Bible Verse of the Day

Celebrations

You are currently browsing the archive for the Celebrations category.

Butterflies and Lobsters

December 9, 2010 in Celebrations, Entertainment, Ethan, Hannah | 5 comments

A week and a half ago, we finally took the kids for a fun trip to the Penang Butterfly Farm.  I use the word “finally” because all this time, we’ve been reading countless accounts about fellow bloggers and friends taking their kids there, but we had yet to make the trip.  Ethan was really looking forward to this trip and he was certainly very excited about it.

butterflyfarm1

We reached the farm at around 3:00p.m.  The weather was simply beautiful, not too hot and not too cold either.  Although it did rain a few drops, our experience at the Butterfly Farm was not fazed.

butterflyfarm2

Amid all the “Wow!”s and the running around, we managed to get some pretty shots of some butterflies too…

butterflyfarm3

butterflyfarm4

butterflyfarm5

butterflyfarm6

butterflyfarm7

The area was not very big, and we found ourselves making round after round and round.  The kids had a lot of fun, chasing the butterflies and also each other.  And when they were tired, they made a pit-stop at the exhibition room.  Ethan exclaimed, “Wow…it’s so cool in here, Mommy!”

butterflyfarm8

This was what he told us he wanted to do at the Butterfly Farm, and I’m glad he had the opportunity to do so…

butterflyfarm9

butterflyfarm10

butterflyfarm11

butterflyfarm12

butterflyfarm13

butterflyfarm14

After our Butterfly Farm visit, we headed on to Rasa Sayang Hotel with our hungry tummies, and had a splendid seafood buffet dinner at the Spice Market Cafe.  It was our first visit there, and the food was simply amazing!

spicemkt0

 spicemkt3

 spicemkt4

spicemkt5

spicemkt6

spicemkt7

spicemkt8

It was a daunting task to take pictures of all the glorious food while looking after our hyperactive kids, and there were so many other dishes I left out.  For dessert, I adored the cheese cake, tiramisu, and the small bowls of crème brûlée.  Sorry, no time to take individual pics of these, but just a faraway shot…

 spicemkt9

See how much Hannah enjoyed the food too?

spicemkt1

Ethan didn’t want to take a photo because he was too busy eating! LOL

spicemkt2

“Daddy…may we come back again, please?”

Our Genting Highlands Getaway

November 1, 2010 in Celebrations, Entertainment, Ethan, Hannah, Vacation | 5 comments

Two weeks ago, we took a short and much-needed vacation and headed up to Genting Highlands.  It was our very first trip up there in a really long while, the last time we’d been up there being in late 2005, a few months before Ethan was born.  The kids were both totally psyched up about the whole idea of the holiday, so much so that they didn’t even sleep at all the entire journey!  Normally Hannah would fall asleep midway, but this time, she was very much awake, and Ethan was asking, “Why is it taking so long to get to Genting Highlands?” all the way there…

We took a little bit longer than usual to reach our destination because we had to make more stops than usual: Ethan had to go for very frequent toilet breaks.

And despite the fact that the kids had no sleep at all the entire journey, they were as excited as ever when we arrived!

genting1

Besides being a chance for the kids to have fun, we also met up with Ah Ma and Ah Kong from Ipoh in Genting Highlands, and the kids were pleased as pie to see both their grandparents.

genting3

Although the 3D2N stay in Genting Highlands left us all tired out, we all had a lot of fun… 🙂

I’ll let the pictures do the talking…

genting2

Got the All Park day pass for us so that we could enjoy the rides in both the outdoor and indoor theme parks.  Hannah could still enter the parks for free for now, but there were some rides she was not allowed to ride on.

genting4

“Daddy Daddy, can I please go ride on the airplane like Ethan Koko and Mommy?”

 genting6

Sorry baby, no can do…but we did take a family ride in the revolving teacups…and boy did that leave us incredibly dizzy!

genting5

Hannah showing her “dizzy and confused” look.

 genting7

Feeding the koi in the koi pond. 

genting8

Making sure the fish are well fed.

genting9

All the fishes sure had a healthy appetite!

 genting10

Ethan..in deep thought…perhaps thinking about which ride to go on next!

