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!!!

We bought a kite down by the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum several months ago. After all, this is THE place to buy kites in Shanghai. What amazes me is that we paid roughly $10 for it and it’s a heavy duty kite. We bought a much smaller kite in Seaside over the summer for almost three times as much. Well, they don’t call it Shang-Buy for nothing!

When we woke up this morning, the wind was howling so I thought it would be a perfect day to test out the kite. Andy kept telling us that it was too windy, but isn’t that what you want for kite flying? I pressed on so we eventually go the kite up and flying high above the golf course.

Maddie and Andy got it up several times, but the wind was STRONG so I ran inside to grab some gloves so that the string didn’t cut any hands. Maddie held onto the kite once, but the wind pretty much took her little body across the yard with the kite. So I gave it a go…

Maybe, just maybe it can be too windy to fly a kite!!!

Amelia Mabel is growing up soooooooooo fast. She’s a happy, healthy, patient, funny baby and definitely goes with the flow of our family. We walk around the house and see pictures of us before we had her and it just seems like something is missing in those pictures!

She’s cute as a button with her roley-poley legs and I’m thankful for that… there is nothing better than seeing a healthy baby thrive!

We love you very, very much Amelia Mabel… er, um… Meli…er, um… Amilla… er, um… Scooter Ma-Rooster!

When Andy came back from recruiting this year, he brought three Easter egg dye kits with him. Maddie has been staring at them daily, asking the question “Is it Easter yet mommy?” So… I finally hid them so that she would stop asking!

The Easter egg hunt at school brought it up again so when I finally answered yes to her question, she was thrilled! Not only did we have the traditional bright colors, but we had Tie Dye eggs and even better yet, she was able to write everybody’s name on each egg by herself! We finished the day off with an Easter egg hunt for Baby Eva and Cooper at our house – tons of stimulation for all and a great way to kick off Spring Break!

Happy Easter my peanuts!

So I’m pretty sure there were at least four major happening at school this week in Maddie’s class. There was a class party, a birthday party for one of the students, a Chinese class assembly and, of course, an Easter party. I was lucky enough to make it to ONE of these events for a few minutes and Andy was lucky enough to make it to ONE of these events. I guess this means we’re at .5! I’ll take it!!!!

Maddie and the other PK classes took advantage of the welcome change of weather and went for their first Easter egg hunt of the season. She is considered to be part of the older group of PK kids so when she offered one of her eggs to a little boy who had none, my heart filled with joy. On second look, she offered one of her BROKEN eggs, but it’s a step in the right direction!

Hope you had a great week with the adventures at school this week Maddie Anna!!

I can see the future…

Actually, I can make predictions about the future and try to prepare for a whole bunch of different scenarios.  So, when Maddie’s tooth first went wiggly, I talked about the time I had “lost” a tooth. It truly fell out of my mouth and it was lost forever.  So my mom and I found a small white rock and put it under the pillow for the tooth fairy.  That’s what is nice about the tooth fairy – she rewards best intent!

This morning as Maddie was brushing her teeth, her tooth came out.  It was at the very end when she was drinking water… the tooth went down with the water.  Because I had told her of the possibility, she wasn’t as traumatized as I was – though I think I hid it well.  She simply giggled and started to say her “s” sounds over and over again.  Those silly s’s!

So I have this cute little round silver box that currently reads “My First Tooth.”  Guess I’ll get some masking tape and cover up the first part with a second! Enshallah…

Good Job Peanut!  So the deal is… I get the first tooth, er, um.. I mean the second and you can give the rest of ‘em to the tooth fairy!

You all know the book – Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?

It was Maddie’s weekend to bring Brown Bear home. As tempting as it was sit at home and relax this weekend, we picked ourselves up by the bootstraps and showed Brown Bear a good time in Shanghai. On Saturday, Brown Bear helped Maddie make a card and wrap a present for William’s birthday party at Mega-Fit. Brown Bear had a blast at William’s party too, seeing all of “his” classmates and posing with the birthday boy himself.

Brown Bear then joined us over at Cooper’s house for dinner because he just didn’t have enough time with babies. But then he had too much time with babies, so he and Lester decided to take a nap together! It’s a good thing they slept well because on Sunday, Brown Bear, Maddie, Amelia and mommy hopped on the train and headed on down to the market to buy a teapot. We had to hurry though because he also had to get to Maddie’s ballet class for some serious spinning!

After catching the subway back home, Brown Bear helped Maddie and I make dinner.  Brown Bear can do some excellent carrot cutting!  Thanks for visiting Brown Bear! You are welcome to come back anytime!!

We bought these letters some time ago…

We talked about it, planned how to go about it and then Maddie did it.  She hung up these letters all by herself.  Good job Maddie!!!

I think that this was the most interesting Gourmet Geek night yet! Of course, great food and great conversation permeated the entire evening, but what is most important is that Maddie actually ATE what we made! It surprises me how particular she can be about food because when she was a baby she ate almost everything and loved it! Our pasta dish and appetizer of Rachel Ray’s chicken meatballs was a success in her book though!

We finished cooking and eating just in time because the lights went out at the Links around 7:30. The weather wasn’t bad – they just went out. Maddie was sure that the leprechuan’s had come to her house to play a trick on her because they had been going to her class every day during the week to make messes before the children showed up to school. We spent the remainder of the evening by candlelight and I have to say that it was one of the most relaxing evenings of the week. No noise is a good thing sometimes!!!

