my baby joined the big kids club

Luke lost his FIRST TOOTH!!

He wiggled and jiggled and twisted this little tooth all day long and it finally fell out when Matt was reading to them before bed.  Whew!  It was so loose by that point that I wondered if it would fall out in the night and he would swallow it :(

He is beyond excited!  This was definitely the highlight of his day, maybe the highlight of his week!

I haven't done a recent count, but of the 100 baby teeth that originally filled my kiddos mouths we've got to be about halfway through the tooth-loosing game.  Julianna's are all gone.  Lydia's are close.  Isaac and John Paul are still in the thick of it and now Luke is dropping teeth too.

and speaking of teeth, I think braces are in the future for the girls.... as soon as the move is behind us we need to get orthodontist appointments for both of them, but I just can't even imagine starting that journey until we are through these next few weeks.

homeschool swim team

Three years ago Julianna swam for the first time.  The only other girl on the team was her friend Kayleigh.  Two girls!!  The following year Lydia was old enough to swim and Xan joined, and we doubled our numbers! 4 girls!  And then 2018?!?!?  We had 8 (!!!!) girls swimming!  It's so fun to see the homeschool community grow (mostly we are just growing up! minimum age to swim is 9 and there are not many homeschooled middle schoolers in the entire city!)

Isaac barely met the age requirement (he turned 9 a few weeks before the meet) and he was reluctant to swim but in the end he had a blast!  He's totally on board for next year and I'm proud of him for trying!  

One highlight was coaching!  ha!  I know, I know.  I have no competitive swimming experience!  But I do love kids and and teaching, and coaching is a lot like teaching.  I relied on some expert advice and helpful youtube videos to fill in the many gaps in my knowledge!  

I mostly coached the 11-12 boys and they were so much fun!  Nothing like a lane full of competitive tween boys to get everyone fired up!  ha! and I loved loved watching my girls enjoy these moments of sweet fellowship!  One of the reasons we pulled them out of local school was to give them opportunities to interact with other foreign girls their age, and swim team was amazing!

the mamas of these lovely ladies are the kinds of people you want to spend all your free time with!  

And the day of the meet we brought home some ribbons! 

Lydia anchored the 9-10 girls relay.  She had an incredible meet... swam the 100 IM, won the 50 breast and got 2nd in the 25 fly.  

Our entire team, with head coach Michelle and me.  Next year Michelle will be busy working with all CISA athletics, and I'll be head coaching swimming :) 

with my favorite three swimmers right alongside!

rain on a Wednesday. Can I start this blog again?

Well, it's happened again.  I'm so far behind that I don't know how to catch up.  Maybe I'm done blogging?  I'm not sure.  I loved it, and still love it, and I'm so so so thankful for the books of memories.  That's my favorite part, so maybe I need to figure out a way to put our year into a book? I'm not sure.

Regardless, here I am.  A rainy Wednesday morning.  And I'm motivated to get a few more pictures and a few more stories on this page.

I think I'll try to squeeze April into one post? Or maybe two?

April was gorgeous, so many sunny days, moderate temperatures, and lots of outdoor play.  We transitioned into shorts (though this morning it's shorts and sweatshirts) and dirty knees are everywhere!

We've filled our mornings with school.  I am thankful to be in a good groove and though we are working on some kinks (every day, right?)... mostly the schedule runs smooth.  The girls are working hard on math and writing and we read piles and piles of books.  A spring highlight is definitely having EVERYONE home all day long!  It's a full house, but I just love it.  We eat lunch about 12:30 and after a quick clean up it's read aloud.  Our recent favorites are The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Tucket's Travels series and yesterday I started Tuck Everlasting and if the rain keeps falling we just might finish it today!

Luke is making great progress with his reading!  It's fun to see him engaging with the words in the world around him!

And, well, everyone is reading (also this picture is notable because the girls had just cleaned their room!!  hallelujah!)

