Kota Kinabalu... here we come.

By the time you read this... the picture above is where Blake, Pierce and I will be... enjoying the sun and laying on the beach. We head to Kota Kinabula at 9:10am on Friday morning (USA's thursday night)... we will take lots of pics to share with you later... but for now you will not hear from us for 4 days... we are signing out to enjoy God's beauty in Borneo.

Happy 24th BDay Sara May!

On the 29th of May my sweet friend Sara May will turn 24... Most of you know her but if you don't I urge you too... I am a better person having known her...and please help me in congratulating her on another year and how we look forward to many more.

Sara May,

Happy Birthday girl... each day of your life was not promised and I know that you deal with more challenges than I could ever imagine but I want you to know you are my hero. You have touched so many people in the first 24 years of your life that I can not even count. I love to walk into a store with you and a complete stranger will walk up to you and say 'hi Sara', that is about the time that you look at me and throw your hands in the air and say 'I don't know' (kind of like the picture below). I love it when someone picks on me (like Blake) and you will laugh your head off but I truly know how much you love me (and many others)... that is why we love you. I love the way you will play cards until like 2am, I am beat tired and you are ready for more... but if we do get you to go to bed you won't wake until lunch. I love it when you spend the night and want to sleep right next to me... although we can't get to close bc you sleep with like 20 blankets but you never move... the best sleepover partner a girl could ask for. I love the way you let me fix your hair and shave your legs and don't really care if I mess up. I love the way you make me smile and laugh with your contagious laugh but at the same time I know not to make you mad... I love the way you would pass me notes when we sat next to each other in church, I love the way you always told me when you were bored or if you were having a really good time. I love the way your face would light up during Special Olympics when you got a medal. I love the way you never let any obstacle get in your way, and if one snuck in you would press on and keep smiling. I love the way that just when I feel like no one calls me or emails me I get a call or email from you. I love that you have been in more newspapers, tv shows, doctors research, magazine articles than anyone I know but you don't consider yourself a star. I love how dependent you are in so many factors of your life but I would probably consider you the most independent person I know. I love how you were always honest about boyfriends I brought over to your house... you would say I like him or I don't like him (you like Blake:-) and most of them you nailed them on the head :-)) I love how you might not be able to tie your own shoe but you can croquet about 100 blankets in a month. I love how no one calls you Sara but we all call you Sara May. I love how frugal you are with your money (you probably have more than I do) that when we go out together you always expect me to pay (you know I will). I love how selective you are with friends but how you chose me to be one. I love how physically different you are than most people but you will be the first person to sit behind your brother Chris on a jet ski (I won't even do that). I love how you were the only one who got a standing ovation at your high school graduation. I love how it might have been 10 years since someone has seen you but they can always spot you out in a crowd. I love how no one ever forgets your name or your face. I love how your boyfriend that is hundreds of miles away still send your presents and cards. I love how excited you get when visitors come to stay. I love how you look at Pierce and say he is wild. I love our God for giving us you. Well lets just face it... I love you.

Today you are my hero... I look forward to celebrating 25...
Sara at Blake and I's wedding doing the napkin dance.

Pierce and Sara having shipley donuts together in Feb.

One happy family (Kathy, Sara's mom is not in the picture bc someone had to take the picture)... even Matilda Jospehina May made it in.

Happy Birthday Sara May!

Memorial Day in Singapore...

Memorial day commemorates the members of the United States armed forces who were killed in war... although we did not get to celebrate this year with BBQ, friends, outdoor play, water of some sort, daddy not having to work, a cold beer and family... we still give thanks for all the men and women who paid the price to keep our country free... we thank you.

Singapore celebrates alot of international holidays (you have seen pics before) but not Memorial Day... what a shame... I could really use some good old fashioned BBQ.

Instead our day consisted Blake working all day and then a work dinner, Pierce went to school in the morning took a nap and then woke up with a 102 degree temperature and red throat and I went to the church to make some copies for our MOPS meeting, came home worked on MOPS, cooked dinner for Pierce and I, put Pierce to bed and waited on Dad to get home so we could talk about this weekend... which is the best part... Friday we leave for Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia for a 4 day weekend... We are so pumped and can't wait to get there. Blake has not had more than one day off per week (Sunday... and we all know how busy Sundays are) since Feb. We are stoked as he would say.... we are going to take lots of pics and share them with you when we get back.
Here is daddy and Pierce ready for church last Sunday.... they are just so cute... but do they look anything alike? Where did this cute kid from... don't get me wrong my husband is soooooooooooooo HANDSOME but that blonde hair, blue eyes, round face, ivory skin is something else.

