hat I have taken on my mobile, I realised how my kids have grown. 
It has been a stressful weeks for me. 2 trainings falling on the same month disrupted all my initial plans. The daily
family routine was messed up, I have to travel more often to/fro office and off site, working long hours continuously for consecutive 2 weeks.... etc. Well, I can't complain much now... COZ IT's OVER!!! Haha.... Didn't wish to dig it out as it will require efforts to think back the unhappiness occurrence for the past weeks. Anyway, as the title of this clip says... it's about Easter outing. The Easter outing wasn't planned properly. I felt a little guilty especially when the kids are so excited on Thursday night, asking me repeatedly what they will be doin
g the next day. Especially Ashley who knew it was a holiday, and she kept throwing ideas to Cieran, what they could do. From zoo, to wild wild wet to Ikea playground... the 2 little ones (or rather just Ashley) had non-stopped ideas. Cieran was a 'follower' getting excited over Ashley's fantastic id
eas. Haha! Well, actually I did give a thought in the afternoon and planned to buy some mini chocolate eggs, hot cross buns and have a educational discussion with them about what is Easter Day and why eggs, hot cross buns etc. I have printed and edited a clippings found in the Internet on Easter Day and planned to share with the kids. A pity that this didn't work out as I was upset over something, it slipped my mind in getting the purchases and I had left the clippings in the office. After putting the children to bed (which is a challenge, since they are so excited over next 
day's program), I gave a seriously thought what we could do on a Easter holiday. Still wanting to rope them into the festival (though I am not Christian), I decided that the children could do eggs painting. Glad that there are still eggs in the fridge (though not with white shells) but that will do the job. The morning was great with bright sunshine. Ashley was up early since she is all ready for a fund day. Immediately she asked where will we be doing for the day. Cieran love my idea of painting eggs and the 2 kids jumped with joy when I threw the idea to them. Instead of having eggs painting at home by the car pouch area, I decided to bring them outdoor by the sea since the weather looked great. The next hour was spent being busy at the kitchen. Rushing the kids to clean up and dressed up, boiling the eggs, cooking some snacks for breakfast to bring along, packing extra clothing and getting the paints and brushes...etc. T
his mummy was definitely working hard for a fun morning for the kids! (sigh! what to do? Daddy is always not around to help) Thanks to having a car to drive which was really handy, especially when I have so many stuffs to bring along. But, getting parking was expected to be tough on a holiday. Though we were not late (around 9am) arriving at East Coast, the parking along MacDonald and the next 2 car parks were already full. Well, I need to be near ro facilities, especially now that Cieran is on diaperless... near to toilet is a must! Waited a while in vain, I drove up further and finally got a 
lot. Not too near to shops where I can easily buy drinks, but a good one where there's a nearby toilet. Hehe! We found a table under a big tree that provides shade. Soon, we were settled down. Ashley was eager to paint, but I insisted that they should took their breakfast before any painting. Both children took some hot dogs and steam man tau. Not long, I laid the paints and brought out the eggs. Both children shouted with joy...haha! I enjoyed watching them get dirty with paints on their hands. As usual, mummy took photos while the children were at work. :-p Each of them got to 2 eggs to paint, while mummy got 1
. Told them that we could have eggs hunting game when the paints dries up. The children shouted 'YEAH!'. After washing up, we went for a short walk by the beach. Cieran had been a real good boy. He is under toilet training, and this is the first time I had him outdoor diaperless. He had not wet his pants at all and has been telling me when he needs to go toilet. Three thumbs up for Cieran! The children didn't have enough with painting. After the walk, they continue their art & craft with colouring. Lucky I have made preparations! Ashley choose to put on colours on her pottery fish while Cieran got colouring book. He choose a fish picture as well. We stayed till noon when the weather starts to get hot. Our next stop will be Kallang MacDonald. Not that East Coast doesn't 
have one, but coz it will be very crowded...so I decided to bring them to Kallang branch instead. I ordered a happy meal for the children to share (coz we are all not hungry) and Ashley wished for the toy. On our way home, little Cieran slept in the car. Ashley was tired too... thus the 3 of us took a nap together! :-) We hadn't forgotten about the treasure hunt. When the kids woke up... they reminded me! I had fun hiding the eggs in the house and they had fun searching for them. 
