Day 18 - 23 months of Aiden

I can't believe that in one month from today, my crazy little boy turns 2! Where on earth has the time gone? Though he drives me insane at times I'm so thankful for this guy. He keeps me company while Jeffrey travels, goes on all my crazy adventures with me and loves to play with cars. His favorite movie at the moment is Cars and Cars 2 (do you see a theme here...) and if you let him he will watch them non-stop.

He loves fruit and will eat apples any chance he gets and of course...goldfish! He takes after his Mama and is a cheese lover.

His favorite person in the world is his daddy. He gets so excited when Jeffrey walks through the door in the evening. I love watching him and Jeffrey together. Its a precious sight.

Here are pictures over the last year...he has changed so much. Thank you Father for my sweet crazy little boy. Mommy and Daddy love you Aiden!

December 2011 - Aiden's 1st birthday...he was COVERED in icing by the end of this venture. 

January - Our visit to the states...having a blast with his cousins in Missouri

February - a fun photo shoot with his buddy Jessica in their Chinese outfits. 

March - the weather is finally getting better so we can play outside. He LOVES rocks. 

April - Aiden got his first haircut in China. He looks like a totally different kid! 

May - posing with his Chinese buddy in the complex

June - Fun at the zoo with Daddy

July - Hanging out with Aunt Mabel learning to "pose". This was the first time he did it and now it is in all of his pictures! 

August - At the park with his buddy Joy

September - Aiden and his best buddy Noah - sending a big shout out to Noah today as it is his birthday. Noah turns 2 today. HAPPY BIRTHDAY NOAH!!! 

October - Mimi and Grandpa! Aiden had a blast with them getting spoiled at every turn. 

November - on a canal ride with the Wuxi International Club

November - teaching his buddy Sal all about the joys of watching Cars. 

Day 17 - Our Fabulous Apartment Complex

One thing here in China that makes life so much easier is our Apartment Complex, and for this I am SOOOO THANKFUL! Chang Jiang Guo Ji Er Qi is our China home. Jeffrey did an AMAZING job finding us a place to live here. I have a great great man! 

Aiden letting himself in to our building.

Some things I love about our "home"...

1. So many wonderful people live here! Friends from around the world.

***side note on this...its wonderful when you need something just for a moment, you can call and borrow from a friend or do your shopping together. Fabulous!***

2. Its within walking distance to Starbucks.

3. The veggie market is super close.

A rare day with blue sky! Isn't it beautiful!

4. The maintenance crew does a wonderful job keeping it clean. 

5. Our guards really do look out for us! 

6. Its extremely safe.

View of the backside of our complex

The front side of the complex...we have some great stores in here that keep essentials on hand. 

A side story about how great our guards are...one night Aiden and I went out to meet some friends for dinner while Jeffrey was traveling. I, being the wacky person that I am, left my keys in my door and totally didn't know it. While we were at dinner I looked at my phone and saw my landlord had called 5x and sent me a ton of messages letting me know this. By the time I got home that evening there were 4 guards standing around my door protecting it. One of them (who spoke a little english) asked me to go in and check to ensure nothing was stolen and waited to make sure I was ok. WOW! Nothing could have made me feel any safer where we live. 

Our guards are wonderful. 

Day 16 - Fun Times with Fun Friends

Today I am thankful for FRIENDS! And friends that are willing to try new things and be adventurous.  We had our first ever Pintrest style pot luck today. The only rule of the party was that you had to make something that you have never made before. And wow! These ladies really came through and made some great food...I'm still stuffed. 

Having friends around to do fun things with makes the days much better, especially when Jeffrey is traveling. We have so much fun together and we are always laughing. So thankful for friendship! 

****And a second thing I'm thankful for...I got a surprise call from my best friend today! Love any chance I get to talk to Jenn, but today was extra special. Thankful for you Jenn! ****

So enjoy our fun day in the pictures below. 

We had 12 ladies and 5 kids today for our gathering...look at all that food! 

Drink and waffle station

Some of the food we had was bang bang chicken (this is what I made and I'm not normally a huge spicy food fan, but HOLY COW....this dish was way to spicy for me...whew!), glorious pineapple rice, rice balls, homemade pretzels, a fabulous mexican chicken dish, stuffed mushrooms, banana bites, homemade goldfish (these are amazing!) and pasta salad. There were so many others but to name them all would take forever. Needless to say, it was a yummy day...and thats not even dessert!

Desserts and appetizers. 

For dessert, we had cheesecake dip, apple cake and apple pie! Sooooooooooo good! 

Mabel and Anna enjoying the food!

Barb is loving the party.

Good food + Great friends = Lots of Fun

Noah enjoying the party

Aiden cheesing as always. 

My dear friend Julie and I

Julie & Noah

Barb and adorable lil Zoe

Brie & Sal

Catherine & Ethan

The after pictures...we stuffed ourselves silly but still had SO MUCH left over. 

We know what is for dinner tonight. 

Baby lovin' 

The girls in Grey...love these ladies! 

We wore the kids out completely! 

