Earthquake and Tobin quotes

There is nothing more unsettling than getting woken up by your bed shaking like crazy. At 5: 00 a.m. (4:49 to be exact), the earth moved and quaked and shook us awake. The girls slept, Tobin yelled, and we got them all up to move to a safer place in case there were after shocks. Since we now live on the first floor, we went outside quick (this time I did not forget a baby.  Yes, it has happened. Bad mom). All the top floor lights came on (it must have felt really scary up there). Some other people came outside, we waited a bit, and then went back inside.

And NO, no one went back to sleep after that except Gabrielle and me (for a little bit). So, our long journey starts today, but we are so thankful for our safety and protection last night. The epicenter was 50 miles from us and registered a 5.7 on the scale. Not too bad, still scary.

When I told Tobin it was time to go back to bed He said in a sad and scared voice (and I quote): "But the earthquake.....my bed was jumping down and up."  Well put, young man. And this reminded me of another one of his witty quotes from today while he was sick but feeling a little better. I had been trying to get him not to play with any of his siblings (ugh) so they would not get sick. He started looking at a book and then looked up at me and laughed and said: 'Mama, my book is going to get sick' (ha ha ha and he laughed and laughed at his own joke).

All righty I am done posting for a while. See you on the other side!

Leaving tomorrow...

We leave for the capital tomorrow then off to Beijing-NYC-RDU on Sunday...

so far we have a boy with a fever and a baby who is starting to wean herself...

not what we want to be going on right now but we are trusting God to help us all along the way! 

 I sat Gabrielle up (she can't quite get there on her own) and the other girls went over and sat around her...

Sophia and Bella had their last day of Chinese school today, Sophia's last day of going to that school forever! She was excited and a little sad saying good bye to some of her friends...but she hopes to see some of them in elementary school! Her teacher said she was a very hard working student and could do all the stuff that they did so she didn't ever need to text me what they were working on, etc. 

Proud of you girls for another year of Chinese school...this is no small thing. You have done Excellent!

All three older kiddos also have learned their next set of verses so they got their choice of dessert from a local restaurant. Well done kiddos. Tobin wasn't feeling well so we waited on his. Bella got brownie cheesecake (and only ate the brownie part, but we helped her with the rest), and Sophia chose the 'three scoops' ice cream and couldn't eat it all....

We are (almost) packed and ready to go....

Tobin singing

Singing on the street corner. Literally. We were actually eating some grilled meat and noodles off the street in our town.

What is that on your chin?
 It is my 'Uncle Spencer'.
This is what he has dubbed all beards (the water bottle in the video) ever since Uncle Spencer let him play with his beard for an entire songtao ride in Thailand...that was a year ago. Memories:

Dominoes

Puddle Fun.

This is the first time in a long time trying to upload a video. If it works I will keep at it!
I saw these three foreign kids playing in the rain...and thought: 'who and where is there mom?!' Of course any local person who saw us did ask this in their heart I am sure.

And really, who needs rain jackets anyway? We had so much fun, and even did some CC review while puddle jumping!

New Rain Jackets!

 It has been raining on and off the past month. We were in desperate need of new rain jackets for all. I ordered these from taobao and they did not disappoint. The kiddos love them. The very next day it rained hard in the morning, though it is still blistery hot in the afternoons! These should last us awhile, and we will not take them to the U.S. with us...

 Yes, Tobin's is a little big. He is just a little smaller than Bella so I got them the same size, but his is to his feet. So cute.

Ready for rainy season, except we will miss it! We may make it back in time for some...

Tid bits...

We have an awesome travel itinerary...let's see how quickly it goes bust. If it is one thing we have learned about flying?! Delays, mishaps...etc.

IF all goes as planned, after our night in the airport hotel in the provincial capital, upon boarding our first flight it will be 23 hours and 34 minutes. This is a record folks! We shall see. (of course I am not counting the first night).

We may try to put baby G in our baby tent in the hotel since there will be no crib, I am sure she will hate it unless we spend this week getting her used to it. OR we could just make a barricade with suitcases. She rolls all over but can't pull up, this should work.

I have tried to check but am not sure there will be baby food provided. I know the airline does have an 'infant' meal. I am hoping to take some if they will let me...except our town has zero jar baby food. I was going to put my own in jars, but that would be less likely to go through security. We JUST ordered some from taobao...hoping it arrives in the next five days. It should, it is usually FAST.

If you know iphones, smart phones and Siri, then you know you can ask your phone aloud to 'show me a fighter jet' and it will say: 'this is what I found' and show you a picture. Today at lunch Tobin had a fake phone and started saying these things:
-show me a picture of a poisonous monkey...
-show me a picture of a really, really big snake that can bite
-show me a soldier

Our helper often tells us crazy news stories about what is going on around her village. A murder is a huge deal in our town...rarely ever happens, and it is always gory when it does (no guns, just knives allowed here). On Friday, she came over to the home school room and said: I have to tell you something...and started telling me a very rated "'R' for violence" story about a murder and then suicide between two men, as I was taking it all in I finally told her to wait, please don't say this in front of the kids. Later, I had Sophia tell it back to David to see if she understood it, she had, unfortunately.

