Jordan

Saturday Jordan turned 20 months old! As Jacob pointed out, it's only 4 months until she'll be 2! CRAZY! I think I actually forgot what 20-month-olds got into and the funny character building things they do! Of course I was 7 months pregnant and on modified bedrest when Keely was 20 months. She wasn't alone as much as I was trying to do things because I was laying on the floor in the air-conditioned den/playroom entertaining Keely and trying to keep cool and keep Jordan from coming early! I have found myself taking lots of pictures of Jordan lately -- and some are while she is in the middle of mischief!! But she is definitely always keeping herself busy!

Jordan helping Daddy get some papers off the printer

Jordan delivering the papers to Daddy

Jordan playing peek-a-book behind our chair

Coming out of hiding for a photo op (one of Jordan's favorite things!)

Jordan in the middle of a goldfish mess!

Jordan trying to convince me it is time to go bye-bye

Jordan enjoying a snack on her favorite perch

Jordan just being cute

Jordan reading by herself

Jordan showing off the apron with Daddy

Jordan playing in the tunnel

Jordan showing off all her necklaces

What do you think?

I'm getting caught back up with more regular blogging and regularly updating our Project 365 blog. Many of the pictures I take end up on the Project 365 blog with a little journal entry. I don't think a lot look at that blog a lot (which is fine because it really is for us so it'll be easier to make a book at the end of our year of pictures in June), but I don't always post the pictures and/or stories on this blog because it takes a lot of time to repeat myself! Would it be of any interest if I put links on the pictures I post on this blog to the journal entry on the Project 365 page so you can read more about that picture if you are interested? If I do that, are there any suggestions in how I do that? I could put a link on the picture? But there is a possibility the picture isn't on the Project 365 page and so you would just get a blown up version of that picture. Would that be ok? Or I could make a list at the bottom of a post? Or is there a widget that could help me? Or maybe it's ok how I have been doing it. Any thoughts, ideas or opinions?

Sick Day Fun

A couple weeks ago in the middle of our craziness Keely got her typical cough she gets with a cold. By the end of the week the cough wasn't much better, she was tired from all of the excitement of our life and had a low grade fever. I was suppose to help in her class the next day so I thought maybe keeping her home would keep her from getting more sick and developing a higher fever. It was a pretty warm day and her teacher said it was humid in the classroom so it was probably a good idea. In between her bouts of tiredness and just wanting to lay on the couch her and Jordan fit in some fun activities too.

Keely found these two empty boxes and the girls found different ways to entertain themselves.

After some sitting in them, they would knock themselves over.

Then they played golf with the boxes being the target.

Keely celebrating her ball going in and Jordan retrieving the ball.

Then the girls dropped balls into the boxes. This was really more to distract Jordan while Keely golfed, but of course Keely wanted to do it too!

Groceries

I have lived in 5 different countries and in each place buying groceries has been a little different. Having a vehicle definitely plays a huge role in how you shop! When you have a vehicle (and it's easy to park it) it's no problem to stock up and buy for a week! When you don't have a vehicle, you can still stock up for a week but it can be a bit heavy and hard to get on the bus especially with children!! The three places I have been where I haven't had a vehicle, I have decided to be more like the locals and shop more than once a week. It definitely helps when Jacob is out and about and can pick a few things up for us, however when he has week long all day meetings then Jordan and I have to do it either after we drop Keely off for school or before we pick her up. We have discovered an easy way to get those heavy things like detergent, juice, flour, and sugar and bulky things like toilet paper, diapers and paper towels. Some people use bags on wheels, but we order it online and have it delivered!! I haven't tried produce, milk or meat yet but a friend says she orders everything online or they wouldn't eat! You do have to have a $500 minimum ($65) for free delivery but diapers help and right now we just order every couple weeks as we run out of diapers. I guess I'll need a new strategy when Jordan is out of diapers.

Our order from a couple weeks ago. They put everything in cardboard boxes to deliver it.

Jordan helping me put up the groceries. Jordan likes to take things out and bring them to me in the kitchen as I put them up. I am glad to have more cabinets here in Hong Kong so I can stock up on some things unlike in Chiang Mai!

Our Christmas Fun

I am a little behind, but I think I may finally be getting caught up!

Jordan got sick the Monday night before Christmas and was sick all the way through Christmas so that changed some of our celebration plans! Of course we still had a good Christmas!

The girls and I made Christmas cookies a few days before Christmas.

Christmas Morning

As soon as Jordan woke up, she perched herself up in her favorite spot and looked at all of the presents under the tree.

Jordan sharing tea from her new tea pot.

Keely and her new train and train tracks

Keely and her new wooden paper doll

Keely's new tiara, earrings and wand

Jordan with her new Thomas train from Keely

The weeks before Christmas Keely told us she wanted a ball and Jordan wanted a train for Christmas. Every time we asked that's what she said they wanted and I hated for her to ask for something simple and not get it and so Jordan gave Keely a ball. I was lucky and found an inexpensive Thomas train for Jordan for Keely to give her and it worked out well them both having their own train.

Jacob with his pickles and relish from Jordan. He has lovingly shared them both with the family. Too bad the girls don't understand that the pickles are a special treat!!

