Holiday Parties at SAS- 2009

This is Carington's friend Ellie. Ellie and her family are leaving Singapore after 7 years. They are moving to Ohio. December and the summer months are big transition times for families here in Singapore. Some families have months to plan and some families find out only weeks in advance that they will be leaving. Such is the case with Ellie and her family...they found out only 3 weeks ago that they will be leaving. Carington will miss Ellie!!!

Carington and "Santa"...do you recognize this Santa!!! Carington knows him REAL well!!!!

Mrs. Cullen's 4th grade class and Santa! Santa came around to all the classes to collect school supplies the kids had brought all week to donate to charity. The kids got to plan the Christmas Party. They were divided into groups and each group had to work together to come up with a proposal and submit it to their teacher!! What a wonderful learning experience!! Each team built a "fort" and they got to wear pj's and drink hot chocolate. It was up to each team via the proposal to decide what they would do in their "fort"!!! There are many different nationalities represented in Carington's class. US, Dutch, Indian (not native American but the country), Chinese, Malaysia, Norway...I think that covers it all!!!!

This is Santa and all the supplies he collected from the 4th grade!!!! You can't see it but Santa had on flip-flops...He was a Singaporean Santa!! As you can imagine he was drenched in sweat when he finished. My sweet husband was so kind to help me out and dress up as Santa. I am the 4th grade Head Room mom which means I have 13 room moms underneath me that represent each of the individual classes. Each grade level K-5 has 13 classes. There are Head Room moms for each of the Intermediate grade levels as well as Primary. As Head Room Mom's we are responsible for planning all the class parties, putting all the supplies together and getting it out the individual classes. It is a lot of work but a lot of fun. I work with a great group of ladies!!

Knee Deep in Boxes!!!!

We are in our new condo and knee deep in boxes. Spent our first night Friday night. I think everyone but me slept well...just getting used to new sounds and up a million times to check on the kiddos in new rooms. Hopefully tonight we'll be more restful. I found my razors hadn't shaved my legs in a few days because they were packed away and I just found them in a box ( tmi) !!!!! Carington and Robert took a spin around the new place on Carington's scooter this morning to check the new facilities out. Had our first lunch of fried rice today and it was yummy. Hard to believe one week from today we'll be getting ready to come home for Christmas!!! Can't wait!!!!

On The Move!!!

This is for all you grandparents...I'm going to start blogging again so that you can keep up with our everyday lives here in Singapore. 2 years ago we moved into this little condo called Gardenville. Our sea shipment had not arrived yet so we went and bought air mattresses to sleep on and a few pots and pans and dishes from Ikea to make a month until it arrived. We were tired of living in a serviced apartment so we made the jump and moved on over. Fast forward almost 2 years and tonight 12/10 will be our lastnight to sleep in #02-05!!! The Morris' are moving to Nassim Woods!! It is a much bigger condo with 4 bedrooms and 2 living areas and 5 bathrooms. It is still in the same area of Singapore the Orchard area...close to the American Club and Tanglin Mall and Carington's dance. I'll try and take some pictures of the new place and our old empty place and post for you!!!!

Back to Bloggin!!!!

I'm back to bloggin'.  It's been an unexpected hiatus, our dinosaur (2001) of a computer bit the dust so we got a new Mac and I just got out of the habit.  However, I need a blog tutorial with my dear friend Annie who help me set up this blog 18 months ago.   I'll have to schedule one with her this summer when we are home.  

I've been to Vietnam so I have great pictures to post!!!  That should probably be my next project.

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2009 Intermediate School Variety Show!!!! (Feb.6, 2009)

A Star Is Born!!!!

Carington with 2 of her good friends Hannah and Sabrina...before the show!

Carington and Brady with our helper Emy.

A special dinner before the show...spaghetti (carbs for energy!!), salad, green beans and garlic bread...one of Carington's favorite meals.

THE SHOW!!!!

Carington was the 2nd one to preform in the 1st Act!!!
Dancing to Route 66 by the Cheetah Girls!!!! She was fabulous!!! We were soooooo proud of her!!

Posing with flowers given to her by her 3rd grade teacher. I thought that was so nice of Mrs. Brundage...but she is an AMAZING teacher!

With her good buddy Lisette!!!

All gathered on stage for the Finale!!! The hard work was done and now they could relax and celebrate!!! This was not your average, everyday talent show...but SAS is not your average, everyday school! There were 43 acts- divided into 2 acts...and these kids were AMAZING!!! Piano players, violin players, dancers, kids who sang and danced, there were kids who did skits with props...I could go on and on. I was so impressed at the courage it took for these kids (3rd-5th grade) to audition and then preform in front of at least 1,000 people (it was standing room only...seriously)!!!!!!!!