Mommy and Pierce don't have enough pics together... but we got one on Sunday....

Speechless Sunday! - LATE

Pros and Cons of living in Singapore

My friend Laura blogged today about her 2 year anniversary of living in Singapore... she has a very thorough list of pros and cons of living in Singapore here... if you are wondering what it is like to live here... check it out... so accurate.

Gone mad for American Idol...

We just love AI here in Singapore... and most of you know the finale was this week... so it was on TV here in Singapore LIVE at 8am, it played again at 6pm and again at 8pm... so yes you got it... I watched it three times... I so wish I could have been there...I would have loved to see Kara show her stuff to the bikini girl, watch Fergie in action, hear the duet between Kris and Keith, be close to Cindy, get a sneak peek of the top 13 in action and of course to witness the amazing moment that Ryan said "Kris Allen".... oh what a great day.

Pierce was also a great fan... he went and got his microphone and joined in on the fun... who knows he could be the next AI in 2025 or so. :-)

Pierce too loved the duet between Kris and Keith... our favorite.... he even stopped singing so he could hear.

Trying to join in... Pierce sounded great... in his own little language... but he gets the microphone really wet... he likes to share his microphone with me but it is quite gross with all the spit and all.... so he gets it most of the time.

We love you Kris Allen... however we did like Danny the best, then Kris and then Adam... but think that America voted well this year...

You have got to check out this blog by Doxologies.... great reminder....about how humility wins out.

You guys are so sweet....

Well I officially have received over 30 emails in regards to Pierce's rash... you guys rock... I love you guys so much... some family, some friends and some strangers... THANK YOU!

Just to answer some of the questions I have received... Pierce is fine... no temp... no other symptoms besides the rash.

The consensus is that he has Fifth Disease (a virus and should go away soon)... I have also read that once you get the rash you are no longer contagious...

I will keep a watch on it and keep you updated... Thanks again... I owe you one.

Does anyone know what this is????

Does anyone know what this is... Pierce has developed this red face rash thingy... if you take off his shirt over his head or touch his face or if any friction happens on his face (like climbing on the couch and he puts his head on the cushions) he breaks out in the red rash for like 30 seconds and then it disappears. He has had it for 1 week now and my Danish friend (that was a teacher back in Denmark) says that it is common and she is not sure what it is called in English but from Danish to English it is translated to "slap virus"... does anyone know anything about it...????

In this picture I just took off a shirt over his head and he got a streak above his eyes in the shape of a V and there is another line on his upper lip and red cheeks.

Has anyone seen this before? Do I need to take him to the dr.?

If these aren't hard enough... try making them in Singapore...

Our last meeting for MOPS this year was today and we were having a big celebration to complete a wonderful year that was focused on all the ups and downs of being a mom... like a roller coaster ride.... so the theme was a carnival/theme park idea... we were all to bring a "carnival" food/treat for the last meeting... after I saw Denise Perkin's blog the other day... I knew what I had to bring but I had no idea what I was in for... Although she made the process seem quite easy she did comment on how long it took... but I was up for the task. After finding the recipe on Bakerella for the "Cupcake Pops" I headed to the store... BUT totally forgot that we lived in Singapore and what American recipes call for does not mean that one would find them in Asia... oh no... there were alot of substitutions but all in all it was a tedious 2 day task but my taste buds (and many others...including my son which ate 4 of them) were thankful. So here we go.

The first step is to bake a cake and then crumble it up and add a can of cream cheese icing... we were good until we got to the icing... no icing found in my local market store (there is icing in Singapore but did not want to drive into town and spend $20 on a taxi fare for icing when I could make it my self???)... so I made my own cream cheese icing which was a feat.... but the thing I want you to note here is that the recipe found on-line called for a 1lb of icing sugar (aka powdered sugar)... that is the whole bag... seriously thought is was a misprint but did it anyways and oh was it good.

