O Some Fun Days with my Kids :)

Thankful Turkey :)

This is our Chinese Thankful Turkey :) For family home evening we made a feather each for our turkey with a list of things we are grateful for! I just want to let everyone know how grateful I am for everything. My list included things from carpet to spaghettiO's and my family to Heavenly Father. I am so thankful to be here in China, so so thankful. I've grown and learn so much out here that I know I couldn't anywhere else. I've made friendships with people I will cherish forever and I've grown such a love of this world. I am thankful for my family. They are number one in my life and everything to me. My sisters are my best friends and my brothers are my best buds in the world :) I would chose to spend a day with them rather than anything else! I am so thankful you all love me even though I'm crazy and odd! :) I'm grateful for you Dad and Mom for helping me with this trip, for helping me with school, helping me achieve everything I've needed help achieveing! I couldn't be half the person I am today without your love! I have the best parents in the world. I'm grateful for everyone whose helped me along and come here! Grandpa and Grandma Carter, David and his wonderful family, My cousins, Aunts and Uncles, Nikki :), Charlie and his amazing family, Grandpa and Grandma Sorensen, the AMAZING Syracuse 1st Ward and the Relief Society, the list goes on!! I am thankful for smiles, there is nothing, nothing more beautiful to me in this world than seeing a smile. I'm grateful for laughter :) Nothing cures, or heals, or makes things more happier than laughing :) I'm grateful for my testimony and my Heavenly Father! This Thanksgiving is going to be amazing. I won't have much to eat, but I am spending my day counting the blessings I have in my life! Which are in the millions! Make yourself a Thankful Turkey before the holiday and know I love you!!

The Latest Here in China

Slap Jack :) The kids favorite game! We slap on the white cards :) Haha
Devan wasn't getting any cards slapped, so I would
quietly hint when they were coming so he could get his
hands down on a couple, well after when it was his
turn to deal and I was in the game slapping with the other
boys, Devan would look at the cards before they went down and
would lean over and whisper "teacher kim teacher kim" so I
could slap it :) hahaha I was laughing it was so cute

The kids got into Sue's jello for kitchen that day and smeared it all
over these big black boards we have in the art room. Hahaha Sue was so
upset but I was laughing my head off :) I had to take a pic
of their jell-o smudge art :)

Don't spit Sign on the Bus :) So very true here, if you go outside and
don't hear anyone hawking a loogie than you know something is wrong
with the world!!!

It's clean off the bed day and get ready for the Holidays with
lesson planning :) Ho ho ho I'm making sing along signs
for up on the house top with Ali :)

Paradise right? This is where the other teachers in Zhongshan
teach at the Zhongshan 1 school. They live in hotels
and we come for church on sundays, and when I hear them
complain about things I just smile. They don't even know how nice they
have it. Count your blessings

This is a weekly sweep. I swear we grow dust here :)

Microwave is broken because we had someone think you could
put metal in there!! So we just have our gas stove for everything
now :) And this is how Ali and I got popcorn. It was hard to
keep those kernels from popping out from the pan hahahaha
The popcorn was a precious treat thanks Family :)

One of the very few sunsets we have here :) It was gorgeous
and I watched the sun go down that evening

My cancer lump on my bed has grown :) Try sleeping on this
hard lump for 4 months!! Woo hoo

Oh I love Jack more than anything :) He's laughing
at me cause we just made Valentines and I'm singing L-O-L-O
L-O-V-E and for some reason he thought that was
funny the little punk ;)

Oh Adison!! :)He found the stickers!!

Lucy!! No picking your nose!!! The second biggest rule after
our big number one NO Chinese!! :)

Don't be fooled :) These are fake crocodile tears. He wants the chair
Tina is sitting in. Which is the same chair as everyone elses :) He had to man up and
sit on the other chair, which he did just fine and we enjoyed the day :)

Dad!! I had fun watching this bird and thought of
you and our bird watching we'd do together! This bird is darker
with white and blue on his wings. He will do a little
flying up and dive then fly up just a little and dive again to
get anywhere :) I loved watching him!

