Thankschristmakawli! Our first ever! November 21st 2015

Thankschristmakawali Celebration, November 21st 2015

Thankschristmakawali! That's right. Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukah and Dawali celebrated all together! With friends from all over the world and living in an international community, Rubina and Tesh introduced the idea of their tradition of having such a party. We were more than happy to provide the venue and be a part of it! I've never had my Christmas decor up so early but I actually liked getting it done and out of the way. It was an amazing international feast with everyone bringing food from their native holiday. We had friends from the USA, Canada, India, Malaysia, Indonesia, Germany, China, Holland, Israel, Columbia, Belgium and New Zealand.

Brian carving the bird!

I baked the turkey. Lovely bird!

Sarah, Colby, Lorna, Yanti, Stephanie, Rubina, Tamar, Sharon, Natalie, Jacee, Isabelle and Jaiya.

It was an awesome spread of delicious food! We had some super fun gift exchanges as well.

The children! Yuval, Brock, Edan, Olly, Enrique, Ashton, Xavy, Matteo, Cameron, Gavin, Ronan, Indy, Pepper, Jet, Chael, Addie, Shauna, Asgar, Emily, Matteos, Maya, Prisha and Reyhann

The children had a gift exchange and drew names. It was really fun for them to give and also receive a gift. The videos people took were so funny.

Moms and dads enjoyed the children's gift exchange almost as much as the children.

The adults had their own gift exchange! Our traditional white-elephant gift exchange.... Always exciting and it was really fun to introduce to friends who have never experienced or done one before. I had to explain it several times and I was asked lots of questions about it. And they did great! We had an epic exchange.

I love the superman and superwoman aprons. They were quick to have a new owner.

Lindsey and Lorna with Tesh's fantastic fan stand "made in Indonesia" and Super Woman apron!

The black elephant at the white elephant party!!! Tamar opened up the best gift of the night. Thank you Tesh and Rubina! We are still laughing about it!

Me with Colby and Steph. Holding it together and trying not cry as our days together were coming to an end. Miss you Osbornes!

Colby, Sarah, Steph, Rubina, Reyhaan and Indri

Thanks friends for celebrating the coolest mashup of holidays ever!

Book Release Party for Susan!

Colby made her incredible cake! Owner and founder of Kiwi Cakes in Hangzhou China. Which has been sold as she has moved overseas. :(

Our talented and amazing friend, Susan Poon, AKA Randa Flannery by pen name) has released another book and it's witty, fun and a great read! Love the One Your Witch. Highly recommend! We had a fabulous Book Release party for her with dry ice and Goblin goodies and snacks. 

I even put up outdoor lights! Not shown. It took me a few hours but it was pretty cool. 

Our little witches and wolves. Noe, Olly, Addie, Mali, friend, Chael and Dash

Colby, Susan- Lady of the hour and Indy

She does have red hair. I was something of an inspiration... :O

 I love that Brian is photo bombing this pic! 

Well done Susan! I have loved everything she has written and published and look forward to more!

Zumba action with the Brutez Brothers! Shanghai September 2015

The Brutez Brothers from LA. Rukus and Fever. 

These guys are hard core and I've never had more fun in a workout class before! It was 100% fitness and 100% dance. Intense and the way I like it. The ultimate dance fitness experience. So fun!

Sarah's greece left on the floor!

Sick! That's my sweat puddle from the Brutez Brother's Master Zumba class. Feel free to be disgusted. I sweat like.... crazy. Get greecy!

Julie Wardle, my Zumba mentor, bottom row and second from the right.

