A white Christmas after all!!

I told the kids over and over that we would most likely not have a white Christmas. It rarely snows in Tianjin and when it does, there is very little accumulation...until this year!! We came back from Hong Kong and found almost 2 inches of snow on the ground!! It is the most snow they have seen here in almost 15 years - they must know there are people here from the US wanting to experience some of the incredible snowfall that people are seeing back home!! The kids love to see the snow, but today they preferred to stay inside doing all of the projects that our dear friend Jenny sent us!!

We have had a fun Christmas Eve just hanging out and unpacking from Hong Kong! The kids cannot wait to wake up in the morning because there are so many gifts under the tree!! We are so grateful for all of the packages that have arrived from the US for us to open in the morning. Truly though, it is not really about the gifts, but the love and thoughtfulness that goes into each package. We cannot thank everyone enough for the cards, words of encouragement, and care packages that have gotten us through these first 6 months here in China!!

Now, Santa has arrived according to Nordic Track and a bottle of wine has been finished by these two tired elves, so we must prepare for the early morning wake up we are certain will come!!!

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!!!

Cleanliness, Good-bye!!

Yes, we had to say good-bye to the warm weather, beautiful sunshine and to the cleanliness of Hong Kong!! We arrived last night into Tianjin and this morning woke up to a bit of grey and a lot of dirt tracked into our house!!!

We enjoyed our time in Hong Kong so much, Ellie has requested that we spend her birthday there next year - not a bad idea!!! Ethan and Danny are trying to sabotage my time in China (I agreed to 3 years!!), but they want to move to Hong Kong next!!

Here are some pictures of our final days enjoying the clean, fresh air!!

We love Disney!!

A little swim break in the afternoon!!The castle lit up at night!!Eens and El on the teacups!! The park was basically empty - a 5 minute wait for space mountain!!

Our last breakfast with the characters!! A wonderful ending to a fantastic family getaway!!

The Magic Exists!!

I don't have a lot of time to blog, but I have to say, we love Hong Kong Disney!!! Basically, all I need to say is that we were chosen to be the family to open the park!!! That made my day before I even rode any rides, watched the parade, or met the characters!! We were minding our own business walking toward the entrance and a cast member pulled us aside and asked if we could help. We said sure and she told us we would need to come with her! She explained that we would simply shout Merry Christmas and sprinkle everyone with dust. I asked immediately if she meant pixie dust and she said yes, but I think she thought I had lost my mind!! The kids all got a bag of souvenirs and a certificate for helping! It was a wonderful start to a magical day...

Waiting for our big moment!!

"Merry Christmas Hong Kong!"

Eens conquered his fear of Buzz Lightyear - he rode it 5 times today!!!

Coop couldn't get enough of the Winnie the Pooh ride!! (Sorry for the blurry picture!)

I loved all of the characters dressed for Christmas!

Ellie loved the princesses and space mountain! Grandpa will be proud - she rode it 3 times!!

Good night everyone!!!!

Hong Kong Therapy

There is nothing like a little sunshine, clean air, and warm weather to help mend a broken heart! We took a direct, 3 hour flight to Hong Kong yesterday! Soon after we arrived in the airport, we were greeted by inflatable Christmas creatures - the kids loved it!! We ate at Burger King (which is not my favorite in the US, but here it tastes so yummy!!)! Jen - Danny ate a Whopper for you!! Then we took a nice, clean taxi to our hotel which is the Disneyland Resort located on Lantau Island. The hotel is a smaller version of the Grand Floridian at Disney World! We somehow got a large room with enough beds for everyone and a beautiful view of the South China Sea! Ahhh...Disney of course thinks of everything so this hotel is pretty fantastic. There is a Christmas tree made out of poinsettas in the back and a very real Santa was hanging out in the lobby last night. He was also a very smart British Santa - he called my kids cheeky - that pretty much sums them up if you ask me!!!

The view from our window!

