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Fri, 5 Mar 2010 13:43:39 +0800

After learning the joys of standing on your heads... the kids have spent much time upside down.
A lot of time. They still need help, but I am working on them learning how to get up against the wall so I don’t have to always be there to help get them up. They don’t really stay up by themselves but for a split second. Anna seems to have the strongest core to hold her legs up... or maybe it is just because she has the smallest legs?!
Anyway - here are their upside down pictures. They are very proud of these.

Then we played ‘tickle tunnel’. That means you make a tunnel with your legs, the kids try to crawl through before they get tickled. It is a fun game...

But all good things must come to an end... I love Nate’s expression when Steve told him the game was over... “are you kidding me? what’s up dad? we were having fun”... Anna chose a different route of tears, and I think Elizabeth just had to go to the bathroom after all that tickling, so she was secretly (or not so secretly now) relieved that the game finished.
So until next time, the kids will be standing on their heads and I will be helping them.

Can something happen if you are upside down too long?

Dad’s home

Sun, 28 Feb 2010 13:17:30 +0800

This morning after Steve got home the girls were up early, as I expected. They were so thrilled to see him and proceeded to spend the first 2 hours of our morning talking non-stop about all the did while he was gone. Because most of this time was each girl telling their own version of the weeks events, at the same time, it was not fully understandable.

Nate took Snow White just as Anna was going to pose in a picture with her, so I promised she could get her own moment of fame.

And once again, Anna grabbed an object to pose with.

We were slow to get ready, but finally made it out the door and over to our friends house for our Sunday fellowship time.

Then we all headed out to lunch together.
All over the city were indicators of the holiday that was being celebrated. Chinese Lantern Festival. This holiday marks the end of the Chinese New Year celebration (can you hear my sigh of relief?).

After lunch and after short naps, we decided it was completely necessary that we head outside to enjoy the not cold temperatures.
The square had a lot of activity going on and I was excited to head over to see what was going on... but the girls also saw the square and the large numbers of people, and decided they were not up for the crowds and voted to go instead to the 5th floor. So mom and dad lost and we headed to the 5th floor. Our hope was that after a little playing they would grow bored with the lack of things to do on the 5th floor and then we could move to the square. The plan took longer than we wanted, but in the end it worked.
So here’s the 5th floor playing...

My personal favorite event was when I accidentally stepped on a leftover fire cracker thing and it popped loudly. Then began the hunt for more. We probably found about 10 that still had fire left in them. They were just good for a loud noise.
Nate wasn’t a fan, but the girls got pretty good at stepping on them.

Elizabeth was disappointed that with 2 siblings there was still no one willing to do the see-saw with her.

At one point when we weren’t looking the girls went over to a little garden area and picked a flower each for mom. What they didn’t see was the sign that said, please don’t touch my flowers... they were planted with love and I want to see them grow”... (or something like that). We told the girls we would take their picture and then we would stick the flowers back into the ground. Cause that really does work you know.

Then it was finally time for the square. By the time we got over there, a lot of the crowd had cleared away...

See the flowering tree - that means spring might come one day!

Nate & daddy, captured my Elizabeth.

A lady came by selling these see-thru balloons. We have seen them all over town, but we usually don’t just purchase random stuff like that for no reason, but decided to call it a ‘special day’ and splurge on these inexpensive balloons.
They were a hit.

After we got to the square, a good friend of ours called and invited us to dinner. Because I had NO desire to cook, we were already planning on eating out. So we quickly took her up on her offer. She went to a restaurant across from the square and got the room reserved and ordered the food. She knows what we like.
All the guards you see are to prepare for the large crowds that will gather at the square tonight for the big fireworks show to celebrate the Lantern Festival.

We had a great time at dinner with our friends and after eating the kids entertained themselves with their new balloons for a long time so we could sit and talk. It was nice.
And here’s another shot taken by Elizabeth of daddy & Anna.

By the time we got home it was almost time to set up for the fireworks show. We chose to avoid the crowd and watch from our living room window.
The picture below just doesn’t fully capture the number of people that were walking outside our apartment!

While part of the fireworks were hidden behind the building in front of us, it didn’t change the fact that this fireworks were some of the largest ones I have ever seen. And I have seen A LOT of fireworks during my years in China.
They were awesome. And there were lots of shapes - open circles, ovals, squares, stars... really impressive.
The kids all stood on chairs watching the show with popcorn and a cookie (the ones they made for dad).

Then the show was over, and people started to walk home. The street was blocked off to traffic so you had to travel by foot.
It is hard to tell in the picture (top right), but the balloon sellers were obviously not selling enough balloons, and all ganged up to block the street with their balloons. Cause that really convinces people to give them money right?
After the show we got the kids settled down and I thought that just maybe things were quite for the night. Ha. Who was I kidding?

The building across the street from us started a whole other show. Thankfully it was shorter and not quite so loud.
Then the restaurant next door to us decided to light a few. Then when those were done, they lit a few more. And a few more after that. It felt like the fireworks were never going to end.
But they did, and I was finally able to drift off to sleep. In mostly quiet.
As I went to sleep I found myself thinking of things that I was thankful for...
1) chinese new year was mostly finished. life could fully return to normal
2) steve was home and I love the feeling of security that brings... even the kids feel it
3) I was going to sleep in just a little bit the next morning. Or at least TRY
4) I love my family!!

