Morning Tea at Woodlands Pre-School

Today was a rather special day as I was invited to Victoria's school for morning tea.  The occassion was to celebrate Mother's Day - the UK one !!  Unfortunately, it decided to rain so instead of having it all together outside we all got separated - boys in one class and the girls in the other. 

Once all the mum's had arrived we had to sing the Good Morning song and then we went to make either a bracelet or a necklace.  I believe it was meant to be for the mum's but Victoria has a lovely new bracelet that she made !!!  Then it was story time - it was abit book I've never heard of "My Mum is Amazing" which was a fun read.  Afterwards, the children were all asked what was one fun thing that they  liked to do with their mums.  Victoria told her friends that she likes playing games, especially Snakes and Ladders.  There were alot of watching TV BUT the best answer was one little girl saying "eating chocolate cake with her mum in bed " !!!!  Then it was coffee time to catch up with the other mums and to eat the lemon cupcakes that the children had made and they were delicious !!

Waiting for me to arrive with her friends Olivia (and Mum Saori), Ariel (with Narissa) and Lana (with Melissa).

Bracelet making

Us with Ariel and Narissa in the Rabbits classroom

Taa daa....

Gift giving.....

At home opening the pressie

Do you like what I made ?

The funny story about the beautiful box that was created is that it wasn't for me.  Victoria made it for herself to put her bracelet it.......it's not for you mum !!!

Victoria School Trip - Victoria Park

Victoria was so excited to be going on a school trip with her class.  And even more so as what park we were going to - Victoria Park.  "Mummy we're going to MY park" is what I got told often...... and even her class mates were saying we're going to Victoria's Park. 

It was a morning of fun as we got the tram from Happy Valley to the Park.  It was like we'd hired our own tram for that part of the trip.....Then once at the park we went to the playground where they had a snack and were able to run around and play games.  It was a good time to go as it wasn't that hot and the mites weren't out in force.....and when they are I'm normally the only one that gets attacked !!

On the tram with friends Seraya and Olivia

Planning mischief with Olivia

This made me laugh - we ARE in a park !!

Circle time

Waiting for her turn at the monkey bars

Balloon parachute

Story time with Miss Bettina

And after the park Victoria and Olivia went for a fluffy together at the coffee shop.  They're such good friends !

Creative Scrappers - Sketch 147

I've had a rather succesful weekend scrapbooking and this layout just fell right into place.  It's great when that happens !!  I had recently purchased the June Bug collection from Basic Grey and as soon as I saw it I knew it would be perfect for my Chinese New Year photos....they really have an asian feel and I know could be (and would be) used in many ways !!

I really like working with sketches and when I saw Creative Scrappers Sketch 147 I knew what I was going to do and what I was going to use....  The chipboard elements are from a company called "Doves of the East' who specialise in 'Asian' themes.  I also used some Thickers and some Prima rhinestones and flowers.

Pencil Lines Sketch 228

Pencil Lines is a new sketch site that I have recently come across.  I really love this idea of getting a weekly sketch and then having a month to complete it - or all for that month.  This is my take on Sketch 228

In summer of 2010 before Toy Story 3 opened there was an exhitibion at Times Square.  The girls were sooooo excited to see it and wouldn't stop running around.  I tried numerous times to capture them but it wasn't until Hamm that they decided to stay still - for about 1 minute.  I think it was that they could climb up !!!  I've been meaning to scrap these photos for awhile and this sketch got me going - just love it when that happens !! 

I used papers from My Mind's Eye "Bloom and Grow" collection, Pink Paislee Artisan elements (with Glimmermist), a Prima flower, Sassafras Lass Whimsy flowers that I cut up into hearts, Thickers.  The ribbon is new from one of my favourite ribbon shops in Hong Kong - I think I'm going to have to head back to stock up on more as don't think it'll last long.....

QBS School visit - Kowloon Park

At QBS they teach their children in Units of Enquiry.  Meaning they have a topic and drill down in it.  Their new unit of enquiry is "How the World Works" looking at Materials.  This was a fantastic opportunity to have a school trip and all the Year 1's went to Kowloon Park to look at the sculpture garden.  They've got some fabulous sculptures made out of bronze, marble and other stuff.  The kids got to look at them all and then take a photo of the sculpture that they liked the best - then once back at school they had to draw it !!

At school in 1D & 1D classroom getting  the final instructions

On the bus with Hannah and her friends (L-R) Urn and Roisin

At the sculpture park getting ready for a snack

Looking at the sculputres....

Watching a group doing their morning Tai Chi.....

....and yes they are real swords !!!

A fun morning was had by all and on the way back to school there were some VERY tired children....!!!  They went back to school for lunch and I went home to find how Victoria had gone at sports day...

