Tag Archives: gang

Happy Chinese New Year!

Been so crazy busy with Chinese New Year prep and the four days of visiting all over the island. Finally have some time to sit down and look at the hundreds of photos taken over the long weekend. I love that we had four continuous days to visit friends and relatives and we were in a very festive mood throughout.

We had a very full schedule for the four days. On Day 1, we went to my grandma’s place in the morning, followed by Adrian’s grandparent’s home in the afternoon, and finally Adrian’s uncle’s place in the evening. Oh, we had an awesome kumquat bundt cake made by Alpha Bakes on Day 1! Day 2 was somewhat better. The older kids accompanied their Aunt Fifi to a relative’s house, and then we went to my aunt’s place and had a great time there with the cousins. Day 3 saw us at Anya’s schoolmate’s home and then we celebrated Juan/ Sam/ Dan’s birthday at Juan’s place. On Day 4, we went to the Lobos’ new house and we had steamboat for dinner. Phew!

I love getting the kids new outfits for Chinese New Year and this year, their clothes were from Elly and Missy Messy. I wore my new vermilion Lark & Peony cheongsam on the first day, a yellow polka-dotted one from Tong Tong Friendship Store (that has been in my wardrobe for a few years now) on the second day, and Our Bitsy Prints cheongsams on the third and fourth days.

Even though CNY is technically 15 days long, I think I’m all CNY-ed out after the long weekend and I’m just looking forward to a steamboat dinner on Chap Goh Meh!

spent a lot of time walking around with oranges!

spent a lot of time walking around with oranges!

the three of them in their Elly outfits

the three of them in their Elly outfits

attempted a family photo

attempted a family photo

looking for oranges

looking for oranges

yummy kumquat bundt cake made by Debs

yummy kumquat bundt cake made by Debs

walking around the garden

walking around the garden

another attempt at a family photo

another attempt at a family photo

Day 2 and another set of Elly outfits

Day 2 and another set of Elly outfits

harassing the wooden baby

harassing the wooden baby

one with all the cousins

one with all the cousins

love this tee!

love this tee!

Day 3 with matching cheongsam

Day 3 with matching cheongsam

with her friends

with her friends

CNY swim

CNY swim

with the gang

with the gang

Day 4 with at Lobo mansion

Day 4 with at Lobo mansion

homeless-looking children in Missy Messy

homeless-looking children in Missy Messy

water play!

water play!

they had a lot of fun

they had a lot of fun

sparklers

sparklers

Christmas 2013 – Christmas with the Gang

Met up with my friends for a Christmas/ New Year’s Eve gathering on the last day of the year. We wanted to be able to include Viv’s family who was back from Australia and Lisa managed to join us as well. So this time, we were only missing Qi & family and Kwa & husband. Not bad at all!

yummy spread

yummy spread

managed a group photo (minus 2 babies who were sleeping)

managed a group photo (minus 2 babies who were sleeping)

one last family photo for the year

one last family photo for the year

kids pretending to be giraffes

kids pretending to be giraffes

elephants drinking water

elephants drinking water

Adam looking thoughtful

Adam looking thoughtful

so nice to have Viv's boys with us

so nice to have Viv’s boys with us

it was Hwee Lee's birthday as well

it was Hwee Lee’s birthday as well

lazy daddies

lazy daddies

Adam Turns 2 – Celebration with the Gang

We went over to Juan’s new place for National Day and had a great time splashing around in the pool. Really feel so blessed being able to hang out with good friends on a public holiday. We also had a little celebration for Adam with the National Day cake that Xin brought.

refugees

refugees on a boat

splashing good time

splashing good time

Baby Aaron

Baby Aaron

perched on Daddy's shoulders

perched on Daddy’s shoulders

a shower for Daddy!

a shower for Daddy!

National Day cake

National Day cake

dressed for the occasion

dressed for the occasion

cutting the cake

cutting the cake

someone new is joining us soon!

someone new is joining us soon!

Happy 1st Birthday, Reuben!

We celebrated Reuben’s 1st birthday last weekend. Can’t believe he’s already one! Yun and her family were living in Germany so we have only met him one other time back in February. It was really nice to catch up with the rest. We’ve all been so busy that we haven’t met up for ages!

a little something for the birthday boy

a little something for the birthday boy

Aaron in the ball pit

Aaron in the ball pit

the girls playing with the littlest one

the girls playing with the littlest one

super excited

super excited

Auntie Vonnie the balloon sculptor

Auntie Vonnie the balloon sculptor

made by Auntie Vonnie!

made by Auntie Vonnie!

