A Late Christmas Update

I'm sorry I haven't been updating this blog as much as I should. One of the reasons is because the days leading up to Christmas, and the main part of Christmas itself was hectic. Another reason is because when Chubbs is on holidays, I try to do as much with him as possible. So by the end of everyday, I'm so tired that I often doze off early, while nursing little Mae to sleep. And also, I've been spending quite a bit of time contributing to this fantastic blog.

We had a busy Christmas day with the extended family over at lunch and dinner at my parents'. It was all fabulous food, good company and over-eating. Chubbs was thrilled with the presents he got, and I must say, that he probably had the most fun over Christmas. Little Mae was a reindeer for the day, a recycled outfit from when Chubbs was a reindeer. It was funny how she even carried around a reindeer ornament for most of the day. Reindeer overload!

I hope each and everyone of you had a wonderful Christmas with your friends and family. And a huge shout-out to all our peeps in Sydney, Melbourne and Canada. We love and miss you guys. Hope to see you all real soon.

A Quiet 30

On the day I turned 30, I made breakfast for my family, the four of us then enjoyed a scrumptious Italian buffet with my aunt, and we had a feast at home. And a few days before that, I had a lovely popiah dinner at my parents'. I was a little reluctant to turn 30, and wanted to keep things as quiet as possible. I felt old. I felt past my prime. But then... I snapped out of it. Hey! I have two awesome kids, and a lifelong companion who is the best father, and who makes me laugh everyday. All this at 30! I have every reason to celebrate. Sooo... I ate heartily, and devoured all of my three birthday cakes. Happy birthday to me.

She's One

My baby girl is one! Where has the past year gone? She has been such a sweet-natured girl, who is super affectionate with the people she loves. She often rests her head on our chests (hug), and lunge at our faces with her mouth wide open (kiss). We find ourselves letting her kiss us even though we are left with drool all over our faces after. She's loved to bits by Chubbs, who sees it as his responsibility to look out for her. I'm happiest when they are playing together quietly. Here's to another great year baby girl!

I'm one! Need to change car seats!

After breakfast, they played with toys as usual.

Off to Gardens by the Bay in her new seat.

Happy to be carried around.

Chubbs and his favourite purple flowers.

Pumpkins for Halloween.

Happy birthday girl.

He loved the rabbit display.

Eating apple cake for her birthday!

Little Mae's First First

Today, we had the first celebration for little Mae's first birthday. It was with Fuzzy's side of the family, 50 strong. I love occasions like this because it allows me to catch up with all our lovely aunts and uncles that we don't see so often. And Chubbs absolutely enjoys playing with every one of them.

Although Mae got tired just as the party started, she hung in there to enjoy her birthday song, Chubbs helped to blow her candle out, and she even had a slice of cake! It was a lovely red velvet cake that was coloured with beetroot juice, and she really likes beetroot. Afterwhich, I gave her her bath, nursed her, and she fell fast asleep while the adults carried on with the party.

In all, the kids enjoyed themselves, the adults enjoyed playing with the kids, and we appreciated the family's love for our children. We dearly missed the kids' Yee Sook Gong and Grandaunty Jan (in Vancouver), Sam Sook (in Melbourne), Aunty Jean (in NY) and Aunty Katie (in Vancouver Island) though :( Maybe next year we'll have everyone together.

Cake-eating game faces on!

Chubbs' Day

On the day he turned four (one day after the party), I wanted a quiet day with just the few of us, so we let him choose how he wanted to spend it. He started out with opening some presents (thank you Tai-Pak for the Play Mobil set), played with the toys, then we brought him to Fidgets for five hours of non-stop fun (as per his request). Yes, five hours. I was too exhausted after that :/ Little Mae loves indoor playgrounds too, so it was a great family trip out.

We came home to a steak dinner, complete with the necessary birthday noodle dish, and sang him his last birthday song of the year before blowing out the "4" candle on a home-made tiger (his favourite animal) cake. He requested for orange yogurt cake that I bake all the time, and I melted dark chocolate to create the tiger stripes. He loved it, which made the effort worth it.

Happy birthday, my Love!

 

Waving to Mommy.

 

One of her many funny faces.

Pic including Sam-Sook, via Skype.

Chubbs' Four!!!

When people ask me how old my son is these days, I have to take a moment to think before responding. I often absent-mindedly reply, "Three." But his birthday celebrations over the last weekend most definitely makes him FOUR!!! He's such a big boy now, saying big boy things, playing with big boy toys, and reading by himself. He loves helping with Mae and "watching" her as she potters around.

For his birthday party this year, the colour theme was purple; his current obssession. He loves everything purple, and we really tried to feature the colour in as many ways as possible. I baked chocolate cupcakes with purple frosting, blew up many purple balloons, us, our relatives and his friends and their parents all came purple-y dressed (thank you so much, guys), a purple triceratops stood proudly on his birthday cake, the kids' goodie bags held purple candy, chocolates and Kisses, and there was purple jelly and Ribena for the kids.

I think the kids had a great time being kids, mucking around and running free out on the lawn, which my hubby and I enjoyed watching. Thanks to everyone who came, and who helped out minding the kids. Till next year!

As per Chubbs' request, chocolate cupcakes with purple frosting and sprinkles.

Sharing the bop bag with Nicky.

Kids run wild.

A family pic with tonnes of kids.

He designed his cake. "Chocolate cake with purple triceratops, and red stegosaurus, facing each other."

Serving the 4-kg cake.

He likes this part.

The little one.

Playing with bestie, Charlene.

She had loads of fun too.

Bop bags were the stars of the day.

POLW!

We spent five glorious hours at Port of Lost Wonder at Sentosa yesterday. We have been planning this trip for so long, but it either rained out on us, or the kids were sick. So I was glad to finally be able to bring kids for a great day out. They loved it so much, even little Mae, who's barely 11-months old. We played, picnicked, played some more, Mae napped, the boy had a juice break, and we went on until it was time to get to our dinner appointment. It felt almost as if we were away on holiday!

Splashing like crazy.

Kiddie section all to ourselves.

Lunch break.

Sweet potato lunch and playing with corn on the cob.

Sweet potato for his lunch too.

Very happy after a day of fun.