And we are crazy about card games.  Crazy.  If there is a maximum number of hours a child could possibly play Rummy, well, we've hit it.  I like to think this doubles as math class - lots of patterns and adding and it does involve sitting still (which is a school skill we are still polishing!)

When I'm not schooling, well, the hours get filled quickly.  I helped coach homeschool swim team (more on that in a second April post) and the new apartment renovations require more decisions than I care to make.  But, I'm making them.... with a lot of help from friends who are more wired for that sort of thing!

We moved some walls (tore out a closet and reduced the sized of the utility porch) and in our new apartment we will have a school room!! I'm thrilled!  The doorway for the room is awkwardly tall (2.4 meters!!) and there's no natural place to put a swinging door.  So... barn doors were the answer.  I can buy the frame to hang them online, and the only other piece was to find an antique door that would fit.

But we did :)  Antique is actually way cheaper than having something custom made (I got a pair of antique doors for less than $100!). But it did take a little searching.  I'm looking forward to seeing them hung in our new apartment... but that's a few weeks away, as we are still waiting on flooring, and tiling and kitchen/bathroom cabinetry.  Sigh.

At the antique market Julianna spotted a pile of newspapers and asked if she could have them.  "I've been thinking of trying some paper mache," she explained.  This girl ALWAYS has a craft idea rolling around in the back of her brain!  So she started right in, and it was a messy fun way to fill several afternoons!

And speaking of filling the afternoons, Luke spent hours assembling this Lego RV!

Ok, that might be enough for April (when I throw in a post about homeschool swimming!)

Hopefully I'll miss fewer everyday moments in May!

Easter weekend

We had such a sweet Easter weekend!  It started off with a bang!  Matt and I spent Friday night away at a hotel in town while our dear friend Anna stayed with the kids.  My 5 adore Anna and cannot get enough of her - she is such a blessing to our family!  

And, bonus points! She did the egg dyeing!  I'm normally a fan of this kind of activity with my kids but I might have some trauma issues from past years dyeing eggs with many many little little hands.  It just doesn't sound nearly as fun as it used to.  Of course I'm throwing in the towel just as we are hitting the easy years! but oh well 

The kids did create some really cool eggs and Matt and I arrived home Saturday to bowls and baskets of gorgeous eggs. 

Saturday afternoon we three ladies got deep into the kitchen and started on cooking and baking for the big day.  Apple pie and bacon wrapped green beans and cinnamon rolls and basting hams and .... by 5:30 I was not interested in turning my mind to dinner so we went out instead. 

This little miss was looking sassy in her Daddy's hat and I'm still not sure when she started looking so much older.  

Sunday morning we woke to our Easter garden surprise (see Lego Jesus?) and I'm thankful for Matt running with this project this year! Some of these little traditions are still such a treat for the younger set, and my big kids love doing it just because "we do it every year".  

Then, breakfast feasting time!

We planned to drive to church but a dead battery foiled those plans and sent us towards the subway instead.  I think most of the kids actually prefer this mode of transport as infinitely more interesting the car-riding. 

Not your typical Easter morning drive to church, but the skies were gorgeous and we were all together!

After church it was time to seize the day and get a family picture before the kids made a quick break for play clothes and then Easter egg hunting and a big potluck meal with loads of friends. 

These people make me happy.  And I love to party with them!  Happy Easter! 

on our last March weekend

We went city exploring... to a park we visited long ago and on some new pathways around the south side of town.

April is our best month - and the tail end of March did a great job whetting our appetites!  So many blue sky days and the temperatures steadily climbing!

This afternoon was an impromptu decision at the end of church - we knew it was too beautiful to head inside, so we grabbed a quick lunch and determined to stay outdoors.

and we did put many miles under our feet too.  These are city kids and we do lots of walking.  And Matt and I do lots of hand holding while everyone else tramps behind or ahead :). It's a win for everyone!

And then late afternoon Isaac had soccer practice and the rest of us ate dinner nearby while we waited for him to finish and then, finally....

best way to end a day.

