Cebu for a weekend wedding...

One of Blake's co-workers got married a couple weekends ago in Cebu, Philippines (small world I also knew this guy in the Aggies For Christ in college)... we were excited for a 4 day weekend to get away from Singapore and work... but so sad to leave our little man (but you will hear all the fun he had in a later post with Tita)... When we arrived to the hotel room.. we noticed Blake matched the walls... :-)

For the first couple of days we did a lot of this... relaxing in the sun (but it was rainy season so we did a lot of swimming in the rain and running from lightning...
Here is the ocean right outside the hotel which was nice and clear... this is a terrible pic of us but you can get a good picture of how clear the water was... and there were tons of these fish everywhere... really neat.

The resort also had a water park... so we took a couple rides everyday... when you entered the slide area you had to sign a waver and take all your jewelry off and you had to weigh yourself for each slide... there were max weights.. the slides were really fun but I am not sure if they would be legal in the states... never seen a ride where if you weighed to much you could not go on...

This red and white slide was amazing and crazy all at the same time... I can not remember ever going as fast as this ride sent you sliding... I had to close my eyes at times bc it felt like a roller coaster...while sliding down the tube on a yoga mat it would spit you out in this bowl and you would spin around until it literally spit you out the bottom into a pool of water.. it was crazy and fun all at the same time.

The kids by the pool... since this was Blake's co-worker getting married we got to hang out with some other co-workers that we knew... and we had a great time.. some great people and lots of laughs.

One night we split from the group and went on a date night just Blake and I... we decided to try Korean BBQ at the hotel (a Korean man owned the hotel)... but you can tell by Blake's face how excited he was about this... lets just say we should have gone some where else...

The next picture was taken on the last day (hence the sun burn) but this is a good view of the hotel...

Now comes the part in which we came for... the Wedding between Martin Miller and Joan Aloba.

It was so nice to be able to come to the wedding. But the really weird thing for me was I knew 3 of the people there from college... the groom Martin Miller, one of the groomsmen Ron Lee, and even the minister that married them I knew from the AFC, Ken Wilkie... it is a small world... Here are Martin and Ken.

This might be the cutest ring bearer I have ever seen... wings and all.

Here comes the bride...

And that dreaded rain came back... 2 crazy groomsmen... Stephen and Ron...the only ones scared of the rain.

Congrats Mr. and Mrs. Martin Miller...

The beautiful reception.. I took lots of pics for all the ladies reading the blog... you know we always want to know the details of a wedding...

Gorgeous Wedding cake... but you have got to check out the topper... the best I have ever seen...

Just another bride and groom (5 years ago)...

You may kiss the hubby...

Our very own Ron Lee sang the first song... some of you know Ron Lee from Soul Union... what a treat...

My handsome prince dressed up as Stephen Cronin... what do you think?

Now the best of the party... the flower toss and garter toss....

And our very own Stephen... I think he had this planned...

Beautiful bride... check out those eyes...

So happy we could make it to their wedding... a very special treat in deed.

Just in case you want to see us again... HE HE HE

The NOBLE gang... congrats.

Here are some photos that we got later from the professional photographer... they tried to take pics of all the people at the wedding ceremony... do we look good or what... he he he

We don't really happy in these photos but we were (are)... thanks for the invite Martin and Joan... beautiful wedding and we pray for a just as beautiful marriage...

There is an order to our Christmas madness...

Yes there is an order to our Christmas Madness this year... the 25 days of Christmas is always a big hit in our house and we just love learning numbers and getting a gift each day. Last year was a huge hit where we could display all the presents from Vivi and Grandad for the 25 days of Christmas and then Pierce would open one each day in the right order... on Dec. 1st this year we had a little melt down when he saw all the presents and was only allowed to open one present... so we changed it up this year... we have a new method that we are all a big fan of. Thanks to Nana for her contribution and to Vivi and Grandad for theirs... here we go...

