Well, all things come to an end at some point, don't they? We are now around 3 weeks away from moving back to the US from Shanghai. They are many things that we will miss and many things we will not! :) I think the saddest part for me about leaving is that it has been such a fabulous adventure filled with so many new things and I just love adventure...when it comes to travel (you'll not ever catch me bungee jumping off a bridge or something like that but I love seeing amazing and new places and the adventures that come with that!)
We have finished so many things in these last weeks and said goodbyes to so many amazing people that we have met from all over the world. Kate finished up her last day of preschool this week, which was a very teary end because she has loved her teacher there so much! She just keeps saying with sadness, "mom, am I never going to see her again." And for Kate, Shanghai is home, not America. So the thought of moving back to America doesn't bring the jubilation from her that it does from the other girls. This is the only home she has remembered and known so for my sweet Kate, who doesn't do well with change anyway, this move "home" is bit unsettling for her. It did help her when she finally understood that the change from school was coming no matter what - she is ending preschool and will be in Kindergarten so no matter the location, she was not going to have her sweet Mrs. Leary for a teacher any more. After that realization, I think she is more OK to move on. For John and I, it's the end of an era...no more preschoolers - we are on to elementary for everyone now! We will still homeschool them next year but it does strike us how quickly things change and how time just marches on.
Here's a good example for you, the other night John was measuring Leah on our "board" that gets marked with heights and in the last month she has grown an inch and a half! She can wear my shoes now - this is how much her whole body has grown! But anyway, after measuring her, John looked back to the time when we just had moved here and noticed that in 3 years Leah had grown 9 inches, Lauren 7 inches and Kate 8 inches. Those just seemed like inches at first but then I began to reminisce about what all those grown inches stood for: learning to ride a 2 wheel bike, loosing teeth, growing out of temper tantrums (mostly), learning to read and write, seeing amazing places, no more diapers, sippy cups or strollers, making friends with kids from around the world, and the list goes on...
The movers come on Monday to begin packing up everything we have acquired over the 3 years...let's just say, it's going to be a tight squeeze getting it back into the 40' container! The girls have been going through their stuff as I try desperately to purge some of their stuffed animals - seriously, where do we get all of these? But it doesn't take long for me to remember back to when I was a girl and my whole bay window seat was filled with stuffed animals - so I try to give them some grace on that. Because there is quite a bit of furniture in our house that is the landlords we will be able to stay in the house even after they pack out all of our goods, making it nice that we don't have to stay in a hotel here except for a couple of nights once we do the house checkout.
For those who might not know, we are in the process of building a house back in the States. It won't be ready until mid-August so we will have to stay in a hotel for a little over a month once we are back. I'm sure by the time that month is over we will ALL be more than happy to finally be in our house! We have often thought that we must be crazy to try to build a house from half way around the world but so far things are going smoothly. Our builder is fantastic and our new neighbors are friends already and have been awesome to send pictures and help trouble shoot when we need it. The funniest part of the house building was that John and I went back for about 6 days in April and in that time we had to literally choose EVERY single thing for that house...despite the jet lag. We would leave the hotel at 7 in the morning and not get back until 10 at night between all the meetings and running to Lowes and Sears, etc. It was a whirlwind but we were able to get it all selected - the great thing is that when we move back, if there is something that looks just awful - I'm going to blame it on the jet lag! :)
I'm off to go try to purge some more stuff! Enjoy your weekend!
We have finished so many things in these last weeks and said goodbyes to so many amazing people that we have met from all over the world. Kate finished up her last day of preschool this week, which was a very teary end because she has loved her teacher there so much! She just keeps saying with sadness, "mom, am I never going to see her again." And for Kate, Shanghai is home, not America. So the thought of moving back to America doesn't bring the jubilation from her that it does from the other girls. This is the only home she has remembered and known so for my sweet Kate, who doesn't do well with change anyway, this move "home" is bit unsettling for her. It did help her when she finally understood that the change from school was coming no matter what - she is ending preschool and will be in Kindergarten so no matter the location, she was not going to have her sweet Mrs. Leary for a teacher any more. After that realization, I think she is more OK to move on. For John and I, it's the end of an era...no more preschoolers - we are on to elementary for everyone now! We will still homeschool them next year but it does strike us how quickly things change and how time just marches on.
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| Kate saying goodbye to her teacher |
Here's a good example for you, the other night John was measuring Leah on our "board" that gets marked with heights and in the last month she has grown an inch and a half! She can wear my shoes now - this is how much her whole body has grown! But anyway, after measuring her, John looked back to the time when we just had moved here and noticed that in 3 years Leah had grown 9 inches, Lauren 7 inches and Kate 8 inches. Those just seemed like inches at first but then I began to reminisce about what all those grown inches stood for: learning to ride a 2 wheel bike, loosing teeth, growing out of temper tantrums (mostly), learning to read and write, seeing amazing places, no more diapers, sippy cups or strollers, making friends with kids from around the world, and the list goes on...
The movers come on Monday to begin packing up everything we have acquired over the 3 years...let's just say, it's going to be a tight squeeze getting it back into the 40' container! The girls have been going through their stuff as I try desperately to purge some of their stuffed animals - seriously, where do we get all of these? But it doesn't take long for me to remember back to when I was a girl and my whole bay window seat was filled with stuffed animals - so I try to give them some grace on that. Because there is quite a bit of furniture in our house that is the landlords we will be able to stay in the house even after they pack out all of our goods, making it nice that we don't have to stay in a hotel here except for a couple of nights once we do the house checkout.
For those who might not know, we are in the process of building a house back in the States. It won't be ready until mid-August so we will have to stay in a hotel for a little over a month once we are back. I'm sure by the time that month is over we will ALL be more than happy to finally be in our house! We have often thought that we must be crazy to try to build a house from half way around the world but so far things are going smoothly. Our builder is fantastic and our new neighbors are friends already and have been awesome to send pictures and help trouble shoot when we need it. The funniest part of the house building was that John and I went back for about 6 days in April and in that time we had to literally choose EVERY single thing for that house...despite the jet lag. We would leave the hotel at 7 in the morning and not get back until 10 at night between all the meetings and running to Lowes and Sears, etc. It was a whirlwind but we were able to get it all selected - the great thing is that when we move back, if there is something that looks just awful - I'm going to blame it on the jet lag! :)
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| The house...our funny neighbor photoshopped in the A&M - but John really likes it! |
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