Christmas Fun

Each year at Christmastime, the main shopping area downtown, known as Orchard Road, is elaborately decorated and lit up every night. It is always fantastic to see and the pictures never do it justice. It has become a tradition to go see the lights and get ice cream. I didn't go this year as it is too hard for me to walk around that much. And Joseph didn't feel comfortable taking all 4 himself into the throngs of people, so I stayed home with Ella. And there are always crowds of people like at no other time as well. (I saw the decorations in the day though as all our doctors are on or near Orchard Road.) The kids wanted to take the metro because, believe it or not, we have never been on the metro here. We recently moved right next to a metro stop (another
good reason to come visit us) and so it is really slick to ride the metro downtown now. It takes
about 15min on the metro or by car (without traffic) to get to the heart of the city.

Another tradition is the live nativity at the church. Our stake puts together a nativity where they convert the 4th floor of our building into a journey to Bethlehem. There are guides dressed in costume to take you down lit hallways to see Isaiah and hear his prophesy, into to rooms with angels heralding Christ's birth, wise men, shepherds, King Herod, and finally into a stable with Joseph and Mary. Then the guide leads you into an active marketplace complete with people behind stalls selling meat, grains, rugs, vegetables, etc. where you receive refreshment. It is all quite elaborate with the actors, costumes and sets. Our ward was in charge of the marketplace and Joseph and Abigail helped set it up and then he and the girls had an opportunity to "sell vegetables" to the guests. We went through it as a family on Friday night and they participated Saturday night. Again, if I wasn't so huge with child, I would have also gone dressed up with the kids--I did go through it on Friday with my camping chair (because I can't stand for long). It is kind of a bummer to miss out on so much this year . . .

After the marketplace there is a room full of nativity sets from around the world. I donated 3 to display and I was told that my California beach nativity I put together years ago was the most talked about and photographed. Here it is pictured, however I changed the pieces a little when I saw it Friday. I turned baby Jesus so his head was at the top and moved Mary and Joseph closer to the manger.

Ella turns 2!

On November 30, Ella turned 2 years old. We celebrated on Sunday so we could enjoy the day with her and not be rushed on a Monday night. She will never have Thanksgiving on her birthday, but I can't guarantee that she'll never have leftovers for her birthday dinner. I could have stuck candles in the leftover pies, but that would have been too cruel. Instead, Abigail and I had fun making this horse cake. She is crazy about horses--I think it is genetic in our girls or something. Almost all day long, she is carrying around plastic horses or stuffed horses. Anyway, it was a labor of love as I was still recovering from Thanksgiving and it is hard for me to be on my feet with vein problems, but all worth it because she was so fascinated with the cake. Abigail did all of the mane.

She also loves dogs. She sleeps on this dog in her new bedroom. We moved her a couple weeks ago to get ready for the baby.

Abigail and Maggie putting Ella to bed. They are reading her a book of pictures they made for her birthday.

Tired of Thanksgiving Leftovers?

After eating Thanksgiving one day, then a casserole made out of leftovers the next day, and the casserole again the next day and the next, I had enough. It didn't help that the kids were complaining and Joseph was out of town to help us eat it all. So I found this recipe online that was so good, simple, and completely different than Thanksgiving fare, I thought I wanted to share it.

Pasta Trinidad

1 box angel hair pasta
1 pkg. bacon
olive oil
1 onion
2 garlic cloves
carrots sliced into thin coins
1 red pepper
salt & pepper to taste
parmesan Cheese

Fry bacon, cool, drain, crumble, set aside. Start salted, boiling water for angel hair. (I think angel hair really makes this dish good.) Heat olive oil. Saute onion, thin sliced baby carrots, red pepper and fresh garlic clove. Drain pasta. Toss all ingredients together, add more olive oil, salt, fresh ground pepper and be very generous with parmesan cheese. Serve with a fresh green salad and garlic bread.

So simple and so yummy.

Happy Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving here which we celebrated on the Saturday after the official holiday. Thanksgiving is a school holiday but not a work holiday in Singapore. Joseph can take work off but it is hard to coordinate a dinner with friends with everyone's different work schedules. We had 23 people total at the table(s) and it was a huge success and a lot of fun. In the spirit of Thanksgiving, that being people of different backgrounds and cultures getting together to celebrate, we had a colleague of Joseph's from Pakistan, a new convert in our ward from China, some ward members from Taiwan originally but met in America and are from there now, a family Joseph home teaches, and another from the ward with teenage sons and a father Joseph works with in Young Men at church. It was loud at times with all the children and certainly lots of food and laughter--all the right ingredients for Thanksgiving. Oh, and we had turkey, stuffing, gravy, pies . . . all of which I cheated a little and had catered. Being as pregnant as I am, I would never attempt to host something like this any other way. That is one of the beauties of Singapore. I made 3 simple dishes and everything else just appeared on the table. I wish we took a picture of the whole group seated, but the camera came out after the feast.

I don't usually take or pose for pictures when I am pregnant, but Joseph's colleague went around snapping shots and so here I am. I guess I like to forget the discomfort of it all. The baby will come in 3.5 weeks (hopefully sooner).

Happy Halloween

The pumpkin patch--Singapore version. Each year the school ships in a container of pumpkins from the states as you can't get these kind of pumpkins here. They are expensive so we only get small/medium size ones (the large pumpkins cost US$45 a pumpkin for example). The kids have just as much fun picking the perfect pumpkin to carve. We also get a few gourds and Indian corn for fun.
























