Every year Maddie has done a Celebration of Learning presentation at the end of the school year to show off her stuff.  When she was three years old, I was simply bamboozled that the word “chrysalis”  came out of her mouth! When she was four, I was ecstatic that she loved learning more than anything.  This year was no different and it was a very special event indeed.  I cannot believe how much she has grown and what she has accomplished this school year.  She’s just happy all of the time.  I always thought kids would wake up with belly aches sometimes and need days home from school to just chill.  Maddie is not one of those kids though. Everyday, no matter what, she wants to go to school!

The celebration of learning event was a bit different though than the other ones… this time daddy couldn’t be with us in the flesh because he had to spend the day in Puxi.  But look who Maddie’s parents are!!! Daddy very simply left his meeting at 1:00, mom turned at the computer at 1:00 in Maddie’s classroom and dad Skyped in so that Maddie could share some of the favorite items out of her portfolio with both of us at the same time.  I actually think that this made her celebration that much more special! Of course, the other kids in the class could hardly concentrate on their own presentations because they were enthralled with Andy on the computer.  Even a few parents could hardly contain the awe as they marvelled at our ingenious plan!

Maddie Anna – we are so proud of you.  Oh my gosh child!!! You’ve lost teeth this year, practiced your reading, learned how to ride a bike… you’ve challenged yourself and have grown in leaps and bounds! We love you so much and we are so proud of you peanut!

Maddie's View on Skype

Dad's View on Skype

Here’s proof for ya: courage is a state of mind!

Maddie has not ridden her bicycle most of this year. Her old bike has been too small and training wheels do not it on her new bike so she has simply chosen not to even bother. But then she had her “fake” birthday party where she sort of, kind of, not really turned six years old! I came home from school today and looked ahead of me to see a kid on a bike with a pink helmet coming at me. Who else could it be but Maddie with the pink helmet. And then it hit me.. she was riding her bicycle AND nobody was holding on that bicycle as she rode it.

Fortunately, I had my camera in right in my computer bag so you can at least catch my absolute shock and joy at seeing Maddie’s achieve this milestone! Make sure you go to Maddie’s blog if you are getting this in email so that you can see the video. It’s like she woke up and just decided that she had the courage to ride a bike without training wheels.

We were so proud of her and she just smiled and said, “Well, I am six… sort of!”

Amelia, of course, wanted to do everything her sister was doing so she found a helmet all by herself and insisted that we put it on her. She then hopped on Maddie’s old bicycle and pulled herself along even though she couldn’t sit on the seat. She eventually decided that she did NOT like the helmet one bit and settled on keeping the helmet on the handlebars!

Not my words!  Maddie herself called it her “fake” 6th birthday!

For the past couple of years, Maddie’s birthday has kind of been at an interesting time of the year.  On August 5th, we are usually back in Shanghai but there are not really any other kids back but work is in full swing so we haven’t had a kid birthday party yet.  This year we decided to have an early birthday party for Maddie with her friends that she has had in class all year long. It was a fun day indeed!  We ordered a huge cake for Maddie’s class, had gft bags for every kid in class, and gave the kids icecream just add a bit more sugar to their systems! Maddie’s classmates made a book for her where each person drew a picture and wrote a sentence about what they like about her.  As she read each page (and she did read them), she gigged in delight.  She was so happy….

The kids sang happy birthday to Maddie in English, Korean and Mandarin – where are we and how did we get here?

Make sure you actually go to Maddie’s blog to see the video below!

Shanghai has two seasons…. winter and summer.  Spring and autumn are only a few weeks long each so have to adjust quickly!!  It’s starting to get HOT and humid outside so the best thing to do is turn on the sprinkler in the backyard, get the kids and dog running around and call it good!  We actually did try to dip our feet in the pool but it was still to cold for my taste.  The backyard provided tons of fun while the golfers chuckled their way through the 15th green – I guess we were quite the site!!

Chasing Sisters

Making a Swimming Pool

Ladybugs

Maddie and her class braved the elements this year for Field Day 2009.  In spite of the oceanside wind and small rain delay, they giggled and laughed their way through the day!  Their energy was HIGH in the beginning and by the end, they were all zapped!  The PK – 1 field day is only a half of a day compared to a full day for the older kids… I completely understand why!!!!!!!!

Sophia and Maddie have been in the same class now for three years.  They have always gotten along… when they see each other first thing in the morning, they run to each other and quickly catch up with everything since they last saw each other.  They kind of keep each other real!  Sophia’s mom gave the kids a great end-of-year party and both girls had a great time!  It’s hard to believe that this school year is wrapping up so fast.  Where did the time go?

Running to the Bouncy Castle!

Amelia Loves to Jump!

Maddie and Sophia

Amelia Enjoys the Dollhouse

Sophia and Maddie

Summer is coming and that means ice cream!  Thank goodness both girls don’t mind sharing….

Family Photo!

I love it when some holidays are celebrated over a series of days!  Mom’s Day started on Friday at school and continues through today.  We decided to head out for Mom’s Day Brunch at the Ritz Carlton in Shanghai… sometimes, you just gotta do these things!

Cooper, Bauer, Amelia and Maddie....

Amelia enjoys here dessert!

Maddie Made Mom a Cake!

Friday was the most perfect day at school.  Maddie’s class decided to hold a special Mother’s Day picnic for us moms  The kids made their own banana bread and then surprised us with a special book they had made about what they love about moms.  Maddie was so proud to show me the book she made… she took such great care with her writing too!  Now, she wanted to read the book to me WHILE she was swinging  – I thought for sure she would crash but apparently, she’s a great multi-tasker!!!

Thanks Maddie Anna for the special Mom’s Day book and picture – I love ya Sweetie Pie!

