Sammy

There are times when someone just makes you so proud you have to document it! This happens all the time with this girl. I want to document a few things that have impressed me about this girl the past few weeks. HUGE DISCLAIMER FIRST: I don't take any of the credit for the things this girl does. She is a strong, confident person and she came that way! She came into the world bright, determined and sure of who she is. I don't take any of the credit but am still desperately proud all the same!

The first week of events that had me impressed:

Sammy played in her first basketball game after a 4 year break from organized basketball! Let me explain why this is a big deal...

When she played basketball back in third grade she wasn't very good. She couldn't really focus on the game, she was always daydreaming during the games, she didn't break much of a sweat and she didn't really seem to like it.

However, after a 4 year break she is a new player! She is stressed out on the court because she is trying so hard to pay attention and play the correct position. She runs the entire game, sweats a lot and shoots when she gets the ball! She is TRYING and putting in EFFORT now! It's an amazing transformation.

I'm a dork for writing this but the truth is the truth: I kept having to hold back tears while Sammy was playing because I was so proud of her. This is why. It's easy to be proud of your kids when they have a natural talent at something; however, when they take an interest in something that is difficult for them and they try their best it is really awesome. Sammy shot the ball twice during the game and made both of her shots. It was unbelievable!

I really think it took courage for Sammy to play basketball again. If you saw the other girls on the court it would help explain what I'm talking about. Sammy is tall for her age but she looked like a skinny little thing out on the basketball court. Most of the girls are 7th and 8th graders and Sammy was definitely one of the smaller ones.

Good on you, girl!

Another proud moment this week came when she was at her Wednesday night rock-climbing activity. Sammy is a pretty decent rock climber. She has the perfect long legs for this sport, definitely the brains for it and she had some practice at it after attending after-school climbing club at school last year. So, the beehives went rock-climbing for an activity. Sammy's friend Natasha was scared to death and afraid to climb. So, apparently Sammy coached her along the entire time and helped her get to the top of one of the walls. Then, her friend Natasha was too afraid to go down so Sammy decided to stay with her and help her get down.

I wasn't at this activity but I was cracking up as Sammy was re-telling the story: She told the whole story in Natasha's Aussie accent, "I CON'T do it SOMMY, I CON'T!" Sammy didn't get to do many climbs at this activity for herself b/c she was "stuck" helping her friend. However, "good on you" again girl b/c life is so much more than climbing mountains for yourself...there is so much joy to be found in helping your friends to make it up the mountains also!"

LAST PROUD MOMENT:

While I was Hong Kong last week I arranged for Sammy to attend her Cast party for The Sound of Music. I thought it would be fun for her to go to a party where all the cast would be together again and celebrate her hard work!

The night started out according to plan. She took a taxi to her friend Stephanie's house. Then Stephanie's mom drove the girls to the boy's house where the party was being held. Apparently the party started out pretty innocent...they ate pizza and played a game that they had learned in their drama class called "Park Bench." However, the mom and the domestic helper, who were the only 2 adults at this 6,7 & 8th grade party, went inside after a while and hid themselves away from the kids. Yes, there are many parents like this around here. They are pointless and turn their heads when they know exactly what is going on.

So, with no adults around you can imagine how this party started to take a turn for the worse: "Park Bench" became a bit racier, and then they switched to a new game which you may or may not be familiar with, depending upon if you were raised in the suburbs or the city, called "7 Minutes to Heaven." If it doesn't ring a bell let me educate you...it's 7 minutes in the closet with a boy (or girl). Funny thing is that when Mike played this game in middle school it was called "7 Seconds." I'm much more comfortable with middle schoolers in the closet together for 7 seconds...for obvious reasons!

Now you may want to ask yourself what you would have done in this situation, what your child would do, etc. Well, I'm in complete awe of Sammy's reaction. She just stood right up in front of all of her peers and said that she wasn't sticking around for this inappropriate game. So, 2 other girls from the musical went with her and they left that action.

The next game that was played was truth or dare. Funny thing is that an 8th grade boy at the party said to her, "You probably won't want to play." Sammy busted right back, "Is that an insult?" He then replied the following, "I guess I can see how you could take that as an insult but it wasn't really meant to be." The kids all went and played truth or dare but Sammy and her threesome did something else. Peer pressure doesn't exist for this kid. She doesn't have to stand up so forcefully but she chooses to. She doesn't let anyone get confused about her feelings on a certain subject. No gray areas for this chick!

