Happy Birthday To Denise!

Happy 9th Birthday Denise!

Denise's favorite little friends :)

Birthday wishes came true!

Thank you everyone for coming :) Denise had a great time and it was truly a Smiggles birthday! Thanks for all the presents.... :)

Holi Good Days in HK / Shenzhen / Macau

Our last trip to Hong Kong was 5 years ago when Debbie was 5 months old. This trip was to fulfill a promise that we made to the kids... We embarked on our 8D7N trip to HK/Shenzhen/Macau.
 

The trip would not be complete without a night stay in Disneyland

 

Mickey never changed. But oh boy.....look at us!

Look better as we aged.... :)

Merry Christmas from Disneyland!

Interlaken @ Shenzhen

A must-take pic for all travellers to Macua

Back to HK for more shopping!!

Final LOOT!

Words fail to tell the good times we had, the good food we ate and the great company that we had during this trip! Yeah!!!

Happenings in August

This blog has been so....so..... quiet. This is like a half-time post to say that we are still here :) Finding the motivation to continue blogging :p Some happenings in August...

Day out at Port of Lost World - Sentosa

Zoo Outing with CG

My birthday celebration with S49 @ Two Chefs

Birthday dinner with friends @ House

Birthday lunch with Mad @ Prive Keppel

Birthday lunch with friends at TCC Keppel

Birthday dinner with my favourite people @ La Braceria

 

August had been a feasting month! Thanks for celebrating my birthday with me :)

Why I Have 2?

This post was inspired by my fellow mummy bloggers who blogged about their decisions to have 1, 2 or 3...

As for me, I had Denise when I was 28; it was 2 years into our marriage. By today's standard, that was considered young... It was not an accident :) We made an informed decision.

It was not the Baby Bonus (there was none for first kid in 2003), not the CDA (as a young couple, we did not have the luxury of saving any extras), not the maternity leave (I only took 2 months), nor was it the reduced maid levy (we did not have a maid then).

We simply wanted kids and felt that it was time to add some excitement to our marriage life. We were very contented with just 1 kid. Denise got easier and easier to handle as she grew up. We had no plans to have another one.....until....

JX and myself both came from a family of 2. We were both the younger one. I appreciated that when there was a family decision to be made, especially one that concerned our parents, I had my sister to share the burden with. Whether financial or mental responsibilities, it was good to know that I was not making the decision alone.

This may sound a bit too far now....but during my Dad's funeral, I had a sibling to rotate night shifts with me :) And we had each other when we were going through the loss...

So, Debbie came along 4 years later. It was (again!) not an accident; we planned for her :) We felt that the gap was ideal as Denise would be in P1 when Deb was ready for pre-school. Considering the huge preschool fee, we thought that it would be good to "stagger" the expenses....

Fast forward, Denise would be 9 in December and Deb just turned 5.... Life had been great and I always enjoy watching them play together. During days where we had to stay at home or when we were having our own family time, I was glad that they had each other to play with.

Having a boy or girl was never the concern for me, I simply wanted to give Denise a companion and I thank God that Debbie completed the family :)

 

So, now the question is.....will I have a third one? Well, never say never.... And if I do have another one, the decision would not depend on whether there was enough Baby Bonus, CDA or any perks that the government is offering.... And again.....no accidents :)

 

 

 

Linking up with www.sanses.com

 

Happy Father's Day

Denise planned a Lucky Dip for all the fathers over the Father's Day weekend. She wanted to do something to appreciate all the fathers. So we bought her some simple snacks and small items for her. She went round Expo approaching fathers that she knows and wished them "Happy Father's Day".

Not bad for a 9 years old :) I cannot remember what was I doing at Primary 3.

TONS and TONS of HOMEWORK

I have been doing my homework and I noticed that Pri 3 has more holiday homework than Pri 1&2. But good thing there was no science homework because it's my weakest subject. Debbie does not have homework and she does not need to go to school. Actually, she is suppose to go to school but my mum said that she is in Preschool so she did not have to go to school. So good.....

I Am Thankful For...