The interview...Bella and Sophia

What are you looking forward to the most about going to America?

Bella: Jumping off the side of Poppy and CC's pool in the deep end.
That we will be able to see our cousins.
That we will be able to see Poppy and CC.

Sophia: Seeing my cousins
I am looking forward to swimming in Poppy and CC's pool. I am looking forward to going to the lake house. (when I mentioned the beach, because she LOVES the beach) she said: "oh yeah, I would have said that first! I am looking forward to maybe seeing a dolphin on the beach"

What will you miss the most about China?

Bella: Eh Ping Ayi (our old helper)
Mango (this was prompted, she eats her weight in Mango)
He Shen Qi (a friend at school)
Zhen Yuan Yuan (another school friend)

Sophia: Playing with Yang Yang....
I will miss playing with LuBingHua....
I will miss doing crafts at school

The Interview...Tobin

I asked Tobin first, while the girls were at school:

What are you looking forward to the most about going to America?
(Grin, no words)
What do you think will be fun in America?
Umm.....playing with my cousins?!

Who are your cousins?
Umm.....Micah? .....

Who else?
I don't know.....Sammy....Shiloh?!

(they have 8 cousins...it is a little hard to keep up, Tobin doesn't remember any of them, this was just an answer he had heard Sophia talk about before)

What will you miss about China, where we live now?
Umm....(giggly grin)
(I think he will miss Mango and his fighter jets, though he couldn't come up with anything on his own)

'Professional' photos

Our first professional photos as a family of Six....
We were actually disappointed in Tobin's and the family ones, but overall they are precious of the kiddos. We are really glad we got Gabrielle captured, number four is our least photographed child. The kids did really well and the crew was great at getting our kids to participate.

Tobin fun

 Every night David or I will climb in bed with Tobin and read to him. I recently started flying him to bed 'like a fighter jet', he is getting heavy, but I consider it a good little work out. He gets into a nose dive and a tail spin and lands upside down. He loves it. He loves 'brown bear' and really likes 'Green Eggs and Ham'.

He is really sweet with Baby G and he giggled right along with her as he discovered she loved him putting his hand across her cheek like this. Gentle and sweet.

Sophia and YY

 This is Sophia's best friend. She is two years older than her, but she comes over when she finishes her homework and they play as long as they can! She is very sweet, we enjoy having her. Sophia will certainly miss her! YY plays very well with Bella and Tobin too!

School is almost out (but never really is)

We leave for the U.S. in one week, and while we will do a little school here and there (and CC review), our year is pretty much over come this Thursday!!!

We have had a decent year with various ups and downs and I keep forgetting that we had a baby in the middle of it all. I think I am finally getting into a little groove and settling into some curricula I like. 

Here is what we did ('some what' and 'sort of' and 'most weeks')...

We stuck with CC cycle 2 and finished it a few weeks ago. We have been reviewing both cycles ever since. We still love it! The 'pegs' of information have been very helpful in Level 2 of The Phonics Road when we get to defining various Grammar terms...Sophia sings me the answer and then we break it down and talk through it! And the pegs helped as we read through history and got to the split of the Roman empire I said: "Tell me about the split of the Roman Empire" and they sang me the CC history sentence, then we read our Chapter in Story of the World.

The Phonics Road. I really do love it. Bella started Level 1 in January and she likes it too and has taken off in reading and writing. She is left-handed, and has really neat handwriting for a not yet five year old, it is just something she likes, as well as drawing. 

 Level 2 for Sophia is going well, we are on week 10 with the spelling lists, week 12 in Grammar, and almost done with the entire Literary study. We have loved it. This program is expensive but So thorough and easy to teach so far! We hope to stick with this. Along with this Bella still does an 'Ordinary Parents Guide' reading lesson, but I use all terms and rules that Phonics road has. This is just for her to keep on reading, which she does on her own more and more.

 Talking about sentences!!! She loves to write sentences....seriously?!

We hired a friend as a tutor to help prepare Sophia for first grade....it has gone really well. She loves it too! We are actually now having a hard time getting her a spot early. You really can't do anything three months early here. The new principle of the school that we would like her to attend was not very friendly. So....who knows what will happen. We will probably not return in time for registration.

We did do History this year and though I am not sure they retained anything, they loved our history time of my reading aloud to them and then doing some sort of coloring page. 

I have gone back and forth on next year's history but we will probably stick with 'Story of the World' with lots of reading along with Cycle 3 history.

We stuck with Singapore Math for Sophia and are finishing up her most recent book, she may have one more week in the States. We will review a bit this summer and not start anything new until the fall.

