Chinese New Year

Another Chinese New Year descends upon us in Singapore.  Our 5th and year of the dragon.  The most notable thing is the changes at the grocery store.  Part of tradition is that you get all your shopping and cutting done before the lunar new year, then during the 3 day holiday you serve your family and friends food.  The first year I was here, I was baffled at the crowds and the changes in traffic patterns.  Now I got it all down.  I know what I have to brave to get some groceries.


The day before Chinese New Year, waiting in line.

The day after Chinese New Year holiday, taken from roughly the same spot.

Christmas 2011

Our 5th Christmas in Singapore continued with the same traditions that we have enjoyed over these past years in our home away from home.

Making sugar cookies with Bruschke cousins.

Eating ice cream on Orchard Road as we enjoyed all the lights and decorations.

 Purple people eaters.  Joseph thought we looked alike,  I think it is more the purple shirts though.

 One of the many decorated elephants that were along the main road, Orchard Road, in downtown Singapore.

 Christmas Eve we again enjoyed a Bethlehem dinner with lamb, pita and hummus, goat cheese, grapes, pomegranate seeds, fava bean salad, olive relish and barley soup.  It was deliciousness.

 Lots of smiles and happy kids on Christmas morning.

 What a two year old does when no one is looking, which happens to be a lot of the time in a household as busy as ours.

 An afternoon Christmas walk.  Maggie is enjoying her new camera that she got for Christmas.

 Dinner with the Bruschkes finished our Christmas festivities.

Xander's Holiday Concert

Xander's first grade class did a cute holiday program on school Friday morning.  He was in the "50's rock" number and did a really good job.  I posted a video from my youtube account.  Hopefully it works for you. (Xander is kind of in the back on the left of the video.)  

2 year old fun

Well, almost two that is.  Juliet turns 2 at the end of December, but she is already getting into trouble and throwing fits as good as any two year old.  During a 30min phone conversation she managed to dump a whole water bottle out on my bedroom rug, get into the toilet, and color herself green.  I must add that it could be worse, like red punch or drawing all over the walls.  Ella was on that level.

She sure is cute though and loves to do whatever Ella does--wearing her helmet.

 And hiding in random places.

Maggie's Harp Recital

Maggie had a harp recital today--her first one since starting harp about 12 months ago.  She did a great job with her piece called "Country Dance" by memory.  I took a picture with my iPhone of all the students.  It didn't turn out great, but it was all I had in my purse.  

Here are videos of Maggie playing her song.  I also recorded her teacher playing.  It was so incredible if you want to take a look.  She is the blond adult in the back row of the picture.  She has a Masters from a UK school in harp performance.

Christmas music

All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth. . . . NOT.  (An emphatic not because whenever I start singing that song around him, he is pretty emphatic that he wants other things.) I want a remote control heliocopter, or a fighter jet, or ninja legos.  

O Tannenbaum O Tannenbaum, how lovely are your branches. . . not to mention the lego village.

Ella's 4th Birthday

I guess I will take a big jump from Halloween to Ella's Birthday.  We did have a nice Thanksgiving holiday, feasting with the younger Bruschke's and Craig along with some friends from the ward, the Claytons.  Then on Friday we meant the Bruschke's on the east coast to enjoy Carl's Jr and some fun riding in a surrey and walking the dogs--in a Singapore thunderstorm.  We all got drenched, and then dried over the course of the meal.  It was great fun. No pictures though--so sad.


A few days later, we celebrated Ella's birthday.  She has talked about it for weeks and finally she got to celebrate with balloons, presents, cake a her brother and sisters.  There was only a major squall over the balloon with Juliet.  Telling her she would get one in a month on her birthday didn't work.  Nor did telling Ella to try and share it.  She had a "4" cake and as much pink as I could manage to make of her birthday, as she constantly reminds me that is her favorite color.