After wandering through our hotel we took a taxi to The Peak on Hong Kong Island. Hong Kong is made up of several islands and territories. In a taxi, you go over huge bridges to get from island to island or there is a ferry to go across the water or you can take the MTR (public transportation) which goes through underwater tunnels to arrive at your destination. Because Hong Kong was under British rule until 1997, they drive on the opposite side of the road and so far everyone we have encountered speaks at least some English. One of the other wonderful things about Hong Kong is that there is a fine for spitting - I know this sounds odd, but if you live in China you totally understand what a great law this is!!! We drove by the port of Hong Kong, which I believe our driver said is the second largest in the world - it was pretty amazing!!

We arrived at The Peak and took a tram up to the top. At one point we felt like we were completely vertical - it was scary and fun all at the same time! Once we arrived at the top there were plenty of restaurants to choose from - we chose Bubba Gump's to remind us of Chicago! We had a beautiful view of the city while we enjoyed some yummy American food! After dinner we checked out the shopping and enjoyed a Starbucks before the backwards journey back down!!

A view of Hong Kong from the top!

On the way up in the tram!

We wore the littlest one out!
Danny's shining moment - no wonder he loves this city - a wax figure of Bruce Lee!!

We were very adventurous and took the MTR back to the hotel. It took a little over an hour (a taxi would have taken longer!) and it was so convenient and clean and easy. We had to take a special Disney train to get back to the resort. I couldn't resist taking a picture of the handrail - mouse ears...

Danny thinks Hong Kong is a mix between New York City and San Francisco. I think it is a little piece of heaven here on earth!! It is so nice that we don't stick out with our 3 children. The kids have only had their pictures taken a handful of times...it's so nice not being in the spotlight!! We can actually enjoy a family getaway here, which is exactly what we all needed!!

First Day of Holiday Break

We survived our first day of the 2 1/2 weeks the kids have off from school. It was not easy, but we made it through and we are actually packed to leave for Hong Kong bright and early in the morning. This was the first day the kids have had off of school since they started that we haven't been travelling! We had a fun day preparing for Christmas...

One of the first things we did was to make reindeer dust. This is a tradition my sister started a few years ago and my kids love it. We simply mixed oatmeal, red and green colored sugar, and glitter and then put it into seperate bags for each of the munchkins. On Christmas Eve the kids will sprinkle it outside so that the reindeer can find their way to our house!!

After that we made some simple Christmas M&M cookies with El's friend Minori. We decided to invite our neighbors over for coffee and cookies later in the afternoon. Plus it will be nice to have some Christmas treats when we get back home - one less thing I will have to do on Christmas Eve!

Next, Eens has been begging me for quite some time to build one of those foam Christmas kits that I had packed from Michael's! We pulled it out and the kids did about 1/4 of it and I ended up doing the rest! It was relaxing and I appreciated having something to do!!

Our two very dear neighbors came over later in the afternoon, so we had a wonderfully full house of kids and three very tired mom's!! I am so happy to have found these mom's right in our compound - we are all from very different backgrounds, but living in China has provided us with common ground. I don't know what I would do if I didn't have Naoko and Karen here - they are lifesavers!!

Cooper as usual provided some entertainment for us in his heels...Danny is so proud!!

On a very sad note, we said good-bye to my grandma today. She was one of the fiestiest women I have ever met and she fought a very good fight against Alzheimer's Disease. I will miss her dearly. Everywhere I have looked in my house today I have found reminders of her. I have some of her crystal pieaces that I use for coffee, I have an apron of hers that I use when I bake cookies, I was planning on making her homemade egg noodles (without the italian chicken broth Aunt Kath!!) for Christmas dinner so I've been looking at her handwriting, and then as I was packing I found a postcard from her when I was in junior high. It was perfect, I can actually hear her say these words, "You better practice for track because I want to see you win!". I'm thankful for the beautiful memories I have with grandma and I'm thankful for such a wonderful family that I can laugh and cry with during the good times and the bad. We all have funny, loving stories of grandma that will keep her memory alive! It is difficult to say good-bye, but I can see grandma in Heaven now with grandpa and I know she is happy and no longer in any pain. I love you grandma...

