My Baby and I

I was going through pictures and thought I'd share this one - it's from last March in California. Compliments of the Fehr's!

And The Winner IS....

Table 3!! Thanks to all who voted - this was the most votes we've had since starting the blog which was exciting:) Say hello to our new table!

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For those of you who voted for Table 2 - we are going to buy that one right before we come home to bring back with us for our deck...We really like it but we figured that if we were going to pay extra for it than we want one that we could take with us. (All three tables are made out of recycled teak wood which is cheaper to buy here than in the US.)

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As for Table 1 - that's the one I REALLY wanted but it was just too big! Too bad as it's a really nice table:(

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AN UPDATE FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO WEIGHED IN ON OUR OVEN SITUATION:

I had finally figured out what each of the symbols meant and when/how to use them but my food STILL wasn't turning out. So, we pulled out one of Ryan's industrial thermometers to check the oven temp. What we discovered is that the oven takes FOREVER to preheat and than once it starts heating, IT DOESN'T STOP!! It just keeps getting hotter and hotter - hence my frustration!

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The landlord's realtor was dragging her feet about getting someone out to look at it so we called a repair man ourselves. He told us that the whole oven and cook top (because they are separate from each other) need to be replaced.

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Our initial thought was, "Great! We couldn't get the realtor to send a repairman out how are we going to get her to replace the units?"

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The Lord heard our prayers and answered... My new oven and cooktop are being installed on April 1! YEA!

PS: I'm still having trouble with Blogspot wanting to run all my paragraphs together so I'm having to put the "***" between each one even though it doesn't flow as well.

Something Clever

Okay, I need the help from you all:) I need a new title for my blog but I can't seem to get the creative juices running. "Somewhere in Singapore" is too close to a friend of mine's blog "Something Singapore" so I need something a little different... Any ideas???

Ready for the SUN!

Easter Memories

We hope that everyone had a blessed Easter! Ours felt surprisingly normal thanks to Gary Anliker who uploaded an Easter service to our online folder. We dyed Easter Eggs on Saturday and let the kids look for them this morning. I did have a few disasters along the way - on Friday I placed cold eggs in boiling water - OOPS! I broke 10 out of the 30 I was trying to hard boil. Than I tried rolling out dough for cut out cookies only to find that you have to keep the dough frigid cold or it turns to mush - I also discovered that the oven is about 100 degrees Celsius off - that's right 100 degrees! (More on that later!) On Saturday I had the dye all ready to go and was getting the table ready when little tornado entered the kitchen and reached up on his tip toes and pulled the cup containing the yellow dye off the counter. Thankfully it didn't stain the floor although the jury's out on the carpet that it spilled on! There was just enough yellow coloring left thanks to a dye tablet that hadn't completely dissolved:)

All ready for the Great Singapore Easter Egg Hunt
I found a WHOLE HANDFUL of eggs!
Kaitlyn finds her Basket
Kenton finds his Basket
Look Grandpa R! I LOVE Peeps!!! Must be genetic! And these came all the way from IllinoiS!
See, the yellow ones are turning out JUST FINE
Kenton and Mom experimented making tri-color eggs

And let's not forget EBO! His egg may have hit the floor...
Last but not LEAST Kaitlyn finds her first egg!

Time For Another Vote

Our landlord has agreed to buy us a table and chairs for the downstairs patio. We went looking last weekend and narrowed it down to three tables. Now we need help deciding which one to pick!

Table 1: This is the biggest table when the leaf is in but would fit the most people around it comfortably. There will be a hole drilled in the middle leaf for an umbrella but the downside is that if we close it down to a round table for more space - no umbrella. The leaf stores inside the table.

Table 2 - is narrower than table 1 and has essentially three different sizes as there are two self-storing leaves. The pro to this table is that when condensed in size you can still have the umbrella as the middle piece with the umbrella hole stays put. There is a leaf on either side of the middle piece with the umbrella hole. The con is that it's more expensive and we would have to put a little of our own money towards it.Table 3 - smallest of all but also cheapest. Pro - definitely room on the patio for table and chairs with plenty of room to spare for a grill. Con - very small compared to the other two.

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You can vote off to the side on which table is your favorite!

Proof That I Do Indeed Live With My Children

Lately I've gotten several comments that I'm never in any of the pictures - therefore maybe I'm not actually in Singapore with my family. First let me tell you that you aren't missing much by not seeing pictures of me...Second I haven't changed that much so use your imagination to add me to the pictures...well, maybe picture me a little thinner, a little taller...:) Third - someone has to be the family photographer or we wouldn't have any pictures at all!

So without further ado, here's ME!

We found these birds in the Dempsey Hill shopping area in front of an antique and carpet shop. I'm not sure what keeps them from flying away...

Can someone send us an Easter sermon via Ryan's online folder?

The Singapore Zoo

Last Saturday we went to the Singapore Zoo with some friends - Brian and Fay and their two kids, Reese and Jake. It was hands down the best zoo we've ever been to - beating out Omaha and San Diego! Right inside the front entrance you walk straight into a rain forest and there are monkey's overhead. Everywhere we turned it seemed like there were animals. It's formatted the same way as the Kansas City Zoo - no cages, just animals in their natural habitat - only it's much easier to see the animals than when you are at the KC Zoo. Other than one little mishap of some of us being separated for 30 minutes it was a very nice day!

