Half of my life

Next month I'll not only be celebrating my Birthday but I will also be celebrating the month I met my husband, 19 years ago!  So, officially I will have been with my husband for 1/2 of my life!

He officially will know me better than my mom or sisters. He has put up with more of my crap than anyone else and he still loves me.
He's seen me change from a struggling 19 year old college student to a semi-confident mother of 3 and wife of 1.
He's seen wrinkles appear on my face, sunspots on my arms and still keeps his mouth shut if he has ever seen a gray hair.
He's seen my weight go up and down, along with my emotions. And he still can't keep his hands off me!
He has shared my heartbreaks, frustrations and best of all my joys!
He has supported me in dozens of ideas even when he thought they were silly. Sometimes they don't work and he's still proud of me!
He has moved me from Nebraska to Idaho to Utah and now to Singapore.
He's given me 3 of the best children in the world.
He doesn't make me feel old. With him I feel young and dumb again!
He lightens my day with his sexy little smirk.
He's made me more confident and allowed me to shine. Even if at times he has had to take a backseat.

We have done so much together, celebrated so much, cried over so many things but there isn't a better partner I'd want on this roller coaster of life.The best part is that we have alot of fun together! We enjoy eachother. I chose a great partner to spend my life with, this last half has been great! I hate getting older but knowing that he's been beside me through 1/2 of my life makes this Birthday so much better.

Carrot cake?

Since moving to Singapore I have seen many hawker stands selling fried Carrot cake.There is always a Q (line up) to get a slice so I assumed it must be delish! Now, I'm not usually a carrot cake lover but when you miss the familiar of "home" sometimes you want something that just reminds you of home. SO, I thought that I'd save this fried carrot cake for a nice Easter treat.
As Easter approached I mentioned my goal to my husband and he informed me that fried carrot cake a la Singapore style is NOT the same as carrot cake a la American style. So, I did some research and it is SO NOT THE SAME!

American carrot cake is made with real ORANGE carrots,  pecans and a bunch of other yummy things that make it cakey and delish! Then it is followed up by cream cheese frosting and NOTHING can beat that! I'm sure Americans line up in some areas just for a slice of this yummy cake. American carrot cakes look something like this.....

Fried Carrot cake a la Singapore style is also called Chai Tow Kway and is made with WHITE RADISHES! Or as they call them Singapore carrots. The radish is mixed much like a regular cake with flour and water but is stirred in a pan while cooking to make the cake.Then the cake is stir fried with eggs, garlic and spring onions sometimes even some dried shrimp for texture! Singaporeans eat this cake for breakfast, lunch, dinner and an anytime snack! Fried carrot cake looks something like this....

I'm so glad that I did some research before I ordered this Carrot Cake or I would have had a HUGE surprise!

I'm told when cooked right it really is delicious but I'm not sure I want to try it yet.

Next time I feel like a carrot cake though I think I'll just bake one American style!

I even got ice cream!

Penguin friend ready for surgery

Jake had oral surgery this week. We went in a week ago because he was complaining of a VERY sore tooth. I went to get him from school and he was in the nurses office because it hurt so bad.

First step...we went to the dentist. Jake HATES the dentist, scared out of his mind of the dentist and really for no apparent reason. We had the incentive program working, otherwise known as bribery. He actually did really good. They took a full x-ray and even looked in his mouth without so much as a whimper! I was so relieved.

BUT, we needed to make another appointment with an oral surgeon because the tooth was cracked and needed to be removed.

Next step...pediatric oral surgeon. Let me just say she is GREAT! She was so kind and gentle with Jake and he ate. it. up! He even got to watch TV while in the chair and was very willing to spit in the spitoon they have. The surgeon pointed out Jake's "extra" tooth that was impending the progress of losing teeth (he's only lost one and he's 8). She suggested that we remove the extra tooth, the top two teeth that should be gone already, a bottom one that won't fall out and was starting to look infected and finally the cracked molar that started this whole thing! 5 teeth in all needed to be removed. We scheduled a surgery to  put him under to make it easy on all of us.

Final step....Medical center for surgery. Jake was a little scared but he did what he needed to do and faced his fears. He is now 5 teeth short but 4 stitches. It went easier than the surgeon thought and was done in 45 minutes and not the 90 she thought. He took a little longer to wake up but he even got ice cream so all was well. However, he threw all that up when we pulled into the parking structure for home. It did not stop him from eating the Ben and Jerry's I got for him later though.

Natalie is quite impressed with him if not a little jealous of all the attention. Jake is pretty proud of his emtpy mouth. He has only taken pain meds once since the surgery and was bouncing around the house at 2 AM, just  a few hours past surgery! I kept him home but  he's still bouncing and talking non-stop. We had to do some research on why he needed an IV and why the happy gas smells funny. Otherwise, he really should be at school. The surgeon wanted him to take 4 days off for relaxing but he's wanting to swim so I think he's fine!

before surgery

Getting ready to go in with Daddy









smile before surgery



smile the next day after surgery

Bintan Lagoon

Our first family vacation since arriving in Singapore  was Bintan, Indonesia. It's on the South China Sea and it was AWESOME!

Ferry ride there

kids and traveling gnome with the Sea behind them

Grey loved the archery

Bob got some golfing in

Grey and his Dr. Who sunglasses

Good times!

It was a nice and relaxing trip. We might just have to go back and check out some of the tours they had. We just stayed in the resort area and hung at the pools or the beach most of the time. We did get a round of laser tag in and I think it's become our new favorite family game. All of us really liked it but not as much as the beach.

Jake's favorite part

Today we went to the ocean and i wanted to biuild a sandcastle. I first found a nice spot and i started to biuild a sandcastle. By Jake

So, my idea was to let all the kids write their own posts but they all decided they were too cool for my blog!

Digging in the sand was definitely Jake's favorite part. He's always loved building in the sand. He was also very good at telling all of us what to do when we came out of the water to help.