And the winner is... LADY LIBERTY!

Winner winner, chicken dinner!

Today, Linna's nursery school in Singapore celebrated Racial Harmony Day. I had never heard of this holiday before, but any day is a good day to celebrate diversity if you ask me!

The kids got to dress up in a national or ethnic costume of their choice, and Linna took 1ST PLACE! If you know me at all, you know that I am a crazily competitive person. I can't help it. I'm a former pageant girl. I hear the word "contest" and I start to sweat! So when I heard that there was going to be a costume contest at my daughter's school... I dived right in. Since my husband is TOTALLY against me putting Linna in pageants (he'll come around sooner or later), this costume contest was a good "starting off" point;) I made Linna's Lady Liberty costume out of Papa Saigh's "old" shirts (much to his surprise), a paper towel roll, and some art & crafts supplies we had laying around. I didn't spend a dime, and it took about an hour to complete from start to finish. Linna felt pretty proud getting onto the bus to go to school today, dressed as the Statue of Liberty! She would tell people she was "Lady La-Liberty":)

Parents were also asked to bring a dish to share from their home country. So naturally, I brought a tater-tot hotdish! It was so funny watching the other kids pick at it, and I overheard comments such as, "I don't like that one!", "This is yucky!", and "I'm not hungry!". Many of the kids in Linna's school are from Chinese, Indian, and Singaporean families (I actually think Linna is the only American in her school), so a Minnesota hotdish was a pretty brave dish for them to try. Some of the teachers tried it too, and they all literally said it was... "nice". Haha! I think that's code for, "Thanks for your participation". Hey, at least they tried it! I was pleased.

We are so proud of our little Asian-American-Minnesota Baby:) Here are a few more photos from today's festivities...

Parading the students in smaller groups. This is
Linna's teacher (Teacher Hunny) and her classmate Jonnah.

Linna with some of her classmates Jonnah, Aliss, and Emilia.

She got a gift for winning!

Lady Liberty and some of her schoolmates after the costume contest.

Linna trying dried seaweed for the first time (I think). She LOVES it!

Linna and her classmates picking at the tater-tot hotdish I made. No fans
(so far) in Singapore of this Minnesota favorite.

Other BEAUTIFUL costumes from the older classes!

Linna, Aliss, Jonnah, and Emilia waiting to try some new foods.

You ROCKED it as Lady Liberty Linna Saigh!
Way to make America proud. #Merica