recently

sorry for the lack of posts! this last week has been so busy. i am currently prepping my 5 & 6 year olds for graduation which is a frustrating and long process. i am trying to teach them 4 songs as well as memorize lines for a play and poem. all in english. they are slowly but surely getting there... fingers crossed it will all come together before June 24th!


here are some pictures from the last few weeks or so :) sometimes, i don't want to devote a whole entry on just one story, so here are a few mini stories to match the pictures.

.shanghai MIDI festival.

amanda, tim, jacqueline and i went to the Shanghai MIDI Music Festival in Pudong. it was really warm that day and sunny. amanda and i stuck playing cards to our forehead to prove that we were sweating. classy, right? it was totally expat central and had some great music. we brought a big sheet and sat outside altogether playing cards and having fun :)

 .jake's visit.

JAKEY CAME TO VISIT from Beijing! he used to work with us in Shanghai but decided that he wanted to solely study Mandarin and moved to Beijing to take some language courses. We had a great weekend with him just catching up and having fun like old times. We took this picture with a self timer (looovee you Amanda). This is half of the "Shanghai 10" as we liked to call it. we were definitely missing Alice, Natalie, Kate, and Mackenzie! (yes, i know it only adds up to 9... anyways :)

*ohhh jake's shirt -- I <3 BJ.

it's a jakey sandwich! and apparently i'm the only one that didn't get the memo to look silly!

.play time with the kids.

adorable Joy laughing like usual. her laugh is contagious. she can make me smile at any time. 

these next few are pictures from playing outside that Amanda took when she came to observe my school! it was finally not unbearably hot. perfect outside weather :)

ming ming climbing up the ladder. too adorable.

my girl Jia Jia climbing up too!

this photo makes me laugh so much. ohh rich...

 .dodgeball.

tim plays dodgeball with a bunch of other expats every thursday night. amanda and i decided that were were going to go watch him and his friends play! it was a really fun time. tim's team is called "the untouchaballs" and each of their shirts have a nickname with the word "ball" in it. "tinker ball" is tim's. pretty funny since he is a big, tall guy.

i will be home in exactly 5 weeks.
unbelievable.