Cute, cute

When I come home from school, Lucy is always obsessed with playing with my necklaces and other paraphernalia that I am wearing, so today I decided to let her try it on. She had fun playing mommy and school counselor.

She walked around like she owned the place - which, let's face it, she does.

I finally caught a nighttime cuddle with Daddy on camera! Yeah!

Ocean Park

One year ago today I was supposed to be giving birth to cute little Lucy. Little did I know I still had 10 days to wait until she would come into the world. As luck would have it, today was also the last day for our year-long pass to Ocean Park, so we decided to cash in on that one more time.

Here's Pete and Lucy outside of the front gate. Lucy is ready to roll!

I was so excited to see that they had already decorated for Halloween! Remember this, Mom, Dad, Marge, and Norm?

Lucy took the opportunity to try on a few Halloween hats - she didn't find one she liked.

She did, however, discover the pandas and she LOVED those!

Daddy pointing out that the panda was eating bamboo.

Close up of the feast - not a bad pic for not being able to use flash!

On our way back from the panda exhibit, there were some performers, which was fun.

Posing for a Halloween picture on the way out.

It was a great day, even if it meant Lucy missed her afternoon nap and was a bit cranky at dinner. She was such a good girl at the park and for the first time I felt like she really enjoyed it. Back to work tomorrow, but only one more week until October break in Taiwan and Beijing!
Yeah!

Back to Work, But At Least It's Thursday

It was back to work as usual today - no typhoons in sight. It totally felt like a Monday, but the good news is that I got to remind myself all day that it was actually Thursday! Hooray!

Here are Pete and the Shmoo before work today. They are both wearing pink :)

I ran to get the camera tonight to capture Pete and Lucy snuggled on the couch reading "The Cat in the Hat," but, alas, the minute Lucy saw me going to get the camera she jumped off Pete's lap to follow me. Trust me though, it was a cute father-daughter moment.

Another Typhoon Day

Last night Pete, Lucy, and I went to bed with the wind howling through the windows and our air conditioning unit that connects to the outside. It was already a Typhoon 8, but we figured it would pass by morning. So, it was a nice little treat to wake up (although neither one of us slept well last night with all the noise) and find out that school was canceled for a Typhoon Day! As long as we are all safe and sound, I will always take a free day with no work.

Lucy is "reading" to herself these days. She goes through her books page by page, saying something that I am sure makes sense to her, and then turning the page. Her teacher parents are very happy. As you may be able to tell from the picture, she still has to work on getting the book right side up sometimes.

It's hard to get a pic these days where Lucy isn't making a face.

How's this for a face? She's climbing up on the bed in this pic.

Tonight she had stew for the first time for dinner. I have to admit it was pretty good (thanks Mom for the tips!) We had to document Lucy's mess - it was a record breaker. A bath was a definite must tonight.

Our Little Toddler

It seems like over night Lucy has turned into this little toddler and left most of her baby ways behind. She has all these cute faces, her favorite of which is this scrunchy face done while blowing air through her nose. It's pretty cute. There are some downsides, however. This girl is quickly learning to throw a tantrum. Luckily her memory isn't good enough yet for them to last too long. For instance, tonight she screamed when I took her out of the bathtub because she was having so much fun playing. She howled until Daddy came in to get her and once they were playing in her room she was fine. The real tantrums are yet to come, but I fear they are right around the corner. :) The fact of that matter is, despite all of this she has us completely wrapped around her little finger, so we still think she is way too cute even when she is screaming.

The Big Buddha

Every week around Wednesday, Pete always asks me, "So, Jinxy, what do you want to do this weekend? Maybe we should go to the Big Buddha." This went on all year last year and was threatening to continue throughout this year as well. Well, today we finally made it out to the Big Buddha with Bob and Jen.

Here's Lucy doing her signature scrunchy face on the tram ride up.

Here's our first sighting of the BB from the tram.

Being the overprotective mom I have become, I made Pete use an umbrella while carrying Lucy to block her from the sun. He said he looked like a tool, but in the end he didn't really care, as he is just as overprotective as I am.

We had to hike up a set of stairs to get to the top.

Here are Pete, Lucy, and the umbrella almost at the top.

I absolutely loved these statues that surround the Buddha, bearing gifts.

I'm not sure that this picture demonstrates how enormous this guys is, but he's huge.

More gift bearers - as you can see I got kind of obsessed taking pictures of them.

It was a pretty nice little Sunday. Back to work tomorrow already - at least it is only two more weeks until our next break. Really, as much as I would like to be a stay-at-home mom, you can't beat the breaks in the job. :)

TGIF - Seriously!

As usual, I am overjoyed that today is Friday and the weekend is ahead of us. It has been a doozy of a week - very busy, lots of students with drama, and I am tired.