We will be flying back to the US the day after Christmas to be with my family. As much as I would like to leave tomorrow, we have been planning this trip to Hong Kong since we got here and the kids are so excited. I also think it is best if we stick to our original plans for Christmas for the kids sake. I'm hoping that us coming a little bit later will give my mom something to look forward to after the funeral and then Christmas.

God bless you all!

Question for any potty training mom!

I have to ask this question to any of you who are currently potty training or have loads of experience in this arena!! Dear, sweet Cooper was the easiest by far out of the three to potty train. We had a couple of accidents, some bribery with Geo Trax and now he is completely potty trained. The problem is, he is so independent that he believes he should dump his poop himself. Most of the time, he does get it into the potty, however, today it ended up in the sink...gross, disgusting, yuk!!! This is the sink where the children brush their teeth - I am totally disturbed by the whole thing. I have dumped bleach and any other cleaning product to sanitize, but I just can't help thinking that there was poop in the sink. I try to tell him to tell me when he does it (he needs privacy so he always goes whenever I am in the middle of something!!), but he is not getting it. Any suggestions? Who knows where it will end up next!!!

Spreading Holiday Cheer

This weekend we enjoyed a lot of relaxing family time, along with spending time with friends and beginning to celebrate the holidays before everyone goes off to different destinations!

On Friday night Danny went out with some friends. They started out having drinks and ended up getting a foot massage - I couldn't stop giggling when Danny told me about his first "massage"!! They had went to get a foot massage, but Danny didn't realize that even just a foot massage usually means the whole body (with clothes on of course!!!). I'm not so sure I'll talk him into any more massages, but he was happy he only had to pay $7!

Saturday we went grocery shopping, which is surprisingly getting easier and easier. Danny and I were talking as we waited to check out that, had this been even 2 months ago, a trip to get a few items would have taken all day, this time it only took 1 1/2 hours and that included eating at KFC! After shopping, El had her art lesson. At her last session she had told her teachers that she wanted to work on a cat. They brought a sketched cat and she had to paint it with watercolors. It was a pretty difficult project, but it turned out great - I think I might even have this one framed!! After art it was off to Friday's. My sister had talked about Friday's appetizers so I was craving them - they are not quite as good as in the US (the cheese is a bit different, and they don't have ranch) but I still ate a ton!!

On Sunday morning we had our usual breakfast at the Sheraton. Almost all of the staff knows us by now so we get our coffee quickly and the kids needs are taken care of at every moment. Apparently some of the staff thinks Danny is a movie star here!! It is too funny - he has told them numerous times that he is not a movie star and he is not in commercials, but I guess they don't believe him because they talk about it all of the time!!! We just giggle!! As Danny says, what in the world would we be doing in Tianjin if he was some big movie star!!!!

After breakfast we headed to church. The kids are very comfortable going to Sunday School and they have all made some special friends that they look forward to seeing on Sunday. The majority of the children that attend fellowship go to another international school in town. After church, and weeks of waiting, we finally got to have lunch with Jen and her kids (Kevin is out of town so he wasn't able to join us!). It is always so comfortable being with them - I feel like we have known them forever! Ellie and Rachel were planning a sleepover for Christmas break. I'm pretty sure they have everything they want to accomplish pinned down to the minute! Jen helped me with our trip to Hong Kong because she just returned from there and knows where the shopping is!!! And Danny got to sit at the "boy" table!! It was fun and as usual the time went too fast!!

This is a bright pink tree outside of the shopping complex where we went to eat!!! El thought it was pretty cool!!

