Joe's Office in Shanghai

Here is a picture of where My Joe is for another week. The kids get a kick out of talking to him on the computer! It really is COOL to be able to talk to him AND see him through a video call on MSN! Only problem is the time difference---we either talk during his sleep time, or mine! Oh well, he'll be home next Friday! He's working hard and also doing some shopping on the side.....Grandpa, there's something in his bag for YOU! Shhhh it's a SUPRISE!

Ashlee...if you're out there, this one's for you! Recognize it?


This is a picture from my car waiting to pick up the girls after school. I'm very deep in the line and I was there 30 minutes early!!! I also have to have a yellow poster on my dashboard with Leslie and Sicily's names on it before they'll let them leave with me!



Still in line at the school, but up through those trees is our Home!!!!
Sicily lost a tooth tonight!!! Grandpa, I'm getting pretty good at pulling teeth, just like you!!!

Pictures from the Very East Side of Thatcher aka Arkansas

Here are some pictures of the kids at school during the "Meet the Teacher" night. John is so COOL now that he has a "Locker".

Here is Sicily as we looked for her name on all the 1st Grade classrooms......I felt just as nervous as I did when I was in school! Remember that Mother???????
Here is Leslie walking down the hall towards her classroom, of course there is Macy Bean taking it ALL in!
This is just RANDOM.....but, this tree at the bus stop down our street is the neatest thing EVER! It has this small patch of red leaves. Maybe if I wasn't a native Arizona gal I wouldn't even have noticed this!
This is for you, My Joe, how does the saying go.........When the cat's away, the mice will play....this is us heading out for a little night time treat! But in case you're wondering My Joe, I'm posting this at 10:41 pm and ALLLLL are in bed asleep!!! How 'bout that??? (I won't say whose bed they're in though)

Well it happend! I knew it would but hoped it wouldn't have come this quickly. What is IT? It's Joe's 9 day trip to China! I know now that I must really be "in love" since I already miss the heck out of him and we're only 18 hours in to the trip!

Macy and I had fun today tracking his flight from Atlanta to Shanghai! It's really pretty cool that you can watch the flight move! So I'll be honest, I really am a bit nervous about being here alone. Joe was sweet enough to make sure I have the cell phone numbers from his team at his office, just in case!

Last night (Tuesday) we went to Johns school for a kind of "Meet the Teacher" night just for parents. The kids played on the play ground and I got to go talk with 4 of his teachers. English, Math, Science, and Social Studies. I am so impressed with his school. There is so much hope coming out of the mouths of these teachers! All they want is for the students to find success. Interesting, they have a lot different philosiphy on homework than what we've been used to in Thatcher schools. They say there are studies to say that kids don't need the homework, they learn better in the classroom. Wow!! I'm pretty excited about this....I guess I'm just a slacker mom! I think Leslie and Sicily will have the same type of thing at their school soon.

SCHOOL IS HERE!

Well we did it!!! We made it through "Meet the Teacher" night and the "First Day of School"! I can't believe I forgot to take pictures of the first day--but I did get pictures of the first day "riding the bus". The kids were excited until they discovered they are the very last ones to be dropped off. Macy and I waited for them at the bus stop until 4:10!!! They are let out of school at 3:00! We all decided they wouldn't have to ride the bus home if they didn't want to. I am so proud of John, Leslie and Sicily for stepping out and getting to know people at their schools. By the way, the schools here in Arkansas are very high tech! I'm very impressed with ALL the opportunities they will have.

John will be taking an Art class and Music class AND gets to have a whole hour of PE EVERYDAY!!! Which John tells me includes playing a WII and Dance Dance Revolution. They also have a rock climbing wall! Leslie and Sicily will be learning Spanish! CASA MANANA is the best I can do...... As for The Bean, she will be starting preschool after Labor Day. She's real excited or just bored of me already! Anyway here are some of our latest pictures for Bella Vista, Arkansas!!

We sure do love and miss you all...........