34 (photos uploaded)

So I'm another year older today. Adrian sprang a 'surprise' party on me and it was held at Syl's house in London. It has to be one of the best birthday ever. Apparently from what I gathered, he had planned it for weeks. The 'cohorts' were Daniel (my bro-in-law), Daniel Chew (a close Uni friend whom I'd not seen for almost 2 yrs) and his lovely partner, Rita, Val and her family and last but not least, Syl (but of course, it's her place) and her very hospitable hubby, Dennis, not forgetting 'princess Danielle'. I leave you with just a family photo and will blog more when I get the chance. I'm now going to bed with a distended stomach (too much good food). The diet shall start tomorrow. There's always a tomorrow, isn't it?

Update: Monday 28th April

Ops! Syl sent me the photos amid packing for her trip to NY tomorrow. So I'd better post the photos and blog about my special day.

The surprise party marked the end of a (in Adrian's words) 'trilogy celebration'. I wasn't even sure if I should be celebrating the occasion at all since my grandma had just passed away. So, I actually felt a little bad about it. OK, it wasn't any big fanfare but still, we celebrated, 3 times over. It all started on Friday, Lavigne's first full day at school. With free time to spare, Adrian and I decided to go out and 'pak tor'. It felt strange but we needed that and it was good. We had buffet lunch (forgettable Asian food) and went shopping. No kids to keep an eye on, no toilet breaks......we browsed the shops leisurely.

The girls' bentos

An old friend of mine, Emily, had wanted to celebrate my birthday with me. Adrian suggested we drop by their place yesterday to meet up. So after attending a birthday party (Lavigne's friend), we went over to Emily and Gerald's. They took us to a Thai restuarant near to where they live and treated us to a sumptuous dinner. Oh the food was simply wonderful! Good company and good food makes a lovely evening.

So! THE day. Adrian had in fact told me he'd planned to bring me SOMEWHERE about 2 weeks ago. I hadn't the faintest idea where he was going to bring me. But I did get excited over it. Unfortunately with the passing of my grandma, I hesitated and repeatedly asked him if we should go ahead with his plan, whatever it was. He reassured me it was. Yesterday, he took out the London map and said he needed to study the route. Ahhh...right....London.....who lives in London? Sylvia, Valerie, my brother-in-law. OK....hmmmm. I smelt a rat. I got more and more excited (yes, yes, like a 6 yr old).

This morning, I asked Adrian what time we needed to set off. He said he had booked a table for 1pm and we had to leave at 12noon. He was so sweet, he let me have a lie-in, settled the girls' breakfast and guess what (?!), when I went downstairs, he made me a cup of tea and a slice of toast. I was really touched. The girls gave me a card and hugs and kisses. We then prepared for our day out and I thought out of respect, I put on a black dress. But Adrian asked me to change out of it and I wore a very festive coloured one instead. He explained to me that my grandma had lived to a grand old age and the funeral was over so it wasn't necessary.

I was really looking forward to 'lunch'. To be honest, I had a feeling Syl and Val's families would be involved and most definitely my BIL simply because Adrian wouldn't suggest driving to London otherwise. Since I'm always the one behind the wheel, he would have to be the map-reader. He didn't tell me our final destination (of course he couldn't). He just told me we would be passing by Kingston, which I know the way. Once we passed that town and got onto A3, I became more and more suspicious. Yes, I know I should just go with the flow but I didn't. The moment I saw the road sign with a certain town on it, I knew where we were heading (I've never been to Syl's house before though). So I told Adrian, 'We're going to Sylvia's house, aren't we?' which he then casually told me 'that town is so big, we could be going anywhere'. So I thought they were going to surprise me at a restuarant. We were caught in a congestion and I could see he was sending messages on his mobile phone. That, I act blur. But once we turned into a street, I immediately recognised the street name. Without a shadow of doubt, I knew for sure where we were heading. Final destination - my dear friend, Syl's house.

They left the door opened so we just went in. We were promptly greeted by Danielle (Syl's daughter) and I could see streamers. Adrian directed me into the lounge. Lo and behold! I saw the faces I'd expected to see and cameras flashed. Did they shout 'SURPRISE!'? Dennis (Syl's hub) passed me a cake (compliment of Val) while they sang the birthday song (how come 15 candles huh?). There were banners and balloons and even though it wasn't a surprise-surprise, I was overjoyed, beyond what words could explain. Oh there were two people I didn't expect to see though - Daniel C. and his partner. I was really, honestly pleased and delighted with what everyone had done. Of course, it wouldn't have happened if not for Adrian. I couldn't believe he had been secretly contacting my friends and planning the surprise. I can't thank him enough. To say I was touched by him making breakfast for me earlier, I don't know what word to use to describe how I felt then.