The last day - Day 7

Sat, 27 Feb 2010 15:30:45 +0800

Today is the day that Steve comes home! I am so excited! The kids actually don’t know that he comes home today. They think it is tomorrow. The reason? Well, he won’t be home until after their bedtime. And I am all about making exceptions to the bedtime (well, sometimes), but he comes home 2 hours after their bedtime. And letting them stay up that late and then another hour after he gets home to calm back down (he has the habit of getting them all wound-up), was not something I wanted to allow.
So, I got them all settled down, with the promise that if they went to sleep quickly, and slept well then daddy would come home the next morning.
It worked. Whew.

But let me start at the beginning.
We had tenative plans of meeting up with some friends to play outside, but when we woke up the weather was dreary. So I decided we would stay inside for the morning and the hopefully go out in the afternoon.
So, we brought out the finger paint. We haven’t had our heater on for about 5 days (we can’t afford our electricity bill anymore!! :)), but because I made the kids strip down for the painting, I put their table right in front of the heather and cranked it up!
Then we set about painting. It really had been a long time since we did finger painting - not sure why! Maybe the mess? Surely not - I let my kids make messes everyday!
Anyway - we started off with a Welcome Home sign for daddy. The did handprints - can’t beat that! The forever imprint of your child’s precious hands all next to each other to compare and remember the time when their hands were that size.

Then it was time for free paint. They all did a good job sharing one large strip of paper.

After daddy’s sign, we produced 3 other large masterpieces.

Then they finally discovered the joy that comes from being messy.

Once they were dirty enough for being in my living room with white walls, we headed off to the bath.

Then we had sandwiches for lunch - which Anna asked “mom, do we really have to have sandwiches again?” I suppose I have been slightly lazy in the food prep area while dad was gone. I know that if he traveled anymore I would not be able to get away with that. But for me the idea of popcorn and fruit, all served on paper plates is just delightful.

After naptime we headed to our friends house to use their playground. My three played for awhile and then our friends joined us and everyone had a fantastic time.

Nate is a slide-adic.

I love this running picture of all 5 kids. Blurry, but cute nonetheless.

Then my kids watched Josiah go down the slide headfirst - and all of them had to have a turn. They were less than graceful trying to dismount the slide once they reached the bottom. It was humorous.

Then the rolling started.
It was a lot of fun to watch them having such a good time.

Then our friends had us over for dinner... and it was SO nice to have a home cooked meal. Besides sandwiches.
We didn’t stay long and then it was home for a fast bath (2nd of the day) and then to bed so daddy could come home!

Getting ready - Day 6

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 08:20:46 +0800

The kids are ready to start counting the hours until daddy gets home. At the front of their minds are ideas of how to welcome him home. We have been busy with coloring and painting and trying to make his home coming special.

In the morning, after the girls got off to preschool, Nate and I headed off to help out some friends, who are looking for a new apartment. He had fun being outside and exploring.

He loved the decorations... especially the fact that they had even decorated the trees.
After we looked at the apartment, we needed to stop by a bathroom store. This store not only sells toilets and showers and bathtubs... they also sell these steamer things. Basically you get in and your head sticks out and it steams your body. It reminds me of something I once saw on an episode of I Love Lucy.
Nate and Grace thought they were fun!

On the way out of the bathroom store, Nate saw the Kangaroo and thought he should hug him goodbye.

And after one more time in the shower, we were ready to go home.

Right after lunch, while Nate and Anna were sleeping, we decided to make some cookies. My goal was to get them completely done and cooled before nap time was finished... and it worked! These cookies would be a welcome home present for Steve. So even though they seem like girly colors, they are for dad.

Elizabeth was quite the help... making piles with the extra flour and seeing how much she could get on the floor. Sometimes Elizabeth truly does help me with projects and other times it is the kind of help that means that everything takes longer to accomplish and I just have to be patient.
We decided to roll them thicker and then I used a knife and put some sticks in the middle of the dough before baking. I got the idea (and the sticks) from Kellie. Thanks!!
The sticks baked with no problem and they turned out great!

For those of you who notice details, you might have seen there is a chopstick next to the top of my oven door. You see, the oven door broke and I asked Steve to find a way to fix it. And he did. So now when I want to open the oven I simply swing the bottom of the chopstick over and the door opens. The only other solution is a new oven, and that has to wait for awhile.

Elizabeth decided that the coolies looked too good to wait for icing, so she got to have hers early. She said she didn’t think it even needed any icing. I think I agree.

But we iced them anyways. I made up 4 colors, because it is just easier that way. We just used some plastic bags and cut holes in the end. It worked fine for the kids!

Nate woke up just as we were starting to decorate. He is just barely awake in this picture and really was too sleeping to be decorating!
Elizabeth however, was not to tired and had a wonderful time!

Anna & Nate enjoying their cookies. Sorry for the blur.

The cookies turned out great and we got a bunch together to give to Steve when he gets home.

Before dinner we had one last project... a little more painting.

Fun times... and the day went by quickly. Just one more day!!

