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Permalink Emersyn is officially eleven today – sort of. With the travel time living half way around the world, she is officially eleven during the night. On Sunday, I made cake #4, the school cake. I am done baking the family chocolate cake until October – where is my good Mom award!?! Emersyn did the final frost and sprinkle on Monday after school.
Emersyn left for school excited about celebrating her birthday with her friends. She didn’t have the birthday she had planned. During the year, Emersyn’s group of friends have a birthday celebration ritual. They decorate each others lockers since this is the first year they have lockers. They buy a chocolate croissant in the cafe and sing happy birthday during lunch. Most of her friends are in Mr. C’s class which had a class lunch in the room for the children leaving – no croissant or song. They forgot her locker since they were busy with their class party. She was a little sad when I picked her up, but life is full of lessons. We talked about how the little things make a big difference to people. When she got home, she had a birthday email from Kate and Mimi – this gave her a big smile – yes, the little things make a difference!
She enjoyed sharing her cake with all her classmates.
The end of school year is very busy, therefore, we needed to plan the day/driver needs. Eleri had her music concert at 6:30 pm. It made sense for Lyon ladies to stay in Jinqiao while Mr. Nie went to get Jim. Since we had time after school to waste, I treated the girls to the Dragonfly for a pedicure and a manicure – they love it! I also promised them an ice slush to drink while they were being spoiled at the Dragonfly. We celebrated Emmy’s birthday dinner at Cantina Agave before rushing off to school to hear Eleri sing!
Hard to believe she is ELEVEN already and is growing so quickly.
Average Rating: 4.8 out of 5 based on 195 user reviews.
Permalink Eleri’s big front tooth was wiggly. She wiggled and wiggled it to make it loser. Then, she wanted Jim to pull it, but it wasn’t lose enough. So she wiggled it more until Jim could pulled it out. Jim and I laughed at how different our two girls are about their teeth. Emersyn didn’t want a tooth pulled even when it was hanging by a thread. Eleri wants it pulled long before it is ready.
Eleri with her new smile.
Eleri’s loves the Tooth Fairy visits. She skips down the hall to tuck her tooth into the tooth pillow to put on her bed table. She loves the notes more than she does the money.
The note from the Tooth Fairy:
Dear Eleri,
My dearest Eleri, I was so happy to visit you tonight, finally. That tooth has been loose for sometime now. My wings began to tingle, just a little, way back in April. But, I waited patiently for it to come out. I knew that tooth was coming this week as my wings were tingling all over! It is very exciting to lose your first top front tooth.
I have enclosed a twenty-rmb note and the special gold coin for you for losing your fifth tooth.
I look forward to my next visit and letter when that next top front tooth falls out. I will wait until I feel that tingle in my wings.
Love the Tooth Fairy
May 30, 2011
Average Rating: 4.6 out of 5 based on 282 user reviews.
Permalink It is party weekend at the Lyon house. We sent the six girls home from the sleepover party to begin cleaning and preparing for the next party. Tonight on our deck was the Humes going away party. Mary and John are good friends moving back to Michigan this summer. Our deck is the perfect party deck.
It was one of those crazy days where we needed to be in too many places all at one time and throughout the day. But, luck would be on our side and the day began to fall into place with less driving. Jim stayed home to get everything ready and he did a wonderful job as everything look beautiful when we got home.
The house was de-cluttered of all the junk. A photo is a must with EVERYTHING clean and put away. It did take me all week to de-clutter the house. The guest room becomes a dump room!
The deck was set-up and ready for guest to arrive. it was a bit of a cool, grey day. The cool weather is uncommon for this time of the year.
We started with a pre-party with champagne to be enjoyed by close friends. A toast to wonderful friends – we are blessed to have met such amazing people to share our China adventures.
 Faith, Mary, Jennifer & Brenda
Party fun…
 Cris, Scott, John, Jim and Mache
 Madeleine, Chloe, Elly, Mary, Brenda, Faith, Jennifer and Judy
 Jennifer, Judy, Brenda & Elly
Scott had made a wonderful banner for the Humes that everyone signed. No good photo of the banner as it was too dark outside. I had everyone bring a family photo to put in a silk covered photo book. It turned out beautiful with a lovely message from all their friends. It was a beautiful evening spent with friends!
Average Rating: 5 out of 5 based on 291 user reviews.
