Let there be cheese on earth and peace in the nursery class!

Things are turning up Bikman here in Singapore. We finally made it to a great baking store where you can buy affordable cheese! You have to buy it in bulk but end up getting four times the cheese for only twice the price. Long live pizza night! We were out of cheese all week but were waiting to meet up with a friend who was going there Friday so she could show us where the store was. I had told Samara that and so all week, she'd ask if we could 'go at the grocery store to buy more cheese'. We thankfully were able to avoid a total meltdown when she dropped the cheese by cheering for the cheese's excellent acrobatics.





Samara loves nursery and talks about nursery class all week. She, however, has had no interest in going by herself. Two weeks ago Samara went to nursery for the first time by herself for the last hour. The youth were in charge because it was a fifth Sunday and I think it helped that there were extra people to play with. She was so proud of herself and so were we (although Ben secretly wept inside because he likes to be there to beat up any other toddlers who mess with her). We talked about how she'd go to nursery by herself again the next week and we'd go to mommy and daddy's class. She happily let me drop her off and was fine for about 20 minutes but then started to get antsy. We heard her hollering from our sunday school class so we went out into the hallway and one of the nursery workers came out and told us that she'd been fine and then started getting a little upset and wanted us. When they didn't get us, Samara sternly said 'let me out now!' The sweet lady who came to find us added, 'she sure knows her tones too'.

Jumping

Samara has wanted to jump for months now. After spending a long napless afternoon in her room, she 'woke up' and had mastered jumping. Whenever I go in to check on Samara to see if there is a reason why she hasn't fallen asleep, i.e., poop, she tells me, 'Mom, I waked up' and starts laughing as if she's tricked me and I'm going to believe her. Then I tell her she needs to fall asleep before she can wake up and to have a good nap. She then says, 'I know you can do it (referring to falling asleep)'. She usually falls asleep on top of her Hugo dog--it looks so uncomfortable.

The Zoo

The zoo here is amazing. It's a cage-less zoo so the animals are right there. It's the most beautiful one I have ever been too. It's just like being in a tropical rain forest. We only live a 15-20 minute bus ride away and got a year pass so we'll be able to go often. They also have a great playground and big water play area for kids. These are from the birthday trip and another day a couple weeks before. What do you think of Samara's mullet? I think it's a good look for her. I've cut in since then but that part of her hair seems to grow faster than the rest!

Birthday Fun

Birthday morning pancakes on Friday

Our friends from Taiwan arrived the night of her birthday and Ben had to work all day and evening so we had cupcakes, ice cream, and presents a couple days late. We went to the zoo the next Tuesday. We had to go to IKEA to get some things on her actual birthday.   IKEA is one of her favorite places to go and she even got an ice cream cone. So spoiled!

Samara turns TWO!

It's hard to believe our little munchkin is two already. It has flown by. Samara is an absolute delight and we are so grateful to be her parents. She's been through a lot of changes this past year and put up with some grumpy parents during this move so we wanted to make sure she had a great birthday. We had to think of something really good.





A pony ride?  No, that was so 18 months ago.





A fun birthday party with cake, presents, and balloons?  All fabulous but we wanted that and more! She got an elephant ride at the zoo!  How cool is that?  She loved it and wanted to go again and ride 'that other elephant'.  I think I even had more fun though.  We also got to feed the kangaroos, which she got a big kick out of. We even had our friend April and her son George (visiting from Taiwan) here for all the celebrations. Those are the two people in front of Samara. Ben took the pictures.

The Warren

We finally got into our condo almost two weeks ago. It is wonderful. We are so much happier here. It's great to get settled and unpack after living out of suitcases and boxes to some degree for the last 8 months. The grounds & pools make you feel like you are in a 5-star resort. Our condo is small but we don't mind at all except the kitchen is like a closet. Here are some pictures of the view. We'll take some more pictures soon and post them to lure you all into coming.

The Warren Country Club

Apartment buildings on our street.

In the distance you can faintly see the mountains in Malaysia.

Pancakes, Pizza, and Poo poos

Saturday mornings Samara makes pancakes with "Daddy Bennie" (as she calls him). It's one of their favorite things to do together. She can eat her body weight in pancakes!





Samara loves pizza. We are quickly burning through our stash of pepperoni so if someone knows anyone coming this way send some to us! With so many laws here you'd think what they do to pizza would be illegal. For example, a 'winter special' pizza toppings are cheese, turkey bacon, chicken ham, cheesy sausage, pineapple, mayonaise with lettuce or cinnamon. Sounds tempting, doesn't it? They have tuna and all sorts of weird combinations. The Hawaiian has crabstick on it.






One day we were getting ready to go swimming but Samara needed to do her business so she stayed in the dining room while I went into the bedroom. I was turned around when I heard/saw everything fly off the bedside table. Samara had grabbed the camera and was frantically repeatedly saying, "take picture. take picture." She handed me the camera, stood in front of me, pretended to grunt, and said, "take picture, Mommy. Take picture of baby going poo poos." It was hilarious. The picture obviously didn't capture the fake grunt but she asked me another time (green shirt) to take one. What a hoot!