Jamie's 5th Party - A Very Busy Weekends (Part 1)

The busy weekends had began since Morning!! There will be a whole series of happy events going on till the end of Sunday! 

This morning, we celebrated Jamie's birthday in school. Then we will celebrate Jamie's great grandmother 大寿 on Saturday and Jamie's home party is on Sunday!

Hahaha,we call it 'home party' because we are celebrating with her out-of-school friends and cousins. But this year, it's the first time we stepping out of our comfort zone (ie. no indoor/sheltered birthday venues such as home, chalet and condo function room) and celebrating it at an outdoor venue at Port of the Lost Wonder (POWL)! You can read more about POWL from the previous post, where we did a reccee and trial run with the party timings/duration. 

I am both excited and nervous as this is also the first time I have less 'control' over the party venue since we didn't think the party package is worth it to book nor we can make reservation at the Port Belly restaurant, where we are holding her party. But I know problem solver, Laogong, will take good care of all the unforeseen circumstances and it will still be afterall a great happy birthday celebration! 

This year, good Baba even volunteer to choose his present for Jamie himself! Yes, I know most of you will wonder "Isn't Daddy suppose to do that anyway?" Well, the cynergy at my household or the type of parenting we advocate is very different from the conventional parents. Hence, to me it was a great initiative made by Laogong this year! He was so proud of the helium tank and balloons he bought from spotlight! Yes! He deserves a good pat on his shoulders! Good job baba! 

Helium tank from Spotlight

And we know Jamie will definitely love the useful and pretty gifts Baba chose for Jamie! Laogong even learnt how to make balloon sculptures via YouTube! OMG!! I am not shy to agree with Laogong this time that he is really good in doing anything and everything, if he bothers to put his heart to learning/doing new and existing skills. I wish I am as capable as him! I will catch up!!! 

Mermaid made by Baba

See the pretty mermaid he made! This is really the first time he learnt balloon sculpturing, somemore via YouTube!!! Good job Laogong!

Last few nights, Jamie had been busy helping with the goodie bags and writing her birthday invites. I can feel that she is a big girl this year because she has so much more initiatives when come to planning and preparing for her birthday parties. It's no longer something Mummy wants to do for her. It's also something she wants to do for her friends and cousins. I guess she has inherited Mummy's and Baba's event planning/coordinating skills. 

Busy writing her birthday invites

Putting stamps on each envelope

Packing Goodie Bags

After the busy preparation, today is finally Jamie's big day in school! 

Due to my work commitment, this is my first time participating in Jamie's new school's event. This is also my first time seeing the children in her new class. They are really so cute and mature ^^ 

Setting off with James to Jamie's school. See the handsome little boy... 

Jamie is so happy to see us arrived with her birthday cake and milo!!! 

Happy Birthday Girl with Handsome Didi 

See how eager Didi looks at the cake! Haha! Your turn is coming soon! 

Singing Birthday Song

When it's time to make a wish, Jamie took very long to decide what she wishes to wish for... And Heng ah, she wished for something that she will receive from Mummy and Godma on Sunday ^^ 

See Jamie's cute expressions as she pondered over her wishes...

Finally she made her wish and blow the candle!

All these while, Didi remained cool and calm... 

Cutting the hard-to-cut cake

Jamie insisted that she wants to cut the cake on her own because she is a big girl now. And yes, my little baby has grown into a big girl now! Well done Jamie! 

Victory sign! I did it! 

And yes, finally Didi gets his piece of cake! Hahaha...

Great Host Jamie started to walk around to take 'table photos' with her classmates. She is really clear about the SOPs for birthday parties! 

And of coz, Jamie has to take photos with her BFF, Stephanie! Two little sweet girls! 

Sweet little girls! No wonder Jamie knows how to pose so well these days! Haha!

Happy that my little girl has a great day today ^^ 

Though it was a simple cake and a simple celebration, I guess these days there is so much peer pressure that it is almost a MUST to do cake cutting in school. 

I used to book big and fanciful birthday cakes for Jamie previous birthday celebrations in her old school. But this year I am trying something simple. One reason is I realized that despite the cake big or small, simple or fanciful, the children are simply happy they get to celebrate with their friends. 

I know of very competitive Mummies who tried to "spoilt market" or "set the benchmark" very high when comes to school party cake or goodie bags for classmates. This indirectly will give stress to the other Mummies. 

