Leggings Love

Macy loves her leggings...............

........even when it is REALLY hot!!!!!

Life is Good with Leggings!

MOVING DAY!!!!!

IT' S THURSDAY....MOVING DAY!!!!!

When we went to the house last night at 6:15pm this is what we found.......

So you ask, "Aren't those the same pictures from Saturday?!?!!?!?!"  Why yes they are!!!!!  To give them A LITTLE credit, I didn't have my camera last night, so a TINY BIT more work had been done.

Needless to say....Today is JUST THURSDAY and NO moving will be taking place.  In fact, no moving into this house will be taking place at all!!!!!!

For those of you that haven't read everything about the house I will make a long story short.

End of October:  Found this house ALMOST done and was told we could move in January 15th

November and December--Not much done

December 24th--E-mail from house owner to see if we can delay closing until January 31st

January--Still not a lot of work done!!!!!

Saturday, January 26th--We visit the house and think there is no way they will get everything done by Thursday.

Wednesday, January 30th--E-mails back and forth with our realtor during the day and visit the house at 6:15 pm

Here is an e-mail from our realtor we got .......

A quick update following up the inspection today:

Below are the items still pending as of 12noon:

1.       Bathroom accessories (owner said will try to get this done by looking at the situation, I suspected it need at least another day)

2.       Jacuzzi bath in master bathroom. (expected beginning next week)

3.       Electrical appliances (Delivery was to be this morning, but no sign as of yet)

4.       Tiling works inside/outside (in progress)

5.       Wall touch up (in progress)

6.       Ceiling touch up (in progress)

7.       Lightings/fans (pending for 1-2 rooms)

8.       Cleaning (curtains is also pending because the house is not thoroughly cleaned).

..............

The list doesn't look to bad, but in person there was a lot to do and it was filthy with dust and construction mess.

...................

My e-mail to Justin----------"This is BULL#@$!"

Not much else needs to be said about how I was feeling!!!!

............

Except maybe this.....I sent this to Justin and our realtor(she has been great and this is no fault of hers)

"I am so mad right now!  If I was around this guy I would scream in his face!!!!!!!!"

..........................

Justin suggested maybe we could still close and then they could keep working.....This is my e-mail to him:

"I am not closing because this jerk won't finish anything.  He is not giving us a incomplete house or getting any money"

........................

Looking back on it, I am glad we had to do all these discussions through e-mail because had I been in person with everyone I would have been a screaming, hot mess!.....Typing in a living room with 4 girls watching me was probably much better for everyone!!!

So after discussion at 6:15, we decided to look at the house across the street.  The layout is identical.  The only real difference is the stairs are a lighter wood color and the outside is a bit different.  The yard isn't as big, but the pool is much bigger.............The girls loved it!!!!  Hannah asked, "When can you seal the deal on this house?!?!?!"

Hopefully, the deal will be sealed later on today and we can move in this weekend, or at the lastest early next week.

Life is Good, but a little frustrating right now!!!!

Say Cheese!

Whitney found the Kindle Fire in one spot and the headphones in another.  She crawled up on the window seat and started tapping the screen.  I guess she has seen it done a time or 2!

Now when I ask her to "Say Cheese," she gives this HUGE 3 toothed grin!!!

Life is Good when you have sisters around to teach you things.

Bed Buddies

When my alarm went off at 5:40 this morning, I had a sore neck.

I think my bed buddies may have had something to do with that:

 See that little area by Whit's feet?!?!?!  That was the space I had!

I knew Whitney was there since I put her that in the middle of the night.  Didn't know about Kaylee until the alarm!!!

I am looking forward to the house for 2 main reasons:

1.  A yard for the girls to run around and be crazy and loud in.

2.  For Whitney to have her own room and crib back---she has been sleeping in a pack and play in a room with us since December 15th.

