Pre-Birthday Outing II - A Simple but Pleasant Surprise

Despite the unpleasant encounter earlier today, we were 'lucky' that Papa was able to bring us out to town, alittle earlier...  We had a simple dinner at SushiTei and with nothing in mind for my present, we headed home straight away...

After my shower, I had opened but closed the bathroom door instantly('cos I've forgotten something) and this act, must have misled Renee to think that I'm ready and out, because I heard her playing the happy birthday song with her violin! hahaha.

When I was out of the bathroom, a cake, lighted with candles was placed on a small table and Renee played the full song again, :).(needless to say, papa was video-ing the 'happening', hahaha).

Although Papa's gotten the wrong 'brand' of cake(I've told him I wanted 'eggless cake' from Emicakes this year, so our kids could share them!) and he's also gotten me a bottle of perfume which both Renee and I had commented 'hmmm, not nice huh?"(and it's costly!) when we passed its brand roadshow earlier, this simple gesture's(not forgetting the hugs and kisses from my girls) enough to create a smile in my heart... :).

The Gift - wrapped and unwrapped, :)

Found this envelope last night when I went in to check on Renee.  No wonder she'd asked

me for the envelope after I've removed its content.  Times like this reminds me that she's a good girl, who wouldn't waste or pester us to get her stuffs - a pack filled with different types of envelopes and letter notes were then placed on her bedside table... :)

 This is what's inside the envelope, :)

This is the new note she wants to replace the old one with,

when she found the nice ones I gave her :)

(but I insisted that I liked the 'original' one...) 

'My Melody'

'My Melody', a favourite of mine, is now also Renee's!

Close friend Vicky had bought this lunch box set for Renee's birthday earlier this year and we both(Renee and I of 'cos) wanted to 'safe-keep' it even though the former had kept urging us to use it, haha.

Earlier, I had teased Renee about letting meimei using it and she was rather reluctant but recently, she suddenly agrees readily and since she's requested for Japanese rice to be brought to school for snack, I decided to let her use it - the main container that is(without the carrier bag though, 'cos it's too big for her bag and she might lose it in sch, :D), and she's very happy, :).

No More Climbing

Finally, the gates are up today.

We've got this safety gate over the weekend actually but as papa didn't get the actual measurement prior, we had to wait til today, for him to find some time to get it changed to the correct size.

As he was fixing it just now, Rachel saw, pointed to it and "eh eh" in a questioning tone, then she started shaking her head, hahaha. She must have known that this gate's to prevent her from climbing the steps, hahaha.

An Early Father's Day

As Papa had to attend to some work(before his trip), we could only go out in the evening, so we decided to just go for our dinner.  We went back to the mall where we've brought our overseas guest for lunch yesterday and I decided to get a cake to mark the Father's Day celebration. In avoid letting him find out about the present, we put up an act to make him think that the cake was bought by Renee 'cos she's forgotten to get him a gift, hehehe.  Honestly, as cited in my earlier post(s), as her parents, it really doesn't matter to us, whether Renee buys us a gift or not, it's just that, I(hubby shared the same view too) feel that it is actually good to inculcate the idea of 'giving' in her, the earlier the better and hopefully, she'd share that with mei mei in the near future, :).

We ate the brownie cake this evening and thus, I told Renee that she could present her actual gift to papa as well if she liked and needless to say, Papa was touched... :)

I've wanted to put the 'Dad I love You' chocolate candy tag on e top corner but
Renee insisted that it should replace the 'Polar' tag. Y? She wanted to eat the chocolate!

 

Then, at the last minute, she did this card for Papa...

"Dear Papa. Thank you for sending me to Ying lao shi's house for my lessons and to

my Primary school.  Kindly, Renee Toh" - 'Kindly'? where she get that? hahaha

Lucky man, getting the kisses from his 2 beloved girls 

Never Too Late To Give a Gift ^_^

This being the last week for us to really enjoy the school holidays('cos papa's going away for the whole of next week, :<), I brought them out again, heeee(papa's complaining that Renee's gotta skip her practice becos of the outing, :<).

