Halloween Parties!

Andy and I rushed home after our Puxi meeting today so that we could go with Maddie to the Halloween Party!! I'm glad we did because when I saw Preeti (her teacher) at the party, she came and threw her arms around both Andy and I with a big thank you! Maddie had a "tough" day at school and just needed some straight Maddie Time. Apparently, she had even taken her blanket to school to help make her feel better...

Halloween parties are just the ticket though! It's just so America out here sometimes - it's a good thing around the holidays! Maddie may be a Third Culture Kid but she knows her holidays!!! I think this picture shows the third pumpkin she has carved this year... and there is more to come!!!








Maybe they are still a bit too young for Harry Potter!!
















Some Night Jumpin' on the trampoline with Rigel!

















Waiting to get into the Spooky Haunted House!

After School

Maddie always wants to play after school.... I just can't see why. She simply doesn't have any fun and NEVER laughs!!! ;o)

Maddie and Ri-Ri

I really like living across the street from the playground. Maddie looks out the window to see if anybody is out there and then decides that she must go play with her friends right then and there. She opens the front door and yells, "Hi friends" at the top of her lungs. She gets to the street and then announces to them that she must wait a minute to cross the street because she has to look for cars!

I just love watching Ri-Ri and Maddie together... in a way they are like an old married couple. They love each other most of the time and then every once in awhile, Maddie does her Maddie "thang" and Ri-Ri just looks at her as if to say, "oh, get over yourself!" I LOVE IT!

Maddie always has the biggest smile on her face when she plays with Ri-Ri. They love to do everything kids should be doing together. They chase each other, they play hide and seek. Ri-Ri even has pretend tea parties with her (for short moments) and she even sometimes let's him put sand on her head. I had to laugh really hard the other day though when he had done this and she insisted on coming in and changing her clothes because she was too dirty. As I said, the "get over yourself" look came out fast!

Thanks for playing with us Ri-Ri! You are one cool kid and Maddie loves you tons... just wait until she asks for that first kiss! Can you imagine???!!!!

The First Swim of the Year!

Cold.

I, personally, am a wimp. I'm either "boiling" or I'm "freezing" and the "just right" range is quite small. Maddie, on the other hand, is a kid and most kids don't care too much if it's boiling or freezing!! The weather is turning quite gorgeous in Shanghai and thankfully it's not "boiling" in my mind. This is "just right" as far as air temperature goes! Water temperature though? In my book - it's FREEZING!

Maddie came home today and heard her friends screaming in what I think was delight over at the swimming pool. Maddie was waiting by the door with Ms. Zhou when we came home around 4:30 with her swimsuit in hand. Apparently, the peer pressure of her friends screams were just too enticing so we grabbed a beach towel that had been collecting dust for way too long and headed across the street to the swimming pool. I was having one of those "we're the luckiest people in the world moments" because here I live on the golf course across from the playground that is behind the house that is dedicated to kids which is next to the swimming pool with a lock and a lifeguard 12 hours a day!

Maddie saw Ri-Ri in the kiddy pool and immediately asked for me to blow up her purple float. As always, these two see each other and it's absolute glee. I don't know how else to describe it. She talks - she listens - she laughs and Ri-Ri does the same thing. It will be great having both of them in school next year! She swam long enough to turn blue and then jumped out, shivering uncontrollably. But then she braved it one last time before heading over the swings with Ri-Ri. That was the most perfect way to come home from school and the most perfect way to spend your time before dinner!

So, that was the first swim of the year! Swim lessons are hopefully on the horizon as I can tell that there will be many, many more of these to come!

Birthday Parties!

Grandma Barbara and Grandpa Earl flew home this morning. We had a WONDERFUL time while they were here and Maddie really loved being a granddaughter while they were here! After Andy left to take them to the airport, Maddie and I went to Rigel's birthday party. Maddie helped wrap the present this morning and made a card where she signed her own name. It was nice having all of the young children together on a Saturday. Roqueya and Malin were there from Maddie's class and Roxanne and Wrenzi were there to help all of the little ones during the dinosaur egg hunt! Ri-Ri as his family and friends call him is in sync with Maddie. They are like magnets to each other and seem to be on the same wavelength. It's fun watching them talk with each other!

Maddie spent most of the party telling him that she got him a present (even while he was preparing to blow out his candles). She had her first stab at hitting a dinosaur egg pinata and played with all of her friends until she could play no more! Now the questions have started....."when's my birthday Maddie?" "Five more months, " I say. The only problem is that she only knows how to measure time in sleeps so she's convinced that her birthday is in five SLEEPS!