Luke

He is loving KG2 (Kindergarten). As a parent of a school aged child, I see right in front of my face everyday how truly important it is for kids to like school. They all don't have to loooove it, but liking it is good. It's helps everyone's sanity. There's no tears, no arguments, so stress surrounding school what-so-ever. For Luke that is.

Last night he got to bring home SMABerry (His class is KG2 SMA). He was selected to bring it home for his exceptional behavior at school. It must be that "special, special, special" place on the carpet.

Being the stellar big brother he is, he let Drew play with it most of the night. We took this picture (for SMABerry's journal) and wrote about his adventures with us. And adventures they were! Playing, snuggling and sleeping. We Mitchell's know how to party.

Thinking of all my Bonny Slope friends as they prepare their classrooms, put names on cubbies, make endless trips to the copy machine and try to pack in all the learning/ideas/planning/prepping they can. I miss you guys!

Here's to special places on the carpet, loving school and early bed times!

xo

Sunday Funday

What a perfect way to spend our Sunday. Sentosa, Pirate themed water park, and walking to the Southern most point of Continental Asia! (I've wanted to do that since I first saw the sign.)
The skies were blue, boys were happy and we loved spending the day together.

Love Sentosa! 

Best friends. 

Great views along Palawan Beach at Sentosa 

Here we go...

A little hard to walk on this rickety bridge

Lots of shipping boats and other small islands off in the distance

Views from the Southern most point, looking back on Palawan Beach

Done! Silly thing on my list...but had to do it. 

That took all of 15 minutes :)

We will definitely go back to that water park. The boys had a blast! Ready for the week ahead...

Everyday Normal

In my classroom (3AMI) at Stamford...

-I spent half the summer in Paris then the other half in Mexico.
-I'm taking Mandarin. It's my fourth language.
-What's snow?
-It's so hot!!
-The air con is too cold!!
-This weekend I'm going to Malaysia
-I forgot my lunch but my helper's bringing it.
-I did my summer reading and math homework but I left it in France.
-"Hi Jenny" (Said by me). Another girl chimes in, "That's not Jenny. That's Sue. Jenny is the other Korean girl."
-Do we always have to climb up this many stairs?
-I need to go to the toilet.
-When they write about their "Favorite Summer Memory" and all 22 of them involve different countries
-Hearing people refer to my home as the United States of America
-Sharing our "Me Bags" over the week and hearing, "This is a picture of my house in Texas. This is the Chilean flag. I was born in Chile before I moved to Texas. Then I lived in Tokyo before Singapore."
-My dad is usually in the U.S. or China for business
-I live with my mom and my dad lives in Korea. He flies back and forth once a month.
-Can we pllleeeeaaaase take the lift?
-What is Fall?

First day of school! Luke is a kindergartener!  

His early bday gift arrived from Ma & Ampa. He hasn't taken it off!

Another day, another Disney character at the pool 

Cheers to week one being DONE! What a long week! (Yes, that's a beer in my hand. Asia is changing me. And yes, that glow is just sweat.) 

Drew eased right back into nursery with no problems at all. He now goes until 1:45 three days a week and gets to eat lunch there. He's the only one is our family that gets the fancy schmancy lunch from our famous chef. Not because we love him more, but because it's free with his tuition for extended day. 

Luke continues to love school! He has Ms. Mahoney this year and has had a smile on his face every day when he arrives and every day when he leaves. He even said to me, "Mom! Ms. Mahoney gave me a special, special, special place on the carpet." Hmmmm... didn't have the heart to tell him that's not a good thing. 

My class has settled into routines well and I think we'll have a great year together. Adam's year has gotten off to a good start as well. So much easier this time around. 

These past two weeks have been a whirlwind. Working 11 days with 1 day off has made it seem loooong. BUT, we have a normal weekend now and look forward to settling into our own usual routines for the school year. Pedicure and lunch with friends today and a new water park tomorrow. Hello weekend!

xo

Let the year begin!

Well, so far year 2 is off to a much better start! Isn't that always the case though? Adam and I have both been part of opening new schools before and year 1 is always crazy. This year is better on so many levels.

Many of you have asked - our new helper, Maricel is a miracle worker. We have had NO tears, no issues, no whining, no nothing. The boys are happy with her, she's great with them and things get taken care of. We are so thankful she's with us. The whole vibe in our house is just different this year. Some of that is that Singapore is not 'new' to us anymore, we are more adjusted, and the boys are older...but a big part of that is her personality and presence here.

The music teacher found me this week and asked if we had seen the prospectus that goes out to all families interested in the school. When I finally got to see it, I could see why she asked...

