Muscles

While Matthew was in Japan, our nephew Rui (16) visited the house and had dinner with him. He was showing off his muscles so he sent us a picture. 

The kids were very impressed and wanted to send some pictures back...

Very funny kids we got.

Checking out the venue

Oliver's class has entered into a dodgeball competition which is organised by the Japanese Association here in Singapore. It is supposed to be a very big event. The parents get involved heavily to lead the team to victory. There are 20 kids in the team and some parents become their coaches, referees, organising practice venues, deciding on the team uniform, and even lunch box ordering duty for the competition day.

I wasn't sure how much I could get involved, Matthew having irregular schedule and Luca and Ashley with me. So when there was a position to organise the after competition party I put my hand up!
Something that doesn't require a lot of work and I am good at.

It turned out it was quite a mission to find a venue which had good meal and drinks at a good price and can take over 50 people (of which 30 were kids!). I dragged my friends and Matthew to couple of places before deciding on the venue.

In the end we settled on a Japanese restaurant&bar in town which gave food and drinks for free for under 7 years old (half of Oliver's class mates are still 6) and adults can have free flow of alcohol and food for $50!

To ensure the quality of the service and the food Matthew and I went out for lunch one afternoon. We were amazed by the staff working there, they were fantastic! Food was great and we got a very big private room for the function. Couldn't be any better. I was very happy we finally found a place. My mission as a party planner was almost completed!

Luca's haircut

Matthew took Luca for a haircut. Each time we visit a Singapore hairdresser we get confused... it is so difficult to explain what we want and of course the outcome is totally different from what you asked for!

Farewell lunch

Today I got to see my Japanese friend Mayumi, just before her departure. Her family is leaving Singapore for good :( I have actually only met her twice but we got along so super well! I wish I had met her earlier. But hopefully I get to see her in Osaka one day. She is from a town very close to our Japanese house.

Four of us had lunch in Suntec. We have something in common - can you tell? We all have a non-Japanese husband. We had lots of fun chatting about lots of things in our lives. Such a great thing to have when you live overseas. Thanks again ladies for a fun afternoon x

Good luck Mayumi san! We will miss you so much!

Dodgeball competition

Another special event Merryn and Dennis got to see during their short visit was Oliver's very first dodgeball competition. I am not allowed to put up any of the photos from the actual competition for privacy reasons. Sorry. I must say it was very well organised and the kids had so much fun. 

Oliver's team had two wins and two losses. They played very well against kids who are older. Oliver played as a key player! 

Everyone is already looking forward to the next competition. Well done Oliver!!

With her baby

Here is our little mummy with her baby!

Breakfast and swim

What a perfect way to spend time with the grandparents. The kids had a ball in the pool and enjoyed yummy Indian breakfast this morning.

Somehow we had the pool to ourselves!

The boys are always happy to come down to the pool. They can run around on real grass to play rugby!!

Lunch box - sushi

Oliver asked for sushi lunch the other day. Here is my first attempt. He told me he was so happy when he opened his lunch box and it was empty when he brought it home - it made me smile a lot :) :) :)

I could do this often if I am not up at 6am to make it. I am so not a morning person...

Oliver's school visit

I was very happy having Merryn and Dennis visit at the perfect timing :) They got to join us to go to Oliver's open school day. Parents and the family were invited to see a whole lesson. This time they were studying addition.

Unfortunately we are not allowed to take pictures or videos during class time. The Japanese school is very strict on privacy issues. We were very happy how he is doing in class. He was very confident and was chosen to answer questions a couple of times. He even went up to the front and wrote an answer on the blackboard!

After the session we got to see Oliver's Morning Glory which he planted a while back and has been looking after.

Also his art piece - He found a hamster on the school excursion ??

It was nice to show M&D how well Oliver is doing at his new school. What perfect timing for a visit!

Opening the birthday presents

Merryn and Dennis kindly brought over the kids birthday presents. It is nice to have all three birthday's very close to each other. No-one missed out!

They got a sharing book - HAKA which is perfect for Kiwi kids who love rugby! They also got a little soft toy kiwi which plays the HAKA. We will see how long it will take for me to hide it. Luca is constantly pushing the button...

Ashley giving Merryn a thank you hug:

Very happy girl, opening a big present by herself!!

