(Oct 14) Of birthday celebrations, performances and outings

Sep! Mana's birthday month. I nev fancy birthday celebrations very much, always felt they never turned out to be that blissful or exciting as expected and that was disheartening... Oh well... Still, it called for some small celebration as mama turned 33, the year Jesus went to the cross... 

Ah, mama in one of papa's fav dresses... He liked those slinky fitting types

We went to a restaurant to eat crabs! Not one of those who always photographed their food, we only remembered to tk one, the crispy prawn balls, with an overdose of mayo

 Papa said he needed to slim down, he always angled his face when taking photos, he was blessed with a sharp face, ha tong inherited that while Xun had my angular look. Unfair! 

papa lamented that we were not going to some fancy restaurant for my birthday but mama liked it simple. no fanfare, no over the top romantic jaunt to some pricey uppity restaurant...just comfort food, my favourite CRABS.

Another celebration, this time we went to Paradise at Katong 112. Oh xun commented how aromatic the place was upon stepping in. Ya indeed, it must be one of the grandest malls in spore as the place was carpeted! And the shops were mostly those ATAS ones...and there were many water features around to decorate the place...talking about being posh...

After lunch, we went for ice cream. Interesting feature of an aquarium...ha the two of you tried to find the nemo fish...

We wore this on the date with our photographers, Awesome Memories, to discuss the theme and nitty-gritty stuff...

Ah ha, noticed how we were wearing matching apple print dresses?

The absolutely dashing rakish tong tong...the one who stole hearts of aunties, the one with his impish grin and that cheeky glint in the eyes...

Today (12 oct) he told ah ma that he only loved his family, which means papa, mama and jie jie...and he dun love ah ma anymore. after much cajoling, he declared his love for ah ma again...while the adults were dining, he would run to us and shout "i love you, mama", then adding papa...then giving that mischievous nonchalant look when ah ma asked...then piping up with "ah ma and ah gong" and dashing off again...talk about baiting eh...he was indeed glib and smooth...

Ya, tong tong loved jie jie intensely..but mama thought sometimes that affection would take an insidious turn and make him jealous instead when he could not live up to be what jie jie was...

mama did not know that tong tong actually felt left out not wearing matching clothes with mama and jie jie...he was delighted that he could wear a matching lime green dress with mama...

photos taken by jie jie...who always obliged when being asked to...

ON to the comical show, we thoroughly enjoyed this one. It was just flippant, nonsensical and illogical...ha but we liked such fluff, we liked things that did not make sense, we loved the outrageous and whimsical...

oh and what luck, we were the first in line to take a photo with the cast! Ya, recently the two of you got addicted to watching shows. You would check out all the pamphlets at the counters to find new shows...tong could sit through most of the shows and seem to enjoy them too...it was not too bad considering he was still very young and full of energy...

oh another day, sneaking out for a spa session before the kids woke up...taking a photo of the new dress mama had from taobao...and sending it to papa...coz we were madly in love...nay...marriage was hard work...and mama believed commitment, loyalty, companionship...and not just fleeting romance were the cornerstones of a marriage...

but GOd had blessed us...there was a tumultuous time...eh...I felt, papa, the rosy-eyed and ever optimistic, read dense, one never felt so...

but after changing his job, he was much happier...and that made him kinder to us too...he was not tired out, he was not overly stressed, he had more leisure time for himself...he had great colleagues..God is VERY good to him. he said he was living testimony of living under God's grace...which mama had problems with from time to time as I was such an ACHIEVER and doer. 

Oh one night, xun ate lots of grapes and that caused indigestion and she vomited in the middle of night. We had to discard the bedsheets and wash jiji and bear bear. IMagine my consternation when I saw this when I opened the door. WHAT? papa put spaghetti into the machine?

turned out jiji was decapitated...what?!?! booo hooo hooo. we picked up all the strands...and stuffed them back...

sewed her together but it was as if she had a liposuction coz she was now skinner...and did not have that musty smell which was so precious to me...

oh well...for some time, the two of you would watch tv in the morning while i prepared food and washed up...i prayed to God about it, to curb that addiction...and He did...nowadays we would wake up and play in the playroom for quite a long time...

eh...you two still watched tv and ipad for the entire day at ah ma's house...and watched quite a lot of tv at wai po's house too...oh welll...I supposed, I got to be supply conscious and put this into Jesus' hands and trust He would lead and teach you...and curb whatever bad habits we had...