After crumbling it up, adding the icing, you need to roll out balls and place them on the wax paper... another glitch... no wax paper but I did find wax paper sandwich bags which I cut up and put on my oven tray (since I don't have a baking sheet) :-(... but it worked... then to the frig they go for 3-4 hours.


After that you are to take the balls and by using a flower cookie cutter (you will have to see directions here) you make them into a cupcake shape.... well there was no flower cookie cutter to be found so using my fingers we made do... can you tell which ones were in the shape of balls and which ones were cupcake shaped?

Then you freeze, dip, dip and decorate...that is the short version of course... I did find the chocolate bark to dip the base in but the top was also suppose to be dipped in white or strawberry... could not find that so I decided to make a flower bouquet instead and use icing tubes to make a bunch of flowers instead of cupcakes... it also said that once you placed the stick (suppose to be a lollipop stick but I used kabob sticks) you would need a Styrofoam square to put them in to hold them upright... well where was I to find that.... but after some thought I used a "thirsty hippo"... if you have ever lived in Asia you will know what that is... it is a moisture absorber... so there we had it... I had somewhere to place these things... after all this work I had to make sure they would stand up right?

Then came the decorating... so much fun and messy.

I had to keep them in the frig to keep them cool... is anyone else tired yet?

After all the hard work... this is what you get... a bouquet of eatable cupcake flowers... was it worth it??? I will leave the answer up to the brave ones who decided to make them. Oh yea... it said to wrap them in lollipop bags... what is that... not sure so I just got a box of ziplocs for $2 and cut of the zipper... cheap and it worked.

But they are really cute....

I had some extras so I decided that I would let our playgroup make some and then eat them... how fun. Here are the kids making theirs on the balcony.

Pierce just liked to eat the sprinkles....

Here is Pierce's own cupcake flower... he was so proud...

but it did not take long until he took a big bite... and then he wanted more icing... more icing please.

Here is sweet Elysse enjoying hers....

Thank you Denise for the idea and for a fun filled 2 days... will not be doing it again for a long time but enjoyed it... yours did look better :-).

New Bed...

Our neighbors girl Anna Sophie (sitting next to Pierce here) is all grown up and wanted a grown up bed so they wanted to get rid of her current bed... when I found out it was a bunk bed I thought of how cool it would be to put Pierce under that bed and make a tent out of it... so they let us borrow it until we move. Here is all 4 kids enjoying a sucker while the parents put the bed together.

How much fun... we have not made it into a tent yet but Pierce just loves it... and have I mentioned how much more room we have to play now.
Pierce and August both enjoying the new environment... Thank you for the new bed.

Speechless Sunday!

Oh no... I have created a monster...

I have created a monster.... Pierce is in the phase right now where he wants to pick out his own clothes and I am trying to teach him the art of matching... with words like this "that does not match how about this", "does that match, what colors are on that shirt", "do you think you should wear blue or black shorts with that shirt", etc... you get the point... well one day he picked out his lime green Croc collared shirt and then he went back from another... he held up his white helicopter shirt and said that he wanted to wear it too... I asked him if he wanted to wear 2 shirts and he said yes so the second shirt went on... and then he went back to the closet and picked out a 3rd shirt an orange iguana sleeveless shirt... and I PROMISE you the picture below is what we got...I had nothing to do with other than helping him put the shirts on that he picked out...all three shirts and the boy can match... he made me so proud that day that I had to take a picture of him wearing his selection for the day... we did not get around to selecting the shorts before I had to capture the moment... oh I am so proud...

What is it about haircuts...

What is it about haircuts that make you look older... Pierce goes from baby to boy during a 10 min. haircut...


He does not look very happy but he actually loves to sit in this chair and watch Thomas... he is the best child when it comes to getting his haircut.

Randomness...

Random things I had to share:


1. Star Trek the new movie... a must see. Blake and I went last night on our official Date Night... we worked out first and then went to the movies... My friend Corrie had suggested it on her blog and I have been a fan since I was a little girl... I went to sleep at night watching Captain Kirk in action... but there was no going to sleep last night while watching the new and improved Captain Kirk. If you can get past the first scene (all moms will cry) and the last scene (Captain Kirk sittig cross legged in the captain chair)... you are good to go... enjoy the ride upon the U.S.S. Enterprise.

