(13 Jan 14 Mon) Happy Willow at Fusionpolis

mama had heard of this place but had never brought you there though it was nearer than many of the other ones we frequented, e.g. the Royce Gym. Auntie A brought the Groupon deal to our attention and we were supposed to go together. Alas, Avery fell ill and Auntie A had to bring her to the dr and you were adamant at going ahead nonetheless...so...we got our darling ah gong to fetch us there...

Looked spacious and it had an open-concept so mama could lounge at the cafe area and still keep a lookout on you...nope, I did not get to do that coz you were pestering me to play with you all the time...

Oooo a Rodeo ride! ha...tong did not dare to try though...

 It was made up of climbing structures...there were only two levels so it was quite safe and manageable.. I wished they had proper steps instead of these flimsy ladder ropes which were not easy to climb at all...

There was a colossal red bouncing ball...ha it was so titanic that it was even bigger than MAMA! Erm...the two of you did not fancy playing that at all...

Ok, the slides were not very slippery so...safety...checked.

Some spinning poles...you liked the exhilarating feeling of being spun around...hahhaa...i could not stomach it at all...

A self improvised trampoline, they put a canvas sheet over some bouncy balls....eh, the two of you had a few misses as the uneven surface could cause unpredictable results...i suppose it was ok since there were only two of you, definitely not advisable for a few boisterous kids bouncing on it at the same time...

oooo ball pool. we pretended to bury and hunt of treasure...

and we buried you and tong tong...

To the toy section, there were some stoves and kitchen sets...very small set-up but cosy and endearing...

What a hunky cafe owner/cashier? I would like to patronise this cafe surely.

They did not have a plethora of food toys...you two simply pretended you were handling food lor...

A snug reading corner which failed to entice both of you...

I adored the whimsical paintings on the wall...they were so romantic and lent an airy fairy feel to this happy little place where fairies and elves roamed the mysterious play garden...

taking a little breather..on a quaint rocking chair...

Even the shoe cupboards was so chic...

There was a corner with huge blocks...you made a line and pretended to be a tight rope walker while tong was bent on destroying the line... you found two girls and wanted to play but they were having fun with each other and did not exactly ask you to join in so you just hung out at the fringe and played alongside...

Some manipulative toys for kids, but the lego bricks for the lego table were mostly missing...

We did have fun, it was a nice novel experience. As with all indoor playgrounds, when I asked which one was better, you declared they were all better...laugh. You just had such enthusiasm for playing...eh...albeit you had a preference for indoor ones as you disliked the scorching sun...oooo tong too, always complaining he was "hot"...ha...

Alright, it was already 3.30am and mama got to go and sleep to...well..i savored these quiet hours after the two of you went to bed...phew...

mummy had been following some enlightening blogs recently on parenting...shall attach them here so you know the kinds of writing that inspired mama...

This guy had an acerbic sense of humour and I loved his wise and astute take on issues...

http://themattwalshblog.com/2013/10/09/youre-a-stay-at-home-mom-what-do-you-do-all-day/

http://themattwalshblog.com/2014/01/07/monogamy-is-unnatural/

http://themattwalshblog.com/2014/01/10/your-life-is-over-when-you-have-kids/

Reading the book "peaceful parent, happy children" revolutionise the way I look at parenting.. http://www.ahaparenting.com/

This mama who inspired me to be fully present when I was with you and to stop being so enthralled with that alluring buzzing beeping gadget that caused us to be together yet miles apart...http://www.handsfreemama.com/

While the other two mama's blogs were more of inspirational stories, this lady wrote about ways and beliefs on how to be a parent who respects children for the individuals they were and documented concrete steps, examples, stories which could be translated into everyday application...http://www.janetlansbury.com/

Motherhood is a tremendous journey, it involves a lot of sacrifice and hard work, it causes many tears and frustration but I would not want to exchange it for anything in the world. I am still growing and learning, thank you for being patient with me, for allowing me to make blunders, for forgiving me when I get tired, judgmental, harassed, distracted, plain irritating...

I love you deeply and passionately...i did not know I could love so much until you came into my life....i did not know love could be so wide, so deep, so encompassing and so bewildering...thank you for blessing me with two angels to love, Lord. THank you, Lord. 

(Jan 2014) Xun's birthday celebration

So Xun turned 4! Ha, on the eve of you turning 4, you sobbed and said you did not want to grow older. Papa was sympathetic and asked why. You declared you wanted to sleep with us forever and dad agreed that you could do so till you were 100 years old.  However, you still sobbted. Well...mama had somewhat guessed what had perplexed you, I said earlier you would need to attend school at 5 years old. So I enquired if that was the matter bugging you, you were silent and I said you would only need to go school when you were ready. Well, of course, you pronounced you would never want to go to school...and I sagaciously agreed...yeh...

guess what? When you woke up on the next morning, you proudly and cheerfully chirped that you were FOUR YEARS OLD! ha.

