I just got back from a full morning at school and so much has happened to the girls today that I thought I would do TWO entries. Both will be full of pictures!

Maddie decided that she was going to be a fairy princess for Halloween and Maddie also decided that Amelia would be a kitty cat for her first Halloween debut. I’ve gotta give Maddie full credit as she was seriously thinking ahead when we walked past Halloween costumes at Babies R Us over the summer – it was all her idea!

Running into Maddie’s VP, a.k.a Super Sacha, in the school library is always a great way to start the day! Here’s the deal with walking through the hallways with two beautiful children….. it takes FOREVER to get anywhere!!!

Maddie, Malin and Ms. Preeti found themselves leading the entire elementary school for...

Andy bought a pumpkin before he left for Thailand so that Maddie and I could have our traditional pumpkin carving time! This was Amelia’s first halloween and Maddie was eager to share her years of experience with her little sister. Amelia hung on for about… oh…. 10 seconds so I put her down for a nap and Maddie continued on our merry little way on our own. This year definitely brought a twist to the traditional pumpkin carving event. Let’s just say that the twist involved nail polish!!

Maddie decided to use nail polish as a glue for glitter hair!

Digging the seeds out with a spoon so that our nails don’t get “too yucky!”

Check out the eyebrows on that pumpkin!!!

Maddie’s teacher just sent this video out of the kiddos attempting a Halloween song and it was something I just had to share! I love being a mom!!!!

Andy and I rushed home after our Puxi meeting today so that we could go with Maddie to the Halloween Party!! I’m glad we did because when I saw Preeti (her teacher) at the party, she came and threw her arms around both Andy and I with a big thank you! Maddie had a “tough” day at school and just needed some straight Maddie Time. Apparently, she had even taken her blanket to school to help make her feel better…

Halloween parties are just the ticket though! It’s just so America out here sometimes – it’s a good thing around the holidays! Maddie may be a Third Culture Kid but she knows her holidays!!! I think this picture shows the third pumpkin she has carved this year… and there is more to come!!!

Maybe they are still a bit too young for Harry Potter!!

Some Night Jumpin’ on the trampo...

You’ve gotta give the girl credit…

Our house has been sick this week. No fevers – just asthmatic coughing that can be exhausting! Maddie stayed home on Monday, came home from school on Tuesday and stayed home on Wednesday. I was feeling under the weather so I had no problem “plugging” Maddie in for a Pixar marathon session. She’s the one that turned the TV off – it wasn’t my idea! She REALLY misses going to school when she is not there!!!!

You’ve gotta give the girl credit!

“Maddie, Amelia is four weeks old today!”
“Mommy, we’re the SAME! I’m four too!”
“You’re right Maddie, shall we go wake her up together?”
“I can do it Mommy…”

So she walked into Amelia’s room and stood on stool so she could see in and then I heard it.

“Good Morning, Good Morning, Good Morning… I love you… Good morning to you… hey… Good Morning.” Just then, Amelia opened her eyes, turned to her sister and gave the BIGGEST smile I have seen so far.

This is the simple song I sang to Maddie when she was little. It has definitely been awhile since I’ve woken Maddie up with that song, but she pulled it from her memory bank and has started to sing it to Amelia. My four year old daughter has taught me yet another lesson and I’ve embraced this one...

It’s hard to believe that it’s almost the end of October here! The air and skies have been clear in Pudong, the temps have been warm during the day and cool at night, workers are still mowing lawns and I’m still cutting roses off the rosebush! Maddie loves to be outside right now…. she’s such a homebody these days too. Anytime we suggest going someplace in town, she’ simple says, “no thanks!”

Feeding the fish in Jinqiao is a sure fire way to get the peanut out of the house though. The fish are now huge since it’s the end of summer feedings by children begging to feed them just a little bit more!

Heading to Decathalon with the hope of buying a new ball or golf club is a sure fire way to get her out of the house as well...

Birthday parties are just downright fun when you’re a little girl! Maddie wanted to wear pink, pink, pink, and then on top of that, she wanted to ride her pink scooter over to Roqueya’s house!

She wanted to wear the puppy dog pink shoes that Allison bought her which made the scooter an “interesting” choice, but she was determined. (Note: she starts off
riding the scooter and a half a block later resorts to walking the scooter!!!)

The girls made princess crowns, colored, made candy bracelets, and genuinely had a great time! Amelia came along to observe proper etiquette at a party as well. Maddie wanted to show her how to act… please, thank yous and all!

Happy 5th Birthday Roqueya and a big thanks Roqueya, Rory, Carolyn, and Mike for throwing such a great party for the girls!!!!

A big sister to gently wake you up…
A white background… a towel will do.

Open eyes… facing forward….
One hundred plus attempts… ergo, patience.

A Chinese birth certificate…. how cool is that?

Oh boy…. this is one for the record books.

• During my pregnancy, Maddie saw my blood drawn numerous times and she always watched with great interest and commented on how brave I was. She said she was brave too….
• Maddie is definitely older and is absolutely capable of reason…
• I promised her ice cream after her flu shot and she even held the money so that I couldn’t change my mind…
• We met up with Ri-Ri who before the flu shot and the two had quite the conversation about bravery… Ri-Ri said that he was three and Maddie was four so Maddie had to be brave because he was brave…

If only things went as planned…

The following sequence looks peaceful enough… notice there are no pictures after the nurse cleaned off Maddie arm to prepare for the shot. In Maddie’s words,

Part of the responsibilities of a big sister is to look out for one’s little sister. The few weeks after Amelia was born, the neighbors organized a Meals on Wheels where they made us home cooked meals for two straight weeks. Every night at 6:00 a new meal would arrive and usually a present or two.

