Getting Ready for the New Year

Singapore (and most of Asia) have been preparing for Chinese New Year.  The official CNY holiday is this week with schools and business closed Wed - Sun.  This is the year of the rabbit.  We are looking forward to the holiday week!  The kids are getting in the mood with their Chinese costumes...

Some fun stuff from the past week...

Ainsley can write "mom" but can't write dad yet.  I'm just sayin'... :-)

The girls apparently like eating naked.  Caught eating apples naked:

Beautiful Kara Jean!

Jack playing with my iPhone:

The girls playing dress up with their fairy wings:

Kara all dressed up and ready to go!

Memories Caught on Camera

Ainsley received her first homework assignment on Friday.  A bit early we think, but a memory for sure so I took a picture of her "assignment" for the weekend.  Our first question was, "What is this?"  ...we still don't know :-)

Ainsley and Kara earned ice cream for filling up their sticker chart (a reward chart) and I found humor in the fact that they wanted to eat the ice cream naked.  A simple pleasure in life -- eating ice cream while naked.

We have been in the habit of having pancakes every Saturday morning.  The kids love to put their own syrup on (duh!) so each week it gets a bit messier, but it is still fun to watch them enjoy their pancakes on a lazy Saturday morning.

We have met some good friends during our time in Singapore.  One of our favorite couples are moving this week, back to Tokyo.  We had them over for brunch this weekend and they brought their little boy, Kenshin.  This picture is the girls enjoying brunch and Kenshin eating his first piece of turkey bacon. 

Jack and Kara made up a game where they fed each other their water and died laughing each time they did it.  This picture doesn't do the moment justice, but my video camera battery was dead.  They carried on for a half hour, giggling like crazy!

CC

Cynthia Ann (Parman) Capps, aka "mom" and "CC" was many things.  She was a daughter, a sister, a friend, a wife, a mother, and a grandmother.  So many people will miss her.  I feel lucky to have been her daughter, and to have been the recipient of her unwavering love for so many years.  She used to tell me how much she loved being a mother, and how much joy Kevin and I brought to her life.  I have loads of great memories that I will forever remember, and so many stories I will share with my children. 

The picture below was taken December 2009 in Singapore.  Mom and dad came over for a two-month visit.  I took this picture at Riverside Point, after we ate dinner.  I like this picture because both mom and dad look happy, and it reminds me of all of the places my mom and I traveled together.  If I add up all of the road trips and air travels, we put in a lot of mileage together. 

It is tragic that my mom passed away so young, only 62.  She was not finished living and desperately wanted to see her grandchildren grow up, and to enjoy her family.  It was a long battle she fought with cancer, more than ten years total.  She fought hard and never gave up.  Even in the end, when doctors said there was nothing they could do, she was hopeful for a miracle. 

On January 18th, many people lost a friend in Cindy, my grandmother lost her eldest daughter ("Sis"), my aunt lost her sister, my dad lost his wife, my brother and I lost our mother, and the grandkids lost CC.  So many important and painful losses.  As CC watches over us all, I will smile knowing that I was blessed with a really great mom, and I will do my best to show the same love and devotion to my children.

I love you, mom!

Things that made us smile this week :--)

Here are a few conversations that made me smile this week...

Ainsley: "Mom, when you have a best friend it means that you like that friend the most"
Me: "Who is your best friend?"
Ainsley: "Kara"
Me: :-)

Me: "There is no school today, it is Saturday"
Kara: "Why?"
Me: "Because it is Saturday and there is no school on Saturday."
Kara: "Why, mommy?"
Me: "Well, because school is only Monday through Friday, and there is no school on Saturday or Sunday."
Kara: "Why?"
Me: "Kara, there is no school on the weekends, you don't go to school on Saturday or Sunday, it is your days off from school and you stay at home with the family."
Kara: "Why?"
Me: "Because there is no school, everyone is at home."
Kara: "Why?"
...this continued about five minutes and I gave up...

Jack: "Poo poo coming!"
Me: "Let's go to the toilet and you can poo poo on the toilet"
after sitting there for a minute... Jack: "Poo poo is stuck!"
 
Wrapped up like peas in a pod for story time:

Jack got a bike for Christmas and he can ride it now!  He got his own because he was constantly fighting Ainsley to ride her bike.  This one is a better size for him, but he can also pedal Ainsley's.  (You may also notice Jack is now into picking out his own clothes.)

 

Ainsley came up with an idea that she wanted to color pictures and then hang them on the front door so that everyone would know that she lives here.  (The red and orange hair is just colored hair spray):

Ainsley has a new interest in cleaning the dishes after we eat.  Who am I to squash her dreams and not let her pursue a passion?  I am enjoying the break from cleaning dishes.  She actually does a good job!

Playing around

The kids love to play on our bed.  They wrestle, hide under the covers, and clown around until our sheets and blankets are twisted up into a ball.  This game will be more fun for me when they learn to unravel the ball and leave my bed they way they found it!  haha.  They call it "playing rough" because Matt usually joins in their games and roughs around with them.  I only "play soft" so I don't join in their reindeer games.  Some pictures of "playing rough" before bath time...

 

Kara and Ainsley got new matching pajamas.  Their old pajamas were about three sizes too small, I think CPS might have even given us a second glance if they saw the old ones.  The girls are so cute with each other, they love each other so much and play really well together.  So far they are best friends...we are crossing our fingers that lasts a lifetime :-)

In the adult side of the family Matt and I celebrated our six year wedding anniversary!  Nothing fancy, just dinner and chit chat.  We had the waiter take a picture of us at dinner but he must have thought we asked him to take a picture of someone else because we are barely in the picture.  So, we took our own photo in the taxi on our way home to commemorate the evening...

(for reference, this is the one the waiter took -- notice his friend is smiling and posing in the background)...