What else can we do - Day 5

Thu, 25 Feb 2010 23:22:42 +0800

Thursday... these used to be my favorite day of the week because it meant only 1 more day to Friday, and Friday’s are usually pretty full of potential. Since I had kids - everyday is more similar, so I don’t really have a favorite day of the week anymore. Occasionally Monday’s are my favorite days now because I love the schedule that Monday’s bring.
So today I tried to think of something fun for us to do, but I was not coming up with any ideas. And, the weather changed today - it went from perfect to chilly and wet. And that kind of made me a little bummed.
In the morning after the girls went to school (Nate was dressed to go down to the bus - for those who are keeping track), Nate was just not thrilled with anything I suggested for him to play with.

He finally got excited when I mentioned play dough.

He usually does play dough for an hour or so - but not today. So we quickly moved onto painting.

He is a good painter, but sometimes he has more fun with the water than the paint.

Usually when the girls come home from school they have fresh ideas of activities. They really are a creative bunch. But today the ideas were not flowing.
After naps I could tell that we were all a bit stir crazy. And of course that happens when it is pouring down rain.
Anna tried her hand at putting Nate down for a pretend nap... but after a few minutes he was done, so she grabbed a blanket to hide him in so he wouldn’t be distracted. It still didn’t work.

Then the girls wanted to do silly things for the camera and then check themselves out. So I hung up the black curtain, they added their tutu’s (thanks again Aunt Ginia) and we had FUN!

Isn’t he handsome!

I know it looks like the girls are trying to kiss each other, but they are actually trying to blow on each other. Can’t be kissy all the time!

Oh Elizabeth loves to pose.

And Anna is coming along in her posing ability!!

After the photo shoot - Anna came up with their next game. But by then Nate was truly doing all he could to push Anna’s buttons and the game didn’t last long.

So - day 5 is done. Just 2 more days and we are all eager for dad to be home!

Same old same old - Day 4

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 14:03:57 +0800

Not too much new today. We got the girls off to school on time again. Nate wore his pajamas to the bus again. I hope this isn’t becoming a thing for him.
This morning I did more work around the house. My poor home has been mostly ignored for a long time. Many surfaces seem to be clean, but there are piles. Hidden behind an innocent picture frame, or a child’s toy. I can’t help it. I love piles. Always have. All my life, or since I could talk... I could tell you exactly what was in a particular pile. They were organized in my head. But that has started changing. Now I can’t remember what day of the week it is, much less where I put something. So, I am coming to a point of accepting the fact that I need a filing system. One that has labels and not just a index-less pile.
But that can wait until Steve gets home. And then someone will have to remind me because I will probably forget that I even mentioned it.
Where were we?
Ah yes, my morning with Nate. We de-cluttered around the house and Nate did some weight lifting.

And some tumbling.

He is quite the entertainer.

Once the girls got home from school we had lunch...

That’s my dear house helper on the right. She is fantastic and I am SO thankful for her. She serves me and my family and truly cares for us well. I have become so dependent on her... not to mention she is one of my dearest friends here.

The girls and their chopsticks. Quite humorous.

Oh and after I put Nate and Anna down for their afternoon naps, I came out to find Elizabeth checking herself out. Too cute!

She decided she looked good and asked me to take her picture. Um, yea!

Nate’s nap was not the best today. He is such a good sleeper most of the time, but everyone has their off days. This was his. I was kind of bummed because I knew that by dinner time he was going to be crabby. But he really did okay.
I love how he wakes up ready to go...

And Anna wakes up and needs some time. She stared at this doll house for about 20 min before deciding she didn’t really want to play with it.

We had a friend for dinner and then we watched a movie together. Bedtime was welcomed... especially by me.
I am thankful that the days are ticking by until Steve comes home. With the kids, there is enough activity that I don’t feel like time is standing still. Yea for keeping busy!!!

Let’s all get along - Day 3

Tue, 23 Feb 2010 09:04:06 +0800

Today was such a good day. The girls woke me up a little earlier than I would have preferred, but it was just a reminder that I HAVE TO return to my pre-holiday habit of getting up before them.
We made it down to the bus with enough time for me to grab my camera and snap a few pictures before the bus pulled up. That is something to be proud of!
Nate did not want me to change his clothes... which really made me laugh because 99% of the time he LOVES getting dressed in the morning. But on this particular day when I had to take him down stairs to wait for the bus he wanted his pj’s on. Oh well. They match with his coat and shoes right? And they are the feet pj’s which means I didn’t have to mess with socks.
He is wearing Anna’s backpack here. I think he believes that if he wears the backpack he will be able to go with them. Kind of a “if you build it... mentality”.

Yes, Nate’s outfit is rockin’, and
yes, Anna is giving Nate bunny ears. It has started.

The school bus. See my cuties on their way to school?!

Going home...

