Poor Jake (part 2)

Everytime this kid falls he hits his head or face!  Maybe he has depth-perception problems, or maybe he's a three-year-old boy with older siblings. 

These are the two worst ones so far...

 

This was back in October.  Four stitches.  Running from his sister and hit the corner of the fireplace.  This happened after "this" goal of no more China hospital visits :)  (we have had yet another visit when I thought my appendix was rupturing - turned out to be a kidney stone!)

 

 

 

The latest was this weekend.  Standing on the couch - thinking his legs are longer than they are he stepped off and cheek planted onto the corner of the coffee table.  Bruised his cheek and the next morning it had moved up, and yes my friends, that is a black eye :(

At least he can still smile about it :)

 

 

 

MILK

This is for all my Utah/Logan friends :)  Look what we found!!

I've heard that milk prices are going up in the States?  Or they are anticipating rising prices?  Anyone want to guess what I pay for milk here?

I buy imported milk, it comes in 1 quart boxes like the above (so four of these would be a gallon).  This box costs roughly $3.50 USD (give or take .50).  So I am spending about $14 a gallon on MILK!  Crazy!

Preschool

Look who started school!

I normally wouldn't put my child in preschool this early.  Jake has some speech delay issues and I feel that early intervention can really benefit him.  The school has a therapist that can work with him, and let's face it... this school is amazing!  They have a couple birds, a hedgehog, fish, turtles, a tree house, sandpit, painting, make-up/dress-up station, little scooter bikes, and anything else you can think of that a kid would love - and then there's the outdoor playground.  AND his teacher is amazing!  Sometimes I feel lonely without him for part of the day - sigh - but he loves it and loves going to school like his siblings :)

Keely's Artwork

With her Chinese name signed at the bottom :)

Nanshan Ski Village

We decided to give the China ski resorts a try.  Apparently there are some fairly good ones with all the latest equipment.  We chose the Nanshan Ski Village for its proximity to Beijing.  The drive was about 45 minutes from home.  Rob took the 3 older kids and I stayed home and played with my favorite three-year-old.  So I will try and describe their experience even though I have yet to experience it myself :)

It was a beautiful day with gorgeous blue skies!  No pollution, yay!  A little colder than the slopes in Utah :)

The airport-style moving walkway was much easier than the tow-rope experience we previously had!

Rob said that buying tickets and getting equipment was a little complicated and different.  They had you going from one building to another, which gets complicated when you can't read the signs!  The ski rental equipment was unique.  The boots came with the skis - meaning that the bigger your feet are, the longer the skis get.  No adjusting.  So Rob has fairly small feet so they gave him the short skis that were all ready to go.  He wanted longer skis but they wouldn't readjust the skis. (am I making sense?)

Over-all they had a good experience and the kids are asking to go every weekend.  If life were only less busy that would be awesome!

There are few things better than warming up in the lodge and getting some lunch during a day of skiing.  Well, until you get to the lodge to find out all they have is rice and noodle bowls, super fatty chicken, and hot tea or hot water :)  Good thing you can ALWAYS find Snicker bars and Coca-cola everywhere in China!

 

 

Next time it's Mom's turn!

Merry Christmas!

We were excited to spend the Christmas season with our family back in the States!  We got to spend time with both sets of Grandparents and cousins from both sides of the family, it was a fantastic trip!  My only complaint is that it went by way too fast!  We tried to add a few days to our trip but couldn't justify spending 1,500 extra dollars for 4 extra days :(   It gets expensive flying 6 people around!!

For 95% of our married life we have lived at least a state away from our families. Some years we traveled to spend the holidays with them, and some years we did not. This was honestly the most excited I have ever been to spend Christmas in Utah :) and it did not disappoint!  Here are a few highlights...

Sledding and Snowplowing at Grandma and Grandpa's house

(Hurray for a white Christmas!)

 

 

 

Temple Lights and Gingerbread Houses with Oma and Grandpa

 (and Jamie scoring major points in the favorite uncle category!)

Skiing at Sundance!

The kids all did great! And Keely really caught the hang of it this year!

 



 Lots of outside play time in the snow!  They didn't want to come home! 

 

Me?  I was just content walking around Target for a few hours :) clean, wide isles, lots of selection, people I could understand and signs I could read!

 

Luke, Zak, and Keely slept over at their cousin's house one night so Jake was a little lonely.  We thought he was playing games on the iPad but when I looked later I found many pictures of Rob and I wrapping Christmas gifts!  Including pictures of the gifts :) He was a little spy {I'm sure the big kids tried to bribe him or something:)  } - sorry big kids, better luck next year!!

 

As much fun as we had and as much as we love and adore our family, I was a little worried about how difficult it would be to return to China.  Surprisingly we jumped right back into life here.  There is just something about being in your own home...even if that home is in China.

 

 

 

Poor Jake