Thanks Jeff and Daneah for coming over again! We’ll have to think of a creative way to do this next year when you are in Bangkok!

Maddie had a great night after getting dressed up after school just to go see Cooper. She has grown so much… take a look at the picture from last Easter of Maddie in the same dress!

And just when you think there is nothing to do… you might as well dance. Maddie… I hope you dance forever!

By the way… this is our life and yes, we love it!

I’ve done a poll…. Andy says he was at least 5 1/2. I know that I was at least 5 1/2 because of THAT song. You know the one I’m talking about… “all I want for Christmas is my two front teeth, two front teeth…”

Maddie had a wang dang dinger of a morning due to a crummy night of sleep so when tears streamed down her face after biting into breakfast, I thought she was having a moment. She said that her tooth hurt and I thought she had simply brushed her teeth too hard. Hmmm… I was slightly incorrect!

I saw Maddie after school today as she came running out of Andy’s office and she was running while holding onto her mouth. The girl has her first loose tooth. Now it’s not gone yet, but I think it’s only fair to post this on her blog so that all tooth fairies in the area know about this miraculous event. Tooth fairies do come to China Maddie Anna…especially when it’s for a four year old who is growing up at the speed of light!

Back when it was cold and dark in January, we signed Maddie up for ballet classes down in Jinqiao. This was the perfect thing to do on a Sunday afternoon because she desperately needed activity instead of just sitting around the house. We’ve been trying to decide whether or not we were going to sign her up for another session. The weather is getting warmer and we were thinking she would have been just as happy to play outside on the swings. We made our decision now…. she’s definitely signing up for another session of ballet! Quite simply, she really enjoys it.

We really had no idea what was happening in the class. They have this policy that asks parents not to view classes until the last class at the end of a 10 week session. When we walked into her class to watch her today, she simply beamed. Miss Becky took the girls through as series of different moves full of pointed toes and Maddie blushed everytime we clapped for her. It was so darn cool!!! It was one of those moments where I sat straight up and said, “Hey, I’m a mom! That one there… that one is mine!”

Good work Madeline Anna! We’re so proud of your hard work and are so happy that you are having a great time!

Sometimes a picture says it all! Here they are… right out of the bath tonight!  BIG BLUE EYES and all…

What an amazing day for Miss Maddie! Once a year, SAS brings in visiting authors for kids of all ages. Susan and Janet Stevens are two of the authors this year and they gave a one hour presentation to Maddie’s class. I have to admit that I planned on heading to the library for a quick photo.. this should have taken just a few minutes. But when I got there, I was completely drawn in and stayed for the entire hour. The sisters basically acted out many of their books by using puppets and the children as their characters. They were absolutely brilliant.

I can tell that Maddie is gaining more and more confidence everyday because she actually volunteered to help the authors with one of their characters. Miss Maddie temporarily turned into a Fairy Princess in Jackalope complete with vegetables on her head and star wand!!

Maddie brought in one of her favorite books, Tops and Bottoms for the ladies to sign. One word: delightful!!!!

On mom’s last night in Shanghai we invited Todd, Tonya, Cooper and Bauer over for an awesome dinner cooked by Andy.  It was also a great time for us to celebrate Cooper’s birthday!  Cooper had a boys only party earlier in the day, but they saved some cakes and lots of icing so that Maddie and he would have a chance to make desert for all of us.  The creativity soared and they had a great time I think!

It’s fun getting Bauer and Amelia together since they are so close in age.  They are getting old enough to offer lots of expressions and sounds when they see each other…. it’s as if they are the only two babies on the face of the earth!  I suspect that there will be many, many blog entries about the adventures of Amelia and Bauer…

My mom has been admiring our Chinese Erhu instrument for some time so it only seemed fitting to head down to Dong Tai Lu before she returned to America so that she could get her hands on one.  The prices have gone up on the famous antique shopping street, but I know and remember my numbers so it’s just plain fun to bargain.  I do respect that the people down there have to make a living and I do recognized that there is severe inflation in China, but I will only pay what I think is reasonable.

Maddie simply laughed the entire time because I was set on a certain price.  Mom really wanted one though and she is not so great at acting non-chalant.  They said a price, she said okay…. but I was the one holding onto the money!   So Maddie would run back and forth between my mom and I, saying my set price over and over again. It was a fun shopping day on Dong Tai Lu!!!  It certainly feels like spring is in the air!!

We celebrated Ri-Ri’s birthday a year ago but he is a true leap year baby. Today was his first birthday!! In actuality he is four, but it’s much for fun for him to say one. The kids met at the playhouse after school and had a great time because the weather is finally starting to turn warm. There was a huge line for face painting so I went ahead an took a stab at it… take a look and leave a comment as to what animal you think Maddie looks like in the picture!!!

I sent my props to Preei who made another pinata for the kids. Maddie got in there much better this time. Yes, there were a lot of kids going for the candy but she put her elbows out and went for it. Her compassion surfaced though as she started giving away her candy to the younger ones at the party. Good thing as we’re still trying to get through the candy from two Halloween’s ago!!

Happy Birthday Ri-Ri!!