But I also realized that these Mummies put a lot of effort into school parties mainly because it's also the only major birthday celebrations the children have every year. However, I slowly understand classmates are only part and parcel of one's life. It's like how Jamie adapted into the new school and slowly forgot about her old friends. These days when I saw Jamie's old friends, only some of them will still call me "Jamie's Mummy".

There are some classmates who will eventually become our life-long good friends. But most classmates will be just passer-bys in our lives. I believe only when we are mature enough to know what we want, then we will know which are the classmates you will wish to make an effort for, so that they become more than your classmates and remain as your BFFs for a long long time.

My Uni BFFs

We had been through thick and thin together. Arguments and Reconcilation too. I now believe arguments are tests to friendships. Only if we can sail through the arguments, then we can truly become life-long friends. 

It's really not an easy journey to this realization. Of coz there are colleagues who may become our close friends but as long as there is conflict of interest, we can only remain as colleagues. Sometimes the only way to become BFFs with colleagues, is to become ex colleagues! Hahaha.. 

My groups of ex colleagues cum BFFs

And now I am making effort to develop this group of ex colleagues into my BFFs!

Aiyoh.. Talk about Jamie's parties, can end up talking about myself! 

Haha, but what I am trying to say is.. I doubt Jamie at 5 years old, will know who she wants to be her life-long BFFs. Hence, I will wish to help her develop closer friendships with her 'outside friends' (friends who are my friends' children) and her cousins. 

Thus from now onwards, I will put in more effort in organising events for her 'outside friends' and cousins. 

So let's look forward to Saturday and Sunday, where Jamie gets to meet her cousins and 'outside friends'!!!!! 

Overnight Non-cook Rolled Oats (Banana-Chocolate)

Had heard my friend, Qiuling, mentioned a lot about her healthy recipes of overnight non-cooked rolled oats and salads.

Had wanted to start my own healthy recipes too. But had been 'lazy'... 

Finally I felt that I had enough of my 'laziness' and decided to put my thoughts into actions... 

I googled various yummy recipes and decided to adapt and come out with my own. 

I am starting off with something 'not so healthy' this round... 

Step 1: Lay out the ingredients you want to use. 

As I had been feasting too much lately during breakfast and lunch, I knew cutting off my carbo suddenly will drive me crazy. Hence I am starting with fruits with higher sugar content eg. Banana. Next time, I will use blue berry or strawberry instead.

I fell in love with non-fat and non-sugar yoghurt since my weight loss regime and would stick to it. Alternatively you can try Greek yoghurt too. 

I didn't have plain milk at home so I used the mini milo packet instead. U can also try using almond milk, soya milk or juices too if you are lactose detolerance. 

Oh yes, you need to get a glass bottle with either plastic or metal cap. I didn't have a plastic cap bottle so I recycled my salsa sauce glass bottle. The size of the bottle looks just nice (about 200-400ml),

I used whole rolled oats instead of steel cut oats coz I heard C said it's better. 

Step 2: Scoop your choice of rolled oats into the glass bottle. 

You decide how much you want to eat. But try to keep it to 1/3 of the bottle if you have lots of ingredients. I was too greedy and filled to half the bottle and ended up it's right to the brim now. However if you only have milo/Choco milk, rolled oats and yoghurt then you can have more oats. 

Step 3: Pour in the milo and yoghurt, then shake the bottle. 

You can decide not to shake the bottle too. See how pretty it looks if you don't shake it. 

Step 4: Mash half the banana and Cut half the banana. 

C taught me to create two different texture of banana. But you can either mash all up or just cut all up and stir evenly. 

You can also use other fruits like strawberries, blueberries, oranges etc. I even saw people using cut pumpkin too. Some put ieftover cheesecake, ice cream or cakes in too. 

Tomorrow morning (23 Oct) I will add in the sunflower seeds to complete the meal, you can also add in other types of nuts eg. Peanuts bits, pumpkin seeds, flax seeds, almond flakes or chia seeds. Chia seed is new favorite but very expensive, about $10 per packet. But heard it's very nutritious.

Post Note: 

Ended up I didn't added in sunflower seeds coz the oats turned out to be very rich in taste. 

Yummy yummy filling breakfast! Will try other flavours next round! 

Try to make one for yourself someday too! 

