(11 Jan 15 Sun) Blessed Birthday, my sweetheart angel and cutie pie

So, Xun and tong were already getting very excited on Sat as they knew their birthday party was just around the corner. 4th kor po bought an Anna hair set for Xun, ha! Ah gong gamely clipped them onto his hair too, I wished I had a picture of that, it was really hilarious.

Then on Sunday, the children woke up really bright and early at 8 ish. Xun's enthusiasm and exuberance could hardly be contained. She bathed and changed and lay on the bed while mama washed up. A few minutes later, I heard tong's chirpy voice and found out that jie's frilly skirt had touched tong's toes and he shifted and woke up. 

Papa was away at the driving range and would only be back at 1030. My goodness, what woe, you two were badgering like there was no tomorrow. 

So, finally, papa came back. We collected the cakes from West Mall and went to Soleil. 

Erm...reached at 11 ish.

Xiaoshu had yet brought the rental helium tank from Parkway Parade (yeh, mama got this cheap contact fr Er yi, one big tank for only $90, we could blow up so many balloons which we bought cheaply from Taobao, saved us loads)...

So we just blew up the balloons and strolled around to pass the time. Set up the gifts' corner...

Trains for the boys...

Fairy wings for the girls..

Xun had originally worn the Anna costume when she was at home...forgot what prompted her to change into the Elsa costume. Well, she had always favoured the Elsa get-up, she lamented that she wished 4 kor po had gotten the Elsa hairdo instead, ingrate. 

In our boredom, we let the balloons float on the pond...oh the wind was so blustery, it was really relaxing and balmy...

What a scenic view. If only we could book the jacuzzi and bask in the warm soothing waters while enjoying this fantastic view next time! How good it was to be rich...orrrrr....a $3m house on 99 -year tenure...hmmm could we ever afford such a house?!?!

I must say, the place was really pretty...

Caught a glimpse of papa who was checking out on what we were up to...

almost 12, no sign of anyone yet. Tong was pestering me to cut the cake. HUH? So we decided to take some family photos...

Both kids clamored to take photos with mama, no one wanted to have one with papa. HA.

Well, he had to coax and plead...

Then a wefie...

Then xun helped us take a photo! She was getting better at it, no more shaky hands.

Papa tried to have a wefie with mama and xun was trying to photobomb us. 

AH! the first guest arrived, eh...an uncle from ah ma's side, whom we were not very close to...haha

Then the others streamed in...4 kor po did up two bouquets of balloons so we could have them as background for the cake-cutting photos, how ingenious!

WP jie asked her helper to set up a toys' corner for the kids. ha...cool or wad

And finally, mama's beloved sisters came. YAY... coincidentally, we were all wearing BLUE.

Eh, xiaoyi with her ba1 zi4 eyebrows, supposedly very fashionable....

Then everyone else tucked into the sumptuous food, papa ordered lots, lots, lots of meat....er yi commented how meaty the dishes were...ha

san yi commented she looked bigger than san yi zhang in this pic, oops. 

Food galore.

Yes, xiaoshu came at about noon so we quickly blew up the helium balloons...

Guests having a good catch-up session

Siblings ARE always the best. Wu yi and ah ma.

OH xun was worried that Hers and Gayle would both ask to play with her so she was rather torn between whom she could choose. we told her she could come up with some group games so all 3 girls could play..

The triplets finally came! like at 1 plus...xun had been waiting till her neck was as long as a giraffe's

Aunt Lindy said both Eden and Max wanted to give the present to tong tong.

The gal pals playing together, Hers was playing with Rick and did not join them. So...no problem at all! Jie had needlessly worried. 

papa's cousins congregating at one corner...

You you had a great time using the cooking wares...

Oooo our muscle man, Jayron.

The inseparable girls again

Yay, finally the cake-cutting time! papa said Aunt Lindy teased him on the unfair treatment, that jie's cake was much bigger than tong's. Papa glibly replied he was not the one who got the cakes. ha

The cakes came in weird weights, like 1 kg, then 3kg...so...mama chose 3 kg for xun as we bought hers first, then after discussing with the Polar auntie who claimed that it was even possible to cut 30 slices in a 1kg cake, mama bought a 1kg cake for tong. 

