Gabriella and the Moon

Gabby just LOVES the moon... This weekend she got out of bed and opened the curtains, sat on the windowsill and looked up at "Mr. Moon" for about five minutes... Last week, we were walking to the clubhouse, Travis took her swimming and I got a mani/pedi. She looked-up at the moon and said, "The moon is following us but it doesn't have any feet."

Winter Ball 2010

Cara, Alex, and Nikki

36 Weeks

ISB hosts a Winter Ball every year at a fancy hotel, which is basically like prom. As always, we had a blast. I wore some sparkly flip-flops for shoes... no way I was going to wear heels.

Santa Claus Pictures

Have you ever seen a Chinese Santa Claus?

Now you have!

Nothing is ever really easy in China... since we're not going to the States for winter break I had to hunt down where to get Santa pictures. On Sunday, we went to two different places but no such luck. At one of the places, we heard Santa was there on weekdays only from 4-6 pm. Why not weekends, you ask? Because that would make sense and be convenient. Anyhoo, we headed downtown right after school on Tuesday and got the pictures. Mission accomplished.

Best Mo' and Sista' Combo Winners!

Billy Bob and Bubba

Holding our Beloved MO'scar

The Other Rednecks of Movember

Greg, Riley, Matt, Me, and Mark

We celebrated "Movember" for the first time at ISB this year... If you don't know, below is a little bit about the fundraising event that started in Australia. If you're a woman and want to support men's health then you're called a "mo sista'" and can wear a fake moustache, or be like me and juat a wear a button to support it.

To celebrate the craziness, our school celebrated the MO'scars. There were several categories but Travis and I went for best Mo' and Sista' Combo as rednecks- and we won! It was hilarious. Seriously. I need to find the video and post it. We had a blast and totally hammed it up on the catwalk. We couldn't see a thing on stage but the amount of applause was insane. For some people, seeing a bare pregnant belly caused some mixed reactions... From fellow mom's and dads- they thought it rocked. However, I think I shocked some of the more "conservative" staff... and you know I loved doing that. He-he. Afterwards, we all went to the staff lounge and had MO-garitas and snacks. That's right, our school has proper parties where alcohol is served. I obviously didn't partake but appreciated all the work people did to decorate and make it happen. I love working at this school. Yes, it's demanding and exhausting but we do know how to have fun!

The Mo, slang for moustache, and November come together each year for "Movember". Movember challenges men to change their appearance and the face of men’s health by growing a moustache. The rules are simple, start Movember 1st clean-shaven and then grow a moustache for the entire month. The moustache becomes the ribbon for men’s health, the means by which awareness and funds are raised for cancers that affect men. Much like the commitment to run or walk for charity, the men of Movember commit to growing a moustache for 30 days.

Christmas Tree Decorating

I LOVE this time of year! As a family, we put the Christmas tree up and decorated it this weekend. Gabriella and I looked at all the ornaments and I told her the story about each one- she loved that! A tradition I started was to buy an ornament every year that represented something we did... this year we put-up the Disneyland 2010 ornament to commemorate our trip this summer. Gabby seems to really like this tradition too and this morning wanted to know about the moose ornament. She remembered where it came from, "It's from Yellowstone!" It's a fun way to talk about about family memories we've shared and special people in our life... Afterwards, we all watched "A Christmas Story." I'm happy to report that she is also a fan of the movie!

GymNees is Back!

Walking on the Balance Beam by Herself

Gabriella and Kellan

The Whole GymNees Gang

David, Kya, Gabriella, Lachlan, and Kellan

The Pink-Weenies and BFFs

Emily and Gabriella

It's really nice having PE teacher friends... they organize the coolest activities, such as GymNees. It has started up again and it's basically a time where the kids can do mini-gymnastic-type things, like balancing, running, hanging, etc. We meet every Sunday morning at 8:30 am. It's a nice time to catch-up with friends and for the kiddoes to get some exercise since it's so cold outside.

1st Annual Gluten Free Thanksgiving

Here's the Gang!

Gabriella (can't get her out of this outfit!) and Sophia

Gabriella and Leonie

 New Friends Who Both Have Celiac!

This year we hosted the first ever Gluten Free Thanksgiving in China, well at least that we know of... It was a great success! Not only was it the first one, many of the people who were there have never celebrated Thanksgiving. Travis gave a nice toast and we all felt thankful for finding such a supportive group of people... It was quite a multi-cultural gathering with people from  Norway, America, France, Panama, Australia, Belgium, England, and New Zealand. It was so nice not to worry about crumbs and cross contamination. I didn't realize the low level of anxiety I have when we go to parties with gluten... Gabriella still doesn't completely understand and neither do her friends so there's always that level of worry on your mind that she'll get sick. We supplied the turkey and stuffing and other people brought different gluten free itams. Travis is going to make some turkey soup and we have lots of yummy gluten free left-overs for some family dinners.