BJ lovin' ?

So here is a quicky on our week. First of all Dallin's new boss Jack... might have a "man crush on Dal". He loves everything Dallin does and cannot stop complimenting him on it! I love Jack and I haven't even met him! Jack is also a fabulous manager, the last manager was a sweetheart but not organized or efficient. Jack is really making Dallin's work more effective and focused. Jack + the amazing September weather (lots of beautiful sunny, not so hot days, and not a lot of pollution) and really making me fall in love with Beijing (AKA BJ).  Monday 9/10: We tried to do a little house shopping without going in. We are thinking about moving closer to Dal's work to our fav. play areas. I also painted today, with freshly squeezed paint, the kids could not resist. Three scrub-downs and a call to poison control. :) Jules has also gone wild with walking this whole week! Oh and I let toad do play dough....bad idea? I told Dallin not to put things like headphones around his neck, because babies are always watching. Evidence that I am right... I guess it doesn't help that I've been wearing necklaces more often the last few weeks... Sunday 9/8:  We had our friends Ryan and Julia and son Dylan over for dinner. Ryan's Dad and grandma are in town and also joined us. The grandma, from Idaho, was thrilled about the mashed potatoes! Oh and church, our two kids in sunbeam now are Eddie (She is darling, easily distracted, energetic and fun) and Un Un ( he is a little boy from Taiwan who only speaks a little English- he does not answer questions, he goes off on long weird tangents. ). Needless to say, sunbeams is interesting these days and soon Mitch will be added to the mix. Bad news bear.  Sunday afternoon watching Baby Einstein #notjustforbabies Saturday 9/7: I got this maxi dress behind the fresh morning market! I love it! I might be wearing it at this very moment... When I put it on Mitch looks at me and says "Oh, that's Ashley's dress?" I went to a "Thriving in BJ" meeting for RS and really enjoyed it along with a party later for some people who are moving. The RS speakers had some pretty funny stories about their lives here.  By the way we are pretty much committed until the end of 2014. They gave Dal and offer he couldn't refuse. So we will be in BJ or Shanghai.= you have to come visit me sometime after September! Oh and I WILL be there when you come home! Jules fav. spot in the house. She is usually either standing in, playing with, or sitting in it! It is a Chinese crockpot that doesn't really work. Except for as a toy! :) Add caption Friday 9/6: The kids and I exhausted ourselves shopping at the morning market and the grocery store. I can tell I am getting a little more stubborn and less timid the longer I am here. I just ignore some of their rules that make me crazy, like unloading the groceries in bottom of my stroller so that I can go buy my milk and yoghurt. I just don't have the energy so after refusing to take my I don't speak chinese for an answer they just assigned me a buddy to walk through the store with. He didn't mind he just smiled and cooed at my kids. Which was kinda cute and annoying at the same time. :) Chinese people can be so funny! Someone thinks she is big! She has been determined to feed herself with a spoon lately. When she found my snack on the table I decided to let her have it and she had a lot of fun eating the "mommy food" (aka bananas and yoghurt). By afternoon I was worried that Jules was still fevering for the 3rd day in a row so we headed to the hospital (code for clinic/pharmacy/ER/hospital) you go to the same facility for all of these. It was a painful process, although it was fun to spend the day with just my girl. Dal was a sweetheart and came home to take care of Mitch for me. My patience was running thin and the trip with Mitch would have been horrific. Especially since we left for the hospital at four and did not return until nine pm. We had really sweet taxi drivers both ways though. (Hard to find in BJ, especially toward a white person who does not speak Chinese.) Jules is the charmer. They all love her. And we had him help me learn a few fruits in Chinese as we went. That is what I call getting my moneys worth. Chinese lesson and a ride! Jules found herself a "spot" that she was very sad to leave in the doctors office. We also went across the street to our fav. Italian food Annie's while we waited for a few things at the hospital. Dinner was yummy... until it was quickly ended by the sound of diarrhea coming from my cute sleeping baby. Grilled eggplant layered with ricotta cheese. It is amazing but tastes even better in the land of missing cheese. :) Thursday 9/5 : The kids and I went to the park and met a lady that is Chinese is married to a guy from London. Which means we can talk gospel with them! Needless to say we got her number and are excited to get together with her and her husband and two kids! Wednesday 9/4: We went swimming for play group with the other ward at our friends the Wilson's. Mitch loved getting to play with friends his size! Best invention ever! My kids can eat yoghurt now without destroying the house! Tuesday 9/3: The kids and I went to Metro (a costco-like store. Without all the wonderfulness of costco and some of the bulk foodness). I was desperate to find cheese. Well they have 5kg blocks of cheddar from NZ and that is it. So we took the plunge and bought it. Oh and I was wearing my purple dress, Mitch is weird about us wearing the same kind of shoes these days though. Since he was wearing his running shoes I had to wear mine. I didn't want to argue but I looked like a goof. I figured I never see anyone I know. Boo. We get into the store and there are two cutely dressed women and their kids. I automatically assumed they were mormon without thinking. Well come to find out the next day at play group they were Mormon! So cool! Oh so I spent the rest of the afternoon shredding, cubing and slicing the giant beautiful cheese block! And to finish it off, the we love China picture. I have been getting lazy about these.  This and kite flying are the occupations of retired/non-working elderly men in China. The game of Chess quickly gathers onlookers, such as my vt driver who was picking up the kids and I for our vt/playdate. When I called to ask her where to find him, she knew exactly what he was doing! Love it.