Watch, Read, Listen

March 5, 2013-   First of all, we'd like to wish our energetic nephew, Gregory, a very HAPPY NINTH birthday!!!  We love you! Second of all- we're super excited to check out what the fourth graders at IST have been working on for several weeks.  I know the kids put a lot of heart and…

March 14, 2013- Mark came back from his *very* brief to the USA with a shiny, new and very complicated camera.  I thought I'd take the camera out for a spin on a recent outing to one of the fabric markets in Tianjin.   I think the photos suggest that I still have a lot…

I think Princess Bride's Inigo Montoya says it best: "Let me 'splain. [pause]   No, there is too much. Let me sum up…."   I think it might take me the rest of the year to finish writing posts about our fabulous trip to New Zealand.   So, today I'm going to attempt (HA!) to sum…

March 25, 2013- A poem written by Annika: What?   Everything is wrong!   The cows are turning purple, My hair is turning pink!   The sky is now a deep dark orange, And the trees are in the sink.   The ground is turning blue now, And now I see a green cow!  …

March 21, 2013- First things first: CONGRATULATIONS, AVA!!!!!!!! Ava! You did a fantastic job!!! We are so immensely proud of Ava!  She was awarded the Gold Medal for the Kinder/First Grade speaking group.  The First Graders recited a poem entitled "Heart". By the way, Ava was the ONLY native English speaker in this (K/1st grade)…

March 21, 2013- As it turns out…March has been a crazy busy month for us.  Is anyone really surprised???? 😉 Here's a run-down on what's been happening here: Fourth grade Art Exhibition Parent Tea for First Grade: The kids shared what they learned about the human body for their Unit of Inquiry Poetry competition Trip…

February 23, 2013- Can my Baby Girl already be SEVEN years old?!?!!  How can that be???  She was born yesterday, right????? Happy birthday to our most darling, beautiful, inventive, budding chef and baker baby girl! FYI- Ava's birthday was on the day we flew out of Auckland…so we tried to celebrate BEFOREhand with our great…

February 10, 2013- Is it really still Feb. 10???  Doesn't it feel like it should be the 11th already???  I think you'll agree with me that it's been one very LOOOOOOOOOOOONG day.   It's been such a gorgeous drive- we tried to hug the coast as much as we could.  We passed by many other…

February 10, 2013- SAY WHAAAAAAT????? Did I just mention Hundertwasser AND public toilets in the same title?  Do those really go together???? Why, yes.  Yes they do!!! I know that some of you already know WHO Hundertwasser was. For those of you that don't know -he was a contemporary Austrian artist…he did lots of unusual…

February 10, 2013- Good Morning, Sunshine! Oh, how we've missed you!   Do you see the sun and the sparkling blue skies????  Did you smell the air??  Did you smell burning tires?  Or burning coal?  Or other unidentifiable chemical smells?  No???? Nope.  The air smells clean!!!!   (how sad is that?  I always thought all…