We proceeded to have steamboat (my favourite!) in the kitchen. I can have it everyday and not get sick of it. There were so much food - wantons, meatballs made by Syl, shabu-shabu meat, fishballs, famous Four Seasons' roast duck bought by my BIL and lots and lots of enoki mushroom. Seriously, there was a mountain of it, all because they knew I love it. Syl also made something sinfully good. Spam in 'ma-la' soup. Oh it was so spicy but luckily the weather was cool, perfect for steamboat. The little ones had pizza, nuggets, sausage rolls and mixed veg. Lavigne, whose nap in the car was cut short, then suddenly greeted by so many people, became clingy. But after some food and thanks to some chocs and crisps, she warmed up to her old self and soon joined the rest who had adjourned to the lounge to watch Toy Story 2. So we adults enjoyed our steaming pot of goodies in between chatting with one another.

This post is getting way too long, I know. But it was a long day. After way too much food, we proceeded to the front room to have a proper 'cake cutting ceremony'. So they sang the song again and I blew out another candle. What's a party without posing for pictures right?

So we had more food. Cakes this time round. First it was the chocolate ganache torte which was quickly followed by Daniel C's homemade tiramisu. I'm surprised he still makes it after so many years. We all learnt it from my Italian housemate years ago. Oooh! Presents! The ladies gave me the presents and I opened them on the spot. What can I say? They know what I like. Dear Val gave me a pretty Cath Kidston wallet and (oh no!) another bar of chocolate! Dear me! I'd stopped myself from eating more. Syl-oh-Syl gave me 3 parcels in all. I was asked to open them in a certain order. The first was a box filled with yet another Cath Kidston bag (same print as the wallet, did you ladies agree beforehand?), a set of craft materials and a few things from a place I had told her about late Thursday night. This lady went to the branch at Covent Garden the next day to buy them for me. How sweet is that? You could see from my reaction in the photo. She had captured it so well. I received more craft materials from her and beautiful, beautiful ribbons. Oh, I can't wait to use them.

While the children played and watched telly, we 4 ladies sat in the kitchen and yakked over cups of tea - from celebrity gossips to pregnancy and parenting to life in general in UK. The young ones had their moments like not sharing the toys and bickering but they were easy to distract and soon all was well. The men even entertained them with a 'bear hunt'. Soon it was time to leave. The children had school to attend the next morning and it's the beginning of work week. At past 8pm, I have to say the kids did well. It must be the sugar from the chocolates that did the trick!

Seriously, I had a fabulous time! I'm touched by first of all, Adrian's effort to give me a surprise party and everyone else who helped make it a success. On our way home, Adrian told me he had checked with his grandmother regarding the celebration - if we could have it and whether decorations were appropriate. To think that he even thought of that. Thank you, everyone, for making my birthday such a memorable and special one!

You can also read about it here.

Update: Saturday 3rd May

Almost finished with this post on Monday night when I got interrupted and I had been occupied with a new project since then. Hence the delay. :p We spent a day at London today so am too tired to post the pictures. I thought I'd better finish writing first before my memory fails me.

Rest in peace

My elderly paternal grandma passed away early this morning. She was 91. When I heard the news from my sister, I thought I should go back to attend the funeral. If I do so, I will take Lavigne with me since Louisa has to be in school and Adrian will be able to look after her. The thing to consider then is the cost. I will need to fork out about £1k which is alot of money. Adrian had offered to look after both girls while I go myself. Even then, the airfare will be £500+. I know money is not everything but let's put it this way, it could be used in better ways, taking into account our family situation now. Some people said that my grandma's gone so even if I am there at the funeral, she won't know. So ultimately, it is how I feel about it. Do I feel the need to be there? Will I regret it if I don't? That, I agree totally. It's all about how I feel. I felt I have to be there. After speaking to my parents and a couple of other people, I have reached a decision. I am not going. If money is no issue here, I will not hesitate much. But it is. I will say a prayer for my grandma instead.

Thanks, Adrian, for being so thoughtful and considerate.

