Budding artists

Katelyn and Katherine had their 3rd birthday party on Saturday and had lots of fun with their friends. They received lots of birthday presents, one of which is a collage kit from their classmate, Lina. Katherine and Katelyn were very eager to make something using the collage kit. They made shiny caterpillars and butterflies. Good job girls!

I'm 1month old!

Some beautiful pics of Isabelle, 1 month old. The first is one of our favourites, and we used this picture on the 'thank-you' card when we distributed the 1st month celebration cakes (a chinese tradition is that 1 month after the birth of the child, cakes are sent to family and friends to let them know the baby is healthy and well).



Silly face!

Looking at her dreaming, through the side of her cot...

Playing with her elephant!

Life with 4 girls

Well life at home with 4 girls is certainly different, and not what I expected at all! Was speaking to a buddy in Perth today, Ilario, and I was telling him that if you told me 4 yrs ago that I'd have 3 kids and they'd all be girls, I would have probably re-thought about having kids! But now that our last one is here, we are all very happy. Its really great to see the twins show an interest in looking after Isabelle. But one thing both Jeanette and I have realised is that we are now officially out-numbered. Its 3 on 2!!!! So inevitably on weekends I find myself looking after the twins, whilst Jeanette takes care of Isabelle. Lastly I'm actually in some of the pics below because Mari came over with her camera to take some snaps of our weekend action!

At home with Isabelle...


Katelyn watering the garden! Its extremely hard to wrestle the hose from her!

Katherine blowing bubbles - one of her favourite passtimes!

At home with Katherine and Katelyn...the "Hello Kitty" toys they are holding are actually floating soap Hello Kitty dolls from Mari. Nice purchase Mari!

Bathtime!

On most days Dad usually bathes Isabelle, with the help of his 2 apprentices! First we wash the hair...



Then clean her tummy....

Then flip her onto her front for a swim!

And lastly time for a splish splash. Lookout i'm having fun!

Thanks to Jon's friend Mari for the pics - who dropped by on the weekend to say hello and helpout with the kiddos!

3 Amigos!

Our 3 little Amigos - Katherine, Isabelle and Katelyn all having fun together!



Last week the girls had a Chinese Lantern celebration at their childcare centre to celebrate the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival. Here are some snaps...

The girls posing with their lanterns (made by Mum and Dad!). Check out Katelyn's pose! I wonder who she learnt from?!!!!

Some of the lanterns hanging in their schoolyard...

Twin chefs at work again

Katelyn and Katherine enjoying the croutons that they prepared. These are low fat croutons made with the minimum of olive oil, a tiny pinch of sea salt, a generous sprinkling of herbs and baked.

Are you ready to hit the beach, 'Sista'?

Katherine and Katelyn modelling the new sunnies Grandma bought them from Bintan.

Well-fed and snug as a bug in Grandpa's arms. Good job, Grandpa'

Happy 3rd birthday, Katherine & Katelyn!

Grandma made a yummy jelly birthday cake for the girls and invited their 'friends' - Minnie Mouse, Little Lamb and Little Bear - to their birthday party. Katelyn and Katherine will have a proper birthday party on 24 Oct so that Mummy has time to recover after delivery. They are looking forward to their party and having their school friends over at our house.

Isabelle Marie Lau!

Well after 8 days of deliberation, and 3 name changes over 3 days, we have finally decided on a name for our baby:

ISABELLE MARIE LAU

You won't believe the amount of effort we went to! Our inital bottom line was that it must start with "K", in keeping with her siblings, and must have a meaning related to God. Why "K"? Cause we have two "J's", then if we were to have 2 "K's" and surname of "L" we could have a J, K, L...now we have I, J, K, L!

Well anyway, firstly, we agreed on Kaylee - which means "Who is like the Lord" However there was some pushback on this name from some family members. The next day we agreed on Kimberley. But after research, we found the meaning of this name to be nonsensical. So we did a search on all the girls names which mention the word "God" and we came up with Isabelle. Isabelle means my God is my vow. Isabelle is the French version of Isabel, and incorporates the word 'belle' - French for beautiful. We are both very happy with this name, and believe it suits our girl well!

Below are the many faces Isabelle has shown us on her first week on earth...