genting11

“What??!!!  You mean we need to go for lunch now??!!  So soon?!!!”

genting13

…not before Ethan takes us for a drive in the antique car! 🙂

genting12

Happy and contented passengers in the antique car ride.

 genting14 Lunch at Ming Ren “Lamb Specialty” Restaurant: Braised Lamb with Lotus Root (Yummy!)

genting16

genting15

“No more pictures, please, Mommy!  I wanna go back to the Theme Park now!

genting17

In Beryl’s Chocolate Wonderland.  Hannah is errr…making a getaway!

genting18

In a land far far away…

genting19

Spectacular view of Genting Highlands

genting20

“Daddy, are you sure there are no dinosaurs around here?”

genting21

Entrance to Dinosaurland

genting22

Little Miss Pouty Lips

genting23

What goes BUMP in the night?  Ethan having a go at the Junior Bumper Cars.

genting24

All smiles as he got on the Ride de Paris in the Indoor Theme Park.

genting25

And here’s one for the road!  Don’t we all look utterly satisfied with our buffet lunch at Coffee Terrace? 🙂

 

Happy Birthday Daddy!

October 12, 2010 in Celebrations, Ethan, Hannah | No comments

Last Wednesday, we celebrated Daddy’s birthday.  Pete took a day off from work, and we both went out for a nice lunch, just the two of us 🙂

Then we fetched Ethan from school and caught a movie in Queensbay Mall.  We saw Alpha & Omega, simply because it was the only *kid* show at that moment.  Ethan was so hyped up and excited about the whole thing.  He was bouncing around and couldn’t wait to get into the cinema.  We got some popcorn too, of course!

We picked up a nice football cake for Daddy before we left the mall, and I had a birthday voucher which entitled me to a discount on the cake PLUS a free ice cream.  So Ethan got to eat some yummy chocolate ice cream too.  Actually some time back, Ethan had wanted to get the football cake for Daddy and had told me that.  In addition, he had also spilled the beans and told his Daddy what cake we were getting…so no surprise there.  Bah.

 daddybday2

But he did have fun eating his ice cream …

Sure sounds a lot like Ethan’s birthday instead of Daddy’s huh?

We picked Hannah up and headed for home where we had a simple dinner and the cake-cutting (before the ice cream cake melted!)

daddybday1

Teachers’ Day Celebration

May 24, 2010 in Celebrations, Ethan | 1 comment

teachersday

Wow, it has been ages since I was involved in any form of Teachers’ Day celebration.  I remember bringing little gifts of flowers or cards for my class teachers when I was in school.  Of course, this time around, I would be helping Ethan show appreciation for his teachers instead.

A week before his school celebrated Teachers’ Day, I did a dry run of bun baking with Ethan.  He wanted to experiment with the kneading and forming the buns into shapes. 

 teachersday2

Things did get a little messy and it wasn’t long before Ethan said he was ready to wash his hands! LOL

teachersday3

We did not use any preservatives for the buns, only organic flour, yeast, some sugar and salt.  They turned out quite tasty, though the dough should have been kneaded more.  Still, the buns tasted good! 

teachersday4

Of course, we could not keep them for a whole week, so I had to make a new batch the day before the Teachers’ Day celebration.  This time, Ethan was *busy*, so he only helped me carry the tray to load into the oven. 😛

Ethan decorated the biodegradable paper bowls with some marker pens, and *signed* his name on little Happy Teachers’ Day cards.  Then we put the homemade buns into each bowl and tied it up with some ribbon.

teachersday1

And he was SO proud to bring them for his teachers.  There were FOUR bowls because he has an English teacher, a Chinese teacher, a Malay teacher and an assistant teacher. 

Don’t you wish you were one of Ethan’s teachers? 😛

Parents’ Day Celebration

May 17, 2010 in Celebrations, Ethan, Parenting | No comments

Last Friday, 2 days before Mother’s Day, Ethan’s school had a celebration for Parents’ Day.  The school decided to combine the celebration for Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, hence Parents’ Day.  Pete could not leave work that morning, so I decided to attend the celebration together with Hannah.

parentsday2

Parents’ Day was also celebrated in conjunction with Book Week, and the kids were asked to come dressed in their favorite storybook characters.  Ethan wanted to dress up as Dr Seuss’s Fox in Socks, but he didn’t want to wear the faux ears and tail; he only wanted to put on socks on his hands and feet.  So he was dressed all in red (just like Fox in Socks) and put on blue socks for his hands and feet.

