3 or 13?

I'm home alone with the boys who have had all TV privileges removed for 24 hours due to poor bedtime behavior. 

Suddenly the boys come up to me and Sam says, "Mommy I love you so much" (of course I melt).

Then Luke says "lub you mommy"

Sam follows up with, "Mommy I need a big hug" ( I indulge & Luke joins in. At this point I'm feeling pretty darn good)

Then Sam says: "Mommy, you know daddy told me before he left, it was ok for us to watch TV now"

Suddenly I feel cheap and used.

Christmas is here

Well, I know I pulled out the Santa card too early this year because Sam told me yesterday, "I don't think Santa is EVER going to come"

Note to self- wait until after Halloween to use Santa as leverage for good behavior.....

Either way, 

the tree is up, the presents are in various stages of being wrapped and hidden and I'm loving it all.

Side note- night 4 of sharing a bedroom.....Sam's not a huge fan of the new arrangement. He told our neighbor he "hates sharing a room with Luke and can't sleep well in there". Which of course made me feel terrible..but when I talk to him about it, he says he doesn't like sleeping in his new room with Luke but it's better than his old room. 

We haven't been able to get them to go to sleep together without some minor "assistance" yet......but we'll try again tonight. The main problem is getting them to fall asleep rather than have a contest to see who can scream and cry the loudest. Once they are asleep it's been fine....

I combined their closets and toys yesterday so there is no turning back now. 

Off to a good start

This year we did a lot of preparing for Thanksgiving....

A lot of cooking!!!!!

And even more eating......

So,  to offset our glutenous weekend, I decided to have a productive start to the week. 

We started off with an ultrasound of Baby T. 

My husband wasn't able to go but his first question was, "it's still a boy, right?"

So, in case you are wondering the same thing....

Nothing has fallen off. Yes, the baby is still a boy!

  

And while at the Dr. it occurred to me that, not only do we not have one stitch of clothing, one baby toy and no inkling of a name for this poor baby, we have NO WHERE for him to sleep.....

SO.....

Last night was night 1 of the boys sharing a room.

It went well.....

keep your fingers crossed for night 2

(They aren't sharing a bed - they were just snuggling for story time & prayers....)

Ha ha ha

And you thought I wouldn't touch the tree...

HA HA HA HA HA

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

We have lots to be thankful for this year...

See how thankful we look!!!!

 (I was not involved in these outfits)

Sam had a Thanksgiving party at school today....

And since we are doing our Turkey dinner on Saturday we scraped together some leftovers tonight and decorated our tree....

We didn't bring any Christmas stuff with us to HK because we planned on being "home for the holidays". 

So, we have a tree we got we for $12 USD at toys r us and some tacky ornaments. 

I'm on the hunt for a tree skirt and non Asian tree angel....but I'd be happy to settle for a star. 

We are missing our state side family and friends today but very thankful to be staying here to prepare for Baby T3. 

Bring on the Holidays!!!!!

Last week Sam's school, which tries to equally honor all holidays, had a Diwali celebration...

which is a Hindu Festival of Light of sorts.....

The kids were to dress up in traditional Diwali attire. 

So Sam wore a superman shirt. 

The school provided the forehead decoration.

We've already started practicing for Christmas...

We've written letters to Santa, flipped through toy catalogs and even made green pancakes. 

Last Saturday Phil & Sam took advantage of what is sure to be one of the last nice days before the crummy weather starts. 

Here they are at Hong Kong Park. 

Luke and I took a 2 hour nap. 

And while we are on the topic of sleep, someone has been waking up around 5 am. 

Which doesn't seem to bother him much....

 

 

But no one else appreciates it.....

We've finally gotten around to sorting through clothes that cousin Victor so kindly passed down to us. 

Here's Sam in his new fall garb!

Thanks Vic!!!! (And Aunt Anne!!!)

And while Thanksgiving is not celebrated in Hong Kong, we are having a big ole Turkey Day feast on Saturday with two other families!

The weather was like this today

which gave me a chance to make:

Pumpkin Lust Cake (Courtesy of my mother who sent the necessary ingredients), Oatmeal Pecan Pie, Peanut Butter Pie and Butterscotch Rice Krispes. 

Luke helped lick the spoon....

And Sam was pouting because he didn't want to wait for the dessert feast...

We'll spend the next few days working on Pumpkin & Apple pies, Sweet potatoes, Stuffing,  jalapeno corn pudding, mashed potatoes, cranberries, a few seasonal appetizers and of course TURKEY!

Yes, that may be over kill for 6 adults and 6 kids (all under 3) but oh well...

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

What?

Pardon me as I vent....

So, after living in Hong Kong for almost a year I have gotten used to a lot of things. We are preparing for Thanksgiving next week, and as I made my second of what will be many many trips to grocery store I found myself wishing I could make a trip or two to Kroger a few days before and find everything I need. But, I'm prepared to go all over Hong Kong in search of the simplest ingredients for the simplest dishes, and I'm mentally prepared not to be able to find them and to pay 300% to 400% markups on the things I do find.

