Elyse Turns 5 (part 2)

Here are Elyse's favorite things at the age of Five:

• Drink: Vanilla Milk
• Food: Noodles and Cheese (cooked spiral noddles sprinkled with shredded cheese)
• Movie: Rapunzel
• Book: Dancing Dreams by: Kate Ohnt (I think she picked this one becasue it was sitting right next to her when I asked her these questions)
• Activity: Hide and Seek
• Song: I don't know the name of it but she sings it a Church and has the lyrics "He'll never give up on me"
• Toy: Barbie Dream House
• Colors: Pink, Purple, and Red
• Activity at School: Art

When she grows up, Elyse wants to be a nurse (Like her Aunt Kristen and will also live in CO when she is a nurse. Elyse assured me I can come and visit)

Elyse Turns 5 (part 1)

(Before I go on, I know this is looong overdue)

When I asked Elyse what she wanted to do for her birthday she said she wanted to run through the sprinklers and have a pinata, so that's what we did.

The day before her party, Elyse helped me make her cake. She wanted a Stawberry cake with vanilla frosting.

 As the time for the party approached, grey clouds were coming through and there was some thunder in the distance. There was a good chance that this outside party would be held inside :(. Thankfully right as the party started the clouds cleared and it was a great day to play in the water.

 The kids had a great ime running through the sprinklers and playing in the pool.

 Anastasia's favorite part might have been the chips :)

 PINATA TIME!

 This pinata was so hard to break (Toby even hit it a few times). We finally took it off the fence so the kids could smack it on the ground for awile.

 Caleb finally got a hole

 and then Levi finished the job.

 Dillan and Elyse hanging out

 At the end of the party we played "pass the parcel." We learned this game from some friends from South Africa while we lived in Singapore. It was a big hit.

A package (or parcel- said with an accent ;)) is wrapped in multiple layers. Within each layer is a small surprise. Kids sit in a circle and pass the parcel as music plays. Whomever is holding the parcel when the music stops gets to unwrap a layer and get the surprise.

 All the party guests:

 Levi, Elyse, Caleb, Anastasia, Dillan, Mason

 and Maddie:

 After the party Elyse opened her gifts. I love this picture because you can see how much she likes this Belle doll by the look in her eyes.

 HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELYSE!

The First Day of Kindergarten

On the first day of school we were all up early and ready to go. Toby decided to go into work late so he could see Elyse off for her first day of Kindergarten. I am so glad he was there to drive since I was nervous about getting to school on time and then navigating the parking lot.

I love this picture:

Here we go...

Elyse looks sad in this picture, but she's not. I'm not sure what's going on. Anyway...

We got to school early and brought Elyse to the gym where we waiting for her teacher to bring her to class.

 Elyse and Mrs. Young off to class.

We helped Elyse figure out where to put her lunch and her back pack and then she found her desk.

Elyse's class. There are only 14 kids in her class right now. This small class size is one reason I wanted to send her to Cypress Christian.

After the kids were settled we said all the pledges and prayed for our kids. The kids started the day and the parents were invited to a "boo-boo" blueberry muffin party to meet other kindergarten parents and cry if need be. ;)

After school I picked up Elyse and asked how school was. She said she had a good day and loves school. We celebrated the first day of school with ice cream sundaes. When I put chocolate sauce on her ice cream Elyse said something to the effect of "Oh, I think I've seen this before..." poor deprived child seeing chocolate sauce for the first time at home at the age of 5 ;)

Since the first day, Elyse continues to like school. She is very tired at night, but I think it's getting a little better.

Here are a few pictures I took yesterday after being in school for a week. (I think the plaid skirt is so cute.)

The Day Before...

The day before Elyse's first day of Kindergarten (at Cypress Christian School) was very eventful. It began by visiting the Willertons and meeting their brand new baby Isaac. We then headed to lunch at one of Elyse's favorite places- KFC and then went to meet her teacher. When we arrived to Elyse's classroom we were the first ones there which gave us an opportunity to talk to her teacher one-on-one and get a picture.

Elyse's teacher is Mrs. Young and has been teaching kindergarten for a few years at CCS.

Elyse was not one bit nervous and found her desk easily. On her desk were some Starburst which was a nice bonus. After taking in the scene, I had Elyse practice finding her classroom from the front of the school. She had no problem.

After visiting school we headed home. Anastasia fell asleep in the car so I took this opportunity to get a treat with Elyse while A slept. We went to Sonic and had some ice cream.

Once A woke up we were home and I told Elyse she could watch a movie. She chose Madagascar 2. Prior to the movie Elyse received some flowers from Aunt Pat and Uncle Don for her first day of Kindergarten.

This is Elyse's flower pose

And of course Anastasia had to do it too.

The movie was followed by a rousing game of Hide-and-seek.

It was quite a busy day. Tomorrow our lives change. I realized that I will only see Elyse about 4 or 5 hours each day counting travel to and from school. That may sound like a lot but if you factor in driving and dinner and baths and homework and everything else it's not much time at all :(

I am excited for Elyse and I know she will do great, I am going to just have to adjust and then celebrate the fact that Elyse is bringing us into the next phase of our lives.

Until tomorrow...

Flash Back: Date Night

Way back in March Toby and I had a date night. We decided to spend it by the water. We went to the Sentosa Boardwalk for dinner and then went to Sentosa for the Crane Show.

 When Singapore does something they try and be the best, that doesn't change even with Animatronic Cranes ;)

The Crane show was basically a light show about 2 robotic cranes that fall in love and then turn into real birds. It's all set to music. If you happen to be on Sentosa it's an interesting sight. We got there early (like an hour) just because we happened to be there and all we wanted to do was hung to together so why not wait together for a crane show? 

People had begun filling up the seats purposefully an hour+ ahead of time. I couldn't believe how early people got there (it might have been a couple of tour groups) To entertain themselves, the groups were singing old Chinese songs. The guy next to me was cheering them on in Chinese and I could understand it thanks to Elyse and her cheering at school.

Princess Camp

I know I am soooooooo far behind in blog posts, but I thought I would share this video of Elyse dancing before really catching up on things.

I was looking for a camp Elyse could participate in this summer and found a Princess Dance Camp. Two days a week Elyse get to hang out with other girls, dance, do a craft and dress up. She seems to really like it (even if the dancing confuses her a little bit).

Adjustments

So far I think our "reentry" has gone relatively smoothly. Jet lag is over and now regular fatigue has begun, but so far I've only had one break down and that didn't last long ;) Besides the "normal" adjustments that come with moving (ie figuring out the neighborhood and the grocery stores, etc.) there are some small cultural stuff that I have had to adjust to. Here are just a few:

• Driving on the other side of the car and road
• Getting free refills (the first time I went to get a free refill I felt like I was doing something wrong)
• Saying "to go" rather than "take away" and "light ice" instead of "less ice" for my drink
• Driving everywhere
• Do you know it takes like 10 extra minutes to get your kids in and out of a car? I feel like I'm late everywhere I go!
• People asking if you need help in a store
• Did you know that the land of plenty does not have some of the American stuff that is carried in Singapore? True story.
• Cleaning my own house.

I'm sure there is going to be a lot more things, but for now this is the beginning of the list and I"m sure I'll have another breakdown so if you see me in the cereal aisle crying in front of the bazillion types of Cheerios don't stare ;) Thanks.