During the recent seminar with Dr Robi Sonderegger, we were told to write down 3 things that we can thank God for...

1) 2 Healthy Children - the pride and joy of my life! The best gifts that God has given to me :)

2) The Man I Married - The best choice I made in my life!

3) My Church, My Life - "Work" carries a new meaning; it's a joy to go to "work" everyday!

Harvest Highlights

Denise recorded her first-ever video announcement for Family & Mother's Day Weekend in church. Even though she had an examination paper the following day, I decided to let her take a break and she really had a lot of fun :)

Click here to watch the video.

Exams Fever "NOT"

Exams season and what have I done to prepare Denise for her SA1?

Hmm.... should I be proud that I have not done much... :p With the recent buzz on the media about Primary School standard, I am just hoping that the concerns raised would be addressed as soon as possible (hopefully not in 5 to 10 years)

She was on MC on the day before a 3-days consecutive exams week. Just nice to do some last-minute revisions at home.

All the best to Denise for her first examinations!

Art Sense

Denise and Debbie were invited to Art Sense Open House last Sunday. The different between Art Sense and other centres is that the environment is at the heart of everything they do. They believe in teaching their students the value of recycling and re-using common household items by turning them into art pieces.

The kids had fun using recycled material and using their creativity to make them into 3D crafts.

Check Art Sense bithrday packages if you are looking for an unique place to celebrate your young ones' birthday.

Birthday & BirthdayS

First of all, Nathan had a birthday celebration by Mad Science.

Kids get to do some interesting experiment. It was a birthday celebration of a different kind.

The highlight was of course the cake. Not only did the Cars2-themed cake captivated the kids' attention, the chocolate fillings of the cake was equally appealing! One of the best chocolate cake I have tasted. Do check out Pat's Pastry (Not related to Pat's Schoolhouse :p)

Then we attended Darren's birthday party on Sunday. He had a Dragonball-themed cake! Woohoo!

Happy Lunar New Year

It is the time of the year for Lion Dance Performatnce at our place again :) The kids woke up on time to catch the performance :)

Debbie also had her share of celebration in school by doing chinese calligraphy and practising for her CNY school performance the following Friday.

Gonna post the celebration pictures next week :)

My Ipanema Beach Kit

My family will be heading out to the beach real soon! I received my Ipanema Beach Kit from Royal Sporting House today! Thanks to EdUnloaded's Giveaway in Dec 2011.

The kit consists of a beach mat, colourful beach towel and a metal water bottle :)

We have always been a Ipanema fan. In fact we bought the girls matching sandels when Debbie was only 2. Look how small her feet were :p

Going back to school :(

Going back to school is very sad. I was a little nervous and a little excited to go to school. Nervous because I'm scared that I may have a fierce teacher, excited because I will meet my best friends and make new friends. But my mum and dad prayed for me so I feel better already.

Debbie is excited for school because her teacher said that she has a lot of presents in her cubby hole. Debbie is not nervous at all :)

DIY Gingerbread Man

Won a DIY Gingerbread Man Kit from The J Babies :)

The kids had fun decorating their Gingerbread Man on Christmas day!

Ta-Da!!! The final product! I must say that they were very creative :)
(Notice the "halved" head? Deb took a bite :p)

Treat from ci gusta!

Thanks to Ed Unloaded , my family had a treat from ci gusta :)

We were spoilt for choice!

After making our selection, the kids waited anxiously for our Family Waffle!

It was huge! 2 waffles, 3 scoops of gelato and 2 generous toppings! It was delicious. The next time you visit Anchorpoint, do give it a try :)

Denise - 8th Birthday Celebration

Denise celebrated her 8th Birthday at Outback Steakhouse.

The celebration started with a kitchen tour. The kids were introduced to their various stations, chiller and freezer.

Every kid had Pasta with chicken finger while the adults had either chicken or fish burger :) The children also put together their own Outback Signature dessert "Chocolate Thunder From Down Under".

Thank you to all the little friends for coming and making it so special for Denise :) And thank you Uncles and Aunties for your generosity! She loves all the presents :)