Permalink 
Emersyn is turning ELEVEN! She wanted a sleepover party with eight friends. Due to conflicts as everyone is busy at the end of the school year, she had six friends attend her party. I picked up the seven excited girls at school with the help of my friend, Jennifer, and her driver. Eleri had her own party and sleepover for the night.
When we got home, the girls enjoyed a snack before they went out into the garden to play. All the girls brought a rip stick or roller blades to ride around the complex. After outside fun, they all took a shower – good thing we have three showers to use.
Then, it was time to open presents…
Have pizza…
Enjoy cake and ice cream sundaes (with chocolate sauce, m&m’s, and oreos for sugar overload)…
 Abigail, Kelly, Michelle, Avery, Anna, Michelle and Emersyn
No sleepover is complete without a good pillow flight. It was a great fight as nothing got broken!!
Seven girls was a perfect number for sleeping arrangements. Four girls on the two blow up mattress, two girls on each of the two Thai pillows and one girl on the sofa – whew, just enough space for everyone to have a soft bed. The girls enjoyed popcorn with the many movies they watched. They stayed up until 2am watching tv!
In the morning, Jim made his famous crepes for the girls. It was a fun party. They are at an age of growing up, but not quite there. They spent the morning playing with the kitchen in the toy room. It is a great age!!
Average Rating: 4.9 out of 5 based on 184 user reviews.
Permalink Tonight was the second Middle School Concert of the year. Emersyn was so excited to show us how much the 5th Grade band had improved. For the last concert, the new band had only played together for a couple months. Jim was out of town for work, but Eleri and I enjoyed the performance. Emersyn was right, it was amazing how much these 5th graders had improved over the year.
The 5th Grade Band played three songs: Concerto for Crash Cymbals, Attack of the Garden Gnomes and Colliding Visions.
Average Rating: 4.8 out of 5 based on 265 user reviews.
Permalink Since I am a summer birthday, I am more aware of the importance of a cake at school. I made my second chocolate cake on Sunday for school cake on Monday. Eleri was all smiles blowing out the candles and cutting the cake.
Our little one is growing up and becoming a delightful little lady. She is thoughtful of others and plays with all the kids in her class. She is always happy with a big smile on her face.
Average Rating: 4.5 out of 5 based on 223 user reviews.
Permalink At the end of this school year, we are losing a few good friends. Faith organized a ladies night out. Since Faith was organizing, it wasn’t just a simply night out!! She arranged a limo to surprise the three ladies leaving – Mary, Nani and Hilary. The limo picked up the ladies at Faith’s house at 6:30pm. Then, Jennifer and I climbed in last for pick-up at Yanlord on the way to Puxi.
In the limo, we started off with a champagne toast to an evening with good friends.
 Lisa, Angela, Gloria, Nani and Hilary
The first stop of the night was Siller’s for drinks and appetizers. I had pre-ordered the appetizers with Yoshi a week in advance. We planned for drinks and appetizers on the deck with a view of Shanghai. When I made the reservation, Yoshi asked what my rain plan was for the night as the restaurant was fully booked. I told her we had no rain plan as it wasn’t going to rain!!
As I was finishing Eleri’s birthday party, I got the call from Yoshi – “and what is that rain plan?” since rain drops were beginning to sprinkle from the sky! I asked if she could put us in the cooking school downstairs. She quickly cleaned the room from an afternoon cooking class. Yoshi took such good care of us ladies. We ate very tasty appetizers and toasted with a cocktail in the private cooking school. We did not have the fabulous view from the deck, but we enjoyed having the place all to ourselves! The ladies all decided the mini hamburgers were the best in Shanghai! This is my only good photo from Stillers that Mary took of me. I thought it was a good one to post as i actually have make-up on!!
Our next stop in the limo was Roosevelt’s – a newly remodeled building on the Bund. Again, Jennifer had gone last week to pick out the perfect table on the upper deck. They moved our party to the wine cellars on the 3rd floor.
 Hilary, Mary, Faith, Brenda, Angela, Lisa, Gloria, Nani and Jennifer
We arranged a birthday cake for Hilary and Mary as both ladies were turning 50 soon.
It was a night filled with laughs and good friends. The limo was the icing on the cake…the beautiful weather would have been the cherrie on top!
Average Rating: 4.4 out of 5 based on 204 user reviews.
