Today a year ago...

My sweet little bubba popped out!

A first birthday calls for Lana cake, at least according to Aunty Mel. It's not really my choice of cake but... I caved in.

Grandpa and Grandma came over with Gorgor M to sing E the birthday song and to cut the cake.

But I forgot to let E try some!

Oh well, next year I guess.



- Posted from my iPhone

From Mom and Papa with love

AHHHH the wonders of Bukit Timah Plaza...

Birthday pressies:

1. Toddler Bike with Parent Handle- when you press a button a duck rotates, coloured lights flash and a medley of songs play LOUDLY.

2. Pink shoes with bird motif that squeaks - at an amazingly high pitch - as E walks.

Nice.

Happy Birthday Emma-Boo!!

AN elegant high tea with canapes, cupcakes, crepes and lots of CHAMPAGNE!

We celebrated Emma turning 1 in style with a few of her baby friends. The girls got all dolled up.

Unfortunately, E's fave character is Barney so... we had an inelegant cake!

But there was a lot of prettiness and pink to make up for it.




I think E had a good time, though she seemed quite bewildered at times at all the fuss and noise.

At the end of the day, Mom was all Dom-ed out and all E wanted was her blanky.


Thanks to the Vaswanis for being the official party photogrpahers!

Taken for a ride

REALLY need to get M a bike helmet though I'm not sure if they make them so small.

M loves going for a bike ride in the evenings after dinner. It's our new thing... Sometimes she has a bit of a snooze.

This is when I miss Australia, where the weather is nice enough to ride around the river and to the shops - and there are safe bike paths on the roads!



- Posted from my iPhone

At the Butcher's

My mini me

THIS is an old photo I found today.

It could be Emmy!

Surfing

WON'T be long before she's running around!











- Posted from my iPhone

Oinky Jr

A LITTLE pig called Oinky is one of Z's favourite soft toys.

While Z adores her many, many furry friends now, she never much liked cuddling or playing with them till about a year ago - probably around the time we took away her pacifier!

At bedtime, Z picks a friend to cuddle with. If she wakes up in the middle of the night, she will look for it and yell for help if she can't find it.

M has started young in this department: A coupld of weeks ago, she took a shine to Oinky, much to her sister's irritation, always grabbing it whenever she spotted it.

This pig isn't like regular soft toys - it's stuffed with small beans. So it's squishy like a bean bag.

To stop sibling angst, I thought I'd get Em her own bean-baggy character too.

Despite shoving a whole zoo at her, she still wanted the same one as her sister!

M was soooo pleased to have her own Oinky.

She didn't stop smiling and hugged it from the shop, wee wee wee all the way home!

Most adorable.











- Posted from my iPhone

Marauding Mauritius

"YOU gather the idea that Mauritius was made first, and then Heaven; and then Heaven was copied after Mauritius."
~ Mark Twain, 'Following the Equator', 1897

This was our first big holiday since M was born.

A week on an island paradise at a really gorgeous resort.

Fun. Relaxing. Beautiful.

Despite it being winter, it was great beach weather: Z dug to her heart's content and M ate the sand.




We stayed at the Four Seasons Anahita.

Lovely property. Nice staff. Food VERY average (and extremely exxxx).



But accommodations were fantastic: We had a massive two bedroom villa with a full kitchen, dining room, lounge and a heated plunge pool - great for the kids.

One highlight of the trip was a speedboat ride to to the tiny island of Ille Aux Cerfs for a lunch picnic.



Two other highlights: Mauritian Sea Urchin and the hottest most delicious Piment Vert (Addictive! I bought back a dozen bottles of it!)


D and I spent much of the trip was spent on the golf course. While the kids were happily playing at "Hobbits Village", we carved up the greens. Oops!


And chowed down on the most amazing "energy bars".

Burp!

Ladies and Gentlemen, please welcome...

ZOE the Ballerina!

She performed with her classmates from Cheng Ballet.

There were rehearsals every Sunday for a couple of months before the performance but Z was really dedicated and worked very hard.

She was so excited to be on stage and didn't stop talking about it.

River Valley

IT was threatening to rain at the Botanics so I kept on driving and ended up at River Valley.

Funny enough, it was sunny there so I thought it'd be quite an interesting excursion to check out the new restaurants and bras (and bars) that have popped up there.

We walked a couple of times around the river. Lots of people out and about walking around and having brunch on a Sunday.


D was away in South Africa so Grandma and Grandpa came along to help with the kiddies.


Quite fun.

Zoe turns 4

To celebrate Zoe's 4th birthday -
A Magical adventure Under the Sea
Come as a crab, Jellyfish, King Neptune
Or a Princess Mermaid as Zoe will be!



The house was decked with seaweed, a variety of fish and octopus, there were colourful bubbles (pink had to feature!) and the menu featured fish nuggets, seapigs in a blanket, sea shell pasta with seaweed (spinach), blue coolaid, jelly, and erm... chicken wings!




There were fun and games, arts and crafts, a magician with animals and an amazing balloonist!






Zoe had a fantastic time - and now Mommy needs a holiday!



- Some photos thanks to Uncle Raj as I forgot to take pictures, even of the cake!