YeeYee buy. Mama pay.

New Lightning McQueen swimpants and rashguard. Size 7/8. YeeYee buy. Mama pay money.
New pink sunglasses. USD3. YeeYee buy. Mama pay money.

Joe's Texas t-shirt from Elizabeth's Ah Mah and Joy's polo t-shirt that YeeTeow bought. But mama pay money.

And I've no idea why they like to climb on to the sofa like this....

Good thing I didn't buy this sofa. So there's no heartache.

HomeBlessing Party with Luscious Treats

I just had the most delicious western spread...in my own home!!!

We organized an 'official' homeblessing/housewarming with our immediate family, CG, Senior Pastor, Zone Pastor, Ministry Pastor and our ministry 'colleagues'. It was a wonderful time of worship, prayer and testimony to God's goodness, faithfulness and providence.

And how you may ask did I find this wonderful caterer who single-handedly cooked all the mouth-watering fare. Well I first found her cousin who makes cupcakes and the likes when I googled for cakes for my dad's birthday. But her cousin was unable to bake on the date I wanted and so referred me to Azlin, telling me that her lasagne was "to die for". However Azlin was also unable to cook on 1st Jan and so referred me to another cousin who did the little cupcakes for my dad's 65th birthday. Culinary skills sure runs in the family!
From Luscious Treats we had Chicken Lasagne, Beef Shepherd's Pie, Lamb meatballs with Minty Yoghurt Dip...

...Tomato Salsa Bruschetta...

...sweet and spicy chicken wings...

...baked custard tartlets...

...brownie cheesecake...

...mini tuna puffs...

...mini chicken sausage rolls...

...and this was a last minute bonus which was not in the original menu.... marshmallow treats! Everyone ate and overate to their hearts content and we still had plenty of leftovers. Most were surprised to know that a malay lady cooked such wonderful western delights. KongKong said the chicken lasagne is wayyyyy better than any restaurant's. Joe said he liked "the potato on the shepherd's pie". This is coming from a kid who eats chicken rice without chicken and wan tan mee without wan tan.

Me....I'm looking forward to walloping the leftovers tomorrow because I was too busy to properly savour the food tonight. Oh and the cost...RM15 per head - delicious value for money!

New bicycles in our new home

It was a quiet day at work and I felt prompted to google for children's bicycles.

We have been planning to get bicycles for the kids but the old home was not conducive. There was no place to store and no place to ride since the terrain is too hilly.

Now that we're in our new home, there's a spacious lift lobby and flat ground all around the condo compound.

Low and behold, I found an ad for not one but three (!!!) bicycles for sale, 2 of which are LeRun bikes. I'm not too informed about bicycle brands but I think this is a decent one because I've heard of it. We bought the 'package' of 3 bikes, 2 helmets and 2 bicycle locks from the very nice man. Needless to say, the kids were thrilled beyond words.
The biggest bike (adult size) couldn't fit in the car so we'll have to make another trip when the YongPengTribe comes with their MPV.

I'm absolutely certain this is another of God's blessings because we concluded the sale barely 2 hours after the seller posted the ad. Now mama can ride with the kids while papa jogs and watch for cars!!!

swimming in pink

I went to Jusco 1Utama to check out the pre-renovation clearance sale, looking for electrical items but ended up buying a swimsuit (size 10!!!) for my princess. Ogival - RM30 only. Particularly love the coverage over the shoulders and neck to keep her warm from cold wind and the pretty skirt.

And... Nana is back!!! With lots of goodies too!
Thanks Yee Yee for the pink sunglasses! I love it!!!

Sembawang Splash Park - revisit

We made another visit to Sembawang Splash Park this morning. The weather was absolutely lovely and the kids had a blast!While the boys ran straight for it, Joy-Anne took a while to actually get herself wet.

If we had gone to the WaterPlay at the Singapore Zoo, we would have spent a LOT of money on admission fees.

While this is all FREE!!! Wonderfully FREE!

I read that there's a similar thing back home at the Mines Shopping Centre but when you're not on holiday, you just don't have the time to go. And when you are free to go, everyone else is also free making the place very crowded.

I was very surprised that we almost had the whole Splash Park to ourselves this morning. Hardly half a dozen other kids considering it's a public holiday. Maybe all the Singaporeans are in Johor busy shopping or visiting to collect ang pow.

The water aside, I think the best part for Joe is just spending time with his brothers...

...that's what Chinese New Year is about after all - spending time with family!

Blessed Chinese New Year to everyone!

January Birthday no.4 - mine!

After planning 3 birthday celebrations this month, I get to enjoy mine - today! I had an early celebration at Cell last Friday night when we hosted the CG at our new home for the first time. They very kindly surprised me with a blueberry cake - thanks to Facebook for keeping everybody informed.

This morning, my fellow coordinators surprised me with a cake at Little Lamb.

We had lunch together with my dad, brother and sister-in-law. Then I had a blissful 2-hour nap in the afternoon on my comfy new bed in my lovely new home.

In the evening, we dropped Joe and Joy off at my brother's house for them to practice their parenting skills while we went off to claim my free meal at Shogun.

Round 1 - most things salmon...