The school had a little picture-frame-making activity for the parent and child too.  We were given all the material to decorate a picture frame with our kid.  For me, it was quite a challenge because I had to watch Hannah too.  She didn’t want to stay too long in the baby sling, so I took her out and let her play with some of the educational toys in Ethan’s classroom while Ethan and I did the decorating.

parentsday4

Here’s Ethan showing off his little cubbie, with his name on it:

parentsday3

After that, the kids presented their parents with some little presents they had made for us. Ethan gave me a bookmark with *my picture* on it (he had drawn a picture of me!), a handmade red rose and a heartshaped cookie with sprinkles which he had baked in school. Precious!

parentsday1

Here’s a picture of one of the class projects Ethan was working on a few weeks earlier.  His teacher tells me the brown part at the bottom was all *contributed* by Ethan!

parentsday5

After that, there was a garden party with lots of potlucked food.  I couldn’t really eat much because it was quite difficult to eat while slinging Hannah.  I could only manage some jelly and cake and lots of water!  Ethan had pasta, cakes and water.  Little Hannah had fallen asleep in the sling, even though the weather was scorching HOT!

And as we were driving home from school after the celebration, Ethan said, “Mommy, I had so much fun in school today!”  And that totally made my day! 🙂

Hannah’s Birthday Celebration in KL

March 5, 2010 in Celebrations, Food & Feeding, Hannah, Milestones | 5 comments

During the 3-day weekend before Hannah’s actual birthday on March 2nd, we made a trip down south to have a birthday celebration for Hannah.  Our trip was also to celebrate the kid’s Pauline Kor-Kor’s housewarming.

Both of Hannah’s grandparents made the trip to KL for her first birthday celebration, and we are really happy and honored that they could come 🙂

We also ordered full moon gift packs for everyone, because during Hannah’s full moon last year in the US, we didn’t have those full moon delicacies then.  So we decided to have them for her first birthday instead. 

bday-kl2

The birthday lunch was at Italiannies The Gardens, and everyone arrived on time..good thing too, because we were all really hungry then.  Hannah also wasted no time in checking out the menu…

bday-kl3

Unfortunately though, she pulled the menu from the table too quickly and the porcelain plate that was on top of the menu went crashing to the floor!

bday-kl4

(Pssst….yes, that’s the Coach Resort I was carrying :))

We took the opportunity to take a few pictures with the birthday girl before our food came.  Here’s Hannah with her 2 grandmas.

bday-kl5

Hannah wasn’t really herself though, and felt a little listless and tired, because the poor dear was still coughing and had thrown up a couple of times the night before due to the forceful coughing.

Ethan, though, was not interested in taking photos at all.  Instead, he preferred to fill his rumbling tummy first….with BREAD!!!!

bday-kl6

Notice how he painstakingly peeled off the crusts…

bday-kl7

He almost finished our entire plate of bread slices, and then he still had space in his tummy for his spaghetti marinara.

 bday-kl81

Meanwhile, Hannah enjoyed herself being carried by Ah Ma and Ah Kong…doesn’t she look comfy? 🙂

bday-kl9

She enjoyed herself till she fell asleep!  Look at her comfortably getting her beauty sleep in the stroller we rented from Midvalley.

 bday-kl10

Meanwhile, the kids were all going hyper, running around and taking pictures everywhere…

bday-kl11

bday-kl121

…and besides we needed to buy some time to get the birthday girl all woken up and fresh for the cake-cutting.

bday-kl13

I ordered this adorable birthday cake from Swee San.  I wanted the elephant at the top because Hannah really LOVES elephants.  When she takes her bath, she absolutely needs to hold and play with her elephant bath toy.  If I offer her something else, she would flatly refuse it.

