Year of the Wooden Horse!

Here are some snippets of CNY celebration:

 The Gardens Mall has lovely 1960's Shanghai theme props and decor - perfect for snapping some portraits of the kids.

Mid Valley Centre Court has CNY bazaar and the kids were so happy with this blob of a cotton candy made by a Chinese man from China. 

RM10 for this roll of sweet floss! 

 Thanks to my brother Chung who came back from  Germany - he took this portrait with his camera. Kids decked out in new clothes.

Another shot taken at The School -  a newly opened enrichment mall by Jaya One

 Celebrated my dad's 70th birthday (early celebration) since everyone was around on the first day of the lunar new year. 

I made some cupcakes cos not many of us.

 Marissa's drawing of Koi fish published in Star Child column on the first day of CNY!  Full page as below. This is her second drawing which was published. The first one was published last month. 

Evan's 8th birthday

Evan had a few simple and mini birthday celebrations this year that he turned 8. Supposed to blog about this last month but alas got so caught up with work that cobwebs are already forming on this blog. Anyway back to the subject of Evan and his birthday celebrations.....

The first one he celebrated with his friends from music group class - he calls it his 'favourite homeschool class'. I made some push pop cakes for him to bring to the class. Here's a pic taken by his teacher - ahem! so many girls in his class. There's another boy but he was absent that day.

Next up, we had another mini party with his Godma & family at Marco's Pizza. I made a minion cake and ordered macarons from fellow baker Jaclynn who's a macaronologist if there's such a word. Minions and Macarons and Pizza. What could go wrong with that combination? 

Last but not least, as with previous years, a simple birthday do at the ballet school. Minions again but in cupcake form...... and his wish is to do well in ballet (same wish as previous year). My wish: that he will continue to grow in the LORD and to walk in all His ways all the days of his life.

Marissa's Princess Party

Whoa! Time really flies and it's almost the end of June! June is my favorite month of the year cos it's the month I celebrate my wedding anniversary and it's also Marissa's birthday.

This year, we decided to do something special by hosting a birthday celebration for our little princess. Yes, so it was a princess party. It was very fun to plan out the party and together with the invaluable assistance of a supermummy friend.

So here are some snapshots of the party! Enjoy!

 party favors

 dessert table

Snacks for the kids 

family pics

Credits:
Dessert Table & Party Planning: The Cherry on the Cake
Cupcake wrappers & paper crowns/tiaras: Simple Joy Crafts
Macarons: Epicurean
Photography: Steve
Flowers: Nook Flowers
Food: Fit for 2 Cafe

Celebrations in the month of May

My mom turned the big 70 on 7th May this year. So I planned a surprise cake for her. I invited my parents over to my place on Mother's Day which fell on May 12th. The cake was completed in the nick of time just before they arrived at my home. 

We reserved a table for dinner at one of our favourite restaurants: Dancing Fish, BSC. I managed to sneak the birthday cake into the car & into the restaurant without my mom suspecting anything! After dinner, the staff brought out the cake as a surprise! 

The cake was a 2-tier cake, base tier was a dummy so I had ample time to decorate that tier in advance. The upper tier was real cake i.e. vanilla butter cake with strawberry jam in between the layers - very delicious! The design of the cake was inspired by a similar cake I saw done by a cake designer based in Paris. 7 butterflies with the 7 colors of the rainbow..... to signify 70 years of good health and colorful memories! 

The 3 grandchildren posing after dinner in front of a toy shop. My nephew on the left also celebrated his birthday in May - on the tenth. I made him a 2-tier cake to mark the occasion.

Then the very next day, 13th May, I celebrated my own birthday! Dear hubs bought me a strawberry japanese cheesecake as a surprise since he can't bake nor decorate a cake. Yums! The cake was very light and yummy! 

Before bidding farewell to the month of May, hubs and I will be travelling to Tanjong Jara Resort to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary! The actual date is in June but we decided to celebrate early! It will be the first time that we will be away sans kids. That will be my next blog post! 