Lucy has decided to skip "Good Night Moon," Dr. Seuss, and even Harry Potter, and instead head straight for the vampire novels. She is already on #3 in the "Twilight" series:

What a brilliant little girl :)

She's a keeper.

Yesterday Lucy slept until 7:30am and was still sleeping when we left for work. I have little hope in her doing that tomorrow on a Saturday. It is much more likely that she will be up and ready to go at 6:00am. I remember the days of sleeping in ... I happily give them up for this cute Shmoo, but that doesn't mean I don't remember them fondly.

What a difference!

Lucy needed another picture taken for her China visa (we are hoping to go to China for the October break that is coming up in a few weeks). So here is the picture taken yesterday:


and ... here is the picture taken for her U.S. passport at three weeks old:



What a difference a few months can make, eh? (That's the Canadian coming out there.) It's amazing to me that her passport picture is valid until she's five! Look what happened in 10 months!

Tuesday

I snapped this picture really quick before I put the Shmoo to bed. Today was a busy back-to-work day and after school I had to run an errand downtown, so by the time I got home it was almost the Shmoo's bed time. It's no fun when I don't get to play with her! Dad fed her Mac 'n Cheese, though, so she was happy.

More Bath Pics

More fun in the bath tonight:

Lucy discovered that her favorite mirror friend is also in the bath ...

... she was so excited that she gave her a kiss.

We blew some bubbles, which is always fun.

Magic!

I must say ... this girl is pretty darn cute these days. We can't get enough of her.

Friday

I am so incredibly glad that it is Friday and that we have a three-day weekend this weekend. Unfortunately, however, Pete has to attend a MYP conference over the next three days. (MYP is the Middle Years Program for International Baccealaureate). Lucy and I will be hanging out by ourselves until he gets home in the afternoon.

Look at how big Lucy looks drinking out of her sippy cup. She hardly ever uses a bottle anymore. What a big girl!

She's just cute.

Wednesday

Just a typical Wednesday around here. We went to school, came home, cooked dinner, gave the Shmoo a bath, put her to bed, and gave Pete a hair cut. Now it is time to sit back and unwind a bit. Hope everyone is good out there!

More Walking

Here's another video of the walking machine. I just can't get enough of it! I love seeing her cute little stride. It's hard to believe that just 11 short months ago she could barely stay awake longer than 45 minutes and now here she is walking around. Crazy.

"Oh no! My dinner is gone!""That's o.k. I can still make a HUGE mess."

Such a mess called for a lovely bath. Sorry I can't rotate the video.

Finally, I would like to say "Happy Birthday, Reese!" My godson turned 4 on Friday! I hope you had a great day. We were thinking of you.

Just a tad bit homesick

Today I am feeling just the slightest bit homesick. Admittedly, over these past three years overseas, it is pretty easy for me to get homesick if the mood strikes. Today, however, I spent the afternoon catching up on all my friends' blogs, something I haven't done regularly since June. Now that I am feeling more in the swing of things, it was time to catch up. Here's what I found out: my good friend Kimberly is engaged (congratulations!), everyone went to the Coug game, everyone's kids are getting older - birthdays galore, babies are getting bigger and cuter, from the one picture I saw of Tanya she is definitely showing now, and Jessica and Dave went to the Oregon State Fair. It made me miss everyone so much. It's fall. If there is one season I miss the most, it is fall. I miss cool, crisp air, putting on that favorite sweatshirt or sweater for the first time, and cold drinks in cold weather before an exciting Cougar football game. I think it really is the last item that makes me the most homesick due to all the fantastic memories I have of going to WSU football games. Here in good old H.K., it is a zillion degrees, a zillion percent humidity, and there is no sign of fall insight. If fall does make an appearance, it is a very brief display in late February. Oh well ... enough of the "woe is me" - I do have a lot to be thankful for and so I will concentrate on that.
Tonight Pete is out with the boys for a poker game, so it looks like it is me, Lucy, and "When Harry Met Sally." I'm thinking Lucy and I will have a gourmet meal of grilled cheese and tomato soup for dinner, just to make it feel a bit like a fall evening. :)
Here's the best pic I have of Lucy today ... she didn't feel much like cooperating for the camera:

Afternoon dance session

Pete and Lucy had a little afternoon dance session today. Very cute.

Then she read her favorite book.

Then she was just super cute.

So, so, so glad tomorrow is Friday!

Milestones

Sorry about the two-day gap. We went out to dinner on Monday night with some friends from home, the Pecks. It was great to see familiar faces and it was an excellent dinner. They bought Lucy this caterpillar that dances to "I'm just a love machine" ... Lucy goes crazy for it. Last night I was just way too tired to blog. These days it seems that we're in bed by 8:30 at the latest - this back to work stuff is wearing us out!
In other big news ... well ... I'll let these videos speak for themselves:







What a cute little walker she is ... ahh ...