Back to school

The girls are back at school after having a 2 weeks holiday. It had been a good break for all of us and I was quite amazed by how fast it went. It helped when there were lots to do and places to go to. All the playdates helped. We didn't just stay home and get bored with one another. I even went out on a girly date with Syl and Val sans the kids (that reminds me, I've not written about that, yet)! We all agree it was so liberating.

So while the girls were at school this morning, I did the tidying, folding and ironing clothes, without any interruptions. While it was nice to have them at home with no routine to follow, I also enjoy the peace and quiet to do my chores during term time. Starting this week, Lavigne will be at school from 9am to 3.30pm on every Fridays. She will finally get to eat packed lunches at school. I hope her table manners will improve after that.

Something interesting

This is so cool! I remember visiting this store in Belgium where the products are cheap and nice. Wait for a few sec before action starts.

One week, three times

I can't believe it! Val, Syl and I met up 3 times this past week! First was last Wednesday when I took the girls to London. Then on Saturday (which I've yet to blog about), we went to Val's place where we had lunch and then we 3 ladies left our kiddies behind for their daddies to look after while we went out to jalan. Today, my dear friends came to mine and we had a picnic at Windsor Great Park. I'm now extremely sleepy and will go to bed once I switch off my computer. Yes, me, going to bed before 10pm. A rarity indeed! Will blog more another day. Thanks, V&S, for making our half-term a fun-filled one.

So! The day we'd been praying for good weather came and went. We woke up to good weather and thought to ourselves, 'Yippee!' (weather forecast had been 'heavy showers' the previous night but changed to 'sunny intervals' this morning) I went to pick Syl and Danielle up from the train station at noon (we like to meet at noon, don't we? :p) and the sky turned more gloomy as the hours passed. We told ourselves we would have an indoor picnic should it rain. Louisa had suggested the day before that we should buy a tent so that we could still have a picnic if it rained. LOL! Our girls played while I prepared the food (potato croquettes and grilled chicken pieces) and chatted with Syl. Unfortunately, much to my embarrasment and horror, Lavigne was not on her best behaviour today. She didn't want to share her toys and even pushed Danielle. Even before her friend came, she had been unkind to Louisa the whole morning. I guess it was because she woke up earlier than usual (6.45am). I prepared toasties for the kiddies to munch and Syl helped me make some star-shaped jam sandwiches. The little ones were eager to help. Clever Syl told them they could only do so after they had finished their lunch. You guessed it. No one left any food on their plates.

Val and Luke arrived close to 3pm due to traffic congestion. We promptly got the children into the car and right before we were about to set off, Syl announced that she felt some droplets. I suggested we carry on with our plan since the park is nearby and it might just be passing rain. I brought them to another entrance (Savill Garden) which I'd never been before. I thought we could get shelter at the cafe if it rains. The plan had been to bring them to the Valley Gardens but I wasn't sure how far we had to walk.

The Valley Gardens

There weren't many people around, certainly no one was having a picnic in that weather. But we weren't deterred. The area near to the Savill buiding is quite woody so we walked further towards the Valley Gardens. When we realised that it was quite far away and the kids were getting tired from the walking, we decided to pick a spot to lay our mats and food. Val brought her homebaked pandan cake, yummy fishcakes, crisps and juice. Syl made delicious potato salad and tuna dip. I prepared vegetable sticks for the dip and brought along jelly for the children. We ended up with lots of grapes because we didn't inform one another we were going to bring that. Hahah! Even though we enjoyed the food and company, we didn't manage to stay as long had we had planned. Firstly, it got pretty cold. Our hands were starting to freeze. Then it started to drizzle so we hurriedly packed up and left. But it stopped soon after.

Along the way, Lavigne refused to walk, saying she's too tired and wanted to be carried. I was carrying a heavy haversack and another bag of food so I couldn't do so. I don't know how I managed to get her to walk back to the building (so nice and warm) where we all went to relieve ourselves (must be the cold). After a quick browse at the shop, we went back to our cars and return to my home. I promised Syl to cut Danielle's hair so I made a quick pasta bake. But they had to leave 20mins later after I finished cooking so Syl suggested I cut it another time. (So sorry!)

Val and Luke stayed for dinner while Syl went back to London with her girl. I had a good chat with Val and was glad to see Luke playing very happily. Soon, everyone was getting tired (especially Lavigne). Val left only after she had kindly helped me wash the dishes (haiya! You shouldn't have done so lah!). We're now planning a camping trip for next month and will have another gathering at Syl's. Oh and the weather forecast for tomorrow? Sunny day! Humph!