Adam found a hat

Adam found a hat

really pretty and yummy cake

really pretty and yummy cake

birthday boy and family

birthday boy and family

us

us

Easter with the Gang

We celebrated Easter about a week earlier with my friends since Vivien was in town. It was so nice to be able to see her and her three boys, especially 2-month-old Caleb whom we were meeting for the very first time.

We had decided beforehand that since we had so many kids in one place, we would have a simple Easter programme for them. Juan baked hot cross buns and Xin brought some Easter eggs. Edwin and Ren told the kids the Easter story with a felt story scene as a visual aid and amazingly, the kids all listened attentively throughout! We all chipped in to help the kids make a personalised cross with ice-cream sticks, alphabet pasta and glitter as a reminder that Jesus died for each one of them. It was a bit chaotic because the younger ones kept trying to eat the alphabet pasta but on the whole, the kids had a really meaningful time.

adorable Caleb!

adorable Caleb!

Kenji

Kenji

Jayden

Jayden

chubby babies

chubby babies

Joel

Joel

Daniel

Daniel

Sophia

Sophia with Anya’s baby doll

decided a random ribbon would look nice on her dress

decided a random ribbon would look nice on her dress

Adam's face when his sister doesn't give him something he wants

Adam when his sister doesn’t give him what he wants

Adam and Jotham

Adam and Jotham

hot cross buns baked by Juan

hot cross buns baked by Juan

Easter eggs

Easter eggs

listening attentively to the Easter story

listening attentively to the Easter story

explaining the craft activity to the kids

explaining the craft activity to the kids

craft time

craft time

Joel’s 1st Birthday Party

After Kate’s full-month party, we headed to Joel’s birthday party. Two parties in a row is tiring especially after two classes (Anya’s piano and Adam’s gym) and a play (Goldilocks & the 3 Bears) in the morning!

I’d gotten birthday presents for the birthday boy, Sam & Dan and Sophia from Elly’s latest collection and we dressed the kids up for the party in matching outfits. The birthday boy already had an outfit planned so he didn’t join us.

Sophia in pink chevrons

Sophia in pink chevrons

Adam in blue chevrons

Adam in blue chevrons

feeding her little bro

feeding her little bro

Dan in grey and Sam in yellow chevrons

Dan in grey and Sam in yellow chevrons

hard to get a decent group shot!

hard to get a decent group shot!

chevrons in the garden

chevrons in the garden

jumping for balloons

jumping for balloons

Joel's 1st

the cake

the birthday boy & parents

the birthday boy & parents (photo from Von)

Anya’s 4th Birthday: Mr Men & Little Miss Party

Anya’s birthday fell on a Saturday this year so we were able to celebrate it on the actual day. The birthday girl is very much into the Mr Men & Little Miss series currently so that was the theme for her party!

birthday banner

birthday banner

goody bags

goody bags

colouring

colouring on Mr Men print-outs

This was the first time Anya had a party where she had a say in the guest list! We usually invite our friends/ cousins and their kids but this time we had a few of her schoolmates as well. I think she was really happy to have them there.

fun at the playground

fun at the playground

wheee!

wheee!

James Bond

James Bond

in the cockpit

in the cockpit

climbing up and down

climbing up and down

with some of her classmates

with some of her classmates

In keeping with the theme, we had a Mr Bump piñata. The anguished expression on his face makes all the piñata pictures look hilarious! Most of the girls chose to pull on the ribbons below Mr Bump and the boys preferred using the plastic baseball bat that we brought along.

most of the girls chose to pull a ribbon

the dainty way

the boys had a smashing good time

the boys had a smashing good time

Poor Mr Bump!

Poor Mr Bump!

giving it one final pull

giving it one final pull

Mr Bump spills his guts

Mr Bump spills his guts

emptying out Mr Bump

emptying out Mr Bump

goodies

goodies

Sam and his haul

Sam and his haul

Isaac managed to collect some too

Isaac managed to collect some too

Adrian was supposed to bake a rainbow cake and cover it in fondant to make it look like Little Miss Naughty but it didn’t work out as planned. Good thing we had Mr Men & Little Miss cake toppers!

It was a bit chaotic this year and Anya was very upset after she accidentally fell off the sofa while we were taking photos so I didn’t insist on the usual group shots!

the cake

the cake

Happy birthday, Anya!

Happy birthday, Anya!

most of the kids

most of the kids

The grown-ups had fun with the Mr Men & Little Miss photo booth props that I made. I think we are all really young at heart and enjoy being silly now and then! ;)

the Gohs

the Gohs

us being silly

us being silly

the Quahs

the Quahs

with Selena & Sharon

with Selena & Sharon

Will have another post with details of the party decor, goody bag, piñata and other bits & pieces soon!