Jelly-Making Day with Jamie!

It's a rare mid week public holidays and we wanted to do something "special" together!

Hmmm.. I know she wants to make pancake or do pancakes together. However, we do not have an conventional oven nor any pancake ingredients.

Dug through the kitchen cabinets and found a packet of jelly powder.

Jamie was really excited and kept saying "Mummy, this is my first time making jelly together with you!"

She smiled happily as she assisted in the making..

Step 1: Pour in the Powder

Step 2: Pour in 1000-1250ml of water slowly and stir the mixture until powder is dissolved

Haha.. After this step Jamie ran off to "rest" and I completed the rest of the steps. 

Step 3: Boil the mixture at high flame until boil. Then boil for another 3min in low flame. Off the stove.

Step 4: Add in Malic Acid and stir evenly. 

Step 5: Pour the warm mixture into smaller containers. 

Step 6: Cool down mixture and put in fridge. Ready to eat in 3hrs time!

Happy Jamie and her Jelly!!! 

Jamie 5th Party - Countdown

Recently, I really don't feel like blogging. Somehow I feel what's the point of voicing out when no one really bothers to listen. I was really hurt and down...

But nevermind, the bad times are over!

The good time is here! 明天会更好！I believe I will gradually recover and to trust people again ^^

And now is the celebration seasons! It's just few weeks more to my princess, Jamie's birthday! 

My parties used to be planned at least two months ahead. But I am late AGAIN this year! But guess I am so used to doing things within tight schedules these days that I am not feeling as stressed. 

Like what Jamie always sings:

"Let it go.. Let it go..."

We have to let certain insignificant stuff go when planning important events. What's really important when planning events is to ensure your objective(s) are met. For birthday parties, the key objective is that the birthday girl/boy must be HAPPY! 

I used to be worried whether my adult guests would be happy or comfy too. Well, I slowly realized that anything/everything that makes children happy, sometimes simply inconvenient and or even upset adults. 

But I still believe there is a way to compromise somehow. One way is to be sincere and tell my friends (without kids or with too young kids) about my challenges and 1) hope they understand 2) excuse them for eventually deciding not to attend the party. 

Like one friend always says, those who want to come will come, no matter how inconvenient the venue/arrangement is. Those who don't want to come, won't come no matter how much compromises you make to please them... So true...

This year, we decided to try a different party concept. Over the last five years, we tried chalet twice, once at my bro's condo function room and once at my Punggol place. All were located in indoor pre-booked areas. It was easier to book catering and plan the programme. 

However, this year we will be having a 'free and easy' birthday celebration at Port of the Lost Wonder, Sentosa (POLW).

We were struggling with the option whether to book the party package (inclusive of a party tentage, simple deco, simple invitation cards and entry & food for 15 kids) OR to depend on our luck and walk-in to get space at the restaurant to do cake cutting and simple dinner/teabreak reception. 

We even did our reccee at the POLW before we confirm our decision. The only available party tentage (Party Cove) was not very impressive and we saw many adult guests left standing, though the party coordinator tried to provide more seats. But I think the party tentage was far to small to accommodate seats for 15 children and 15 pairs of parents. We saw a very bad review on this party tentage but we also saw it for ourselves too on last Saturday.

There is another party tentage which was big and able to take 20-30 kids and the adults too. But 1) it was booked for another birthday party on 9 Nov already, 2) it was quite far from the action (water play area.

Party Cove 

Celebration Island 

We compared it to the Port Belly restaurant which has a open but sheltered seating and an indoor air-con seating. The staff were not very friendly nor helpful and said we cannot make reservation in advance to use the place as there is only one restaurant in the whole of POLW. We were not upset because the party coordinator had told me the same piece of information prior to my reccee. But we thought they were really inflexible because we are willing to pay a deposit to make reservation. Well, rules are rules I guess? 

Picnic Area

We saw some picnic spots too where my guests can just sit around. But we are concerned of the insects and wet weather...

Too much uncertainty so dropped the idea of picnic...

Port Belly

Likely we will just have to walk-in earlier to chop the place for cake cutting and refreshments before or after the water play. Well, I haven't really sort this part out... From my experience on Saturday, not only the kids were shagged but we were shagged after two hours of water play! And seriously the weather was not even hot! 

