Mallory made the pies for National Pie Day this year.
We had a few families over for the annual pie feast.
Heidi found her favorite restaurant from London has opened up a store here in Shanghai.
At the beginning of January, stores and restaurants started decorating for Chinese New Year.
Shopping at Carrefour on Saturdays became really crazy - much busier than normal.
I think these are dried chickens. Or maybe dried ducks. I didn't buy one this year - maybe next year.
Ford has an annual party in early February -- a big dinner, with entertainment provided by each of the departments.
I got roped into being part of the finance portion of the show. My part involved a bit of light dancing, mostly just walking in sync with 7 or 8 others.
We were all suppose to be modeling clothes -- I am wearing a white tuxedo that cost about RMB 85 (no more than $14) on Taobao.
Luke and Grant are enthusiastic about the year of the goat / sheep / ram (we keep hearing it called different things).
Heidi went with some friends to learn how to make noodles.
Apparently it is a lot more difficult than it looks
Mallory made her own puzzle, and stumped Heidi and me. We couldn't figure out how to put it together.
Luke and James needed some paint for a school history project. As they got home from the store, one of the cans of paint dropped and exploded right in the entry way from the garage. Luckily, it didn't cause any long-term damage.
Luke was in a drama performance in February - it was a series of one-act plays written and directed by students. Luke and James are still learning how to pose in photos.
Grant and Luke had a couple of swim meets the last few months - in Taipei and Nanjing, as well as two in Shanghai. These photos are from their last meet.
Both Luke and Grant improved a lot in swimming this year.
At the end-of-season awards ceremony, both of them received awards for breaking various records -- personal records, school records, etc. And both of them lettered in swimming.
Since returning from Boracay, we've heard fireworks every couple of nights. This is the aftermath of the fireworks shot off one night in the courtyard of our compound.
Mallory dressed up like Harriet the Spy for book character dress up day.
And Mallory made a new house for Cica, the cat that lives on our back porch.
On Saturday we signed up to volunteer at the local library for English story time. We didn't know exactly what to expect, though. We took turns reading books to the kids, and in between we lead them all in singing a bunch of kids songs.
I think this one was "Wheels On The Bus".
I don't know what this building is, but it was right across the street from the library, and it looked interesting...