Round 2 - more sushi, lobster salad and oysters...

Round 3 - sashimi and soft shell crab...

Round 4 - taking a sweet break...

Round 5 - more salmon and oyster...

Round 6 - fruity dessert and I couldn't eat anymore...

We walked around for 2 hours checking out treadmills and then went to JuiceWorks to claim my free smoothie (member benefit). Of course I had a cookies and cream smoothie!

It's been a very sweet and blessed birthday! Thank you Lord!

January Birthday no.3 - Ah Chor is 86

This is way belated because I've been so busy. Last last Friday i.e. 21 Jan, my grandmother turned 86. We were supposed to go out for dinner but because she had a very bad pain in her good left leg, we had to come up with Plan B.

So we bought her favourite foods and her favourite cheese cake and brought it to her home for a very simple celebration.
Every birthday is precious and should be celebrated no matter how simple. It means we have had another year to live!

A Castle in the Promised Land

There is a slide in my house that is older than I am. My parents had it made for my older sister. But since she now lives on the other side of the planet and my brother does not yet have kids who can play with it, I am priviledged to possess it. So I made plans to incorporate it into a 'castle'. It's probably the closest to my childhood dream of a treehouse.

After lots of online research, I had some idea about what I wanted - a loft that is accessed by a rock-climbing wall, a 'kitchen' underneath and the slide by the side.

At the same time, a friend asked if I wanted to buy her used Ikea loft bed. And so that's how this blueprint came about...

I 'drew' this blueprint and gave it to my contractor. He gave me a funny look. Like I was mad.

Nevertheless, the castle arrived today!

The kids are so happy. But of course.

I bought the handholds from Corezone. Cost about RM35 each if I remember correctly. Joseph has no problems climbing up by himself. But Joy needs help and that's how I want it because I don't want her going up all by herself.

Joy-Anne's kitchen is underneath the loft, with a small cafe window. I plan to put up a sign over the window that says "J and J cafe".

And she's gonna cook lots of yummy food for me!

Moving into the Promised Land

Joy-Anne turned 3 years old on 18 January 2011. On her birthday, I plopped her on the weighing scale and the reading totally shocked me! I had thought that with Nana gone, she would be less nourished and well, not gain so much weight.

So that's extra weight to lug into the Promised Land...

Some time back, I wrote about why we call it OUR Promised Land. We finally marched into our promised land yesterday - 11 days short of one year to the day we first viewed it.

We had planned to move in before Christmas. But God had other plans.

While I had previously mentioned to Daaling that we are 'enlarging our tents' after 7 years - just like DUMC, he now mentioned to me that we are moving right after a stretch of 14 days-5.30am fast and prayer - just like DUMC did before the church moved into the current premises. (The church had a 21-day fast and prayer before moving.)

And this is only possible because of the delay in renovation works.

The main delay was in the woodwork - the blade at the factory broke and a suitable replacement could not be found. So the contractor outsourced it but the results were not acceptable to him. He rejected everything and started again from scratch. I had initially forgotten to tell him that I wanted the kitchen cabinets to have hidden 'handles'. By the time I told him, he had already outsourced it and manufacturing was in progress. As a result of the redo, I got what I wanted.

This new home is a testament of God's providence and faithfulness. He has led and provided every step of the way. What a faith-building exercise it has been!

It is certainly our hope and desire that this home will be a blessing to many other people.

p/s : Guests are welcome. Advanced notice appreciated.

Joy is 3...almost!

We had an early birthday celebration for my princess... Though it wasn't a real big birthday bash, it was enough to make her very happy.

Ah Kong, Ah Mah, Ah Ku & Kim Kim and the 2 great-grandmothers were Joy's birthday guests.

Unable to decide where to eat, we finally decided to eat at home.

A few days ago, while at Jaya Grocer, Joy pointed to the boxes of Ferrero Rocher on display and said, "Mama, can you please buy this for me?" I asked her if she knew what that was and to my surprise (and horror!!!) she said, "chocolate!" So Ah Ku bought some for her and fed it to her....

...without my permission!!!

As promised... the princess got her PINK princess Dora cake.

Kinda out of proportion because Dora is a lot shorter than Barbie but Joy didn't seem to notice nor care.

Last week, she told me, "You must shake my hand and wish me happy birthday. You must!!!"

And she added, "Everybody must wear pink party hat...if not.... no cake!!!"

So everybody wore pink party hats that mama made.

A year ago, she used to get upset when I told that she didn't look nor sound like a 2-year old. Now, she happily says she is three years old.

She can proudly proclaim she is a big girl one minute and the next minute, she tells me "Your baby cry". And when I ask her, "Who is my baby?" she says, "me la!"

Yes, almost three years old...in 2 days time.

Three years seem to have flown by.

I think time goes by faster with every kid you have.

Joy happily fed herself the cake...

But she didn't eat a lot and guess who had to finish it up...

Very nice (in my opinion) mango cake covered with PINK fresh cream from Raspberry Cake House (Sunway Metro).

And since Dora is not made of fondant, she gets to keep Dora.

Happy Birthday my darling princess...

May the Lord grant us wisdom and patience to teach you His ways, and may you walk faithfully with Jesus all the days of your life!