Our neighbors genuinely have hearts of gold. I have been curious about how Maddie would handle not being the first one recognized in the family. Would she be jealous of the attention that Amelia was receiving? Every parent out at the Links must have thought the exact same thing because most of them arrived with a present for Amelia AND a present for Maddie!

The is where the big sisterly duty comes in… Amelia obviously can’t open presents yet so Maddie is more than willing and able to assist...

Maddie always wants to play after school…. I just can’t see why. She simply doesn’t have any fun and NEVER laughs!!! ;o)

Friday was Baby Day in Ms. Preeti’s class at school. Maddie had been counting down the days until she could bring Amelia to school to show her off to her classmates. She had been showing pictures online and her friends may have seen me pass briefly in the hallway, but this was the big show!

We met all of the children first. Amelia was the smallest at two weeks, Bauer was six weeks old, Trinity was four months old and Eva was nine months old.

The children brainstormed questions beforehand and had most of them answered by the time we all left. Maddie’s questions was, “why do babies cry?” which I thinks he asked because she knew the answer!!! The children wrapped up the day by singing a song to the babies. BUT Maddie wasn’t done…

We had taken Amelia to the doctor the day before and h...

We picked up Maddie from school early today because she wanted to go to the doctor with Amelia to show her how to be brave… hmmm. On the way to the doctor’s office, I realized that this would be the first time that Maddie saw a male doctor. Maddie’s doctor in the States is a girl… my doctor is a girl… so I thought I would mention that Amelia was going to have a male doctor. Andy and I then listened to Maddie’s reasoning for why Amelia needed a girl doctor for the hour ride down to Xiantiandi. At least she knows that girls can be doctors – it’s the norm in her life!

One reason we took Maddie with us was because tomorrow is baby day at school. The children are very interested in why babies go to the doctor. So we took pictures of Dr. Jenkins checking out her soft spot and over Amelia ...

As time goes by, we are realizing more and more just how special Maddie’s Saudi experience truly was. The friendships we developed there will last a life time as the bonds that were formed are unbreakable. Common joys and common sorrows in a place that is so completely different from one’s own base have cemented friendships for which we are extremely thankful.

Alicia and Andy Lewis came to Saudi our last year there and are quite simply, the best of the bestest people. Alicia was a music teacher extraordinaire with talent and personality! Maddie loved going to Alicia’s room to play instruments… piano, bongos, whistles… you name it, Maddie loved it...

Pictures like this from the Japan Meteorological Agency make Maddie wake up at 2 a.m. screaming SCARY at the top of her lungs! Unfortunately, Maddie lives on the weathered side of the house. All of the wind and all of the rain that comes in from White Dragon Bay slams against Maddie’s outer wall and makes the siding on the house simply shake. She ran out of her room refusing to go back inside and was in downright hysterics, but I convinced her to show me the “scary” stuff. She pointed to the monster in the wall and I explained that it was just the wind, but honestly, I wouldn’t have believed me either at her age. So… we decided the monster was really tap dancing! After a few giggles… we turned on all of Maddie’s favorite lights.

We pulled out this lovely pink light from Ikea – Maddie’...

I really like living across the street from the playground. Maddie looks out the window to see if anybody is out there and then decides that she must go play with her friends right then and there. She opens the front door and yells, “Hi friends” at the top of her lungs. She gets to the street and then announces to them that she must wait a minute to cross the street because she has to look for cars!

I just love watching Ri-Ri and Maddie together… in a way they are like an old married couple. They love each other most of the time and then every once in awhile, Maddie does her Maddie “thang” and Ri-Ri just looks at her as if to say, “oh, get over yourself!” I LOVE IT!

Maddie always has the biggest smile on her face when she plays with Ri-Ri...

It may be a sign of thing to come! One of Maddie’s classmates had a birthday party today and they went way out for the kids. There was a magic show – there was a balloon man – I think the guests may have received more gifts than the kids! The point is that Maddie had fun in spite of one phone call home saying she had bonked her head (I talked to her on the phone and the mere thought of going home early was enough to stop the water works)!

We woke up the next morning and Maddie begged to put on her tattoos. Dad, of course, jumped at the opportunity and they went to work. I don’t know who was more excited!! She may not be on Miami Ink anytime soon, but it does have potential…. ACK!

It’s the October break in China no which means we have an entire week at home with the newly formed four. It’s a good thing because we get to figure out how to bring Amelia into our daily lives. I am so cognizant of Maddie’s feelings and emotions right now. She’s like me though and as long as she is helping, then she is just fine. Andy and I can’t be Amelia hogs in other words! Amelia “belongs” to Maddie just as much!!

Maddie always wants to hold Amelia – even when she’s crying. She is a bit frustrated that she can’t feed Amelia, but she helps out in soooooo many other ways. Maddie is in charge of getting everything ready for Amelia’s bath...