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

Merry Christmas!

I was hoping to have a family Christmas picture to share with this post, but something has happened every time the past two weeks I have planned on us taking one! I was hoping this week would be relaxing and we'd get to do lots of festive things but most of my plans for the WHOLE week were hijacked! The primary reason for two of the days was Jordan being sick. She got sick Monday night and didn't sleep well Monday or Tuesday night. I hijacked tonight's original plans by feeling icky. Then while we were out Jordan got sick and then I got sick when we got home!! I'm afraid Jordan and I may not get to enjoy all of the yummy things I spent half the day preparing and making!!

We wish each of you a Merry Christmas and we'll try to finally get a family Christmas picture taken even if it happens after Christmas to share!!

She Did It!

When Keely first got her bike she had problems riding it. Because it has handle bar breaks and not on the pedals, so she is able to pedal backwards! That has gotten her a bit confused! My parents had more of a tricycle rather than a bike with training wheels and it was a lot easier for her to pedal (she was having trouble getting the pedals all around). We hoped that break through would help with her bike. The first night Jacob and her tried in our apartment she still was having trouble. However, she did come up with her own way to make it work. She would pedal halfway around and then would pedal backwards to get back to that point! We took her outside the next day and getting her some momentum and lots more room really helped her! She finally got it! The next day she went all around the park several times and even asked us not to walk with her the last time! YEA!! It took awhile, but she got it!

Presents

I had been working on projects and hadn't gotten presents wrapped until late last week. As I was about to wrap them all we decided that the girls would enjoy them coming out two at a time (one for each). (FYI- They aren't all from us- they are from friends and family members too) Saturday morning was when the first two appeared and they were so excited. They took them out from under the tree (yes I let them because it was just too cute -- I know I'll be sorry when they get unwrapped or torn before Christmas!) and examined them and looked at them. Keely would look at the tags and say, "Yep this one is mine," or "No this one is Jordan's." It was cute.

Later in the evening I looked into the living room and Jordan was in the middle of the room holding her gift. I ran to get the camera and when I came back she was gone. I got nervous wondering if she had gone to hide and open it! But of course she had gone into the play room where Keely was working at the table and took it to her. Keely says, "No this one isn't mine." Then she starts to tell Jordan to go get hers, which I'm sure she would have if I hadn't interrupted by explaining we couldn't play with the gifts. When I went to put it back under the tree there was a statue made by legos. I brought it back into the play room and Keely got upset and said, "No that is for Jesus' birthday!" We also have a little purple bag with a lego in it under the tree. Keely told me it was for one of Daddy's friends at the office!

A Fun Find

Friday on Tip Junkie, she had a post on creative gift wrapping. Included was this tutorial (from a friend of a friend's blog that I use to read (small world!)) on making gift bows with magazine pages. Growing up, it was my job to put the bows on the gifts. As I got older, I stopped using gift bows and used curling ribbon more. After moving overseas, I used regular ribbon a lot. However, I had been thinking that the girls (especially Keely, but don't leave out Jordan!) would enjoy putting the bows on the gifts. I haven't really had time to search for gift bows, but the one place I thought might have affordable ones did not. Therefore, I was excited to find this tutorial! I gave one a try and it turned out pretty good and was fun to make.

After the girls went to bed, I made 5 more. Those took a little longer than I thought they would and some are better than others, but I'm still excited about them! (The red and white one is from a TGI Fridays ad!) Halfway through I stopped using the staples and started using double sided tape. However after two bows, I realized the ones with the staples looked best! I did use double sided tape instead of glue dots. I also realized that you could just do six strips (leaving out the 3 longest) and you would just have a smaller bow. I may try this for the rest of our bows to save time.

Calling for e-mail addresses

My computer decided to reformat itself last week! Or at least half of itself! All of my office programs reformatted, including my e-mail. I happened to have my contacts exported and my computer didn't decide to delete that file (yes, my computer randomly deleted things!). However, my groups aren't there anymore! It's not a big deal because I did classify how we knew people when I made the list so I know what people in my contacts where in our update group! However, I thought this might be a good time to call for e-mail addresses of anyone who would like to be on our update list. If you aren't on our list or aren't sure (don't worry we haven't sent out updates in awhile!), please e-mail me at sararoonie at gmail dot com with your e-mail address.

While I'm venting about my computer, it also randomly deleted some of my pictures that were in the IPhoto library that I hadn't moved over to another file yet! I just downloaded like 100 pictures the night before and it looks like I have 40 now from that group! That is making Project 365 interesting!!

Christmas Program

Friday was Keely's school Christmas program. Her class was shepherds. They asked us to send a Daddy's size polo shirt and a tea towel for their head covering. She had missed 5 weeks of learning the songs, but she had been singing some of them at home the past week so she seemed to learn them pretty quickly. Monday they had a photographer come take pictures of them, and Wednesday a videographer videoed their dress rehearsal. For the performance Keely didn't sing or do the motions -- so we'll see if she did for the viedeoed dress rehearsal. The other two classes were angels and wise men -- all of them were super cute. Jordan actually stayed still and enjoyed the performance. The angels were super excited and full of energy and Jordan LOVED them! We obviously didn't get very good pictures, but we still have some sort of memory and we'll see what we get from the school from the dress rehearsals. It sounds like at least a group picture!

In the picture at the top, the little boy above her is Daniel. We hear about him ALL of the time. According to Keely (and her teachers too) her, Daniel and another little girl, Perla, play together all of the time. Daniel rides the bus and it passes by us as we walk to school in the mornings. He always waves at us as they pass. We got to meet his mom after the program and found out that he talks about Keely all the time too! I've heard from four different moms that their kids would come home and tell them that Keely was still in the United States while we were gone. I found it cute that so many went home telling their moms that!

At one point the kids danced around in circles together-- and this is what they are doing here.