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Celebrations

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Prior to Christmas, Emma made a list of things she would like to do before or by Christmas.  One of them was to bake gingerbread men.

And I only discovered we had time yesterday, on Christmas Day itself, to do it….so it was a fun home activity we did.  The process took a little longer than I had envisioned, because the dough had go be chilled and hardened, and then rolled out, and cut and then chilled again, before they could be baked.

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So we made some gingerbread men, and some gingerbread women, trees, snowmen, candy canes…

The fun part was piping the sugar icing on them to decorate!

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Peter took the kids out to the mall yesterday, purportedly to get my Christmas present, so I wasn’t allowed to go along.

The kids had not gone out in a long while, even more so to the malls, since the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and we stayed at home most of the time.

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They sure had a lot of fun out …although no one wanted to share much about where or what they did…Hmmmmmmm….

Meanwhile, back home, I finished up on all the gift-wrapping and the kids were thrilled and overjoyed to discover presents under the tree when they got home!

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We will be having a cozy and quiet(er) Christmas celebration this year, just the five of us.  Nevertheless, it does not take away the magic and joy of Christmas and truly, Jesus is the reason for the season!

I just realised that it has been more than TWO YEARS since I updated this blog… so guilty of not doing something I love!

I only pray that I will have more time to fill this blog with even more precious memories moving forward. ♥

Meanwhile, I would like to share a video I compiled which we recently did as a family… I love that everyone contributed to this and it will truly be a memory to be cherished forever.

Here’s wishing everyone a blessed Christmas this year and may God bless you all!

For Emma’s fourth birthday this year, she finally decided on a My Little Pony themed cake, and she was also very specific on which three ponies were to be on the top of the cake.  I decided to bake her that cake and brought it to school for a very simple (and noisy) celebration with her friends.

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Hannah, who did not have to go to school that day, tagged along.  Hannah also contributed in another special way, which was to make the pretty rainbow on Emma’s birthday cake.

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Many of Emma’s friends asked for the ponies as souvenirs but we had to tell them that they belonged to the birthday girl.  We did prepare party packs for the little kids of course. 🙂

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Emma had a blast and enjoyed herself very much.  Happy, happy birthday my dearest Emma!

Hannah turned 8 in March but I’m only blogging about it now. Yep, ticking off all my items on my long to-do list 🙂

She had a celebration in Adventurezone before but she loves it so much that she wanted a sequel, so her 8th birthday celebration was held there too.

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Happy birthday Hannah, and may all your dreams come true!

Note: We fully respect your privacy and understand how and why it is important, so if you see a picture of your child in this post and would prefer for me to blot out his/her face, please email me at joyce.cheah (at) gmail.com and I will do the needful.  Thank you.

Ethan turned 11 in January, but I’m only blogging about it now.  Better late than never 😛

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He was not fussed about his birthday cake and this year, and he decided to have an informal gathering with some of his friends at Break The Code in Gurney Plaza (now no longer operational though).  The group was separated into 2 teams who then attempted to solve a series of puzzles and clues in themed rooms.

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Everybody had fun and and it was certainly enjoyable for everyone present!

 

Note: We fully respect your privacy and understand how and why it is important, so if you see a picture of your child in this post and would prefer for me to blot out his/her face, please email me at joyce.cheah (at) gmail.com and I will do the needful.  Thank you.

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In September (yeah, I know this is an extremely delayed post…so sorry about that, but hopefully the pictures will be more than enough to make up for that! The kids and hubby have been very good at pushing and encouraging me to finish this post!), we took a highly-overdued family vacation and headed down south to the kids-absolutely-love-the-place-but-it-is-so-freaking-HOT LEGOLAND in Nusajaya, Johor.  We had been to Legoland in Carlsbad, CA seven years ago, but back then it was just with Ethan and I was heavily pregnant with Hannah.  I doubt Ethan remembers much of Legoland Carlsbad apart from what I have recorded in this blog, so the visit to Johor’s Legoland could be considered a fresh experience for the kids.

We decided to stay in the Legoland Hotel whilst we were there, which would make it so much more convenient for us, especially with kids along.  No complaints there and the room we had was spectacular.  More on that later.

On the day we were to start our vacation, everyone woke up super early.  Our flight from Penang to Johor was at 7:15a.m. so I had arranged for a cab to pick us up at 5:30a.m. that morning.  It was pouring!  But everyone was in a happy mood and we got on the plane, which departed and arrived on schedule.