A dream come true

This morning, Louisa made a tomato seed packet. She showed it to me and asked me to bring her to the garden centre to buy some tomato seeds. She explained to me that the night before, she had dreamt about growing tomato. Since the weather was so good, I took the girls to Long Acres. It is too late to grow the plant from seed so I suggested getting a small pot of tomato plant which she can grow from. There were so many varieties and we couldn't decide which to get. I read several labels before settling on one which is supposed to be easy to grow. When Lavigne saw that Louisa had selected a pot, she said she wanted one too. So I chose a cherry tomato variety for her. Since the grow bag can fit 3 plants, I chose one for myself too.

As it's now Spring, there were many pots of pretty flowers on sale. Seeing rows after rows of colourful blooms, Louisa decided she wanted a pot of flowers too. I love fuschias and since they are relatively easy to grow, I brought them to choose a pot for themselves. There was one which is named 'Pink Ballet Girl' and Louisa said we should get that since they are ballerinas. So we picked one of that and another pink and purple combo. The violets were on offer (Buy one get one free). I couldn't resist the pretty purple and yellow flowers and bought them for myself (48 plants for £4.99). The girls then ran and explored the rest of the centre. Louisa particularly loved the playhouse which comes with a princely price tag in excess of £500! She asked me, 'Mummy, can we please buy this when we have money next time?' The girls had played in one at their friend's place. One favourite section of theirs was the waterfall fountains. They dipped their fingers into nearly all of them. We had such a lovely afternoon at the centre. I always do when I visit Long Acres.

*I did not in any way get my girls to pose the way they did.

When you least expect it

Compared to her sister, Lavigne doesn't seem to be very interested in writing. She has the shortest attention span. Whenever I sit her down to do some work, she will do for a little while and then gets distracted and wonders off.

Seeing that Louisa's writing table in the dinning room is not being used that often, I decided to bring it to her room. Since she likes to write and draw, this will be much better than using the picnic table. So I did some reshuffling with the furniture and with the new arrangement, both girls can sit facing each other.

Guess what I saw after dinner? Lavigne was practicing her writing at the table without me asking her.

The more surprising thing was she finished writing the whole book in one seating and she was very proud of herself and showed all of us her writing. The same goes to writing her name. Louisa could write her own name at a very young age. But no matter how we tried to teach Lavigne to write hers, she wasn't interested at all. Then one fine day, she started spelling her own name and writing it out! I guess she's like her momma. We don't like to be forced to do things.

*London pictures are up!

Too Cute!

Would you bear to eat such a wonderful piece of art? I think I'll just stare at it for ages. These people are so talented!

I am sooooooo doomed!

I've been craving for chocolates lately and had been eating it like never before. I won't be worrying so much if I'd been exercising. Trouble is - not! In case you're thinking along the line of pitter patter of little feet, sorry to disappoint you.

Stay or return?

We have to make a decision soon. Adrian is nearing the end of his research and the next step to take will be to pack up and return back to Singapore or stay here for another few more years. Right from the beginning, we had always been open to the idea of staying. We felt the quality of family life is better here, especially for the girls. Of course, there is the downside of our extended families missing their childhood years, us not being there for our parents and the girls not studying Chinese as a a subject even though we can send them to a Chinese school to learn it. I had always felt guilty (not sure if this is the word to use) about leaving my parents behind and going abroad to live my own life. Afterall, they had spent most of their lives bringing me up. I know some people will say I shouldn't think it this way since I have a family of my own now and furthermore, even if I am in Singapore, I won't see them everyday. The problem is Louisa and Lavigne are the only grandchildren to both sides of our families even though there are 7 children between the two families. So are we then depriving the grandparents from spending time with their only grandchildren and seeing them grow up? Are we being unfilial? There are just so many factors and people to consider. If we think for ourselves, we are being selfish. If we think for others, we are not living a life we want. Truly a dilemma. I'd love to hear your views.

To London, to London.....

......to catch up with friends. Tea we had, park we went, wonderful day (to the tune of 'To market')!

Met up with Syl and her dearie and Val and her very 'yen-dao' boy today. Not only was I very proud of my girls who behaved very well, I was proud of myself too. Why? All because I brought them to London myself and without a stroller. I wouldn't have dreamt about bringing the girls on a day trip to London without one before. But after much thoughts, I'd rather not lug it along and carry it up and down the many stairs at the tube stations, in and out of buses and push it through the crowds on the streets. I had prep-talked Lavigne days before that Danielle and Luke (same age as her) don't sit in one. This morning, she told me she didn't want me to bring the stroller along.

