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….

Our school seems to one up itself every year when it comes to the fall bbq.  This year it was about having even MORE bouncing slides and castles.  Thankfully, the girls could go as many time as they wanted to go!  I was impressed with how Amelia had no fear.  All of the older kids were trying to fly over her as they climbed up the ladder but she held her ground and made it to the top.  Now the first time she made it up to the top she wasn’t too sure about actually going down the slide.  Thankfully (?) she had her big sister to push her down the slide without giving Amelia that much time to think about it!!! Oh if you could have seen the look in Amelia’s eyes!!!!

We missed the county fair back home over the summer so this was a good compromise!  They both left smiling and exhausted -= what more could I want?!

Some October breaks we are just itching to get out of China simply for a change of scenery, but this year was different.  We actually had enough of  a change of scenery by staying at home!!!!!!!!  October break was everything it should be…. unplanned, relaxing time with family.  I finally got around to starting Amelia’s baby blanket (that’s a story in itself and worth another blog post) and Maddie helped me a lot with the cutting and sewing.  She was even able to maintain the speed on the sewing machine! 

We all played outside a lot because the weather was simply delightful.  I think because the factories shut down over October Break, the skies actually had a change to be blue and they rose to the occasion!!!   Baking, swinging, running through the sprinklers, riding bikes around the neighborhoods… it was a true break!

A couple of times a year a big box will arrive on our doorstep.  It usually arrives in the morning while we are at work and Ms. Zhou guards it with her life… first from Amelia throughout the day and then from Maddie as soon as she gets home from school.  And then around 5pm, we get home from school and arrive to Maddie holding onto scissors and Amelia standing on the box.  Prizes from home are a great connection.  This time the girls found things for Halloween, stuffed animals. books, cool little water bottles and other great prizes.  There was even a a magazine for Andy and a magazine for me!  Thanks for the connections!!!

Maddie is really enjoying being a sister these days. I think the reason for it is because Amelia just basically wants to BE Maddie. For now, Maddie likes this. I suspect Maddie will go back and forth and how she feels like this but for now, she loves it. One of her favorite things to do is paint Amelia’s fingers and toes. Amelia is so excited she can hardly sit still for the process!!! One must paint nails before ballet class though…

Whew… when you’re 6, life is good.  Cooking, being an artist… dancing and laughing through life. The cake, by the way, is the belated cake for her sister Amelia.  Amelia was napping during the cooking sequence.

Note the stop action movie below thanks to the Mac application SAM and iMovie.  (Dad’s first attempt at both programs)

Maddie Makes a Cake from Andrew Torris on Vimeo.