Week 213 and Week 125.5 - National Day and Liam's birthday

CS and Erica were in town and we went to eat dim sum with them on the holiday.  We then of course took pictures with the characters and I took the girls to the Venetian for the first time (we usually just stroll through the shops on the way to a dim sum restaurant).  The girls had a great time throwing coins into the canals.  A great rainy day activity.

Later in the day we met Yaya and went to a barbeque in a beautiful park by the China border.  The girls ran around in their dresses and then played in probably the nicest playground I have seen in Macau.  It was fun.

Last week we went to a new friend Liam's first birthday party.  He is quite a strapping and sturdy young man, this Liam.  On his birthday he had his first sweet - a chocolate cupcake.  Kudos to Ardyth for not giving sweets for one whole year!

It has been a busy work week for me and the last 2 days there has been torrential rain.  Rain so heavy that they cancelled school today (and I went jogging in it this morning).  Not sure what the girls are up to today (so rainy it is hard to even leave the house) but I am sure it will involve making cupcakes.

A funny thing happened recently - Sophia is in a parroting mood these days - and Charlotte was being naughty at dinner and I was threatening the ominous timeout.  So Sophia starts to also threaten the ominous timeout - and Charlotte gets bent out of shape.  I ask her what is wrong.  She says that Sophia is giving her a timeout.  And I tell her Sophia cannot give you a timeout - she is your baby sister.  Just tell her to hush.  But it is funny like that - Charlotte will let her baby sister put her in timeout.  You think Char would be the bossy one but it is actually the reverse.

I know -we have 100 versions of these photos:

CS and Daddy:

Erica and Sophia:

CS and Erica:

The Venetian!

Barbeque!

Eating on the run:

Friends and family:

Peering into the pool:

The girls discovers Badminton:

Turtles:

Park:

I forgot to post a picture of what I thought were Peppa Pigs that were really Percy Pigs for Charlotte's birthday:

Liam's party:

First cake!

Ardyth, Chris, and Liam:

Oh, and I got the girls haircuts this week!  These are the best $7 haircuts ever!  Here are the after shots:

Week 212 and Week 124.5 - Charlotte's Birthday Reprise

Charlotte's birthday always falls around Easter - which is a spring break for TIS.  So Monday we had her school birthday party.  How lucky that Charlotte's birthday is near her buddy Maleah's.  This past Saturday I made a cookie cake (which Gwen had never seen before - I thought this was a worldwide phenomenon) and Gwen and Charlotte, Maleah, Chantal, and Sophia decorated it.  You forget that life is about the little things like this.  The cookie cake was a big hit too (and if you endeavor to make one of them at home - it takes 2 packages of the Betty Crocker cookie mix to fill a 12" pizza pan).  Speaking of pizza, I ordered a pizza to get an extra box at Pizza Hut on Sunday (and you would think I was asking to part the Red Sea or something - it was a colossal deal to get this extra pizza box ("Only this time!") - and I still paid 10 MOP for it).  But in the end is was worth it as Charlotte was thrilled with it - and it was a huge hit with Charlotte's class (many kids asked for seconds or thirds)!  Charlotte was so cute with this cake in her class - she was definitely being teacher like and was super happy to have me there to help her celebrate - it totally made my day!

Sunday we went to dim sum with Ardyth, Chris and Liam and then spent the afternoon at Hac Sa (in Coloane).  It was spontaneous and fun - the kids played outside in the playground and we ate at Norman's later.  This was a no nap day and we really paid the price for it by 7PM as both girls were SO grumpy.  But it was fun just to be relaxed and outside - we saw Sophia's teacher at Norman's - we should do this more and not be slaves to the naps (all the time anyway).

Other cute things - Charlotte calls Sophia "Soph" and Sophia calls her night time diapers "hull ups" (somehow the p is omitted).

The girls got these from Grandpa - and Char reminds me of Katy Perry in the Last Friday Night video wearing them:

We also got Frozen - which Sophia loves (and Charlotte doesn't seem to have the attention span for).  Here is Sophia watching in her jammies:

Cake decorating:

Pre decorating:

Post decorating (with new icing on the names):

Fun pictures taken by the character meet and greet:

I do occasionally appear on the blog - here with the girls:

Coloane Play:

Love her Three Musketeer hair here:

This was the end of the clean dresses - Charlotte's school mate Mariana graciously gave the girls an ice cream bar:

Dinosaur fun:

Char loves these Whirlydoos:

There is a lot of pointing going on these days:

Charlotte and Maleah's party!

Jenni and Char - so cute!

Autumn, Char and Jenni:

Maleah, Char and Jenni:

Cookie Cake!

Mariana is in this picture:

Our attempt at a moms and daughters shot:

Miss Dizon and Miss Sandra and the birthday girls:

Candles!