It's fine. I won't even utter a complaint about it (other than this blog)

But in the past couple weeks I have had this same conversation at least 3-4 times.....each time hoping I will gain some insight into what's being said. I'm coming up at a complete loss....

everyone else: "hey, have you heard a lego store is opening up here?"

me: "No, that's great! Where?"

everyone else: Malaysia. Right by the Singapore border, so all you have to go is go through Singapore and you're right there. 

me: blank stare and complete and utter confusion. 

To my Midwest brain, that's like being in Ohio and recommending a visitor go to this really great restaurant I once tried in New York City. 

What?

Christmas is canceled!

It took Sam approximately 45 seconds to locate the first purchased Christmas present. 

I knew I was in trouble when I heard the siren on his new police station toy go off followed by a loud mischievous laugh come out of my bedroom.

Apparently under my bed is no longer an appropriate hiding spot for gifts.

Well done Sam. 

Well done. 

Hope you enjoy it because you have to wait until 2013 for your next Christmas present. 

It's a.....

So, despite the fact that early ultra sounds indicated boy...I have been feeling very much like Baby #3 is a girl.

While at a market this weekend I found this Gender Neutral Onesie and picked it up.

Now, if you are like my husband you may fail to see upon first glance how this is a gender neutral onesie. I'll explain.

White Base = gender neutral

Hearts = love = gender neutral because boys and girls like love

Blue Hearts = Boyish but are canceled out by pink hearts = girlie

Green  & orange hearts= gender neutral

BUT now that we know that Baby T #3 is in fact a.....

BOY!!!!!!

the onesie seems less gender neutral. 

oh well. 

We are very excited and Phil is thrilled to have 3 live-in golf buddies...

Phil's foursome......

In sickness & health

Sam & Luke have been fighting 102 & 103 degree fevers since Thursday night. 

One thing remains....they are inseparable.

Luke felt so crummy when he woke up from his nap today he didn't want Sam to leave this afternoon to go to the beach with Daddy. He just wanted him around. 

So we tried to kill the fever with ibuprofen, Popsicles...

 And a cool bath.....

I don't think anyone feels any better but they sure enjoy each others company

Crazy things

The boys have been fighting colds for a few months now, so it was no big surprise we had to go to the pediatrician for runny noses  & coughs on Friday.

It was a surprise the boys had temperatures

And it was an even bigger surprise they make kids wear these in the waiting room when they have fevers.

AND I will be 4 months pregnant tomorrow, so per your request Stephanie....

Here's the bump. 

At this point I think it's more of a pasta & Halloween candy bump than a baby bump.

At this point, 16 weeks, tiny bones are forming in baby's ears and

 he/she can now pick up my voice. Eyebrows, lashes and hair are

 starting to fill in, and taste buds are forming. And, if you're

 interested, an ultrasound might be able to determine gender....

Next ultrasound is Monday.....

I'm craving bang bang shrimp from bonefish grill and smoothie

 king. Unable to indulge in these things my sweet hubby did by 

me a smoothie maker.

I'm also craving pickles, broccoli, spaghetti (or anything with

 marinara sauce on it) & cheese.

And for some reason the thought of a goldfish cracker makes me

 want to puke. 

Halloween & More

Halloween Activities.....

We started off the day with Sam's school Halloween party. 

Sam was a cowboy. 

Then Luke had Kindermusic, I picked Sam up from school, we had a little down time and both boys had gym class....

The real curve ball of the day came when 15 minutes before trick or treating began, Sam decided he didn't want to be a cowboy but Spider man instead.

Luke had a pair of 2T batman pajamas, so after a little convincing that the Batman pj's were Spider man....away we went....

Luke was till happy to be a cowboy....

Sam had no idea what he was in for because as soon as he got his first piece of candy he ran to the nearest bench to eat eat it in privacy....

Now- in my head halloween is fallen leaves, crisp air, chili in the crock pot and going door to door as a family visiting neighbors and getting some candy. 

In Parkview it's a bit crazier. 

We have 18 towers and people pass out candy at the lobbies of the towers. 

In each building there are probably 250 people. In all of parkview there are probably around 4500.  Unfortunately only 2-3 people per tower decided to pass candy out in the lobbies of each building and just about everyone else was running around trying to get candy from the few distributors.

 It was a complete MOB SCENE. 

It was too crowded, disorganized & chaotic to let the kids go up alone & way too noisy for them to get to say trick or treat. 

So, when I see my friends pictures of Halloween in mid west I'm a bit envious.

But we did manage to come away with some goodies. Sam was too overwhelmed to eat any candy & Luke, from his perch on Phil's shoulders, ate his body weight in chocolate.

 The kids were exhausted when we got home....

And Sadly, just one day after Halloween, Sam got an injury so bad he has literally been walking with his hand behind his back like this for two days....

Playgrounds, School, Home....his whole left hand has been rendered completely useless due to a scratch on his middle finger that isn't visible to the naked eye. 

We'll keep you posted on if we'll have to amputate.