Monday, February 28, 2011

A favorite moment for sure...

A favorite moment for sure... when you see your 4 year old son watch a "grown-up boy" with admiration and a longing to be just like them... in this instance... Pierce was watching a beach surfer (small wave when it hits the sand)". Isn't this so cute???
Last Sunday we went to the East Coast Beach with some friends and oh what fun we had. We have only been here once before and not sure why we waiting so long to come back... the beach is man made and view is not of the sun set but of some boats in the back ground... the sand is a bit course but clean and tons of people to watch... badminton on the beach, kids playing and laughing... does it get any better.

Another great Sunday...

Sunday, February 27, 2011

Auntie Elly and Uncle Keith are here...


Auntie Elly and Uncle Keith (Blake's brother) are here... we have been waiting for this time for a long time and we are thrilled to have them here for this is there first trip to Singapore. You will be seeing a lot of pics of them coming soon...

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Birthday packages... we just love them!

If you know us you know 2 things... 1) We love birthday around here, 2) We love care packages (and 3 we love God...). Not sure if the reason we love birthdays is because we get packages... or not... well maybe... well yes.... we love packages and presents here... yes we do... I am not scared to say it HE HE HE. Pierce and I both had our birthday in Jan. and Blake's in March... so my parents (ViVi and Grandad) and Great Mama shipped us a huge package full of goodies for everyone (including Tita). Take a gander:
"So Pierce how happy are you?"




Happy Birthday to Pierce... decked out with new clothes that fit... hallelujah...


And he even got the long awaited for "ghost pirate playmobile ship"... wow this thing is awesome and even floats in the water... I could barely get him dressed in swim clothes before he was ready to dive in a give it is first sail.




Everything is going to good use... we have new clothes now which are so fun, Pierce got some toys he loves, Blake and I are now playing tennis and thanks to Great Mama she shipped me some Tang so I can now make her "MEAN" fruit salad... yummy. Thank you ViVi and Grandad and Great Mama.. we love you for many reasons this is just one of them.

Monday, February 21, 2011

A funny story about playing "SETS"...


A funny story to tell you… Pierce loves to play Army Sets… he makes these “sets” all day… where he lines up all the men and barricades them in and then lines up the tanks, etc. His favorite thing right now besides Lego’s for sure. So the other day we were casually talking and not really sure how it came up but we were talking about Tita and Pierce and Pierce said “we played sex” and then dad and I of course stood there looking at each other and said “what” and he kept on with statements like this… “I love sex”, “ I love to play sex”. We soon realized that he was trying to say SETS… not sex… we are learning how to pronounce that word before we get in public.

Sunday, February 20, 2011

More Chinese New Year fun...

Chinese New Year last for 15 days... and we kept having fun the entire time... here are some more activities we got to experience during this festive time.

One of the most the most famous day during this celebration is the 7th day where they do have the Yusheng - the salad toss. We were invited to the Ang's for the festivities... here are Esther and Williams sweet children... you have seen them before but I can never get enough of them... so cute right? You will notice that Malcolm is holding up his Ang Pow (red packet) that we gave him read more about them here...but essentially a tradition where married adults give money to the children.

The dish The Singapore-based Yusheng had fish served with daikon (white radish), carrots, red pepper (capsicum), turnips, red pickled ginger, sun-dried oranges, daun limau nipis (key lime leaves), Chinese parsley, chilli, jellyfish, chopped peanuts, toasted sesame seeds, Chinese shrimp crackers (or fried dried shrimp), five spice powder and other ingredients, laced with a sauce using plum sauce, rice vinegar, kumquat paste and sesame oil, for a total of 27 ingredients. Originally, the dish used raw mackerel, although in deference to the popular wishes of customers, salmon was later offered as an alternative due to the growing popularity of Salmon.

Serving Yusheng is often served as part of a multi-dish dinner, usually as the appetizer due to its symbolism of "good luck" for the new year. Some would consume it on Renri, the seventh day of the Chinese New Year, although in practice it may be eaten on any convenient day during Chinese New Year (1st to 15th Day).