Friday afternoon cards

We play a lot of games.  Some are not at the top of my list but I am a boy mom and so there is much knee hockey and tackle football and and soccer practice and basketball PIG - yes, all in the living room.  sigh.  Errant hockey pucks (hard foam, thank goodness) fly through the kitchen during dinner prep, and we've had mis-thrown balls make a mess of what used to be on the kitchen counter.  But mostly it's, well..... it's a lot of boys with no backyard is what it is.  And we make it work.

But we also play a lot of games that are kinder to the mama, at least in the rough and tumble how wild can we get before someone gets seriously injured showdown. Like Rummy :)

Although the scorecard is not always so kind to mama :) My dad taught these guys a mean game of Rummy and they play to win.  And win big.

I like to think this also counts as a bit of homeschool math and I'm convinced the reason Luke knows how to count by 5s and add 90 to 135 is because he is determined to not loose points based on math miscalculation.

So we will keep playing cards.  And I just sent the indoor football game boys outdoors ... where, alas, they can't play tackle football - oh the irony!  with no grassy field the best place for tackle football is the living room carpet? Regardless, the house is quiet and they will find other ways to burn their energy outdoors, where we are so grateful for big open spaces to roam, even if it is concrete!  We do have the best rollerblading in town, I'm convinced!

homeschool break for cake

We ended up with an extra cake for Luke's birthday! Sounds like a fun problem to have, huh?  And while we briefly entertained the idea of waiting for Daddy to get back in town before we dug in, Luke wasn't much into waiting (although he does adore his daddy).  

So on Thursday mid morning we called "break for cake" and I will say that stopping for a slice of birthday cake adds a little oomph to a school day! 

The extra cake was because the kids usually get a "family party" cake that we eat the day of their birthday, and a "birthday party" cake that we eat during their party with friends, but for Luke we did it all in one day and - yum! but how much cake can one really eat before the enjoyment and excitement wears off?  (and usually I can stretch one box mix- Luke had cupcakes for friends and the remainder of the batter in a round cake pan for the family)

Well, it was way worth delaying because on Thursday people were ecstatic, and not just the birthday boy, and I now have 5 students who think we should make "break for cake" a regular deal.  We've settled on every-other-Thursday :). And they did clarify that any treat will suffice, though cake is a favorite.  [unfortunately imported cake mix is pricey and often hard to find, so I'm thinking it'll be something homemade most of the time!]

Yes, Luke has a highlighter mustache across his upper lip - it's a school thing.  He loves the way his highlighter smells, so he traces a line across his top lip.  Every day.  I wish I was joking.

But highlighter mustache and all, this boy is worth "break for cake", and we will all owe him a big thank you for as long as this silly little tradition-to-be hangs around :) 

how much can you cram into one weekend anyways?

Just in case our birthday weekend wasn't full enough - you know....

Isaac's birthday Friday

Isaac's birthday party Saturday

Luke's birthday and party Sunday

Isaac soccer game Sunday evening

We decided to throw in a little something extra and signed a contract on a new apartment Sunday night.  Matt was leaving the next day to go out of town and it was the only time to do it!  

So as of Sunday at about 8:00pm we were holding the keys to an apartment six floors above our current home!  We are still so bummed to be moving.  And we have so much work to do on our new place.  

But it's going to be a great spot for us and we cannot believe that God provided something in our building! Rentals are very hard to find in our apartment complex (it's almost all lived in by owner) and in the 5 years we have lived here we have not known of one other unit in our building (total of 36 units) that was available for rent.  Until last Wednesday when #802 was listed - and we looked at it that evening, entered negotiations, and signed the contract four days later!

But it does need some work!  a LOT of work!  Like a kitchen, and bathrooms and flooring and lighting and .... well, we hired a contractor!

The rom below is a bathroom-to-be!

