This time of the year is always interesting because Andy leaves for big chunks of time to go hire new teachers.  This year, he literally was in Shanghai for 12 hours and then got back on plane to Bangkok.  Thank goodness for Skype… we LOVE talking to him on the computer as the girls and I miss him much.  It was actually tougher for him to be in the same-ish time zone in Bangkok because he was always busy when we were home.

His next major trip was to Boston.  Oddly enough, it was easier to connect on Skype because right before we went to bed, we called him on Skype to give him his wake up call!

Tracking Dad's Flight....

The important thing though is that dad is back! The day he flew out the girls and I tracked him on Google Earth as he flew over Alaska toward Shanghai…. way cool!

We did something special this year.  Maddie and Amelia both had a New Year’s dress made and they looked adorable!  Amelia especially felt like a princess because she looked just like her sister.  We are hoping to have Gang of One family pictures taken before summer and we’ll definitely use these dresses for some of our shots.  I have to giggle a bit though because Amelia REFUSED to get measured at the fabric market… even after watching her sister get measured.  They just looked at Amelia and guestimated…  the dress was a bit long but Meelie held it up like a princess! 

The New Year assembly was cute.  The kids sang the alphabet highlighting their favorite Chinese things.  Maddie showed off her knowledge of the Abacus and Olympics…. she did great!

When Andy is gone and it’s just me and the girls over the weekend I have one goal in mind.  Exhaust them! 

What a perfect way to spend a couple of hours on a cold, rainy Shanghai day.  I took the girls to Playland over at a mall and it was awesome from the beginning.  One: as soon as we walked through the gates, they checked both of the girls temperatures AND gave them hand sanitizer.  Two: Amelia tried to escape and they refused to let her out.  Three:  Every surface was padded and adults were everywhere making sure kids were safe. 

I just followed them around for a couple of hours.  I could’ve sat down but I was having fun too!   Hey… to be a kid again!

Maddie’s friend JiaXi just moved out near us and she had her birthday party this weekend.  There were waves of activities and fortunately, both girls were able to go to the party.  Maddie got her face painted, both girls decorated cupcakes, Amelia bounced like crazy on the bouncy castle and the doves during the magic show were an absolute hit!

The Before Picture..

My favorite part was when Maddie’s classmates took special care of Amelia.  The bouncy castle was way too big for her but they helped her climb up and made sure they didn’t jump on her…. too much!

The After Picture...

Riding Bikes in America

Maddie had been planning it for months.  She sat on Santa’s lap and she had the guts to ask him for TWO bikes.  Once dad got it together in Oregon, Maddie took it for a spin the day before we left for Shanghai.

And then… when we landed in Shanghai and came through our front door…. it was there.  Santa really had made it to both places!  There was a brand new bike waiting for her next to the Christmas tree in Shanghai too.

Maddie's New Bike in Shanghai

Maddie must have been a really, really good girl this year!

Grandma Barbara’s birthday was in November so the girls and I tried to record a birthday song…  I know this is a bit late and it’s raw footage but better late than never.  And it’s cute!  Listen below…

Maddie’s class visited our local migrant school in Shanghai.  Li Min students are from families of migrant workers and as Ms. Zhou points out again and again… they are not Shanghainese.  As a result, they really don’t get funding from the government.  So, SAS helps to take care of the kids from Li Min along with many other organizations.  SAS PTSA has purchased playground equipment for the kids, we have combined Sports Days where their kids come to SAS… it’s a very cool relationship.

Maddie’s classmates packed a bag of presents for each of Li Min kids and went to their school today to hand out the gifts, sing songs and be a part of their day.  It was really good for Maddie to go to their school just a short drive from her own little world.  She has a warm house, a warm school and lots of resources.  They had a cold school, cold house and few resources.  Smiles were still widespread though as Maddie and her classmates shared their holiday cheer.  Enjoy the video below… if you’re receiving this in an email, click on the post title above to watch!

