Football in the Fall

We LOVE football. Watching it on TV, listening to shows with people talking about the games, and especially going to games. A little glimpse of heaven is a football Saturday in Athens, end of October/beginning of November.....ah, I can feel the crisp air, see all the red and black, taste the yummy tailgate food........

Well, we didn't get to the "perfect" game, but we were SO thankful to go to a game before we flew around the world. We went to the Georgia/South Carolina game in September, and although I would have liked a better outcome, the day was wonderful!

Aunt Andi and Uncle Scotty joined us, and Reid decided he wanted to play at Nai Nai's house with Rylie, as long as we promised to bring him some cotton candy :)

So, being half-way around the world during one of our favorite seasons has been a bit tough, but thanks to our dear friends Alan and Shannon, we have gotten to watch several games!! We have to be careful not to see scores and then we watch them on our Sunday afternoons.  It is such a fun time of fellowship with friends and fun football!!

Here are all the kids---our three and two of Alan and Shannon's--Cameron and Laura Cate

And here are the boys sporting their jerseys. As you can see this was from the game on Saturday against Auburn. Alan is an Auburn fan and his little boy Cameron has his AU jersey on and they were both good sports about the game, despite the outcome :)

Here are our little Bulldogs! We had such a fun time watching the game with good friends!

Halloween

 

The boys were Green Lantern and Superman. I had capes and masks made and then I worked hard (or colored with markers as we were walking out the door) on their shirts. They were pretty happy with the results!

Rylie was a purple/pink superhero with a tutu. Don't judge people. Halloween costumes didn't make it into the 10 suitcases. Maybe next year........

Superheroes save the day!

We did get to go to trick or treating, even though they do not celebrate Halloween over here. There was a neighborhood that organized trick or treating for all the foreigners in the city, and it was really fun! We did get quite a few interesting looks from the locals :)

First Day of School!

The boys in front of their new school!

They were super excited to go!

 Everett and his 3rd grade teacher Ms. Dwight

Everett has a couple of good friends in his class--Madison, Nick and Ji Min. Madison lives in our apartment complex, so they get to play a lot.

Everett has 7 boys and 11 girls in his class---the boys were very excited to have another boy join the class!

Reid and his kindergarten teacher Ms. Maruschak. She used to live in Columbia, SC--yay!

Reid has a friend from our apartment complex in his class--Canyon--and they are 2 of the 9 boys and only 3 girls in the class. 

We are really excited about the school and think it is going to be GREAT for our boys!

Chopsticks

 So, we had a couple of days of internet/computer issues, and then I was sick for a couple of days with strep--all the "you should have had your tonsils out" posts will be deleted :)

but we are up and running now and the posts should keep coming!

 For all the worried grandparents........

 

they are figuring out how to eat just fine :) 

Both boys have picked up eating with kuaizi so well! 

They are eating fanqiejidan, which is basically scrambled eggs and tomatoes and all three kids LOVE it!

No pictures of Rylie but she is figuring out how to eat without silverware too. Not always as pretty as one might hope.

These were actually taken just a few days after we got here, which is why they both look like they are going to fall asleep in their food! We are totally over jet lag now--everyone really did great!--and are adjusted to our new schedule.

Carving Pumpkins

We decided to carve pumpkins in the States before we left, just in case we couldn't find pumpkins over here. And because I saw this cool Star Wars carving kit and thought the boys would love it!

Well, they LOVED the idea of Star Wars pumpkins, but neither one loved the cleaning of the pumpkins and the carving was WAY to hard for them to do, so Matt and I did most of it :)

But the boys were VERY pleased with the results!

Nai Nai and the boys with their pumpkins

Anakin and the Clone

Saying Good-bye (part 3)

We had another fun weekend at Aunt Andi and Uncle Scotty's house celebrating Everett, Reid, and Scotty's birthdays!

KK with Everett and his new Action Bible. SO great for boys. Highly recommend it! 

KK and Reid with his new Legos!

The Birhday Boys!

Saying Good-bye (part 2)

 E and Nai Nai on his birthday--thanking her for his Kindle!

side note--e got to pick where we ate for lunch and dinner on his birthday. he picked mcdonalds and pf changs. tried to tell him we were moving to china where they have a mcdonalds and chinese food. he couldn't be swayed.

