The Magic School Bus came to school today. Its creators, author and illustrator, Joanna Cole and Bruce Degen were on campus for one day. The Es Students (the only ones at school as the HS and MS students are on trips) were asked to come dressed up as one of the characters or topics from the famed Magic School Bus books. During Magic School Bus Dress-Up Day, students could come to school as one of the many topics from the Magic School Bus books, like a volcano, an under sea creature, a planet or even the earth or become one of Ms. Frizzle’s class – Wanda, Phoebe, Arnold, Dorothy Ann or Tim.

Eleri picked Dorothy Ann because we had clothes to match her dress. She looks more like Phoebe, but Phoebe wears a dress jumper that was not in our closet. Dorothy Ann’s character wears a blue skirt with a big, purple sweater. Since it is hot and humid, Eleri picked a blue skirt and a purple t-shirt. She pulled her hair back into two pigtails like the character, Dorothy Ann. She was ready for the fun at school!

Average Rating: 4.9 out of 5 based on 171 user reviews.

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Soccer Day is always a fun day for the students. Soccer Day is held at Shanghai American School (SAS). We dug out Emersyn old soccer socks which almost fit this year.

Eleri had her bag packed with all the needed items for soccer day – water, lunch, sunscreen, bug spray, jacket, hat and shin guards. She also packed the picnic blanket for the times between games.

Grade 4 Soccer Day started with clouds and a chance of rain…but, the sun came out for a fun day.

Average Rating: 5 out of 5 based on 252 user reviews.

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Ms. Muir 4th grade class was presenting at the first chapel of the school year. Chapel is held once a month and each class has a turn to present at chapel. The kids loving performing for chapel.

Eleri singing at chapel. The students sang two songs for chapel.

Every child has a part in chapel. Some of the students had speaking parts…

Some students have acting parts. Eleri had an acting part…

The grade 4 chapel presenters with their teachers. Eleri’s teacher is Ms. Muir on the right.

The first chapel of the year was a big success.

Average Rating: 4.9 out of 5 based on 152 user reviews.

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Eleri came off the bus to tell me she lost another tooth…I didn’t even know she had a lose tooth. She was disappointment because she wanted to lose the tooth in Thailand. The tooth came out while she was eating her spicy peas.

Dear Eleri,

My dearest Eleri, I was so happy to visit you tonight. That tooth came out fast as my wings just began to tingle, just a little. It is always exciting to lose another tooth.

I have enclosed a special gold coin and 30rmb for you to spend for losing your tooth.

I look forward to my next visit and letter when your next tooth falls out. I will wait until I feel that tingle in my wings.

Love the Tooth Fairy
September 24, 2013

Average Rating: 4.9 out of 5 based on 186 user reviews.

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“TIC” – a common saying…This is China. It is used when something is difficult that should not be hard. Over the summer, our old washer died. Jim called Woody, our property manager, to get a new one. We have a brand, new Siemens. It is very nice…it even weighs the clothes to determine how much water is needed. Soon after I arrived back from the summer, our dyer died. It might have something to do with the fact my ayi puts too much in the dryer and it takes forever to dry!

Now, the fun begins to get a new dryer – it shouldn’t be that hard. After two week of no dryer, Woody finally delivers a dryer that he sits on the old dryer…not sure what I am suppose to do with the old dryer. Jim comes home, takes one look at it to tell me it is the wrong kind. Our dryer sits out on the covered back deck. The space available for a washer in the kitchen is only big enough for a washer. There are cabinets built above the washer and the owner does not want to take them out.

We hide the “laundry area” in the kitchen behind a Ikea cabinet. It works great to hide the mess and separate the two areas.

