New Photos By Jacob

Hello everyone, Jacob here. There are new photos coming up on my photo site over the next week. Take a look and let me know what you think. A new one will appear each day for the next week or so. Here's the link - Jacob's Photos Site

YEA Daddy is Home

Jacob surprised us by coming home a day early! He was suppose to come home today around 3pm but came home last night around 7pm! He did call us around 5:30 to tell us his bus was about to leave for Hong Kong. He wanted to make sure Jordan was still up when he got home. As soon as the gate started moving, the girls made a beeline for the door. Keely couldn't show and tell Jacob enough things in the first few minutes and once Jordan was in his arms she wasn't going anywhere.



Keely did a Me book at school that she brought home last week. She had been so excited about it and about showing Jacob. She was very proud to finally get to show Daddy her book.

We were really glad he was able to come home early. We made it and survived! The first two days were pretty rough, and Jordan had trouble sleeping. Day 3 and 4 were really good and the nights went really well too. Day 5 and 6 had it's moments -- both good and bad, but the nights were really difficult with Keely. It took her about an hour both nights to stay in bed and go to sleep. Day 7 also had it's moments, but we had a fun outing right before we found out Jacob was on his way home and so we did end on a good note! Today the girls just couldn't get enough of Daddy and both were pretty bummed when he had to leave for a meeting tonight. At least we all get tomorrow together -- Keely is out of school for a holiday and no meetings for Jacob! YEA!

September Misc Pictures

Typhoon day activity

Typhoon day - morning in jammies

Cute picture of Mommy and Jordan

Cute picture of Daddy and Keely

Mommy and Jordan-locks and the Keely Bear

Over a week ago, when the girls were sick Jordan had a really rough night. She was up A LOT and even ended up in our bed. She would doze off and on, but just couldn't get comfortable. Then Keely woke up really early and got in bed with us. I tried to see if Jordan would be able to fall asleep with Keely not in the room, but that didn't work either. Finally Jordan and I got into Keely's bed and Jordan fell asleep leaning on me and we finally slept a 3 hour stretch -- with one interruption. Keely came in to get some clothes and found Jordan and I in her bed. Jacob says she came and told him that Mommy and Jordan were in her bed, but she say anything else to us after we got up. UNTIL a week later! I was putting her to bed and about to walk out the room when she said, "Mommy, don't sleep in my bed. And Jordan can't sleep in my either." I guess it bothered her! Oops!! Thanks for sharing your bed Keely!

No More Sleepless Nights??

Maybe. Jacob is gone for a week so we might be thrown into a wirlwind and refuse to go with our schedule...but before Jacob left sleep had been going a lot better! I have mentioned quite a few times the past 9 months how Keely has been having trouble going to sleep. We were hoping going to school would maybe tire her out a bit and help her go to sleep better. Only three days had gone by, but she still was having a really hard time going to sleep. Finally on a Sunday night we started trying hard. The first few nights were super rough. It took a couple hours several of those nights to get her to stay in bed and fall asleep. Every couple of nights she would fall asleep quickly because she was so exhausted from the previous nights! I don't even remember now how many night went by...I think 5 or 6... when we finally got the idea to rock her. We realized she was unwilling to let herself get to sleep and get relaxed enough to fall asleep. I'm sure it sounds silly, but we thought maybe that would calm her and help her get into sleep mode. It definitely helped but she still got out of bed several times. Then we realized that possibly she needed to gear down a bit by herself and then we could rock her. We finally came up with a plan that we thought would work. After getting Keely ready for bed, she goes to her bed and reads her books and sometimes plays my Ipod by herself for a few minutes. Then we go into her room and she sits in one of our laps while we rock back and forth and we pray, sing and then count to 30. Then we put her to bed. Some nights she gets out once and some nights none, but she goes to sleep! YEA! After our routine had been working several nights I felt a burden lift off my shoulders. We'll just see how it goes while Jacob is gone!

The Cooking Chicken Adventure

Today I was reminded of the culture that I live in and their culinary preferences. I have cooked many whole chickens while I have lived overseas, but I totally forgot what culture I was living in when I bought a whole chicken to cook. It looked like a normal chicken that many of us are use to with no head and feet, but the head and feet were tucked under. I discovered the head first and was pretty grossed out! I almost lost it while I was chopping it off and then I discovered the feet. Then it was just comical! The sad thing is that the bird was so scrawny and had such little meat that it wasn't even worth all the trouble!!


