HKG251: Ice Cream Improv

today was a super low key day. we just putzed around most of the morning, and then headed out for a late-morning walk to the hollywood road park and to get some lunch. we ended up stopping off at a hole-in-the wall "steakhouse." the food was a hybrid of russian, western, and chinese. it wasn't bad, but it also wasn't anything to write home about. we were one of two tables that were occupied by westerners, so we attracted some attention to the point of one woman literally turning her back on the rest of the people at her table to stare at our table. it was disconcerting.

josh left for GZ this afternoon, and the kids and i kept it mostly quiet with some time on the wii and at the building playground before dinner. after dinner, we finished up q's bday cake with some ice cream. it's been pretty tough to not have a microwave, but i have found that softening ice cream is probably one the biggest challenges without a microwave. it's not like i can put ice cream in the oven or in a pan, but i did find a work around. :-)

ambient heat from the two burners softened the ice cream enough that i could dish it up between the three of us.

HKG250: Roomy

today started off with getting a couple more pieces of our furniture out of the house and into a friend's place. the couch and two small book cases were passed on to a friend from josh's work. soon after the furniture left, miss sally came over to keep the kids while josh and i got out for some kid-free time.

we stopped first at a french cafe close to us that was rumored to have the best coffee in the city....yep, it does! mmmmm! after our delicious coffee, we went out for spicy garlic hot dogs and then to do some shopping for family back home. we wrapped up our adventure with a trip to our favorite home furnishings store to find something at least a little comfy to sit on now that the couch is gone. the little fold-out couch/mattress we got isn't half bad and will make a great addition to our home in pville for sleepovers.

both kids modeling the "couch." both have stated that they wanted to sleep on this thing : -) oh, to be young and to think that a 2-inch mattress is awesome :-) my joints ache just thinking about sleeping on this thing!

new "couch" and re-purposed book shelf

waffle is loving the book case we are using for the shoes...it's higher and has more space between shelves...he's spent a good bit of time laying across shoes.

q wanted to model the couch

HKG249: Q turns THREE!!!!!!!!!!!!

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my sweet baby boy turned three today! he had an absolutely awesome day that started off with birthday gifts and lego class and ended with a fun dinner out and some cake with homemade (by josh) frosting. several times, today, q looked up at me and told me "i so happy, mommy!"

we're still working with q on stating his age correctly and holding up the correct number of fingers, but he's enthusiastic about learning both.

personally, i can't believe that my baby is already three. in part, it seems like he's always been here, and then again, it seems like he got here yesterday. just for sentimental reasons, here are some links to pics of q through the years:

first birthday

second birthday

HKG248: Again with the Silence (or lack thereof)

today was a much calmer and easier day than yesterday...it was very low key. q and i kept it quiet this morning with only a brief jaunt to the building playground. in the afternoon, the kids and i sat tight for a while waiting for an apartment showing, and then we got the heck out of dodge.

we headed first to the shake-shake bridge playground, which is usually a win-win. a combination of loud construction, a big fall for livie, and toy harassment for quinn ended that trip pretty quick, though. we ended up at hollywood road children's playground where the kids had a good time playing for a while before it was time to head into the wet markets for some fruit and then home for dinner.

tomorrow promises to be a great day simply because it is q's third birthday. i love watching him get so excited about his birthday. he likes to tell me that every cake he sees in bakery windows is his birthday cake, and he loves to point out any colorful object on any flier and tell me it's his birthday present. i think he's got the hang of this birthday celebration thing :-)

cheeseballs at the park. dontcha love livie's new smile designed to showcase her missing tooth?

exceedingly loud construction noise (and a cute boy)

HKG247: Wild Wednesday

today started out harmless enough. quinn and i headed down to the hollywood road park in sheung wan...our goal was to play and feed the GIGANTIC koi fish that live in a pond at the park. well, we got there and noticed a lot of signs that said not to feed the fish. so, we didn't. instead, q played around for a while, took a public potty break (so proud of my big boy for doing well on the public potty), and then we walked around looking for sustenance. we found the infamous hotdog bun at a local mom-and-pop bakery...YUM!

after a LOOONNNNGG walk home and a quick nap, we headed downstairs to collect sissy. we waited. and waited. and waited. and waited some more. when we reached 20 minutes past the scheduled drop-off time, i started to panic. first i called the school, and then realized that the bus company is separate from the school, so i quickly hung up. so then i googled the bus company name and called the number listed online...disconnected. then i called josh to see if he heard from the bus company and/or could do some more sleuthing online for a working phone number (my phone is super slow for web surfing, and i also was keeping a close eye and at least one hand on q since our building is on a very busy road). he did not answer. i am now in FULL BLOWN panic mode and trying not to cry. i call the school again and calmly ask the office to please, please, please give me the number for the bus company. i know this is not their job or their issue, but i was desperate...they quickly gave me a working number. i get hold of dispatch and am told that livie's bus is held up in a traffic jam. it's another 10 to 15 minutes before her bus finally shows up...it's about 40 minutes past the scheduled drop off time. i feel relieved to see the bus until....

