Blessings from Above

I finally lost all the weight that i've gained since having 2 kids - lest you all think I've been on a diet... I did not! I eat more than the stipulated 3 meals a day PLUS decadent indulgences like this (though I do restrict myself NOT to finish the entire packet at one sitting)... and carrying my children and going for walks are the only exercises that I have time for... so how did I do it? LACTATE! Truly, bfing is the best way to lose weight! I lost abt 12kg so far (put on 7kg for this pregnancy) but alas, still far from the ' Heidi Klum league '! next target? pre-marriage weight!

C's daddy, i.e. this is the 3rd year that C is celebrating with her daddy - as for me, well - we've known each other since 1997 or so... so i can safely say, more than 10 times? hmm... next year this time, there will be four of us. :) we are not that into big celebrations - usually its just dinner together as a family (and another two with the extended families) and we haven't even had a cake in years (dh is not a big fan of cakes)! thanks to a dear friend though, we have a cake this year! :P so here's our feast for today - the in(famous) Sin Huat Crab Bee-Hoon (Lor 35 Geylang) with garlic prawns & some healthy vegg... yum yum! close up of garlic prawns dh's slice of mango cake (excuse C's messy hair - she just took her bath!) some may argue that it is different when you do takeaways - maybe its the lack of ambience (of a dirty coffeeshop or waiting hours to order/get your food) or not being ripped off (the ave. bill per head drops to S$50 or...

she loves the barney cake (actually she chose it) with her two cheeky cousins with my sis aka her godma family photo (incomplete) serving cake to her godma since Barney cannot be the main lead in the main party, I decided to order a small cake featuring him and his friends for our family celebration - my sis' two boys are in afternoon session so they all cannot join us on the actual day and thus a separate celebration. it was nothing fanciful, just a simple cake cutting and present opening session at my parents' place... (in case you are wondering, two 'men' are missing - my BIL has evening classes and dh was away for reservist training) anyway, i think kids enjoy their birthdays tremendously since they are in the limelight (okay, maybe not all kids - some are shy by nature and only like to be surrounded by familiar faces) - Claire is definitely one of them. :) she keeps chanting... birthday cake, happy birthday to me, open presents... etc.

what a busy weekend it was! we started off with JK's early birthday celebration on fri - a small, cozy home party which we feel honoured to be invited to! it was such a heartwarming sight when mummy L and daddy BK took photos with the 7 toddlers that were present - it almost felt like mummy L gave birth to all 7 of them! on sat, we attended Glady's big birthday part held " with a pinch of salt " - what a cute name for a cafe! dh and i passed by this cafe previously as we frequently visit the marine fish shop located in the vicinity for our supplies and we have always wanted to try it. mummy G and daddy E booked the whole place and we enjoyed an afternoon of good (junk) food - definitely a place to visit again! we ended off the weekend with yummy lunch @ one of our family's usual haunts - keppel club's chinese restuarant: peony jade with the in-laws and another small, cozy BBQ party at dinner time held in the bungalow at our club to celebrate Jesse...

how time flies... our li'l darling will turn 2 in less than 3 weeks' time! so what else can i be up to, other than planning her birthday party? we (actually, yours truly) decided to have a beach themed party this year - starting with a play session for the li'l ones at Frisk'n'Romp, cake cutting (since some of C's fren will be going home after that play session) and followed by a BBQ by the beach! i'm still in the midst of consolidating the guest rsvp list, personalizing the goody bags for C's frens, finalizing the cake design and confirming the food order so if you've been invited, pls rsvp the soonest (and NO GATECRASHING pls! - i will totally make you feel out of place and uninvited! :P) what do you think of these cupcakes?

our precious li'l baby turned 19 months old today and i invited all four gramps along with us to the Singapore Flyer. while we didn't get the cabin to ourselves, i'm glad that it was not packed to the brim so l'il one still had the space to roam around. after the 'top of the world' experience, we stopped to have lunch @ seafood paradise within the flyer bldg - the exquisite six course lunch costed S$88++ per pax (with the hsbc 1-for-1 promotion) & my fav. dish was the yummy lobster! as usual, i gobbled up the food and forgot to take photos! :P enjoy our photos...  

