FivepointO

Dear Bryce and Layne,

I have been honored to be your mother for the past 5 years and even more honored to be able to watch you grow and mature into beautiful, intelligent and independant young girls. 

What a difference this year has made in your life. 
You have travelled across the world to a new home and country thousands of miles from the home and friends that you love.  All I have to say is WOW!  What troopers you girls have become and have adapted so well to your life in Singapore. 

Bryce~ my tiny and mighty 3 lb 7 oz fighter.  No one, not even your doctors, knew the kind of spirit and perseverance you had in your petite body when you were born.  You fought, worked hard and never stopped proving everyone wrong.
You.are.perfect.in everyway.
Here you are, 5 years old today, and I do not have one reservation about the decisions we have made for you. 
You have a powerful personality that draws people to you.
You don't back down.
You love to sing.
You love to dance.
Loyal to your friends.
You are the girliest of girls...pink, dresses, baby dolls, barbies...

I am proud to be your mom.

Layne~ You are my rock.  My go to girl.  You keep me grounded by your sense of right and wrong.  I can always count on you for everything.  Things come easy for you yet you work hard at everything you do.  You are a natural athlete, creative, artistic, caring, sympathetic and emphathetic.
You love music.
You love animals.
The outdoors.

I am proud to be your mom.

As you girls get older please remember how truly special it is that you are sisters.  You have been together forever and as you get older and personalities, friendships and interests flourish in different directions remember to count on each other, love each other, take care of each other always.  Forever twins,forever sisters,forever family.

This was an unplanned snapshot...look how they are exactly holdng their arms the same.

This coming year will bring lots of change...you girls are ready for it!  Run towards it and embrace it.

I love you beautiful girls. 
Happy Birthday.

Love,
Mommy

Borneo Baby

Kota Kinabalu, Borneo is an island in Malaysia.  It is about a 2 hour plane ride from Singapore.  We originally planned this holiday with just one other family but it quickly grew into 4 families as well as a farewell to the first set of friends that we know that will be leaving Singapore.

The island was gorgeous, relaxing and most importantly enjoyable with our new found friends that we made in Singapore.

Sunset in Sabah

Beach view

My 3 little blessings had such a great time with all the kids that were on holiday with us that I barely ever had the opportunity to take their picture as a group.

Toes in the ocean...way too many jellyfish in the ocean.

Getting ready to Jet Ski

Hanging in the hotel room

When we were not on the beach the resort had a lot of activities to keep the children entertained.  One of the girls favorite was the Batik painting.  Layne stayed there the longest and was very detailed and precise.  Graham, on the other hand, could not be bothered as he preferred to play volleyball in the pool.

What made this holiday unique was taking it with our friends.  The kids are old enough now that they entertained themselves with their friends and the adults could really enjoy their time as well with their friends.

Riley and Byce~  Riley and her family will be heading back to Seattle in 2 weeks.  The girls are already planning on visiting each other.

Layne and Ainsley ready to eat Malaysian food.

Liam, Graham and James ~ poolside

One of the unique things about Borneo and the resort we were at was that it had an orangutan rehabilitaion reserve on site.  It was very interesting to learn how the animals were rescued and cared for in order to be released back into the wild.  Layne, who is my animal lover, took great interest in the baby orangutan.

We also ate lots and lots of good food while in Borneo...from Indian to Western to Malaysian food.  Even the kids joined in on tasting the new foods.

Adult table.  The kids are off in the background somewhere.

I just love this pic of the girls.

Graham, Liam
Maddie, Ainsley, Layne and Bryce

Chris and Jodie, Brian and Ivy, Theresa and Lee

Borneo was a great holiday and so thankful to be able to explore this region while we are here in Singapore.  Next holiday for us in June.  Watch out Texas the Doffings are coming home in 2.5 weeks that is if we survive Bryce and Layne turning 5 this weekend and all the festivities that surround it!

Wrapping up!

We are just a few short weeks away from the end of the school year.  And, like all school years it seems like everyone, including myself, tries to jam pack the last month and wrap it all up before everyone heads off for summer holidays.

Bryce and Layne had their last mini presentations at their Kindy.  I always get a kick out of hearing them sing in Mandarin.  I don't always know if they know what they are saying but they sound good saying it.

The girls with Ms. Portra. 
They really adore her and look forward to seeing her on days they go to school.

Graham also had his first play, Stellaluna, at his school as well this week.  He had to memorize his lines and he did a great job.  I was more nervous than he was.

The big news of the week is that Graham tested for his next belt in TaeKwonDo.  I was so very thrilled to see my little guy perform in front of hundreds of kids and the judges to earn his next belt.  I am not sure how they do it in the States but it was quite an event for all the people testing.

As the school year starts to wind down our excitement for returning to Texas for a month builds.  We are so looking forward to seeing family and friends.

BUT 2 precious little girls are anxiously counting down the days until May 20.  It will be a big day...

The Egg Hunt

Easter Weekend

We kicked off Easter weekend with egg dying with the Reids.  Finding white eggs in Singapore are a hunt in itself as most stores carry brown eggs.  We found enough eggs to dye and the kids had a ball coloring and decorating the eggs. 

Talking to a few of our non-American friends we found out that most other countries do not color eggs.  So a few of them ventured a go at attempting to color eggs...the instructions did not say to boil the eggs so lots of broken eggs and messes to clean up.  

Messy messy hands!

Egg hunting is also done differently here.  Most people that participate in egg hunts hunt for chocolate eggs.  Most were surprised that we hunted for plastic eggs filled with sweets, chocolates, or money.  Fortunately for me, one of my friend's here in Singapore told me before we moved over to bring my own plastic eggs as they are hard to find them in the stores.  At least, I did not have to hunt for plastic eggs in the stores.  I was well stocked!

Easter morning the kids awoke to the surprises the Easter Bunny left behind.  They were very happy that the Easter Bunny knew that we moved to Singapore.

We spent the rest of our Easter Sunday at Mary and Brian Dean's house.  To read about and see about our actual Easter Sunday check out this blog.  I forgot my camera but I bet you can spot our kids throughout some of our friend's pictures.  If you are adventurous and scroll through the rest of her blog you might spot Brian...