After our lunch at Breeks(again, 2nd time since the hols), we proceeded our little 'walk and look-see' escapade, detemined not to spend anymore $ today('cos we've already spent more than S$1K, just within the 1st 4 days of our sch hols outings!).  However, remembering that it's the Father's Day this Sunday and it's the day before Papa embarked on his week long trip, we thought it'd be nice to get him a little gift.

We shopped around Sephora and tried a couple of the men's fragrance before Renee decided to 'up' her budget - 'cos all the prices there are the regular prices, I  wonder what's the difference of buying from them compared to buying from the departmental stores where discount, gifts with purchase promotion would be more available...  In any case, their prices are all way over Renee's budget, I told her not to fret and took her to the individual shops at T.S.C.  Finally, she found one which she thinks papa would like at BodyShop and to maximise her gift package, she took the sales staff's suggestion to top up another S$7 and got the fragrance and shower gel set.

Then, I teased her that she's prejudiced, she's only got me an egg-tart for Mother's day but a S$50 budget for her papa.  At first, she didn't bother but later, she told me that she'd like to pay for part of the perfume that we both thought would be nice(and I almost bought it).  She told me to go get it but she could only afford part of its price.  So, to test her and since I like it myself, we went back to Sephora and got the parfume.  I reminded her that by getting us these gifts, she might end up with an empty coin bank and told her I won't tease her anymore should she decide to back-out of the 'deal'.  I told her I'm already happy and contented enough to know that she wants to get me a gift(she had wanted to get me something from the school's Mother's Day fair but... that's another story, hahaha), she doesn't need to feel obligated but she insisted.

Back home, afraid that I might not get the $ from her and as with previous occasions, she quickly want to count her coins after her shower, despite the pain at the butt from a fall in the shower, :(.  I was still in the shower when I heard her saying "Mummy, I only have 95dollars, and my coin bank is already empty...".  When I came out, I told her that she could keep her money but she said "when I said I want to pay for the presents means I want to pay".  Well, so be it, I took her coins, in any case, they'd go back to her, without her actually knowing it, :) -  Actually, it's good this way too, we should upkeep with the 'training', :).

Our gifts :-
Mummy's

Papa's

Flowergirl Dress 'Exchanged'

At Compass Point last evening, I spotted the same design of dresses at KP and realised that they do have one of size 5, in the colour that we've bought!  When the staff at MS branch called them to check on the stock availability, they had told us that they do not have it in this size, haiz...  Then, I saw that the dress also came in(with) pink colour flowers(!)  and although only size 6 is available(no size 5, again...), I quickly got them to reserve a piece and told them the situation.

Finally, before we head down to my mum's today, we detoured over to Compass Point again, for me to do an exchange of the dress... :

What's left now is a pair of matching shoes...

Another FlowerGirl Dress

A last minute arrangement and we met up with Karen and her younger girl at MS.  It's been awhile and with such a short meet up, we hope to do another when they're back from their trip.

With our playdate leaving early, we took the opportunity to shop further, hahaha but this time, it's for her swimsuit(need something thicker to keep her warmer) and remembering the tops I've seen at Mothercare the other day, I got Renee these :

Then, after our dinner, we went back to KP 'cos I've forgotten to ask them to check the availability of the dresses at another branch and ended up buying the one and only piece left on the spot, lolz.  What made Renee really happy was - Papa, for no reason, picked up a high heeled sandals and told her that it's pretty nice and she took the opportunity to bug him to buy for her!  After some 'negotiations', she got her wish... :

The Flowergirl Dress

The pair of heeled sandals she bugged her Papa for... 

Although we were unable to find a suitable pair of shoes to go with the dress, we thought we should get the pair of stockings first...

The KeyBoard Pad?

