"I love you, Mommy. You're so sweet."

How is that for adorable?  That and a hug is what I got from Ryan after breakfast this morning and I knew it would be a good day.  How could it not?

Things have quieted down a lot since the fireworks display on Monday night.  Yesterday we ventured out after having an inside day on Tuesday.  We went to visit Jessica and her boys in the morning and Yan Hong had my jeans ready.  Three pairs are perfectly hemmed for a grand total of 30 yuan (about $4.50).  I've never had jeans professionally hemmed in Canada but I'm pretty sure this is a pretty good deal.  We stayed for lunch and playtime then headed off to YooHoo for some grub.  It's was my first time back there in a while and it was nice.  We found some good fruit, veggies, meat and some other essentials.  Tim didn't cook at all while we were gone so we were getting low on a few things.  He also confessed that he never washed a dish for the three weeks, leaving them for ayi so she would have something to do.  Isn't that sweet?

One thing I did buy for groceries was fungus.  I may have mentioned this stuff before as we have ordered it from Chinese restaurants and Tim has it a lot at work, but I have never attempted to cook with it before.  It comes dried and you soak it in water which causes it to swell and look slimy.  Usually at the restaurants it is cooked in a chicken broth for flavor but since I didn't have any, I decided to just throw it in with my stir-fry veggies and serve it with noodles.  It was really tasty and apparently is very good for you.  I had leftovers for lunch today and again for supper tonight.  I think we will be having it more often.  Now if I can just get the kids to eat it...

Today we decided to go back to Happy City, meeting up with Jessica and her clan.  The boys had a lot of fun together and the moms did, too.  Of course, when my boys arrived with just t-shirts on under their heavy sweaters, a bunch of ladies almost had heart attacks.  Yesterday when our neighbor realized that Nick and Ryan only had sweatpants with no long underwear she was shocked, even though they were only going from the car to the apartment.  My kids just get too warm once they are inside, especially at Happy City where they are running around sweating.  I have to learn how to tell people in Chinese that they aren't delicate flowers that will freeze to death after a couple minutes outside.  Would that be rude?

After Happy City we came to our place for some sushi and leftovers.  Even Yan Hong liked my noodles and veggies with fungus.  Well, she didn't spit it out and finished everything on her plate.  The kids played for the rest of the afternoon with only a few minor irritations among them.  For the most part they get along very well and are happy to have each other to play with.  When it's time to part ways no one is ever pleased about it, so that's a good sign.   

Tonight we played Mario Kart as a family and it was a lot of fun.  Ryan is really animated these days and it's so entertaining to listen to him when he gets excited about something.  When it was time for bed Nicholas did some reading and did well, considering we were away from it for a while.  He really doesn't want to learn, figuring that perhaps we won't send him to school if he can't read.  We assured him that that is not the case and I tried to convince him to improve his attitude toward reading and writing.  So far so good.  I hope that by August he's a little more comfortable with the idea of starting school.  We shall see!

So, that's it for now.  I'm really looking forward to the weekend.  Tomorrow afternoon I have a massage and on Saturday Jessica and I are going shopping again.  Hopefully we will get everywhere we want to go this time and have a nice lunch with some wine.  I will update again when I get a chance.  Have a great weekend all!