Monthly Archives: December 2013

A Look Back at 2013

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Remarkable

The family is asleep and I’m the only one who’s still up and about so I’m spending some time in the last hour to reflect on the year that has zoomed by. It’s been a wonderful year as a family and we had so much fun together. I never thought having two kids could be so amazing. It’s all terribly tiring though so I remind myself that the days are long but the years are short.

Anya started nursery this year and along the way became enamoured of 3Ps: princesses, pink and purple. She’s really into dressing up and just wants to wear big, fluffy dresses and her tiara all the time. She has also turned into a 4-year-old teenager and can get ridiculously angsty over the smallest things. It’s not always easy to manage. She started inline skating and has become more confident in performing in school and at her piano classes. A highlight of the year for her was doing a photo shoot for Elly’s CNY collection!

Adam has developed his own personality and loves to talk non-stop. He fights a lot with his sister but has the sweetest temperament except when he needs milk. He started gym classes this year but it’s hard to imagine he’s going to start school for real soon! This year hasn’t been the best for Adam physically. He damaged his teeth in an accident and visited the hospital for bronchiolitis and for a mysterious leg injury. It’s been a lot of heartache for me because he’s such a mummy’s boy.

We traveled quite a bit this year. A few trips to Malaysia to visit Legoland, London, Edinburgh, Paris, Bangkok (without the kids), and Hong Kong. I know we are blessed to be able to bring the kids to all these exciting places and it’s not something we take for granted. We have big plans for next year and many trips lined up and I hope everything works out well.

We didn’t do any ballroom dancing but Adrian and I took part in a run together for the first (and probably last) time! I’m glad he was willing to humour me by accompanying me for the Green Corridor run. He started playing tennis again and I tried Circus Aerial Arts classes. I enjoyed myself so much but had to take a break from it because we were blessed with another baby! That’s definitely the biggest surprise of the year for us. We are looking forward to welcoming Baby No. 3 in a few weeks’ time and I’m sure it’s going to be epic trying to raise three little ones.

Goodbye 2013! You were fabulous but I know 2014 is going to be legen..(wait for it!)..dary!

Go Away Monster! from My First Games

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Adam is scared of many things: cockroaches, lobsters and, most of all, MONSTERS! So I got him the Go Away Monster! game from My First Games to help him to overcome his fear of monsters. My First Games is set up by Pamela, a fellow mummy blogger, and it offers an exciting range of games for kids beyond the standard Monopoly and Pictionary.

I wanted to get some games for the kids and Pamela sent me a list of games suitable for their age groups and Go Away Monster! was one of them. It is recommended for kids aged 3 and up but Pam said that 2-year-olds can play too and she’s right. To be very honest though, before getting Go Away Monster! from My First Games, I didn’t think a 2-year-old could play anything more complicated than Snap. Glad I was proved wrong!

Each player gets a game board featuring a bedroom and you are supposed to find pieces in the bag to furnish your room. If you encounter a monster while picking a piece from the bag, you have to throw it away (ideally, back into the box or in the center, but my kids flung the monsters to the furthest corner of the room) and shout Go Away Monster! After explaining the games to Adam and issuing some reminders during the game, we played quite smoothly. He did have the tendency to grab more than one piece sometimes when he got too excited but that only happened once or twice. He won most of the games too!

Anya making sure Adam’s not peeking

flinging the monster away

stomping on them for added impact

found a useful piece

furnishing his room

exaggerated attempt at not peeking

furnishing her room

The game is a bit simple for Anya so I think she wouldn’t want to play it very often. I bought Viva Topo for her and will be reviewing it another time. But Adam enjoyed playing Go Away Monster! and had fun flinging the monsters away. It also made him very happy that he beat his sister several times. Go Away Monster! is a fun game for kids 2 years and up and I highly recommend it! Do check out the other interesting games for kids on My First Games.

Christmas 2013 – Christmas with Family

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One more Christmas post! Christmas Day was spent with one of my aunts, my siblings and Simon. Spink did most of the cooking and we had a fab English dinner of Yorkshire pudding, roast chicken, roast beef, carrots & parsnips and Christmas pudding with custard. Adrian made some pasta and I threw together a salad. After dinner, we vegged out in front of the TV watching The Wolverine while the kids caught Spongebob Squarepants in the other room. A nice, comfortable Christmas evening! :)

carving up the beef

yummy dinner

waiting to tuck in

our only Christmas family photo!

Christmas 2013 – Christmas Eve with Family

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Every Christmas eve without fail, we will celebrate Christmas with Adrian’s family. In previous years, the gathering was held at his cousin’s place, but his grandparents are a lot less mobile now so we meet at their place instead. The cousins had fun playing with bubbles in the garden even though it was a bit dark. Surprisingly, they all lasted until midnight to usher in Christmas together.

lots of presents under the tree

the boys

the little girls get to sit at the grown-ups’ table

durian for Christmas!

playing with bubbles

all five kids in the picture

family photo taken with a better camera and a flash

Anya can’t wait to open her present

looking for more presents

in her jammies

Christmas 2013 – Ellery’s Birthday

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Ellery is a Christmas baby and we celebrated his 3rd birthday on Sunday! It was a small gathering at District 10 and the kids had lots of fun in the bouncy castle while the adults ate and talked. Selena made the cake and it had different blocks of colours inside! Very impressive.

sliding down headfirst

Adam snoozing

Christmas presents were exchanged

the kids doing some colouring

Adam awake and sliding

kids blowing bubbles

Christmassy mammoth cake

say cheese!

what the cake looks like inside

Adam playing with bubbles

a pile of kids

attempted a picture of the kids

Christmas 2013 – Christmas at the Lobos’

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Our first Christmas party for the year was with the lawyers. We had twice the number of children at the party than we did last year! The kids were taking turns to fall asleep, cry, throw tantrums, etc. but it was all lots of fun (even though Anya was being absolutely grumpy at the start of the party). More kids next year!!