Russell is exhausted from all that partying

Boxing Day - we had lunch at Paradise Seafood at The Singapore Flyer. He's been exhausted from our daily Christmas parties that he fell asleep while having lunch. The picture's shaking quite a bit cos I couldn't stop laughing while filming him! Ha ha ha!

It's been a busy Christmas

New BMX for Renee and Russell. Courtesy of my SIL and BIL.

The kids fooling around at our family Christmas dinner at Swissotel Cafe Swiss!

Renee asked me to whip out the camera while we took the underpass to Orchard Central. Wow! 313 @ Somerset is crowded!!

Christmas 2009

We started the season's celebrations on 19th December, celebrating Uncle Christopher's birthday at Jumbo. I left the house with 2 presents (one for Emma and one for Elizabeth) and we came back with 8 presents for the kids. How'd that happen? On 20th December, we headed to Auntie YY's parent's house for a Christmas gathering. More eating, more presents. The kids had so much fun!

By Christmas Day, Renee was itching to open up all the presents.

She waited patiently for Russell to wake up and in 10 minutes, everything was out of their wrappers.....

Thankfully, Eugene was happy with his new Garmin GPS! I went to Sim Lim on Monday by myself! My dad drove me there and waited at Queen Street while I rushed in and out to get it!

The Angels are working overtime

For some weeks now, the glass coffee table came out of storage at my in-laws. It just looked so unsafe to me and the kids liked to lean or put their weight on it. I just had this vision it would snap into two and the jagged edges would slice up the kids.

Yesterday, the two rascals were doing their usual lunging off the sofa, performing on it and Renee decided to jump onto the coffee table. Thankfully she fell backwards onto the sofa and not onto the table as it had shattered right after her jump. I shudder to think what would have happened if she had fallen into the pile of broken glass. Russell was underneath the table when it happened and he was also really blessed to have escaped with only minor scratches. After that we asked her why she did it and she said her brother asked her to do it. *shake head*

Right forearm

Left kneeLeft palm
Russell in the evening, still as cheeky as ever

Just the day before Renee was playing with the plug - a live one. And her brother was looking on intently. She pulled the telephone wires till they were all exposed. MIL was cooking and FIL was in the washroom. Of course she kena whacked on the hand and she cried till she fell asleep.

These two ah, I just don't know what to say.....

Desaru Day Trip

Three weeks ago, we drove up to Desaru with the kids and some friends. To look for yummy LOBSTERS! It has been 12 years since I last went to Penggarang and the place looks like it hasn't changed! It was raining on the way there and we had to take the small roads so it took forever to reach the Desaru Fruit Farm - our first stop.

Not everyone was that interested in finding out about jambu, dragon fruit, bananas and pomelos - Renee complained about walking on the soggy ground, Russell wanted to be carried. The kids were more fascinated by the little farm, also inside the fruit farm, where the roosters and rabbits roamed free. There were also ostriches, turkeys, owls, a crocodile, goats and monkeys that were thankfully caged up!

Everyone was more looking forward to the lobsters! A short drive away, we finally reached our dinner destination!

Lobsters with superior broth and wolfberries!

Chicken with salad (cream)

Salted egg with crab

Curry paste lobsters

The extent of our feast - that's not counting the table to the left, more more more food!

The guys....waiting for their Ramli burgers.....yes, that's right, 8 plates of lobsters, 2 plates of crabs, 2 plates of fried rice is not enough, we just need to eat our Ramli before we head home....

Verdict: totally worth the leh-cheh car ride, will try to organise another trip up.

It was a great long weekend!

Yup, it was Hari Raya Haji on Friday making it a wonderful long weekend for us. The kids enjoyed themselves silly knowing they got so much time with us. I really do not know how they did it with little or no naps for the three days.

Friday - both took less than half hour naps on the way to see Auntie Mel and her new baby. Hopefully Baby X has a name now! He's super cute by the way!

Baby X

After that we headed to Leng Kee to test out the Volvo S80. That's Mr Seow's itchy backside for you. Home we went where Mummy me tried making beef stew with Japanese rice. Yum! Unfortunately Eugene doesn't eat beef and the kids are not used to it. They only had the potatoes and carrots.

