19 weeks

I am just about at 19 weeks- almost half way through my pregnancy. I have been feeling pretty good overall and my doctor said the baby is growing well. The biggest development is that I can now feel the baby kick. I love that part of pregnancy!

Joy to the World

Currently Elyse's favorite song to sing:

Christmas Gatherings

We are so lucky to have such great friends here in Singapore and it was wonderful to be able to celebrate Christmas with some of them. Jennifer was nice enough to let me invite people over to her house :) Toby and I were in charge of the turkey and then everyone else brought a side dish or dessert. We had a full spread from cream corn and mashed potatoes to green beans and salad. I made Trojan Triangles for an appetizer (feta cheese and cottage cheese wrapped in filo dough). For dessert we had 2 kinds of cake, peanut brittle, chocolates, and pumpkin bread. Yum!

Here are the adults plus Miriam as the other kids ignored most of their food to run around and play. It is fun to think how I met each family. I met Chris randomly at an MRT station, i met Melanie through her blog, and then I met Jennifer through a mutual friend. I also learned that Jennifer and I lived about 15 mintues away from each other in Texas. And then of course got to know each of their families.



Levi and Elyse get along so well together. Levi is always making Elyse laugh.

Here are most of the kids. Not the best pictures, but you get the idea.

I just really liked this picture of Elyse for some reason.

After a great meal and conversation, we headed home. It was a great way to spend Christmas.

A few days later we then got together with my bible study and their families for a Christmas celebration. It was a potluck lunch. I made lasagna and salad but there was chicken, fried rice, sushi, veggies dipped in chili sauce, and other great dishes.

I just had to share this picture of Elyse swimming since most of the people we know are all bundled up during the Christmas season. Quite a contrast :)

Elyse trying to play with the big kids.

For dessert we got "ice lollies" aka Popsicles.

Again, we had a great time. Although we miss our family back in the States, I am so happy that we could celebrate Jesus' birthday with our friends here in Singapore.

Christmas Morning

Elyse woke up a little before 7 and we headed to the living room to open presents. She was so happy to see all of the presents under the tree. After we told her we had to wait for Grammy and Gramps to open presents, we stirred her toward her stockings.


Happy Girl

Waiting for Grammy and Gramps

After Grammy and Gramps woke up, we read the Christmas story and then opened gifts. One of Elyse's gifts was a Thomas the train set.

Another gift was an Australian Animal Domino set complete with emus and kangaroos.

In the middle of opening gifts, Elyse got some books. She took a time out to read.

Toby was back from Korea (yippee!) and brought with him some gifts. One gift was this chicken:

It was a great morning. We had a wonderful breakfast (thanks to Jack and Jan) and had fun opening presents all awhile remembering why we were celebrating: Jesus' birth. Merry Christmas from our family to yours.

Merry Christmas!

Look Baby

Oh Christmas Tree...

We went and got our Christmas Tree today! Since Toby is out of town my friend Jennifer volunteered to help me out. We headed up to the nurseries on Upper Thompson Road and found only parallel parking spots. Since I didn't feel comfortable parking, Jennifer parked for us. What a great stand-in husband :)

After a little walking around we settled on a tree and took it home.


Once again Jennifer helped out by carrying up the tree. :)


We set up the tree and then Jennifer went back to her family. Thanks again. You are wonderful! Elyse and I got ready to decorate the tree by turning on some Christmas music and drinking some eggnog- Elyse actually liked it.

Elyse tried to help decorate the tree. She couldn't quite get the hook on the branch, but she did pick out the ornaments she wanted and figured out where to put them. She liked the glitter covered hearts the most. I think the biggest struggle we encountered was untangling the lights. Somehow they got all knotted up. As I sat on the floor untangling them, Elyse was kind enough to give me a back rub- what a great daughter I have!

Here is the final result:

I can't wait for Toby to get home so he can share it with us.

It's Snowing in Singapore!

Ok, so it's not snowing in Singapore, but it's fun to pretend. About a week ago we received a package from my parents with Christmas stuff. One of the things in the package was "Snow Powder." You just add water to it and it expands into something that looks like snow.

Elyse and I had a great time making the snow and by the end Elyse could almost do it by herself (I still poured the water, but Elyse did everything else :))



Elyse with the scooper:

Watch it grow!

Avalanche!

And what do you do after playing in the snow? Drink hot chocolate of course!

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!

Christmas Cookies

A few days ago I decided to make Christmas cookies with Elyse. This is the first time I have made cookie dough that you roll and cut shapes out of (as an adult). It did not start out well. I followed a basic sugar cookie recipe, but the dough wasn't sticking together, so I added more butter and another egg. Eventually it stuck together and we were to roll it out. The dough tasted ok, but the cookies were not very good (to me- Elyse still ate them). We both had fun in the process, so it's ok I didn't like the cookies.

Here Elyse is helping me cut out shapes. I like how she posed for the camera.

Here Elyse is "cleaning the table" with flour. Thanks Elyse.

Elyse explained to me the boy and girl cookie cutter were tickling each other:

The end product and one happy girl:

First Haircut

Today, at 29 months, Elyse got her first haircut. She was really excited about it until we actually got to the place. When we walked though the little gated door they have (for those not in Singapore, the haircutting place is in Toys R Us), she started to cry. We calmed her down with a bit of Barney on the TV. Then the lady went to put the cape on her and she started to cry again, so the cape stayed off. In the end she calmed down and was smiling. I would call that a success.

Elyse just got a trim to even out the length, so there isn't a huge difference.

Before:

After:Elyse's sad face:

Watching Barney:

Captivated by the TV:

All smiles afterward:

Last Day

On our last day we headed into Phuket Town. I unfortunately left the map with all of the things I wanted to see in Singapore, so we winged it. We asked to be dropped off in Old Town Phuket and we walked around for about an hour.

Notice 2 things in this picture. The light has a countdown so you know when it will change color, and the crazy wires.

As we were walking we noticed a temple, so we stopped by.

One of the many signs of wisdom outside the temple:

Inside the temple:

More crazy wires and a view of the buildings:

After we finished walking around the city, we headed to the Butterfly Garden just north of the town. There were butterflies flying everywhere and there were also fish to feed.

On the way back to the hotel we had lunch at a local supermarket. It was Thailand's version of a food court/hawker center. Toby and I had chicken curry which was very, very spicy and Elyse had rice and some apricots which I brought along.

Of course, the next activity was naps and then we headed back out to the water.

For dinner we walked along the beach and found another restaurant. The waitress gave Elyse this pretty flower for her hair.

Again, dinner was great and we had wonderful atmosphere.

Phuket was a great place for vacation. The weather was beautiful and we all had fun. Where should we head off to next?