We went to Kidsstop again. Tong took a liking to wearing costumes too...mayb coz he saw jie wearing costumes at indoor playgrounds all the time...

he had been resisting going to the barber thought there would be free sweets and joy rides there..hmmm mama finally realised why one day, he saw mama trimming jie's hair at home and wanted to have the same treatment too! he also stated he wanted to have long hair, just like jie jie...ya he truly adored jie jie...

jie was ever understanding and sweet too. when tong got on her nerves, she would always give in one last time before declaring it was the LAST TIME ever...when she was in her chirpy mood, she would do so readily, explaining that she knew tong tong was the youngest one...

tong had funny ideas sometimes, like he would say he was the mama and I was the baby...haha...then I would pretend to cry and say I missed him when he went to work. He looked at me and reassured me he would be back really soon...talk about acting out his anxiety...

Xun mentioned about her fears over starting school...mama, in fact...was having cold feet too...I worry...I worry people would bully you, take advantage of your kindness, trample on your sensitivity...but I also know God would put gd frens in your way, God would build you up and defend you, He gave you the shield of glory...so mama would learn to let go and let God...and know that mama was always on your side, just like Jesus

So we were planning to go taiwan with mama's extended family in Jul 15. WOOOHoooo..got to renew the passports and used the app to take photos..

I must say, xun, ha, you looked better in person, just like mama. we dun look photogenic...booo hoooo hoooo

papa said tong looked like a gangster here...

this was the best take...

tried to have tousled hair...

oh..this one looked like he was darn dissed with someone...

haha...we went to toa payoh hub for lunch. mama loved old towns. they were so quaint...and full of history...not to mention, papa and I loved to visit the Cash converters shop to look for lobangs...we bought a playmobil castle set for $69 that day!!! it costs usd$200 on amazon! Later on, we saw some really small sets in toy r us and they already cost s $80 plus. WEOOOOOOO

ya papa liked to look at the rolex watches..someday he said he would buy one. mama checked out the branded bags on sale...you two looked at the toys. there were good bargains for electronics too...ya...all in all...going to cash converters was like going through a discarded treasure trove, you never knew what you were gonna find...

Preparing to go to Far East Garden with Aunt Xinyi one public holiday...

ooo the shot of hot mama, as gushed by papa, taken by xun xun...

ha frolicking in the water play area...

then to the sand pits...should be the other way round though...

never knew about this secret garden...

then taking wefie before heading home...a really blistering day...we played for 1+ hour and mama and auntie xinyi were drained...we had to go back to Satay by the bay for some icy desserts...

ha, papa and uncle keith went to the range nearby and they took a wefie too...eh..but too bad mama did not have that photo...heh...what a great time. it was always good to meet up with friends. 

one day, we were playing at the playground near wai po's house and the two of you spotted these burst balloons. having a great liking for balloons, tong was very sad when he had to leave...and insisted on having a photo...

it was good that we built up ways the two of you could grief when we had to leave or stop an activity...the two of you would draw it, or sing the "linger" song or take a photo...I thought there were pretty good coping mechanism...rather than throw a tantrum or sob hysterically...ya...it was cute hearing the two of you sing "linger" at random times..mama loved that song...it was so meaningful and simple..so melodious and somewhat haunting...

went to watch another show "stick man"...another hilarious one again. hahah

ooo in addition to having enjoyed the great show, you got one of your favourite gifts, a balloon!

tong brought his balloon to wai po's house one day and the two of you were playing with it, taking turns to sleep on it...wai po said, the balloon burst and xun came running to her with the broken bits. Wai po was worried that xun was the one who had burst it, tong would be so mad....but turned out tong burst it when he lay on it...and jie drew the pictures to comfort tong and told him she would share hers...orrrrr

and jie loved to draw stick figures for our family too...

ha we would soon be taking our first family photoshoot...in a bid to be skinnier, mama had started some light exercises at night...eh...and the kids followed suit...

esp jie, who now had a "midnight feast", a term she coined for the period of time when mama and she would exercise in the bed, like crunches, bicycle spins...and spend time talking about the day. Jie cherished that as it was hard to have heart to heart talk with tong clamoring for attention all the time...

when tong fell asleep, mama snuggled with jie jie and had some private girl to girl talk...

it was one of those rare nights that the children went bed early...tong fell asleep in the car at 840pm...jie snoozed for 10 min in the jie and got recharged...after tossing in bed since 10, she finally fell asleep at 1130...grrrrrr....mama got impatient sometimes as i had work to do...but on days when there was nothing pressing, I just surfed net and wait...coz I knew, someday, you would not need me to be beside you...so let's enjoy while it lasted...

love you to bits. having you was like enjoying days of heaven of earth...