Hannah's portfolio

Only 3 more sleeps until Hannah has finished her first year at QBS.  This year has just gone so quick !  On Friday Hannah bought home her school portfolio.  They work on this during the year and work is added to it - by both herself and her teachers.  It was fantastic to look through it and see how far she had come over the course of the year.  This is not all her porfolio but are just a few pages that I thought highlighted it all !!  What an achievement - we're just so proud of her !!

Afternoon Tea Delight

A friend is leaving Hong Kong to return to New Zealand on Thursday.  So to celebrate her time with us in HK and to wish her well, we went out for an afternoon of decandence......Afternoon Buffet Tea at the Grand Hyatt !!!  It was fair to say when I got home just before 6pm I didn't need any dinner !!    It was my very first HK style afternoon tea and probably won't be my last !! 

T3 (Typhoon Warning 3)

We've had Typhoon warnings in force yesterday and today.  It's been a wet and windy few days.  Victoria has been home these 2 days as when the T3 gets issued all the kindergarten and pre-school children get to stay home.  When it gets to T8 Hannah stays home but we didn't get to that this time.  It had been raining on and off, getting clear and then starting again all in the space of 5 mins. 

What it looks like after one squally rain shower (it was abit heavier than just a shower mind you...)

And this is what it looks like 5 mins later.....  The photo doesn't really do it justice as the misty clouds are rther thick and you can't see the sideways rain...... 

It looks rather like a cold, wet, windy day.....the sort of day where you snuggle indoors.........  Well, it was 31 degrees C, 92% humidity and of course the air cons were on !!!!

School Attire

The rainy typhoon) season is now upon us.  There was a T3 typhoon warning up today so that meant I got company for the day with Victoria.  Hannah still went but if it had gone up to a T8 she would have come home - as would everyone else!  Hong Kong shuts down in a T8 or higher.

Last week was rainy (hot & steamy too) so Victoria wore her gumboots (wellies etc) to school.  She had socks on as the last time she had worn them (the day before) she had complained that they had rubbed.  This was the final ensemble once she had got herself sorted at school.....

Bo Bunny Sketch Challenge

One of my favourite companies, when it comes to scrapbooking, is Bo Bunny.  The collections that they come up with are fantastic and are quite simply....me !  I decided that I would use their latest sketch by Frances Slyvia(I love the tiles at the bottom) as the basis for one of my layouts and would team it with Ad Lib - such a fun and fresh collection to play with.

Here is the sketch :

And here is my take on it :



The journalling I've left blank for the moment but you can see where they'll go.   The funny thing is that the photos used are actually slightly blurry.  However, this photo of the layout has "unblurred" it.

Christmas Challenge

The challenge for Southern Girls this month was Christmas - and since I do have 'quite a few' photos of celebrating Christmas worked out well.  I decided to use an Inspired Blueprint sketch #75 to base my layout on.  As time is in demand for me at the moment I thought a sketch would be the perfect solution to help me.  I am really enjoying using sketches - either following it as is or using it as a base and going from there.  So many options with sketches.  

Papers used are from the Basic Grey Eskimo Kisses collection and I also used my new favourite products - Distress Stickles.  One thing I did with this layout was try a new technique - I rolled the music paper and then covered it with the Distress Stickes - I was pleased with how it turned out.  I've also included a Tim Holtz Journalling Ticket.

The photo I have taken hasn't turned out the best (taking photos at night with the lights in our apartment don't normally result in great pictures) but wanted to get it linked up before time ran out. 

Introducing Miss 4 !!!

Victoria turned 4 at the end of May - I can't believe that she's 4 !!  Where has this time gone ?!!  It was a week of celebration for her.

On Monday she does mandarin so I thought it would be a nice idea to have a 'special' snack to celebrate.  Timing worked brilliantly as it was at our place.  One of her friends Ethan brought her a flower and that made her day !  She was most upset when it started to look 'bruised' - it kept falling out of her hair !!  I'd made cupcakes and they weren't big enough for 4 candles so she only got one to blow out.  I think she was happy with that.

Victoria with Ethan

 Victoria and her mandarin friends

On the Wednesday (her actual birthday) her preschool helped to celebrate her birthday too.  I had to go into school and read Victoria's life story - so far !   She was so excited not only to have us there but what we were there for - she got to sit at the front of the class.  One of the teachers had made a crown for her to wear and she was so chuffed.  I went to tell her story and Paul came with the camera.  It was a really special way of celebrating with her.  The class had had four birthdays in May and they all happened to be that week - starting on the Monday !!

At home before leaving for school

 At school reading her life story

At school

 At home after school

 

Paul started work in the evening so we were able to celebrate her birthday with a special afternoon tea - complete with cake and blowing out the candles.  We waited until Hannah got home from school and then got stuck into it.  Weds afternoon was a rather busy time has we then had to go to Victoria's school to meet the teachers and discuss her school report.





On the Sunday following Victoria had her party !   She had some friends from school come plus some friends that we met when we first arrived in HK.  She was so excited for it and couldn't wait for the time to arrive.  There was alot of fun and laughter for 2 hours and like all good things time just passed too quickly !!

When we were talking about cakes she wasn't sure what she wanted but thanks to Hannah, she liked the idea of Miffy !!  When she made that decision I was rather happy about that as it's just a shaped face with white icing and black outline.  How hard can white icing be ?!!!!  I think I got there in the end - Victoria was happy with it so that was the main thing achieved !!  It was a rather decandent topping for a 4 year old birthday cake - white chocolate ganache with white icing suger over the top (the white chocolate turned out yellow so needed to fix that up).  We had a couple of games of pass the parcel, made funny faces out of paper plates and glitter glue, and ate party food.  All in all a great time had by all and we had one VERY happy 4 year old !!

THE cake - Miffy

Before the party 



Pass the parcel



Making funny faces



Party food



Blowing out the candles



Victoria and her friends

And this says it all......it's mine !!!!



Island Dance Show 8th June

Today was the girls dance show.  They've been working on their performances for a term now so today was the chance for them to perform for us.  We were all really excited about it.  The costumes turned out great - always good to have as means we have more dress up clothes !!  I think that's such a highlight - the costumes - as it's always such a fun surprise when we see what they are.

The day began at 10am when we had to be at the Y-Theatre in Chai Wan - still on HK island.  We left about 9am to collect a friend and then headed there.  The matinee show didn't begin until 1pm and went for just under 2 hours.   

Hannah does ballet so her song was "Part of this World" from The Little Mermaid movie while Victoria does disco so her song was 'Waka Waka' by Shakira (this was the anthem to the Football World Cup just been).

At home before we left for the day

At rehearsal

At rehearsal

At rehearsal with their friend Otterlie

In the theatre watching the other performers

At the theatre for rehearsal waiting for her turn

After makeup

After makeup

Both Paul and I were so proud of them.  They both did a fantastic job.  Hannah is a seasoned performer as she did it last year but this was Victoria's first time.  She did brilliantly and was probably one of the youngest there.

Here are some videos of the show.  Victoria's is of her performance but at rehearsal.  For some reason the video I shot for the actual show didn't turn out that great.  Hannah's is in the actual show but apologise for the poor quality.  I blame the lighting !!