There Were 10 in the Bed...

...and the little one said "roll over, roll over" so they all rolled over and one fell out. <-- This was one of my favorite books when I was little and now it's a song we sing at Romp n' Roll! This post is about nothing in particular but I figured that you, my loyal fans (not followers, not readers; fans), are probably getting restless and want something new to read. Do not fret, here it is.

Last week was one filled with many ordinary but remarkable things: the first snow of the season, drawing pictures, entertaining ourselves while at work, and hanging out with the kiddos. Wednesday-Friday we usually only have a couple classes in the morning, and thus have about 7 hours of the day to sit and twiddle our thumbs. Thus, we have come up with various time-wasters:
We draw pictures...

Artist: yours truly

Artist: Chelsie

We reinvent our signatures:

...we like to see what it would be like to have a moustache....

There's also quite a bit of napping that happens. Today I took a morning nap and an after-lunch nap. Kind of like a baby....

Don't hate me because my job is the easiest ever.

On Thursdays we have book club, which Chelsie and I take turns teaching. We read a book with all the kiddos, then do an art project that goes along with the book. I can't take any credit for the cute ideas we do - Chelsie worked in kindergarten and thus is awesome at this kind of stuff so she usually plans it.

Our most regular attendee of book club is Xiao Xiao (pronounced shao shao). He was one of our first members and is quite possibly my favorite child in China. He has the attention span of a 10 year-old and will sit and look at books with me for as long as he can. His favorite books are called "Baba Baba"....(baba means dad in Chinese) and I have no idea what they're about but I make up stories and tell them to him. Yesterday he came early for book club and I sat in the gym with him and read his baba baba books for what felt like an hour. His mom and dad both speak English and have clearly been working with him because he can count to 10, name lots of colors, and all the animals in the "brown bear, brown bear" book - in English. Keep in mind that this child is 2! He's very precious and sweet and I just love him.

Spending quality time with my fave boy

Last Wednesday and Thursday we were noticing that the sky was unusually grey and both Chelsie and I commented that if it looked like this in our respective hometowns, it would just snow. Chelsie even went so far as to say "there's just no point in it being so cold if it's not going to snow!" On Friday morning we woke up to......snow! The very first snow of the season! Even with as homesick and anxious for Christmas (in America) as I was...and am...the snow just managed to make me feel as cheerful as Santa's elves. There's just something magical about those little flakes floating down from the sky...they made Christmas seem so much closer and I couldn't help but watch the snow fall all day long from the window at work.

We found Little Red Riding Hood at the bus stop!

On a sad note...remember the baby I wrote about a few posts back, Jocelyn? Well, she and her parents headed back to Australia last week, Sunday was their last day. We really loved that little babe and it was nice to have parents around who spoke such excellent English, and we're pretty jealous that she's going to grow up in Australia! We'll miss you little girl!

Jocelyn worked really hard her whole life to grow a head of hair, and then her parents just shaved it off in preparation for their move to Australia, since it's summer there right now!

It's getting incredibly cold here and since I've spent the last 4 winters in Arizona, I'm not particularly fond of it! Any time we go out we wear 2 or 3 pairs of pants, a long sleeve shirt, a hoodie, and a winter coat, plus a scarf and gloves. The goal is to have as little exposed skin as possible.

The days are winding down here until I leave for Christmas. I have all my Christmas shopping done and have obtained some fabulous Chinese candy to share with the fam. How many days, you may wonder, until Chelsie and I head for America? Well, I'll tell you (in several different languages):

That's how many.