It’s hard to believe how fast this school year has gone for everybody.  It was just a year ago that Maddie Anna shared her first portfolio with us at the end of the school year.  Now she has shared with us again and we are so proud of her.  When she saw Andy and I waiting with the other parents, she squealed in delight and took our hands to lead us to a spot on the floor.  Maddie went through everything in her portfolio and explained how everything was soooooo important to her.

Maddie is still the youngest in her class which at this age is still a fairly big deal I guess because some kids are a full year older than Maddie.  Maddie is unphased though as she learns and loves just like everybody else.  Our number one goal from her at the beginning of this year was to simply love school and love learning  Indeed she does… from Top to Bottom!!

Maddie started this school year out with confidence.  She knew how to do school.  She knew the routines, she knew the teacher, she knew some friends and she was ready for Pre-K 4.  She had a brand spanking new Hello Kitty backpack, curly hair, a cheesy smile and the best “can-do” attitude possible.

This year was a big year for Maddie Anna.  She started the year as THE princess in our household and about 6 weeks into the school year, she gained a sister.  In looking back, I’m thankful that Maddie had school because it was her time, her space, her experiences.  She needed Maddie time to ease the transition into experiencing life at home with a new baby.

I loved being on maternity leave for 8 weeks because I was able to get into Maddie’s classroom like I had never done before.  I saw the inner workings of her day, how she acted around friends, how she acted around her teachers…  all slightly different than how she would act at home.  Knowing what I know about kids, it will always be this way! 

She has changed to much this year.  She taller, her curly hair is almost gone, she’s more confident, more stubborn and sweeter in one.  Our number one goal for her this year was to love school and love learning.  She still does as she takes the new learnings home with her everyday and shares most of what she has learned.  I miss some things though…

I miss “lellow” but I love yellow.

I miss the curly hair, but love that she wants long straight hair.

I miss deciding what she wears, but love her own combinations.

Maddie has entered another stage in her life and we’re having fun experiencing it with her.  As a favorite blogger friend of mine said, we learn from children in their presence and it’s time to do it in the present.  I’ve learned that this year.  Life has a way of stealing time away from you, but there’s always time for Maddie - you just can’t miss what she’s saying or doing because it’s going to change fast as she moves onto another stage in her life!

About a month before school was out, Maddie realized that EVERYBODY in her class had turned five.  What she would’ve done to be five with them.  We found her using the “but I’m four” card as an excuse for everything:

Us: “Maddie, we asked you to please pick up your toys.”

Maddie: “But I’m FOUR.”

Us:  “Maddie, please don’t bump your sister on the head with a pencil.”

Maddie:  “But I’m FOUR.”

Priceless!  She has reassured us though that all of her bad habits will disappear once she turns five and once she goes into Kindergarten.  How soon is that now?

The last day of school was really good. In our trip to Jingdezhen this year, we picked up a really cool piece of pottery that would make an excellent cookie jar, so Maddie and I baked cookies for the last day of school and gave them to Miss Preeti.  I can tell that she sure is ready to head to Kindergarten though.  How you ask?  After she gave the cookies to Miss Preeti, she grabbed her backpack and marched down to her new classroom.  She entered and said to the teacher, “I’M HERE!”

We love you Maddie! 

I feel like I was in second grade when I sang the song “All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth”… maybe it was earlier though because at this rate, Maddie will be in K!  We’ve been talking about going to the dentist for weeks and she was soooooo excited to go today because she couldn’t wait to show the dentist her teeth… or lack thereof.

Maddie has just gotten so big… she uses big words, does big girl things, and has big expectations of others and herself.  She was nervous when the whirl of the polisher came out and almost flipped when they asked her if she wanted a flouride treatment, but she was determined to just be BIG.  I’m feeling like I need to show her that Tom Hanks movie!!!

Anyway, check out the great smile and the cool glasses on my baby girl.  I may not be able to say baby girl anymore, but at least I can write it!!!

I love this… it’s a perfect reflection.  This is so developmental and it’s a perfect reflection.  As the end of the year comes to a close, all of the cool stuff starts to come home.  This is exactly how Maddie saw her name on that day - in that moment.  It made sense to her brain.  I love it!!!  Just think, it took me hours in Driver’s Education class my sophomore year of high school to teach myself how to write backwards for no reason whatsoever and now my daughter can do it without thinking twice!!!