The recipe was Ina Garten's Lemon Chicken with Croutons. It is very yummy even though I don't always do the croutons.

Hear are my two questions to work around scrawny chickens with heads and feet:

1) Do any of you who live in Hong Kong or have been here for a good amount of time know where I can find a more meaty chicken? Jacob went to the store for me and he said my other option was even smaller then this one. I can work around the head and feet if I have to (I'll make sure Jacob is around next time!)

2) Or how do you think I could make this recipe with chicken breasts? Jacob suggested cutting through the breasts and sticking a lemon quarter in it and reducing the roasting time. Or would it work better to pound it and wrap it around the lemon like you would for chicken cordon blue? (Of course I would take the lemon out before serving.) Or is that not really going to work? Any ideas?

Week in Review in Photos: Mimi and Papa's trip Part 2

...around town.

Here are some of our pictures of us exploring Hong Kong during my parents visit.

The family (minus photographer Jacob) at the peak.

Jordan at Bubba Gumps at the Peak.

Keely at Bubba Gumps at the Peak.
(The waiter even brought Keely a plate of lemons!)

Mimi and Papa at the Peak.

The view from the Peak.

Keely on an old Chinese fishing boat touring the harbor.
(Unfortunately no pictures of the boat...here's a little more information about it.

Keely made some new friends on the boat.

View of the harbor from the boat.

Week in Review in Photos: Mimi and Papa's trip Part 1

...around the house. Here are some of the pictures of us hanging out in our apartment while my parents were in town. COMING NEXT: around town.

Keely's 3rd cake for her 3rd birthday!

The inside of the cake. I did the rainbow recipe that I talked about here, but it didn't turn out quite how I thought it would!

Keely received Candy Land from my parents and we all played it quite a few times during the week.

Papa reading while Keely watches a show.

Jordan climbing up on the cushions.

Papa and Keely noticing Jordan and wondering what she is up to.

Keely sweeping with her new broom Mimi and Papa brought (we have even had discussions of who is going to sweep up Jordan's crumbs!)

The girls taking it easy on the couch
(Notice how Keely has her legs...just like Mimi. Also notice how Jordan is sitting. She was standing and Mimi asked her to sit down and she chose to sit on the pillow)

I had some vouchers for Toys R Us and Keely got to pick out a toy. She picked (with our help) this big floor puzzle that also doubles as a game.

Typhoon Day and the Sickies

I'm finally back! My parents were here for 10 days a couple weeks ago (I had the posts pre-posted that week)! Last Monday they left and as Jordan and I got on the bus to come back home for the airport, a T3 wind signal was hoisted. It's not too big of a deal, except that kindergartens are closed when a T3 is hoisted. From a note that we received the week before, we are to pick our children up early if a T3 is hoisted during the school day. Jacob hurried over to the school but since it was only 30 minutes until school was out so they didn't get out early. Oh well! That night a T8 wind signal was hoisted and it looked like the winds would still be high in the morning. We were still at a T8 in the morning and everyone stayed home for the morning. Keely was sad to not go to school that morning and when Jacob went to a lunch morning she said she wanted to go to school. That night we prayed that the weather would be better so she could go to school. She added so she could go outside and play and so her teacher could teach.

Early that morning Keely woke with a fever and I felt so bad she would be out of school another day! She continued to have a fever and a cough until Friday. Friday she was doing better (though we kept her at home to make sure the fever stayed down). Jordan woke up that morning with the fever. I was hoping she would be better today since Keely was only sick for 2 days, but she still had her fever this morning. I was really excited after her morning nap when her tempature was back to normal and she seemed to be feeling tons better. Jacob and Keely went to fellowship this morning, but on their way home Keely got a terrible ear ache. It subsided after they got home, so I thought maybe her ears were popping because mine tend to in that building. She had took a very long nap today and seemed to be doing better but her temperature was elevated when she went to bed! So was Jordan's! Hopefully they'll be back to normal by morning!

But that is the fun we have been having since Tuesday! Maybe life can calm down a bit (until Jacob leaves for a week on Wednesday that is!)