Hey Jeff :), to Clearfield... To the Green and White :)
To the Best School in the Land

Dish Problems in China

Mom, this is why I called you crying. I got those 2 weeks
of the girl's dirty sitting around dishes done. Haha Thanks for
being there for me Mom. I love you!

Those darn cute kids!

Here's some of our kids hiding under the ILP desk to scare us every morning haha. Devan looks like he's singing a musical in this photo :) They are the best in the morn haha, they run up to us and give us huge hugs or shoot us with "their finger guns". Depending on their mood :) We get into our classrooms and they run and help us grab chairs. I love it! Then onto a full morning of teaching to crazy students who can't sit still and you spend more time disciplining than teaching, but it's 3 year olds to 7 year olds. What can you expect haha. But besides dealing with Devan's huge exorcist tantrums where he snarls at you while screaming in circles, and Tony punching Lucy square in the face, or Billy grabbing the chairs and throwing them, or Adison kicking me I absolutely still love them haha. Our student of the month is Tina! She has been so good in class and her english has improved so much! She obeys the rules and her smile is contagious to the kids so we are excited to give it to her this month! Stella stopped being a bully to the kids and now wears her hair in pigtails. I think it's the cutest! Tony has always been saying this word and we had no idea what it was! So at chinese lessons we were like Catherine what does this word mean!! And we found out it was a very very naughty word! haha So Tony is going to be in trouble tomorrow ;) We were laughing so much. Adison needs to be called tigger because he can't stop bouncing haha I laugh so much!! Jack in opening the other day pulled his nose back like a pig and was walking around really funny singing E I E I O hahaha awh I don't wanna leave them. Today was funny Tony comes up to me and is like "Teacher Kim, Lucy ( and then he smacks himself in the head)" and I am like "Lucy hit you? Say Teacher Kim, Lucy hit me." and then Tony is like "Teacher Kim, Lucy hit me (and then he smacks himself hard again) hahaha I was laughing so badly.

Named Children After You :)

Arianne this is Anne!!

This is Valerie :)

Haha here is Cliff :)

Here's Sabrina!!

Mark, here is Mark!!

Amanda here is Manda!!

Jeff he is named after you!! :)

Here is Michelle!

Here's Laura!!
And Vanessa wasn't here the day I took photos! But I'll get one!

This is Buzz :) Named after Buzz Lightyear. He's my favorite, both Buzz's haha

SKIING IN CHINA!!

Dad, Mark and Michelle!!! Thought you'd laugh when
you saw the grass skiing they have here!

BBQ

Sunday afternoon BBQ, and it's raining!! Haha Sue and I stayed this vacation here in Guzhen to have fun exploring the town and finding fun things we could do. The principal invited us to go to a BBQ and they say it just like that. B-B-Q :) So we got to meet Principal Joanne and her family! In the pic is her 10 year old son Jack! He is a handsome little boy and will be a little stud when he grows up. But his mom kept pushing him to talk with us in his english :) So we spent the day answering How are you? How old are you? What do you like? What is your name? :) He helped us with our basic chinese. We also spent the day singing songs. John his cousin was there too. He's 10 too. But the BBQ was soo much fun even through the pouring rain! We helped put up a tarp around our pit and got the coals started up! They opened these containers of raw meat. We slapped them on the chicken wire and 2 seconds later they were saying eat eat!! I was like ahh no!! No no no no! But they pulled it off and insisted! I picked it up and it was just raw juice drippin down. I took a small bite and was like mm yum! The family was still gesturing for me to eat it! So I just shoved it in. I spent the afternoon eating raw pork, raw beef, raw chicken, raw octupus, and raw sausages. Mmm mm. Bring on the food illness! haha We barbequed corn which was divine!! I also had sugar cane which is the most delicious to chew on!! The park was full of people. Drunk and high, they had karoke going on up on this stage and the singing was horrible! But it was such a fun experience!! I loved it!