The dryer sits out on the deck. It has since we moved into this apartment and it isn’t a problem. Woody delivered a dryer that needs to be stacked on a washer and not a free standing one. After another week, Jim calls Woody to tell him he is going to go buy the dryer. Woody gives Jim a budget of 3, 000rmb ($490). On a Saturday afternoon, Eleri, Jim and I walk over to the appliance store. We go to the 3rd floor to find rows and rows of washers and washer/dryer combinations. I guess the Chinese do not dry their clothes in a dryer. The washer/dryer combination is the most popular. We find TWO stand alone dryers. We had a choice of dryer A or dryer B. Choice A was on sale for 1, 900rmb while choice B was 3, 200rmb. We go with Choice A, the floor model. They pack it up and delivered it to our apartment – we had to walk home fast so it didn’t beat us home. Jim even got them to take the old one away. Now, I have a new dryer with Chinese buttons and no instructions…TIC. I can guess the timer dry button as I have a choice of 30 or 60 or 90 minutes of drying time…not sure what KIND of drying options are available.

Average Rating: 4.4 out of 5 based on 255 user reviews.

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The Middle School has activity nights throughout the year. The 7th/8th graders have a “social” which is a dance, but no middle schooler wants to say they are going to a dance! Emersyn has tennis lesson on Friday after school. By the time Emersyn got home to shower, she was running late for her first social. I was able to get a quick photo…and no more!

It is very important to wear “the right” clothes. She didn’t want to be over dressed or under dressed. A jean skirt fits the need perfectly. I think she looks adorable. She even wore her hair down!

Emersyn reported back she had fun at the dance. She danced with her friends and visited with her friends. She hung out with new friends and old friends – it was a good night!

Average Rating: 4.6 out of 5 based on 182 user reviews.

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Eleri’s passport expires in February 2014. The expiration date really seems to be just a date as most travel destinations require you have 6 months valid on your passport. Therefore, Eleri does not have a full 6 months on her passport for our October Holiday travel to Phuket, Thailand. We set up an appointment and pulled her from school to run to the American consultant to get a new passport. Both parents and the child must be present to get a new passport.

Here is Eleri’s passport photo from 5 years ago. She has her braids from our trip to Phuket.

Here is Eleri’s new passport photo – she has grown and changed in the past 5 years!

She had picked up two mosquito bites on her face at Lili’s house, along with her legs and arms. The one under her eye swelled up like someone had punched her in the eye. Her eye is “mostly” back to normal for her passport photo!

Average Rating: 4.4 out of 5 based on 278 user reviews.

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Eleri really wanted a pool party this year for her birthday. We moved her birthday party from May to August. It was one less party for me in May which was a bonus since we were hosting The Bishops going away party. In addition, an August birthday party is actually closer to her true birthday.

I had pajamas for each girl from Justice. Eleri decided which set best fit each girl’s personalties along with the variation in sizes.

This year we were having her party on a Saturday which gave us the day to set up and get ready for the party. Eleri had fun decorating the house for her party…balloons and streamers were a must!

Dad and Eleri put the streamers across the living room…

All decorated and ready to celebrate…

Then, we blew up Eleri’s giant flip flop for the first time. Eleri wanted this flip flop in Australia, but it was too expensive. We bought the flip flot for her in Bali over Spring break…a bit cheaper, but still too much for a float device for the pool. She was all smiles getting ready for her party.

Eleri wanted us to “dig out” the wagon. The wagon has a permanent home in the pantry holding all the sports equipment. We used to take the wagon to the pool all the time when Eleri was little. She would ride in the wagon with all our gear. We did a bit of a clean out while we were digging the wagon out – always a good thing! She decorated the “party Wagon” and filled it with the pool supplies and toys.

The afternoon was getting away from us. It was time to decorate the cake and get the party food ready. My beater eaters finished off the frosting, as usual.

Emersyn decorated the cake for Eleri with her underwater pool theme. It looked fabulous!

I had purchased sea theme cookie cutters in America. I made “fairy bread” shaped into dolphins, sea shells and star fish. Fairy bread is always a big hit with the kids.

I made jello jiggles out of the blue raspberry flavor to give it the blue sea color…to go with our theme!

Eleri had wanted to have pizza at the pool. However, a few of the girls were running late and the pool was FULL on this hot afternoon. We ordered pizzas while we waited for the girls to arrive and the people to leave the pool.