When the sky is blue in Shanghai, you just have to go outside and be outside.  So I lather both girls up with sunblock and let the giggles begin.  Maddie played hopscotch and Amelia rolled around on the bear blanket just laughing at Maddie jump on one foot from number to number.  I guess from Amelia’s point of view, it would be a rather strange sight! 

Maddie woke me up this morning by a take-off jump. This is where she gets a huge running start from her room to ours and then throws her body onto our bed as fast as she possibly can… try to picture lets and arms going everywhere. This morning she was super excited because her second tooth was finally loose. Now, yesterday she had a really bad fall at school and fell on her chin so that may have loosened it, but it was technically the next tooth to go so I wasn’t worried… okay, okay, I was a bit worried about a recurrence of the first tooth’s destiny.

By breakfast, the tooth was out and she was giddy with excitement. We decided that it would be a really good idea to make a tooth fairy pillow so that the tooth wouldn’t get lost underneath Maddie’s big pillow. So we put Amelia in her saucer, got the sewing machine out and went through all of our scrap material. Maddie chose the material because it was left over from her baby blanket… she said she would have the baby blanket as a baby and the tooth fairy pillow as a big girl!

Maddie helped me thread the bobbin, stitch her name onto the fabric, sew pieces together and iron the seams before we finally stuffed it. She absolutely loves the pillow.., it hers and it’s like a right of passage for her. After thinking about it for a long while, she decided to write a letter to the tooth fairy. She asked me to start writing it for her which I did, but she quickly took the marker from me and added her own two cents worth.

In case you are curious, I wrote down exactly what she said….

Dear Tooth Fairy,

I like you so much and I like your wings. Do you have a car or not? Do you have a pillow or not? Or do you have money? ~Maddie. Do you like my piloy (pillow). Do you like Maddie.

Will the tooth fairy write her back? Will she take the tooth? Will she leave something for Maddie? It’s May and it feels like Christmas Eve in our house!

It is so cool being a teacher at my daughter’s school. Seriously… even though I work full time, I am able to be there for the important stuff. When there is a class party, I can easily find somebody to cover my class. When visiting authors come to town, I can head down during my plan time. When it’s lunch time and I have a few extra minutes, I can walk out to the playground during Maddie’s recess just to say hello. When she’s sick or when she has fallen down, I can run down to her class to help her feel better at a moment’s notice. I am so lucky.

Today was one of those days with the elementary field day. The PE teachers at our school took it the extra mile this year by organizing an Olympic themed day. Maddie’s class represented Mexico and they participated in the opening ceremonies through the parade and the passing of the torch! This picture just makes me laugh because you have Maddie with her two Korean buddies, Youn Soo and Dae He, waving Mexican flags while shouting “Viva la Mexico!”

Maddie chased bubbles, ran in a relay, passed water sponges, jumped in a bouncy castle… she was so excited for the entire day. She ran the relay at the end of the morning and as you can see, she was TIRED! But she picked herself up and made her way through it not once, but twice! I saw one look in her eye at 3:00 after school and the look of exhaustion proved she had a wonderful day. I did too because I spent my entire plan time down there with her… and of course, Amelia and I still went to see her during my lunch!

Things will sure be different without Daneah and Jeff around. I remember sitting in Daneah’s office at school in Yanbu back in 2002 telling her that Andy and I were going to have a baby. From the moment Maddie was born, Daneah has always been there. Daneah will never have children by choice, but she is such a great “mom” with the children in her life. This is just one of many things that makes her a great counselor.

Maddie and I would stop by Daneah’s office in the mornings on the way out to the nursery even before Maddie could walk just to play with her animal puppets. When Maddie was a bit older, we would stop for a sticker and Daneah knew NOT to put it on Maddie’s skin as it freaked her out…she just knew. We spent many evenings by the pool with Daneah, many moments out at the beach with Daneah, and even moved to Shanghai at the same time.

Maddie really loves her (and Jeff too.

So it was only natural that Maddie would go pick her favorite flowers in the backyard, cut out a heart, color it and then tape the flowers to the back of the heart just to give it to “Miss” Daneah. Maddie, you’ve gotta stop making us tear up so much!!! It’s a good thing… just remember that it’s not over… it will just be different.

