Food/gluttony to challenge Uncle Danny

Round one : A little bit of everything...

Round 2 : mussels, oyster and smoked salmon
Round 3 : more oysters and smoked salmon


Round 4 : fat! fat! fat!

taking a break....

Round 5 : something a little bit healthier

Round 6 : yummy waffle and ice cream (oops...forgot to rotate)

Round 7 : more fat!

Round 8 : more fruits

desserts.....
Joe and the chocolate fountain.....

When I told him there would be a chocolate fountain, he said to me "hey...chocolate is not good!" So I had to explain to him that it's ok when you eat in moderation and only NOT good when you do not brush your teeth properly after eating chocolate.

fruits dipped into the chocolate fountain


Joe enjoying his chocolate-covered marshmallows...

MMmmmmm.....yummy!!

burrrrrpppppppp!!!!!

busy kids down south

Since a picture speaks a million words, I will let the pictures do the 'talking'.....

I finally got to carry Mabel. Joy-Anne is too young to be jealous.

Joe enjoyed himself very much.....playing, fighting, argueing, crying together with his brothers. He learns a lot everytime we make a trip here. This time, he has learnt to ride the bicycle and also 'drive' the go-kart kind of car.

so boring waiting for Joy-Anne to get off this bicycle....


see....I'm angry!!!

but mama said, "Put on a happy face!"

so it's ok la....I love my sister anyway

Joy-Anne has also grown a lot in this few days. She can walk from the kitchen at the back of the house all the way to the front by herself. She can also climb up onto this green motorbike unaided.

I took her for a ride on the bicycle and she loved it!

With all the boys having their boyish fun, Joy-Anne is waiting for Mabel to grow up to play with her....
The boys enjoyed playing football every evening. We were blessed with wonderful weather.

Good bye YP....till our next visit.

So we arrived early on Friday morning in Yong Peng. The kids enjoyed themselves thoroughly and even little Joy-Anne could play. At night we had a extended family BBQ. After all that eating, the kids gathered in front of the Christmas tree to open their presents. But first, they had to pass a little quiz.

More presents for everyone....this is too overwhelming.

Joy-Anne got her first taste of some very good durian cheese cake.

too bad yee yee....you've got to come back for some.

Christmas Day and after

We went to church in the morning on Christmas Day. After we got home, Joe opened his second train set. Unfortunately he was not feeling very well....had a drippy nose.... So he had to go take a nap and couldn't play much.

my first christmas in the only dress mama has bought for me

When he got up, we had to go for our family Christmas Day dinner. So the trains got packed to be transported to Yong Peng.

The family dinner was good. It was really nice meeting up and catching up with our uncles, aunties and cousins.

Joy-Anne also enjoyed herself climbing up the stairs. Each time she climbed all the way upstairs all by herself, I carried her back down. She would climb all the way up again and then get carried down. She also enjoyed walking all over the place.

This morning, we woke up at 5am to start our journey. We found a very excited Brandon on arrival.

Joe gave Brandon one of his Christmas presents (it was a duplicate)....

And Brandon gave Joe a 'Trix' from the Bob the Builder collection.
Joy-Anne was just happy to explore and eat...

roti canai for breakfast...?

Christmas Eve at home

When I was growing up back in Penang, Christmas Eve was always spent out carolling. It was tremendous fun going from house to house, up and down the bus, singing the same set of songs a dozen times a night and stuffing ourselves with all the yummy food. The carolling would end with a Christmas Candlelight Service back in church at 11pm and we started whispering "Merry Christmas!" at the stroke of midnight. I really miss those days.

I can't do that anymore with young children. So this year, we had some neighbours over for a simple dinner. No turkey. Just food and fellowship.

Ah Ku treated us to a magic show after dinner. It kept the kids entertained. And adults too.

Ah Ku and his assistant

After our guests went home, Yee Yee called all the way from Philadelphia to wish us Merry Christmas. She said Joe could open her present on Christmas Eve.

And so he did...



Joe was so happy with his present. He almost didn't want to go to bed.

But he did...because there will be a lot more presents to open today.

ikea - part 2

Joy-Anne 'cooking' at Ikea...

Blessed Christmas to everyone!

We're doing our part in trying to preserve our environment. So to save trees and fuel, there will be no paper cards, no envelopes, no stamps and no trips to the post office. Here's wishing everybody a most blessed Christmas!

May you have His

peace in your heart,

warmth in your soul and

joy in your homes!