Sick little girl

Miss Emma is sick.  Last week she started complaining about her tummy hurting but then it would go away.  We didn't think too much of it until she started getting a fever Sunday night.  She felt better in the morning on Monday and we sent her to school.  At 2pm the nurse called and said she had a fever and asked if I could come and get her.  I brought her home and she rested.  This morning she woke up with a fever of 102.7 F. We took her to a medical clinic where they did a blood test and checked her out.  He ruled out appendicitis pretty quickly but when her white blood count came back it was pretty high.  The doctor has put her on some antibiotics and we are hoping whatever infection she has gets cleared up fast.  She doesn't want to miss our upcoming trip to Vietnam this weekend.  We would love any prayers on her behalf.

Playdough!!!!

The other day Meagan needed me to make her some play dough for a school project.  She is having to do a research project on an inventor and she chose Ruth Wakefield.  I know you are all asking yourself "who is Ruth Wakefield?"  We owe her a lot because she invented the chocolate chip cookie.  One day she was making some other cookie and didn't have any cocoa and thought if she put big chunks of a chocolate bar she had received from Mr. Nestle that the chocolate would melt and her cookies would be the same as they normally were.  Well, the chocolate didn't melt and the cookies were delicious and now she is famous.  Meagan had to do a poster or a model of her inventor's invention so she thought she could make a giant cookie out of play dough.

 Emma and Eric wanted to play with playdough too so I made another batch and we had a great time playing with it.  Emma made a menagerie of lots of animals (a snail, penguin, dolphin, lion and turtle).

 Eric just made things and then squished them to make more.   Playdough is definitely a great toy!!!

The family that works together stays together!!!

Last night I was trying to get some bean bags made for Primary Inservice meeting today.  I called in Heidi to help me turn the little bags right side out.  Then a few minutes later Eric and Emma came in wanting to watch and help.  After all the bags were sewn the kids all helped put the rice in with Daddy's help.  I sewed up the hole and Meagan trimmed all the strings.  I was so happy that my family was willing to help me in a pinch and have fun doing it.  Thanks so much family.  Heidi thought this was a great thing and decided we should take pictures just so we could blog it.  Here they are!!!!

No School!!!!

On Friday, this past week,  Meagan and Heidi didn't have school due to a teacher inservice day.  We went to the fabric market and they each picked out a new dress for winter time and then we hurried back to our side of Shanghai and went for foot massages.  This has become a fun luxury that I have readily taken to and try to get one at least once a week.  They are only 48RMB which is a little over $5.  Not too bad for an hours foot massage.

 The girls have been wanting to go and get one for a long time so I decided I would take them at least once.  They loved them and are asking to come back soon.  I don't know if I can take them often but maybe a few more times will be O.K. The first thing you do is soak your feet in hot water.  

Then they give you a 10-15 min shoulder and back massage.

 Then they move onto the feet.

After the massage we dropped off Meagan for a birthday party.  Heidi and I went to lunch at Element Fresh ( a restaurant across the street that I frequent with my friends and Heidi was really wanting to try).  Then we went to the hair salon.  We have been watching home videos lately and I loved Heidi's hair when it was shoulder length. She found a style online and now she has "side bangs".

 I have not wanted to let her have bangs ever in her life but I finally relented.  She looks very cute (maybe a little older) but we will have to see if she can manage her hair.  She is now old enough that mom shouldn't have to help her too much.

One Size Fits All

We were walking around YuYuan a few Saturdays ago and we saw these cute shirts.  The girls all asked if they could get one and we asked how much they were.  We were told 10 RMB which is about $1.40.  We figured that was cheap enough to get these shirts that seem to stretch to fit all sizes.

 The girls have all had a great time swapping colors and wearing each others shirts.  What a fun find we sometimes get here in China!!!

Chinese Sidewalk Sale

 Every week David and I go to the vegetable and fruit markets with our driver.  We try to take at least one child with us so they can see this part of China.

 Last week we took Emma and outside the market there are people selling live chickens.  You get to pick which one you want and they kill it and bleed it and take off the feathers while you shop or wait there.