After lunch we had to rush to Ellie's Christmas party at a friend's house. One of the mom's organized this entire party which included singing Christmas carols, making Christmas cards, a visit from Santa and eating Christmas goodies. She started putting it together on Wednesday and she did a fine job!! We had a lot of fun! El loved singing with our friend Sarah on the piano! Eens ran around with his friend Tilly singing Mama Mia songs...Honey, honey how he "kills" me uh huh!! I keep telling him it is, how he "thrills" me. He says I'm wrong, either way it is probably not too appropriate for a 4 year old!!! Coop was scared of a very real looking Santa - but he was brave enough to grab his present out of Santa's hand!!

When we got back home, Ellie and I decided to pass out all of the cookies we have been baking to our neighbors so we bundled up and delivered cookies! Meanwhile, my wonderful mother had sent us a huge box full of goodies for Christmas, including her delicious homemade fudge and A Christmas Story!! Coop was excited to watch A Christmas Story. Thanks mom - you can see Coop watching the movie intently (I guess I was wrong in a previous post about not letting him watch movies with guns in them!!)!!

This morning I went to the orphanage where I try to volunteer a couple of times a month. Honestly, trying to organize the ayi to come early and the driver when I go is not that easy, but once I get there and have one of those sweet little babies in my arms, I'm so glad I went through the trouble. The smiles I get are incredible. I was able to feed one of the little ones today - she was so sweet!! The ayis are always very thankful to have extra hands to help!

Please continue to pray for my grandma and my family. She continues to eat very little, however, my mom has said that hospice will start and they will do everything they can to keep her pain free.

Winter Concert at IST

Danny, Cooper, and I were treated to some wonderful singing, piano solos, violin solos, and recorder playing this morning at the IST winter concert! I appreciate so much that Danny always makes such an effort to attend the kids' events at school. There are typically very few dad's attending during the day, but Danny has been able to make it to almost everything - he even attended a PFO meeting!! (Speaking of PFO meetings, I forgot to post about the fact that we discussed pole dancing at the last one - Shonna I thought of you!!!!) I digressed, anyway, the winter concert was very impressive! The children did a great job singing and some of the solos on the piano were amazing. Ellie is definitely getting a piano this month!!! Here are a few pictures...

Our Pirate!

I have talked about Eensie before, but I have to tell you that this boy amazes me everyday. Some of the words I would use to describe Eens are...confident, a leader, creative, compassionate, and sensitive. Never in a million years would I have thought of Eens as being a leader. He continues to be a people pleaser, but he is so much more. He has managed to get all of the boys in his class into pirate mode. Danny and I were at school this morning for the Winter Concert and we were looking at the PreK snowmen - all of the boys had made pirate snowmen. I was talking to his teacher later on in the morning and she said it had been Ethan's idea!! He has also managed to build a "volcano" with his friend Oscar out of recycled items!! His teacher said there are even sound effects which include Eens spitting (on accident of course!) all over the place!! The other night he came home after school and fashioned an entire pirate outfit out of paper! He is so absorbed in his "projects" and will spend hours at the kitchen table until he is finished! I continue to be so proud of him and all of his accomplishments! I keep asking myself if this move has given him the confidence he has, is it his school and teacher who have encouraged his creativity, or is it that I am finally able to sit back and enjoy watching him grow into this sweet, wonderful, independent boy?

This morning after the concert, Coop and I went to Eensie's class so that I could read to the class! He has the sweetest classmates. There are 16 4 year olds in the class with one teacher and Ms. Snow (who loves my children so much!!), she is a TA and also teaches the children Chinese! Eens' teacher is very energetic and it is obvious that she wakes up almost every morning wanting to go to work! I read to a group of 8 and then they treated me to waffles that they had prepared in the morning, muffins, fruit, and juice. Cooper played with Ms. Snow the entire time - she cannot wait until he starts school! He gives her hugs and kisses and tells her he loves her in Chinese! I was so happy I was able to witness Eens in his school environment! Each time I go to school I feel more and more like a part of the community - I am beginning to understand why people say it is harder than you think to go back! Don't worry mom, we won't extend the contract, but I am very thankful we are surrounded by caring and supportive people!!

A Day Without Ayi!!