So I am considering whether to do the cake cutting and tea reception before the water play starts, so 1) everyone looks good and fresh on the photos, 2) those who needs to leave earlier can leave earlier...since it will be a party on a Sunday afternoon. 

Sounds good eh? 

Hahaha.. Let this idea stays in my mind till the end of the weekend and see if I come up with better idea! 

See how happy my J&J were last Saturday!!! Hope they are even happier on 9 Nov!!! 

Happy Children!

Oh Yes! I must really compliment the ticketing staff!! They were so patient in explaining how advanced ticket booking works and even gave Mickey an adult's wristband! See how happy Jamie is! Finally someone else understand how she treats Mickey as a 'friend', not a toy! 

Happy Parents!!!

Yummy Food from Port Belly

Stay Tune for a Birthday Party Review after 9 Nov 2014

Birthday cake and Party theme 

Oh yes! How can we have a birthday party without a theme and birthday cake. 

Jamie had wanted a mermaid party but since there will be a significant number of boys at the party, I think these little boys will definitely be turned off with this theme. So I explained and convinced Jamie we should not choose an exclusive theme. Jamie was happy to have the Mermaid and Pirates theme instead.

We chose the cake and placed our order already too! This year the options are few but I was so happy Jamie found exactly wanted she wanted - Mermaid theme.

No, I am really excited to share the photo of the sample design of the cake but No, we will wait till her birthday then I take photos of the actual cake. Hehe...

Meantime will crack my head on the logistics and details 

Planes 2: You never know what's out there for you...

It's been a while since I last watched The Planes 2 but I still feel like sharing about this meaningful movie.

I always feel that the script writer of Cars and Planes had never meant the movies to be for children. The morals behind these two movies series are too chim for children to digest or cheer about, 

Even as an adult, it took me a while to digest the show. Honestly, it was not among the top list of my must watch movies initially. But I didn't regret watching it and I highly recommend everyone who is experiencing unhappiness at work or at a career crossroad to watch the movie. 

I was feeling unhappy over my previous job when I watched this movie. I was also feeling nervous about the job change too. I didn't know if I was too old to change a job and if I was just fighting a lost battle. 

After watching the movie, I felt inspired and assured that a change maybe after all the 'correct' step/route to take. And no one is ever too old for a new change or to take up a new responsibility. Dusty, the crop duster, worked so hard to be finally a world winner but he decided to give up his dream career to be a fire-fighter plane in order to save his town.  This shows that 牺牲小我完成大我 can turn out not only heroic but also a better career than you thought it is. 

The movie also tells that everyone has a past but we have to learn to let go of the baggage so that we can soar high and 'free'. This is easily said than done though. But if we don't try, we will never get a step closer to our destination. The leader of the fire-fighter planes was once a tv star until mishap happened to his co-star. But he learnt to let go and try out something new as an alternative career. It turns out he has ascended from a fake tv hero to a real fire-fighting hero.

The movie tells of the danger of forest fire and the 'excitement' of the uncertainty that lies ahead. Though we never know how bad the situation would be but as long as we take precautions, remain alert and work as a team, things will work out just find. Being in a new job for Dusty he felt left out and he sometimes tells himself that he had to do this job because he has no choice but eventually he became good friends with the other fire fighters and believes he can be one of them too. 

Being humble and selfless will bring people to you. Selfish people only think for themselves hence in time of danger, people fled from the selfish people. However, Dusty knew he was injured and he was unable to fly very high, but he did not tell his team mates about it and still push himself to the max limit. We thought he would die since his engine is out of production already. However, turned out there is a hidden gem among the fire fighter who could custom-made a new engine box for Dusty. When you give your all to others, others will give their all to you too. 

AND, we must always look out for the 卧虎藏龙 in the office.. People may stay low and humble but these gems have lots more to teach the newbies than the loud and proud ones. We don't need people to praise themselves so as to be taken noticed of; we can open our ears to hear who are the ones that others are singing praises of, to know who are the real gems. 

When Others fly out, Heros fly in.., 

Being in the social sector is never easy. As the world becomes more critical, complacent and demanding, sometimes we may get a bit discouraged. Sometimes we may wonder if it makes any sense at all. 

But this movie kicks me a bit and makes me understand that: 

Yes... Because we are the Heros, so we will definitely continue to plunge in and do our best for the society ^^ 

Zooooommmm........