These are a few of our February things.... :)

So, I'm writing this after posting the Chinese New Year blog. As I type, I am being surrounded by a cacophony of fireworks and moped alarms. It's 9:15 pm on the last night of CNY, day 15. This day is known as the Lantern Festival. The legend goes that a god was angry that his favorite goose had been killed (not making this up) 2000+ yrs ago in some village and so he decided to destroy the village by fire. A magical fairy (not kidding) warned the villagers of this and told them to light lanterns throughout the village, making it appear that it was on fire. Looking down, the god saw that the village seemed on fire and so he was satisfied that his goose had been avenged. :) Yup. However, now people just see it as another excuse to light off more fireworks!!! :/

Ok, I digress. I'm embracing the suck (a quote from a dear friend here), and enjoying my last CNY experience. What I'm here to write about tonight are a few things we did in February. We've had days of massive (for here) snow and others of gorgeous sunshine. It almost feels like I'm in Michigan again! ;)

This was a day that will live in my memory, hopefully, forever. I can't remember the circumstances around the day, but Ben was home and Soph wasn't. It was an afternoon and Ben was needing to get some work done so I brought Coop into our bedroom to wrestle. He likes to be flipped and do barrel rolls and such on the bed. On this day, however, he was really mellow and he crawled under the bedsheets and just layed there. I was singing to him and he was looking at me, just content. I was doing some brushing with him (part of his therapy). After doing this for about 30 minutes he flipped himself out from under the covers and just slowly fell asleep while I sang and gently brushed his arms and legs. For most people, a quiet, still 3 yr old can be something that gets witnessed often. We never see this. To see him so still and content to the point of falling asleep... it was a gift given to me from God and I thank Him for it. I just layed there next to him for another half hour loving every second of this little man that was given to me. This is my son and, oh mercy, am I crazy about him. :)

The day after the GE CNY party, Sophie had a birthday party for some Dutch twin friends of hers from school. What's it about this girl and her addiction to Dutch twins?? (Only Christy will probably get that one :)
The party was held at bakery (yes, please!) and, as I am still unsure of the "rules" of kid parties (do I, the parent, stay or go? Drop her off or stay to help out? Etc...), I asked Sophie if she wanted me to stay or leave. She said she wanted me to stay ("in case I get hurt, Mommy") so I did.

This bakery had a huge playroom for kids- tons of fun!
Here's Soph with Jenna (the 'toe-head' and one birthday girl), her BFF, Rachael (in the stripes, from New Zealand), Floortje (partly hidden, next to Rachael, and the other birthday girl), and Rubin (another New Zealander).

The group got to bake and decorate cupcakes- a brilliant idea! There were little hats and aprons...so cute! Here's Rachael, Soph and Jenna-

It was all I could do to get her to stop eating the raw cupcake batter. :) She is SO my daughter!!

Here's Betty, Jenna, Soph, and Floortje-

While the cupcakes baked, we headed outside to the play area where there was also a little petting zoo! My favorite animal there-

 Her little tail was wagging a mile a minute bc the kids kept feeding her bread and lettuce!

After the baking was the frosting and decorating. She was licking the knife, eating the candies... that's my girl. :) She really liked it! Her finished products-

After a massive lunch of chicken nuggets, pizza, spaghetti, egg rolls, fries, fruit and cake, it was time for the pinata before heading home. Soph whacked that thing like her life depended on it. :)

After way too long, someone beat it to death enough that it spilled forth it's goodness. The children pounced like lions on prey and we packed it up and headed home. :)

This was something Soph brought home from school one Thursday. The kids had been studying houses in school and at the end each child made a house. Here's Sophie's. On the left you'll notice her gate (it did actually swing open). The windows had "glass". There was a "stone" walking path  in front, a pool on the right. The chimney on top complete with a popsicle stick used for smoke. :) She was SO proud of it.

Another fun thing we did in Feb was have a little stay-cation during the Chinese New Year break. Many of our friends had fled town for warmer climates and here we sat...with the fireworks...
So, we booked a hotel over in Pudong on the other side of the river for a few nights to break things up. We've made a few new friends since Christmas as new people have come into town. They were also trapped in Shanghai and therefore decided to get out and about as well.

Here Sophie's running to lunch- literally. She was so hungry! With her are Luca and his brother, Niels. They are the kiddos of our new friends, Isabelle and Herwig from Belgium. We were skating off to Element Fresh for some very tasty American food. :)

After lunch we headed to the hotel's indoor play area. Oh my goodness, this place was crazy!! Stuff for any age child from 1 to 15.
Here's Grace (eldest daughter of new friends- Alice and John from the UK) plopping herself down this super steep, super high slide. She did it with the greatest of ease. I never did it. Too scary!!! My self-preservation warning bell was gonging like crazy!!! It was a straight shot down, people!