Love the details on the side of the cake too.  It’s a marble cake with fondant all over.

bday-kl15

Ethan very willingly volunteered his services to *help* Hannah blow the candle on the cake, while Hannah looked on in confusion. 😛

bday-kl14

The cake was rich and absolutely delicious, but because Hannah had not been introduced to eggs, butter and other stuff in the cake yet, I baked her her own special cake, just like I did for Ethan’s first birthday last time.

bday-kl16

This one’s a carrot, banana and pumpkin cake, without milk, eggs, butter and sugar.  First, she hesitated when I fed her a slice…then she opened her mouth and took a bite…

 bday-kl162

bday-kl17

…and then she wanted to feed herself…

bday-kl18

bday-kl19

Looks like it’s a HIT, baby! 🙂

bday-kl20

After a very fulfilling lunch, we headed back to Pauline Kor Kor’s condo to open the birthday presents.  Again, Ethan had volunteered to help Hannah open the presents.

bday-kl21

The initial plan was to allow Hannah to choose the present she wanted to open and then Ethan would help her open them.  But you know kids, there’s bound to be some grabbing involved.  And the birthday girl was also very determined to get her way!

bday-kl22

Hannah received lots of lovely gifts, among them a beautiful crocheted dress from her Ipoh Ah Ma and Ah Kong.  The dress is handmade with love from Ah Ma.  We asked Ethan to display the dress.

bday-kl23

…and Hannah to pose in it…

bday-kl28

Ethan himself also gave his little sister a present.  He knows she loves elephants, so he gave her this:

bday-kl24
bday-kl25

Here are some of the PINK vehicles Hannah received too.  We got them in pink to deter the boys from playing with Hannah’s toys….errr…don’t think it worked…

bday-kl26
bday-kl27

All in all, a very enjoyable and memorable birthday celebration.  Happy birthday little Hannah! 🙂

Happy Birthday darling Hannah!

March 2, 2010 in Celebrations, Ethan, Hannah, Milestones | 8 comments

birthday1

A year has passed since you came into our lives
A year since you, our bundle of joy, arrived
You gave us adorable smiles and cutesy giggles
Happy happy birthday, my sweet darling little girl!

On Hannah’s birthday, we decided to take the kids out for a treat.  Pete took the day off and after we picked Ethan up from school, we headed over to Gurney Plaza.  Incidentally, we also took Ethan to Gurney Plaza on his first birthday. 🙂

We ended up having lunch at Chili’s…it had a been a long while since we ate there and we wanted to check to see if they had improved since then. 

Ethan of course enjoyed himself tremendously.  He couldn’t decide between the spaghetti and the hot dog, so he ordered both…and also had free flow ice lemon tea…which prompted a few visits to the loo…haha.

birthday2

Hannah had some home-cooked porridge and was very well-behaved indeed.

birthday3

birthday4

 

birthday5

Hannah enjoyed her rusk while we dug in to our meal….

…and sometimes she did her upside-down stunt…

birthday6

…and at other times, the birthday girl was entertained by her brother’s funny antics…

birthday7

We walked around Gurney Plaza a bit after our hearty meal, stopping at some of our favorite stores, including Ethan’s favorite Toys R Us (which he noticed a mile away!).

Oh, and here’s another shot of Hannah doing her infamous upside-down pose again….this time, a close-up:

birthday8

Happy birthday Hannah!  Sure beats a day at the office anytime, eh Daddy?

 birthday9

Our Chinese New Year in pictures

February 25, 2010 in Celebrations, Ethan, Hannah | No comments

cny2010-1

Endearing shot of Mommy and Ethan, taken during the reunion dinner.

cny2010-2

Found some time for a family photo too. This year, we had reunion dinner at a Chinese restaurant in the new Flemington Hotel in Taiping. Atmosphere is certainly different than that of a reunion dinner at home, but one thing good is that we don’t need to do the dishes!

cny2010-3

Ethan being *shy* when asked to pose for a picture.

cny2010-4

…and now, he’s all warmed up! 🙂

cny2010-5

Ethan being all big-brotherly and sharing a *conversation* with Hannah.

cny2010-6

My little princess and me 🙂

cny2010-7

In Ipoh, a picture taken with Ah Ma and Ah Kong, and the two girls: Hannah and her little cousin Caitlynn. The boys (Ethan and Collin) just weren’t interested. Haha.

cny2010-9

Instead, they were busy with Collin’s birthday cake. In Taiping, Ethan was all “I wanna go to Ipoh to cut Collin’s birthday cake!” So here they are…those 2 boys observing a momentary silence as they await what will happen to the cake.

cny2010-8

…and finally…Ethan striking a PIRATE pose!