Bella started Right Start Level A and has enjoyed it just like Sophia did. We may or may not finish, but will just review in the summer, nothing new here either.

We read a lot and did some extracurriculars, we had a baby and watched her grow. We got frustrated, angry, impatient, and exhausted. We got more patient, relaxed more, rested, and played. In fact for two weeks now after our morning hour we have taken class outside for CC review and even math. We just finished going through an 'Orchestra' book that had a CD (thanks for K for letting me borrow), the girls really liked this! 

One thing I implemented 'here and there' was mommy play time . Usually during my read aloud time, I would cut that time in half on that day and have them draw out of a hat a sheet of paper that had some activity that I would PLAY WITH them. Not teaching, not observing, but WITH them. I found I was always instructing, and then doing all the stuff needed in the home and not playing with them as much. They LOVE this. We built forts, we played dress up, we played paper dolls. This was during the school day,  a time of connecting before they went off to Chinese school.  With every stage the needs change, but for this past sememster this helped me connect with Bella and Sophia more and it was helpful.

We are ready for summer fun in the U.S. of A. an upcoming post will be an interview with the kids about the summer.

Miscellaneous Days Gone By

In March I assured David he need not worry about my buying enough strawberries, our helper said they would last until April. "That is next week, honey." He replied. Really??? No Way!

Two days ago on the phone with another ex-pat living in China, she was asking if I was going crazy getting ready to return to the U.S. I said: "I am making myself wait until at least May 1st before I pull out bags and start to think about packing...." 

"Uh, Lorraine, that is tomorrow!" 

"Oh, really?" Hm....

These days go by.

We all bought new minority outfits, Bella's is not done yet, this is an old one. Tobin looks extra handsome as the blue accents his eyes. Yes, this is the hat the men wear. Sophia and Bella are doing a dance that they did in their ballet/dance class, while Tobin tries to participate.

Some friends came in from the village. Lately we have had lots of visitors or we have 'gone visiting' a lot and these folks keep us in fresh fruit and veg, not to mention rice! We have received so many watermelons, potatoes, and all kinds of other stuff. Yum. 

 This lady is like family, she is the one who wanted a 'western meal' a few years ago and promptly pulled the cheese OFF my pizza and refused the fresh raw spinach salad. That is okay, I refuse the raw pork she offers me...so we are fine.

 David jokes and laughs with them. They say we need one more child. It is hilarious how everyone freaks out about how many kids we have, but people who know us slowly tell us how we need more. The guard at our complex was pretty forceful about it. "One more boy" they all say. As if you can choose. The chef at one of our favorite restaurants told David that we needed two more kids. David told him if he would come be our live-in helper, sure. Then the others around him piped in and said we could hire him to be our cook. Oh, we would get so fat, he is a fabulous cook!

On  a family outing to the lake we checked out the new road that loops it. You can rent these bikes, they are a little hard to maneuver, these ladies let me try it out. Tobin is right there in the middle of them....he just batted those baby blues...

Taken with David's phone, I really like these pics at ballet class.

This girl....a. doll. baby. She is not really quite sitting up on her own yet unless propped. It should work in the airplane. 

When I told Tobin we were getting on a big airplane in a few weeks he said: "Mommy, will you have a baby in your belly?!" No sir, though his thought process is interesting since the last plane we went on that was the case.

So much fun.

 We went out to visit some of our fave friends in their village. They just built a new house there. It is NICE! It is right on the way to the mountain where we have our Chinese Medicine Project.

Yes, we leave in three weeks and have LOTS to do. Not to mention I plan on homeschooling up until two days before we leave. Trying to finish up some things and then blow off the summer months! 

We will have to review Chinese for sure, especially for Soph since she will start 1st grade, but also for the others as they will go to their classes (Tobin included) a week after we get back as well. I may just make them 'play school'. They do this all the time on their own and speak entirely in Chinese. It is hilarious.

Book Reading and Navy Seal Training

 Here are some pics. Blogging seems few and far between these days. Here Baby Gabrielle takes over the book that Bella is reading to her while Tobin looks on...

 She finally gets the whole thing. I think she wants to eat it, everything goes in her mouth these days!

Our week has been crazy with sickness again. 

One night Sophia threw up many times and then last night was what David dubbed: 'a Navy Seal Training Kind of Night', you know the training where you are kept awake for hours and then allowed to go to sleep only to be woken once you get into a good sleep? Then it happens all over again.

Sophia woke with a horrible ear ache, she was in serious pain and could. not. sleep. 

Finally after more tylenol and her laying on a mat on our floor she went to sleep from 4-8 a.m. Before that she was waking every hour. 

Of course we had not been carrying heavy loads and our fellow soldiers on our backs up hills both ways in sleet for 400 miles before hand, but you get the gist. Sleep deprived and pressing on is the slogan of the day.