Sleepover

During Spring Break the boys wanted to have some friends over to spend the night. Cooper and Cameron are homeschooled but their teachers said they could take a day off to play with us :)

Cooper, Reid, Cameron, and Everett

Reid apparently didn't get the memo that this was not the silly picture......

They had a great time watching a movie, playing the Wii......

and sleeping in a fort!

So thankful for these sweet friendships!

When in Rome......

Here are Rylie and Reid "walking" baby across the street. Reid looks thrilled doesn't he?

Oh, what's that puddle in the background? So glad you asked.

 It's Rylie's pee. Yep. My little girl peed on the street. And I told her to do it.

She had just really been potty trained and she told me she had to go. There are no public restrooms in places on the street, and also no grassy areas.....so on the sidewalk it was. ugh. But that is what ALL the Chinese people kids do. So, I guess when in Rome......

And I will leave you with this sweet picture of Ry eating her first mantou, which is steamed bread. Sounds super gross? It is. But the Chinese and Rylie love it. One more thing she has in common with the locals.

Pineapple on a stick

So I think Spring is finally kind of here.

 And with it comes pineapple. on a stick. sold EVERYWHERE on the street. for 30 cents. 

We have at least one a day.

 Who can say no when the kids ask for fruit?

Ry drops hers off the stick (which makes it VERY uneatible) at least half the time, and we have to get another one, so hers really cost more like 47 cents. but she's worth it :)

Birthday Parties

Rylie had three sweet friends turn 3 in March. We missed the first party because we couldn't find a cab home from a work picnic.....sad day. Everytime we get in a cab now Rylie says "I'm glad we found a cab so we don't have to miss (whatever we are going to) like we missed Abi's party". Poor girl.

Moriah turned three a week later and had a fun Butterfly Party. Moriah's dad went to highschool with Matt and they hadn't seen each other since highschool. They ran into each other in Augusta and realized they both lived/were about to live in the same city over here--such a small world! We have loved getting to know them and their kids better!

The next day Laura Kate had her third birthday party and had a butterfly cake too!

Rylie and Laura Kate are besties. Close as sisters. And they argue like sisters :) Thankfully they LOVE each other like sisters too!

Sunshiny Day

So, two weeks without a computer---the hard drive crashed (less than a year old), we got it replaced free at an HP store here, picked it up and it was all in Chinese. My tutoring hasn't been going THAT well, so wonderful Amy came to the rescue and TOTALLY restored it for me in ENGLISH!

But I couldn't update the blog (or do ANYTHING!) without the computer, so I have a lot of posts to catch up on!

A couple of weeks ago we had a couple of days filled with sunshine so we had to take advantage of them!

Here is Ry pushing her duck in the grocery cart in front of our apartment complex.

We walked with some friends to find a park and stumbled upon this one. The kids loved it!

Rylie, Sydney, and Lily

They played train and walked around the playground like this for a long time.

So thankful for sweet friends!!

Couples Skate

Hailey's 7th birthday party was last weekend and she had it at the skating rink. And I found out there that neither of my boys had EVER been rollerskating. WHAT? How did that happen? Anyway, we laced them up and off we went.

They had a lot of fun and

After a lot of this.......

they caught on pretty quickly and had a GREAT time!



They want to go back again and practice, and Reid said he might want to have his party there this fall. A fun day that brought back lots of fun childhood memories!

Hot Pot

While we LOVE the food over here, there are some things that still haven't totally won me over. Hot pot is one of them. It is a very famous meal that originated in a city not too far from ours.

I would compare it to fondue, but I am afraid that might bring too pleasant of an image to mind. 

Here is a picture of hot pot. It is pot full of oil/water/spices/unknown things. This is a split pot with spicy spicy on the outside (red part) and mild on the inside (white part). You wait until it boils and then

they bring you the food that you have ordered--we had potatos, lotus root, beef, mutton, duck tongue noodles, and tofu--and you put it in the pot to cook and then fish it out with chopsticks.

Matt LOVES hot pot. It is not my favorite. So when our crazy  adventerous friend was in town from America and she said she wanted to eat hot pot, I was all on board with taking Matt because then I didn't have to go later by myself. See, we had 8 of us at the table. Therefore, I could pretty much put my chopsticks in the bowl and dig around every once in awhile and get away with not eating a thing. Thats right, I didn't have to eat it but my hubby enjoyed it and I got to hang out with fun friends. Brilliant.

sweet friends!

I have known Lauren and Jane since my freshman year in highschool.

We went to youth group together and now Lauren and I are serving over here together! Jane came to visit on her spring break this year. It was so great to see you Jane!!

Super fun package!!

We received a really fun package from a wonderful family today!!

Thank you so much!! What a fun blessing!!