I loved it!!! I woke up this morning to a wonderful card from Miss Maddie waiting for me AND a huge present from dad. I honestly did not know what it was… it looked like it could be a carpet bag! Andy and Maddie unwrapped it for me though and set it up. I have my very first massage table!! We each took turns having a massage, but Maddie’s massage was definitely the funniest of them all. She was 100% giggles and the giggles were contagious!

Thanks for a great Mom’s Day Maddie Anna!!

It was one of those perfect moments…

the grass was green

Lester was hanging around

Amelia was laughing with the toys in her tent

Maddie was remembering when she sat in the same tent as a wee-little one

Saturday’s weather was absolutely perfect in Shanghai. Note the blue sky - you don’t see that very much! It was bit windy, but fortunately, the backyard of our house is sheltered from the sea winds. Can you say “lazy afternoons?” I’ll take every single one of them I can get!

Before the May holiday, I took a day off of work so that I could accompany Maddie on a field trip to the local organic farm. I seriously was expected a small greenhouse for the kids, but what I found was acres and acres of greenhouses full of lots of yummy looking vegetables!

Maddie and her 2nd grade reading buddy teamed up and spent the day taking care of each other. They started the day off getting educated about the gardening process. They gave each child three seeds that they could plant and then showed them what happened after 12 hours, 3 days, 6 days, and then 10 days. Maddie had just planted a bunch of seeds with Andy over the weekend so she was an old pro. We spent the rest of the morning going from greenhouse to greenhouse where Maddie was able to pick lettuce, parsley, broccoli and carrots.

We had so much fun on this absolutely gorgeous day. The farm even prepared a lunch for us made from all of their organic vegetables. And lucky me…. I discovered they actually deliver vegetables to the house!

The next thing we want to do is start our own compost pile. Maddie KNOWS it’s stinky, but she also knows that those banana peels could be used for something special!

It was 80 degrees in Shanghai today.

Let me repeat that…

It was 80 degrees in Shanghai today… nice!

Maddie wearing a sundress while investigating the grasslands behind our house, Amelia babbling in the background as she spins in her saucer, Andy grabbing a club and hitting golf balls across the golf course from our backyard. These really are the moments! Enjoy the pics and Happy Spring!

And said that Maddie was required to attend during her May Holiday break so we bought a couple of tickets and headed down to Hong Kong for two full days. When we said we were going to Hong Kong Disneyland, I don’t think she truly grasped what that meant. The magic in her eyes the entire day was priceless. At one point, we were watching the Golden Mickey’s and both Andy and I had tears in our eyes for a brief moment simply because Maddie was being so four. She was in awe and had such a sense of wonder in her eyes. I swear if she had been wearing sparkly, red shoes and clicked her heals then something would have happened!!

We took the subway to Sunny Bay station and transferred to the Micky Line…seriously, the windows were shapped like Mickey on the train and the moment the doors opened, we were drawn into the magic.

It has happened. Everything was confirmed when I hopped on Twitter the other day and looked at my history from the night before. My husband put it down in black and white. We are all homesick right now… Maddie included. She’s been waking up saying things like, “mommy? I have an idea! ” (She always has an idea.) “Um, um, um, um, um… tee, hee, hee… um, um, um, um… tee, hee, hee… um.” (Apparently it’s now cool to say um a lot) “Um, we could bring my bunk beds to Shanghai from America! Is that a good idea?!”

We are all craving a home that offers peace and offers us an intimacy with the environment that is just…. easier. So, when Aunt Sissy and Uncle Bubba’s boxes arrived our leaps of joy and giggles of delight almost brought down the house! Home was lovingly placed into two boxes and they arrived at the most perfect time. It took nearly 40 minutes to open them because we devoured each and every item, studying every nook and cranny we could find before heading onto the next item.

Thank you so much my family - perfect timing as usual!

I don’t know why this makes me laugh so hard. Maddie and Ri-Ri are really good friends and as they both get older, they both get more opinionated! Just watch the body language here… it’s priceless! Thank goodness the days for finally staying lighter and getting warmer! By the way, your computer is working and the connections is fine… the movie IS in black and white AND has no sound. That’s why I like it! I invited you to paint the picture and write the transcript… it’s amusing!

The girl… is seven months old today. She’s really starting to come into her own. Her personality is so much different than Maddie’s - they are both so unique! One thing is for sure, every time Maddie walks in the door from a long day at school, Amelia lights up. You can just see the thoughts running through her head…. “my people! my people are home!!!”

