Jelly Jill

We woke Jill up this morning, singing Happy Birthday. She kept her eyes closed the whole time and pretended to sleep. Then we sang it in Chinese, she slowly opened her eyes and smiled. We told her she looked bigger and she proceeded to check her feet and other parts. She insists that her feet have grown.


After her requested egg breakfast, she was Skyped from Uncle Luke, Aunt Becca, Calla, Cannon and Phoenix. She even got to open a present from them. Later she was Skyped from Mama and Papa, opened another present and Skyped from Uncle Kevin, Auntie Mindy, Clayton and Paige.


She went to school with the biggest smile on her face, carrying her platter of happy face cupcakes to share with her class.

Out for dinner at Lamesa

I had ordered groceries to be delivered today, those groceries were for supper tonight. They showed up 15 minutes before leaving to get the girls from the bus stop. So we went out for dinner instead. No need or want to rush around trying to get supper prepared, girls showered, and finish the cake. We were going to have dinosaur bones, pre-historic fish scales and leafy trees to go with our cake. Oh well, Lamesa was better.

Jill wanted a dinosaur cake

We asked Jill how old she is now, she said, "I am 4 and next I'm going to be 5."
The next day she woke up and asked if it was still her Birthday and we told her in Canada it is. So she wore her Birthday hat for breakfast.


Thank you to all who sent Birthday wishes thru Skype, email, or FaceBook.

Pot Luck

Picture this, I call the children to the dinner table. Everyone is waiting with plates in hand for supper and...

...it wasn't pot luck at all. It was pot stuck! The lid wouldn't budge, wouldn't even turn. The heat sealed it shut. We sat it in cold water for 20 minutes, nothing. We tried using a wooden spoon for leverage, nothing. Finally we thought of Grammy Friess and her juice, pickled beets and jam jars. Grabbed a meat mallet and started banging the edge of the pot. I know Grammy wouldn't use a mallet, just the handle of a butter knife, but we needed the extra power. After a few hits, the seal was broken and we could eat. Best, long awaited, cold dinner in a long time.

Last week, I had a chance to go to the school for an Art Show. The Year 1 and 2 classes were displaying their art in the theatre for everyone to see. When you walked in they had soft music playing and lots of displays of different art from each class. Carly's class took items from the sea, like stones, sea shells, sea weed, etc. and made pictures of things from a book they were reading. Carly made the Jelly Fish out of stones, to the right, just above the sign "The Rainbow Fish".

Carly also, in a small group, made the picture at the bottom left. She was very proud of her work. The children had to pick their favourite piece out of the whole art show and write to the creator a positive message about it. Next in Art, Carly will be making a water worthy boat.

German Chopsticks

On Sundays we usually go out for lunch. This week we went back to Hongmei Pedestrian Street, but to a different restaurant. That doesn't happen very often, usually we go to the Blue Frog when on that street. Jill has been asking to go to Papa's Bierstube for a couple weeks now. It is a large pub with an outdoor patio and upstairs dining as well. It was a little too cold to sit outside, so inside we found a seat and drooled over the menu for a while.

The girls had a Frankfurter and french fries. I had beef roulade, red cabbage and mashed potatoes. The food was delicious. By the time my food came the girls and Chris were done eating. Chris took the girls to the pool table for a while so I could eat.

Chris ordered spaetzle with a chicken goulash and asked for chopsticks. The waitress was confused and brought Chris a new set of utensils. He asked again and used his fork and knife like chopsticks. She still looked confused. I had to take the girls straws from their drinks and use them like chopsticks for her to figure it out. She then had to get a walkie talkie out and call someone to get Chris a pair of chopsticks. Everyone got a kick out of Chris wanting chopsticks to eat German food.

The service was not the greatest, but the food was worth it. Sorry I ate my food before I could take a picture of it. I was soooooo hungry and it was soooooo good.

Un-Birthday Party

This morning we are preparing for an Un-Birthday Party. We had a draw earlier this week. Everyone got to pick a meal and dessert, but only one was chosen. Chris won the draw, pizza and poppyseed cake. Nine o'clock in the morning and I already have a poppyseed cake in the oven! This is the first attempt of mine, at making Omi's muhnkuchen. Jill and I watched and helped Omi a little, last year to make one. I wrote all the ingredients and steps down. Thanks to a combined effort, involving trips to and from Canada, we got all the ingredients.

The girls are home from school today. There are Parent Teacher meetings all day at the school. Our meetings are scheduled at 2:20pm, 2:30pm and 2:40pm. Chris will be home after lunch to come along.

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Alexis is doing really great in school. She is above average in Literacy and very close to being a free reader. Don't tell anybody, but Alexis' script of the 'Grufalo play' was Mr. Long's favourite.

Alexis' Time-Line done in class

At the start of the meeting with Carly's teacher, Ms. Wakelin had to tell us how impressed she was with the effort Carly is putting into her learning. In the beginning of the year Carly was very quiet and not confident in her work. Carly was behind in her reading skills. Ms. Wakelin noticed Carly wanting to learn and found extra help for Carly. Four weeks ago she placed Carly in a one on one session with an English Learning Assistant once a week and a small work group of children in the same level twice a week. She is also working on getting Carly one more session a week with the one on one ELA. We had no idea she did this, but we did notice a big difference in Carly's reading and writing a couple weeks ago. When Ms. Wakelin told me this, I was holding back the tears and I wanted to hug her. For a teacher to take such an interest in helping Carly really touched me. Now at circle time when questions are asked Carly is one of the first to put up her hand to answer and answers in confidence. She is now very independent when it is time to work.