Sophie going down the easier slide. You sit in this sack and slide down the bumps. Cooper really liked it as well!

On a different level there was a smaller kiddie climbing thing. Cooper was happiest in here bc the kids were smaller, they moved slower, it was less busy.

3 levels of climbing for him. Lots of good gross motor work. :) He loved it!

A break for ice cream and sweets. :) Here's Soph hanging with Isabelle and her boys, Luca and Niels.

Late on the first day, Sophie got up the nerve to try the medium blue slide. Still a decent drop down but it ended softly into a ball pit. She was mostly motivated by the ball pit, really. :) Cooper also really wanted to go into the ball pit so I lifted him up and over the side and let go. He did NOT appreciate this and stopped himself halfway down and then started to climb back up the slide. Whoops. :) Therefore, guess who else got to try the slide? Me! :)

The next day was more play area, eating out, wandering the attached mall, going swimming, eating out. :) It was raining so a good excuse to stay indoors.
Our last day was gorgeous so we headed across the street to Century Park. Yes, it is a play on "Central Park" (well, I hear it is) bc it's a big park inside the bustling city.

That's Isabelle on the left, Alice on the right, as we walk to one of the entrances of the park.

Inside- my pretty little lady on a bridge

The 3 eldest of the 3 families hanging out- Luca (8), Soph and Grace (8)

We all decided to rent some "yachts" (as they were advertised) to go down a river a bit but we were told we would have to wear these "life jackets" if we wanted to go.
They were such a joke! Truthfully, they wouldn't have kept a buoy afloat.
Here's Cooper modeling for us- he loved it.... :)

Ben felt like we were going on a duck hunt...

Here we are in our "yacht" trolling around. :) Ben is driving here with Soph while Cooper and I hung out in the back. He actually sat there really nicely just looking around. :)

Cruising around. We actually did make it under that bridge... :)

After yachting about, we let the kids burn some energy climbing some walls

Here's a pic of these 4-person bikes we saw all through the park. Ben and I had last seen these in Santa Barbara, California back around 2001!

Soph and I in the park. Those are apartment buildings in the background.

Just a walk through the park... :) I liked the set up here- I'll bet it's really pretty when the trees are full

On the way out we hit up the "Head Statue"

We decided to take the easy (but expensive) way home and do the taxi thing. Thankfully we were blessed with one that actually had seatbelts. The kids were ah-ma-zing, which is SO rare in a taxi!

The other thing I have been doing in February is oil painting. I have been going to a friend's house for 3 hours, once a week, working on my first piece since highschool. :) It's been a definite 'work in progress' but I have enjoyed the chatting with new people just as much as the painting. Of course, I think it's terrible and looks nothing like the picture. But, as my friend reminded me, I will not hang this with the picture next to it. This is my own interpretation.
So, as many things in my life are, it may not be perfect, but it's mine and I'm proud of it!

Week 1- started with a brown canvas. With white paint, heavy on the thinner and oil, I drew in the outline. Then started the background shading.

Week 2- started the background color and the green

Week 3- started with the purple and did more background coloring.

Week 4- more background tweaking, more purple

Week 5- more work on the green and the purple. Attempting to do some shading so the background flowers look fuzzy like they do in the picture.

I have 1 more week to finish. I feel like I have so much more to do! It really could be endless but I am glad that the end of the class will cause me to stop and appreciate that I made this! The girl who makes a sketchy stick figure did ok. :)

I know I haven't been posting any prayer requests lately but there have been several things going on here and I would love if you helped me lift them up to our Creator.
-I have a friend, Kris, who is in her early 40's that was recently diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer.
 It has metastasized to her lymph nodes and her spine. She is an amazing woman that is battling this
 hard, however, this amazing woman is also an atheist. Please pray that I may be a light to her and
 that I may show God's glory to her and that this situation brings her and her family to Him.
-I have another friend who has a 4 yr old daughter, Reagan. They just moved here from Ohio last
 month and 2 weeks ago the girl was diagnosed with severe ITP, a virus that attacks your platelets
 and leaves you at great risk of bleeding. The normal platelet count is over 150,000. Hers was 1. It's
 hard to even imagine!! At the advice of the docs here, my friend and her daughters have returned to
 the US to figure out what the next steps are. Pray for healing, answers and comfort as they also deal
 with being far away from their daddy/husband.
-Please pray that the right job opens up for Ben back home for this summer. Our plan is to move
 back in July but my desire is also for Ben to find a job that is challenging and rewarding for him.
 There are great jobs here and in Florida but Sophie and my heart's desire is to be home, in
 Michigan. Pray that answers come and doors are opened. However, I do realize that it is most
 important that all things are done in His perfect timing and that His will is best!

Thanks again for reading. We're heading off to Guilin, China, next week so I hope to have another blog of amazing Chinese scenery for you in a few weeks. :)
God bless!!