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We arrived in Legoland Hotel at about 10:00a.m. and because it was still early, our room was not ready yet.  We decided to put our luggage with the concierge and go right in to Legoland.

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Yes, we were all raring to go. Hahaha.  And here are the pictures to prove it.

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Sunday May 8 2016 was an important and special day for us as a family, and even more so for Ethan.  It was the day he participated in the Sacrament of Holy Communion for the very first time.

Words cannot express my pride for my little boy and the entire celebration touched my heart and soul so very deeply.

The special day also coincided with Mother’s Day this year, so it was a happy celebration all around.  Ethan was also selected to give a short speech on behalf of all the first holy communicants, at the end of the celebration.  Unfortunately I couldn’t get a clear video of his speech because Emma kept wanting to snatch my phone!

Here are some photos commemorating the event…

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Little Emma has been adoring Snoopy ever since a popular mall in Penang decked the whole mall in Snoopy and Peanuts paraphernalia several months back.  She even asked Ah Mah in Ipoh for the little Snoopy figurine to bring back to Penang!

So it doesn’t take a genius to figure out what cake I had to make for Emma’s birthday this year.  We kept this a family affair and given that I know Emma doesn’t really like eating cake (she only likes to look at it), I chose to just order the edible sheet with a Snoopy and Charlie Brown design, which I just placed on top of the cake!

Emma had been asking for her “Snoopy Cake” well over a week before her actual birthday, so she was really eager as punch to cut the cake.

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To add to her joy, I ordered a handmade amigurumi Snoopy from a dear friend.  The happiness on Emma’s face when she opened her present was simply priceless.

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(I also had an adorable Dutch Rabbit handmade for Hannah for her birthday; she named her Rosie, by the way.)

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All in all, a very cozy family celebration of Emma’s birthday.  She has really grown into a pretty, adorable, sweet three-year old.  She calls herself a “small girl” now (not a “small baby”!)

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♥ Happy Birthday Emma! ♥

My dearest Hannah turned 7 just yesterday, and just when I was looking at how much she had grown based on her little baby photos and toddler pictures I posted on Facebook not long ago.

We had a birthday celebration for her at home just last weekend.  She initially wanted a Lego Friends themed party, but after looking at some other ideas on Pinterest, she decided on an Art themed party, which is so apt given that my little snowflake is such an artist in the making!

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This was such a fun party to plan because everything was so colorful and bright! Pinterest definitely helped a lot 🙂

This is part of the loot I had to deal with when packing the kids’ party packs a few days before the party:

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Of course, for an art party, I just HAD to make my ever-popular playdough (recipe here) and include that in the party pack:

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Hannah chose the colors for the playdough. 🙂

Here are the kids excitedly waiting for the guests to arrive…

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The food spread for tea-time snacks:

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We had several party activities and games for the kids, of course.  They were first invited to draw something on a welcome white board, after which Hannah chose her favorite two, who will become the team leaders for another game.

Can you guess which drawings Hannah picked?

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We also had a cupcake decorating station where the kids could decorate their own cupcake and bring them home.  Some (very hungry ones) were seen eating the cupcakes as they decorated them and some cupcakes didn’t even make it to the take-home container!  LOL

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The kids played the every-popular “Pass the Parcel”, but this time it was “Pass the Artist Teddy Bear”!  Lots of laughs and lots of disallowed throwing ensued, but everyone had a good time.

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We then played a game of Win, Lose or Draw with the kids split into two teams.  What a riot!  We had kids coming closer and closer to the board and so much shouting everywhere!

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Then it was time to cut the cake.  I made a New York Cheesecake (upon Hannah’s special request) and shaped it to look like an artist palette (recipe here).  However, I piped on her name using royal icing in the morning and it melted!  OMG!!!  I had to quickly redo the icing, pipe it on and quickly gathered everyone together to sing the birthday song for Hannah to cut the cake, before the name melted away again!

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Hmmmm…although…it could pass off as a deliberate attempt at making the words look “water-colory”-like, don’t you think?  All along the theme of party 🙂

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So glad that everyone had an awesome time at the party.  Thank you so much to all who came and made the celebration such a meaningful one for my sweetheart Hannah.  She definitely enjoyed herself tremendously!

♥ Happy Birthday Hannah! 

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