This time of year is so busy on so many levels. I’ve been wanting to get my hair cut and Maddie’s hair cut for over a month now, but we haven’t been able to find the time! Something is wrong with that so I thought it was high time to take a day just to be. Miss Amelia stayed at home while Maddie and I hopped on the Links bus down to the Portman where we caught a taxi to Benson’s where we get our haircut.

Maddie always feels like such a grown-up when we go do things like this. She laughed all day and enjoyed every single minute of our outing. She practiced her Chinese with the taxi drivers which was quite hilarious because her favorite word to yell is ting…stop!

Thanks for a great day with me Maddie Anna and thanks for making me the heart card with the purple flowers you picked. I love it…

I think there is a reason for it…. Amelia is really happy. I think the reason she is sooooo happy is because Maddie has finally included her in the family drawings. For the past 6 months, Maddie has been drawing pictures of Maddie, daddy, and mommy. When people ask her where Amelia is in the picture, she quickly explains that Amelia is in mommy’s tummy. Well, in Maddie’s mind Amelia has finally earned the spot in the family outside of mommy’s tummy. I love this story! This is one of those stories that you tell over and over and over again. When Maddie and Amelia are both old and grey, they’ll be talking about how Maddie kept Amelia in the womb for 6 months longer that really necessary!

We love you so much Maddie Anna and Amelia loves you too… she loves being included!!!

In April 2007, I headed to Jingdezhen and left my family at home.  I spent most of the time in Jingdezhen wishing that they were there to experience the amazing pottery city.  Well, we had a three day weekend and really needed to get away for a few days so Jingdezhen called our name.  Now some may think that I’m crazy to take a 4 year old and a 6 month old pottery shopping, but I believe that kids must have exposure so that they can learn how to act in various situations.  I’m happy to report that both Maddie and Amelia did beautifully!!  I loved being in Jingdezhen as a family for two days.  It was a special trip in so many ways.

Maddie became instant friends with our guide, Monty.  Monty is a college student that basically takes you around Jingdezhen for a few days.  She knows where to go and about how much to pay for things and also takes you to some mighty interesting restaurants.  Maddie sat on Monty’s lap every time we were in the car and climbed on Monty’s back when she got tired.  When we were at the airport saying good-bye I think I experienced one of the most priceless moments…”Monty?  Will you be my friend forever?  I’m going to miss you so much.”  Maddie had a good time!

Amelia was the star of the show and clearly has that Special Child Syndrome gene in her.  She was a trooper and was content as can be in the Bjorn.  She’s the type of baby that just goes with the flow so when ba-zillions of people rush up to her she very simply smiles sweetly and flaps her arms as fast as possible.  She was an amazing baby for such a demanding trip! :)   Both of the girls had to pose for the camera so many times that they were seeing stars in their eyes at every turn.  At least they were having a photogenic day!

Maddie chose her own pottery to ship home this time and I know that it is something that will be with her forever.  She has the carpet from Saudi Arabia that marks her time from there and now she has the pottery from China.  She’s an international kid for sure!  And Miss Amelia is staring her collection of worldly possessions… Maddie chose a piece of pottery for her as well.

In all we had a really good trip with everybody.  Next time I think Andy and I will head to Jingdezhen by ourselves… and yes, it’s THAT good that you can go back again and again!

One day over Spring Break we decided to take a special Maddie day.  Why?  We wanted to be able to devote 100% of our attention to Maddie for a short moment in time.  She has been such a great sister to Amelia and thought this would be kind of fun for her… time alone with mom and dad.

 Here’s what Maddie discovered right away - she missed Amelia. As soon as we got in the car and drove away from the house, Maddie had tears running down her cheeks because she thought Amelia would be sad and that Amelia would miss us.  In an odd way, this made me feel really, really good.  It just goes to show ya - Amelia is part of our family!

We persevered though and made our way to Super Brand Mall where we shopped a bit and made a lot of noise as Andy threw Maddie up on his shoulders.  We made our way to Toys R Us where Maddie decided that she wanted to buy Amelia a present because she was missing us so much.

In all, the day was actually perfect.  We had fun together and laughed a lot, but one thing is for sure…  next time, Amelia is joining us!!!