the most expensive grocery store in the world

 Dear Jenny Wangs (local grocery store here in Beijing),

      I want to take a minute to not say thank you for putting these adorable little mini carts in your store.  What was once a horrible job (grocery shopping with kids) is now impossible.  Neither myself, nor my fellow shoppers appreciate the inconvenience of having to dodge little mini size people running around the store unbidden with mini size carts, trying their hardest to make their mother lose her mind.  Do you really have to park them out front so as to make them unavoidable when we are heading into the store.  And while we're at it, no thank you for your ridiculously high prices.  Seriously, are you really charging $3 for a cup of yogurt?  It doesn't matter if it is imported from France and delicious.  $3??!!  And just so you know, the cans of Hunt's spaghetti sauce cost $1 in the US, so your $3 price tags are a slap in the face.  No spaghetti for us, not at those prices.  And seriously, where is our consumable shipment?  I'm hoping those 1,000 pounds of food will help me avoid the grocery store for at least a couple of months. 
 

 Here these two are, lined up for their grocery cart race.  It's Supermarket Sweep, Beijing edition.  I think Ian would take Leah, if he had the chance. As for me, I'm adopting a strict no kid policy at the grocery store.  Either I leave them home (with the ayi/nanny/domestic help) or I send the ayi and stay home with the kids myself.  I'm sure 3 years of that will leave them acting like orangutans when we move back to the US and they have to start going to the grocery store with me again.  I think I will face the music then and enjoy the solitude now.  Now I just have to find a way around the high prices...

marriage

here in Beijing

We're finally here, able to post to the blog in Beijing.  It took some time, but we can pretty much access any site on the internet that we could in the US.  These are pictures taken in the US and were used for the kids passport photos.

I'm working on taking more pictures here in Beijing and will post them as I do.  I know, I know, there are many requests for tuk tuk photos.  They're coming, we've just all been under the weather a bit so haven't felt much like taking pictures if we went out in the tuk tuk.  I'll post them as soon as I get them!

Cinnabuns make everything better...

So we are just weeks away from our big move to Beijing. The stress and long to do lists that come along with that is abundant!


As I was doing some last minute shopping before our movers came, I decided the best thing to do was to stop for some adorable little cinnabuns for the babies. They were pretty happy. Of course that didn't stop them from trying their hardest to embarrass me in the store with their naughty behavior. At what point does their behavior become a reflection of their bad choices, not my poor (and lazy...um, exhausted!) parenting?


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

A birthday party, kind of

Ian turned 2 and we had a kind of birthday party. Nothing big, just some cake, candles, and birthday presents.


Ian didn't really know what to do with the lit candles. Neither did Leah or Isaac when we finally asked them to blow out the candles for Ian. I finally blew them out myself. Seriously, has anyone even been to a birthday party?


Ian wasn't even really getting opening presents. His late late afternoon nap didn't seem to help. At least he's got some awesome new toys to play with.


He's becoming more and more like MB everyday.

happy birthday deeds

Dear Ian -

How did this little sweet thing go from a small red baby with huge feet to a big boy with a humongous head in only two years?  You are my little boy, and I love you so much.  I love how much you have brought into our little family.  You and your sister Leah are good buddies and sometimes frenemies.  You are both still learning to share, but you love to laugh and run and play together.  You love cars and balls.  And you can't get enough of playing outside.

You are learning Chinese as quickly as you are learning English and we couldn't be prouder.  Your daddy is especially proud to hear you help him count to 10 in Chinese.  You are a happy little guy and although you have a seemingly insatiable need for sleep (hmm, remind you of anyone else??), you usually wake up happy.  You often have a smile and a hug for me when I go in to check on you before I go to bed and you're asleep in your crib. 

I'm so happy to be your mom and I can't wait to watch you get even older.



Dear Ian -

New York, New York take 2

Ok, we met our dear friends, the Arthur's in NYC a few weeks ago. No time this year for a cruise, so we settled for a long weekend in the big apple.


Lots of laughs. (no surprise there)


We spent some time in Chinatown, where I was able to practice my Mandarin. I need more practice, safe to say.


Apparently we were boring MB.


I love these two. We will still be vacationing together when we're in our 80's.


Can you see the lady liberty behind us?