What is it!!!???

It was a beautiful eye-spy quilt!!

Merryn put in so so many hours creating this masterpiece. She asked me what kind of fabric I would like to have on it during the planning stage. You can see them here, my wish for the colour was apricot and grey and some dotted patterns. 

Ashley's name when written with Japanese characters looks like this 杏珠鈴. I chose the name Ashley first and for each syllable/sound I assigned a Chinese character. 

杏 - this means apricot. I chose symbol colours for each of our kids. For Oliver you can guess from the name. The name originates from olive trees so his colour is green. 

Luca's name when written in Japanese has a character for lapis lazuli - sky blue. 

I think if I ask Ashley now she would definitely prefer PINK over apricot :) I think it is a nice soft colour for a girl. 

珠 - this means pearl. I thought nice character for a girl to have :) 

鈴 - This character was the most important to me when choosing her name. My mother's name is 鈴子  (Suzuko) which means "Bell child" and my name is written like this 美鈴 and means "Beautiful bell". So when I found out I was having a girl I really wanted to pass the character "bell".

Merryn was so good, she found a fabric that was apricot and had pearls around it. You can see it near Luca's finger in the photo above. 

Oliver and Luca got the same present: 

ALL BLACKS book!!

It is a bit too early but Matthew got an early birthday present from M&D too. As a Singapore Rose family tradition, for a big item we use recyclable wrapping - a quilt!!

He got an adult size scooter. Now he can go and scoot with the kids :) 

Afternoon tea on our balcony

We had a lovely afternoon tea on our balcony today. Nicola made a chocolate cake that was super yummy! Her parents who are here in Singapore on holiday at the moment joined us too.
I should do this more often. But we might have to install a ceiling fan or something to make it more comfortable though...  A bit warm for the visitors.

Grandparents visit

I got a text message from Merryn (my mother in law) asking if we will be busy the following week. My answer was "no". we just had Oliver at school and the younger ones at home for the school holidays. No special plans. I then got another text - "can we come over and see the kids?" - Yes Of course!

And they were on their way to Singapore the following Monday. I love how flexible and active they are!! This is a picture we got halfway through their journey, while stopping over in Australia. The kids were so excited to have their grandparents visiting with such a short notice!

Ready for the visitors

We have new shades for both the dining and the living room. We got them from IKEA the other day. They are a special material to absorb the heat. We get both harsh morning and afternoon sun. So hopefully these will make it slightly cooler just in time for the visitors.

Visitor's bed made up too. 

We are very excited to have Merryn and Dennis visit. What a nice surprise!

Perfect evening

I love our apartment so much. Especially evenings like today. It was so clear and with a nice breeze coming in, it was just perfect!

Dodgeball practice

Oliver had his second team practice for the dodgeball competition. It was at a far location again but at least this time it was at a park with big open spaces.

Luca and Ashley had a ball. Luca found a ginomous leaf. They played with some of the siblings of the players (Oliver's classmates) kicking and chasing a ball. It was actually a very fun afternoon!

TJ's sleepover

These boys look so grown up now. Oliver just loves having TJ over. The excitement is at his maximum when he stays overnight!

School holiday

This is the first time in a long while we haven't been out of Singapore during the June break. Now that Oliver has started school we can't do anything except for during the weekends during the month of June. I have to say Luca and Ashley have been very good entertaining themselves.

We have been spending lots of time on the balcony. The new water station Luca got for his birthday came in very handy.

Some mornings they play on the water mat. 

Other days just chilling out on the couch:

This was very funny. They built a space ship with pillows and a duvet. The paper they are holding is the control panel.  I am not sure why Luca is wearing the pink sunnies instead of Ashley...

So good!

This is totally divine - if you haven't tried it you are missing out big time. I must make more room in our freezer so that I can stock a couple.

Calligraphy lesson

I am so glad Oliver is taking calligraphy lessons every weekend. He understands the importance of writing letters neatly and his concentration span has improved so much.

Most weekends he practices writing with pencils but sometimes he gets to practice using black ink and a brush. This weekend he made some special work.

Here is Oliver writing number one in Chinese characters:

And his free writing masterpiece - Sushi! I love it!!!

For the coming few weeks he will practicing words to enter a competition in Japan. I hope he will enjoy it.