 

This is not the way that we buy chickens in America (or here in China, either). But Emma saw this and was fascinated.  She couldn't wait to get home and gross out her siblings with her story.  She wasn't disappointed either when she told them.  They said they weren't going to eat chicken anymore.  (They did anyway!!)

I'm Back!!!

Wow!!  What a week!!! Last Sunday after we put the kids to bed and I was ready to blog some more of our pictures, I sat down to the computer only to discover that we had no internet.  I asked David to come and "Fix it", but he couldn't.  How can that be, I thought, he can fix anything.  He told me that it was probably the modem.  I only know that means it is this little black box behind the computer.  I thought that can't be too hard to get fixed and decided I would be ok for a night.

Monday morning David took the modem to the front management people and told them that we didn't have any internet and that he thought the modem was broken.  We went on our way and a few hours later I got a phone call informing me that my modem was not broken but that the phone line was causing the problem.  I thought that was funny because our phones worked just fine.  They told me it was going to be 3 days before they could fix it.  I was not happy to not have internet for that many days.  Being the primary president in a branch and country where there really is no voicemail or answering machines and everything is done by e-mail this was going to be a hard 3 days.  I would rush to my neighbors apartment sometimes 3 times a day to check my e-mail and to reply to the most important ones in a few short minutes. Plus Meagan and Heidi's school assignments are all on the internet. They post a page and the kids have to write their answers in a notebook.  They don't have lots of papers or books because everything is on-line.  It really is great!!  (When you have internet!!!!) 

On Wednesday I went to the office to confirm that they were coming the next day when I was told that they wouldn't be here until Sunday.  I started to get very angry at them and tell them that was unacceptable and that we needed the internet now!!!! She said she would see what she could do and I called up David to let him know.  He also called them and told them they better get it fixed.  I was called about an hour later and told that they would have someone the next day there to fix it.  ( I guess sometimes it takes a little yelling to get things done here)

 Thursday morning the repair man came and after checking things for about 10 minutes he told me the modem was broken.  Well, that about did me in and I was so mad.  He said he would bring one tomorrow.  David called the office again and told them they  better get a new modem immediately.  They told him they would try.  It didn't happen but early Friday morning (while I was still in the shower) the repair guy came back and 2 minutes later it was fixed.  Imagine how my week would have gone had they only listened to David the first day!!!! 

Well, anyway, I made it through this trial (probably not with flying colors) but hopefully I learned to not be Mrs. Nice Guy with the office and realize it will all still turn out just fine, even if  it is hard and time consuming!!!!!

YuYuan

Today we told all the kids we were going to go and explore China some more and we sure heard a lot of moans and groans.  They had all had a hard week at school (HA) and needed time to veg and relax at home they told us.  But we, the ever so mean parents, would not have that.  We were going to drag our children off to a fun filled day of walking around in a Chinese Garden.  Eric started to panic and didn't want the animals and bugs to get him and we all looked at Meagan for putting that thought into his head.  Even 10 years later and Meagan still doesn't like butterflies and is now influencing Eric to not like them either.  We told him there were no butterflies and/or animals other than fish and he could just run around.  He decided it wouldn't be too bad.  The girls grudgingly got into the car also and away we went.

When we first got there we went to the pearl store we always buy our pearls. And I had one of my necklaces that I love shortened because I rarely wear it.  It is now the perfect length!!!!! The girls all got some sort of jewelry also and Eric was wondering what necklace he was going to get.  I told David we need to work on getting him excited about boy toys more and getting him something when we get the girls things.

After that we went to McDonald's.  We had seen a sign for Burger King but unfortunately it is not open yet.  We have eaten more McDonald's since we have moved here than I think in our entire marriage.  After lunch we went to the gardens.