Good estimates, only left with a small chunk of cake 

all e kids were so thrilled to be sitting together...

and papa looked so adorable, blending in with all e kids and colourful balloons.

Dunno why tong chose this "Messy engines" picture. Come to think of it, he always declared he liked messy things when jie nagged him about the disorderly way he played with his toys, painted, drew and just about everything. so...maybe he simply liked chaos? ha

Yes, a family shot.

Kids trooped back to their playground...

Xun totally relished the cake

Oh the girls started playing together...

A sisters' cum you you the photobomb shot before they left...oh I thought papa had got quite a flattering photo of mama here...you know, I was hardly photogenic, sigh...

Of course, the boys' shots

Then papa mocked how xiaoyi always had that mouth agape look to look slimmer in photos...so the boys did a comical shot with that look too...oh my...

papa was saddened that two people remarked that he had put on weight...hmmm...but his chin looked rather chiseled here?

Packing up all the balloons so the guests could bring them home

While other relatives had left, the kids were still reluctant to go...

Well, no squabbles or anything, they played very amiably together...

Then biaogu and biao jiu decided to take shots with the balloon bouquet.

The sisters whiling their time away...I wondered what they were fascinated by...

The baby was definitely a crowd - pleaser...

Da biaogu chilling with her hubby, yeh...so good that all her kids were independent...phew, the tough times were over...hmmm...or maybe the teenage years would be the real tough ones?

Then the cousins left and we went for ROUND 2 at Rick's house.

Rick had such an abundance of toys, it was thoroughly exciting for the kids to be there. He even got a see-saw!

Aunt Chunxiang commented that HERS loved to play with xun.

Xun's elsa dress got wet and she changed out of it...actually she was wearing it beneath the elsa dress all the time. 

At 5, we were still at Rick's house and both boys were getting a tad cranky. Rick had been up since 5ish am! Tong was long due for his nap. After getting his clothes wet from playing with the water tank, he insisted on changing into his spare clothes (refused the option to wear Rick's) and went ballistic. Cue to go home. Sigh. Maybe we could have averted this if we had our spare clothes around, they were in the bag in papa's car. oh well....

Jie was so exhausted that she dozed in front of the computer. papa carried her in and she woke up and launched into a princessy tantrum, albeit a really mild and gentle one. She kept reiterating that she wanted to go out to watch her show when papa instructed her to nap...they went on for quite a long while and papa got mad...oh well...in the end, xun was too worked up to nap, but she cheered up and knew she was not allowed to watch anymore...

so she played and continued the video as her night routine at home...hmmm mama felt she had been getting more cantankerous ever since she started school. could be a coincidence, could be simply a turning - 5- year - old phase...or effects of extended time away from mama and anxieties about starting sch and making friends...

definitely hoped it was simply a phase...asked Ms Yeo tdy about xun and she stated xun was a very smart and curious girl. Mama told her she could tell xun to be quiet if she was tooooo talkative...she said xun was ok...but you know, teachers often sugar coat their words...hahaha, mama would know...so...oh well...

Oh and we had another mini mishap too, papa forgot to bring back a green paper bag which held presents from Aunt Karen and some angbaos! Somehow...it got left behind...good thing was, it was found. PHEW, contents was all intact. ha...mama was glad I was not the one who lost it, coz papa would surely blow his top at me...well...mama took the opportunity to ask him to show us clemency when we committed mistakes too...giggles.

Sure tiring to have a party....but but but...oh my, how astounded we were at the generosity of the relatives...oh my...the ang baos...you two were surely little fu4 wong1

k,in the wee hours...got to haul the sleeping beauty who wanted to slp on the thin mattress in the study room so she could be with me while I worked back into our cold room with cozy bed. Oh the slide bed was here. could not wait to set it up and take photos!

Blessed birthday, sweetheart angel and cutie pie. The best thing that happened to mama was having you both, ah, but the bestest thing got to be papa right? wink. 

Blessed 5th birthday, my sweetheart xun. Blessed 3rd birthday, my little baby tong tong.