March madness

It's been a crazy month of March for us here in Singapore, with birthdays, friends coming and going, and more.

One of the highlights is, of course, Harper's 3rd birthday. We celebrated a few weeks early as we had some good friends moving back to Australia and Japan.

Harper always loves her cake:





Great seeing our friend Charli



Here's dad trying to referee the present opening.



Harper also decided that this would be the month where she made the big push for potty training, and we're pleased to say that she's been successful! The reward was a trip to Build a Bear, where she created Beatrice Bear:



Of course, it wouldn't be March if we didn't include a basketball pic. Unfortunately, the Huskies bowed out earlier than we hoped for. Don't worry, Dad was the only one who stayed up until 230 AM to watch the game.



Now with the Bucks out, we don't really have a team to root for. Butler or VCU, I guess.

There was a farewell party for our good friends Yasi and Charles (and PT and Janet). While Dad was away, the girls were able to bid farewell to their good friends. We hope to see them down under sometime.





Harper got all dolled up in her school uni for a field trip. She's getting so big!



If she takes after dad, she'll never really grow up, of course.



Here's mom with our little birthday bug. Happy Birthday, Harper!

Chinese New Year and other fun

We've been busy with Chinese New Year celebrations and special events at school lately. The girls have been thoroughly enjoying the Singapore winter.


Ida Jane loved sports day at school.



Harper loves eating the local food and hanging out with her sister.




Chinese New Year brought multiple lion dance viewings. Ida Jane was particularly excited about the school celebration.


Look at that smile!


The lion dance at our condo was fun too.



We all participated in Singapore's Chinese New Year tradition of lo hei - friends and family gather to toss the ingredients of a Chinese salad into the air. Here are Ida Jane and daddy taking part in the fun.



The girls with their good friend Charles. Notice Harper's adoring look!


Ida Jane got to dress up as her favorite book character for book week at school. She even got to march in a parade! Meet Fancy Nancy!



Our cat Herman was sick in the hospital for awhile but is doing much better. We were thrilled to welcome him back home.

Christmas and Bali

Happy New Year to all! We've had a busy holiday season. The girls were so excited about Christmas this year and were quite pleased to find that Santa had come on Christmas morning. Before the big man came, we made cookies to leave for him. The girls are decked out in their new princess gowns, courtesy of Meme and Baba.



Here they are, enjoying the loot on Christmas morning in their princess pajamas from Nana and Papa. Notice daddy in the background, enjoying his Christmas ipad. :)

Alas, we didn't take very many pictures on Christmas as we were excitedly packing for our trip to Bali!

We had a blast. Ida and Harper were quite interested in all of the things to see at this temple to Vishnu we visited outside Ubud. You'll notice Mom and Dad in their sarongs - required temple wear, but also pretty hip.











After visiting the temple, we ate lunch by some rice paddies.





The sacred monkey forest in Ubud was definitely one of our favorite places in Bali. Here are the girls at a temple within the forest.



Some of the monkeys we encountered:





We spent a lot of time relaxing at the pool.









The girls built sand volcanoes at the beach:





Ida Jane even got her hair braided on the beach and then pulled out the beads 2 hours later. You can kind of see it here.



The highlight of the trip for Harper was the traditional Ramayana dance performance we attended.





After all the excitement, it's always good to come home again. :)

Tree time

It's Christmas time in Singapore, again! Hard to believe we passed the one-year mark earlier last week.

Our little Singaporean girls could be on a postcard for the botanical gardens:







These are pictures from our photo shoot a while back, we promised to put more up, so here they are!



So, Christmas in Singapore. The weather has been really nice lately, a bit cooler and breezier (so, high 80s instead of low 90s, and yes, you can tell). Perfect weather to get our tree up.



Yes, Harper, it will "grow."







Harper provided a tour of the work:



While it has been a year, we didn't have this stuff last year, as it was sitting on a container in the South Pacific. The girls are enjoying their stockings and decorations. "Deck them halls" and all that stuff!