Jacob with his new daily Dilbert calendar from my parents. They brought it when they came back in September. All December Jacob kept saying that he didn't think he was getting one this year. He was pleasantly surprised.

Keely had wrapped a lego in a small purple Thai Airways bag and had put it under the tree. She said it was for one of Daddy's friends.

Jacob probably had more fun playing with Keely's tracks then Keely did!

"Where did all the presents go?"

Princess Mommy

Happy Birthday Jesus

Little Gym

Ever since we moved to Hong Kong I have been tempted by all of the class opportunities for children. Once they turn three there are options for art, music, dance, gymnastics, ice skating, language and probably a lot more! It seems that children that are even just three are involved in so much here. There are even children that attend two different kindergartens (preschools), one in the morning and one in the evening. For awhile I have thought that Keely would be interested in gymnastics with all of her jumping around and doing forward rolls. I have done some internet research and a lot of the options seemed expensive so I chided myself for trying to do this too early! Then a friend was in town who did gymnastics and dance and commented about Keely taking a dance class and I told her that we were actually thinking gymnastics first and that got me thinking again! I remembered a friend mentioned Little Gym and I looked them up. Keely and I watched the video on their website and Keely got really excited. I e-mailed them and their pricing seemed reasonable with a long term of 19 classes and it was fine for Keely to start late (classes had started the week before). Jacob, Jordan and I went to go check it out one morning. After finally finding it, a similar class was just ending. They were sitting in a circle singing a song and I wasn't sure Keely would be excited about that! The lady did tell us that we could do a trial class that afternoon. I took Keely that afternoon and she was so excited before we even got there. I had told her that she'd have to take her shoes and socks off and so while I was registering her she went and got her shoes and socks off and was hopping around barely able to hold her excitement about the class. I was so surprised because normally in new settings she isn't so excited and willing to partcipate. Parents aren't allowed in the gym but there are windows all around and all of the parents watch. Keely had so much fun and smiled the whole time!! At one of the stations they had to hold themselves up on a bar and the teacher told me she held herself up for 20 seconds! They were really impressed! They used regualr gymnastics equipment like uneven bars and the balance beam and did different things with them at the different stations! I was so impressed and so excited she had so much fun! I guess I'm becoming like the locals now!!

Disneyland

...Trip #1

We have some different friends coming to town this year who want to go to Hong Kong Disneyland. We did a little research and found that we would actually save $140 (US $18) total if we got Season Passes versus 2 one day passes for each of us. We didn't have to ponder on that one too long as to what we were going to do. A mom at Keely's school has talked a lot about Disney and how much she and her girls love it and that it's flat and easy for her to get around by herself with the girls...so she had been selling me on it for awhile anyway! Then when we had two friends wanting us to go with them we made the decision to go for it. We had planned on waiting to go the first time with our first set of friends coming to visit. Then on Thursday afternoon, after Jacob had been in a week of meetings and all of us had had a week of dinners out, we were talking about having a family day the next day and Jacob's response was, "Sure we can go to Disneyland." He tells me he was joking. However, by the time he said that on the phone and made it home I had it all figured out! We did go back and forth on going in the morning or waiting until Keely got of school. After Keely woke up, we decided to let her skip school. We had A LOT of fun! The girls even took short naps during the Lion King show. Keely has asked both Jacob and I at different times if we can go back soon!

The family with Daisy

When we walked onto Main Street Mickey and Minnie were there with a long line and then just past them was Daisy. First, Keely wanted to see Mickey and Minnie but after seeing Daisy she decided on her. Her line wasn't very long either. Right after the picture Keely says, "She held my hand and I didn't want her to." I told her that she was just wanting to meet her and it was like hello how do you do (they have a song like this at school.) A smile came across her face and she was like oh ok. Her favorite thing keeps changing but Daisy has been one of them.

Cinderella's Carousel

This was Keely's first time on a moving horse of a carousel (last time they made her ride in the non-moving carriage.) After it started moving she just giggled and kept saying, "Whee!"

Dumbo

This also ranked up as being one of Keely's favorites. I showed her a few pictures of Disney before we left that morning and she had been excited about the elephants all morning. She told Jacob that she liked being up high.

The Adventures of Winnie the Pooh ride

Keely did not like this ride! We had friends say their son didn't like it, so we were prepared for the possibility. It was very loud, bumpy and dark. I didn't realize she was closing her eyes (because it was dark) until I looked back at the pictures!!

The Teacups

Jacob informed me before the four of us got in our cup that he had control of how fast we turned. The way he said it made me think he wasn't planning on making it go very fast. I get very dizzy and I seem to be getting more motion sensitive the older I get. Jacob discovered that Keely loved going around in circles and I think he made it go as fast as he could. I almost died! Jordan survived though I'm not sure what she thought since she was in my arms and I wasn't looking down!

Keely enjoying the teacups

Mommy recovering from the teacups

Hong Kong Disneyland is pretty small. It has three lands and main street and not a ton of rides in any of the lands. It's PERFECT for young children. Nothing was very far and it wasn't a big deal walking around.There weren't too many people so Jordan got to run all around and she LOVED it! Once in awhile both girls would be tired though and Keely would offer her lap to Jordan and Jordan would take up the offer. It worked! Who needs a double stroller!

Jordan taking a drink break