Louisa turns 5

No wonder everyone always says that children grow up very quickly. Before you know it, your baby becomes a toddler, then a child who becomes a teenager and very soon an adult. I remember the first time we had a party for Louisa in UK, it was when she turned 3. I thought to myself, Lavigne will be celebrating her 3rd birthday soon. How time flies! I know this phrase keeps popping in my posts but I can't help it. When I was much younger, I always wished time to pass by quicker but now, I find myself willing the time to pass slower.

It had been a rollercoaster ride with Louisa for the past 3 years or so since coming to UK. I struggled with her temper tantrums and rudeness. It seemed like she never got out of her 'terrible two' phase. She had the 'terrible two', 'terrifying three' and 'fearful four'. I wondered what will come next. Fortunately, to my great relief, she seems to be on the mend. She still has her temper tantrums and can be rude at times but I think she's behaving better on the whole.

Louisa, today as you turn 5, mummy has a few wishes for you. I wish that you'll be cheerful and happy always. I much prefer your smiley face rather than a sulky one. You'll be starting year one in a week and I hope you'll have a fun year ahead and gain a wealth of knowledge. Both mummy and daddy love you loads and please stay healthy always. Happy 5th birthday!

Party on Sunday, 26th August.

As predicted in the forecast, we had very good weather that day. Unlike last year, all preparation were done by 10.30am. Our party was at 2pm so I thought we did good this year. Adrian went to the uni to collect the key to the room but was told that it had been picked up by another person earlier on. He couldn't contact that person (his friend who booked the room) and we all started to panic. We had to get to the venue early to put up the decoration, lay the food and cake, hide the flowers for the treasure hunt and deep fry food at the pantry.

Luckily, we managed to get hold of the key not too long after. More hiccups followed. First we were told we could only access the room from 1pm. But we thought we could try and see if we could go in and started bringing things over. Adrian put up signs along the way in the uni with a friend while Daniel, his gf, Hoon Wei and I went to the function room. We didn't manage to open the room from the carpark downstairs and Hoon Wei went in by another entrance. I heaved a big sigh of relief and we started with the decoration. Then we found out the key didn't let us access the pantry. Hoon Wei then went to the reception and ask for help. They opened the room for us but told us we couldn't cook in there. Oh no! There were plenty of food to deep fry and we'd be in big trouble if we didn't start frying soon. Time was running out. It was almost 1 and we had planned to start cooking at 12.30pm. I left instructions for Daniel and his gf to decorate the place and went home to pick up the the rest of the food as well as my girls and their grands. Being overly excited, they ran to the car and Lavigne fell over, grazing both her arms and knees. What a day right?!

As I drove to the uni, I saw one of the guests' mummy was in front of me. I was beginning to panic big time! When I got back to the room, Adrian told me we could fry the food in a kitchen in the next building. Hoon Wei and I then got cracking. The deep fryer took ages to heat up the oil so Hoon Wei asked me to go back to the party since it's almost 2pm. When I went back, several guests had arrived and only then did I start laying out the cake.

The really bad thing about this party was the games. As I was busy with the cake, they'd started with the games. I didn't know why the guests weren't keen to play the games. The first being 'Musical Statue'. Were they feeling uncomfortable amongst us Chinese? Many of them were just sitting on the chairs sucking their fingers. While displaying the cake, I could hear the adults trying hard to get the girls to participate in the game. But I couldn't do much until I was done with my job. Once that was finished, I tried to gather the girls to join in the games. Perhaps they are more familiar with me hence more joined in. In my head, I was trying hard to think what other games could grap their interest. Then I got them to play treasure hunt outside. They loved it! We prepared prizes for the different games. But guess what? The moment they received their prizes, they ripped off the wrapping paper and would tell me 'I don't like/want this.' My mother-in-law was in-charge of the prizes and she had to show them the whole bag for them to choose. I didn't have this problem last year. A year makes a whole lot of difference to the children.

Other games which we played were Hula Dance, balloon relay and limbo rock. I admit I had neglected with the planning of games this year. The girls had more fun playing with the balloons and bursting them with the umbrella picks after food. I was so relieved the party was coming to an end when it was cake cutting session. The girls were very excited when they could choose which cupcake to bring home. It saved me the hassle to cut the cake. Some took more than one and I had leftovers for the guests' siblings. I felt numb after the last guest had left.