i go to get livie, and she's crying so hard that she can't breathe, her face is swollen and red, and she's got snot EVERYWHERE. i try to calm her down and ask her to tell me what's wrong...it takes her a few minutes, but then she finally is able to tell me that three of her classmates spent the end of the day and the bus ride home taunting her and telling her that she is stupid...or really stupid. after i got through clenching my teeth and cussing like a sailor in my mind, i told her that was an incredibly mean thing to say, that i am sorry they did that to her, and then i asked her what she thought...does she think she's stupid. she proudly told me no. right then and there, her tears stopped. i am SO incredibly proud of my girl for understanding her own self worth and realizing that she is NOT what people tell her she is.

after calming down and talking about how smart olivia really is and reassuring her, we made a plan to go get therapeutic frozen yogurt after we got livie changed and q off for a potty break. while we were upstairs accomplishing these missions, hong kong post rang up and brought us PRIZES FROM GRAMMIE. grammie saved the ever-livin-shit out of our day. THANK YOU GRAMMIE...you have no idea how therapeutic pretzel m&ms are :-) instead of frozen yogurt, we enjoyed our goodies from home.

recently, livie asked to go back to cheung sing, our favorite restaurant in happy valley, so after we finished hoovering up a bunch of pretzel m&ms and cheez-its, we packed it up and headed to happy valley. we played at our favorite playground, went into the tunnel between the playground and the happy valley race course so the kids could play red light/green light and make a bunch of ear-splitting echoes, visited our favorite shop kitty, doh-doh, and then met josh at cheung sing for dinner.

during dinner, olivia started crying and opened her mouth...it was filled with blood. her loose tooth was just about out. we hurried out of there, headed to our favorite frozen yogurt shop, and got some yummy-ness to take home. once we got home, josh gently helped the tooth out the rest of the way, and after swishing her mouth a few times, livie made some good progress on her frozen yogurt, which was not only tasty, but made her mouth feel better and made the bleeding stop.

we kept checking skype to see which of our friends we could call and show livie's lost tooth, but alas, it is just too freakin' early in texas for people to be up and ready to skype. apology to the franz family for ringing your house at 6:30 in the morning...i hope you didn't hear that!!!!!!!!!!!

one down, 22 more to go :-)

cutie bug at happy valley

loot that grammie sent us! THANK YOU, GRAMMIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

goofy q

cutie q on the playscape at hollywood road park

i felt compelled to obey this sign even though the fish pellets in my bag were begging to be thrown in and eaten ;-)

turtles at hollywood road park

this morning, i saw the biggest pigeon i have ever seen in my life...it was walking around on the a/c units outside this window. i picked q up and showed him, and then i picked waffle up and showed him. he flattened his ears and chattered at the bird while he was in my arms. i then set him down to continue his bird watch...he stayed in this position for nearly 30 minutes watching that pigeon.

while my tailbone is protesting and my legs are cramping, waffle is THOROUGHLY enjoying the lack of a dining room table. he now can cuddle up on my legs while i am on the computer. he looks comfy, doesn't he?

HKG246: Sick Day

waffle looks on while q tries to get inside his travel carrier. i'd love to know what he's thinking as this scene unfolds. notice anything missing? we gave away our behemoth dining room table yesterday. we miss being comfy, but it's a load off our minds as this was our 2nd largest piece of furniture. it's looking more and more like we're literally going to have to give most of our stuff away to get rid of it. despite offering super low prices on our furniture, not much of it is moving. in fact, the only things that have moved are the items we're giving away: coffee table, couch, small bookcases, and the dining room table and chairs.

today, i woke feeling a bit better than i did yesterday, but it was short-lived. by mid morning, i was feeling seriously crappy. all i can say is thank god q figured out how to use the computer mouse. i scored a 30-minute nap while he watched a couple of educational videos and several thomas videos on youtube. i crashed again while he was down for his nap.

the afternoon was a little busier...we had a showing in the apartment, and then i got the kids out to the shake-shake bridge playground and to an italian deli to get some tasty vittles for dinner. there's a nyquil dose, a hot shower, and a warm blanket calling my name now...and it's only 8:45 in the evening. hopefully, tomorrow will be a better day!

HKG245: Halloween

halloween is one of our family's favorite holidays. it is also my birthday. this year, it was my FORTIETH birthday! eegads!

livie's school was closed for a teacher work day on monday, so we had the advantage of being able to change the schedule up a bit. the plan was to get out for some adventures, but i, of course, woke up feeling pretty sick. i ALWAYS get sick on/around halloween...it's annoyingly consistent. i felt rotten enough that we even skipped gymnastics, but we did get out for a short stint to the playground in the afternoon. josh also took me out for a coffee/dessert date after the kids were in bed.

we had a great halloween, and i had a great birthday!

after birthday brinner, the kids got out for some trick-or-treating in our building.

josh made us a delicious birthday brinner.

two cuties

once josh got home, q made off with his iphone and huddled up in a corner to play some games uninterrupted.

cuties cuddling during quiet time

since a good bit of the morning was quiet, the kids got a little stir crazy and wild. this is the result. we finally got out of the house shortly after i took this video.

while at the park, i got a birthday serenade from the kiddos...priceless!