Happy Birthday Ella

 Ella turned 5 on November 30.  She wanted everything pink and she is head over heels in love with anything that has to do with dogs.  She knows every dog on the street by name and pets all of them through the house gates.  She has made up an imaginary pink dog named "Sparkle" that sometimes takes shape in stuffed dogs and others in Ella herself.

Halloween

Halloween was quite an event here.  I don't particularly care for Halloween.  It is sort of the kick off, or the holiday to wade through to the better ones to follow, namely Thanksgiving and Christmas.  And it always seems to come down to the last minute.  I was up late getting the details of costumes together and handling last minute changes (Magdalene was going to be a flower then change to a bat) and meltdowns (Ella's mermaid costume was too small and I had to do some serious begging and bribing to get her to wear the witch costume, which was ADORABLE.)

Xander was Sensei Wu from Lego Ninjango.  I made a beard, but he was not quite brave enough to wear it.

 Went to school parties from 12:30-3:00 straight.  Juliet got to make a cookie with Ella at her Pre-K school party.

Magdalene was a bat posing here in front of the house before leaving to trick-or-treat.

 Juliet was a princess.

There I am, a fifties housewife, getting ready to hand out candy.  I had several thousand pieces of candy and it lasted almost an hour.  The streets are crowded with people in all shapes and sizes and decked out in all manner of costumes--something similar to carnival I would think.  Abigail was a flower and sold water bottles with her cousin Breann.  They each made about $150 profit for a couple hours of work.  Not bad.

Grocery Shopping

I have resorted to several methods of getting groceries these past few months without a car:

I have some delivered from a grocer who calls me daily to see what I need for the day.  I frequently bike up to the local store and get some basics to take home by hanging the bags on the handle bars.  And the other day, I pulled Juliet in the wagon up to the store and got a bigger haul.  She had a grand time.

Girls Camp

It has been too long since I posted anything.  I am soooooo busy.  With a husband working a lot and commuting an hour or so now that we moved up to the north of the island by the school, I barely have time to do much of anything but keep up with the kids and all the activities and the dramas in life.  For example, Maggie has fractured her wrist and her knee, with a cast and crutches, and 10+ hours in emergency rooms.

Abigail recently went to girl's camp in October.  It wasn't her first girl's camp.  She actually had the opportunity to go in Minnesota over the summer to a regional girl's camp that included eight stakes in the region.  900 girls and 100 leaders attend the "encampment" held on the University of Minnesota campus in Duluth, Minnesota.  She left early Monday morning and returned on Saturday afternoon.  There was no contact with the girls--only through cell phones with the leaders if there was an emergency.  I must admit it was strange going that long without talking to my daughter.  She basically knew none of the girls and was assigned a roommate at random. When she walked in the door that afternoon, she seemed older.  The first experience of really leaving the nest was successful.  She had a fantastic time and her only regret was that it had to end.  I was proud of her for going and making it such a great experience.  

Back in Singapore, she attended girl's camp in Indonesia on an island not too far from Singapore called Telunas.  Joseph volunteered to be an adult male/priesthood holder as they needed two and asked him if he would go.  I'm glad he could go and spend that time with Abigail and the other cute girls in our Singapore 4th ward.

Arriving at the camp Telunas in long boats.

My cute, but absentee globe-hopping husband.

Cliff jumping--that looks like a scaredy face.

 The ropes course.

The girls.  Abigail got to go with her cousin too--Ashlyn, first on the left back row.

Hello Cello

Joseph and Abigail had some fun with the cello and the camera.  I thought these were pretty cute.  Abigail has come quite a ways since she started cello a couple of years ago.  She is in Advanced Strings this year again and still takes private lessons weekly.  She recently upsized to a full size cello and we bought her a new, very nice German made cello.  She wanted to sleep with it the first night we had it.  

Zoo with Juliet

I love having time to spend with Juliet in the mornings.  She is such a sweet girl and so excited about discovering the world around her.  Last week we went to the zoo with Cami and Bryant.  She got to feed the giraffes and wasn't at all scared of them.  She sure loves animals.  

Back in Singapore

To make a long story short, Joseph left Cargill and took a job with another metal trading company in Singapore called Coeclerici. We had our stuff delivered to Minnesota, kept it in the garage in boxes and then two weeks later shipped it out again for Singapore. We spent a nice summer in our home in Minnesota enjoying family, lakes, and our little bit of forest. We hope to keep the house and come back each summer. Minnesota is a great place to call home.

We are in a new place here in Singapore, in the Woodlands, just around the corner from the SAS, the kids school. It is about a 5 minute walk is all and great for them to sleep in a little more and just skip along to school minutes before it starts. We made the decision to put Ella into school there too in the Pre-Kinder program. Abigail walks her to school everyday and I walk to pick her up. We do not have a car as of yet. So four kids are all settled into their classes and we are finally getting down to a routine. Once Joseph starts work and our stuff comes, life will really seem like it has gone back to normal. I hope to have time to catch up on the summer blogging that I need to get done.


The first day of school at the Singapore American School, asa SAS.  Ella is so excited to go to school with her brother and sisters.  Abigail walks her to the PRe-Kindergarten campus each morning before heading to Middle School, 7th grade.  Magdalene is in 5th grade and Xander in 2nd.