Three Girls, a Guy, and a Pizza Oven

Anyone remember that show Two Guys, a Girl, and a Pizza Place?  Well, my girlfriends and I watched it religiously.  We had a very official unofficial fan club complete with "I love Berg" t-shirts.  I'm glad Mr. Reynolds broke it off with Scarlett.  I'm not a fan of her.

That was random and this is my random update on us.  Last year flew by for us.  We knew how the whole year was going to play out--we had Lizzie's birth to look forward to, some trips, some visitors, etc.  We knew what to expect  and when.  That is always nice.  This year we have no clue what is to come.  We've enjoyed so many things about living in Singapore.  And although Ben's not a student anymore, we still feel like students to some degree.  We are ready to be more settled and not have half our income go towards rent, especially as Samara gets older and is very ready for pre-school (the cheapest in our neck of the woods being $400+/month here means that's not affordable).  Everything has been up in the air since we came back and we are finally settling in.  We are going to do a joy school for her with a couple of her friends and our calendar is filling up with other activities.  It's nice to be back.

We really have enjoyed living in Sinagpore, but we're beginning to feel the desire to settle down (we've never lived more than 2.5 years in any place since we were married, which is almost 10 years).  Ben has started exploring options for faculty jobs in the US (and even a job in Melbourne as in Australia.).  We'll hopefully have some idea of our professional options within the next several weeks.  Frankly, I love the idea of spending time in Melbourne.  All of a sudden I hope he doesn't get a faculty job in the US.  :) All the Arnotts products we can eat!  It's pretty unlikely it would happen, but fun to think about.  And there you have it for the guy and here's the update on the three girls.

Though life more often than not looks a little chaotic like this:

I wouldn't have it any other way.  I LOVE having two kids and am very grateful we do.  

I've been busy with photography, which has been a blessing.  I'm trying to make the most of all the cultural awesomeness Singapore has to offer in case we do go home this summer.  And I am always on the look-out for a steal on tickets and a way to take another trip.

Samara is downright hilarious.  She is SO excited and proud about being in primary.  She tries to answer all the questions and would love to be chosen for everything.  She even gave a prayer her second week.  She's into empowering others, "Mom, you're in charge, right?  Ya, you are.  Could I please watch a movie since you are in charge?"  She is always "ON" and life is never dull when she is around.

Sweet Lizzie is almost six -months old.  How has a half a year gone by?  She's a wee lass at 6.15 kg and 68 cm--in US terms that's the fifth percentile.  Contrary to how it may appear in this photo, napping is simply not her thing.  She rocks the 2-3 naps per day schedule.  But they are never longer than 20 minutes.   She is cuter than cute though and we are glad for the extra chances it's gives us to smother her with kisses.  She is starting to eat solids and is taking to it very nicely.

The Pizza Oven:

Ben's brother built an outdoor kitchen complete with a wood-burning pizza oven.  And now I know I NEED one.

The pizza is tres-delish and we had so much fun making pizzas when we were visiting.  Our kitchen does not close off to the outside.  So, I guess I'll be content with my "outdoor" Singapore kitchen for now.

In conclusion, I want to live here:

No, I will live here someday!  I will retire in Thailand.

Our landlord was going to raise our rent substantially so we were looking into other housing options.  Rates in Singapore are at an all-time high and we realized when we started looking around that we got a steal on our place even if it seems like a lot to us.  We looked into a great affordable place available to University faculty.  The only problem was it is literally on the edge of Singapore.  As in there was a fence at the back of the property, a little bit of jungle and then the Johor Straits.  And it was a good 15 minute walk to anything, which is not ideal without a car.  And we'd have to find somewhere to live in the month interim of our lease ending at our current apartment and that housing becoming available.   I had that part all planned out.  I started searching online and found it would be cheaper to rent a condo in Krabi then anything we could have found in Singapore.  The guy could have flown up on the weekends and the three girls could have lived on the beach.  But it wasn't meant to be.  We decided living on the cusp of the island was not the right thing for us.  We were able to negotiate with our landlord (through the realtor of course who gets a whole bloody months rent in for exchanging a few emails) and we are going to stay where we are...at least until this summer.  Then who knows where in the world we will be.  We may just end up being your neighbor!