The rest of January......

They made it home just in time for really cold, cruddy weather to come our way. It was foggy for 4 days after they left, sometimes we couldn't even see the road from our windows. It has even flurried a few days this past week.

So what a good time for us to have the flu right? Adayla woke up last week puking and was so dang cute while doing it. She then would say, I don't feel good and would want to lay in the floor on the bathroom. She would then fall asleep and helper lady would come in and yell at us because it was too cold on the floor. We'd say that she was just fine and helper lady would be not so helpful and move her onto the couch, waking her up in the process. She ate and drank a little and then barfed a little. She was so good to do it in the bowl. We made her a nice little bed on our floor for the night and happily slept there.

Tally is a little opposite. She didn't even slow down, I am not even sure which days she had the flu. A few days before Adayla was sick, she puked in her crib and few times, but didn't act a bit sick and so I thought nothing of it until a few days later. Then two days after Adayla was sick, we find Tally asleep in her crib in a huge puddle of puke, but she seemed fine for the rest of the day. Other than her crazy tantrums that she has been throwing, she has seemed healthy....they go something like this.....she gets upset over something and starts to cry, one of us pick her up, but she doesn't want picked up, so we set her down, but she doesn't want down, so we pick her back up while she screams and screams, finally we just put her down, and she throws herself on the floor and beats her head against it, sometimes leaving bruises. This aren't just a two minute tantrum, these can easily last a 1/2 hour and more than a few times a day for the past week. We were about ready to let somebody else have her for awhile! But today was a great day without any major fits! I am hoping that she wasn't feeling well, even though she didn't have a fever and acted fine the rest of the time!

Enough about that....what are they really up to....

Tally continues to attempt more words, she laid her head on my shoulder a few weeks ago and said "ai ni", which is love you! She now does this almost everyday and at random times, it is very sweet! I also showed her a picture in her coloring book of a plane and she immediately pointed up to one of Tim's newly framed airplane pictures and said "fei ji". The other night as we were out and about she didn't want to hold my hand as we were walking, so she clasped her hands together so I couldn't grab hers.

Tim went to a Chinese New Year party for his program on Friday night and the door prize for everyone was a nicely boxed set of nail clippers??!!

Adayla funny: Tim's sister sent us a box for Christmas this year and it contained those little white packing peanuts. Adayla immediately grabs Tally and tries to get both of them to sit in it. It was clearly not big enough, it fit one of them with little room left to wiggle. I asked what she was doing and she said, "Mom, it is just like the ones back in Virginia." I knew that we received a box from his sister last year that was much bigger and both girls could sit and play, but I didn't think she could remember that. I was wrong....she said, "Mom you know, we had a REALLY big box and Tally and I played in it!" She had just turned two before Christmas, her little mind continues to amaze me!

I went back and found the picture, I will have to show it to her tomorrow!

Adayla started primary at church, which she loves! They moved me up to teach the 6 and 7 year olds, so I was kind of sad not to be her teacher. I still get to watch her. She sits and listens very well and does her best to sing the songs. She also will turn around to occasionally check on me. She will also point to the picture of Jesus on the wall. She is also very into putting barrets in her hair, cute huh?

So with Adayla in primary, Tally is left by herself for nursery. But they have asked Josie to help out in there and so we are able to get a true report. She hasn't been their consistently anyways because of a few trips and a few runny noses.....but last week it went like this. She cried and cried, even with Josie in there. Then she wanted to play with some cars that other boys were playing with, they were not interested in sharing with her. She stood their for literally 10 minutes and gave them her best naughty glare! They better watch out because I know she has no hesitation to wack them.

Thankfully Shanghai's weather isn't what it was after church on Sunday. It was COLD and nearly pouring when church was over. This is not good for taxis, but finally after about 20 minutes on the side of the street trying to keep from getting wet, we were able to get one to stop for us!

I have been busy trying new recipes, in fact, I plan on occasionally posting them for you to try. This week we made focaccia bread (Tim loved), but I do need to find some kosher salt, and some monkey bread (helper lady's favorite!). Broccoli soup was not a hit, but I enjoyed it. The chicken pot pie was quite simple and very good! Like I have said before, we (Josie and I) make most things from scratch. I really had no idea how easy some things are!

Tim is finishing up his semester classes before Chinese New Year. He has his finals and a group paper (that he will mostly write) due on Saturday. Group work has a whole new meaning here in China.

A few weeks ago, we met up with one of Shayla's friends from Germany. Her name is Lin and she was studying in Germany for a few years and happened to meet Shayla. So Shayla was excited when we were coming to Shanghai because that is where Lin was living. But she moved down south by Hong Kong the month we arrived, but was back in Shanghai for a weekend. We had a fantastic Chinese dinner with her and her friend. They chose the restaurant and were waiting when we arrived. They had looked over the menu and I think were ready to order (Chinese style - order a bunch of dishes and everyone shares). They then asked if we had any dislikes, I said other than fish, we are will be good. I think they had to change the entire order, oops!