Prisoner!

This is what I saw when I got Grace up from her nap the other day. I just thought she looked so cute with her legs sticking out like a prisoner stuck behind bars.

P.S. She has been doing much better in her bed at night! 4 nights in a row without any problems now! I do have to threaten to take away the bear if she gets out, and last night she lost him, but she hasn't been waking up in the middle of the night crying. She still takes some naps in her crib just because some days she is too distracted by all the toys and wants to play. But she's improving!

Apples

Grace loves Apples. It's become one of her favorite snacks here. The other day she didn't want me to cut her apple up and this is what I found. Her apple was on the floor and when she wanted some more she'd bend over and take a bite, then go play some more. I thought it was hilarious.

Little India

Grace and I went with our friend Tania to Little India this week. We walked around and then met some ladies from the ward for lunch at Jaggi's North Indian Cuisine. The food was surprisingly delicious. Ben hasn't taken me to an Indian restaurant because he doesn't like curries and hasn't tasted any Indian food that he's liked. The stuff I ate was great though it did look a bit like vomit.

This is one of the many Indian Temples in Singapore.

I will say that I did not love Little India and wouldn't be sad if I never went back. One hour of walking around was enough for me. It was fun to see all the beautiful Saris for sale and some of the intricate Gold Jewelry, but it was stinky and there were dead cockroaches and nobody wears deoderant. Even Grace was plugging her nose. It's probably the dirtiest place in Singapore I've seen. The highlight? We saw the Elders! Tania gave them money for lunch and they were so grateful. We love the Elders serving in our area!

Food

Grocery Shopping has been quite the experience here. They have very selected items depending on where you shop, and a lot of things are very pricey. I have been able to find just about everything I've wanted and have learned just to pay for the luxuries of food I'm used to. I do have to say that since Singapore doesn't produce hardly any food, most of the prices are pretty reasonable. And the Produce here is fabulous! So delicious.

I've listed the price in US$ since it's easier to compare than in Singapre $.

Milk is sold in 2 liter cartons. Do the conversion to gallons and you're paying about $6.55 for a gallon of milk. And it doesn't even taste as good as US milk. A lot of people here buy boxed milk that's radiated so it has a long shelf life and is a ton cheaper. Many people like it but I think it's disgusting!

This carton of OJ was $5.74
The Strawberries $6.10

Frosted Mini Wheats $5.49- but a box of Cheerios is $7.18

The bread was $2.15 but it's about half the size of a loaf in the US. They do have a Banana Walnut Loaf that is SOOO GOOD as toast! I will definately miss that.

The eggs were $1.50 for 10. They don't sell them in dozens here, and they are all brown, unless you want to pay $4.95 for white ones. (Brown taste the same if not better) Also all the eggs have been radiated so they just sit on the shelf until you buy them. I thought that was a bit strange at first.

Jello is $2.15 a box

Meat is quite expensive. 1 pound of chicken would cost $7.29. They sell all meat here in 100gm portions. 1lb=450gms

The other bad part for me is that I go to the grocery store 3-4 times a week since it's just downstairs. So I'm probably buying more than I would if I went just once a week. But that's how the Asians do it. They buy in small portions and shop a few times a week if not everyday.

Asleep

Grace and I went swimming with our friend Tania this morning and then out to lunch for some yummy Thai food! (I seriously almost burnt my mouth off it was so hot, but so good!) Well, we must have worn Grace right out becaue she almost fell asleep in the taxi on the way home and then I laid her down in her bed and my Visiting Teacher came. Well I thought I had heard her up so I checked on her 15 minuted later and this is what I found.

Asleep behind the rocking chair.

Grace has been struggling with the big girl bed lately. At first she loved it and always wanted to sleep in it. Then she started getting up and playing instead of sleeping, so we would put her back in her crib if she did this. So she was 50% bed, 50% crib. Well, the past few times she's actually slept in the bed she has woken up crying and when we go in there she won't let us leave. She just wants us to lay there with her. Well, that's not a habit we want to make so I've been trying not to do that. So last night I was putting her to bed and gave her the choice big bed or crib, and she chose the crib! I was a little shocked because she always chooses the big bed even if she doesn't always end up sleeping there. So I don't know if she's become scared of the big bed or what but she slept safe and soundly in the crib. I was hoping to have her moved over to the big bed exclusively by the time we got home. Any suggestions?

Easter

I didn't take a ton of pictures this Easter but I thougth I'd share a few. Our Easter Bunny came Friday night so we woke up first thing Saturday morning to find our baskets. The Easter Bunny was really nice to Grace and made and Egg Hunt for her. She was pretty excited about the first egg and all the Candy it contained. (All our Easter Candy was courtesy of my Dad. Thanks Dad!) So after a little persuasion, and a piece of candy, we got Grace to put the egg in the basket and continue looking. That's how it went for all 7 eggs she found. I taped in on the camcorder, but since she took so long I decided not to post it. Her reactions to each egg was cute. The Easter Bunny hid Ben's and mine baskets. It was surprisingly difficult to find our baskets in such a small apartment. We both needed a clue, but I found mine first!

Here we are enjoying some chocolate M&M's for breakfast. Don't we look lovely first thing in the morning? (this is Grace's Surprise face)
Saturday night I decided to attempt dying some eggs. I wasn't sure how they would turn out since the eggs here are brown. But I bought a kit anyway and here they are. The colors are actually quite vibrant, except for the orange color-it didn't really take. So I was happy with how they turn out, they're just really hard to peel.
I made a nice Roast for dinner today. Ben's family back home was telling us about their nice Easter dinner they were going to have and I just couldn't sit here on Easter and eat stir-fry or something. So I bought a Roast (not a cheap thing here) and rolls (I would usually homemake these but I don't have yeast and there's no way I'm kneading the bread by hand) and even tried to buy Jello to make a Jello salad, but they only had cherry and orange. Yuck. So I gave up on the Jello and made a fruit salad. All in all it turned out to be a pretty lovely Easter dinner.

On this note I just would like to say how grateful I am for Easter and the meaning of it. What a glorious thing it is to know that yes, our Savior died for us, but he also rose again! He lives and wants us to be with him forever. I'm so grateful for this life and that I can try with all my might to live up to his blessing and have my family for eternity. What wonderful knowledge I am blessed with. Today in our RS lesson we talked about Elder Eyering's talk, "O Remember, Remeber". It was a good call to me that I need to think/write down/talk about all the ways the Lord blesses me everyday. Because he does in small ways show his love for me and blesses me incredibly everyday. Ben and I are going to try to share the ways we've felt the Lord in our lives that day each night as we go to bed. I think this will help us to Remember the Lord better in all things and acknowledge him and better thank him for these blessings. Anyway, today I truly do feel blessed to have the gospel and my beautiful little family, and a very supportive family back home.

What would you like to drink?

"Oh, Anything".... is this a common response? Well apparantly it is here in Singapore and some brilliant soft drink company decided to make it an actual drink. You can buy an Anything or a Whatever. The Whatever is more of a Cola drink, and the Anything is fruity, but you never know what fruity flavor you're going to get. The first time Ben got one he loved the flavor and hasn't gotten the same one in the last 3 or 4 tries. So be careful the next time you say "Whatever" because that's just what you may get.