My bag was filled with a story book for each of them (they chose it themselves), notebooks for them to doodle, a pack of snap cards and of course the essential 'emergency kit' - snacks! As always, they were very excited about the train ride which took about 40 minutes. The ride there was rather uneventful, which was good! Upon reaching London Waterloo, Louisa asked, 'Do we have to go to the toilet now?' I asked why. She said because we're at the loo, London Waterloo. Haha! I'd never thought of that before. Kids!

I was still worried about Lavigne, whether she'd start to act up and complain about being tired and wanting to be carried. Anyhow, we proceeded to Picadilly Circus to shop at Japan Centre. We met Syl and Danielle there and walked around abit before Syl brought the girls downstairs to look at some children books. It was my first visit to the store and I'd wanted to go there mainly because of Daiso which was located within the shop. Actually, it was more like a few shelves of Daiso products and I was quite disappointed with the range of products they have, or rather the lack of it. In the end, I bought only foodstuff.

After Japan Centre, we walked about a little searching for Paperchase. I needed to return a notebook I'd bought last Saturday as I found something better (this is what I like about shopping here, buy-first-change-mind-return). I remembered wrongly that there's a branch in Picadilly, asked several people who didn't know about the store at all. So we gave up and bought the girls some food to eat on the bus to Kensington where we were to meet Val and Luke at the tearoom, Muffin Man. I'd read about Syl's visits to several tearooms. Finally! I had the chance to join them. Syl ordered carrot cake (soft and nice) while I had coffee and walnut cake (a little dry to my liking but overall not bad). While us mummies chatted between sips of tea, the little ones drew (Syl, thanks for bringing a whole set of colour pencils) and played 'I spy'. We left the tearoom before the kiddies became too restless. We can talk and talk but there's only that much they could draw :p.

So we proceeded to the nearby Holland Park. I just realised that the park has several lovely gardens which, sadly, we didn't venture to.

We couldn't believe how nice the weather was. Everyone was out in force and when we passed by Green Park earlier, I saw that the lawn was covered with many people.

Our kids played at the playground while we sat and (what else) did more catching up.

Once again, we lamented about us not living close to one another. Nonetheless, we shall by going to Val's place on Saturday and the ladies are coming over to mine next week (let us have nice weather please, we want to have a picnic). We are not perturbed by the distance. No, no!

I had planned to leave London at 4.50pm before the office crowd started building up. I didn't realise it was so late when Adrian rang me at 4.30pm. In the end, I decided to go home later. After the park, we walked to Whole Foods Market - a very posh supermarket (Kensington, but of course!). The products that they carry are very interesting but inflated in price too. We had to stop our kids from touching this and that. There was this big wagon full of eggs and I asked Lavigne not to touch it. She was drinking water from her water bottle, looked at me and then touched the eggs. I nearly had a heart attack! The eggs moved but thank God none broke. There was this wide selection of chocolates and a sample plate. We nearly finished all by taking a piece each.

By the time we left the store, Lavigne was getting grouchy. She was tired and wanted to be carried. There was no way I could carry her when I had one big bag, another bag of shopping and I also had to hold Louisa's hand. So I told her if she walked to the bus-stop and when we reached Chinatown (to buy some Chinese buns), she'd get to pick a packet drink. She agreed. Phew! Val went home and Syl kindly accompanied me to Leicester Square. I thought Lavigne would fall asleep on the bus but she kept talking and only when we were going to reach our destination did her eyelids start to droop. I tried all means to keep her awake and then she perked up when she saw the gigantic lions at Trafalgar Square. We took some pictures and reached Chinatown (she moaned and protested along the way but I reminded her of her reward).

After buns, drinks and a highly recommended bottle of chilli oil were bought, we took the tube to London Waterloo to catch our train. After bidding our farewells to Syl and Danielle, we managed to catch a fast train home which was leaving in less than 10min. We were lucky to get seats and I was sure Lavigne would sleep this time. It must be the juice she drank (sugar rush), she talked alot again and the passengers around her were very amused with her. Adrian picked us up from the train station and she was still very alert (better than Duracell batteries) until we reached home. The girls had a quick wash and went to bed, falling asleep in no time.

I was exhausted but very pleased. I survived the trip. Lavigne wasn't carried at all. Louisa behaved like a big sister throughout. There wasn't any temper tantrums and we all enjoyed ourselves which was more important than anything else.