 We stayed with my mom for the last couple of weeks we were in the states--with visits to other family--and we did LOTS of fun things!

 Reid picked Bennihanas (japanese) for his birthday. Yummo!

Snuggling with Aunt Caroline watching football while we did some last minute packing the night before we left.

Saying Good-bye (part 1)

Before we left, we tried to spend some good, quality time with each of our families--in the middle of moving, packing, and finishing raising support!

We had a great trip to Augusta, where we spent time with Matt's family. 

Everett and Papa---apparently Everett is getting ready for China. Chinese people always sneak a peace sign into the picture at the last minute.

The boys played some football.......

 

it was Matt and Everett against Papa and Reid, and paying for dinner was on the line...... 

 

Rylie wanted to go explore the playground with KK......

but soon the game was over.

 

the game ended in a tie....and somehow the girls were responsible for dinner....hmmmm..... 

but luckily the girls had gift certificates that took care of it! (we ate at Outback....i would love some Outback right about now.......)

Reid's Birthday in China!

We arrived in our city at 8 pm on Reid's 6th birthday. After traveling for 28 hours. Happy Birthday to him. 

Our sweet friends had this fun sign in our apartment when we arrived and made him cupcakes that we waiting for us!

We sang happy birthday to Reid 

and then the kids ate up!

Enjoying his birthday cupcakes made by our sweet friends the Todds!

Ry shared in the celebration too!

It was definitely the most adventuresome birthday he has ever had.....I mean flying to another country for your birthday.......quite a birthday present :)

And we are here!!!

Well, we are here!!!! Sorry it has taken a bit  to post. It took a couple days to get our computers and internet set-up and then yesterday we were "ting dian" (which means no power) ALL day.

But, after packing up a room that looked something like this

into LOTS (10 checked and 10 carry ons to be exact) of these....

 we were set!

We said our good-byes all weekend long, and on Sunday morning we packed up 2 SUV's and headed to the airport.

Here we are waiting  to check our bags. It took almost an hour. We almost missed our plane. We could feel your prayers as we made it on (we were flying stand-by) and had 6 seats all together!

(these are just our carry-ons--we were quite a sight to be seen going through security)

When we got on the plane we did a lot of this....

eating and watching movies.....

a little bit of this......

yes, Reid actually slept like that for a while.

and after being hurled through the sky in a tin can for 16 hours, we made it to our country!

We had to gather ALL our luggage and recheck it in Shanghai. We kind of felt like we were foreigners on parade as we walked through the airport. Matt, Kadie, Everett, and Reid were pushing a cart FULL of luggage, and Ry was being pulled in the stroller. We had more stuff with us that day than most Chinese people would ever travel with. 

Here we are in the Shanghai airport

We then caught another 3 hour flight to our city. It was not documented because the main camerawoman proceeded to fall into a coma-like state before the plane took off and the back-up cameraman was very busy trying to console 3 WAY overtired, starving children. You can probably picture the plane ride pretty accurately in your head. 

And then we landed in our new city! Home!

Some friends picked us up at the airport and helped us get all our stuff up to our apartment. 

our super fun welcome HOME sign!

Here are the kids with all our luggage in our new apartment! 

(a post with pics of apartment coming soon!)

We are so happy to be here and are so thankful to all of you who helped us get here! We are excited to start this new adventure!!

Easter Morning

This year we spent Easter down at moms's beach house. We went to Saint Simons Community Church, and loved it! If you are ever on the island on Sunday morning you should definitely try it!

Here is Rylie trying to sneak away

My three precious blessings!

Dying Easter Eggs......

.......on the porch at the beach......nothin' better!

working hard.....

Mommy and her boys


The boys with Nai Nai

Matching!

Not the greatest picture, but Reid almost always asks me to make a shirt to match Rylie's when I make her something. I thought these chocolate bunny shirts turned out cute!

I am really going to miss my machine when we move!!

Egg Hunt!

Mimi with the kids as they got ready to look for eggs!

Reid reaching for a high one!


Rylie found one.....and looks like she's a bit scared!


putting them in her basket!

showing off her full basket!