The Year of the Water Snake

This Chinese New Year heralds the year of the water sssssssnake! We journeyed down south on new year's eve for the all important reunion dinner with my side of the family. We had to reserve the dinner table in advance, of course, as we didn't want to burden my mom to do all the cooking! We did the customary lou sang and ate a vegetarian meal. Food was good although we ate fake prawns and mock chicken. For the first dinner of the new year, we had dinner at a seafood restaurant - this time, butter fried prawns and steamed fish.

Of course, the kids amassed stacks of ang pows - and at the rate it's going, it's possibly their highest amount ever. The kids, together with their cousin Jay Han, had a great time until they all refused to go home when it was time to leave (on the 2nd day of the new lunar year).

The kids enjoyed feeding the koi. Those fish were very well fed. More than a dozen koi live in this 4ft deep pond in the garden. They will swim up to the surface when they hear human voices - eagerly anticipating a snack.

The kids entertained themselves with the iPad - playing some games. They also watched Astro. My aunt and family came a-visiting on the 2nd day. We all had lunch together before leaving for KL.

All the kids posed for a group shot: my kids, my brother's son and my cousin's daughters. 

We arrived in KL in time for dinner so we went to Plan B (Mid Valley Megamall).  It was the first time we had dinner at Plan B. Previously was just for breakfast. Ordered a Moroccan lamb pie which was utterly delicious and a sandwich - though simple but was very well put together. 

The following day, we had a reunion dim sum brunch at the Oriental Pavillion Jaya 33, with hubby's side. My SIL brought her Singaporean BF along so that we all can get to know him better. Met up with a few of my friends later in the day and the next day too. And it's MAKAN and MAKAN again! The gym beckons........ so I will be ssssslithering there..... until my next blog post..... ssssayonara...... and may this new year bring lots of joy to each and everyone! 

Happy 7th Birthday Evan

Evan turned 7 yesterday - 18th August 2012!
*sniff* my 'baby' is growing up so fast! 

He had a mini birthday celebration during his music appreciation class ahem! surrounded by pretty girls! Apparently, the boys were absent.... Anyway, I baked a butter cake with vanilla bean frosting in the shape of a keyboard plus 7 choc cupcakes.

A week later at the ballet school, Evan had another mini celebration with the pretty ballerinas in his class. This time I made sets of 2 cupcakes each, with ballet slippers and shimmery tutus. The girls were in awe of their treat! I also made a set of 4 Nutcracker ballet-themed cupcakes which were presented as a gift to Evan's ballet instructor : Ms. Alice.

Finally, another mini celebration during CG with a set of 6 Mr Men/Little Miss cupcakes! Evan is posing with Mr Birthday in the pic above. My dear boy shared his birthday wish with us... that he wishes to do everything well.... which reminds me of this verse from the bible i.e. Colossians 3:23: Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men

My prayer for him is that he will grow up knowing, loving and serving God with all his heart.

Double Celebration

Celebrated my birthday and Mother's Day yesterday! Awoke to a surprise birthday card and artwork done by my 2 kids. Had lunch at Publika's Eat (Chinese non-halal foodcourt) and then went to the Little Red Market. It's a bazaar showcasing handmade items. Hubby took the kids to MPH while I had my dose of retail therapy! Purchased a batik sling bag by Anakijo, les macarons by Crumbs, Apple logo cushion covers by Adrene Sews and a fluffy bath towel accented with owl fabric on it by Sugarfloss. Gosh *evil laugh* first time buying stuff ALL for MYSELF.

For dinner we went to TGIF, Gardens Mall. Kids eat free with each main course ordered. Received a Mother's Day gift from them as well, plus 2 desserts on the house on the occasion of my birthday. After dinner, went to Boost Juice to claim my free birthday drink! Have to show Boost card and IC as proof. Then went to L'Occitane to claim my RM20 birthday voucher which I used to purchase trial/travel size skincare trio set. Finally, went to Topshop to claim my 20% off entire purchase discount voucher. Unfortunately, nothing interesting to buy so have yet to spend on any apparel. 

