Pasir Ris Park Mangrove Boardwalk (2)

During the Deepavali break, we took a trip to the Pasir Ris Mangrove Boardwalk again. We were there 2 years ago when B was but a wee one.

We saw different animals this time round. 

A small monitor lizard tanning.

A crab peeking out of its hole.

An eel. 

Gar fish. 

Crabs climbing up to escape from the incoming tide.

A jellyfish! How unexpected.

Kingfisher.

Whimbrel.

Grey Heron. 

A slithering snake.

B walked the whole way and tried to look for things that we spotted and pointed out to him.

A row of crabs. 

Love it when they get along.

Mudskipper.

Swimming away.

I remember the last time K asked to feed the pony but chickened out in the end. Am very proud of her this time. She actually did it. B, however,  had to be "coaxed". But he did say it was fun but ticklish. They both declined the pony rides which Faith and Sarah both did.

We meet the Chens there and had lunch. The kids as usual had a wonderful screaming and giggly time with one another.

Gala Dinner 2012

It's fund raising again for the new church building. This year, P and I decided we would get babysitters so we could go without the kids. Mostly because the organizers and venue didn't really encourage / wasn't conducive for children.

Went shopping for a dress for the function as well as the many upcoming weddings for the remaining half of the year. We tried to take some pics of ourselves but didn't manage to get a nice one. This was the best we could manage.

This was me and dear K. Can you tell she is expecting? She is due in December! Can't wait!

This is our CG - Walking on Water. Pity the lighting was so lousy.It dawned on me during this dinner that our circle of friends and the people we now hang out with in church are completely different. If this was 10 years ago, we would have formed a worship team table. Although it's nice to know that we have grown in some ways, making new friends and journeying through with new people, I sort of miss the old ones - Mich, Earl, Kwan, Eugene, Eileen, Co & Mike, Cheem, Joey, Lorraine, Ben & Lynn, Kev & Amy, Keong. The ones I grew up with during those Frankel days. Those were the crazy but happy days, lots of learning and stretching but fulfilling.This is PE. Her family is new to the CG. I'm so glad they decided to join us. K and B now have two little friends (exactly the same age!) to play and grow up with. We have started spending time with this family and our children seem to get along fabulously. Too fabulously sometimes that they are positively wild!Meanwhile, what was happening with B & K while we were having a fabulous time listening to the aunty killer Earl sing and watching hilarious Kenneth lip-sync to the songs?B was deposited at my parents' place. Since he started school, he has been spending less time there. But he was ok. He asked for me a few times and only started to cry about 10pm. I think he was quite exhausted by then. So that was quite a huge step for him, being away from us for the whole night.Kim was with Cheem and family. It was Charis' birthday and they were having a small family celebration. They were very happy to have K over as the two girls do play together quite well. There was one other cousin who came and according to Tania, he asked to sit next to K. And so did the birthday girl. I guess it's nice to have a different face around. 

Here is K having her dinner. 

This was after the party. She was cleaned up and waiting to be picked up.

What a milestone for K. She was the most clingy toddler ever! She has come such a long way to become this independent. We are so so proud of her. She was also on her best behavior that night and greeted everyone very enthusiastically when they arrived. :) More playmates will definitely follow after this.

B turns 2

Our little baby has turned two.

A little chatterbox he is. He continues to surprise us with the vocabulary that he picks up from our daily conversations. But he still is unable to say his "S" (which he substitutes with a "th" or conveniently omits) nor his "R" which makes conversations with him so cute. 

wheeker (whiskers)

delithoth (delicious)

nino (rhino)

I love how he would come up unexpectedly and say, "I love you, mummy." 

I love how he remembers out of the blue something that we gave him and says, "Thank you mummy, buying it." 

I love that he wakes his sister up in the mornings and says, "Theh theh, want find mummy" and makes K open the doors for him. He would carry his pillows, his bolster and his seal over to our room with some difficulty and then when he sees me, he would say, "Not ee-thee, mummy."

I love how he is readily tickled by the silly things his sister does and he would laugh heartily. "Theh theh funny, mummy!" he would exclaim.  

He likes to growl his answers instead of saying it but when we request that he speaks nicely, he would in the sweetest voice possible.

He loves to pretend that he is a puppy and would go "Arf arf!" and somehow use his head voice to speak to me. It's funny to hear him speaking with a really high pitched voice. 

Any corner to him is a hiding place and his "tee house". He loves trains, fire engines, boats, cars and his guitar. When his video has a song, he would dash off to get his guitar and run back just to play with the song.

Spending time with him awake and asleep brings me so much joy. I love watching him pick up a book and pretend to read it. I love watching his sleep and admiring his long lashes. I love that when he wakes from his nap, he rolls onto me or puts his head on my tummy and continues sleeping. 

Or how he suddenly would sit up and ask, "Where papa?", "Where theh theh?" or "Where Chyna go?"

He has so many questions to ask all the time: What happened? Where go? What doing? Why?

I never thought I would enjoy having conversations with little people so much. :)

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Some pics of his 2nd birthday celebration.

Birthday Lunch @ Bukit

 Pasta

Oranges

Your only toy pressie.

The delicious chocolate cake which turned out really nice. All thanks to daddy for the idea. 

You were so pleased to be celebrating your birthday.

And so pleased that we sang happy birthday to you.

And you blew out the candles like we practiced the whole day before.

A kiss sandwich from all of us.

You did enjoy you cake though you liked the M&Ms more.

You are so tiny that you can fit under the table. Next year this time, you won't be able to anymore.

Very soon, you would be having whole conversations with us all and giving us accounts of your day in school and giving us a hundred reasons why you don't want to do something you were told to do. Slow down kiddo. Slow down and let us enjoy your innocence and sweetness for a little longer. 

Happy birthday, darling. It has been 2 fantastic years with you.

K turns 4

This year's theme is all about Peppa. K loves the character Peppa and her family. Here is the little girl opening her present while waiting for lunch with grandparents.

Peppa and her family figurines!

Papa and B watch on.

The cake. Also Peppa and her family but they look sunburnt.

Happy birthday K!

She is pleased with the cake. B can't wait to get his hands on the figures!

They huff and puff. B still eyeing the piggies.

Eating her cake. Oh, and here you see her Peppa top.

B smiling for the camera.

B giving big sister a birthday hug.

Birthday girl acting silly.

End of celebration #1.

Dinner that night at Urban Spoon, a newish place near our home. It serves really good food and plays very good music. K picked out her own dress which she calls "Bride / princess dress".

The two of them checking out the decor.

Cake from earlier.

K eating Peppa.

Laughing at Peppa without her snout, hand and ears.

B gets to eat George, Peppa's little brother.

He was not very pleased with how the earless and snoutless George looked.

End of celebration#2.

Celebration #3: School. This was the cake for her school celebration. Peppa with Teddy.

Her group: Red Apple.

With all her friends. All 31 of them! She was very uncomfortable about being in the limelight. I think she expected P and I to be next to her, not sitting by herself surrounded by her friends.

Her three teachers.

Serving her little friends cake.

Eating her own cake.

With her little friend with whom she has a love-hate relationship. She has known her for more than a year now and has always loved playing with her but also can't stop complaining about her.

The kids really loved the cake!

P was very impressed by this little friend. She was very polite.

Later that day we brought the kids swimming and she had some ice-cream as a treat.

On her birthday itself, we took her out. We went to the zoo. There were new exhibits. She loved the naked mole rats.

Tram ride.

Final cake. Agar agar.

Happy birthday sweetie. May you continue to grow in grace and compassion. May you love people and love the Lord. I pray that His blessings will be upon you all the days of your life.