This was such a gargantuan cake, all 3 kg of it...yup, only the indulgent daddy would have agreed to this monstrous cake...mama was NOT around when you three went shopping for a cake.

With all the closest and sweetest extended family...Grand Uncle Brian and Aunt sharon...who got you a hello kitty provision shop box set...

ah gong and ah ma...who gave an ang bao so we could go and buy whatever we wanted...

your darling 4th grand aunt who gave you a slush making cup! YOu thought it was magic how the cold water turned into slurpee in a few seconds...ha...and da kor po (JJ's granny)

Well...all of the present got to take a HUGE chunk of the cake home, we only barely finished the TAIL of ariel. ha...

Separate occasion, daddy wanted to document that tong loved durians, just like HIM.

oooo...the malodorous pair...

ANother Birthday celebration at Wai po's house. This time, it was a JOINT one with san yi and wai po...

Did you know why you spotted such a grumpy face? Coz tong tong blew off 3 of the candles before you were ready and you were MAD. hahaha.well...i suppo...brothers were famous for annoying their jie jies, like max and ruby, whom you identified with and would give a resigned sigh and look and lamented, "little brothers..."

Orrrrr the birthday kids and San yi.

Oh well...it would be tong's bday celebration soon...you know what, we would skip the ordering of cakes and just buy one off the shelves...hahahah. Poor tong, alas, the bane of being the little one...big shoes to fill with an angelic jie around, and getting the scraps...

oh one night, we were snuggling in bed, you said in a gentle voice, "the best thing about being at home is being with you..."

You know, my little sweetheart, that is the sweetest thing I had ever heard...truly, this was like days of heaven on earth...

(31 Dec 13) Camping at West Coast Park and Celebration at our house

Well, xun xun had been badgering daddy to bring her on a camping trip. We read and watched so much about camping trips, like peppa pig, olivia the pig, charlie and lola, all the cartoon characters we loved liked camping trips! ha, so off we went...on a slightly overcast day...well, sad to say, the weather did not hold up very well, but we had great fun nonetheless... 

Daddy bought this enormous tent which was meant for 6 men...well...it was really spacious, a far cry from the two-men tent mama and papa used to have when we went camping in our teens or uni days...

Check out the neighboring tent...really a case of 大屋见小屋
(mama got the chinese words from google translate, i typed, "big roof witness small roof" and it came out 大屋顶见证小屋顶", I tried other words like house, home and they gave me rubbish.

oooo reveling in the novelty...

the wind was howling strongly and rain drops started pelting our gigantic tent...eh...but it had only one layer so it was rather flimsy, xun tried to hold them up so they would not keep billowing inwards...

Yup and the adorable papa bought a mini BBQ portable grill so xun and tong could experience first hand what it was like to BBQ at a campsite...eh...as the wind was raging and the rain was rather torrential...the pit got wet, to our dismay, and we could not start it at all. Guess what we ended up eating?

Ah, the never-fail-to-comfort Macs! Well...it was certainly fun too...coz adventure was all about experiencing new things with your loved ones right?

The sky cleared up and we were ready to go and xun asked to go for the family cycle ride! We did this the last time we went to East Coast Park, and you apparently had an elephant memory. The ever obliging daddy agreed to his little princess' request naturally. Well, tong was bigger at 23 months now and really relished such things! He sat still the whole time, chuckling when daddy swerved the bike here and there and enjoyed all the sights, like the kites, the people, the sea, the animals...

Oh a selfie (Idk, ha shorthand for I don't know, if you would know this word selfie in years to come. In our generation of adults who were constantly on social media like facebook, instagram and twitter, people often took their own photos to post on the media. These photos were called selfies. I wondered...what kind of generation would you be in?

Regardless, I was sure Jesus would be with the two of you!

And dinner was a simple New Year's Eve celebration at our house, papa invited his hall friends over...everyone tabao some food.ooo scrumptious food galore...

Aunt Swee Meng adored you..she loved the way you spoke with an accent and how precocious you were..

Uncle Robin and Kewei...

Aunt Johanna and Uncle Erwin..oh you were their flower girl, remember? You were so scared as it was your first time and you were just 3? You ran all the way down the aisle and broke into tears when you saw mama...

mama and Auntie Serene's new baby boy...

You played some  game with Auntie Yishan...

Aunt Jingli was relaxing in the massage chair...

It was Crystal meimei's bday! She brought along a cake so the two of you were ecstatic.  

The adults had a card game...no gambling on that day...

It was like 1 or 2 plus am when they went home. the three of us were exhausted. THe innocent you kept asking why the adults were not going home yet and stated you could only go to sleep when they were gone. The sweet Auntie Jingli kept harassing them to go off quickly so we could rest. Ha. Well...you know...mama and papa never stipulated a strict bed time, we slept usually at 11 plus 12 pm and wake up at 9plus, 10 and sometimes the two groggy you slept till 11plus pm! ha...good thing was you did not go to school, so you did not need to wake up early. 

Love you to bits.