Saturday - after swimming we went to Old Town for lunch. Then Eugene left me at home with the kids while he went photo taking with his buddies (??? roll eyes???) for almost 6 hours. I nearly went crazy as I tried to iron the pile of clothes while they fought over their toys. Finally at almost 4pm, I decided enough was enough, give them milk as a last resort so that they would take a nap. After their milk, they were still wide awake. I nearly peng san! They went to the couch where both proceeded to lunge off each side of the sofa - for almost 2 hours!! Russell fell onto the floor (big surprise) twice but got up and continued. Both ignored my pleas to stop. By the time Eugene came home, it was almost 7pm so I thought at least we could have a peaceful dinner while they took their nap. Geez! Both still awake! After dinner at Hong Kong Street, we decided to have durians and coconut. The kids enjoyed the fresh coconut drink and Russell was swaying to the music. Damn funny lor! On the short walk back, Russell fell asleep. Hmm.....quickly bathed them and both were wide awake again. ARGH! Finally they fell asleep at 10 pm.

At Old Town, waiting for our Kopi, Ipoh Hor Fun, chicken rendang and nasi lemak.

Renee wanted me to take a photo of her. She's getting really tan with the once a week swimming lessons.

Sunday - breakfast with Uncle G, lunch and fight club at Auntie Janice's place and home we went so that Renee could take a nap. I kept telling her not to fall asleep till we got home because I was alone with them and there was no way I could carry both out of the car and back home. Along East Coast Road, Renee fell asleep. Wah lao.......so I mapped out the logistics in my mind. Put on Russell's shoes, let him walk to the lift and back home while I carried Renee, the two bags and lock the car. The 1 minute ride up the lift and Renee was awake. That made it a total of 7 minutes nap and she told me, "I took a nap already!" Boo Hoo for me man!!

Soaking in the Christmas atmosphere

....but not at Ochard Road. After a tiring Saturday, we decided to take it slow and headed to Tanglin Mall where it wasn't so crowded, compared to Ochard Road. I wanted to get some Christmas decorations and I thought Tanglin Mall would definitely have that. Came out of there with some good ones.....

They shouldn't have put the decoration so close to the road though, it was kinda stressful ensuring the kids didn't wander onto oncoming traffic....

Jellyfish 1 completed!

Renee on her 12th swimming lesson. After 12 weeks of screaming and laughing her way through her swimming lessons, Renee finally passes Jellyfish 1!

Renee with coach Josephine

It's a good month for birthdays!

Not only for Eugene and myself. A bunch of November babies! Thanks to Genevieve for arranging the wonderful gathering at District 10.

Rachel, Tse Wei, Bei Wei, myself, John, Sandra and Eugene!

Too many candles to count man!

BFFs

Big group huh? We created a big din I tell you!

After a really good lunch (yummy ribs, pizza, platters, fish and chips) and dessert (yummy black forest and choco banana), some of us headed to Boon and Rachel's house where the girls did some online shopping (Victoria's Secret anyone??) and I got to play some mahjong. Thanks to all the aunties and uncles for helping watch the kids while I zoned out for a bit. We finally ended the day around 11pm. both kids had less than an hour's nap cos they were having so much fun!

Happy birthday to Eugene!

I was quite surpised when Renee sang, "Happy Birthday to my Daddy" - so personal. I'm so proud of her! I sure as hell didn't teach her!! Haha, that girl!

Eugene's present - Casio G-Shock. It must be his 13th of 14th G-Shock, the rest are either spoilt or has water inside:(

With the gang at Jumbo NSRCC.

Kayla, Kieran and Renee - they probably don't remember each other since the Lows moved to Syndey over a year ago, but they clicked when they got together! Kids, they just surprise us!

High from chocolate cake, Renee and Russell are still awake at 12 am! Geez!

Random entries

Had a gathering at my old classmate's house last Saturday. There were only 3 families there but the whole house seemed to be so full! And he lives in a HUGE apartment. Reason? The number of kids seem to be catching up with the number of adults! 7 adults, 5 kids and one more on the way. Ever tried taking a picture of 5 kids? At least two will be looking in some other direction! argh! Impossible!!