Victoria Sports Day

The day of the chaos in the Valley was also the day of Victoria's school sports day.  I was with Hannah on her school trip that day (I'll do a new post for this) so Paul got to spend the morning with her.  It wasn't her first time to go to a sports day (Feb 2009) but it was HER first one she got to participate in.....

How times have changed !!!!

From this.....

...to this..

She was rather excited about it !!  It was a fun filled morning of games, laughter and lots fun times with friends.  Victoria was in the RED team so had to wear her red t-shirt and matching socks !!

With Hannah.....

Warming up....

Beam work...

Practicing for the running race....

Egg and spoon - talk about concentrating !!

The ice cream cone game....

Football skills....

Running race - she came 3rd but was the first girl home !!

Checking out the medal !!

A successful morning.....

....then was off to lunch....!!

How times have changed.....from this......

Using Flowers

It's been awhile since I've submitted a layout for Southern Girls Challenge.  It's been pret-ty crazy around here and I've always had the best intentions but time would just run away on me.  But not this time......

The papers I used are from Fancy Pants Design - guess you could say part of their 'vintage' collection as I've had them awhile - they're from the Ballet Dance collection.  How perfect for the photos of Hannah's ballet show.  Flowers are from Prima, the flower ribbon I found in a ribbon shop in Sham Shui Po (the BEST place in the world for ribbon and I stocked up on more when I visited on Friday) and I used a flower mask.  And of course the beautiful bouquet of flowers in the photo. 

Chaos in the Valley

It was a morning of chaos in the Valley yesterday.  When I was waiting for the school bus with Hannah at 7.30am traffic was banked up our hill.  It was abit bemusing as it's never like that at that time and of course was the morning when I had to be at school with Hannah early for the school trip.  Thought there must have been an accident in Causeway Bay but didn't think anything more of it until a friend rang to ask if Victoria and I were at the sports ground for Victoria's sports day.  Unfortunately, Hannah's school trip had been rescheduled and it the date change coincided with Victoria's sports day.  I went with Hannah and Paul took Victoria. 

What had happened at about 5am was a freshwater pipe had burst on Wong Nai Chung Road - which is the main road into Happy Valley causing all sorts of chaos.  Causeway Bay was even MORE of a nightmare than usual.  It basically flooded the street making it impassable for people, cars and even trams.  And of course we had to cross to the other side to get to the sports ground at the Hong Kong Football Club - well, when I say we, I mean Paul.  Aside from going right around the racecourse which would have taken a good deal of time the best way was to go through it.  Unfortuntately for Paul, it meant that he had to walk through it carrying Victoria.  He wasn't the only one though.....

The burst water pipe...

And all the water....

Heading towards Happy Valley - tram not going anywhere

Looking at Causeway Bay.  The Hong Kong Football Club is the building on the left...

Looking at the HKFC - this is where the entrance is and meant you had to go through the water.  Apparently it was quite deep.....

Outside the HKFC looking back at Wong Nai Chung Road

Paul took the photos as he had the camera.  He was under instructions to take lots of photos of Victoria at sports day and captured this aswell.....

Celebration of Learning Day

On Thursday at Hannah's school was Celebration of Learning Day.  This is when the parents go into school for a session to see how the children are doing.  Hannah was so excited about it and even made comment about "how proud we would be of her".  Her session wasn't until 10.30 so she came with me to take Victoria to school.  Another highlight was that she was reading a book to her old teacher's (Miss Gasha) class - of which she knew a couple and about 3 of them would be starting Year 1 in September this year.  I asked her if she wanted to take a book that she knew to read and she said yes and went and choose "The Wonky Donkey" - a book loved by both girls !!  She did a fantastic job of reading it and the book went down rather well with the class.  Victoria came in and listened to Hannah reading it - she was so excited too as she was allowed to come into the big kids class !!

Hannah reading her story to the class...Miss Victoria was so excited to be there - she had a big grin on her face and who should have heard her laugh when she came in....

Hannah teaching us letters and what sound they make at QBS.  She had a special pen that you tapped the white board with and it went to the next slide....this was one of 4 activities that she taught us about.

Hannah showed us her portfolio at school and both Paul and I were amazed and so proud of how far she has come since starting school in August.  Her handwriting is coming along so well and she is able to spell words, put sentences together and read books.  She's starting to become more interested in chapter books too.  There's nothing better that she likes than lying in bed reading on her own...after a story (or a chapter) has been read to her of course.  We did find out one interesting tidbit - she has to make better choices of who she decides to sit with as apparently there's alot of talking going on.......her teacher mentioned it to us.