Amelia like many two year olds can’t quite get the words together fast enough to say what it is that she wants to say… totally normal.  As a result, she gets frustrated and reacts… totally normal.  Unfortunately, her reaction is sometimes biting.  She knows she’s wrong but sometimes the steam just has gotta get out somehow!  Ms. Zhou found me at school the other day and told me that Amelia had bitten Eva on the arm after Eva tried to take Amelia’s food.  Sigh… I think she bit Eva so hard that Eva had teeth marks on her skin for a few days.  So…. Amelia decided to apologize.  Watch the video below…

Did you know that Eric Carle’s book The Very Hungry Caterpillar is 40 years old?  To help celebrate, Maddie’s school held a Family Literacy event.  It started early in the afternoon for parents while the kids were still in school.  Parents gathered and learned about Digital Literacy, learned about reading to their children… it was good.

The best part was when the kids joined us in the library.  All of the parents and kids sat around in deep bean bags reading books.  They had guest readers for break out groups… it was really fun! Maddie glowed when her dad was the guest reader and Amelia actually stood still while he read!

You know that when we start the holiday concerts at school that it means we are getting on an airplane soon!!  Maddie’s class practiced months for this show as every child had their own unique part.  Now I have to mention here that I actually forgot that it was concert day.  I was so proud of the fact that I remembered it was a PE day, had Maddie in tennis shoes and a school shirt.  Boy were we surprised when we walked in the school door and saw everybody in their finest!  Thankfully we managed to run home and put on our Xmas clothes for the concert!

Not too bad – getting 4 hours of footage into 4 minutes!

and everybody survived to talk about it!!!

At my young age of 37, I have finally stepped into true motherhood and made my very first turkey… with stuffing.  Not just any stuffing.  Italian sausage and fresh sage stuffing.  And I made pumpkin pies.  And I made my sister’s jello salad.  Of course, Ms. Zhou was laughing the entire day as I studied the turkey trying to decide which end was up.  I was laughing the entire day because she actually threaded dental floss into a proper needle so that she could actually sew the turkey together after it was stuffed.  A needle… seriously!

Success!

As with every Turkey Day overseas, we were lucky to spend it with Todd and Tonya, Cooper and Bauer.  Our families have grown together while overseas.  It was an excellent Turkey Day and the leftovers were fantastic!!

Spelling – why can’t I remember spelling homework?  Of course I had spelling homework.  I just don’t remember having any!  For the tactile side of Maddie, she made her spelling words out of play dough… and not just any play dough but purple, sparkly play dough.  She’s so cool – and so zen in some of the pics!

I’ve been meaning to get this posted for some time now.  Right after school started, we joined our fellow teachers and headed to Shanghai’s water park called Dino Beach.  We had no idea what to expect, but had an idea that it would be over the top.  Afterall, Shanghai does do things over the top….. indoor Ski Hill, indoor Fishing Pond.

Getting into the park was a bit insane as the concept of a line is foreign to many, but we did manage to get in, get our things into lockers, rent an inner tube and have a great time.  We floated down the lazy river a couple of times and Amelia LOVED this part because she kept throwing herself off of the inner tube into the water… she had floaties on so she just floated down the lazy river on her own.  There was a large water area for small kids too which Maddie took Amelia all over… up and down waterfall stairs, down slides.

The highlight was the wave pool.  The wave pool was “on” for 30 minutes and then “off” for the thirty minutes. Andy took Maddie out to the back of the wave pool at one point as she held onto her tube for dear life but she was laughing the entire time.

The afternoon got BUSY.  They had allowed well over 10,000 people into the park and you could tell.  The wave pool was a sea of people but the interesting parts happened when we spotted… underwear.  Apparently, there are a number of people without swimsuits so they dropped trau and swam around in their underwear… which would hang off of their bodies once they got wet!

That was our cue…. exit left!!

Enjoy the video below….

It was definitely one of those holidays that just seemed to go on forever.  Between the parade at school on Friday morning, the neighborhood Halloween Party on Friday night, the Halloween get together at ballet on Saturday and Trick-or-Treating on Saturday night, I think we tapped into every ounce of Halloween enthusiasm a 6 year old and 2 year old can have!!!!  We raced home from ballet on Saturday afternoon and I managed to shove a grilled cheese sandwich, cucumbers and watermelon down both girls throats.  (Like I would let them have copious amounts of sugar/Halloween candy on an empty stomach!)