This is what our ex-neighbour gave Renee on the day we moved out of D'Chateau and I've kept it from her(not wanting her to be distracted with the want to play with it constantly) til last weekend.  Perhaps I should have let her dabble with it earlier, who knows it might help her with her music theory, even alittle?...

We Love To Shop!

We've been going out everyday since Tuesday and today, unable to resist yet another outing, I took them to Marina Square and whilst jiejie's playing at the playground, Rachel and I roamed around the shops, :).

Saw this and thinking that since jie jie will be dolled up at their cousin, Lyn's wedding, mei mei should be too!  So, I got her this, heeee, although I'm not sure if she'd keep it on, :)

Then, remembering what I've promised Renee, I got her these :

Bought this pair of shoes for Rae over the earlier wkend

A New Baby Bag

Been looking for a new baby bag but, so far, all that I've seen were either too big or 'ugly', so I decided to take a look at alternative, normal bags with lots and useful compartments.  Finally found one today, although not in the print that I really wanted, but it'd do for now... :

'Handy' Work

Had wanted to do this for Renee long time ago but only finally got down to it this morning.  However, the clay had dried up pre-maturedly whilst we were still mixing/stirring it and we ended up with only half a pack left of the moulding powder(3 packets provided in the package) and we decided to give that minimal lot of it a try and this is what we ended up with, hahaha :

Renee and Rachel's handprints!
can't really see, esp. from the pic :D and we've yet to decorate it up...

The process...

Mummy's Handiworks - HairClips

Remembering that Renee had clipped up her fringe instead of using the hairbands on some days, I told myself that I must get her some nice clips but as they've got to be in the colour of black or dark blue, it's hard to find her nice ones.

Unable to find nice suitable ones online, I decided to try and make her some myself and these are what I've come up with, using a little of time last night(after they've gone to bed) and this morning before we rushed out to the party :

The smaller polka dots clips are for Rachel... :)

I even managed to capture a nice of picture of them, gazing lovingly at each other, with the clips, :)

A Bouncing Ride

Now that we have cleared our home of all the older walkers and/or riders, I unwrapped this gift(1 of her 1st birthday gifts) today for Rachel's fun.  She was super excited when she saw me unwrapping it but managed to contain herself and waited patiently whilst her papa was fixing it up, hahaha.

Then, when she sat and bounced on it, the sound it produced scared her and she refused to sit on it again(the sounds were rather fun to me but I guess she's just afraid).  But..., shortly after I've switched the sound off, I saw her went to it, climbed onto it and started bouncing away, hahaha

The 'GST' Lot

Squeezing some time before Renee's makeup violin lesson today, hubby dropped me at the Post Office(Paya Lebar) to collect my detained parcel which was only released to me after I've paid the GST.

Well, paid un-necessary cost but learnt a good lesson.

A New BB Carrier

Finally, we've got one of our own!

Thanks to my gf, Karen, we got to try out hers(Ergo) for a good few months and proved its convenience that we decided to get a new one.  Hopefully the new one will provide me with an even better support so that I can carry her out for a little while longer and/or when she grows older and 'bigger'(naturally rite?).

The 2nd generation of this Boba carrier cost only S$149.90/S$159.90 and we thought since it's only an additional of S$30/S$40, we might as well get the latest version and we got one, in a simple colour combination of black and light grey('cos most of these carriers don't come in nice colours/prints) in its 3rd generation version.

Next - trying out time!

The Birthday Dress

The dress, a  pink long CheongSam(cotton silk?), was bought by her aunts Eileen and Li from HK, with the intention for her to wear during her 1st birthday celebration.  However, we've thought it to be too big for her and thus we chose the Gap piece instead.

When I took it out again after the week after the celebration, I decided to let her try it on physically and found that it actually fit quite ok, aiyah!  Then I wanted to let her wear it on her actual birthday but since there would be more people to appreciate the 'showcasing' of the dress, I changed my mind and put it on for her today, ;)

*will upload a pic of her wearing it 'cos all the pics we took today were in 'vertical' position and can't be rotated to be viewed 'properly' online...

