were walking out of the train station with 15 minutes to get to our destination. We searched for the minibus and then stood a couple minutes at the one going the wrong destination and then got on a bus that I thought took us to our destination but actually stopped in a different place than it starts! By the time we walked to the building we were going to 25 minutes had passed!! On our way home, we discovered a mini bus that would take us all the way to the train station where our mini bus starts. It just took 25 minutes with one mode of transportation versus two. However, that mini bus's terminus is in a different location than our mini bus's terminus. You have to walk into the mall, go down two floors on the escalator, outside down a ramp and then to our bus. (Keely really does walk pretty fast with us so she doesn't really slow us down much.) It took us 9 minutes to get from one bus to the other! So, even with one less mode of transportation the walking made it almost the same amount time to get home.

The fellowship we have chosen to go to is pretty far away, but almost every Sunday we look at each other and say it's totally worth it. It takes about 23 minutes or so ;) on the train and 5 minutes on our minibus and sometimes we have to wait a few minutes for the bus or train. Once we get out of the station it just takes a few minutes to get to the building. BUT this station takes FOREVER to get out of! It's so far below ground and is an interchange station that it takes us 3 escalators and some long hallways to get out! (And of course on Sundays there are less buses and trains running so you have to wait longer for the next one).

Oh the black hole of time!

Some recent yummy recipes

I have a habit (it could be bad or good depending on who you ask) of looking for and trying out new recipes as our life changes. Needless to say, our lives are always changing so we are always trying out new recipes! Here are a couple yummy ones that we tried out recently.


A couple weeks ago, I made these yummy and fun rainbow cupcakes. I didn't use a box cake mix, but made a recipe of white cake and then colored it. I also didn't have gel food coloring and my coloring was really bright. Of course I had to make things a bit more complicated by making half regular sized cupcakes and half mini cupcakes AND I changed the colors on the mini ones. However, they were still yummy and fun. I'm even considering using the same recipe for a cake for Keely's school cake on her birthday. I used this icing from a review from a blog I read, but it looks pretty similar (to me) to the one on the cupcake recipe.

Another yummy recipe we tried were Stuffed Pizza Rolls. I made home made pizza dough and we used homemade sausage and cheese for our toppings. I just used cheese for Keely's and those turned out well too. Jacob loves homemade pizza but actually said he'd be okay if I made these instead now. They were yummy!

Sorry I don't have any pretty pictures, but I still wanted to share the recipes!

Jordan update

I can't believe how much older Jordan seems to be these days too! She is 14 1/2 months and sometimes I can't believe some of the things she has picked up! Like many kids this age, she loves to take things out and put things back in, so she really enjoys pick up time putting the toys back in their boxes or bags. One day I enjoyed watching her play with the couch pillows. The larger ones are about as big as her and it was funny to see her carry them across the room to Keely. The most fascinating thing though was when she was done playing with the pillows, she put them back on the couch! Crazy girl! She has really started picking up sign language and communicating with us through that and other hand motions. One afternoon when we had been out in the sun all day, we gave the girls early baths. Close to bedtime, Jordan decided she still needed a bath before bed and went and got the bath mat and then signed bath to Jacob. We didn't even know she knew the sign for bath! The other morning I was making breakfast and had to use soy milk because we ran out of milk and Jordan hurried to pick up her empty milk cup and brought it to me for a refill. She was too cute to turn down. She was so excited with her success that as she pranced out of the kitchen she didn't notice the cardboard she had been playing with and slipped on it! Poor thing-- I always hate it when success is followed by something disappointing and tears!

Keely update

Since we haven't blogged a whole lot this summer, I thought that I would do a little update blog on the girls. It's just amazing to me how fast they grow up. I was just thinking today how much older Keely seems than when we left Thailand and that was just 2 1/2 months ago! Keely starts school on Wednesday and will turn 3 next Tuesday. She has made an amazing turnaround with going to child care on Sundays and is actually excited about going to school! What a big girl! Friends seem to be a really important thing to her these days. Whenever we hang out with our friends, she always cries when we part ways saying that she doesn't want to leave her friends. When we pray at night, after we thank God for each member in our family Keely chimes in first thanking God for Daddy's friends (he's a lot of "friends" come in and out of town the past 2 1/2 months and she loves hanging out with anyone that comes through that we get to hang out with), then for Mimi and Papa, then for Mimi and Papa's friends and then her friends. It's cute. She loves to play at the playgrounds when there are other kids playing. It has taken me awhile to figure out if we have younger kids in our area and when they play at the playground up the street. I went to the store one night and saw a big group of preschool aged kids walking down the street and then part ways at the different buildings. I realized that the helpers (most people seem to have helpers in the area we live) take the kids to the playground around 5 to play. We tend to eat dinner early, but I'm trying to work it out so we can eat later and go to the playground before dinner instead of after. We did go one day last week, but the kids seemed a bit stand offish and didn't seem to know what to think of us and it did feel a bit weird with me being the only parent. Keely likes to bridge the gap by blowing bubbles (and it normally works) but I guess our bubbles were old and wouldn't make bubbles! I felt really bad and need to go buy some new ones! Our friends go to the States this week for a few months and we aren't sure how Keely is going to take it. Ever since we left Thailand, when people leave it has been much harder on her than it has been before -- so we'll see how that goes! Keely has also been very interested in helping me around the house. One night Jacob went to a meeting and Jordan went to bed early, so Keely helped me wash the dishes. The next night when I came home from the store, she met me at the door and told me it was time to go wash the dishes. The next night she got on to Jacob for washing the dishes because she wanted me to wash them and her help! One of the other things she has been doing a lot lately is say she is stuck. I'm constantly hearing her say, "I'm stuck." Then she expects me to go "pull" her out of the spot she is in. Sometimes she will tell us that her fingers are stuck, like in the picture above. We'll give her a bad time and ask her which ones and she'll pull them out. She is too funny and is always coming up with something!