The base ingredients are first served. The leader amongst the diners or the restaurant server proceeds to add ingredients such as the fish, the crackers and the sauces while saying "auspicious wishes" (吉祥话 or Jíxiáng Huà) as each ingredient is added, typically related to the specific ingredient being added. For example, phrases such as Nian Nian You Yu (年年有余) are uttered as the fish is added, as the word Yu (余), which means "surplus" or "abundance", sounds the same as the Chinese word for fish (yu, 鱼).

All diners at the table then stand up and on cue, proceed to toss the shredded ingredients into the air with chopsticks while saying various "auspicious wishes" out loud, or simply "撈起, 撈起". It is believed that the height of the toss reflects the height of the diner's growth in fortunes, thus diners are expected to toss enthusiastically.

So here we go...


One day after soccer practice we heard some drums in the distance and we had to go check it out... we were hoping for a lion dance... and sure enough there was. Dragon and lion dances are common during Chinese New Year. It is believed that the loud beats of the drum and the deafening sounds of the cymbals together with the face of the dragon or lion dancing aggressively can evict bad or evil spirits.




While on the table... the dancers under the lion costume spell out a word in Chinese in orange slices... here Pierce is taking a peak and then the lion stands up and reveals the word. Usually words of prosperity or wealth.

Pierce took the picture above and below himself... I love the last picture... we might have a photographer in the making.

Just another reason why we love living in Asia... the festivities never stop.

Then back to reality... waiting for a taxi after a hot day playing soccer in the sun...

Saturday, February 19, 2011

The bloaks first game...

Pierce has officially started "football" not American football but what we would call soccer... and he is doing well but still needs to be encouraged to go after the ball... he would rather hang with his friends and push them down...



Since our first game we have learned alot of new words like "bloak = young champ", "boots = soccer cleats", "charge = run into other player", and more. We have also got Pierce all decked out now with his own black boots, maroon shirt and black "dri-fit" shorts (pics to come later). We just had our third match which we had to leave early bc Pierce was not listening to the coaches... but we are getting their... maybe with Uncle Keith gets here he can show Pierce how it done.














Tuesday, February 15, 2011

We love to play ARMIES!

One of our favorite things to do at home... is play Armies... Pierce will ask "can we set up the armies", "can we play armies" all day long. He really likes to play with Tita bc Tita will shoot back... mommy is not so good at shooting back :-). We have bags and bags of these little tanks, helicopters and green men... they come in all shapes, colors and sizes but the best thing is they are the cheapest toy in Singapore... so when it is time to earn a toy Pierce usually chooses an army toy... which is way better than a Lego for the pocket book.
Tita has even been known to bring out the tape to make sure the flag is flying high.







Come over and play "armies" with us...

Monday, February 14, 2011

Chinese New Year at IBC... what a show!

They celebrated Chinese New Year at school by allowing the kids to dress up and putting on a show where the parents were invited.
Here are some kids before school started. The 2 girls in the middle are in Pierce's class.


A group hug... if you can tell the first picture he was a bit timid to take pics with the girls.. and then the second one he smiling and now this one he is always game for a good hug.
They put the little ones on the front row... to enjoy the show... they were first up....Pierce is so excited.
Off they go...



Finished... and yelling at me as he finds his seat...
Through out the show he would turn around and just make sure I was still there.

There are 3 video's of Pierce and I know that is a lot but if you only have time to commit to one you must watch the first one... when they first sing "Jesus loves me" in mandarin and then in English... during the mandarin part Pierce is sort of into it and then gets distracted half way through asking the kid next to him "is that blood" and then he sings again but during the English part the part he knows so well... he showcases the chorus and get a bit loud... which is followed by laughter by the entire audience... he makes us proud everyday... we love this one.



Here are some high schoolers... singing some familiar songs in Mandarin... just thought that this is pretty phenomenal that kids get to learn all day with GOD in it... and get to worship in music class in all languages... what a blessing ICS is to us and many.

What a great show... we can't wait for the next one.
 

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