While the wives are away...

The boys must play!! You are probably wondering how my dear husband is holding up being in China all by himself??!! He is actually doing just fine, which I am so happy about, it makes me feel less guilty about the credit card bill!! We both miss each other a ton, and he really misses the kids, I think he may even miss all of the noise that they create, but we are thankful for Skype because it has allowed us to "see" each other quite a bit. It makes that big ocean that seperates us seem a little bit smaller! The kids and I are counting down the days until he flies into the US...only 25 more days!!

This weekend Danny and two of his buddies celebrated his birthday a little late with a trip to Shaolin, China. I arranged the trip in May while we were all away so he would have something to look forward too!! Shaolin is the birthplace of kung fu and he has been talking about going there ever since we found out we were moving to China! He loves kung fu, and he has been raving about his trip! They were able to spend an entire day at the monastery where the training is done. They watched demonstrations and then in the evening they watched an amazing outdoor show that he said took place between two mountains!! The picture looked beautiful that I saw, yet I'm sure it did not do it justice!! Here are some of the pics Danny sent to me...apparently his next job will be as a kung fu master!!

Stock Car Races...

Yes, "I was born in a small town..." and not too far away, we have stock car races! My grandpa Kimler loved (and I mean really loved) the stock car races. Every Friday night we knew exactly where he was and where he was sitting!! I can only remember going one time with my grandpa to this weekly event. I probably went just to hang out with my cousins, because I've never really understood the whole racing phenomenon! My aunts and cousins still continue to go to the races and so mom thought it would be a good idea if we took the kids last night. There were fireworks and it was definitely something they won't see in China, so I thought no harm could be done!!

Well, I might have some racing fans on my hand! The kids loved the cars and didn't mind the noise at all! El at one point asked, "Mommy, where can I get one of those racing t-shirts?" This coming from my little girlie girl who only wants to wear dresses!! I'm not sure Danny will be so happy about this! We only had one minor incident when Coop fell head first out of the pick up truck bed! Eens was mad I made them leave after the fireworks, he really wanted to stay and watch more racing!!

It is not a good idea to let my crazy aunts drive a golf cart!!!

I guess we'll be going back next year...thanks for the memories!!

Friends Forever!!

Over the past two weeks we have made numerous trips to Bettendorf to spend time with our friends who we miss dearly while we are in China! As is common in my life, when I first moved to Bettendorf I was truly hoping and praying we would be transferred sooner rather than later, and then when we knew our luck was running out after 6 years of being there, I was heartbroken. Bettendorf became our home. Ellie was only 9 months old when we moved there and both boys were born there, so to us, this is "home". The kids associate this lovely city in Iowa as the place where most of their memories have been made and their best friends live. Like I said, I never would have thought when we first moved there that I would ever miss it when we were gone, but I do miss it and most of all I miss the people who made it such a special place for our family!!

We are once again so blessed to have so many friends who open up their homes to us while we are visiting!! We are getting to be pros at packing the backpack for sleepovers!! We love you all!!

Summer Fun!

Dressing up, swimming, and just plain being goofy...that's what our summer has been about!!!

A Trip to the ER!

Don't get too worried, all is well, we just had a little scare on Wednesday night!

I took El and Eens to Bettendorf to visit their friends, and to go to a going away party for our very good friends and neighbors' children. I thought it was a good idea for the kids to see that some of their friends also have to say good-bye and they are not the only ones! They had a great time jumping right back into playing with friends from our old neighborhood and El's elementary school! I was actually able to sit and chat the whole time with my friends (which is a rare occurrence!). I gave my munchkins the "five minute warning" and set off to say good-bye to everyone! A couple of minutes before we were about to leave, El comes limping over to me and sits down on the bench - I look down at her leg and see a bump the size of an egg popping out. She isn't crying so my neighbor thinks maybe I should ice it and give her Tylenol before rushing her to the ER (she knows me so well, I'm sad they are moving to Des Moines, but I also know that it is a great move for their family!)!! I go back to Ang's house with our other very dear friend Julie and her little girl (they are moving too, the whole neighborhood is falling apart!!) and she helps me get El situated. After about 20 minutes of icing, the swelling has not gone down at all so I decide that instead of worrying all night, I'll just take her in!

I obviously haven't been gone long enough because the triage nurse asked me where I had been lately!! Hehe!! Yes, I have been to the ER more than I would like to admit! After we were put into a room we iced it some more and then the doctor decided to do an x-ray because it was right on the bone. Thankfully, there was no break and we were released with a prescription for more icing, Tylenol and a bit of rest!!

Thanks Angie and Julie for all of the help!! Once again, you guys came to our rescue!!

Cousin Lovin!!

Last weekend we were delighted to spend almost three whole days with my sister and her kids!! El and Gracie played so nicely together, Coop and Jacks were hilarious, and poor Eens wasn't sure where he fit in, but he had fun just the same!! And baby Gillian just got lots of hugs when I was "allowed" to hold her (she really loves her mommy!!)! We went to my brother's new house for a cook out - I'm pretty sure we were great birth control for him and Steph! There were 6 kids there 7 and under, and T and I were both on our own!! Imagine the chaos that ensued!! Afterwards T and I took the kids back to her house for a sleepover! Besides a crazy, windy storm that went through, it was really fun!!

On Sunday we played outside and watched a very drawn out production on Grace and Jackson's stage! Then I brought Gracie back to my mom's house for her first sleepover away from her mommy and daddy! Again, our family is full of drama and Grace is definitely no exception. She packed a picture of T and Chris to bring and then as she said good-bye to Jackson she was crying. I believe somewhere along the way she also told my sister to stop being mean to her because it was her last day there!!! Too funny!! We made it to mom's and took them to see Up (which I thought was really sweet, even though some say it is depressing)! That took her mind off of being away from home and I think she had a fun time!!

On Monday we met up with my sisters at the zoo. My kids were more interested in the sprinkler park than seeing the animals, so thankfully the zoo in Bloomington is really small!! And, thankfully there were no monkeys chasing Eens!!

Building Boy!!

We had a bit of drama at Eensie's five year check up this year. He figured out before we got into the office that he would be getting his kindy shots. He was not happy about this and I don't blame him, last year he had to get a total of 10 different shots in a two month period. I told him that if he didn't have his shots that he couldn't go to kindy - yep, he didn't really care! He would be perfectly happy to go back to Miss Jolie!! I finally bribed him that I would buy him a Lego kit after he was done - that my friends did the trick!!

Now, I'm not saying that the shots went well...after a few minutes of me struggling to put my "thick" five year old up on the table, the other nurse called in reinforcements!! We had two nurses and me holding him down. Right as they were about to give him the shots he said, "I just have one thing to say..." (oh the drama!!). I said, "What honey?" and he replied, "I just want to say that I love you"!!!! Okay, it made me cry and laugh all at the same time!! Thankfully, my brave, sweet Eens made it through his shots!!!

The next day (after his first sleepover with his best friend, "American" Henry!!), we went to Target to buy what I assumed would be a smaller Lego kit. Oh no, Target sucked me in as usual and we bought a big helicopter with submarine and loads of other things that I'm not sure I needed!! He could not wait to get back to Great Grandma's to build his prize...

Here are the results (and yes, he did it all by himself!)...