Halloween in Singapore 2011

Since we arrived home from Africa the morning of Halloween it was a very tiring and long day.  But, Halloween is so fun in our neighborhood so it was just one big party and it helped to keep us all awake and recover from jet lag quickly.

First we had the Halloween parties at school:

I spent most of my time in Carson's classroom since I'm room mom for his class this year.


Our neighborhood trick-or-treating was from 6-8 pm.  We did the regular menu: soups, bread, yummy desserts and friends over to enjoy the night with us.

This year Bailey chose to be a safari guide; just like our guide from our safari in South Africa.

Sammy was a Greek goddess!
Carson was a football player.
Jack was Brainy Smurf.
Skylar was a BYU cheerleader.

I like how everyone's true characters are portrayed in their choice of Halloween costumes!  These photos tell 1,000 words of what is important to each Daynes kid!

Carson = sports/football
Bailey = whatever is trendy at the time (we just returned from Africa)
Sammy = Percy, Percy, Percy
Jack = Brainy (he's our techy kid)
Skylar = cheering for everyone else

 I love how there's no age limit on wearing a costume on Halloween night in this neighborhood!

We gave away somewhere around 2,000 pieces of candy on Halloween night again this year!

Christmas Eve 2011

Christmas Eve is always my favorite day of the year. 

Traditionally we celebrate it with the Robison family (if they are in Singapore and not traveling) either at our home or theirs.  Then there are always some other families too, depending on who else is in town.  This year was wonderful b/c we got to celebrate it with the Robisons, Furners and Moores (Blake & Jane). 

We started off our celebration at the Robisons with some amazing food!  There was Blake's special artichoke dip, my Christmas salsa, Jonna's awesome pomegranate and avocado dip and a ton of delicious food.

We also had the Nativity play.  I didn't have the script we usually use so we had to improvise a bit but it all turned out just fine; especially when Jack agreed to be Joseph.  He said he would be Joseph as long as he could also be a shepherd.  He was an awesome Joseph and he had some irresistable sheep:

I was a happy girl Christmas Eve, as always, but the kisses from my favorite boys helped:

Santa showed up again which was very kind of him since we had just seen him at our ward Christmas party earlier in December.  

Santa always shows up in a creative (or weird) way.  This time he came out of the Robison's bathroom.  As usual, everyone at the party got a gift from Santa and all of the adults got a gift as well as a sit on Santa's lap.  Some people always take things a step further...

Jack was especially cute this year.  When he was sitting on Santa's lap he whispered into Santa's ear what he wanted for Christmas.  It was the first year that I can remember where Carson did not run away from Santa and hide behind me.

Anna Robison treated us to some fabulous entertainment also:

                                                         Merry Christmas to all! 
(Sarah and I are wearing our new necklaces that Santa brought us back from his recent trip to Africa!)