I decided that my Ayi has been working too hard lately so I gave her the day off today. She typically works from 10:00 until 7:00 or 7:30 five days a week. When I told her she didn't need to come in, at first she thought maybe I was upset with her, after she figured out that I was not, she was very concerned about what we would do for dinner! I thought it was pretty entertaining that she doesn't think I know how to cook! She knows that we go out to eat all weekend when she is not here, so she just assumed I didn't know what I was doing! She will be proud tomorrow when she sees that I made a big pot of my friend Nik's yummy chicken chili!!

I also decided that today would be a good day to do some Christmas baking. My friend Naoko came over and we baked sugar cookies while the kids were at school so that when they got home, they would be ready to icing! Ellie and Minori were experts at icing and Eens was an expert at licking all of the knives!! Coop ate two cookies and then had better things to do (he was engrossed in watching the Beauty and the Beast Christmas DVD!!).

It was a fun day and I proved to myself that I can make it through a day here without help!! I even did a few loads of laundry!!! Don't get me wrong, I know I can function fine here or anywhere without help, but if you only knew how hard it is to find all of the ingredients to make a simple meal. I have to go to several import stores and I'm still not guaranteed to find what I need. Finding meat at the grocery store is also difficult because I can't read the Chinese writing and I'm pretty particular about the meat we eat!! I am very grateful for the help we have, but I will look forward to more days on my own!!!

This is completely off the subject, but if you could please say a prayer for my grandma (my mom's mom). She has been in a nursing home for several years suffering from alzheimers disease and recently her health has been declining. Please pray that she is pain free. Please also pray for my mom and aunts, they mean so much to me and I wish I were closer to give them all big hugs and support them as they have always supported me.

Our Soccer Boy!

Coop is obsessed with soccer. If he sees a ball or anything for that matter, he kicks it. He is actually extremely accurate when he kicks to his daddy so maybe there is some potential here. His newest thing is that when he puts on socks he likes to pull them up as high as they go and call himself soccer boy! Tonight he had on little ankle socks so instead, he pulled up his sweats and was running around being "soccer boy"! He is so funny you can't help but laugh!!

I have to also mention two other things that Coop is into...mooning people and swatting tushes. What is wrong with my third child? El and Eens did not do either of these things, so I'm not sure where he gets these ideas, but it has and I'm sure will continue to make life interesting for me! The other day at Gymboree class, he was chasing his teacher pretending to put out a fire and he's being all funny and winds up and swats her in the tush in front of everyone. Of course the Chinese find this hilarious and I am mortified. Then later that day I had some friends over for tea and a playdate with the kids. We were sitting in the dining room enjoying our tea and in comes Coop. He turns around, pulls down his pants and shakes his little, skinny booty (as he calls it!). Now that I'm writing it and not in the moment, it is funny, but when it is happening I just watch in horror!

Clark would not be disappointed!

The outside lights put up in our compound would make Clark Griswold proud! They have put every color and type of light they can find on trees and bushes. It's hard for the kids to fall asleep because the lights stay on until the middle of the night and they are extremely bright and flashy! Oh well, it is all in good fun and it helps us get into the spirit! We were very appreciative that they even put a light up tree on our front porch.

My friend Sharon had told me that I could find a big blow up Frosty at a store here. I was so excited to go and buy it, but then I started to look outside for outlets and I couldn't find any so I just assumed there would be no lights outside. You are probably wondering to yourself, how then did they put up lights and trees on porches? I must show you pictures because if I told you what they have done, you would not believe it.

This is on our porch and they have used the wires from our light and connected it to the light wires on the tree.

This is hanging on our deck - it is similar to the one on the porch (connected to our light wires) except that they have put a plastic bag over this one. I am not an electrician, but I cannot imagine this is safe??!!

Now that I see what they are capable of, maybe I should go and buy Frosty, they could probably rig it up pretty easily! Or else, a better idea, wait until we move back to the US and buy a great big Frosty and plug it in properly!!!