Cute Picture

Ashley, Liz and Ryken on stairs in new house!
They are getting so big! Ages 7, 5 and 2.5

Ryken's First Day of School!

Ryken all ready for school - at the door to garage

Ryken at school - getting toys to play with

He is such a big boy. All dressed up and ready for school with his Thomas Train backpack. He was a bit unsure about going to school and didn't want to get into the car. I convinced him by talking about the playground at school. Then, on the way to school, I had to explain that he had to go inside first and play, then his teacher would take him outside to play on the playground. He walked into school with me beside him with no problems. We changed his shoes, put his bag away and went into his classroom. He washed his hands and went to play. That's it. As he was playing, I walked out. No crying today. I hope he has fun today and is excited to go tomorrow. I just can't believe my baby is at school! I was sad while driving home without him. The girls start school tomorrow - so it's going to be an amazingly quiet day tomorrow.

Moved in!

We're all moved in to the new place. Moving day was a pain! And not something I want to do again for a long time. It was raining half way through the move - so lots of stuff got wet and the guys wanted to take lots of breaks to "wait out the rain" which then just pushed the end of moving day later and later. We finally got them out of the new house at 10:30pm, with lots of boxes still unpacked. In a house that has 4 stories, that's not exactly what you want.

Things are good though - we like the house and are slowly but surely getting things put away and organized. It will be much easier when the kids start school (NEXT WEEK!!!!) and I can have some downtime to get stuff done. I'll try to get some pics put up soon so you can see what the place is like. We love it after living in an apartment!

Our car is awesome and I am so happy to have it! I've been driving quite a bit since we have joined a club about 10 minutes away. The kids and I go to the pool there almost everyday (if it's not raining). When buying a car in China, you must also purchase a separate license plate for it. This is done once a month at an auction. Lucky for us, one of Anthony's co-workers husband thinks the whole process is fascinating and actually attends all the auctions just to watch it happen. So, he was able to bid at the last auction for us and we won a plate (not won, but won to BUY!). That just happened this weekend, so we still need to go by the license place and pay for the plate before we can put it on the car. I will be happy to get it as I am currently driving around with an expired temporary plate (they only last 6 days!). Will be nice to not have to worry about getting pulled over for driving without plates!