I'm back....in the saddle again

Hello family and friends
Well after almost a week off, I can type pretty well again. My thumb is still sore but seems to be a little better each day. So, since all of you missed a week in my life I will review it for you.
Monday was still holiday for Mark but the kids had to go back to school. So it was nice to stay home together. Through much discussion, using our Chinese dictionary and playing charades, we told Hong that we wanted her to start cooking for us twice a week. So her days to cook are Monday and Thursday. So far we have had like a sweet and sour chicken and these golden curry pork ribs. They were both pretty good. It was of course Monday evening that we went for our wonderful bike ride. Looking back on my little mishap it sure could've been worse. For instance I could've flipped over my handle bars and knocked my front teeth out:) or I could've fallen into the street instead of the sidewalk. I could've been alone and had to walk my bike home by myself instead of having my sweet husband with me to walk my bike home. I must put to rest the story that I fell off my bike because I was to distracted by my husband's butt in front of me. I was actually watching him jump this curb and he made it look so easy. But as I layed there on the ground reliving the whole thing, I thought to myself of course it looked easy he didn't have near as much weight to launch over that curb as I did. So that's the story that I'm sticking to.
Tuesday morning Mark went to work at the plant for two days. So Tuesday was girl day. Michelle, Nancy, Mary and I went to the textile market. You can have about anything made there that you could possibly want for your house. From sheets, to blankets and curtains. I had two covers made for my bar stools. Tuesday night I walked to Starbucks with Nancy and we looked for my hot pink skid mark on the side walk from my new but now scratched pedicure. Unfortunately we weren't able to find it.
Wednesday I went on a field trip with Jacob's class to the Shanghai science and technology museum. I saw some pretty cool stuff including an imax movie about the human body. Very neat museum. My story for that day was when Jacob's teacher told each students who's mom was there that they had to introduce them. One girl said, "this is my mom and she's never been on a field trip before". another kids said this is my mom and she bites, another kid said this is my mom and she's never on time. Well, Jacob introduced me as this is my mom and she can't ride a bike. I thought that was pretty nice of him!!!
Thursday took me on a field trip with Noah and Levi's class. We went to the Shanghai museum and the Shanghai History museum. While I enjoyed the time that I spent with my boys I was actually quite tired when the day was over. On Wednesday, I had 9 wonderful children. On Thursday I had two wonderful children and two he**ions who both needed a good dose of Ritalin. But I made it and even learned a little about the history of China.
After that we went to Jacob's so called basketball game. What a trip. Sports are a little different here in that everything has to be fair and they really don't want to teach the kids how to play correctly. Oh well, he's having fun with his friends.
Friday brought my first coffee connection at the local community center. (no it's not like the one in Midland) It was very fun and I met some neat ladies. Had lunch with the girls at our favorite restaurant called Cafe Dumonde. Then I went to SOS training with Mark at DC. SOS is an international company that helps you for any medical emergency while we are over here. From hangnails to heartattacks. Friday night was dinner at the Blue Frog with the Hardins, Whitlocks and Ankoviaks. That was very fun!!
Saturday was a gloomy day so I stayed home and watched a movie in the morning. Mark and I went shopping at a mall and went to Burger King for dinner. Yes, the whoppers taste mighty good here. Elise went to dinner with the girls and the boys walked to a Chinese restaurant and brought their dinner home. It was while they were ordering their dinner that their DVD lady told them she finally had Spiderman 3 for them. So they came home and watched it after they walked Elise to the restaurant where she was eating with her friends. It is quite cute how seriously they are taking the job of protecting their sister.
Sunday-Happy Mother's day to all of the mom's who read this blog.
I was treated like a queen today. Mark got up about 8:00 and gave Noah and Levi money to go buy me flowers from the street vendor. I got 5 white roses, 4 red and 4 pink all for 20 yuan. (about $3) Then Noah and Levi made me breakfast in bed and served it on the you are special plate. I had toast with peanut butter on it and oj. We tried a new church today that is in Puxi. It is about a 45 minute drive but we think we will go back and try it again next Sunday. The worship was once again quite good. After that we went to Xintiandi which is a shopping area outside and a bunch of restaurants. We went to a german restaurant for dinner. It was just ok, we probably won't go back. But hey we can say that we tried it.
So there you are all caught up on my exciting life that I live day to day.
To answer a few blog questions, yes they really got the new Spiderman 3. There DVD lady takes good care of them. I will try to post pictures of our apartment sometime soon. They are supposedly going to come and hang my pictures in my house tomorrow. I'll believe it when I see it. My brain is tired and I can't remember any other questions.
Love to all of you!