Morning Walk

I took these fun pictures of the girls out walking at Bishan Park with Conrad yesterday morning. (It is my phone camera which isn't that great.)  Ella is such a character.  She is more often "Sparkle" the dog, crawling around the house on all fours and eating out of dishes on the ground.  She says Conrad, our American Cocker, is her best friend.  She is by far the most passionate about dogs in the house.  

Valentine's Day

Can't forget Valentine's Day.  I bake the kids a special treat each year.  This year, I had the brilliant thought of doing something healthy and fun so it could double as breakfast the next morning.  I came across these purple carrots in the grocery store.  I've purchased them before because I thought they were interesting.  They taste exactly like orange carrots, only they are very purple and stain everything they touch.  After peeling and cutting them, my hands are a dark purple color.  I figured they must be quite healthy with all that color in them.  And purple, perfect for Valentine's day.  I whipped up some purple carrot, bran muffins and jazzed them up with some nutmeg and cinnamon icing.  The kids were delighted.  They were tasty and healthy.  A win-win-win situation.  

Joseph turns 37!

Okay, maybe you can sense my exhaustion by now with birthday and baking fever.  I didn't give up though.  Instead, I saved the best culinary birthday creation for last: the three layered German Chocolate Cake with the caramel, pecan coconut frosting.  It is quite a feat to put this together but it is so good.  I don't have any pictures with candles and Joseph because I had to cut it before he got home.  He had a meeting on his birthday and then was home for a brief minute before a youth activity (he is in the Young Men's Presidency.)  Now he gets to take Abigail with him, yea.  So we sang to an absentee daddy and had some cake with the kids before he came home.  Kind of strange, I know.  

Magdalene turns 10!

 Magdalene helped make this lemon cake and decorated it herself.  She really wanted a candle that said "10" this year.  Just like her Mama, she loves herbs and carefully picked some mint herbs to put on her cake.  Her friend in our neighborhood and in our ward, Lily, came over to celebrate with us.  

 Magdalene is all smiles on her birthday.

This picture turned out a little dark, but it is a picture of Magdalene and her two closest friends at school.  I took them all to Subway for lunch at the school on her birthday.  It was free dress and Magdalene wanted to wear her new shirt/dress from India that she got for her birthday.  

Abigail turns 12!

This is the birthday blitz on my blog. We sure have a lot of birthdays to celebrate in a 6 weeks period.  Abigail had a big birthday, turning 12 and entering the Young Women's program in our church.  Unfortunately, she was sick on her birthday.  She stayed home from school and mostly read on the couch and took a nap.  Now that she is 12, her life has sure become busier.  She is in Middle School which entails more homework and coordinating.  She still plays the cello, in advanced strings at school with weekly lessons, and loves to go to climbing club after school.  She recently made the select soccer team at school and with practices twice a week and games against other international schools here in Singapore throughout the next few months, she is one busy girl.

She wanted carrot cake for her birthday.  Yummy.

 Juliet is a little bit into candles, especially lit candles.  She did this herself to her piece of cake and wanted us to light them.

 Always a crowd around the birthday girl when the presents come out.

 Abigail and her good friend Caitlyn, from New Zealand.  She is in our ward and lives down the street from us.

 Ella enjoyed wrapping herself us in all the wrapping scraps.

I took Abigail and her friends out to lunch at the High School Subway for her birthday.  I had a fun time getting to know her friends and seeing how much fun they have together.  (It was Chinese New Year celebration that day so some of the girls dressed up for it,)

Juliet turns 2!

Christmas festivities are barely over before it is time to wrap some more presents and bake another treat--a birthday cake for little Juliet.  Every Christmas, I can't help but remember how close she was to being a Christmas baby and how difficult that  Christmas day was before she came into our lives.  She was excited about her birthday and all the attention.  The 26th being a holiday, we decided to go to the Jurong Bird Park since we haven't been there yet.  We stayed until it got unbearably crowded and saw most of it.  Lots lots of birds, especially exotic and colorful ones.  

Later that evening we had hot dogs and watermelon, her two current favorite foods.  Juliet was fascinated with her cake, especially sticking her finger into the chocolate frosting and getting "tasties."

She got a bubble machine for her birthday.  Such a fun girl.


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