Rachel's 1!

Rachel's 1 officially today!

We have scheduled her for her immunisation this morning and because we need to rush back with lunch for jie jie, we only got this set of bibs for her('cos I've been aiming at another set the other actually but found these 2 sweeter, heee):

Back home, a lunch of mee-sua, minus the egg, was quickly prepared/cooked(by moi of 'cos) for Rachel as her 1 year old birthday meal.  Traditionally, I think this should be taken on the lunar birthday? But as we do not follow this practice, I've not done it on that day, :).

Glitter Pens II

I've been thinking the whole of last night, til 2am, on whether I should avoid disrupting Renee's routine and go get her the set of glitter pens in the morning and give it to her as a surprise Or, should I bring her along.  A co-incidental chat at FB and my SIL arranged to meet us up.  With this meet up, I could go buy the pens and Renee gets her lunch out!

However, Renee had came home very happy that her friends had found her work the best and now I wondered, perhaps I shouldn't have bothered about the pens...

She was of 'cos, delighted that we are lunching out('cos we don't normally go out during school days, unless it's for dinner and groceries thereafter), but was unhappy when the meet-up was short.  Although the meetup split 'cos her cousin needed to go to her ballet lesson, but I've told her prior, that we won't be staying out late 'cos she has her homework too.  She knew but as usual, forget about it when she's hving fun. 

We got a lift from my SIL and upon reaching home, she sulked and this time round, I took the cane.  I told her that I have to punish her now(whilst my temper is still under control) or she'd get a severe one later.  I'm not sure if she will remember this 'teaching', I really hope she does 'cos I'm almost depleted of energy already...

This was supposed to be a 'nice' day, for her and even for myself but... haiz.

Rachel's 1st Birthday Cake

As requested by those whom did not make it to her birthday celebration, here's a pic of the cake, :D :

Rachel's 1st Birthday!

Yes, Rachel's turning 1!

Time really flies and today, for the convenience of those whom are working, we are celebrating Rachel's 1st birthday, in advance.

With the help of my sisters, we finally got the clubhouse decorated with balloons and banners on time, but the buffet had arrived earlier than expected/indicated.  Good thing the food still tasted ok(in my opinion) by the time the last batch of guests arrived.

As with most parties where different groups of guests were invited, some were 'neglected' somehow after the first hellos, we don't like it but I guess we have no choice...We hope they'd all had their tummies filled, :).

Based on the experience from Renee's 1st birthday celebration, most guests did not wait for the cake cutting and thus, we had not expected that the guests today would be.  However, seeing that they might be waiting for it afterall, and not to keep them waiting any further, I woke Rachel up from her sleep(she must be sooo tired 'cos she'd fell asleep on aunty Elsie's arms!) for the 'ceremony', hahaha.

With a smaller group invited this time round, Rachel's gifts hadn't been as much as Renee's but they're still more than enough to keep her occupied for a long long while, and we thank everyone for their lovely gifts, angpaos, vouchers(some even arrived in the mail!),  and MOST importantly, for their presssence in the celebration of her 1st birthday, here's a big "THANK YOU" to all of you!(extras to those whom had helped-out, in any/every way) :)

 Goodie bags

haiz, inexperienced with giving out party packs at 'home party'(usually it's 'party packs at school'),
so didn't prepare alot 'cos hadn't anticipated alot of kids.
experience gained from this celebration

Preparation/Decoration in progress... 

Renee playing with her friends whilst our 'ex-neighhours' looked-on, :D 

When the girls hovered around sleeping Rachel,

 Elsie said it was like a 'baby exhibition', hahaha(all e girls had crowded ard her b4 e pic was taken)

Baby Rachel, with all her gifts!

Even Renee has her gifts(from thoughtful aunty Karen)

(from our ex-neighbours of D'Chateau, who adore her, haha)