As for my birthday cake, my CG members surprised me with an opera cake - flavoured with Earl Grey tea! We celebrated on a Friday (2 days earlier). I also received lots of text messages, phonecalls and FB messages from friends and family. Feel truly blessed!

Enter the Dragon

CNY came and went in a flash! Was so busy baking and planning our family trip to Singapore that I only managed to decorate - at the last minute. Last year we were so busy moving into our new place that we didn't have time to decorate.

The photo above is one of three Flower Ball Lanterns that I made - absolutely beautiful and easy. Thanks to one of my CG members who gave me a huge stack of gorgeously beautiful ang pows from OCBC bank. The ang pows were just the right size for the lantern! The longish ones or the square ones can't be used - I tried and I got an oddly shaped lantern instead of a nice round shape. Anyway, here's the link to watch the YouTube video on how to make your very own flower ball lantern. 

Bought some decorations from Jaya Jusco and Metrojaya - both departmental stores were having discounts 30% - 40% for the CNY decor. The centre court of Mid Valley Megamall has quite a number of booths selling decorations too. Bought a few Chinese knot art tassels there. 

We spent Chinese New Year eve in KL. The very next day, we drove down south to my hometown and then back to KL after a 3D/2N stay. Both the kids received a record-breaking collection in ang pow money! Most of it  is set aside for their education fund, another portion went into the church offering bag while another portion was spent on holiday in Singapore. Will blog about our trip soon. Stay tuned!

Hope it's not too late to wish everyone a happy Chinese New Year! Ending this post with pics of CNY cupcakes:

Angry Birds Lantern Parade

Angry Birds are everywhere! Even on lanterns for the Mid-Autumn Festival this year. I found these sturdy paper lanterns at a stationery shop in PJ Old Town. It has an internal glowing light which changes color from red to blue once it's switched on. No irritating melodies like some of the battery-operated plastic lanterns available in the market. Price was RM6.50 each. Comes with a retractable plastic stick with hook.

We had a short lantern parade in the vicinity of our condo.  No other children were out with their lanterns at all but there were adults swimming and exercising at the gym. 

Hubby and I had lanterns too - the traditional candle lit ones!

Birthday Celebration at STSDS

Another birthday celebration - this time at the dance studio. Toiled on this mini  cake for half a day..... from baking the cake (lemon & poppyseed  cake with lemon glaze) and then covering the cake and cakeboard with fondant and then modelling Evan's favourite Angry Bird and an evil Pig ready to devour those eggs! The ballet class ended 10 minutes earlier to allow enough time for the birthday celebration.

 Evan - trying to split but not flexible enough. 

We didn't serve the mini cake cos aaargh! it was too cute to eat! So 'sayang' to put  a sharp knife through the cake. Anyway, I brought ready-cut slices of the cake and served those instead. The entire mini cake was presented to Evan's ballet teacher : Ms Alice Yap who very generously presented Evan with his birthday present : a pair of black ballet shoes - which he wore during the class!

Marissa also joined in the eating - she was pretty excited too even though it was not her birthday! Evan distributed the party packs and shook hands with his friends. Glad I made the last-minute effort to prepare the cake and all cos Evan told me that he enjoyed the celebration very much.

Joint Birthday Celebration

Today's Evan's 6th birthday! He had a joint birthday celebration with Abigail in kindergarten today. Abigail also celebrates her 6th birthday on 18th August!

I baked some mini cupcakes frosted with white chocolate buttercream. In the photo it looks lemony yellow cos I colored the icing.

Evan distributed the party packs to his friends and finally exchanged party packs with Abigail. Each party pack contains a Lego coloring sheet, dust-free eraser, choc wafer and a Lego sticker.

Marissa enjoyed feeding herself an entire slice of the Hello Kitty cake! Evan gladly walloped her mini cupcake. I baked extra cupcakes for the After School Program children as well. The party ended within half an hour. Most of the kids could finish both cakes and some even polished off whatever was packed in their snack box from home.