Roar!

Rylie roars everytime she sees one of these lions. And they are everywhere.

 These two were at the antique market where i quickly made a decision we spent a LONG time picking out the entertainment center that Matt and I gave each other for Christmas. The lions provided a bit of entertainment for Rylie while we bargained, which I was very grateful for. Antique buying isn't what it used to be over here.....so much more expensive. But I still love the pieces! So unique and fun.

Earth Puzzle

E had his first science project this past week and he picked Earth.

They had to write a report and do a visual project. He made a puzzle with questions on the pieces and the answers underneath.

He worked really hard on it, and I think it turned out great!!

and for all of you wondering, I did really well pretty good with letting him do all the work himself. My OCD, prefectionist tendencies took a back seat to the wonderful, innocent creativity of his third grade mind. Oh who am I kidding--I practically had to tie my hands behind my back, and its really dangerous to let a third grader use an exacto knife by himself right? and the don't get me started with the handwriting......

Can you hear......

....the Hallelujah chorus??

We are singing it loud and proud in these parts of the world!

This little girl is POTTY TRAINED!!!

We have been doing a lot of this.....

a little playing games on the phone while we wait....

and now we are here!!

And the poor thing still gets sad when I tell her she can't go to the bathroom standing up. She just wants to be just like her brothers :)

We are so proud of this girl!

As much as I greatly dislike potty training, Rylie did great!!

She might be 8 before she stops asking for treats after she pees, but candy is cheaper than diapers :)

Run, Everett, Run

Today Everett ran in his first Cross Country meet!

He had a great time and may turn into a runner.

Here he is before the race.

There was someone from their school there painting these on the kids faces. E was too cool to get one on his face, so he got it on his arm. I thought she was pretty talented to freehand this!

E and friends from his school who were also running.

The starting line....

....the finish line.

 Best part of this picture is that E overtook both these kids before the actual finish line.

Everett and Graclynn.

Their school came in third in the meet and the kids were SO excited!!

We are so proud of you Everett!!

Vitamix

A couple of weeks ago we got a new mixer. It is a chinese brand of the Vitamix and it is AWESOME!

It has become a "milkshake machine" as Rylie calls it, but they really are more fruit shakes--bananas, ice, milk, honey, strawberries, raspberries. I think that Matt has eaten more fruit since we got this than he had in the whole 34 years prior. The lady at the fruit stand outside our gate knows us by name we now go so much. We might have a small problem.......

Two very happy customers. And Matt is the main operator of the machine, he makes a mean shake!

Ry loves to show you her milkshake mustache after she takes her first sip :)

Crossbows

When Matt came home from his trip he brought us all a little gift. The boys got wooden crossbows. They LOVED them! A friend of ours who also went on the trip, brought them back for his two girls and the four of them have really enjoyed playing in the complex with them.

Everett, Hailey, Reid, and Madison poised and ready to go!

Here is a little video of the crossbows in action

He brought Rylie a fish purse and a necklace. As you can see, she loved it!

Welcome Home Daddy!

A couple of weeks ago Matt went on a business trip and was gone all week. We all really missed him and were SO glad when he was on his way home that Friday. The kids wanted to make a welcome home sign for the door, so we brought the paint out and went to town.

They each painted a word and then got to decorate a part of the sign.

Rylie concentrating hard on painting her heart.

Reid and Rylie were SUPER into the painting

The final product on the door waiting for Daddy to come home. I was a bit worried it would freeze, but it survived!

(This is our outside door in the stairwell of our building--stairwell is outside, which is why i was worried about freezing!)



Prince and Princess

One of Rylie's sweet little friends here is a Valentines baby and had her 4th party this Valentines Day. She had a prince and Princess party and it was so much fun!

They all decorated a princess hat or a crown

Princess Rylie

some of the royal party.

 i love the pose Cooper is striking in the back row!

The girls and the awesome mermaid cake.

please note the chocolate covered strawberries in the corner of the picture. so yum, ate lots of those.

Sleepover

The kids had their first sleepover here last weekend! They all had a great time. Cameron and Laura Cate came so everyone had a friend. Rylie and Laura Cate sleep in the same twin bed--they were so cute!

The boys stayed up reading the Action Bible. So sweet!

We had movie night and they all snuggled up on the floor.

The boys

 Rylie and Laura Cate

Happy Valentines Day!

Happy Valentines Day!

we had heart shaped pizzas for dinner, enjoyed cards from family at home (THANK YOU!)

and Matt took Rylie out for dessert for her first annual Valentines Date. I think he is secretly hoping that if he starts the tradition now, it will prevent her from having another date on Valentines day. ever.

(we went out on a date Thursday night for our Valentines date--just in case you think he forgot me :)