Lunch Meet

We are happy that our friends Mike & family are back in town to celebrate CNY with their family and taking this opportunity, we decided to meet up with them for a short lunch date at Serangoon Gardens.

While we are arriving at the dining place, we bumped into Eric & family whom we have not met for a long time too. We decided to have lunch together as this is one of the rare opportunities to hang out with families.

We headed to the restaurant which was least crowded and though the food was not fantastic but it was the company that we enjoyed. I had a great time talking to Jose & Stella and it was like our own Women’s Corner where the guys were asked to take the table behind us coz’ there weren’t enough seats for them. hahaahahahaha

While we were trying to finish up our food coz’ as mummy, our kids eat first and mum will usually be the last to finish the food. The hubs brought the kids down to walk and chill while we chatted over our kids’ leftover food. J

It was indeed a great short gathering with friends whom we treasured and we do hope to have such opportunities in the near future.

Day 2 Of CNY Visitation

This year’s visitation was slightly different from the past as we visited our relatives in the evening instead of the usual morning and afternoon. The venue for the visitation was different too as it was done at hub’s cousin’s condo function room where we managed to cater food for everyone instead of the usual cooking by the elderly.

It was simply a good idea as they elderly got a day’s off during CNY to celebrate the wonderful gathering catching with relatives whom we meet only once a year. Everyone was enjoying the food and the kiddos were having fun at the playground right outside the function room.

We were lucky to have Selena, hub’s cousin to entertain the kids. She actually brought out some props to get the kids gathered around the table and man…. all the kids seemed to be drawn to her and we were happy to see that they actually followed her instructions properly compared to many of our shouting & yelling at home to get them to do their stuff!!!

After our sumptuous dinner, we prepared the Lo Hei before ending the party. Everyone put in a bit of effort to get about 8 sets of Lo Hei ready for tossing! It was such great fun to have everyone getting their hands on preparing the Yu Sheng and when everyone was ready, we started to toss at our own small group which was pretty much a cool scene. J

Wonderful gathering indeed for day 2 of CNY and it’s time to get home to rest.

First Day Of CNY

After a wonderful and sumptuous reunion dinner last night, the party continues to visitation today. We set off early to my cousin BG’s place for luncheon before heading to our elder’s place which is located just a street across BG’s place.  Yes, this is somehow a yearly affair.

When we arrived at BG’s place who was busy whipping up a good CNY luncheon for the family was finally getting ready to serve. We were happy that she whipped up a great meal without any delays and man… her cooking simply improved from what we tasted last CNY. THUMPS UP!

We had almost restaurant standard for our family luncheon where BG prepared Cantonese style dishes like pork ribs, seafood with vegetables, seafood soup in Thai style, steamed fish in soya sauce Hong Kong style and my must have pan fried chiku with meat. They were so yummy and everyone enjoyed the food even the kiddos. I humbly prepared almond jelly with sea coconut this year and it was pretty much a refreshing dessert after luncheon.

While we were waiting for the rest to get ready for the next visitation, the kiddos were having fun and it was really great seeing the cousins enjoying their bonding sessions. J We headed down to our elder’s place for a short visit before heading off to my in-law’s place. It was great to see our Gu-Jiong and Gu-ma though for a short time.

We headed down to my in-law’s place as our last visitation venue for the day and the kiddos were overjoyed to play with more cousins who were there visiting. I was really looking forward to the yearly lo hei (yusheng) prepared by hubby’s aunty coz’ it was sooooooooooooooooooooo GOOD!

After a long day of visitation, we are finally home to rest by sunset. I do hope that we are able to recharge ourselves for another session of visitation tomorrow. :0)

Gong Xi Fa Cai everyone!

CNY Reunion Dinner

This would be one of my favourite dinner gatherings as this is one of those gatherings where you get to meet your relatives and enjoy the fellowship together.

As usual, we brought all our ingredients to our aunt’s place where this is sort of the official venue for our yearly reunion dinner. Everyone was on time and we started to prepare for the Yusheng tossing and steamboat dinner which is our Cantonese tradition.