Shark Facts by Carly

Jill is loved by all in her class. She listens well, loves to sing and helps her peers. Mrs. Foster has a binder for each student with achievements and notes. Jill did a colour by number drawing and hers was the best, we're told. Jill helped her classmate Stan cut his mask one day. Stan's mask is in Jill's binder now, as evidence of her helping. Mrs. Foster showed us video of Jill in class. She was playing at the sand centre singing Hey Diddle Diddle. At the end of the song is "the dish ran away with the spoon". As she sang that part she ran away from the sand centre. Mrs. Foster says Jill sings all the time in class and likes to stand up in front of class to sing songs too. Jill has gotten Star of the Week twice so far. We thought it was just a round robin thing, that each child got one in alphabetical order. Mrs. Foster said that is not the case and she just can't find a reason not to give it to Jill. They want to start a small reading group to get the children learning to read and Jill will be in it. Not all the students are ready for that.

After meeting with the teachers we left the school with a very happy, good feeling. Today is a perfect day to have an Un-Birthday Party to celebrate our girls achievements in school. From the school we walked to Papa John's, ordered pizza for delivery, then grabbed a taxi home.

After pizza we sang Happy Birthday in Mandarin and blew out some candles. The muhnkuchen was really good. It was just missing the glaze on the top. Carly neglected to tell us she didn't like poppyseed cake, and spit it out. Then Alexis & Carly played the latest songs they've learned on the piano.

To top off the evening the girls had a sleepover in Jill's room. They put their glow in the dark headbands on their Build-A-Bears for a nightlight.

Grey Tooth

About two weeks ago, right before leaving for school, Jill fell up the stairs and hit her mouth on the steps. She was bleeding pretty bad, her tooth cut her upper lip a bit. She cried a lot but after a while she said, "is it time to go to school now? I don't want to miss the bus." Walking to the bus she changed her mind and wanted to stay home, but I told her Nurse Fiona at the school can take a look at her when she gets there. They can do more for her there than I can at home. So she got on the bus and asked the bus monitor (Marie) to sit with her. Marie and Alexis then took her to see Nurse Fiona. She was fine, got a sticker and went to class.

Jill brushes her teeth when we ask her to, but sometimes she asks us to do it for her. A few days ago that happened. I was brushing her teeth and noticed her one tooth looked a little grey, very faint but noticeable. I emailed Heather and asked what she thought. After reading Heather's reply, I made a dentist appointment with a Paediatrician Dentist, Dr. Rana here in China.

This morning Jill stayed home from school and went to the Shanghai United Family Dental Clinic. Jill was excited to go to the dentist, because at home it is fun. She gets to see Auntie Heather and gets gum, a toy and new tooth brush after her cleaning. As we were leaving the house Jill says, "I don't want them to pull out my tooth". She got very quiet and just sat on my lap holding tight to me in the taxi. She must have over heard Chris and I talking about it.

We found the building with no problems. It was very nice inside, clean, bright and very friendly staff.

Monkey came along to protect her.

The first thing Jill says after sitting in the chair is, "I don't want you to take out my tooth". Li, Dr. Rana's assistant, gave Jill a new tooth brush and showed Jill a Berenstain Bear book, Going to the Dentist. She told her they were going to use a mirror and just look at her teeth. Then maybe take a picture.

Jill's middle top tooth is grey as you can see. It also is slightly pushed back and a little loose, but didn't hurt when Dr. Rana tapped it with her tool. In the sunlight you can see that both her middle top teeth are very cracked, from the fall. There is no sign of infection on her gums or in the X-ray, so Jill still has all her teeth.

We have to watch for infection on her gums, and bring her in again if it appears, or if Jill complains a lot of pain in her teeth. We will go back in one month for another X-ray, as the fall was only max two weeks ago, it may be too soon for an infection.

Jill was very happy to have all her teeth. We got in a taxi and took her to school for the rest of the day. All her friends and teachers were very happy to see her.

Almost There

52 sleeps + 1 airplane sleep = home


Leaving home came fast. Being here went slow, got faster and slowed right down again, but just 52+1 sleeps away from going back home for a week. A WEEK! That's all we have, better make the most of it.
I made an itinerary knowing our time would get busy fast. Now all nights are booked and only a couple times during the day left for us to get things done.

1. I am in desperate need of a haircut: split ends, dried out, soft-water deprived hair, ugh. 
2. Even with Chris' two trips back and two Mama visits, I need to stock up on "buy in Canada only" favourites and necessities.
3. Time with family and friends, even if it is just an hour for coffee or lunch.
4. Sleepovers
5. Immunization appointment to squeeze in.
6. Dentist
7. Visit to girls old school.
8. Three family Christmas gatherings
9. Oh, and don't forget naps, so we can do it all again the next day.

It will be crazy, but worth it to be with family and sleep in my own bed. This one is comfortable and bigger but, my bed in Canada is still the best.

So we are about 1/2 the way to being 1/4 the way home for good. That's "almost there" right?

Jack & Jill

Suddenly Jill has developed a British accent. Listen carefully.