We went out to Carrefour yesterday and bought ourselves a $10.90 Christmas tree. Super value for money man! And I can just chuck it out after Christmas, don't have to feel so sayang or try to find some space to store it for another 12 months!

It is our first tree since Eugene and I got married and I just felt it was nice to get into the Christmas mood. Need to dig out all the decorations though, our tree still looks too GREEN!

Renee was really excited and pulled out all her existing toys to put under the tree as "presents". Hmm....if only we could recycle them for this year! hahaha! Russell was sleeping......he's been having these wierd nap timings, sleeping late in the evening till 9 pm, sheesh! Damn chia lat cos then I will have to stay up late till he sleeps.......yawn!

Renee's figured out the child-locks on the fridge and she has no problem with the safety gate at the stair case. Means she is not a child anymore yah?

Our day off

Mummy and Papa were on leave on Monday. We had to go back to SATA for our health screening results. Thankfully my cholesterol has become normal but Eugene has high cholesterol now. He has to control his egg, seafood, fried food intake. Duh, I could have told him that! Basically everything that tastes nice, he has to avoid! ha ha.....

We just took it easy and I told Eugene I wanted to visit Daiso. Wow! Visual overload and everything at $2 - even he couldn't believe it. We brought Renee along as she made a big fuss and cried when we were heading out the door. Bo pian lor......Russell is the more poor thing one, he wanted to follow but he was overpowered by nai nai who carried him away when we left their house. Brought Renee to my office as she always remember drinking out of our water cooler. She asks me regularly to bring her to my office. So she was so excited when we surprised her with a visit. So excited she peed on our floor - our carpeted floor....hmmm......and I didn't have extra pants. Decision, go with damp pants to Vivocity or head back to get a change in clothes? Damp pants lor......it was already coming to 5 pm......after Daiso, we headed to Mustafa.....another visual overload....SO MANY things! Got a headache by the end of the day!

Anyway, bought stocking stuffers for Christmas from Daiso and a bunch of groceries from Mustafa. Renee was just happy to be brought that she went without food and milk for more than 7 hours....oh well....diet a bit is ok lah....hahaha

To Malacca we go - again!

Yes, this time, we brought Russell along. Mummy me went to get him a passport. It's so funny because Renee's passport photo was taken when she was a baby and now she doesn't look like the picture anymore!

We were supposed to meet at 8 pm at Raffles Marina but upon getting into our car on the way to get the kids, Eugene said there was a "wierd" sound from the car. To me, everything was normal, we stopped but couldn't find anything wrong. When we reached my in-laws, Eugene spotted the little screw on the left front tire. We headed to Ubi to look for a car workshop that was open - bear in mind it was already 8pm! By the time we patched the hole and headed out of the car workshop, it was 9 pm. We agreed to meet the rest across the causeway and off we went. By the time we reached Malacca, it was almost 2 am. Here's Renee, she was wide awake by then! Took a while for the kids to settle down and fall asleep at 3 am.

Anyway, it was really fun going in 5 cars - 14 adults, 4 kids, with the aunties and uncles helping take care of the kids. 14 adults to 4 kids is really a good ratio, if you ask me! Thankfully the kids sat in their car seats for the journey.

Renee with Emma!

We waited almost and hour and a half for the dinner to be served at the Portugese Settlement. A hawker-like place. Food was ok, thankfully the uncles and aunties helped keep the kids entertained. And thanks to Auntie Pei Chi for helping ensure Renee got to eat her food.....:)

Sunday, checking out of Condo D'Savoy. Heading to lunch....

at our fav Teo Soon Loong Teochew restaurant for yummy hokkien orh mee, steamed pomfret, ginger spring onion frogs legs, bitter gourd with pork (that was awesome) etc and orh ni....

then to a durian store for YUMMY lew lian (on the right is cheeky Auntie Pei Chi who took all the photos)

Russell enjoying his lew lian...which ended up all over his body (in the form of durian molten lava) when we reached customs later in the evening.....:(

The kids goofing around....before we headed back to Singapore.

We had a bit of a problem at the last toll booth, it proved to us we are so lucky to be staying in Singapore.

Verdict: GREAT TIME, GREAT HOLIDAY WITH GREAT COMPANY!