This was outside the theatre.

A reception was held after the show in the Intermediate/Middle School cafeteria.

This is Carington's friend Maddy...she's in the 5th grade and danced in the show, as well. The girls both dance at the same studio. Maddy is an AMAZING dancer...you'll see her on Broadway one day!!!!

This is Carington's friend Stephanie Chen...the girls are in the same class together. Stephanie was in the show and played the piano. She played Fur Elise and played as if she was an adult!!!!!

The Variety Show is a much anticipated event in the Intermediate School and one we feel honored to have been a part of...it was a good experience for Carington. One that took time and discipline to practice her dance both before auditions and then during rehearsals for the show and it took courage and determination to audition for the show and preform in front of so many people. She enjoyed every bit of it...and is already planning her dance for next year so stay tuned!!!!!

Botanical Gardens

Enjoying breakfast in one of the many cafe's!!

A little 2 year old boy could run and run...on grass instead of concrete. I joke that he's only going to think that concrete exists!!

Sissy had lots of room to run and do cartwheels!






The grass was not as green and lush as it usually is due to a lack of rain in February.

Father and son!!!!!

My cutie pies!!!!!

LOOK at the size of this tree trunk...HUGE...the botanical gardens were established in it's present location in 1859 which probably explains why this tree is so large!

Our little family spent a lovely Saturday morning in the Botanical Gardens here in Singapore. It is a popular tourist attraction as well as for locals and expats. It is 63 hectares (have no clue how big that really is...that's what it said on this one website-hee, hee!) and a wonderful, peaceful place to go in the midst of the concrete jungle.

This N That'

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FINALLY found a pizza place that I like and would order from again! It's called Sarpino's and it was soooo yummy! My favorites back home are Mazzio's and Hideaway and just haven't found anything that compares! Still can't wait to have Hideaway this summer. Carington's favorite is CiCi's...it's cheap and a kid favorite.

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Had a good thunderstorm this afternoon. It's amazing how quickly it can go from sunny and gorgeous to cloudy and a torrential rainstorm. The nice thing about the rain is it often cools things down and it's pleasant to be outside for a bit...until the humidity returns. It won't be long until severe weather season back home and I'll be able to watch the streaming live coverage from Channel 6.

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Looked at the Target add online tonight and it made my heart skip a beat!!!!! I CAN NOT tell you how much this Oklahoma girl misses her Target. It will be one of my first stops when we hit the ground this summer!!!!! After loving on family and friends at the airport it has become tradition to stop at Ouik Trip and get a fountain Dr. Pepper!!! My mouth is watering now!

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Carington is spending the night with her friend Lissette. No school tomorrow (Monday) or Tuesday due to Parent Conferences and the next week is Spring Break. Lissette and her family some of our first friends when we moved her last January, so they hold a special place in our heart. The family is moving to Paris this summer so we will soon tell them good-bye. This is my first time to experience telling friends good-bye. The expat community is very transient as you might imagine. I have another good friend Becky ( we met at at the New Parent coffee last January), she and her are moving back to the States this summer and I am sad to see her go. She's a sweet Christian friend...someone you can say "will you pray for me" and I've been so thankful for her.

" Yes, I LOVE technology"

...as the song from Napoleon Dynamite goes. Our computer has been on the blink (it's a dinosaur in today's world 2001 or 2003, I can't remember)...the Internet has been down. A computer geek said that a virus got it and it was going to cost a lot of money to repair. So we decided to take the plunge into the world of Mac's and have ordered a new IMac that comes on the market the 11th but is not set for delivery until 2 or 3 wks. I have felt so lOST and DISCONNECTED from the outside world!!!! How did we ever live before computers??? Robert's travel schedule has been horrendous so I haven't had access to his computer in the evenings. BUT lastnight I thought I'm going to try and connect to the Internet and see what happens...don't know HOW or WHY but It Worked!!!!!! I have so many posts and pictures to update you on...so get ready!!!! Still can't wait for that new Mac...

Repatriation

...ever heard of that word before???? It was not a word I was to familiar with until beginning this "expat" life that we're in!!!
**** expatriate- person who temporarily resides in a country and culture other than that of the persons upbringing or legal residence

**** repatriate- to return to the country of origin

Right now we are expats but one day we will repatriate!!!!! So with all that said lastnight I went to a seminar presented by Robin Pascoe on her book titled, Homeward Bound : A Spouse's Guide to Repatriation. It was very informative! She spoke on the fact that moving back to your home country is often harder than moving abroad. Because when you move to a foreign country you expect things to be different and harder but you often idealize the thought of returning home. She mentions the fact that you forget that your friends have changed just as you have changed. You expect that life will just pick right up where it left off and that is not the case. The expected length of culture shock when moving overseas is 1 year but she says you can expect it to last 18months to 2years when repatriating. I tend to idealize situations and then experience a BIG let down when they don't happen as I had envisioned so this was SOOO good for me to hear. I bought the book and will tuck it away and pull it out when the time comes for us move Homeward Bound!!!!

