Making Pizza

We love pizza and have tried many different pizza restaurants in the city. Papa John's is here but too expensive. And this little pizza place hello pizza was decent but we were outraged to learn they one day up and doubled the cost of their little pepperoni pizza. How could they? So we have been making our own at home- a lot easier than I would have thought and its great fun. Here are a few shots from out last pizza making. As you can see Will's favorite part by far is eating the toppings as he goes. I could hardly get him to look up at the camera.  

This is the face he gave me when I asked him to smile. 

The latest on Will

Hi all, so as usual its been awhile since I've posted so I wanted to give you the latest on Will (cause I assume that's mostly why you check this blog :) ).  Anyway, he is doing great- and growing quite the sense of humor (I love seeing what 2 year old find funny).  A couple of recent shots of him below.  

Will is still in his crib but I am thinking of moving him to a toddler bed- so I have been trying him out with a pillow and comforter in his crib and he loves it! (se pics below)- or course this is really just play time- during the night he is all over the place. I guess we all at one point learned to stay put while sleeping- how does that happen when we are unconscious? 

Also- Will loves to eat vegetables! I know this is a lucky thing that I am sure will not last his whole childhood so that is why I am documenting him eating green veggies. So, when he is 8 and complaining I can show him the pictures of how much he loved them. (note. I am not really expecting this will work with an 8 year old but its worth a try)

Also, I am trying to do more arts and crafts projects with Will. But it seems his favorite part is not the actual creation of the art but showing everyone over and over his completed works. His attention span for art is like 5-15 minutes and then he's done. But he can show Daddy, me and anyone else who comes over his artwork- he points proudly to everything we have displayed. Our little narcissist. :) 

Will the model :)

Ok I am embarrassed that it has been so long since I've blogged. This is why I won't get a facebook- I just can't keep up online! All my friends blogs are so good and up to date with posting about the lives of their kids but I can't compare- I will just have to put up with posting snipets here and there.

So, anyway our friend Carol who is Taiwanese (yea Taiwan!) started this amazing company called Shokay www.shokay.com (check it out!).  They use yak wool (really warm and super soft) to make all kinds of products and they work directly with the Tibetan herders to buy the yak wool so they can make a sustainable living and seek to give back to the community there. Really cool and socially conscious business model.  Carol asked if Will wanted to be a model for some of their new children's clothes line- I said YES!! In a land where white skinned babies are fawned over I jumped at the chance to show how cute my little asian boy is. The modeling sessions (2 of them) were so fun and as payment we get the stuff he modeled. Thanks Carol! At first he didn't get it but then with us jumping around to make him look a certain direction and showing him the pictures afterwards he got the idea and enjoyed it. 

Here I am a proud mama so here are his photos :)

He is supposed to be a yak- how cute!

At this shoot we had to bribe Will with a cookie to keep him focused :)

I stuffed his hands in his pockets just before the photo- ha ha

So I don't think I will be running out to sign him up for every modeling opportunity but it was really fun.

Ridiculously long Christmas Post

As per the title this is a ridiculously long post, so I assume it may only be grandparents that make it to the end. But since we celebrate Christmas so far away from family and friends in the States we thought we would well document the day. So here goes...

We started out Christmas Eve with a great party with some of our local friends here. It was so fun to celebrate Christmas with them. Unfortunately Will missed the whole thing as he was fast asleep... but he would need the energy for the next day.
This is first thing Christmas morning...Will right away went for was this plastic giraffe and Bob the Builder video in his stocking- he wanted to watch it so we let him watch ten minutes of it. Little did he know how much more Bob was awaiting him...
Here we are at Christmas breakfast. 
A favorite gift was this HaiBao doll(see earlier post for explanation) that his friend Winston gave him. Here he is feeding HaiBao a piece of granola bar.
One of the new toys. :)

Unwrapping a gift- Will REALLY got into the unwrapping gifts thing- in fact he opened most of Den and I's too.


Here he is opening one of Den's.
Merry Christmas.
And helping Mommy with one of her gifts.
Lest you think we never take pictures of just the two of us anymore.
Self taken Christmas family portrait.
Will taking a close look at the Bob videos he received from Grandma and Grampa Baker. 
Getting ready to head out to Christmas brunch with friends.
Our friends Russ dressed up as Santa at our Christmas brunch- Will wasn't phased at all. This guy gives me presents...why be scared?
A picture of all the kids at our Christmas brunch. A Christmas miracle to get them to all be still for a second.

We definitely missed being with our families but it was a great day- we have been blessed so much.

Christmas Music Class

Every week Will and I go to a music class for toddlers. I love it and so does Will- its our special mommy and Will outing. It so cute they play instruments, sing songs with motions, read a story, and play with a parachute. Around Christmas the teacher did a special Christmas music class and Dads were able to come because it was on a Saturday. Here are a couple shots from the morning.

                          Running from the bubble "snowflakes" and having a great time. 
Dads were enlisted to be reindeer for the sleigh ride. It was so funny. This room with like 15 Dads with antlers pulling kids in plastic tubs.

Fun with instruments.

Merry Christmas!

Lots of pictures to update from the last couple weeks but for now we will leave you with a Merry Christmas greeting from Will. :)

Our favorite blue guy

This might look like blue gumby to you but to us here this is HaiBao (Hi-bow (like bow wow) ). He is the mascot for the upcoming world expo and he is EVERYWHERE.  We see him on subways, tv, parks, supermarkets, elevators, you get the idea. Well they must have done some market research because the kids love this guy- and our Will is included- every time he sees him he excitedly says "Rai Row!" (that's Haibao in his language) One time we were having some friends over for dinner and when they rang up from downstairs I looked at Will and asked "Who do you think is here?"- "Rai Row" was his answer. Not sure this guy makes house calls, but there will be a miniature version of him under the tree this year, so Will can play with him anytime. :)