First Sleepover

Elyse was invited over to her friend Violet's house for her first sleep over. Thanks to Gillian (Violet's mom) I have some pictures from the night/morning.

Movie time!
Story before bed. Although they were in bed, I was told they were whispering until 10. A true slumber party.

Movie time in a tent!

Play time!

It was a success! Next time we will have Violet at our house.

Anastasia's Party

We had a swimming/pizza party to celebrate Anastasia's first year. Elyse was so excited and was waiting and watching for everyone to arrive.

Anastasia was having a great time in the water. She is such a waterbug.

Friends began to arrive...

After a little while it began to rain so we went up to the apartment. The kids played and played and played.

Then it was time for cake. Here are the kids singing to the birthday girl:

She was a little overwhelmed.

but the cake was good :)

Marek agreed

Happy Birthday Anastasia!

Stats

Today was Anastasia's 1 year check up. She is 9.41 kg (20 lbs 12 oz) and 74 cm (29 in) tall. She is healthy and all set to travel to the US next week. Just for comparison's sake Elyse was 19 lbs and is 28 1/2 in tall.

On another note, Elyse's last day at Twinkle Minds (her school) was today. It was a little sad for me and the teachers, but Elyse was just happy to get some stickers and candy as a going away gift. In July Elyse will be starting a new school just down the road Jurong Christian Church Kindergarten.

Anastasia Joy is 1

This time last year I had just finished a pedicure and was about to have lunch at Carl's Junior hoping and praying you would arrive. My prayer was answered later that night. (more details)You have been such a blessing to this family ever since.

Over the passed year you have grown so much. You are now walking around, babbling, and playing with things. You love to flip through books, swim, and play with anything that lights up and makes noise. You are full of smiles and so friendly to people who pass by.

You are our Singapore baby and have already traveled to China, Indonesia and Australia. That is more traveling than some people do in a life time. I hope when you are older you will continue to travel and perhaps even make it back to where you were born.

I love you so much. Happy Birthday baby girl!

Happy Birthday Anastasia!

Toby's parents were able to come out this weekend to celebrate Anastasia's first birthday with us. Since they are actually leaving on the 29th, we had the celebration a day early.

We started with some presents. Anastasia didn't quite know how to open the gifts, but she got some help from her big sister.

Since Toby is in Korea and wasn't able to to join in the celebration in person, we skyped him and he was able to join in the fun. Anastasia kept showing her daddy what she got and just enjoyed "hanging out with him."

Here is the "help" I was talking about. Anastasia wasn't really interested in this next present. She was still thinking of the last one she opened. Elyse had other ideas.

Anastasia with Daddy.

Next was cake. Elyse helped make and decorate the cake.

Toby got to sing with us, but unfortunately couldn't enjoy the cake ;)

Anastasia ate some of the cake but in the end preferred a rice cracker.

In the afternoon Grammy and Gramps took the girls swimming. It was a great day. Happy Birthday Anastasia!

Thanks Grammy and Gramps for coming!

Random

Here are some of the Random thoughts going through my brain tonight (don't worry I'll get back to Eric and Kristen's visit soon, it's just I don't have an adult to tell all these random things too since Toby's in Korea.)

1. At dinner Elyse said her vegetables were delectable (thanks Fancy Nancy). This made me smile.

2. I think Anastansia ate more at dinner than I did. We had Polish Sausages and she ate an entire sausage plus a veggie packet and some raisins! She must be growing.

3. I have 2 pairs of shorts that I can currently wear and they don't even fit right. I can't wait until we go to the States so I can go on a shopping spree!

4. Thanks to Sid the Science Kid we made apple juice Popsicles and blue ice cubes today.

5. I can't wait for my dryer to be fixed, I hate hanging clothes to dry. Plus they are all crunchy even with fabric softener.

6. I wouldn't mind answering all of Elyse's questions if she actually listened to the answer I give instead of asking "what?"right afterward or arguing that she doesn't like my answer. It's a bit draining.

To end things here is a picture of the girls playing together:

Thank God

My morning was a series of ups and down today, but in each down, God provided an up.

My plan today was to go to a nearby playground with SWINGS (a rarity in Singapore). I was even going to face facts that A is down to one nap so I hurried everyone up to get out of the house before it started to rain. Elyse wasn't really wanting to go, but she got ready anyway. Then as we were about to leave big dark clouds appeared and I decided it wasn't worth the risk. Elyse cried.

Thank God we have skype.

I looked at the clock and realized Elyse's cousins would still be up so we gave them a call. Elyse cheered up when she saw Uncle Eric, Aunt Kristen, Cate and Ashton. I can't wait until Cate and Elyse can be together in person. They already have so much fun on skype. After this call I saw Jan and Jack were on so I called them up and they might be coming for Anastasia's birthday!

Thank God for relatives so close.

After our skype session. Anastasia had her nap and Elyse and I got to have some fun time together. When A got up I decided I needed to get out of the house. Toby had left the car so it didn't matter if it was raining. I convince E that going out to lunch was a good idea and we packed up and headed for the car.

Thank God for the car.

Unfortunately the car would not start. So I called the rent a car company and they said they would send someone over later in the day. So now I have a girl I had convinced going out was a good idea although she really didn't think so and a car that wouldn't start.

Thank God for umbrellas and the train.

I saw that it wasn't raining to hard so we started out toward the train. As we were halfway there I got a call from the car place and they were basically on their way. Although I was happy that they responded so quickly, I had to explain to Elyse that we couldn't go out to eat.

Thank God for McDonald's Delivery.

So we headed back home and Elyse decided she didn't want her umbrella. So she walked in the rain and splashed in puddles :) I think this was the highlight of the morning. At the end of the morning we had a fixed car, full bellies and I have some time to blog.

Thank God for nap time :)