Our pool is open until 9pm so a night swim on these hot summer days is the way to enjoy the pool. Our pool is run a bit “Chinese”. The girls all had to have on a swim cap. I purchased them at Decathlon for 25rmb ($4), now we have plenty of extras. Eleri invited 9 girls for a total of 10 – 9 year olds at her party!

i had the underwater camera with me…but, it wasn’t charged. I missed some great photos of 5 or 6 girls all on the flip flop. However, I am sure Eleri was more than thrilled the camera had no battery so she can just play and not have to smile for her Mom! The girls played in the pool for 2 hours, from 7pm – 9pm.

After the pool fun, the girls changed into their new birthday pajamas to begin the sleep over fun.

back row: Josie, Carlie, So Yeong, Lulu, So Jeongfront row: Anna, Eleri, Lili, Lisa and Ellie

Lili is Eleri’s best friend, but she is at Dulwich. Lili has been to every birthday party for Eleri beginning with the first one at age 4. Lili and Eleri were in classes together at Dulwich for the 3 years until Eleri moved to Concordia.

Cake and ice cream sundaes time!

We set up beds for everyone to have a soft place to sleep…3 blow up mattresses, 1 sofa, 2 chairs and 2 Thai pillows to fit 10 girls, whew!

It was a bit of a long night. The girls were still jet lagged. Some were sleeping and some were not. At 3am, Carlie was crying and wanted to go home. Then, at 4am, Eleri was crying because she was so tired and some of the girls were so loud. We finally got them all to go to sleep around 4:30am. They slept until 10am the next morning. We had to feed them breakfast crepes fast as Moms were arriving to collect their daughters.

It was another fun and adventure filled party! As a parent, good thing birthdays come around only once a year!!

Birthday Recap:

Eleri’s Pajama Birthday Party

Eleri’s Garden Soiree Birthday Party

Gardens, Butterflies and Eleri’s Birthday Party

Eleri’s Sand and Sun Birthday Party

Eleri’s ABC Birthday Party

Eleri is Three

Elle Turns 2!

Average Rating: 4.8 out of 5 based on 219 user reviews.

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First day of school is always full of excitement to see their friends. With jet lag, they are up early with plenty of time to get ready for school. This will end soon and Roxi will have to “attack” the girls to get them out of bed. The bus is leaving at 7:04am this year, therefore, wake up call has been moved to 6:20am to be downstairs at 7:00am.

Emersyn is in her last year at Middle School as an 8th grader. She moves classrooms to her various teachers. She has a good group of teachers for 8th grade. She has Mr. Umphenour for pre-algerba. He is the lead teacher for the dive trips and the leadership trips. He is also lead teacher for NJHS. He is a teacher Emersyn knows well. Emersyn has Mr. Lambert for Language Arts which is very good for her. He is very passionate about writing, therefore, she will have a fun year with him. She never seems to have her lunch table friends in her classes, but it always opens her up to make new friends.

Emersyn was due for new shirts and shorts this year. This year the shorts are extra ugly – bad color and awkward fit…the good news is everyone has the same ugly shorts!

Eleri is in her last year in Elementary School as a 4th grader. She has Ms. Muir for her teacher this year. This is Ms. Muir second year at Concordia and she is just delightful!! Eleri added she is pretty! She has a few friends from her 3rd grade class in her room which is always a plus. Eleri is going to have a fun year with Ms. Muir.

Eleri didn’t need any new summer uniforms. She has those size 8 shirts she refused to wear last year because they hung too long. Since she is wearing last year’s shorts, Eleri shorts are less “dorky”.

The Lyon Sisters ready to attack school year 2013-14!

When we walked out to meet the bus for the 7:04am departure, we were surprised to see new Concordia buses.

Average Rating: 4.5 out of 5 based on 266 user reviews.

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Jim had heard the show was really good and purchased tickets for the family. We arrived back to Shanghai on Saturday night to catch the last show on Sunday afternoon. The show was at the Mercedes Arena. Emersyn commented the arena was much prettier at night when we came to the Adam Lambert Concert.