It's almost exactly the same size as our current home but laid out a little differently (although the hallway and bedrooms and identical, just mirrored, of our current home).  I'm so thrilled that we can add a school room off the dining room and the workmen came this week to remove a few walls and now there are new ones to build and we hope to move in by the end of May! whew!

We have worked with this contractor before and are grateful to have someone we trust helping us.  And I'm not looking forward to the move, or all the leaky pipes that will need fixing and the myriad of other problems that will undoubtably show up (every Asian move has left me pulling my hair out in frustration at the shoddy construction quality and I am sure this one will be equally frustrating but), we can't stay here and if I had to go anywhere I would want to stay in this building!  so here we go :) 

a 6 year old Luke

I'm not quite sure how this happened, but the baby of our family is 6!  SIX?!?!

He went to bed the night before proclaiming that "tomorrow is the best day in the whole world" and he woke ready to party!  It was a party-full house (with Isaac and his sleepover friends playing Pandemic in the background) but his breakfast pick (French toast and bacon) can feed a crowd so we set off on another day of birthday fun!

[Honestly it works better when their birthdays - only two days apart - fall during the middle of the week and we can do one celebration the weekend before and one the weekend after but this year it was a Friday/Sunday duo and what's a mama to do?  And it's special this way because the dates fell the exact same way in 2012.... celebrated Isaac's 3rd birthday on Friday and welcomed Luke Sunday morning!]

He might be getting bigger but he is still definitely the baby and he knows it.  We all know it!  He was delighted with his gift from the big 3 - rainbow loom gear!  He's big into making and selling and it's a great way to keep his hands busy during afternoon read-aloud too :)

And these two, always up to something.  Often needing a good deal of adult oversight :) ha!

We devoured our French toast feast and head out to church for the morning.  Then it was off to lunch (jiaozi, one of his favorites) and we brought along a few of his party friends too.  And back home for the party.

We played a long round of Minute to Win-It games and these kids were so awesome to watch!

Dice towers.

Marble-in-the-spoon transport

and a host of others.  My favorite might have been the 'move the M&Ms with the straw' challenge

This was a really fun party and everyone got super involved, even the older kids (who weren't technically allowed to compete!)  I feel like I got a glimpse of what these guys will be like in middle school youth group :)

It was a gorgeous day so we headed outside for more play and cupcake eating!

And it was an All-In-One party day for my boy!

And a big weekend for the whole family!  I cannot imagine our family without Luke.  Each person plays such a unique role and he is no different.  Grateful for this little guy, especially on his big day!

Luke's birthday lunch date with Matt

Can't miss these two precious pictures of my man and his youngest son!

He went to Ikea last year and loved it so much he chose it again for birthday #6. 

Hotdog and soda.  It's an easy win.  And each of the kids love and treasure these moments, and their daddy does too. 

a challenge race birthday party

A few weeks ago Julianna attended a birthday party that was like a mini Amazing Race.  Those 12, 13 and 14 year old girls were all over the city - riding buses and subways - chasing victory (they are city savvy kids, but each team also had a college age friend along!)

Julianna had a blast and I got an idea.  Hmmmm.  Could we do something similar, but within the confines of our apartment complex, for my boy?  So one Saturday morning Matt and I sat down to create a series of challenges, shaped into a race, for my boy and his birthday party friends.  Y'all.  It was so fun.  

Two teams of boys, competing the same 9 challenges but in different orders.  Darts.  Nerf guns.  Soccer.  Basketball.  Running.  Stair-climbing!  

We explained the rules, passed out the lists, and ON YOUR MARKS, GET SET, GO!!!

They were all over the complex 

and these two were shocked and thrilled when they won!

The challenges were the same, but arranged in different orders for each team, and they thought they were behind the other team - but victory is even sweeter when it's unexpected :) 

We came inside for pizza and cake and a movie and sleepover.  Whew. 

{Julianna left in the middle of the party for youth group, so Lydia and I were severely outnumbered in the girls vs. boys category!}

and the next morning, everyone was awake and ready for a game of Pandemic before breakfast!