We began with the Lo Hei and followed by steamboat dinner. We cooked for the kiddos who were dinning in the living room for our group is too big… haahahahaha… they were enjoying each other’s company even when they were eating their dinner.

After dinner while we were chilling in the living room and the kids were happily playing hide and seek. They turned the whole house into an indoor playground almost instantly after dinner… hahahahaahah…

We also did a surprised birthday celebration for the babies in the month of January & February. Yes, I am included for the birthday celebration too...

This is what Chinese New Year is all about… - Happiness!

CNY Celebration @ School

This would be the Faith’s first CNY celebration in Primary One. She started school only a few weeks back and she is really excited to experience different types of celebrations.

She used to have such celebration at StarLearners but this would be her first for her new chapter. She was excited when she woke up early this morning and started checking if I have remembered to prepare the CNY clothing for her.

After washing up, she quickly put on her dress and excitedly told me that she wondered how the celebration will be like in her new school. I told her that she will enjoy the celebration no matter how it will be done and all she needs is to enjoy it with her friends.

Have fun Lady Faith!

Emma’s First CNY Celebration At School

Baby girl is happy not to wear school uniform to school this morning as they will be having a small CNY celebration at school today.

She woke up pretty happy this morning and started checking out her outfit I have chosen for her for the celebration later. When she saw the dress I chose, she nodded with acceptance and with a big smile.  

Though she may not understand CNY for now but I am sure she will be enjoying herself today at school with lots of goodies brought by parents. J

Have fun baby!

Happy 'Macho' Sixteen!

How time flies... our nephew turned 16 years old today! He has grown so fast that I can't believed that he is already SIXTEEN!!! OMG!!!

Happy blessed birthday to you Nick and may God bless and watch over you always!

We love you!

Happy 5th Birthday Mizuki

It seemed like only yesterday when I first held Mizuki in my arms for the first time at Mt. E and today, we are invited to attend her 5^th birthday celebration at Polliwogs!

We were slightly late when we arrived for the party but just in time for the program for kids. Faith settled in pretty quickly with the rest of the kids and started playing the games organized by the event planner there.

Emma was too shy to join the rest of the kids though she seemed interested so, she sat with me and watched her sister who enjoyed herself thoroughly! The games were pretty fun and they had the dads involved in one of the games too which brought lots of laughter to everyone in the room.

The birthday cake was simply lovely with Ariel the Little Mermaid as the theme and Emma simply loved it. Though she couldn’t expressed much of her likes but it certainly showed on her face that she seemed to like the cake and the big balloon very much.

As we had another party to attend later tonight, we took our leave after the party ends and that somehow upsets Faith as she wanted to spend more time playing with Mizuki. Awwwww….

Happy blessed birthday sweetheart Kiki… May the good Lord bless and protects you always!

Lady Faith Is Officially Primary One

Being the brand new year, a brand new start… our Lady Faith is officially Primary One today… the next chapter of her life.  Woke up earlier than usual this morning and started preparing her for school.  She was pretty much excited about going to school not knowing what to expect.

When she was all set and ready for school, we sent her down to wait for her school bus which is her first experience. After she left with her school bus, we set of to her school too. Parents were given 2 days to be in school with their child and we felt that 1 day will be good enough.

When we arrived at school shortly, we saw Lady Faith already seated in line with her classmates according to their classes. They were all ready to get to their class and many parents including us were snapping pictures away and even managed to wave her goodbye on her way to her classroom.

Parents were later asked to be seated in the school hall for a short introduction by the principal. It was an interesting session indeed and after listening to the principal, we are confident that our child is in good hands. We, parents at times need to learn to let go and allow space for our children to be independent.

We were then allowed to check on our children during their recess and man… it was CHAOTIC! So many kids and queue were too long. Thank goodness Faith brought her own lunch box and she was happy having recess at the comfort of her class table. All P1 were accompanied by their buddy from P4 for the 1^st week and Faith was really happy with her 2 buddies.

Seeing that happy face even in the chaotic situation, I felt that everything’s gonna be alright with her and I am sure she will grow with it. J