thanks to Aunty J & Aunty G, we had a fun-filled halloween (bbq) night with lots of yummy food & chit-chatting while the toddlers had their 1st experience of 'trick or treating'! each of us invited were supposed to bring/prepare some food/drink item, dress up our kid in a costume as well as bring a toy to entertain them & a healthy snack for the 'treats'. i spent a couple of hours scouring the malls for suitable snacks and finally selected these 3. Organix - Organic Noughts & Crosses, Laughing Cow - Cheese Snack & Marks & Spencer - Organic Milk Chocolate for the adults... i prepared chicken curry & fried beehoon (which was unfortunately too wet coz my helper didn't discard the water after soaking the beehoon) - no photos though, as we rushed out almost immediately after i finished cooking... coz i thought we *were* late! photos next... the toddlers warming up to each other & playing with the toys we prepared all th...

can't remember how many times we have already been to the zoo this year but today, i took the opportunity to bring our domestic helper along as she has never been there before (the only tourist spot she visited so far is sentosa) - we didn't take many photos though... just a couple for the kids. and as always, HE blessed us with good weather (it started drizzling only when we were in the cab on the way home). left the place disappointed (& hungry) coz the cafe was closed and i didn't get the chance to eat my usual chicken rice - the only venue selling food inside (other than kfc) only had 4 selections (nasi lemak, fried rice, vegetarian friend beehoon & meehoon) which did not appeal to my palate (nor pocket - each pathetic set was going for S$7.50) and we had to cab home since there was no one to hitch a ride from and it costed us S$20+. don't ask me why but li'l princess was exhausted from the trip and had to take a FOUR hour nap! at the entrance wai...

as i grow older, i feel a strong inclination to 'go back to my roots' - i am 'rediscovering' the origins of various festivals (i know the gist of them at the back of my head - just need to retrieve the details from my lousy data bank), 'celebrating' them and picking up various dialects (very often, i still can't get the correct enunciation though). it is also my intention to 'educate' li'l princess as much as possible about her roots. last year, i attempted to make glutinous rice dumplings after a long hiatus away from the kitchen (i cook frequently but making goodies is another story altogether) and this year, i (with the suggestion of my friend) decided on making snow skin mooncake. being the domestic goddess that i am :P, i've mostly been successful... haha... i'm glad that this year, we had the opportunity to invite our friends over to join us in our mooncake making session! my plan was to let our li'l ones have the opportu...

look what i found in li'l princess cereal this morning... 3 LIVE WORMS!!! she had already eaten more than half the bowl when i saw this... yikes! we're staying off that brand of cereal for now! side note : li'l princess' appetite received a tremendous boost around the same time - now she eats breakfast, tea, lunch, tea, dinner, supper! are the worms in her stomach still, eating up her nutrients?!?!

instead of 2 friends, 1 turned up (the other one couldn't get out of bed)... with 3 fresh yummy cooked spanner crabs and 0.5kg of fresh cooked prawns (bought from the local fisherman)... and that was our breakfast! its clear once again why i cannot be a food blogger - that's the only photo we managed to take coz we devoured the rest too quickly! the only photo we took during the day coz we spent the whole afternoon shopping after our yummy breakfast - our lil' princess looking bored coz mummy & daddy were too busy shopping to entertain her! our loot after 1 afternoon @ Harbour Town! and it was subway sandwich for supper!

with god's good grace, we enjoyed a beautiful afternoon out at pasir ris park with our friends - it was also claire's 1st picnic (its virtually impossible to get dh to go for picnics coz the weather here is just unbearable but i believe when we visit oz in july, we'll be able to enjoy many beautiful afternoons lazing at the many parks with the nice weather!) there were a total 9 mummies with 8 toddlers-in-tow... noti aunty leo decided to take her 'off' day and leave JK at home instead of bringing him along to join in the fun! we each brought along some food and drinks to share... enjoy the photos! my contribution - fried beehoon with leo's absolutely delicious & healthy sandwiches what's a picnic without junk food? Its such a nice day, Mummy! seated from the left: kieran, joanie, jordan, claire with clarisse look on in the background. claire seated with jordan boy jesse: what shd i do with this ball? malcolm: i'm go...