Good on you again girl!

OK..so the last big moment for this week (that I can recall) that impressed me about this girl was last Thursday after school when the phone rang. I answered and handed it to Sammy, wondering who the woman was on the other end of the phone. Turns out, it was her science teacher...her very HARD science teacher. She was calling to tell Sammy that she had just read her research report on macaques and just had to call and tell her how impressed she was with it. She told Sammy that she might want to consider a career in research because it was so good.

Last good on you girl for this blog post!

The coolest part about Sammy is that she doesn't really want any of you who are reading about this right now to know. She just does what she does because she believes in standing up for what's right and good. She does is for herself and for God. I think we could use a lot more Sammy's in this world!!!

I'm Never Brushing My Teeth Again! (this pregnancy)

I seriously feel like giving up the brush for the next 4 months! Every time I brush my teeth I either: barf, gag or feel like I'm going to barf or gag!

Almost every time I have barfed this pregnancy it's been while brushing my teeth. The biggest problem is the brand of toothpaste: Colgate! Have you ever noticed how foamy Colgate is? If you haven't I'll just tell ya...it's pretty darn foamy! It's also the only toothpaste brand for sale in the supermarkets in Singapore! Where's the Crest? Really...how can they not have Crest in this country? We have root beer, maple syrup, chocolate chips and peanut butter. So, why not Crest? Who makes Crest anyway? They really need to get their act together and make a presence overseas. Colgate-Palmolive is really monopolizing this country in toothpaste.

Normally I don't pine for things from my home country but when I'm pregnant...it really bugs me that I can't just have a brand of toothpaste that doesn't foam at the mouth...literally!

The Sound of Music!!!

This was the week Sammy had been waiting for...ever since she auditioned for the musical at the first week of December she has been working and practicing and singing and preparing for this week. The show was on Wed, Thur and Fri and I was there for every show. Every time Sammy would walk onstage my eyes would well up with tears. She was Louisa...the second daughter and she was awesome!

Sammy had 5 costume changes during the show! Here she is with all her "siblings."







Here she is singing "Edelweiss" with the whole family at the big concert at the end of the play...



I finally got my way into the make-up room the last night before the show and took a few photos of Sammy with some of her friends from the cast. Here she is with one of her sisters, "Brigitta".



Here she is with "Baroness Elberfeld"...



Here she is with her sister in the play, "Marta" and one of the nuns...



The musical was so well done. It was better than some high school musicals I've seen. The talent from the girls was outstanding. The boys...not so much; although a few boys were good. They haven't sent out order forms for the musical yet but when they do we'll order some extras for the grandparents to see!

More of Bailey...the fighting fish!

Here's Bailey in her swim meet last Saturday; The February Invitational. She just moved up in January to a harder age group so she didn't have any first place races this meet but she had some great swims. Here she is in the 50 meter freestyle. She came in third place so don't focus on her place...just her beautiful stroke!!!

Video killed the radio star (but won't kill this girl!!!)

I've got some great videos of the kids recently...not professional footage, of course, but I've been able to capture some pivotal moments. Some that really capture the passion of some of the kids in this family. Here's a few I just have to share...

This first one I took on Tuesday while paying a visit to Bailey's gymnastics class. I love this flip by the Bail-monster. Her gym coach calls her a "Quick Learner." I would say that to be true in most aspects of this girls life. She is truly a well-rounded girl who is talented at many, many, many things! Her challenge will be choosing one thing to focus on and be best at b/c she's good at so many!!!

Enjoy some of these short videos...the longer ones just don't want to download b/c of their size.

Chinatown with Carson

GONG XI FA CAI!

Thursday I went on the kindergarten field trip to Chinatown. I'm sure you're asking yourself, "You live in Singapore...isn't every town Chinatown?" That's sort of true. However, there is a specified area of Singapore for each of the main cultures who live here...Little India, Chinatown, Arab Street and some even refer to our neighborhood as "Little America!" (That would be true if we actually had some good American restaurants in our neighborhood!)

Here we are starting out at the Buddhist temple. We were on a scavenger hunt so we had to look for things like: incense, oranges, pineapples; all things that are special for the Chinese during this big holiday.



