Week of Acquisition

It's been a very busy week of getting settled into our new home.  I've been making lists of things we need and putting away the things we have.  The work seems never ending.  Everybody is getting more adjusted to our new life.  Yesterday, Madeline told me, "Mom, I feel like I'm home now".  So sweet!  

The kids are doing surprisingly well.  I'm very proud of them.  Especially Lily.  I was worried about her and how well she would adapt to all of these changes.  On Wednesday morning this week, when I dropped her off at school, she saw her friends, turned to me and said good bye and then ran off to play.  It was so easy.  I'm so happy.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE living less than 5 minutes walk from school.  It's awesome.  We don't have to leave the house until 8:15 or so in the morning, and Lily still has time to play before the bell rings.  We don't even have to use an alarm to wake up.  It's really wonderful.

On Tuesday, our shipment from the US arrived.  Wyatt and Madeline were so happy to play with their toys.  Our house was in this state... toys everywhere... for 2 days.  It took me a while to find a spot for everything.  We have some more organizing to do, but I'm making progress.

This was my grocery shopping receipt from today!  SO LONG.  I discovered something awesome...  home delivery!  FairPrice is a local store that sells everything.  It reminds me of a Walmart, sort of.  They have groceries and appliances and sheets and TVs and everything else.  They offer home delivery!  I was so thrilled to find this out.  I've been shopping one day at a time and not really able to keep much on hand because I was limited to only buying what I could carry.  With home delivery, I was able to stock my pantry.  They only deliver non-perishable items, but that's okay!  The best part...  All of this was delivered for only a $7 fee.  Totally worth it!  

I wanted to show you this...  I am very lucky to have a dryer in my condo.  Yeah!  I don't have to use a clothes line.  However, the condo does not have an exhaust for the dryer, so I have to open a window and stick the exhaust hose outside when I run my dryer. 

These vines hang down from the trees in the green area behind our condo.  Madeline saw them and wanted to swing on them.  I thought this was a good action shot!

We had a play date with the kids from Lily's class.  Two of the families from her class are returning to Australia next week, so it was a going away play date.  I thought it was a great time for me to get to know some of the other moms.  They were all very friendly and we had a great time.

Lily wanted to climb the tree like a monkey!

Scott was in Taiwan all week this week.  He only spent one night in our new home, and then off to Taiwan with him.  I got us unpacked and organized.  The US shipment came in and I got a lot of it sorted and put away.  I made a trip to The Nex each day to pick up as much as I could carry.  I needed a drying rack for my dishes (no dishwasher), a coffee maker, toaster and cutting boards.  Plus, groceries for each day.  The Nex is great!  In our mail this week we got a little book from The Nex that has a little description about all of the restaurants located there.  They have all kinds of options.  Conveyor belt sushi, Thai Food, Local Hawker stands, Wendy's and KFC, bakeries, etc.  You name it, we can probably find it there. 

One of the mom's from school gave me another tip...  There's another shopping center called Serangoon Gardens that has a store that is something like a Central Market or Whole Foods.  She said that have a lot of Organic foods and western items, so it's on my list to check it out!

Today (Thursday) Lily had the day off from school.  It was mid-year conferences.  Lily's teacher and I decided not to have a conference since Lily had only been in school for a week.  I pick Lily up each day at her class room, so I am able to talk to her teacher every day.  We were invited to a play date with one of the girls from Lily's class today.  We had a nice time.  The little girl is named Millie and she has a little brother and little sister just like Lily.  A very sweet family from Australia.  We very much enjoyed having some friends to play with and getting to know this family.

One other thing I discovered this week...  I have a vending machine on the first floor of my condo that sells loaves of bread!  It's very handy, but I've never seen anything like it!  

Scott got back from Taiwan today.  We're glad to have him back.  It's been 3 weeks now since arrived in Singapore.  We're feeling comfortable enough that it doesn't feel like we've only just arrived, but there are still so many new things to do and see.  

I have more thoughts swimming around in my head, but I'll have to save them for another day!  Thanks for reading.  I do feel a little isolated, I haven't made too many friends yet.  Your comments help me feel a little more connected to you.  It's a funny thing to be on the complete opposite time zone from nearly all of the other people that I know.  I miss you!