Hair Disclaimer

As I have been editing my latest pictures, which many will be posted soon at our Picture Of The Day Blog, I was noticing my girls' unkempt hair. It's embarrassing that almost every picture we take their hair is in their eyes or all over the place. I would like for you to know that I do the girls' hair every day. However, by lunch time whatever do we have chosen for the day for Keely has been undone. If it were a pony tail, barrette or a bow it has normally been taken out and discarded around lunch time. When I offer to redo it, my offer is normally declined. And when do I normally take pictures? After lunch! Jordan lately has been taking her barrettes out. So, I just needed to get that off my chest! Thanks! ; )

Misc Pictures

Keely running back and forth to get new markers to draw on the windows.
A little more about her window artwork here.

Mommy and Jordan

Daddy and Keely

Think She's Teething?

Oh the people

Everyone knows there are lots of people in Hong Kong. The other night it hit me that it felt normal with all the people as we were walking through the mall to get to the playground. I dug to get my camera to take a picture or two. However, I really don't think it did justice to all the people that were walking through this area! Yes, it was a Sunday night at 6 pm, but this is about what it looks like any evening. During the day it may just be half the amount of people!

This is the playground we went to that evening and I told Jacob it almost felt like we were at an amusement park rather than a playground! We were all on top of each other but the girls still had fun. I even still let Jordan climb up the stairs herself a few times to go down the slide.

Notice the two kids on the ladder and two kids waiting to get on the ladder. I didn't really notice on this night, but a lot of times there is a train of kids coming down the slide!

Keely's Birthday Part 3

Keely has been asking for a bike since April! We went back and forth since we live in an apartment. However, she has been so persistent that we just had to go ahead and get it for her! We do have a little park down the street that has just recently been redone. There is a walking area inside it that will work as an area to ride. It does say no biking outside the park, but I think for a preschooler it's okay. Keely hasn't ever ridden a bike before (except for trying it out at the toy store), so we are trying to teach her. Her muscles aren't use to the forward pushing action, so we are working with her. The first day we let her try it out in the hallway of the apartment.

Dad the bicycle coach.
"Okay Keely, this is what you need to do."

Since Keely had cake at school, I made apple crisp for dessert. Keely wasn't too impressed, but enjoyed blowing out the candles. (That has been her favorite part!)

Keely's Birthday Part 2

I can't believe, I, the person who is trying to take a picture a day for a whole year who always has her little camera with her forgot her camera when taking her daughter's birthday cake to her school! I almost forgot the cake too! And ended up in brown shoes when I meant to wear black. And I left 5 minutes late and one of our elevators are being worked on and I really didn't want to run to school in the heat with a cake. So, I left the camera (and tried to forget that I had the wrong color shoes on).

Keely's birthday was the first in the classroom, and so I was a little nervous as to what was expected. I arrived with my homemade white cake with lemon frosting (I was trying to be as simple as I could) when another mom with a child in K2 (the year above) came with her store bought cake (which I figured was what most did since many people don't have ovens). I didn't know if it was ok for me to stay, but they told me to come on into the classroom. I sat to the side while the kids were on the floor singing and listening to a story. It took Keely a few minutes to realize I was even there! I did find out that Jordan and Jacob could have come too, but like I said I didn't know! When we prayed Keely says, "Mommy close your eyes." Then in the middle they open their eyes and Keely was says, "Mommy, mommy open your eyes!" After everyone was ready for snack time, they covered a table with a birthday table cloth and put the cake with 3 candles on the table. They gave Keely a birthday hat to wear and had us sit at the table with the other teachers while they sang to her and then had the class blow her 3 kisses. After passing out cake to all the students, they had Keely take some to the other teachers and the principal. They sang to her again in both of the older classes. In one of the other classes there were two students who were having birthdays.

I had been told that they try to make it special for them on their birthday and they really did. One of the teacher's did take pictures so we'll see if I can get them sometime!!

Franklin Marching Band

Keely received some musical instruments for her birthday. After she discovered instruments at a friends house, they went on the birthday list. She received a drum, trumpet, maracas and a tambourine. The drum and trumpet are her favorites right now and whenever the instruments come out Jacob, Keely and Jordan all join in the music making fun!

(notice that Jordan is dancing...that's how she dances -- with her legs up high)

Jordan getting her first drum lesson

Hope our neighbors don't mind the formation of the Franklin Marching Band!