Each parent had to send in $10 for their kid to buy some souvenirs and get lunch. So, here's Carson's big purchase that he was so excited to buy and couldn't be persuaded to buy anything else as a memory of this day. It's a big blue jewel. Boy are his girlfriends going to be lucky ladies...a man who likes "jewry."





Here we are in front of a nice display of pomelos. Pomelos are really good! They are kinda like grapefruit but not so sour.



Lunchtime in Chinatown is every pregnant American woman's dream! The sights, sounds and smells are just so....indescribable. You really have to be pregnant to know how truly disgusting it is. However, we found some comfort in Singapore's most famous dish, Chicken Rice. It's Carson's favorite lunch actually so it wasn't too bad. Here we are with our $4 spread of chicken rice and complimentary chicken broth.



Another highlight of this field trip was looking for all the items on the Scavenger hunt. One of the items the kids were supposed to find was shrimp. Since I've been on this field trip before I knew that shrimp could only be found in one place in Chinatown...the wet market! The smells of the food stalls are bad but the smells of the wet market are every pregnant woman's worst nightmare. Whoever is reading this would be very proud of me for surviving it. This is how I did it. I just didn't breathe. I was also the leader of the group. I went in like a Military Commander on an important mission. I went quickly past the raw meat sitting out, unrefrigerated, I went serpentine past the raw fish display, oh so careful not to slip while my flip-flops tried desperately to cling to hints of cement instead of the wet fish-gut remains that had made a fish-slick all over the ground below. I went commando toward the dried cuttlefish and other dried fish assortment and didn't stop until I found some small pieces of dried shrimp. We paused here long enough to put our stickers on our sheet. Dried shrimp is still shrimp. At this point I took a breath. A deep breath that would last me until we got back out into the sweet sunshine again. We made it out of the wet market alive, with a sticker on our shrimp section and so proud of myself for not even puking. Mission accomplished!

You know sometimes during this pregnancy I've been like a girl lost in the desert looking for water. I think of happy thoughts like walking into Cinnabon and I can actually smell the cinnamon rolls baking. I've also found myself dreaming of In-N-Out Burger, Rubio's or Cafe Rio and all my favorite smells of my home country and I can almost reach out and touch them. Then I wake-up from my dilusions and realize that a piece of toast with peanut butter and jelly will just have to hold me over until June.



Carson and I are at the end of our scavenger hunt here and just wasting time shopping around until time to get on the buses and head back to school. We had a very memorable day together and I loved the time with just me and one of my most favorite boys on the planet. This guy is the ultimate dude and we have a great time together! He is one tough guy but he's the most excited about his new baby sister of anyone in our family. He hugs my tummy and kisses it many times per day and has told me many times how happy he is that the baby's a girl because he already has a little brother but he doesn't have a little sister yet. He is so much fun and I had a great day bonding in Chinatown with him. Now that's a mission accomplished!

Can't Touch This!

Friday was Bailey's big night! The night of the Intermediate School Variety Show! This is our family's 4th year now to have someone perform in this very fun variety show!

Sammy danced with her friend Lydia to "We Got The Beat" in 4th grade.
Sammy danced with her friends Lydia, Michaella & Sophia to "What I Like About You" in 5th grade.
Bailey sang and danced with her friend Lydia to "We Go Together" from Grease in 3rd grade.

This year Bailey played a soccer game with her friend Tiffany against friends Kierica & Meg (on stage) while dancing, doing gymnastics and getting busy to "Can't Touch This" by M.C. Hammer.

Here's some photos of Bailey & friends getting ready for the big night at our house...

This is Kierica and her mom...


This is Tiffany...


This is Meg...


This is Bails...


Here are the gorgeous girls and their curls from the back view!



A couple of quick photos before we run out the door for the show!!!





These are definitely the 4 cutest and most glamorous soccer players I've ever seen!!!!

They were the 2nd to last act in a 2 1/2 hour show! So, the excitement was definitely building as they waited and waited and waited backstage for their turn to perform. They did a great job despite one soccer ball that went flying offstage and a couple of other dropped soccer balls on stage. However, it was obvious that these are 4 talented girls! What a fun night! Look for this act on youtube sometime soon...





Bails & Tiff enjoying a sleep over at our house after the show!!! This was one night where they actually did SLEEP! Yay!