Had to wake the Littles up at 6:10 to head to breakfast for the Bigs to get on the bus by 6:50. Next week, we will get to sleep a little later since the bus will come later and we won't have the breakfast buffet to go to. I think the girls will miss their eggs cooked to order, hot milk ready to make hot chocolate, breakfast sausages and 3 kinds of fresh fruit waiting for them.

Life is Good with a good breakfast to get you started on your day.

Year of the Snake

A big holiday is coming up.....

The Chinese New Year

Everywhere you look you will see:

Lanterns, cherry blossoms, orange trees and the color RED!!!!

The girls asked me a few questions about the holiday, so I Googled it!!!

Here are a few things I found out:

Chinese New Year is the most important of traditional Chinese holidays and it is known as "Spring Festival"

It is a time of gathering with family and start fresh and wish peace and happiness to everyone

It is based of the lunisolar calendar and is usually between January 21 and Feb 20th.

This year it will be February 10th.

Each year has an animal assigned to it based off of a 12 cycle animal zodiac.

2012 was the year of the dragon

2013 will be the snake

There is also an element of wood, fire, earth, metal or water for each year.

Yin and Yang alternates each year

Together this is a Water-Snake-Yin year...the next exact combo of this will be in 60 years.

Life is Good when you can be around new cultural traditions

A Day at the Zoo with All 4!!!

Vacation mode for us is over..........Justin has been going into the office each day and the Bigs are into a school routine.  However, today was the first day daddy was going to be "out of town."  I put it in quotes because he is just downtown at another hotel for meetings, but he won't be coming back to the apartment each night.  Since he left this morning before breakfast, I figured we better have a busy Sunday ahead.

The girls and I grabbed a taxi to the zoo!  Before going, I checked that they were open on Sundays.  While looking online, I saw something called the Loyalty Program.  For 20 ringgit...the regular child admission price for one time and only about $7....each girls now has a year long membership to come in for free.  I couldn't believe what a deal it was.  Plus, they were each given a little drawstring backpack, a coloring book and animal classification book about the 5 animal kingdoms and vertebrates and invertebrates....wish I had the booklet when I taught my animal unit to 4th graders!!!

We started at the animal show and that is where the pictures started......and didn't stop the whole day for Hannah!!!

 Apparently, Whitney was bored with it since she had seen it before!

 For an extra dollar each girl got to feed the giraffes.

 Kaylee fed them hers and Macy's!!

 Macy and I have been talking about the cool lion and tigers since we first visited.  They were a bit of a let down today for the Bigs........the lion wasn't nearly as impressive laying on the ground as he was when we saw him before.  We couldn't even see the tigers because they were laying down behind the brush.

After grabbing some ice cream, we walked along the Savannah trail.

We still have a few areas to visit, so I am sure we will be back again soon--especially since it will be FREE for the girls.

It was a hot day and everyone was getting cranky and tired after being there for almost 4 hours.  We had to walk a bit to get a taxi on the main road because there weren't any waiting at the zoo exit.  On the ride back, we realized that Whitney had a very messy diaper.....Sitting in the back with all 4 hot, tired, crabby girls and a dirty diaper was low point of the day..maybe the week.  After a little meltdown....no tears....... I put Whit down for a nap and sat in another room by myself for 5 minutes, I was feeling better. Now I think I can make it through tonight and probably until Thursday too!!!!.....Might go through a lot of Coca-Light and Nutella though!!!!

Life is Good when you can survive the zoo with 4 kids!

A LOT Before Thursday!!!!

Not much more can be said with these pictures than.....A LOT NEEDS TO BE DONE BEFORE WE CAN MOVE IN ON THURSDAY!!!!!

After checking out the house, we headed to the Pavilion mall to get a few things...a TV and some cooking utensils.  We found a huge Chinese New Year display there and the girls liked walking around and looking at the booths and walking over the bridge.

The girls ordered apple juice at lunch and no one besides Whitney liked it because it was green apple juice.

It kept her entertained for a long time!!!!!