bout it, and the day (27Feb) finally comes. A list of food items was collected by Val earlier and I am sure all will have their food wish layed on the table...haha! As usual, I am the last to arrive. Not too late, merely about 5mins past 6.30pm. Immediately I set off to prepare the yu sheng I brought over. When it was 
ready, the mummies decided that the children should eat 1st before we messed up the table, so I left it aside and placed the salmon in the fridge for later use. Val's fridge was a 'classic'! She had so many magnets displayed all over on the exterior, and guess what? She had lots inside the interior as well! 
haha..!!! Nonetheless, there is a spot for salmon. The ladies are kinda-of busy inside the kitchen, while the 2 men (Laurence and Jeremy) and the children are all at t
he living 'entertaining' themselves. Well, the kids have the TV, toys... while the 2 daddies helped to keep an eye on them. Oh, there's Geneve's helper as well. After cooking and settling the kids, the adu
lts gathered once again by the table for Yu Sheng. Ashton and Janelle joined us in the 'lao'! Geneve commented that this is the 1st time she tasted pear in the yu sheng, whi
ch was nice. Yes, the pear makes the Yu Sheng not so dry, and add natural sweetness to it. ;-) Thanks to Mum's recipe. After the Yu Sheng, mummies finally settled down and enjoy the steamboat. A causal and homely dinner together.... really an enjoyable evening affair. I love the cocktail that Brandon mixed specially for his guests (though he is physically not able to join us...) The kids love the corns in the soup. Laurence captured a funny video. I titled it -'The Kid's Corn Battle' (Joey and Janelle stealing corn pulps from Kai Teng's bowl) It was extremely interesting to see how the kids interact with one another. Guess
who won the battle of the last corn-between Joey and Kai Teng?? The answer will be at the bottom of this page. Haha! After the hearty steamboat dinner, Val presented her desert for the evening... Whoooo... home-made carrot cake! She baked it on her own. We are all very full, but each took a small slice to try. I have to admit that I am not a carrot cake fan, I mean those western carrot cake... but this one was rather good. Just 1 short fall on my opinion, the icing is a little too sweet for me. it will be better w/o the icing sugar I think. But the rest of the gals enjoyed... so, it was my personal preference. Hehe! The night end with a performance by the children. It was a band concerto with 3 little dancers! Well, Kai Teng took a fancy on the trumpet and flute and he went marching in circles with the instruments. Ashton was dancing away with the music from the organ, while Janelle following his dancing steps. Joey on the other hand, also stood up and in her own dancing moves. It was really entertaining. What happened to my kids?? Ashley was the little devil that keeps the organ on/off with music while Cieran just sat on the little stool as if he is enjoying a band performance! How entertaining right? Oh! Cant missed out the youngest kid, Chloe. She is busying crawling and picking up the loose puzzles on the floor! Each child had 'something' to keep them busy, while the adults enjoy watching them. 