Hard Working Daddy!!

My sweet baby girl!!!!

Notice the car in the right hand...he's usually got one in hand!!! My 3 loves snuggled up watching a movie!!!!

Brady's clapping because he's proud of himself for stacking the blocks. He'll say..." good job bra, bra, bra" (the a is pronounced with a long sound as in hay).
"pay bocks, pay bocks" when he wants you to play build with him.

No- Robert's not passed out drunk on the floor...just exhausted from taking the red-eye from India the night before and then going to office the next day.

LOVES to drive his cars on anything that can be a road!!

Brady left his car "parked" on daddy's head and he didn't even realize it.

These pictures were taken one Friday night after Robert had spent a whirl-wind week in India. When he travels to India he usually leaves Singapore on Sunday evening, so that he can spend the day with us which puts him into Mumbai (yes, the place where the terrorist attacks happened last November) late that night ( India is 3 hours behind Singapore) and then catches an early morning flight to a city called Baroda. TD's India offices are located in this city. Robert has been traveling there even more frequently to oversee the building of a manufacturing plant for his company. And often times traveling to other cities while he's in India. He had taken the red-eye the night before and landed in Singapore around 8am came home showered slept for an hour and then out the door for a luncheon meeting. Thus the life of an expat business man. Their lives consist of late night conference calls or early morning conference calls to coordinate times back in the States and lots and lots of travel all over the region and day to day operations in the office. My sweet husband works very hard for his family and we love and appreciate him!!!!

Precious Little Moments

This morning I had one of those moments to freeze and rewind...Brady has been into Barney lately...and this morning out of the blue he starts singing the Barney song..." I wuv ooo-ooo wuv me" with arms out stretched giving hugs and kisses along with the song. I bet he sang it 4 or 5 times over and over...I couldn't stop laughing and smiling.

Here he is coloring with his crayons that he got in his stocking at Christmas.

Brady's little friends

My sweet baby boy has 3 little international friends he plays with...isn't that amazing! Marteese is from France but is half Indonesian/half French...Chang Huen is from Korea. Neither Brady or Chang Huen can understand each other...they just both "jabber" on in their own language and smile at each other. And he met a knew friend the other day named Ikey...he's from Japan. I'll have to remember and bring my camera and take pictures so you can see them. Growing up and living in Oklahoma my whole life I have not had hardly any interactions with people of other cultures so this is all new for me...and for my kids to get to experience it at their ages is so exciting for me!!!

Tattle Tail, Tattle Tail...

this is a cute story to tell!!!! Brady was playing peacefully driving his car's along the top of Robert's briefcase (Sunday-I believe) when along comes "issy" to aggravate!! I hear a scream and a "no no" and then Brady says to me, "issy git bra bra"! Oh my goodness it was soooo funny...his first time to tell on his "issy" and I'm sure it won't be the last!!!!

Two Year Old for Sale!!!

How could you sell that sweet little face!!!!! He makes my heart smile! He can frustrate me to know end and then I can turn around and kiss his skin off!!!!

Sweet little thing was only 9 months old here!!

I LOVE my little boy with all my heart but he has been a bit of a "challenge" lately! Guess the "terrible two's" are entering our world. He has an independent little spirit and is wanting to do things on his own. "Bra Bra do dis", he says!!

Sunday in particular was a challenging day. I had found a new restaurant for us to try called Pasta Fresca on Bukit Timah road...the weather was beautiful with a nice tropical breeze blowing so we chose to set outside. I was all set to enjoy a lovely lunch with my beautiful family...that lunch turned into a battle of wills!! I was willing to sell him to the highest bidding grandparent by the end of the day!! Joking, of course!

As we enter this season in Brady's life I will be seeking the Lord on wisdom...hmm, could that be why the Lord led me to the Wisdom for Mother's bible study on Thursday mornings??????

Singapore Zoo- January 26, 2009

...couldn't get Brady to set still long enough to get a good shot

White Tigers...the Singapore Zoo has natural barriers so the animals are not in cages...it was kind of creepy looking at the tigers.

The picture doesn't do it justice but we could not get over how TALL this tree was!

Baboons...Brady enjoyed watching them.

While you all were experiencing the ice, sleet and snow of 2009...we were in the tropics working up a sweat and enjoying an ice cream break!

Brady finally got the hang of licking the cone with his tongue!