Step 1 - Go to the computer first thing in the morning to see what day it is. Nana sent us this awesome advent calendar online from Jacquie Lawson where it will only allow you to open up the correct day for the date that is on the computer. You can go back and look at previous days but it will not allow you to skip ahead (which is key for a 3 year old).. the village picture looks kind of dull on day one but as each day go ones its gets cheerier (I don't think that is a word :-) but it works for this) and comes to life...and Pierce loves seeing all the cool animation and making the village come to life. Here is a picture of the demo slide on line.
Step 2... after we memorize the date for the day (learning numbers) we run to the pirate advent calendar below and Pierce has to find the correct number and then we build what ever is inside.

Step 3... we go on a treasure hunt (staying with the whole pirate theme here)... Pierce goes and hides in his room and waits until I yell okay we are ready. I take the gift for the day (provided by ViVi and Grandad) and hide it in the house. Then we spend the next 5 min. trying to find it... he tries to get everyone to help him... me... daddy... tita... whomever but we all way until he finds it (we have been known to get hints) and here are a couple of the pics below of one of our treasure hunts... he loves this part and lights up every time.
Pierce is hunting in the next pics...

Do you see where the present is?

So excited...

No not under there...

Found it...

Does not waste anytime here...

I am sure this is his scary lizard face... are you scared???

So much fun... Thank you Nana and ViVi and Grandad for making the 25 days of Christmas so much fun...

Our home is looking alot like Christmas...

I really can not believe Christmas is almost here... my last blog was about Thanksgiving and now it is 6 days until Christmas Day... where does time go. No matter the temperature outside (hot) and the lack of cold weather clothes... we have been successful at getting our home to look like Christmas. First we got a lot of smiles around here... I think this is Pierce's favorite time of year... lots of sweets, lots of time with friends, and presents just appear out of no where... we are doing a lot of smiling around here.

You can't have Christmas without CHRIST... so here is just one of our many nativity scenes (my newest one)... I don't collect them but I think I am on the verge... Just love me some baby Jesus. This nativity set is from Bangkok, China and is made of Celadon.
We have gone several years without stockings... so this year we finally got some... Mom and Dad are sharing one and then Pierce has the other and Tita has the other... so cute.

When we moved back and forth in Sept. I left all my "Traveling Santa's in Texas... except these two... USA Santa and China Santa... so wish I had my others (Santa's that represent every country we have been too) but I sure do like to see these underneath all the Christmas Cards.

A little bamboo Christmas tree...

And a little touch of AggieLand from sweet Nana...

Now back in Texas you don't have to worry about your toes this time of year bc they are tucked snugly into socks and shoes but here in Singapore... where you wear flip flops all year long... you got to look good... this might be the only snow flake we see all year :-)

A sweet friend here let us borrow her Christmas Tree... we are so happy to have it and light it up every night. We all decided to make the ornaments this year... so much fun.

Not sure if you can notice but we have let Pierce hang all the ornaments and he likes for all of them to hang just on the bottom like a skirt. I have tried to move them but they made their way back down some how...

We always have an advent calendar... and this year we have three of them... one online from Nana and it is first one Pierce does every morning to see what day it is... one from Vivi and Grandad that sits in the entrance way so we can see what day it is every time we come and go.

And another by Lego's... it is pure genius. You can get all different themes (even ones a little more Christmas) but Pierce is really into Pirates right now so we got the Pirate one... but every day he gets to open a little box that has a 4-5 piece Lego set that he gets to put together and then play with it on his pirate scene... we love it and it is so much fun to see what its going to be each day.

There are so many reasons to love Christmas and all these things we do love and they do help fill the void of having family so far away during this special time but most of all we thank God for giving us His precious baby boy that would some day become our Saviour. We are reading a book right now with Pierce that says "Santa Claus and Christmas trees and presents are okay, but Jesus is the real reason we have a Christmas Day"... so all of these things are fun and we sure do embrace them here but more than all we love Christmas for the first 6 letters CHRIST.