requesting all to dress up in traditional costume for the event. It was a sporting affair that majority did dressed up for the lunch, even the non-chinese. Mike had volunteered to be the camera m
an for the event and he happily offer to take photos for us, early in the morning when the few are in the office. Mike looks good in his brown traditional costume, do does Alan who purposely went Chinatown to get 
one. Though Chinese would avoid black colour due to auspicious reason, but Alan does look good with the China collar cut. The few of us (ladies of course) took one with the pantry auntie who looks after our floor. Before we left for lunch at 11.50am, we cant helped to take again another photo flashing our different colours of costume. Majority of the employees walk over to Grand Park... the 3 'lazy' ones (Joan, Benny & I) are the only ones taking a bus there. Haha! Well, it was actually Joan who is terribly afraid of the sun, and I am merely accompanying her... and Benny joins us. as we took the bus, we are the no. 1 to arrive at Grand Palace, meeting Mike & Alan at the lobby. They
are the 1st group who walked over. The lunch started of with Yu Sheng. We are amazed by the large red bowl of Yu Sheng when the waiter brings into the room. The bowl was with a nice, bright colour... with a subtiantial height! Definitely to match the long chopsticks displayed on the table for the 'lao'! The group was in great spirits as we all raised and did the 'lao yu sheng' together. Mentioning auspicious greetings was a must and we have that 'documented' with video and photos. A 9-course lunch awaits us after the yu sheng. First, the shark fins pumpkin soup... a rather unique combination. We all enjoyed this soup, except for Joan. Well, she tri
ed the 'vegetarian' version and commented it tasted blend... she was not convinced that the soup was not tasty is because of the 'version' she had....nonetheless, we all agreed totally that the soup was delicious. I had the pleasure that I have 2 small bowls of the soup. Hehe! Followed by are wasabi prawn, fish, spring chicken, vegetables, noodles and 2 deserts. I like to specially mention about the deserts. We have 1 cold desert and 1 hot desert. The cold one was interesting as it gave a refreshing taste. It was apricot in sweet syru
pp with sago, a combination of sweet and soury taste. This is the first time I try such desert. As for the hot desert, it's 'zing doi' known as sesame ball. I like this desert as the filing is not too sweet (coz it's not red bean filing). The biting sensation is good. The restaurant supervisor came to our table and specially highlighted that the sesame ball goes well after we tasted the apricot. This is the arrangements so that the cold desert will brings out the flavour of the sesame ball-not too sweet and will not provides a 'full' feeling after having it. I totally agree with her. The lunch does end very well with the sesame ball. We all have a hearty meal! Before a walk back to the office, we took our last pic by the restaurant entrance...as the girls cant get over with the beautiful decorations. Haha! Cheeze!!!
It was not my intention to have a big celebration. But since Jeremy is keen to held a buffet and celebrate at h
ome, I'll let him be. It was a harsh harsh arrangements. N
ot a big group of guests, just the family members and Jeremy's buddies (with kids). We clebrated the birthday on 5 Dec (Sat) instead of actual day, thinking that if it's on a Sunday, we will be tired after the cleaning job when the event ends. Sat, the kids can also stay a bit longer. Ashley is in happy mood knowing it's her birthday celebration. The children helped me to 'doll up' the house. The theme is "L
ittle Miss". I have earlier printed some L
ittle Miss characters for the decorations. Ashley's favourite is Little Miss Sunshine, so her cake is with this character. Cieran gets excited too.. and he too, wants to help out in the decorations. But instead of a help...haha! He made a mess. Crumpled the papers instead. Good that I have spares...haha. I have also arrange 
a small pinatas for the children to play. It is by concident that I saw this pinata (that suits the theme) from ebay and bought it at a rather cheap price. Ashley came with me to pick it up from the seller. The cost of this pinata comes includes goodies inside... allows me to save some $! If I buy from the party shop, easily it cost me $2
8 and above. Yet, I wont have a character that suits the the
me. It was a worthy buy, I personally feel... coz I bought it at only $18.
Find a place to hook this pinata was a challenge. Ideally, having it at the car pouch area is best position with the space for children to take turns hitting the pinata. Unfortunately it rained and it becom
es unsafe for the children. In the end, I hook the pinata inside the house...The children had great fun on the pinata...even little C
ieran laughs and laughs. A pity I dont have a pinata bat...haha! I use the kid's badminton racket. Opps! Nonetheless, I dont think the children will be bothered by the packets...they have lots of fun, especially whe
n the goodies pops out! Next, will be cake cutting. The children quickly crowd around the cake without me having to ask them come over. I suppose it's the picture on the cake that immediately draws their attention. Ashley got the privilege to place the candles herself. She has been waiting patiently to blow her candles. Little Cieran helped too.. besides daddy! Ashley also enjoys distributing the cake
to her guests. She seems to know that this is her 'task' being the host, and 
she is the last to have a bite on her piece of cake. Haha! Ashley had enjoyed herself very much, as well as Cieran. It's a wonderful day for me, when I see that my children enjoyed themselves. Their smiles warm my heart. :-) 