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Ethan was captivated by the pacing leopards - or maybe it's a jaguar - There is a difference but I don't remember which is which! One has spots within the spots and the other does not.
Like I said earlier, there are monkey's everywhere! Here they were just being fed lunch - it seemed like everytime we turned around we were able to watch animals being fed.
Ryan and Kaitlyn pass the time while waiting to be reconnected up with the rest of us! I think that they saw enough of the white tigers to last them for awhile!
Can you spot the white tigers???
Rainforest everywhere you look! It's odd not going into a special building to see the rainforest exhibit:)
When Kenton became tired of walking he jumped on Fay's "boogie board" for a ride - it makes it more awkward to push the stroller but it's a good investment when you have small kids!

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WARNING: IF YOU REALLY CAN'T STAND SNAKES YOU MAY WANT TO SKIP THE NEXT PHOTO!!!!

Kaitlyn interrupts her lunch to hold a snake! They seriously came into the eating area with these snakes so people could hold them if they wanted.
Kenton, Ethan, Kaitlyn, and Sam are ready for the zoo. This is right outside our apartment complex. From here you walk one block to the main road and hail a taxi to the zoo. It's maybe a 10 minute ride from our condo - not bad at all!
Brian, Reece (hidden behind Kenton), Kenton, Kait, and Ryan ride on an elephant. I've seen camel rides before but never an elephant! While they were waiting in line one of the elephants started acting up - I yelled to Ryan that I hoped his life insurance was paid up! They were blessed to get the more subdued animal!
Kaitlyn and Reese take a break from walking in a wagon. Okay - any guesses as to what they are feeding? I know but I want to see if any of you can figure it out! I don't think I would have! Like I said before, everywhere we went there were opportunities to feed animals or watch them be fed.

Although this looks like an alligator, it is not! I can't remember the name of it - it was one of the first animals we saw once we had entered the zoo.
Brian and our kids eating lunch.
Ethan was nervous when we first arrived at the white tiger exhibit because on the way there we were hearing some strange noises. We never did figure out which animal they came from but I think that they spooked him a little!
They have "outdoor" restrooms at the zoo and most "touristy" places you visit around Singapore. There was a waterfall right behind the sinks that formed a "wall" of sorts. Prettiest restrooms we've ever seen:)
Kaitlyn and Sam had their pictures taken all over the zoo together so that she could put them into Sam's journal of what they did together for the weekend.

Another BBQ Lover Is Born!

Eileen, the brisket turned out AWESOME! It took about 12 hours in the crockpot and than it was about PERFECT! Before I put it in the fridge to cool Ethan and I took a few slices to eat for our lunch. Let me tell you, there isn't a meal that goes by that food doesn't end up on the floor because he's had enough...not today! He kept saying, "ummy" and ate and ate and ate! And so, another BBQ lover is born!! Thank you, thank you, thank you for all your help - I would have been sad if $60 worth of meat had been wasted:)

Online Calendar

I've added a link at the right that will be our "visitor calendar." If you know the dates of when you want to come and visit please block them out on the calendar (or e-mail me) so that we don't have anyone double booking. I realize that next March there is potential for people to want to come at the same time so to be fair we're leaving it as first come first serve.

Introducing....Sam!

Who knew that our first visitor would be a teddy bear? He's visiting us for the weekend from Kaitlyn's classroom. He's a good visitor to have - doesn't say much, doesn't need to eat, and sure is very pleasant! He's well traveled for a teddy bear - he has been all over Singapore and the world. He went to the zoo with us today and will be going to church with us tomorrow. Then it's back to school on Monday:) Kaitlyn has to post pictures of what he did this weekend and write in his diary before taking him back. He even comes with Sketchers and his own sleeping bag!

...Or Not

Technically it wasn't the same day as yesterday so maybe it doesn't count (refer to previous post.) I hadn't gone to bed yet so in my mind it was all the same day. When Ryan is out of town I have been staying up late to talk to my family while it's more convenient for them. Such was the case last night when I was talking to my mom around 12:30. As we were hanging up I heard a baby crying but as it sounded far away I thought maybe it was a neighbor. Being the diligent mom that I am I headed upstairs to discover that it was my baby crying. I picked him up and noticed that he was a little chilly being that he was only in his diaper (long story) so I brought him downstairs and put his pj's on. We trooped back upstairs where he refused to go in the pack-n-play. I wanted to make one more phone call so I settled him into my bed next to Kenton and came back downstairs. For the next hour I heard the occasional bumping around but that's not unusual to hear when you live in a condo. As I was heading to bed I literally bumped into a pint sized munchkin booking out of Kaitlyn's bedroom, hands full of toys. He had been upstairs that whole time playing, in the dark, in Kaitlyn's room (which has been his favorite place to be during the day.) Considering he was NOT tired I brought him downstairs to play for awhile. I started doing sign language with him and not thinking about it, signed "milk." His nuk popped out faster than ever before and he jumped up and went running to the kitchen. I'm glad that we established that he knows what the sign for "milk" means! Once he had a bottle I thought, "Maybe he'll go back down now." So back up the stairs we went where this time he willingly went into his pack-n-play. I settled into bed thinking, "Ahhh!", when suddenly in the dark, quiet room somewhere in the vicinity of the pack-n-play came this tiny, little, strong voice, "UP!!" "You have got to be kidding!" thought the mom. "It's 2 am! Maybe if I lay REAL still he'll go back to sleep!" "UP!!" came the sound again, this time more urgently. "Oh, boy, here we go again!" I figured at that rate we'd be meeting Ryan at the door at 6am when he was returning from Australia neither one of us having slept a wink. Thankfully he did go back to sleep, and so did I!