Once we got back to our apartment, we changed Nate’s clothes and headed to Wal-Mart. I had already put if off for a day and well, it was time. Grocery stores can only be ignored for so long...
We made good time and got a few things that we needed. Because we are still in post-Chinese New Year days the shelves were not stocked at all. I got some of my more ‘western-y’ products. But so many items were still sold out. I am SO over Chinese New Year and in case I haven’t mentioned it yet I WILL travel during this time next year.
Anyway - taxi’s were hard to come by after we finished at the grocery store, so I decided to keep the one I had. Instead of dropping our grocery bags and home and then heading out, I struck up a deal with my taxi driver (not really a ‘deal’, I just told him he had to take us several places). We went to the bank - while he waited with my groceries, then we went to another bank because the first bank wasn’t open. Then on to pay our electricity bill. And finally back home. We made it home by 11am and I had all my errands run for the day. I was super thankful!

After lunch, and before naps it was tool time. I love seeing my kids dressed up like construction workers.

These two pictures of Elizabeth were taken at different times. She truly believed that this hand-on-the-hip pose what the best most appropriate pose while dressed like a construction worker.
She has big aspirations to be a construction worker. I reminded her that she also wanted to be a doctor/dentist/mermaid/photographer. She seems to think she can find a job that will do all of those things.

Once Nate was down we got out the magnetic toy things. I wish I had a better name for them... this is not really a Nate friendly activity.
But then Nate woke up earlier than usual and the girls were faced with a choice. Either put it away or be willing to share with Nate. They voted for sharing... and to my surprise they did a great job. Nate decided his whole goal in playing with these, was to collect every single silver ball - and he did. Soon the girls were left trying to get the stick pieces to go together without any balls. Talk about great attitudes.

Anna was proud of her letter E. For Erica, or Elizabeth - or actually for Anna because she kind of feels left out that her name doesn’t begin with an E like mom and sister.

Then she figured out that their metal shelves were a good place to stick the magnetic sticks.

Then I kind of started losing track of what they played with next. The kids were all playing together so well. I gifted them some paper starbucks bags and they packed their bags and went on trips. They took naps at their hotel (aka the living room carpet), and had a whole lot of fun. It was a beautiful day outside and I had big visions of heading outside after naps, but they actually asked if they could stay home and play.
It was a huge blessing to have such a productive, peaceful, and fun day.

This almost feels normal - Day 2

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 17:26:24 +0800

Today was a good day. It just felt that so many things were normal. Of course the thing that kept it from being completely normal was that dad was gone... but otherwise... normal.
Let me just list of all the ways it felt normal. I like lists.
1. Our house helper was back to work today after being gone for 2 weeks (for Chinese New Year)... I REALLY missed having her around.
2. The girls were back at school
3. Nate and I got time to play just the two of us
4. I de-cluttered (my house) a bit - ahhh
5. The weather was warmer so I didn’t freeze my tush off.
6. I didn’t HAVE to be anywhere. I had errands I could have run, but it was okay that I put them off for a day
7. We got to go outside and play.

All last week we have all been sleeping late. It was wonderful! It has been a long time since we all had enough down time to really relax. Well, sleeping late means I go to bed later than I should, and then I find myself entering into a bad cycle. A cycle that needed to be broken today, but oops. It was late when we all woke up and that meant I had to hurry to get the girls ready for school, breakfast in them, teeth brushed, and Nate dressed enough to go down to the bus. We made it, but I don’t like running out the door like that. I mean, I didn’t even have time to grab my camera!
Once we got back upstairs Nate seemed to be really excited about the one-on-one time with mom. We came up with a new game. Steve had purchased some really weird tape. It was supposed to be a knock-off of Scotch brand tape... but it truly has hardly any sticky. So I decided we would make it into a tug-of-war rope.
Nate had a great time!

After the game it was time to clean...

The top picture is Nate using a wipe to clean their blue table. I love how he has to hold one hand in the air while using the other hand.
And then vacuuming the carpet. Oh what a hard worker.
The rest of the morning was spent re-organizing and just getting the house back in order. That always feels so good!
While Nate did enjoy the quiet morning, he was of course, very excited when his sisters came home.

Because the girls missed the last week of school (for our trip to Thailand), they didn’t get a chance to bring home all their end of the semester stuff. They had a few Chinese New Year cards from teachers and then Elizabeth had an envelope full of artwork from the last few weeks of school. She was SO excited to bring it home and show us.

These two are of a rainbow, and our family. I don’t know the story on either of these pictures, but rest assured there is always a story!

Then a princess (with a strange shaped object... and a mermaid. She loves mermaids.

These next two are rather scary - if you ask me. We have a “robot, machine monster” (that is exactly how she described it to me), and then a shark, who is in the process of eating fish. I do love the crab underneath the shark. Good detail. After seeing the fish already in the sharks mouth, I just wanted to yell to the orange fish - “swim little guy swim!!”

And back to a more peaceful scene. I absolutely LOVED this picture - especially the tree... with the black circle in the trunk. Because I think that when I was growing up, every tree I ever drew had a black circle - you know the squirrel hole. Now my daughter sees the importance of a squirrel hole. Precious.

Yes, she loves math. That is from her dad. But at least I have a squirrel hole.

She can’t read this Chinese book... but she has an Ayi who can. (our house helper)

More pictures of Anna being content to pose as long as she has something to pose with. I will say this object (a giant red ball) is a bit much.

I wish I had a story for Nate with butterfly wings holding his FAVORITE ball... but nope. He just sat down and had a moment.
Oh and check out Anna’s hands as she is walking in her dearest shoes. Princess or what?