Such a sweet, concentrated face on that little blondie. :) It's pretty exciting to see your little guy on the cover!

I am one of two teachers out of 6 of us that didn't have to move classrooms this year. That has left me feeling very under stressed and more ready for the year ahead. It's all coming together...

I have 22 kids again this year, only 1 is new to Stamford. Much like last year, my students are from the US, Korea, Norway, Denmark & the UK. I'm excited to meet them at our orientation on Saturday. Drew had his orientation today...was pretty funny as he walked into nursery with MUCH more confidence this year. He waved to his TA, gave Ms. Shamani a hug and was off playing with the toys. Not his first rodeo.

Tonight we did what Drew loves most. Went for a bike ride! We rode our bikes to dinner and a playground with some friends. He's happiest when he's on the back of Daddy's bike!

Adam's job will look a bit different this year and he's looking forward to it. It's more structured and he'll be a regular within classrooms (supporting teachers) in addition to continuing to build the math enrichment program. That is no easy undertaking for 2 people to do, grades K-5. 

Hard to believe we've only been back in Singapore for a week! It feels like we've been here for months already. The weather has been GREAT. And that's no easy feat for Singapore! It's been cooler, very little rain and the humidity hasn't been unbearable.  

All in all, great start to year 2! 

Watch out below!

So this happened...

Luke was thrilled to inform us that, together, he & Drew PEED OFF OUR THIRD FLOOR BALCONY.

Yep.

The beauty of that is the balcony on the bottom floor extends well past our balcony.

Puddles of pee three floors down and two very proud little boys.

Goodbye Summer!

And that's a wrap.

Just like that, we are back to work tomorrow. While I could use a few more days (let's be honest, a lot more days) hanging out, being lazy and enjoying our boys, I will enjoy getting back into my classroom.

This weekend was wonderful in many ways. We got some good sleep, had lazy mornings, swam, had cooler weather, went on a date, hung out with friends, and got a good start at losing our summer/U.S./holy crap we loved the food weight gain. :) Running, bike rides, lots of walking and sweating of course!

My birthday & our anniversary was perfect. We spent the morning on a bike ride with the boys and that night Adam and I got away for dinner at our favorite place - Din Tai Fung. My birthday celebration continued Saturday with a bike ride and breakfast with some friends, followed by a double date with Jill & Alex for dinner.

It was definitely nice not to have any new job/new country/new home/finding a helper stress this year. This weekend was filled with laughter, relaxation and fun. Just what we needed to wrap up our summer vacation!

Beautiful views on our bike ride! My favorite area in Singapore.  

Love these two - Tanya & Angela

Sunday night pizza & swimming playdate with a few families from school

Here's to year 2! We're going to fill it with new adventures and soak up all the positive, JOY filled moments we can. We know that someday these will be the moments we miss.

xo

Back in Singapore!

Well that was a long flight. We were so happy to get off the plane! The boys were fantastic as usual. Both slept for a bit of the first flight and the majority of the second flight. We all managed a 5 hour night of sleep once we landed (and after 20 action packed minutes of playing with their toys of course). When the boys woke up they were so excited to see Maricel that she managed to keep them entertained for about 3 hours while we unpacked all of our suitcases. It was tricky but we found space for ALL of our new purchases. It was certainly nice coming back to an already-put-together place. And man was it spotless! That said, there was definitely an excitement, wonder and curiosity that was fun about landing last year. Not too mention the endless taxi trips to Ikea, exploring a new city and living in a 24-hour air conditioned hotel room for a week.

Nap time! He was asleep before take off :)

Sweet brothers couldn't stay apart on the airplane. "Pleeeaasse just let me sit by my brother for just a little bit!" 

We definitely DID NOT miss the weather one bit, but that said, it was actually "pleasant" yesterday. Still humid, but a nice breeze. I even managed a 20 minute run and didn't  feel like I was going to die. Success! And the chicken rice and mango juice that we had for lunch....SO good! Two things I didn't realize I had missed.

Today is my birthday (in Singapore at least), our 10 year anniversary and National Day (Singapore's 48th birthday). As I sit on the couch, snuggled with Drew, drinking coffee and watching Mickey Mouse, I feel perfectly content. Sure I would like to be wearing my long sleeves again, sure I'd like to have Ella at my feet and of course I'd like to know I'd be celebrating year 32 with my family and friends there. BUT, we're not there. We're here and that's okay. I've got my boys, a smile on my face and at this moment in time, we are right where we should be.

Cheers to another year!
xo