It Can Only Go Up From Here

Could a day get any worse? Let's see...it started out with Ethan getting into the fridge and pulling a shelf in the door down - picture glass jars meeting marble floor. Yep, mayonnaise and spaghetti sauce and butter all over the kitchen floor. So, I kick all kids out of the kitchen, pick up glass, clean up mayonnaise, sweep up shards of glass from all over the floor, and end with mopping to try to get all the grease. Then, Ethan tears apart a flower arrangement and pulls a glass dish out of the hutch onto the marble floor....thankfully it didn't break. Then he gets on top of the table (one of the twins left their chair out) and spills OJ all over the table and himself - time for a change of clothes. Then he (starting to see a theme here?) grabs a full container (we're talking the big ones, not the individual serving size) of yogurt and starts walking around while dumping it all over the floor. Another change of clothes for Ethan and cue the mop again. Last but not least, I find him banging a toy against a wood toy box making dents in the wood. He's in bed for a nap. Oh - and all this happened with THREE of us in the house. The twins are home from school today as Kenton wasn't feeling well and I didn't have a way to get Kaitlyn to school without taking Kenton.

The Unexpected

I was getting ready to type this post when I looked down at my keyboard and saw this tiny little inch worm. It seriously was "inching" across the keyboard! I don't think that I have ever seen anything like it before. I scooped him up on an envelope and told Kenton to take him outside. He just came back in and said, "Don't worry, Mom! I put him where it was safe and dry!" I can't say that I was worried - I just wanted him out of MY house:)

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Speaking of dry it's been raining A LOT this past week. I read online where March is the end of the North East Monsoon season and generally is when the rain picks up again before becoming drier through the "summer" months.

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"North-East Monsoon Season - December to early March

Northeast winds prevail, sometimes reaching 20 km/h. Cloudy conditions in December and January with frequent afternoon showers. Spells of widespread moderate to heavy rain occur lasting from 1 to 3 days at a stretch. Relatively drier in February till early March. Also generally windy with wind speeds sometimes reaching 30 to 40 km/h in the months of January and February." www.app.nea.gov.sg

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I don't mind the rain so much as it's made for cooler days around here - the average high has been low 90's and today the highest temp recorded has been 82 degrees. When I went to pick the twins up from school there was a cool breeze blowing and a smell of cut grass was wafting on the breeze. It reminded me of Spring back home and made me lonesome for my tulips! I know that they are poking up through the ground right now - and the rabbits have probably gotten to them as I doubt our renters would know to put blood meal around them.

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Ryan was in Thailand last week (in Phuket) and this week is in Australia along the "Gold Coast" area. He's been presenting to different groups within the company and has started visiting with customers. His first Six Sigma class starts up the third week of March and that will be here in Singapore.

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Apparently the previous tenant didn't pay all his bills! We keep getting ominous looking envelopes in the mail that we suspect may be from bill collectors that are addressed to the same guy. Ryan said that a few weeks ago a bill collector showed up on our door step looking for him - Yikes! One day in the mail we received mail for THREE different families who must have lived here in the past. I don't know how the mail works here in Singapore - if people don't notify the PO of change of address or if they are not efficient at forwarding mail.

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I had the first of four scrapbooking classes last night with five other women. It was fun and I'm feeling motivated to start turning out pages - too bad my scrapbooking "things" are sitting exactly where I left them by the front door when I arrived home last night!

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Kaitlyn likes to roam around the house listening to "her" music and singing.
Twins doing their homework yesterday on the couch. They usually have reading to do and Kenton has spelling words once a week that he needs to correct.

Coming Soon to an Arena Near YOU!

This picture popped up on my screen saver the other day and made me laugh! I had forgotten all about it and it's too good not to share! My nephew Braedon received a guitar for Christmas and I caught him jamming away with it! :)

My Sick Buddy

Those of you who know Ethan well know that he does not snuggle. When he snuggled up to Ryan this afternoon we knew something was not right! He had a fever and was very cranky off and on through the afternoon and evening. By this evening he was at 103 degrees:( We pray that he starts feeling better soon!

Update: I took Ethan to the Doctor this am (Monday) and he had the beginnings of an ear infection. Hopefully the antibiotic starts to kick in soon so he starts feeling better! He had a fever again this afternoon/evening but now that he has the second dose in his system maybe by morning he'll be starting to return to his old self!