2. You have not taken a TRUE yoga class unless your instructor is from India and his name is Master Suresh... not sure if he picks on me because I am the only WHITE person in the class or if I am that good bad. The class is for 1 hour and 45 min. on paper but truely 2 hours and he will twist,pull, stretch, contort your body in ways you never thought possible... he does not just sit in front of the class and call out commands... he is right behind you, with both hands on your body, and pulling/twisting, etc... just to get that maximum stretch... my body not only shakes (when it reaches it limit), sweats, pops when he pulls/twists, but I feel so good afterwards and can't wait until next week... you have to take his class..

3. What is up with the age of 30... Ever since I have turned 30 I have found out some new things about my body... spicy foods = acid reflux, to much sun = sun spots on my skin, fatty foods = lbs in new areas of the body, not enought light = squenting when reading.... why is 30 so magical... can't wait until I am 40.

4. Faith... why do people say that Christianity is a blind faith? As Ravi Zacharias put so well in his book "Jesus Among other Gods" states... "Faith in the biblical sense is substantive, based on the knowledge that the ONE in whom that faith is placed has proven that He is worthy of that turst. In its essence, faith is a confidence in the person of Jesus Christ and in His power, so that even when His power does not serve my end, my confidence in Him remains because of who He is"... God is real and alive... there is nothing blind about that.

5. Recently, when studying other popular Asian religions (Hinduism, Buddhism, etc.) I have found that when compared to Christianity... there are many differences but one that has come to life today is that Christianity (the belief in the ONE true God and His son, Jesus Christ) is the only religion where the Leader/Creator (per say), our God, has encouraged its followers (Christians) to use their mind 'in following' Him. Most 'popular' Asian religions (by what I have read so far) encourage their believers just to follow (no questions... stay close to enlightenment...etc.) I am thankful that my God encourages Questions/Debates, always has a listening ear, and always has the answer that is built on TRUTH.
Mark 12:30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.
Romans 8:5 Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.
Philippians 2:2then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose.

I thought I would start off light and end with a bang... he he he... just a little snip of what happens in my head on a daily basis... enjoy.

Don't show daddy these pictures...

Does anyone else have critters in their shoes???

Living in Asia, one has many flip flops as you can see by the picture above... one day I went to look for my silver flip flops and I was a little startled. Take a closer look?

Pierce loves bugs and playing with his plastic insects is on of his favorite things to do... I guess he wanted to share with me by placing them in a place I was sure to look (someday)... he even threw in an airplane... so sweet my son! EEECCCKKKKK!

Do you believe in the myth "Cabin Fever"...

Does anyone else watch Mythbusters.... I absolutely love this show.... it right up their with my boyfriend Mike Rowe's show "Dirty Jobs"...side note: the two main guys on Mythbusters are not my boyfriend...so back to the point... I was watching MB the other day and they were testing out the myth of "Cabin Fever" and ironically I was doing my own test while Pierce and were stuck at the house with the crud for about 10 days... through more extensive research and a more ideal situation/environment they on MB found the myth of "cabin fever" to be REAL... In our own test at the Denton News House... we totally 100% agree and have pictures to prove of our "going crazy/boredom/tiredness state of mind...

This was Pierce making a "mean face"... check out that bed head.

More mean faces... and the arms always have to be moving like he is showing off his muscles.

The ultimate mean face.... if you are wondering why all of these pictures are fuzzy it is bc before I got the camera Pierce had the camera and put a snotty finger print right on the lens.... so it makes for a perfect picture of our week... snot and all.

Look at Pierce's leg... is that even possible...

Taking pics of Pierce playing with the blocks... out of boredom realized what a cool reflection there was on the tile and had to capture.... didn't turn out how I expected but none the less proves the point of how bored we were...

Then I got to play with Picasa....oh how fun.

Do you believe in the myth "Cabin Fever"???

P.S. Thank you for all the encouragement, calls, prayers, emails, text, etc... Pierce and I both are so much better... today was the first day that Pierce held down some food and seems to be back to his normal self and mom no longer has a headache and can breath again... thank you so much!