Heaven!

Heaven, I'm in heaven!

I've had Jimmy home for almost 2 weeks and it has been heavenly! Yes, I'm pretty sure this is what heaven is going to be like; spending time together as a family and a peaceful atmosphere. I'm so happy I have a few more days of Jimmyness and that he has a break for Chinese New Year... at which point we will be a family of 4 instead of just 3!

The miracle of all of this? I was still in China, while in heaven.

The hotel next to us is a sister hotel of the one we live in- the point is that they allow us to use their swimming pool. We went swimming tonight and it was so fun. Ali thought the pool was too cold but she liked the hot tub.

This hotel requires us to wear swim caps. Besides having no right to look so cute in his swim cap, Jimmy was the only one who enjoyed wearing his. This is Ali's reaction to us trying to put hers on.

She was loving the hot tub. It wasn't that hot. More like a warm bath tub.

We managed to snap a photo of Ali wearing Daddy's swim cap.

We were out for a walk yesterday and Ali fell asleep. We decided to grab a drink at a popular drink shop.
They make these drinks and then cover them with plastic. You don't pull back the plastic to drink it, you stab the straw into the top. The one we got was delicious and chocolately which is not typical of what people here order. Their drinks usual come with a lot thicker straws because they order BEAN DRINKS! Yes, liquid with whole beans in the bottom and as they are drinking their drink, they sip beans up through their straw! It's just pretty gross and not appetizing to watch.

Another thing that made this week feel like heaven? We bought cheddar cheese!!!!! But we're still in China so when I say we bought cheddar cheese, I mean that we sold our right arms to be able to buy the cheese. It was so worth it!

We bought these items on the table for $100. You never want to spend that much on some cheese, pasta, peanut butter and chicken but it was our Christmas present.

I mention we were still in China, even though we were in heaven, so we still got to see delicious hanging creatures at the market.

Gross and unbelievable that someone is gnawing on one of these creatures at their kitchen table right now.

Jimmy got a photo of these TCMS shoes at TESCO, not to be confused with TOMS.

And this little outdoor set up is where you would go if you needed a new tire or any repairs for your bike. This guy usually has business but he's currently taking advantage of the down time by taking a little nap.

A billion pictures!

Christmas is over and now we're just waiting for our little boy to arrive! He's due in less than 3 weeks! Jimmy's Chinese classmates have told him that it would be better for our little boy to be born after Chinese New Year so that he can be born in the year of the dragon instead of the year of the rabbit. I'm not sure how I feel about keeping him in my belly for an extra week, but he would be starting off on the right foot as a dragon instead of a bunny!

It's been chilly outside and we take any opportunity to help Ali learn to like her hat. She looks so cute!

One of the student's parents came from Italy to visit him for Christmas. They invited us over for an amazing Italian meal. They are some of the nicest people we have ever met and we enjoyed every minute being with them. At one point I ran upstairs with Ali to change her diaper and when I was met by the first Chinese person in the hallway I had to blink a couple times to remember that I was in China. We had somehow transported to Italy for the afternoon and it was hard to come back!

Ali loves these little rides..... but she doesn't like to ride them! She only likes them when they're not moving. Great deal for us! It doesn't cost us a thing to watch her laugh and enjoy just sitting on them.

These next two photos are for a certain family member of mine. I won't name any names but it's you, Cory. It turns out our kids come out Apple babies. There's nothing we can do about it. Hehehe...

We were on our way to church in a taxi last week and Ali was unusually tired. It was fun watching her fall asleep.

All ready for church- cutie!

We moved apartments last weekend. We stayed in the same building but moved into a two bedroom. It is so great! We all love the new place. All last week Ali would cry any time we left. She just loves all the different rooms and all the space to dance and run around in... and we love that she is in her own room! She liked riding in the luggage cart!
I love when she sees her pretty skirts and wants to put them on. She will spin and twirl. It's adorable!
They have a lot of different varieties of these "little oranges". I think they have more than we do back home and they are SOOOOO good! No lie- Ali eats about 10 a day.

Being cute-

And of course I have to include some recent pictures of the neighborhood. This little boy was sitting on the side walk playing on an upside down stool.

Ladies at the market buying buttons.

The eel-things may not look that big but they were HUGE! Uncomfortably huge.
Do they not look like the creatures that work for Ursula in the Little Mermaid? EW!!!
This hanging meat is on the walk home from my doctor's office. I can pick some up for dinner next time I have an appointment.
There are so many bikes and scooters on the roads and parked on the sidewalks. You consider yourself lucky if yours is still there when you get back. We know of a girl who got three bikes stolen during the first month she moved to Shanghai and a branch member had his bike stolen the first time he parked it at the metro station.

This is also in our neighborhood.

Thank goodness!

They sell SO many different kinds of eggs here!!! We usually buy two different kinds. I have no idea what they are and I'm not 100% sure they both come from chickens but we haven't died or gotten sick yet so we just keep buying them. I really like getting these because they have a cool stamp on them. Silly reason to buy an egg I guess- I just hope it's not an eel egg or something crazy like that!

Merry Christmas!!!

"Maybe Christmas doesn't come from a store. Maybe Christmas means a little bit more." -The Grinch

Ali is asleep and the night is winding down for us too. It's hard to believe that Christmas has come and almost gone. This morning I was using the word "flop" to describe our Christmas but it really wasn't a flop. Maybe compared to magazines and check lists it was, but as far as what's most important, it wasn't a flop at all. It doesn't matter that our tree was only 3 feet tall and leaning completely to the right, it doesn't matter than we had zero other decorations in our house and that we didn't have any stockings. What matters is that we were together and we enjoyed the holiday season as a family.

We tried to soak it all in and we were grateful for each Christmas event that we were invited to. It seems like when you're in a place where Christmas isn't celebrated, there are even more events to go to.

We attended the branch Christmas party:

Yes, we were Mary and Joseph. Oh, the perks of being pregnant (or having a newborn) at Christmas time. And Ali was one of the visitors that came to worship the baby Jesus.

We also went to a Christmas party planned by Jimmy's school:

We loved the Chinese Santa! He's actually a Hult employee. Ali was NOT into Santa this year. She does a really cute "Ho, Ho, Ho", she loved him in her Christmas books and from far away, but she got really tense when we got close to him.

Several of our friends from church invited us to their houses for pre-Christmas and Christmas dinners. We cannot believe how nice everyone was to invite us into their homes to share Christmas with them! The food was delicious and the company was wonderful!

It was fun to see Ali play with her new presents on Christmas morning.

She totally didn't understand why she was getting them but that will come with time. We just enjoyed the simplicity of this Christmas.