Ethan’s Birthday – The Home Celebration

February 7, 2010 in Celebrations, Ethan, Food & Feeding, Hannah, Milestones | 9 comments

Ethan’s birthday culminated in a celebration amongst relatives.  We decided to have a buffet lunch at the E&O Hotel, and it goes without saying that Ethan was very much looking forward to this celebration.

See, he even willingly posed for a nice shot before we left for the hotel.

 

… and then, he started being his CHEEKY self again.

I think the part Ethan enjoyed most about the birthday lunch was the chocolate stuff: chocolate-covered marshmallows from the fondue station, chocolate ice cream, chocolate cake….

..and the part that Hannah enjoyed the most was the teething rusk she was chewing on.  She even fell asleep while holding it!

…and woke up for a moment to give it a few more chomps, then she was off to dreamland again….Even after she awoke, and her Ah Ma was carrying her, she was still holding the rusk.

Such “devotion” can only be admired. 🙂

So anyway, after our very filling lunch, we all adjourned back to our home to cut the birthday cake and to open the presents.  After three days of preparation, I was very pleased to unveil the birthday cake Ethan had requested for.   On the 1st day I made the cream cheese frosting and chilled it, on the 2nd day I baked the cake, and the night before Ethan’s birthday, I relived my childhood playing with *edible play-doh* a.k.a. fondant.

After he had cut his Thomas cake in school a few days back, I had asked him if he liked the cake, and his reply was, “Yes…” and then after that he said, “Where’s my Mickey Mouse Clubhouse cake, Mommy?”

I had told him the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse cake was gonna be for his home celebration.  Haha.

err….you see that small DENT on the lower left of the cake?  That was caused by Mickey having the first taste of it; you can see his nose is a little bit blue… 😛

I chose to make the nutritious and rich carrot cake with cream cheese frosting I had tried a few weeks back.

And his expression when he saw the cake was just priceless. 🙂

The birthday boy then continued opening all his presents, including the HUGE present from Daddy, Mommy and Hannah.  I had to enlist the help of one of my neighbors to help store it first lest Ethan sees it in our home and spoil the surprise.

He tore open the wrapper, and…..immediately got on it!

…and wouldn’t get down!  It was a tricycle in his favorite color: YELLOW.  He had wanted one since a few weeks before we left the US, so we figured it was high time we got him one now.

Look….all the pictures we took with him after that were of him on the trike.

Ain’t it weird that you can’t see the rest of  my body in the photo above?

…and one with both his grandmas…

Ethan definitely had a LOT of fun on his birthday.  He proudly announces he is FOUR years old now, and that he can play toys that are meant for “FOUR AND ABOVE”.

He even asked me for more presents to open… 🙂

Happy birthday, dearest Ethan Boy! 🙂

Ethan’s Birthday – The Impromptu Celebration

February 4, 2010 in Celebrations, Ethan, Milestones | 1 comment

Two days before Ethan’s birthday, we ended up having dinner at Friday’s.  The birthday boy had requested for spaghetti…yes, he said “PLEASE…???” 🙂

 

While Ethan and Daddy went to the loo, I inquired on whether the folks at Friday’s could sing a birthday song for Ethan that night.  I knew he loves to blow out the candle, and he loves cake, so we agreed to have them sing for him.

After our dinner, a group of Friday servers came over and Ethan was asked to stand on the chair.  Of course, he willingly did it.

Ethan looked very overwhelmed but he was very happy when they started singing, not in the least bit perturbed by the loud voices.

And after blowing out the candle, he dug in to the slice of chocolate cake, finishing every single morsel.

It was the perfect end to a little family celebration.  And even though he wasn’t yet officially 4 years old then, Ethan proudly announced that he was! 🙂

« Older entries § Newer entries »