Permalink Today was Eleri’s birthday celebration…an open weekend to celebrate her birthday with friends. She has a delightful class this year, therefore, she invited all the girls in her class + Lili + Audrey & Sophie (Daisy friends) + Sophie Jenkins for a total of 15 kids!
The cake decorating includes many sprinkles to make the perfect birthday cake.
The deck is ready for pizza and cake to be enjoyed by the many little girls.
Cake time!! Eleri was unable to blow out the candles since we couldn’t keep any of them with a flame with the winds.
After pizza and cake, we went outside for outdoor games. We began with musical plates. The girls had so much fun running around. Eleri won the game and was all smiles.
While we were playing musical plates, Jim was setting up the “Yanlord Challenge”. The girls were divided into three teams: red, blue and green. Three teams were picked because we had three girls that knew Yanlord – Eleri, Sophie and Jing Xi since they all live here. Each team was given a clue to go and search for their flag. Once they had their flag, they came back to home base for the next clue. The girls were running all over the gardens of Yanlord screaming with joy. Eleri’s team finished first.
The clues were given to each team in different order to send them in different directions through Yanlord.
Clue 1:
Now it’s time for girls to shout
The flag is where the birds spout
Clue 2:
Girls like to dance and sing
Find the flag all in the ring
Clue 3:
Don’t get trapped in the sand
Find your flag with a plan
Clue 4:
In the house over the pool
Find a flag is really cool
Eleri’s best friend, Lili, taking a water break.
Eleri with the pinta stuff to the top with candy.
Finding a pinta is not always easy in China. The Holiday House in Puxi has them for a “price”. They are made out of hard cardboard, therefore, each girl gets plenty of opportunities to “whack” at the pinta.
The Gang of Girls!
 Sophie, Lili, Jing Xi, Callie, Doris, Jazira, EleriJoyce, Kennedy, Naddy, Audrey, Anastasia, Jinsuh, So Jeong and Yo Jeong
Eleri had a fun time celebrating her birthday with her friends. Now, we wait for her real birthday in August which she will celebrate with family.
Average Rating: 4.9 out of 5 based on 238 user reviews.
Permalink Concordia Idol – what a fun night. Concordia Idol for the 5th/6th graders was Friday night. The 7th/8th Idol was on Saturday night. After the Idol, a dance was held for the children.
The staff and teachers did a fabulous job with Concordia Idol. Mr. Stone was Simon Cowell. He would “criticize” the students he knew better…the 6th graders since he is a 6th grade teacher. He kept a good British accent all night. Ms Woods was J-Lo and only had wonderful comments for everyone.
Twenty kids performed this night with songs, dance and instrumental pieces. All 20 kids were Idol winners in my eyes as they had the courage to get up in front of their peers and parents to perform.
Emersyn’s friend, Kelly sang “The Eye of the Tiger” performed by Survivor. All these 80s songs are popular with the kids because they are the songs of Rock Band on the Wii. It is a tough song with a high note at the end. She was nervous, but performed well.
Emersyn sang after Kelly which I think helped the nerves to have seen a friend perform. Emersyn was #10 to perform – a good place in the middle. She sang “Our Song” by Taylor Swift. She was going to sing “Revenge” by Swift, but it was too fast with questionable lyrics. She changed her song at the last minute. Good thing she can memorize songs fast!
She nailed this song! She practiced her song with performances in the living room on nights we had some spare time after homework and activities. She has such a beautiful voice, but doesn’t sing out. We talked about singing out with heart, looking up and moving about the stage – she did it all!
Emersyn was all smiles as she listen to the judges about her performance. The part of Ryan Seacrest was played by a freshman, Bryce. He had such presence for a freshman!
Ok, photos don’t do this justice – here is a video clip. Jim and I had a small miscommunication about the video camera – it was at home plugged in the wall. Therefore, we only had the small video on my pocket camera – better than nothing!!
[quicktime]http://lyonfamily.tv/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Concordia_Idol.mov[/quicktime]
The Concordia Idol
Average Rating: 4.7 out of 5 based on 209 user reviews.
Permalink 
For Mother’s Day, we went to brunch with our friends at the Westin Hotel. The Westin has more food than can be tasted, entertainment and fine desserts. We enjoyed the afternoon eating and drinking with our friends.
But, here is the real reason my Mother’s Day is always so special…
I love my cards made with love…
Eleri made this card with her hand print at school.
Average Rating: 4.7 out of 5 based on 204 user reviews.
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