Eva, Maddie and Amelia

We put all of our candy in two bowls and left a sign next to the bowls saying that we were trick-or-treating… that worked out well! We ran into all the kids in the neighborhood.  It reminded me of my Halloweens growing up…. a safe neighborhood where every neighbor knows every neighbor where every kid knows every kid no matter the age.  It was nice and it will always be one of my fondest memories of Shanghai!  How lucky we are…

Of course, the only thing missing was dad but he was here in spirit and we saved A LOT of candy for him!

Not only do we have regular movie nights every Friday night, but we also have regular parties for the kids!  This year’s Halloween Party was the perfect thing for kids.  Let’s set aside for a moment that Amelia was freaked out for the first 30 minutes because everything was a bit too scary.  Kids Gallery was brought in so the kids were able to make various Arts and Crafts holiday baskets.  They had somebody teaching the kids the Thriller Dance, they had pumpkin bowling, bobbing for apples, pizza and soda for the kids, adult beverages for the adults… a great time was had by all.  I did find it interesting though that Maddie spent most of the night in the Arts and Crafts area.  The kid just loves art!

One of Maddie’s favorite things to do is head to ballet class.  I’ve written before about how Amelia dresses up in Maddie’s ballet clothes that no longer fit but she has never joined Maddie’s class.  Well today was a special treat for the girls because it was Maddie’s end of term final performance day.  The teacher saw Amelia all dressed up, looking so hopeful and she decided to let her observe the class.  Well, of course, Amelia decided that it would be much better to join the class!

Amelia did everything the older girls did.  She actually followed the directions of her older sister and tried to mimic everything Maddie did during the class.  All I have to say is… way too cool!

I still can’t believe that Maddie has homework.  We do between 20 and 40 minutes of homework every night.  I don’t remember having homework so young but I guess that it’s just a sign of the times!

Maddie is studying the short vowel sounds right now and this week many of her spelling words had a short o sound.  She has to do a weekly project around her spelling words and this week we decided to shake things up a bit.  We found pictures on the internet and then pasted them into a Pages document.  Then we opened up Garageband and  :)Maddie recorded herself spelling each word. I made a quick movie of the Pages document in case you don’t all have a Mac!

Way to go Maddie Anna!

Are all elementary schools this much fun?  I don’t know… I haven’t spent that much time in them but the bar has been set high for every elementary school we’ll encounter in our future!!!  Today Maddie attended this year’s second Conflict Resolution Assembly.  Sounds kind of boring, right?  Not a chance!!

Maddie’s art teacher starred as Mr. Conflict Resolution man himself complete with the wig afro, pink sparkly cape and hot pink pants.  The 4th grade class, principals and several teachers performed on stage and sand their Conflict Resolution Man song for all.  And then the role-playing began…  Maddie’s PE teacher dressed the part of Dr. Disco who appeared on the right side of the stage and appeared to be talking with Conflict Resolution man.  It was brilliant!  Dr. Disco had obviously recorded his part ahead of time as we saw the LCD shining his image up on stage but he seemed to be having an actual conversation with Conflict Resolution man.

It was well choreographed, hilarious and the kids not only walked away entertained but really understood the message.

I’ll bet there are a lot of interesting conversations around the dinner tables in Shanghai this evening!!

Okay, Maddie thinks all homework is fun…as long as she does it early in the evening when she hasn’t lost her steam.  But when she has lost her steam for the day and needs a little incentive, we shake things up a bit by putting brainy glasses on. Just like that, Maddie “felt” like she could get through her math and spelling words.  Of course, it helped that I promised her that she could help with banana bread if she finished quickly!!!

So what started out as a clean evening of baking, quickly turned into an “oh my gosh – what happened to this kitchen?” evening with floor from head to toe and smiles galore!

At least it made the homework fun….