Nap time all around. 

This was such a hit that I think we'll make this a routine event...maybe do breakfast next? So totally thankful for friends who make life in Wuxi so much better! Thanks Ladies!!!!!! 

Day 15 - Nap Time

Today I am extremely grateful for Aiden's Nap Time! 

Does this make me a bad mom that I look forward to a few moments of peace and quiet? I sure hope not....Ha! Aiden goes down for his nap around 1pm (depending on what we are doing that day...if we are out around lunch nap time may be a later but he goes down as soon as we get home) and normally sleeps until at least 3:3- or 4pm. Some days this is stretched even to 5pm but that is extremely rare and you know my sweet buddy is exhausted when he sleeps that long...or maybe he is just growing. 

Such an angel when he is sleeping:) 

I normally use his nap time to either have friends over so I can have an adult conversation, do some cleaning, enjoy a cup of coffee from Starbucks compliments of Folok, a cup of tea or even read a book. When Jeffrey is home, then dinner prep happens during this time as well. I know we won't always have nap time, but while I do I am going to say thank you Father for it! 

Day 14 - City Shop

Today I am SUPER DUPER THANKFUL for City Shop. You have heard me talk about this more than once and this is a recurring thankfulness post, but I just had to. This grocery store provides a service that I do not have in the states...they deliver my groceries right to my door! With having a toddler this is fantastic, saves me from having to actually go to the store very often. 

If I spend 300rmb ($48) I get free delivery. If not then delivery is just 20rmb ($3.20). The 20rmb is the price of a taxi ride to and from my closest grocery store, so I don't always feel like I HAVE to spend 300rmb. Its quite a wonderful thing.

My awesome delivery man who always knows where I am to bring me my groceries. 

The way this company is works is you go online and browse through all their wonderful western style products and place your order. They deliver to Wuxi every Tuesday. Now Tuesdays is the day that I have my ladies study at my friend Julie's house, so I'm not at my house when they deliver. But over time our delivery guy has learned where I am and brings me my groceries right to Julie's house...even if she hasn't ordered that day. Fabulous! 

Thank you City Shop!!!!! 

My stash of goodies this week. Chili and White Chicken Chili will be made in spades this winter! 

Day 13 - Little Things

Today I am thankful for the little things in life. The things that you don't normally have to think about or that I take for granted, but that life in China has brought out. So enjoy my "thankfulness" in pictures. 

In America we have Western style toilets and I'm extremely grateful for them as most places you go they are clean. Here in China, we have "squatty pottys". I'm thankful that I do not have one of these in my apartment and that I have really learned how to "hold it" until I get home. So far in the 20 months we have been in China I have only used one of these once. 

I'm thankful that in America you would be fined if your kids pooped on the ground and you left it there.  Here in China I'm grateful that I have learned to look down when I walk so as to not step on any poo. 

I'm thankful that in America everywhere you go is stroller friendly and you don't have to lift it up and over blockades. But here in China, I'm SUPER grateful for friends who are willing to help you lift your stroller when needed. 

I'm grateful that leaving a hole like this for a kid to fall into is illegal in America. Here in China I'm grateful that Aiden is still in a stroller when we pass by these holes. 

In America there are many amazing Mexican restaurants that have FABULOUS food. Here in China I'm grateful to have a few choices of great Mexican food in the next city over, Suzhou, the land of the good food! 

In America I'm ever so thankful that shopping carts for the most part are clean and super easy to push around, no tummy workout there. Here in China, I'm grateful just to have a cart and that I have learned how to push these things and the fact that I can count shopping here as a tummy workout! 

In America, Christmas doesn't fully come out in the stores until after Thanksgiving.  Here in China I'm grateful that Starbucks has already gone to their Christmas menu, so that I can enjoy my Toffee Nut Latte! 

In America, its rare that you see crazy words misspelled, but here in China I'm thankful for the laughter that it provides. Friut Tea anyone???

Isn't life funny? The things that we never realize we take for granted tend to come to the for front in life pretty fast, especially when they are taken away. But it most of these things on a daily basis make me laugh...which is better than cry which at some points I definitely want to do. Ha! So today, I say THANK YOU FATHER for the crazy things in life that make me realize how truly blessed I am. 

Day 12 - Pumpkins

Today I am super thankful for pumpkins! I am a total pumpkin addict and LOVE making anything and everything with it. We have a great restaurant in town that makes the best pumpkin soup. I just can't get enough.

Aiden loves pumpkin as much as Mommy, but all he wanted to do this time is play with it. 

When we first arrived in China I wanted to make pumpkin bread, but what on earth was I going to do? I have never used a real pumpkin to cook, why would I when you have Libby's Pumpkin cans. So I looked online and learned how to roast a pumpkin. So easy and so yummy, I may never go back.

Pumpkin's roasting away...makes my house smell amazing! 

All finished and ready to scoop

Now the problem is...that when I cook something with the roasted pumpkin, it tends to get eaten so fast that I don't have time to take a picture. So today, I'm thankful for pumpkins that make life in China a little more like home.