These days, I'd wake up at 5am. Today, as I woke, my mind just planning what to pack and mentally scanning throughout the house to estimate the amount of work. Oh and to prepare for Vesper's birthday party tomorrow too!!


After some fruitful packing in the kids room, dar sent the kids for their classes while I fetched dad to go paint our new home. Excited to try Momento's sparkling series. Nowadays paint also so hi-tech. Computer-coded and mixed.

Paint colour coded. Added to tin. Tin sent for spinning.

Yummy porridge lunch! Super worth! Energy booster for the day!

After settling our paint, dad and I went for yummy porridge lunch near our new place. Instead of ordering for 2, we ordered individual portions and had 6 big portions of dishes at $6. Super worth it!

Really loved how the dining area is turning out

And our MB which currently still looked not too cramped after installing the extra wardrobe and table. Maybe after installing bed, it's another matter...

Dar brought Cavan here, who decided to chip in... His choice of green wasn't too bad after all. Fresh and complements the natural feel of his furniture.

Soon after applying 2 coats of primer, it's time for Momento! Using sparkling pearl Giselle pink for the gals' room. Alas, when I was only half way through, it turned dark and I had to rush! Stopped short of the upper 1/3 of the wall.

Sun! Why u no stay longer!!

Gotta go buy bed for dad, and rush home to pack goodie bags and prepare for Vesper's party tomorrow!

Met the haolian 老板娘 when we went back to the same store where we got our beds. Her nose was so high up in the air and we had an exchange of words (that's putting it nicely). Her shop was better off without her, at the rate she was driving away her customer- me. Anw we went to another place which offered better mattress, more accessories and cheaper price. Humph!

Next time won't buy from u! Haolian 老板娘！

After shower, quick quick packed goodie bags with kids and Yang.

Happy colours!

All these while Dar and Nancy continued to pack. Until I barked,"It's bedtime for kids! Why is Vesper still hanging around?"

After preparing the decor, it was 1am. Time to... update blog.

What a therapy this blog thing is.


11 pm. Too tired to update further. This basically summed up the day. (Just missing out the market bit, buying groceries for the week)

Planning His Birthday

I think kids probably understand better what birthdays are all about after their 3rd birthday. For the first 3, birthday parties are pretty much what the parents want. Particularly for Cavan, he was rather nonchalant and dismissively just mentioned his invitees. For the 4th, the birthday star wants a say.

Birthday Theme
For Cavan's 4th birthday, he actually told me that he wanted a Disney Cars themed birthday around late Oct/ early Nov last year. This movie was out around three years ago! I was not sure if I could find stuff for the theme. And he was insistent about it. Thankfully, he told me early so I had time to source - in ebay, Spotlight, Toys 'R Us, pasar malams. As for the cake, he had a 3D car cake for his 3rd birthday already so I settled for a Swensen's ice cream cake with McQueen printed on it.

Wish fulfilled!

Invite List
OK, he had his way in the kind of birthday party he wanted. Next, was his guest list. I asked him who he wanted to invite for his birthday. He named three - Miss Gracie, Albert and one more person I couldn't remember who. I said, is that all? He replied yes. Well, it's going to be a quiet birthday party I think. Is there anyone else you want to invite, I asked. He thought for a while and said excitedly, oh yes! Mr Bean! I said, erm ok, it's going to be very expensive flying him to Singapore. Anyone else? He thought for a while and said, Power Rangers! Trying not to discourage him, I asked gently, ok is there anyone you want to invite that you don't see on TV?

So, Cavan this time wanted a say who he wished to see at his birthday party. That morning of his birthday, he asked if Ms Lilian was coming. Oops, no we didn't invite her. From here we know he wanted to include his teacher in his birthday celebration. This year we didn't celebrate in school since his birthday fell on a Sunday.

Cavan and his little friends

Countdown
He was really excited about it this time and kept asking, is it my birthday yet, like a broken record. We would tell him his birthdate, report the day and month and how long more to go. He began to learn about the concept of time through this. We also pointed him to the calendar and he learnt the concept of days and weeks. Finally it came down to next week, three days later and TOMORROW! Ya, he was so excited he woke up at 2.30am to help with decor.

Putting up for my party!

Prayer
The birthday party was one of the items he incorporated into his nightly prayers. Gosh, I didn't know it meant so much to him! It was nice hearing him talk to God about his plans and wishes and committing them to God.

Birthday Activity
He had told me that he wanted to make his own birthday cake. The Icing Room provided just that. So we took leave the next day to bring him to decor his own cake. He was looking forward to it! And he enjoyed it! After which, he couldn't wait to eat his own cake so we had it at New York New York. He wanted to eat straight from the cake tray, instead of cutting it. So we had to finish the whole cake in one sitting! Thankfully, it wasn't big!

Having his cake and eat it

We were really glad we managed to fulfil most of his wishes except for the Mr Bean and Power Rangers bit. The greatest fulfilment was when at the end of the day, he hugged us and said, "Thank you daddy, mummy! I'm really happy today!"

6th Wedding Anniversary Dinner @ Morton's

A really good excuse for us to get out and have a nice dinner. Clem is into good steak so we thought we'd try Morton's the Steakhouse.

My thoughts kept hinging around our kids and whether there was enough milk to feed Verity back home. Guilt overcame me as I sipped the almond liquer and lychee martini. Come on, Clem goaded, just relax and enjoy our time together. Yeah, he was right, it was our time alone together.

Great to just spend the time chatting and wowing every now and then, like some suaku when the waitress did a menu presentation or brought us our food. Felt like our dating days again.

These days, even when we had our time alone together, it was usually spent speed-shopping, meal-gobbling, grocery-grabbing as we stole 1 or 2 hours away from our kids, cos I would need to go back and breastfeed.

Tonight, just let go. I've stored enough milk for the day.

Our personalised menu (our wedding date is not 23 Nov, but it was indicated as such cos we dined on that day)

Yummy onion and egg loaf. Enough to eat on its own.

Lobster bisque that tasted a bit bitter, probably bcos of the wine

Sauteed wild mushrooms which ended up looking like black fried carrot cake in the photo.

This was actually half a portion of the prime rib. Imagine how big the actual one was. We each took a half. It was cooked so nicely that I even gobbled up the fat which had a nice chewy texture.

Complimentary Morton chocolate cake with Haagen Daz ice cream and card with our photo

Our private corner

Happy 6th year of being married!

Presents

This has got to be one of my fav activities- opening presents! But of course I had to respect the owner of the pressies and leave it to Cavan to carefully tear the wrappers. Come on baby, I can't wait!








A month ago... the same delighted baby opening Christmas presents...

I wish...

Cavan's 1st birthday. With his blueberry and chewy chocolate ice cream cake. So yummy!