Amelia has other plans for Maddie

The annual SAS Golf Classic was today so the girls and I hung out in the backyard waiting for Andy’s group to come by the backyard.  Sure enough, we looked across the lake to Hole 13 and we saw daddy!  Knowing that it would take about 25 minutes for him to get to us at Hole 15 we decided to fly a kite to pass the time.  While Maddie was

Liftoff - in spite of Meelie!

keen to fly the kite, Meelie was keen to sit on the kite.  Maddie was not happy with her sister!  Even when Maddie started to run to fly the kite, Amelia chased after her!

I just love days like this… warm, happy, warm, happy…. ah……

Jeff and Daneah

So here’s the deal:

People come in and out of your life and those people always serve a purpose for that particular moment in your life.  However, some people come into your life and are just always…. there.  Even if you don’t physically see each other for awhile and even if you live far apart, you always crave that friendship and KNOW that your friends will be there for you no matter what.  Those types of friendships are rare but they are strong and will endure…

Daneah Pretends to Love Amelia

Jeff and Daneah came to Shanghai this weekend for a brief visit and we were able to connect a few times.  Maddie is turning six and was trying desperately to be non-challant about the visit.  In the end, she just couldn’t help herself.  The wonderful memories came rushing back and Maddie was smitten as a kitten the entire time.

Maddie Runs to Jeff

We all had dinner together Thursday night and then Jeff came out for the annual SAS Golf Classic.  Great timing, eh?  In years past, Maddie would run down the fairway to Andy, but this year she ran down towards Jeff!

Maddie and Jeff on the Golf Course

Thanks friends for the visit!  We love you…. and as Maddie says, “from the moon, to the stars, around the world, and back again.”

We love getting home right after school these days.  The sky is so blue – the grass is so green – the air is so warm.  Hopskotch, slides, running around with the dogs in the sand…

We just play!  A hard play after school is exactly what the doc ordered!

I came home from school today to hear quite the ruckus coming out of our garage.  Callie was barking loudly and it sounded like Amelia was squeeling at the top of her lungs.  I couldn’t tell if it was crying or laughing…

This is what I saw:

Maddie had put Lester the cat in the kennel on the right and then moved the kennel right next to Callie’s cage.  You see, Lester intimidates Callie.  I mean, REALLY scares Callie.  Callie barks and tries to run away while Lester chases her and jumps on her back.  This little scenario was sending Callie over the edge much to Maddie and Amelia’s joy!!  Maddie sat there with a delightful smirk on her face and Amelia squeeled!

Maddie came home all excited because she had tadpoles in her classroom the other day.  She was telling me all about the life cycle of a frog so I asked her if she wanted to make a movie.  Being our kid, of course she wanted to make an iMovie of the frog cycle.  We searched the internet and I taught her how to right click on a Mac while I was at it.  If a five year old can do it…..

Enjoy the movie! (Email subscribers: go to the actual blog to view the movie!)

Three years and running Maddie has had her Easter in Shanghai.  This Easter is a bit different than years past…  in 2007, Maddie and Cooper had an Easter egg hunt in the backyard.  In 2008, Amelia joined us for the first time on Easter Sunday.  This year, Maddie and Amelia woke up to the Easter Bunny’s visit but she has a HUGE class party planned for later today so we’ll shake things up a bit!  Maddie was so excited to Amelia everything in her basket.  Don’t know if I’m mom of the year or not, but the both got a sucker before breakfast.  Hey, Easter only comes once a year!!!  Happy Easter girls!!!

Finally, it’s spring.  Every summer I buy massive amounts of chalk in the States and bring it back to China.  It sits there in the plastic wrap, calling out Maddie’s name all winter long.   It’s agony for the poor child I tell ya.  When the chalk comes out though…. let it roll!

Phu Quoc island is probably what Koh Samui was 20 years ago.  There is nothing here – I’m not complaining – seriously.  But there is nothing here for the typical tourist’s eye.  Koh Samui has been consumed by western commercialism… I hope that Phu Quoc doesn’t go that way.  It’s hard to image that it ever would after everything that we have seen.

We walked around downtown Phu Quoc and we were the only westerners as far as the eye could see.  As Maddie gets older, I’m convinced that these trips that we are privileged enough to take are exactly what Maddie (and Amelia) needs.  Our girls live a pretty good life.  They are safe, have a good home, a good school, good friends… life is comfortable.  I want her to see that not everybody lives the way we do.  Yes, the people of Phu Quoc seem very happy with all of the smiles and laughter we saw, but they live differently than we do.  Yet, a home is still somebody’s home and should always be treated with the respect it deserves…

We’re loving this trip..

Homes Along the River in Phu Quoc

Boats Along the River in Phu Quoc

Taking a Break from the Heat

Amelia waits for Ice Cream at Buddy

Waiting for Dinner on the Beach

Boats on the Water at Sunset

Dad and Amelia Discover Phu Quoc

Amelia explains Life to Phuong

For email subscribers, make sure you go to Maddie’s blog to see the video below..

We have no idea what time it is…

We eat when we are hungry…

We sleep when we are sleepy…

We swim when we are HOT (all of the time)

We are on island time….

Andy stopped by Mickey Dee’s on the way home from work this week and got a Happy Meal.  Loved the interactive gift inside!!  Maddie was obviously excited as well….

I love stumbling up things like this at school!  I was working on a 5th/6th grade transition wiki at school today and when I walked into a 5th grade classroom, one of the girls turned to me and said, “are you Maddie’s mom?”  She then went on to explain that she was Maddie’s reading buddy!  It’s funny because this school is starting to feel suspiciously like Cheers; cue: Cheer’s Theme Song now.

They had Reading Buddies scheduled right after my interaction with the 5th grade class so I snapped this pic as they got started!