Elizabeth at work.

Then we headed outside to enjoy the perfect day!

There was running

It was really busy at the square because so many people are still off of work/school for the New Year. So we always try to get away from the crowds so the kids can actually play.
After a little while of searching we finally found a pathway that we were not followed onto and the kids got to play alone. For a while.

It’s not that they don’t like playing with other kids. They really do. The problem is that at the square, everyone is wandering aimlessly and if there is something to watch and observe a crowd with gather. And that something to watch is usually my kids. And well, sometimes they want to be not watched and followed and observed!

We found a path, which led to a tree, which Elizabeth wanted to knock down with her stick... so she could take the wood from the tree back to Texas to her Uncle Mike would she knew would build her something cool with it. And even let her help with the construction.

Poor Nate, by the time he can get himself up - his sisters are ready to move onto something else.

We played hop-scotch.

Anytime we go to the square, we find, um, characters. People who intrigue me. Interesting folks.
Here are a small number of the interesting ones from this day.

The lady in white came up while the kids were digging. She proceeded to start bumping her back into the tree. Repeatedly. So hard that she made a strange noise everytime she did it. The kids and I stared a bit. I have lived in China for almost 10 years and I still stare sometimes.

Next we have the photography club. They are not so strange, but were funny how they all at the same moment (there were others not pictured) turned their cameras from the one blooming tree in the city, to my kids. Who finally decided to smile for a Chinese camera. It was funny.

Then Anna’s discovery. The sleeping man. She wanted to wake him up... really bad. Could you imagine the shock on the man’s face if a 3 year old foreign girl with white blond hair had woken him up. Oh I should have let her do it - it would have been unforgettable.

Today Anna asked me “mom, is daddy coming home today?” I told her no, not yet... she said “well, be sure to let me know when it is getting close so I can be ready”. I am anxious to find out what she needs to do to get ready. We will see!

Who’s in charge - Day 1

Sun, 21 Feb 2010 13:51:55 +0800

This morning, at 4:30am, Steve left for a week long trip. I am glad that he was able to go and have some away time... not that we won’t miss him like crazy, we will. But he will have a good time. He is going to a land where Starbucks abounds. Of course he will have a good time.
There is a reason for his 4:30am departure. It is my fault. I take the blame. I had all the flights and details worked out for his trip... then the airline canceled his first flight. This was about 2 weeks ago. The travel agent we used said that the other flights that had a time we needed were all sold out, so he would have to travel the night before and overnight in a different city. I told her not to worry about getting a new ticket and he could just take the fast train. It is not quite as convenient, but the time is about the same. To fly to this city, we have a mini-van service pick us up at our door, take us to the airport (2 hour drive), and then fly to the city (1 hour). To take the train, first you take a taxi to the train station (20 min) then the train ride (3 hours) then a taxi to the airport (30 min). There are pros and cons to both, but I do think that flying is a bit easier. Especially with luggage. Anyway - because he is traveling alone I knew he would be fine taking the train. But then I pulled a mommy-brain stunt and completely forgot to go get his train ticket. Completely forgot. Until it was 2 days before his trip and then Steve mentioned to me that he just read online that those 3 days were THE busiest travel days in China. For the whole year. That’s a lot of people-moving going on. After I remembered, Steve rushed down to the train station for them to tell him he wasn’t going to be getting on a train for at least 4 days. Not a single ticket was available. Then I started to freak out. I had ONE day to find a ticket. All the flights were sold out and no trains. I called a taxi friend of ours and asked him how much to just drive Steve to this city. He wanted $439. For the 10 hour drive. And I thought we were friends. So I just kept calling the airlines. I spent all day on the phone. I had Steve’s name on various standby lists, but I was doubtful.
The first flight out that next morning was at 8am. That meant leaving at 4:30am and getting to the airport by 6:30 for the 8am flight. That night I really didn’t sleep... I just kept praying... I explained to God that I didn’t want Steve to miss out on Starbucks because I was forgetful.
7:45am Steve called and said that he thought he was going to go get on the flight, when the guy whose ticket they were giving up arrived. Sad. There were only 2 more flights before he would have to cancel his next 2 flights and try again the next day. Then at 8:10 he called back to tell me they had given him a seat on the 10am flight. Apparently the lady felt bad for the poor foreign guy, and gave him someone else’s seat. So the last person to arrive for the 10am flight will be stuck! I should feel bad for that person, but yea, I just don’t. Sorry.
I was so thankful and it just made my day that he got off without any other problems.

So anyway - the kids slept until about 7:30, then we got ready for the day and headed over to our friends house. The weather was just beautiful. Oh wow. Perfect kind of weather.
We had a good time and decided to just head home for lunch. It is just easier for me to have meals at home when there is only one adult to help the kids.
After lunch & naps we set about our playing. We just had a fun time sitting on the floor getting out various toys and playing. It’s the simple things right?
Oh - and a highlight for the girls was a phone call that evening - their school informed me that they would be starting classes again in the morning. The 12 hour heads up was wonderful. I wasn’t expecting a phone call until the morning of. I asked the girls if they wanted to go back to school and their enthusiastic yells confirmed my suspicion. So we lifted out clothes and pulled out the backpacks then got ready for bed a little early. (Mostly because mom was just ready for a break!)