All 3 girls liked the chicken soup.

Justin and I loved the steamed dumplings.

They make them on sight and it was crazy to watch.  They were so fast!!!!

Once all the perfectly weighed dough nuggets were ready they had a quick assembly line:

1 guy for rolling

1 for stuffing

2 for pinching them closed.  

They were so light and fresh...We will definitely be going back again soon!!! 

These 2 entertained themselves for a bit with a sandal switcharoo and trying to do a 3 legged walk.

Life is Good, but will be much better if we have a completed house on Thursday!!!

12 Drums

This morning, I woke up not feeling too great--headache, sore throat and a stuffy nose.  I thought it would be fun for the Littles and I to have a jammie day and watch movies.  By 12:30, I realized that wasn't going to happen.  We got dressed and headed out to the mall.  Half way there, I remembered they were having a Chinese 12-Drum performance to help celebrate the New Year.....A post coming on the Chinese New Year soon!

It was really a sight to see and hear....."The drum players are REALLY loud"....Macy

There was a lot of movement and they would hit the middle of the drum, the outside and their sticks together for 3 different sounds.

 The girls were very entertained!!!

Macy liked when this guy came out at the end...she did tell me he was just in a costume!

It looked like rain on our way home........with about 10 minutes left in our walk it was RAIN!!!!!  We got caught in some rain the other night coming back from the store, but this was A LOT of rain.  Macy held the umbrella for the herself and Whit.  They stayed pretty dry.  I tried to do some running and only lost my flip flop one time in an intersection.  Luckily, I had enough time to take the girls to the end and come back for it before it got run over!!!

We haven't seen a lot of lightening with storms, but today I heard some of the loudest thunder I have ever heard.  Macy was worried that it would be too loud for our dog Maddie in heaven.

Life is Good when a hot bath can come right after getting stuck in the rain!!!

KL Bird Park

The girls did not have school today(January 24th) because it is a public holiday to observe the Prophet Muhammad's birthday.  We decided to check out the KL Lake Gardens area.  It is over 200 acres with 2 lakes and many different parks and gardens to visit.  There are separate areas for butterflies, deer, orchids and hibiscus and sculptures. 

 We started with the bird park.  

Cats are #1 on my least favorite animal list and birds are a very close #2.

I had a very bad experience with birds taking over my tray of food at Disney World, and now they freak me out.  The girls were really excited about it, so I figured I could do it.

 From the moment we walked through the first door we had birds flying right by us.

Hannah is our animal lover, but Kaylee wanted to get right by them too!

 This guy was trying to show off for his lady friend.

 Inside I am dying in this picture because not only am I holding a bird, it is pecking at my palm.

 For 2 extra RM(ringgit), so less than a dollar, you could feed these birds.

Hannah LOVED it.....

 Kaylee not so much....."Get it off, Get it off"........

Justin decided to try it too, and one left a little surprise behind!!!

At this point, we quickly put the cups down and moved on.  I could feel the birds on/near me also and EVERYONE was feeling a bit uncomfortable!!!!

 There was an awesome playground we stopped at for a bit.

 The playground was in an open air area, and when we turned the corner we found this guy and a little group of his friends:

 Our first wild monkey sighting!!!!!

 We ate lunch at the Hornbill Restaurant connected to the park.

I loved my meal.  I tried the chicken satay(popular Malaysian dish of skewered meat) served with peanut sauce and cucumber and onion.  Bonus: I got a cold Coca-Cola Light in a can!!!!

 One thing we have had to check is that the girls are using Sos Tomato(ketchup) and not Sos Chili.  They do have Heinz some places, but not very often.

Our plan was to see more of the area, but after lunch we were exhausted.  The girls can't wait to bring Papa Dave here in March......he loves to take pictures and I told them he would get better ones of the birds than I did.  Hopefully, while my parents are here we can see a few more areas.

Life is Good when you don't totally freak out over birds in front of your kids!!!!