5 days and counting!

Only 5 days and we will be in the air on our way back to MN--we can't wait!
here are a few thing that have been going on recently-
last night (sat) ISB had their Holiday party at a hotel in downtown Beijing (right next to the Birds' Nest and Watercube!) It was an unbelievable party! in riley's words, " I have never been to anything so nice in my entire life!" free flowing champagne, wine, and pop so many people had a bottle or two to themselves. Live music for 1/2 of it, then a dj for the other half-it was great seeing so many staff/faculty out there tearing it up! It is the one night when everyone truely lets their hair down. There were door prizes as well-i would guess about 50 of them with the biggest prize being flight and 3 day/ 2night stay in hong kong. neither riley or i won that, but i did win a massage from a really nice place! too bad i can't use it! my doctor said yesterday no more massages of any type-including foot or head massages---i guess there are pressure points that can trigger contractions. riley was happy to hear that as now he can use my two massages!
Really though-the party was unbelievable. Our ayi's brother in law had a mini-van from the people who he drives around-they are gone foro the holidays so he drove us in the mini-van instead of our jeep. it was much more roomy!
Friday riley and i took the day off of school to go to the doctor. 17 1/2 weeks-all is well with the baby. i was a little frustrated b/c my chinese doctor told me to watch what i eat so my babies aren't so big. Kieran was 8lbs 13 oz and kellan was 9lbs 3 oz--and i delvered them just fine! in her words ," Chinese women cannot deliver such big babies," well guess what, I am not chinese! so i am laughing about it now-people told me the chinese doctors and nurses are very blunt and i am finding that out!
After our dr. appt-we went out to finish holiday/souviniear (spelling i know) shopping. we had a very nice day. ate at a newer sports bar where we were the only people in there. The waiters are so curious so we ended up spending 1/2 our meal asking/answering questions. (Riley is the more inquisitive one-always wants to know everyone's story!) It was a nice meal and nice staff. They took 19Rmb off my bill b/c i didn't likemy soup! then they ran after us down the escalator b/ci forgot my xmas shopping gift! that wouldn't happen everywhere!
Last weekend we went to a holiday party with my coworker Duff. He has a very nice place closer to downtown. It was a nice little party where we did a goofy gift exchange where people could steal one another's gifts--we ended up with some pretty nice gifts in the end which was nice.
The weekend before that was when riley was in Xian. on sat night i got a babysitter and went out to a movie with a friend (from mn) mary! it was the newer james bond film. I have never sat and watched a james bond film beforee but she was super excited to see it --and we were pretty limited on choices of english movies. I didn't even notice the whole thing was subtitled in chinese-i guess i must be getting pretty used to that by now.
What else-the boys are doing well. kellan is starting to get put in time-out-mainly for hitting his brother when he tells him no. the little bugger wouldnt' stay ont he steps a month ago-but he sits there pretty well now. we haven't started the timer yet but we may have to break that out soon. Kieran got his lettr to santa ready-all he wants is these stupid things called bakugans. we have gotten him almost all the knock-off ones you can get here-but it is hard to find real ones. i am hoping to find some mmore back in the states-otherwise i don't have much for him. kellan is a little easier to shop for at this age.
This past wednesday night-Duff (the other 8th grade math teacher) and i started a new tradition by putting on a Probability Night in one of our gyms. We were wrapping up our probability unit, so the kids had to create a unique game and do some calculations, design a billboard, and actually design the game so people could play it like they were at a casino. we had money printed up with our faces on it---duff is canadian so we had canadian and american dollars. we tried to get my picture on a 1RMB but it got sent back to us from our printing press saying it was illegal to copy chinese money! i thought i would be arrested since it was my picture on it! kind of funny we both thought. the night was a HUGE success-we had an incredible turnout-donations galore-both food and prizes.....it was great! i will try to include some pictures next time.
we are starting to pack for the journey home. we don't plan on bringing too much stuff home to mn-but will return to china with lots of american goodies! we can't wait!
we hope to see you all soon!
until next time-
love
the dubois' family