I told the kids we needed to take some pictures for daddy. And they agreed - as long as it was for daddy - they were so willing!

Kisses for Nate. He needs some time with his boy cousins... can they come for a visit???

And Anna kept on posing for me - as long as she had something to pose with. Maybe that’s the secret to getting Anna to take pictures...

After dinner the kids created some tunnel game - I don’t understand, but I guess that’s because I am not between the age of 2-4.5.

The kids were bummed that Steve had to leave, but I promised a week of fun-ness, and that made it better.
Elizabeth asked me “since Daddy is gone, who is in charge?” I asked what she thought... and she said “well you are in charge mom... but we need a man too. Maybe Nate can help you be in charge”.

Our Chinese New Year vacation

Sun, 21 Feb 2010 13:49:30 +0800

One of our usual yearly highlights is a big family vacation somewhere warm during the cold winter months. We plan this trip during the Chinese New Year because that is when Steve is off of school. There are also really good ticket prices available, and if you book far enough in advance it is a great time to travel.
This year it just didn’t work out for us to travel. We have already planned a trip to America in August and that is not cheap! So we chose to stay home and freeze save money.
Well as Chinese New Year approached I was really feeling the absence of the family vacation. The fun and the memories that come from the whole family leaving the house and being together in a different location - away from the day to day life, and the distractions that it can bring. So, I talked to Steve and he quickly agreed, we had to plan some sort of family vacation.
So we came up with a trip to Changsha - leave in the morning and return the next day at night. It would be short and not far away, because the point was just to get away and not spend too much money!
We got busy making the travel arrangements. Usually a trip like this would require very little planning, but seeing as how we would be traveling 2 days after Chinese New Year Day, we had to plan ahead. We were able to get train tickets on the fast train, we arranged transportation to the train station in our city and another ride from the Changsha train station to our hotel. We also got our room booked at the hotel. Then I called ahead to ask if we could check in 4 hours early and leave 3 hours after check-out time. Just wanted to get more for our money! :)
With all the details lined up, we packed our single suitcase (which I am sorry to say was a lot more full than it should have been for the brief time we were gone).
We didn’t tell the kids that we were going anywhere until the morning of. Then we just told them we were going out - without providing any details. Their excitement was SO fun!
We made it to Changsha and to our hotel without any problems - it all went so fast. We checked in, wolfed down our PB&J sandwiches from home and went to the pool. The reason we booked this hotel was because of their indoor pool. Nice. The girls were so excited as they had just been swimming in Thailand with mom, but Nate was a little more nervous. For about 2 seconds. Then he decided he had NO fear of the water and had a blast. He was amazing. We put floaties on his arms and he was off. I have never seen a 2 year old so brave and bold in the water! The girls were NEVER like that... they still are not like that.
We did have to watch him very closely as he was over-confident at times.

We finally announced it was time to get out. The air in the pool room was cold. So as long as you were under the water it was fine, but you see Nate kept wanting to jump off the side of the pool and he finally got a chill he couldn’t shake. So we decided to get out. The bathroom in our hotel was nice and had unlimited hot water - which was a big treat compared to the 7 minutes we get in our shower at home. So we went back up to our room and the kids spent the next hour in more water. Playing in the large bath and shower area. It was really warm. I love warm.

When we were sufficiently water logged we got our layers back on and headed to dinner. The plan had been to have Papa John’s pizza delivered to our room (to avoid heading out in the cold), but on our way to the hotel we noticed they had just opened a new Papa Johns right across the street - with a Dairy Queen right next door. And we decided that Dairy Queen was worth not having our pizza delivered.
It was still late afternoon when we headed for dinner, but we knew the kids were going to be tired if we waited any longer (after all Nate & Anna were getting to skip their afternoon naps).
Pizza was good. Very good. We got extra for the next day’s lunch. Just planning ahead.

I wasn’t able to get any pictures at Dairy Queen. Apparently it was only a few weeks old and it was really busy. China busy.
As we were walking from pizza to ice cream we saw this person in a tiger costume. (2010 is the year of the tiger). ‘Tiger’ is one of Nate’s new favorite words so he was yelling for the tiger to come over to us. And it did. Apparently the tiger was passing out papers for a local KTV (karaoke) place and danced it’s way over to us.

Then we headed back to the hotel where we decided we should go swimming again. We did for like an hour and half. Nice. Then it was back upstairs for another long hot bath/shower. More water.
By then the kids were exhausted and it was bedtime, so we tried to settle them down. But even in their exhausted state, they were still wired. But finally everyone was asleep - for 2 hours. Then everyone was awake and I was reminded once again why I don’t like to have our entire family of 5 in one hotel room. (And to be really honest here - the hotel room doesn’t let you have 5 people, so we snuck the kids in). haha
After a not super great night sleep, we went down for breakfast and then back to the swimming pool for one last swim. Then you guess it - back to the bath. I wanted to make sure I was as warmed as possible before going to my cold house!