August Misc Pictures

Keely helping me make pancakes.

Jordan enjoying dinner in a high chair that resembles a lazy boy!

The girls enjoying sliding down the slide together.

On busy nights at the playground, you often see a long train of kids right behind each other going down the slide.

I can't believe I actually walk around with two little girls by my side these days!

July Misc Pictures #2

Keely playing with her memory cards (we still play almost daily)!

Keely wearing her goggles around the house and playground the first day we bought them.

Jordan's first time sliding by herself.

Jordan enjoying her grits.

Jordan playing with the foam letters.

July Misc Pictures #1

Keely enjoying a treat of cake.

Savoring every moment.

Keely's favorite past time at the park we frequented at the guest flat.

All the kids taking turns blowing bubbles.

Our Moving Helper

I can't remember what I have written on this blog, especially when I write about things on our picture a day blog too! So sorry if I repeat myself here in the next few posts!

My mom decided two weeks before we moved to come help us. What a blessing she was or we wouldn't have gotten all that we got done done and I probably would have been taken to the funny farm too! Ha! Here are a few pictures of my mom with the girls at the airport.

The Things They Say #3(ish??)

As I have mentioned a few different times that they are still renovating our building including our lift (elevator) lobby. When they started renovation on the lobby they covered all our doors with plastic to protect them. Then they tore off all of the tile on the walls and floor and then removed the old concrete exposing the bricks. We have a metal door or gate in front of our actual door and it was barely still hanging on the wall after their work and we couldn't open it all the way (ours slides instead of opening like a normal door). Then they laid new concrete on the walls. The evening after they did the part by our door, we couldn't get our door open. The way they did it, it pushed our door frame smaller and our door won't fit in the opening anymore! So a long story to get to what Keely said, but one of the men working on the building came to take a look at it. We just kept the door open while he came back and forth getting tools and materials. One of the times that he came back, the girls and I were in the kitchen and Keely announced that he had come back. Then Keely says, "Mommy say Hello. Come on Mommy, we need to be nice." Then he borrowed my phone so that someone could translate what he was trying to tell me (he was having a hard time understanding that I didn't understand him) and Keely said, "Good job Mommy, you shared your phone." She even informed Jacob as soon as we saw him at lunch that I shared my phone with him.

Ever since my mom visited us in the beginning of July, when Keely sees an airplane she gets really excited, points at it and says, "Look it's an airplane! Mimi is flying in it!" Boy mom, you must be busy flying all over Hong Kong all the time!

Keely got a nasty scratch on her face and the next day we went to fellowship. After we picked her up from child care she tells us, "Churchie says no touchie." She would tell us that every time I would clean it. After that she just said Church, but Jacob and I would laugh and say Churchie. Then yesterday we were asking her about a new boy in her class and she said his name was New Boy. We know the name of one of her teachers but not the other, so then we asked her what her other teacher's name was and she told us Church. So her teachers names are Church and Miss Candace. Now her comment that Church said not to touch her scratch makes even more sense -- that's what she calls that teacher!! We should probably find out her name!

Jacob's Birthday

Jacob's birthday was August 2nd. The week beforehand was pretty crazy, but we still managed to have some fun festivities! Read here and here about more of our preparations and fun.

I forgot to buy candles for Jacob's cake, but Keely insisted we needed candles. She has been reading a few birthday books and was all excited about the birthday cake and candles. I offered to take her to buy some, but she wanted Jacob to take her. When she got back, she put the candles on the cake.

Jordan showing off her birthday hat.

Checking In ... Again

Boy it's been awhile huh? It's funny because when we were in the guest flat we felt like we were getting into a routine and starting to get into the swing of things. Then we moved into our actual flat and I feel like I can't get my feet under me! Jordan seems to be sleeping better so that is a HUGE blessing. But Keely isn't. It still takes her a couple hours every night before she actually falls asleep. It's really wearing on us, but we are hoping she will eventually get back into the nighttime swing of things and if nothing else maybe when she starts school it will help!! It appears that all of the noise, dirt and debri from renovations of the public areas in our building may be what are bothering her most recently (you can read a few stories here, here and here from our picture a day blog about the fun). She tells me at night that she wants to go bye-bye and I think the noises and everything are making it really hard for her to settle down at night. I actually thought it was going to be quiet today and then right as we put Jordan down for a nap it got noisy on every side of us again! Oh well! We'll see if I can get back into the swing of things!! HA HA!