Ed has been super busy at work and traveling a lot. He's currently in Barcelona with Bill Ford. He assures me he is working hard!! The end of the week he will be making a quick stop in Russia before heading home on Saturday. My goal is to have some of our stuff unpacked so he can continue to believe I am working hard too!! He was in India a few weeks ago and was able to return in good health. Some of the neighbor men weren't so lucky. I think it's safe to say we won't be going to India on one of our many vacations. Last month he traveled to Germany where he bought the largest jar of Nutella I have ever seen. The kids were very excited!
Grace started gymnastics after school and really enjoys it. She is doing really well in school and loves going. I found out she is the only American in her class. She has friends from all over the world, and has no idea how cool that is. The kids all participated in our clubs cooking class again. This time they made cupcakes. Grace was even awarded the Master Chef Award! While that was exciting, she is most excited about her Daddy/Daughter Diamond Ball on Saturday. We had a tailor come out and measure her for a hand-made dress. She delivered it yesterday, and it fits perfectly!!! She has an appointment to have her hair done, complete with a princess tiara. It is ALL about the bling!! Ed had a tux made for the occasion, but it's much less flashy.
Drew is still playing basketball and has baseball assessment on Saturday. He seems to really like school, at least from what I can get out of him. His teachers all said he was doing well and was very popular among his classmates. He did complain about the girls aways wanting to sit next to him at lunch, so I'm assuming this is what his teachers were referring to.
Hannah is as feisty as ever. We've been passing the time visiting different museums and kiddie places. There is one mall that has an entire building (6 floors) geared toward kids. The top two floors are a giant play area and something similar to Chuck E Cheese, minus the pizza. We also just found another playgroup in our subdivision with other preschoolers. Hannah also likes to play school and work on little workbooks we bought her. She got a hold of Drew's cursive writing worksheets and is now practicing her writing. Good thing because they begin to teach cursive writing in Kindergarten!!! Another highlight for Hannah is when we go out for lunch. She always chooses a place called Johnny Moo's. They have an american style menu complete with ice cream sundaes for dessert. Somehow she is always too full to eat her lunch but has plenty of room for the ice cream. At least she shares it with Nick.
Nick is growing like crazy! He loves to eat. He is super strong and moving all over. He hasn't perfected the front crawl yet, but gets to where he wants by going backwards and sideways. His legs are so chubby that his clothes are all skin tight. He will be very happy when his 12 month ones arrive!! He still attracts lots of attention from the locals. This past week I've been told he was cold by more women than I can count. Just because I only dress him with a fuzzy outfit and fuzzy snowsuit, they think he's cold. Their babies are ALWAYS dressed in a ridiculous amount of layers. Think Christmas Story!!! I don't know how these kids ever learn to crawl or walk. They can't even put their arms down to their sides.
Nick's favorite part of the day is when the kids get home from school and have a contest of who can get him to giggle the most. So far, Grace is in the lead. My favorite part of Nick's day is when I have to wake him up at 7:15am to go to the bus stop. Not once has he greeted me with less than a huge smile!
I've been spending a lot of time exploring. My neighbor took me to a 'wet' market. Basically it's a very large farmers market. I've never seen so much fresh fruit and veggies...and for dirt cheap!! Just outside the market is a chicken slaughter house. Actually, you can buy any kind of bird you feel led to. The smell was awful, but the thought of someone actually picking out a pigeon for dinner was worse. There was one lady pulling off all of the feathers, while a man was cutting the chicken (I think) into pieces all while holding his cigarette over the bird. I watched to see if the ash was going to fall on the meat, but his timing was perfect and it hit the table instead. I wanted to take a picture of the blood splattered on the wall, but I figured I didn't need to since the mental picture will stay with me for a long long time. The highlight of my week was going to my neighbors to watch the Oscars while the little ones stayed home with the Ayi. Us wives have to spend our days doing something!
Some of the highlights this past month have included a professional basketball game. We went and saw the Shanghai Sharks play some other Chinese team. It was really fun. In case you didn't know, the dance team dances to all american music. I'm very doubtful they understand the words because several should have been bleeped out. My kids didn't notice though. For Valentine's Day, Ed brought home some really cool roses. They were painted purple then dipped in silver glitter. I guess the thinking is everything is better with a bit of sparkle! I think the kool-aid pitcher vase classes it up too.
If not, I may have to spend the day at our pool and spa to lift my spirits.