The rest of the day consisted of packing up, heading to the import store and back to the train station. We were home by 8pm and the kids got to bed at a decent hour. I love going home - even after just being gone for one night.

I think the highlight of the trip for the kids wasn’t the fast train, or even the swimming pool (maybe that was Nate’s highlight), but the hotel room. It was a nice room and they had so much fun playing in there. Between the closets and shower area of the bathroom, they had a great time playing!

They actually built a little bed inside the closet. I love their imaginations!
So our mini-vacation was a hit. We all had a really wonderful time together and even though I wasn’t really rested, it was just a nice get away!
Now just 5 more months until our BIG vacation!

More Valentine pictures

Sat, 20 Feb 2010 16:39:44 +0800

The kids were having so much fun playing, and since I had my camera handy, I started snapping pictures.
Elizabeth was the bridge while Nate & Anna crawled underneath. Usually this kind of play ends 5 minutes in with drama from one of the 3 kids... but on this day they managed to all get along!

Then Nate had a turn being the bridge - but the girls couldn't really fit under him... so he tried lifting a leg. Then it was just hilarious.

Next on the agenda was Elizabeth being a horse and Nate & Anna riding on her back. Let me just say - she is one strong girl!

Then kisses for Anna, but apparently Elizabeth’s lips were too dry, so after applying more chapstick (she is addicted)...

she was ready to try the kisses again.
I love this one of Elizabeth standing while Nate & Anna run circles around her.

After the girls held Nate across them, Anna wanted a turn. Elizabeth couldn’t hold her by herself, so they called Nate over to help.

But his idea of helping was to come and sit on Anna. It was really funny.

But then she got upset about something and had a few moments of drama.
And as is true with any drama queen, she was over it quickly and was ready to resume her playing. Especially because there was a new ride available - one a bit stronger than Elizabeth...

I love how Elizabeth has to stop to apply chapstick (which is called lipstick)... she is such a princess.

Happy Valentine’s Day 2010 ♡ ♡ ♡

Sat, 20 Feb 2010 15:09:24 +0800

Valentine’s Day was not a one day event around here. We actually spent a few days celebrating. The kids really enjoyed all the fun activities that went with this holiday. We talked a lot about love and God’s love for us. There were good conversations.

The kids were a big help in hanging up a few decorations around the house.

Basically the girls would put up the window sticky things (you know, the ones you can reuse each year) and then Nate would come behind them and remove them. And wrinkle them. And throw them on the floor. Isn’t he such a little brother? Then the girls would put them as high as they could. And if, IF, the girls got them higher than Nate could reach, he would simply grab the nearest chair and climb up to remove their work. It was quite a game for him, and such a point of frustration for the girls. I personally found it quite humorous, but don’t tell the girls I said that.

Even the fish tank benefitted from Valentine’s Day.

As I shared on the previous day, we celebrated Valentine’s Day with our friends at the same time we celebrated Chinese New Year, so after the Chinese dinner was finished, we pulled out some heart shaped sugar cookies and let the kids decorate. They had a great time, except I made my icing a bit too thick and it was hard for the kids to squeeze... so then the mom’s stepped into help. And this mom (me) squeezed the icing bag too hard and it popped. (I almost typed pooped and that would have been a funny and embarrassing typo wouldn’t it!?!). The kids were actually excited about the big blob of icing on the table. It is not really that I am THAT strong, it is because I bought the icing bags at a local market here - 100 bags for $1.46. Cheap bags will pop.
Wow, I need to get back to Valentine’s Day.

The kids all had a great time decorating their one cookie each (they were large cookies so one was enough).

Look at how Asah is staring at Anna’s cookie. His own cookie is sitting on his plate, but other people’s cookies look better than your own sometimes.

The rest of that evening was spent watching fireworks.

The next morning, after I didn’t sleep much (because the fireworks never actually stopped all night long), I got up and made heart shaped pancakes for the kids. They thought they were great - for about 2 minutes and then asked me to stop taking pictures of their breakfast and please cut them so they could eat. Then the pancakes looked just like the regular round, boring ones.

So Valentine’s was simple, but fun.

Chinese New Year 2010

Sat, 20 Feb 2010 09:40:57 +0800

After 9.5 years of living in China, this was our first year to be here for Chinese New Year. We have traveled every other year during this big holiday. It is the perfect time for a family vacation because it is cold here... and warm just a few hours south (Thailand) and because life as we know it does not seem to exist during the Chinese New Year time. One year we came home immediately after Chinese New Year Day and got a glimpse as to what it is like, and it helped us to see that yes, we would prefer to travel during Chinese New Year time. But it just didn’t work out this year. We are taking our big family vacation in August, and we just couldn’t spend the money on two vacations.
Many (Chinese) people compare Chinese New Year to Christmas... and yes, there are many similarities... but there is one HUGE difference. Christmas is about the birth of Jesus. Chinese New Year is about, well, the New Year - based on the Lunar calendar. There are huge family gatherings and a lot of money is spent preparing for this holiday. As you walk around town on the days leading up to the start of Chinese New Year it is amazing how many people are out and about shopping, spending money. Everyone is stocking up to ensure they don’t need to do anymore shopping during the 2 week holiday period. They are finishing any last minute house projects before family comes to visit. It is just a very similar feeling to the Christmas rushing that we experience in America.
We knew that we needed to stock up on food items as well, so the week before found me carrying bags and bags of groceries home so that we wouldn’t have to try to find what we want when the stores are not stocking shelves for a while.
Family travels from all over to be together for this holiday, so transportation is mostly crazy. Many buses were not running, and the ones that were running were too full and not stopping at all the stops. Taxi drivers were refusing to use their meters and were instead tripling the price.
That, and the fact that the weather was cold, rainy and just icky, meant that we spent a good part of the week at home, inside... watching Elizabeth go stir crazy.