Julie Wardle and her family have lived in China even longer than we have! We go way back. I think they were here for about seven years when we first arrived to Shanghai--over 13 years ago! She is an amazing woman and an inspiration on so many levels. I'll just mention her story in terms of getting fit. She started doing Zumba and she will tell you that it saved her. It was what kept her going at a really dark time in her life and she did it for herself. With encouragement from her mentor, she got certified to teach and continued on her path of getting healthy. She has lost 50 pounds! and feels amazing! She teaches sometimes 10 classes each week and is a rock star. She planted the idea in my head to become an instructor. I had a slight foot injury and needed to get creative about working out. I needed to stop running which is what I did half the week at the time. It was on an whim that I just went for it and decided to get certified and become a teacher. I had little experience doing Zumba but I love fitness. I love dance. And I felt it was time for me to get out of my work out "comfort zone" and invite others to party with me and get fit. 

FIBO conference in Shanghai. Piloxing intro.

We tried out a Piloxing class with Julie's Zumba mentor who now teaches piloxing and lives in Hong Kong. It was great. They wanted me to sign up (along with everyone else) but I will have to build my Zumba clientele before I jump into that one. We have a smaller international community than Shanghai by far. But I love all forms of work out and was happy to try it out.

My first Piloxing class!

FIBO Fitness Conference. September 16th, 2015

Stage one of hair cut. Hair dresser: self.

I cut my own hair! Just don't have any great options here. And I had an idea of what I wanted. I aslo watch youtube how to's! 

Stage two of hair cut. Added layers and texture. 

Going for a messy bob. Not sure I recommend cutting your own hair. But it was cheaper and I can't see the back well to tell how bad it is. So! Works for now.

Parties and Play Dates with our Besties

Cotton Candy action! Brock, Xavy, Dash, Pepper, Chael, Olly, Sophie and Pepper

Special kid party! A Farewell to some of our besties, the Osbornes. We will miss them!

The Woods bought a cotton candy machine off of taobao! We did a lot of playing together before the Osbornes moved. All three of our families home school and spent a lot of time together.  It's been a heart breaker for us. And Sophie Sajan, Callie's best friend, is moving to Shanghai for a year right before Christmas. We love their family too and will plan some Shanghai trips to play!

Addie, Chael, Brock, Callie, Olly, Sophie, Indy, Cam and Jet

Sophie, Brock, Callie and Indy.

Skeletons: Cameron, Chael and Olly

We had the Woods over to play for the day and made super cool felt masks. They are such creative and fun kids. And they play so well together.

It was also the day that the rat exterminator came! We had a rat in the kitchen and called the exterminator. Within an hour of him checking things and stuffing steel wool in some things outside he found mouse tracks in the kitchen that lead to the ceiling recessed lighting area. After jabbing the ceiling with a broom the rat came out and ran down the wall onto the kitchen floor and started down the stairs. Brian, cat-like, grabbed the broom and chased after it. The mouse got to the basement door where it was met by Addie the cat (see pic above!) and it turned around in time to be bashed and killed by Brian. Yay! Way to go team! The kids just happened to be playing in the basement and it was a good thing!

Carston, Caleb, Chael, Jet, Cameron, Finn, Pepper, Xavy, Addie, Olly, Indy, Brock, Dash and Callie. 

Xavy's Birthday! His favorite color is green and he loves anything green and cars. He's a doll, We love this indoor play area at the FourC which is about 15 minutes away. The kids were probably there for five hours playing tag. We bought a pass so it's about $4/child each time we go. So worth it! Especially on rainy days or poor air quality days.

He loved it when we sang to him! Go Xavy!

If not playing outside or legos inside, they are playing in costume...

Decorating cookies for Halloween.

Homeschool Halloween Party! Decorating cookies followed by a dance party. Chael likes to be in his PJ's as long as possible. 

Dash with his besties, Cameron, Jet and Indy.

These cute kids are in the "I'm missing a front tooth club!" So cute! 

At church in the primary room.

Halloween Party at the church meeting house!

Callie and Brock were burglars. Callie's in the back looking like a burglar. Chael was Captain America. Again. He was that last year. And last minute decided to be Captain America again! No problem! We've got that one. And Dash was a spider. They changed their minds SO many times before Halloween. It was fun to come up with something from stuff we already had on hand.

I made a scary but sweet piñata. Candy from the States in that baby.

The Frankenstein piñata!