We don't carve the pumpkins until Halloween day as they mold very quickly here.




















The finished products. From left to right: Abigail's, Xander's with 4 eyes, and Maggie's friendly pumpkin.
























The costumes. Xander insisted on being a ghost this year and I left it up to Joseph to figure out his costume. Finding good costumes here is tricky because it is so hot when you go out trick-or-treating. Anyway, Joseph came up with the brilliant idea of putting one of his white shirts on Xander then covering him with mosquito netting. It is was cool enough and kept him for getting bitten, which was a factor as dusk set in. Ella came home with 3 bites on her legs. I cut out "Boo" in black felt and pinned it to his back--just to make sure he didn't look like an angel.


Maggie wanted to be a gypsy. With all the things Joseph brings home from around the world, we have some great things to work with. She is wearing an outfit he brought back from India with a crystal ball from China hanging around her neck. Abigail is a wizard/enchantress with her skirt again being from India. We had to pin Ella down to get that witch dress on her. She screamed "no" the entire time. I turned a movie on quickly and she was distracted and eventually forgot about the apparent torture. We go up to the Woodlands, aka "Little America," the neighborhood right by the school. It is a crazy trick-or-treating experience as the streets get almost too crowded to walk. Word has spread throughout the island of free candy up there. Halloween is definitely not exclusive to Americans anymore here.

Eating and Breathing Soccer

Abigail, as I mentioned before, is playing soccer again this year. This week, however takes the cake for the most soccer we've had to date in our family. Currently she plays on the American community soccer (SACAC), the typical thing where you sign up and dads volunteer to coach. She has had a fun time doing this here the last two years (and 2 years in Minnesota). Last week she tried out for a select soccer team--a team of 9 to 10 year old girls from the international American school she attends here that will be part of the sports league that organizes competition between other international schools on the island (i.e., the Australian school, the British school, etc.) The coaches for this team are hired from an international soccer academy and there will be busing to away games. She wanted to get better at soccer and try something a little more competitive, but this was still quite a bold step for her reserved nature. We didn't push it at all; in fact, with the baby coming throughout all this new soccer stuff, I was a little bit worried about being able to handle all the scheduling and support. Practices and games are during the week in the afternoons and Joseph will do what he can, of course. In any event, she is on the team and we are excited for her. This week is the "double" week with 2 practices for this select team, 1 last SACAC practice and final game on Saturday. Joseph is out of town so I will be the ultimate soccer mom this week.

Final Reflections

Since I already started this theme, call it "reflections of a mother" or "children sketches," I need to finish up with Abigail so I leave no one out.

When she was a baby, she had features that seemed too big for her face--her huge eyes and wide mouth. I would get comments all the time from strangers, and I remember one such in Walmart when a lady stopped and looked at Abigail and said something like, "look at those eyes--that's no fair!" Well, I am happy to see that she has grown into these said features and is not to far from turning the corner into young womanhood. It is a scary prospect for me because it is unknown territory. Unfortunate for Abigail, everything about raising her has been unknown territory being our first child and considering how young and inexperienced we were when we had her. Despite all our inadequacies and deficiencies, she is turning out to be an amazing girl and we couldn't ask for a better eldest child.

Abigail is also getting quite accomplished at the piano. I currently teach her and I think I can only finish 4th grade (through level 5 of her piano course) and then I need to final another arrangement. Again, I've never taught piano and she has been somewhat of an experiment for me. It has all turned out better than expected and I am very pleased with her effort and progress. And even more important, she loves to be at the piano and I think finds great satisfaction and confidence in what she has accomplished. She has learned at an early age that effort and practice pay big returns. I try to tell her it is the same with soccer. She likes soccer and wants to be good at it as well. Right now she practices once a week with games on Saturday--still very much a recreational sport for her and we are happy to see her branch out of her comfort zone and get some good exercise too.

Abigail loves anything creative from writing to drawing and even, as you see pictured, origami. She works hard at everything she does in school and at home. She has a pretty hard core, brilliant teacher who is preparing her for about 8th grade I think. She has 1+ hours of homework every night, researching on the Internet, doing power points, share points, math, handwriting, word studies, book group prep, and on and on. I think it has been more of an adjustment for me as I have to help her manage it all and I seem to complain more than she does. If nothing else, he is making sure these 4th graders are well prepared for the years ahead. Joseph thinks it is fantastic.

Abigail doesn't have a mean bone in her body and is careful to include everyone, even a little brother who can be annoying on occasion. She is also rather shy and reserved--at least with people or in situations she doesn't feel comfortable. That used to be most situations outside the home but is now less. Lately, she has really taken to reading and is currently reading Chronicles of Narnia. She loves fantasy and adventure books, the Series of Unfortunate Events being another one of her favorites. She has never been interested in a lot of the things girls her age like, i.e., HS Musical, Hannah Montana, pop music, and things of that sort. You will rarely find her in front of the TV--never has been and it will be interesting to see if she ever cares about TV.

We recently took the kids to the Botanic Gardens here in Singapore to try and get some good photos of them. Not everyone would cooperate, starting from the beginning when I tried to dress them all in their matching "tropical" clothes I bought at Gymboree last summer in the states. We were in such a rush to get to church anyway with hair done and shoes on. In any case, here are some of the results of the group pictures.