We did get out on the nice weather day for dinner with friends... about 1/3 of the restaurants on our street were open. And therefore getting all the business.

The day before Chinese New Year we had a get together with some friends to do a joint holiday celebration. We celebrated Chinese New Year with jiaozi (dumplings) and other Chinese dishes. Then we cleaned up from dinner and did our Valentine’s celebrating (more on that later).

The kids loved watching the fireworks that were being set off right in front of our building. All day long. Nate especially couldn’t get enough of them and would drag people over to the big window to watch with him.

Sitting around the table for our Chinese dinner.

After dinner we all stood around the big window watching the fireworks.
The kids got tired of them (except Nate) and sat down for a popcorn snack.

Then Jonathan did a firework show of his own for the kids. It wasn’t as loud as the ones outside. Pretty funny stuff.

We have had some fun times... many surprise visits from friends, because that’s what you do before Chinese New Year. We have had some good meals out, and many many phone calls of friends wishing us a HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR”. (Yea they all seemed to say it loud).
But one of the biggest things I will remember from being here for Chinese New Year are the fireworks. I still get this strange beating in my chest just thinking about it. I have NEVER in my life of enjoying firework shows experienced anything like it. The sheer number of fireworks is just mind boggling. They started in the morning and grew steadily until around 10pm and then it seemed that every available man, child and some women, were out lighting them. By midnight they were at an all time high and they were coming from every direction. Notwithstanding the folks who were shooting them out of our apartment building. I was not pleased with that and wished I could see who it was so I could lecture them.
Steve and I positioned ourselves outside the window to watch and he went ahead and set up his camera and opened the window despite the cold to get a few pictures. Check out the pre-midnight shot and then the after midnight shot. That is all from smoke from the fireworks right outside our window.

and a few other shots that Steve took.

It was COLD and Steve had the window open!!

We thought for sure that the kids would wake up, and a few times I went and stood by their doors to listen, but truly even if they were crying I wouldn’t have been able to hear.

If you want to read more about Chinese New Year festivities and history - read here.

Here is a video I took with our little camera. Not the best quality, but it gives a small idea of what it was like at mid-night.

Rope-skiing

Fri, 19 Feb 2010 19:22:39 +0800

We have a new game in our house. Allow me to introduce you to rope-skiing.

Requirements: 3 children & 3 jump ropes & 1 dad. (And of course 1 mom to take pictures).
Directions: Tie up a child... a leg or a waist - both have proved to work well... then pull.
Result: Giggles. Lots and lots of giggles

Then Steve got a turn...

He didn’t get very far...

Hair out of control

Thu, 18 Feb 2010 13:51:10 +0800

The girls had been asking me to curl their hair for awhile, but we just hadn’t had a not busy evening for awhile, so finally this week, I made sure baths were finished early, so I could sit down and rag curl their hair.
It takes about 25-30 min for each girl, so that’s a nice chunk of time. I have done it successfully multiple times and figured this time would also produce beautiful, big, full, bouncy curls. But I was wrong. This time I used too many rags, which meant that each section was curled tighter than usual, which meant that the girls woke up looking like their hair had exploded. The actual curls were pretty, but they were so tight the girls looked like they had a fro.
As I undid Elizabeth’s hair and realized what we were looking at, I started laughing. Really hard. I did my best to explain to Elizabeth that it was just so curly that it made mom happy... she believed it. And why shouldn’t she - I haven’t laughed that hard in a long time. But Anna saw my laughing and got worried that her hair would also look ‘funny’.
It did.

We had plans to go over to our friends house, so I called ahead to warn them about the girls hair. I didn’t want the girls to get to their house, pull off their hats and hear gasps in response. Thankfully everyone was super sensitive and complimented the girls on their beautiful curls. Elizabeth actually really liked her hair this curly. Anna liked her better when I took out the hair band and her curls could be free.

This picture of Asah and Anna is just hilarious to me.

And the second one of Anna making the funny face will indeed be put into a video when she is older. Perhaps her wedding.

Elizabeth wanted to brush through her hair. It didn’t go well.

While we were at our friends house, we started watching some of the Olympics - the pairs figure skating was on, and perhaps it was an attempt to take the attention off of his fro-ed sisters, but Nate momentarily stole the show by doing an ice skating routine of his own.

He was pretty good!
Since then we have asked him to ice skate for us and he gets this determined look on his face and begins dancing.
The girls got a bath that night to wash away the frizz curl. Elizabeth was sad, but Anna wanted me to use the straightner on her hair to make sure it was perfectly straight.
Elizabeth has already asked when I can do it like that again. Anna is not so eager.