Turkey Day overseas since we’ve been in Shanghai has been “interesting” simply because it’s a work/school day.  When we lived in the Middle East, it wasn’t a big deal because Thursdays always marked the start of the weekend.  Here, in Shanghai, we’ve just gotta really plan!

At school today, Maddie’s class hosted a Thanksgiving party for all of the parents.  Andy and I were able to tear ourselves away from classes and meetings to join Maddie… it was a good thing that Maddie and I made sooooo many cupcakes last night as there were A LOT of people!

After school, we came home and started cooking.  Andy worked on the yams, mashed spuds and green beans while Maddie worked on the pumpkin pie.  Todd and Tonya were in charge of the turkey which made things great! 

I have to put this in…. Andy calls me a food hoarder.  I buy pumpkin and cranberry sauce in APRIL.  Why?  Because when you want it in November, it’s simply not available.  Well, tonight, I came to the rescue once again.  I provide the pumpkin, evaporated milk and cranberry sauce even though you can’t find it in Shanghai right now.  HA! 

The evening ended up with lots of good books to read before bedtime and lots of hugs/kisses before I head out.

Thanks for the great pie Maddie-Anna.  Even your sister couldn’t get enough – simply fabulous!

Okay, okay… so Maddie wasn’t the one who got the new bed – we did.  However, we used to have our bed up on bricks and Maddie decided that she wanted to use the bricks to elevate her bed so….. there you have it!  In grand Maddie style, she had to jump on the bed as soon as it was assembled!

Maddie's After...

Maddie Before...

The Assembly

Beautiful!

Maddie and Mr. Ma

Roger, Maddie and Kate

The special thing about Maddie and her school is that everybody knows her name. Seriously, there are 1200 students in Puondg k-12 and every single one of them know Maddie. Part of it is because of the nature of international schools. Expats create their own community and support each other by default. The other part of is… well, she’s my daughter AND she’s Andy’s daughter.

When Maddie when to the MS Play today with me, the kids in the play pulled her onto stage to pose for some pictures. Of course, the star of the show had to pose with her. it just so happens that the star of the show is also names Maddie.. though in typical middle school fashion she spells her name differently everyday according to her personality for the day. I’m sure I get to look forward to the Madi, Maddie, Mady, Mad… who knows!

Kate and Roger, our next door neighbors, were in the play as well which was a special treat for her… they kept winking at her throughout the play.

Madi and Maddie

Maddie baked America Cupcakes this weekend because Andy and all of the other Americans at school played against the non-American staff members in golf.  We just KNEW that America would win, so we made blue and red cupcakes.  All I have to say is…. VERY ENTERTAINING!  For those of you who subscribe to Maddie’s blog, make sure you log in to see the short video clip at http://www.maddiesminute.com!

We brought back a few drums for the girls.  Maddie got a kick out of playing them while Amelia put on her dancing shoes!

Several weeks ago, Maddie had her first publishing party and we’ve been looking at different ways to present the same material.  While we were in Bangkok, Maddie helped me make this glog below.  It’s cool because you can put your mouse over a picture and the picture gets big.  You can also listen to Maddie and her classmates talk about their first piece of work.  The long green blotches are actually players – just press the arrow (play) button and you’ll hear their infinite wisdom!

We also made an iMovie with of Maddie’s publishing party… this one was a bit more complicated!