They are so pretty and the kids enjoy posing for fun pictures in just about every spot.  When we first go in there was a little pond with lots of fish.  The kids loved looking at the fish.  A family came and sat down and started to feed the fish some "baozi" (chinese rolls) and it didn't take long for practically all the fish to head to where the food was.  They were swimming on top of each other to get the food and sometimes they were out of the water.  It was just crazy!  The kids were laughing so much that we started to accumulate a little crowd to see why we were laughing.  The people with the baozi gave the kids some and then they started to feed the fish also.  This was probably the highlight of the trip.  It took a few minutes to pry them away from the fish but there was lots to explore, especially caves.

We stopped to take pictures of the kids quite a bit and had a ton of fun.  We love coming here and have decided to get our family pictures taken here in another month or so.

 Meagan said she loved it so much she wants her senior pictures here.  We reminded her that we wouldn't be living in China when she is a senior.  Then she said that maybe her and her fiance could come and get their engagement pictures here.

 Wow, our kids think that it is nothing to travel to the other side of the world.  I hope we get that through to her that it is still expensive to come here and she can't just hop on a plane just to take pictures. Here are so more pictures of us that I liked.

First Day of School

Today was the first day of school here in China.  All 4 children will be attending the same school all day long.  It was one of those bittersweet moments that I thought I might cry, but then I realized I could go shopping all day long and not have to worry about the kids being home alone or anything.  I am free!!!!!! Eric is now a kindergartener!!!! We were a little worried that he wouldn't make it to his first day with his cold but he pulled it off (just barely) with being well enough to go.  After his first day I asked him what his favorite part af school was and his response was: "Reading the books, playing on the playground, everything!!!"  I told him I would miss him and I got my favorite answer from all my kids when they start kindergarten. "But mom,  I will come back!!"  Life is good when you know your kids want to come back. (At least at this age)

Emma was up and ready before I knew it.  She even had her done!! She was so excited to be the big sister at her school now that Heidi moved to the middle school.  She helped us take Eric to his class and then went happily to her own class.  After school I asked her what her favorite part of the first day of school was and she replied: "Music, because we played a game where we had to sing our name.  I had to sing my name really high."

Heidi was so excited to start middle school.  Here in China the 5th graders get to start middle school. (at least at the school she attends)  She got a locker and gets to switch classes a little and take band and drama and change for P.E.  She was all up and ready to go quickly also.  Last night she told me she was so excited she couldn't sleep.  Aahhh, I remember being that excited for school to start.  David said he was never that excited for school to start,  how weird!!!! Heidi was the first kid I spotted after school and she told me she loved middle school and had a great day.  Later when I asked her what her favorite part of the first day of school was, she replied: "Drama, because we played 2 awesomely fun games." I had no idea Heidi would love drama so much.  She did say that she didn't like her mandarin class because there are only 6 students and 5 of them are boys!!!! Her teacher also said she had to sit up straight with her feet on the ground and not crossed.  Apparently while they were doing something Heidi for got and crossed her legs and was reminded that was not acceptable.  The chinese can be so strict sometimes, I guess.  But she should be a great mandarin speaker. (I hope!!!!)

Last but not least is Meagan.  I think she has been looking forward to school more than any of the other kids.  She transfered over from Dulwich College which is a British school and very strict also.  The dress code is a little more lenient here.  She can choose between navy or khaki bottoms and navy or white polos.  She can also wear whatever shoes she wants and can leave her hair down, have her nails painted and wear dangly earrings.  Oh the things that are important when you are 13.  She also has about half of the classes.  We were so proud that she chose to take mandarin instead of Spanish. When you reach the 8th grade you can choose between mandarin, spanish and french.  After she came home from school I asked her what the best part of the first day of school was and she replied, "Drama because it's a fun class and I have it almost everyday."  Wow!! 2 kids that love drama.  I hope they continue that love and have a great year.

All the cute kids ready for their fun and exciting first day.  I only hope that they keep this excitement and enthusiasm for a while.  It makes getting up and sending them to school not so hard somedays when I want them to just stay little and be with me a little bit longer.  But as each and every one of them has told me, "I will come back, mom"  And I will wait anxiously for each of them to do that and share with me the new things they learned and did.  It is always a highlight of  my day!!!!!!