Mommy's fun & crazy girls day out

Mommy had a special treat today with mommy's girlfriends - thanks to Aunty Serene who arranged for a photoshoot for us girls this morning!! We had so much fun the whole morning and afternoon, giggling away at our girls day out event, which turned out... rather cheesy but really fun as well!!

So there was mommy, Aunty Pauline, Aunty Rui, Aunty Christina and Aunty Serene.

We had two changes for the shoot... the people at the studio asked us whether we had any themes in mind and we said no, so they suggested the first shoot to be a casual shoot and the second more dressed up (turned out... really really dressed up)... anyway, first shoot, was us in big men's shirt, they wanted us not to wear anything beneath.. but we were too shy and conservative so we wore shorts inside.. =p

Before we get our professional photos, here are some sneak previews of the photos we took using my camera..

We started our make up at 11am..

..and soon were all ready for the first shoot..
so there we were in the studio, excited and goofing around..
and trying to pose as naturally as we can..

After probably an hour of shooting, it was over and we then had to change into our second outfit and have our hair and make up done again... Deciding the theme for the second shoot was much more difficult. We asked for Korean or Japanese street wear or a Korean pop group image.. and guess what one of the man there said? "Ohh.. can!!! Like sailormoon like that la!" and mommy and friends almost FAINTED. Mommy just went.. "Err... wo men yi jing san shi shui le.."" *faints* (No way we were going to wear sailormoon costumes we thought.. but trust me we ended up pretty close..read on).

Well, even after several rounds of trying to explain the style we wanted and showing them countless photos from magazines... we ended up with costumes. We almost wanted to just wear our own clothes but we were so uncoordinated, we thought heck, lets just wear these costumes.. and so we did!!! And it turned out to be quite fun actually, cos its definitely not outfits we would wear ever again!!!!

Enjoy the photos.. haha.

Second round of hair and costumes.. loved my make up! Can you figure out my costume already??

Ta-da!!!! Bunny gal!

And Aunty Pau in her costume.. not sure what costume that is!

And Aunty Serene as the maid!

Aunty Christina!!

And Aunty Rui in her red red dress!!

Scary movie.

And that's bunny mommy in action..

Hopefully the photos turn out nice!!

Lunch break!

What does 21 month old Wayne like to eat now? Rice!!!! With just a little soup. No more porridge for Wayne since a few months back. I guess as he is older, he likes to eat more solid food after having slimy cereal and then porridge for so long! After porridge, for quite a few weeks, he ate alot of pasta.. but now I think he is getting quite sick of pasta too and very much prefers rice.

So what was for lunch today? Wayne had rice with spinach, salmon, egg and enoki mushrooms.

Healthy and YUMMY!

Yummy CNY steamboat dinner

Isn't Chinese New Year all about eating?? Hooray!!!! Another round of eating with the family, this time round we gathered for a super yummy steamboat on Chu 11!!!

My fei-yi and my favourite breadstick.

Big hug for san-yi!!!

Wayne loving Muffin, with da-yi and Gabriel!
Hahahaha.. spot the little shortie right at the end?? When us four sisters stood in a row one by one to take a shot together, little Wayne quickly ran to the end of the row and stood there too, giggling away, so amused with himself for being a copycat and immitating us! Funny boy!!


Okie, enough of photo taking, our tummies were hungry!!! Da-yi starts to prepare the food...

The 2 steam boats.. mushrooms, abalone, clams... *drools*
More food.. vegetables, tofu, fishball, scallops, beef, enoki, fish...

The BIG pot of stock that grandma prepared since morning.. it was so sweet and absolutely yummy!

Family favourite!!! Prawns!!

Shabu shabu.. delicious thin slices of beef...

And we can start!!!

Wayne had his share too - rice with fishballs, tofu, cabbage, mushroom and fish.. feeding himself as he eats with the rest of the family

Viv and Ken all ready to attack the food!

Mommy & daddy savouring the food too!

A little sunshine & water does you good!

Mommy is a strong believer in kids needing to have lots of outdoor fun, and mommy is lucky to have xiao-yi around for all these fun activities! Swimming, cycling, blading, kite flying, hiking... mommy can rely on xiao-yi to be Wayne's play mate!

This Sunday afternoon, down Wayne went to the pool with his rubber duckie, pail, watering can & spade. Wayne was so happy playing with water! He even made a new friend at the pool.

Mommy wonders at what age kids start swimming lessons? 4 perhaps?

Oh, its time for a new swimsuit for Wayne... its getting REALLY tight.

You make mommy & Teacher Marge laugh!

Today's session at Shichida was filled with much laughter as Wayne amused mommy, Teacher Marge and the other mommies in class with his funny actions.

Funny moment #1 : Match the Shapes

Every kid was given 9 different cut-out shapes and were supposed to match the shapes according to the outline on a cardboard. After Wayne successfully matched all 9 shapes, he started shouting for Teacher Marge who was attending to another student. As Teacher Marge did not hear Wayne calling "eh eh eh" to her, Wayne persisted and called even louder, trying to get her attention, already to everyone's laughter. And when Teacher Marge finally heard him and came over, Wayne very proudly pointed to his completed cardboard, nodded his head (as if to tell her he has completed) and raised both fist in the air "yay!!!!". He was so proud!!!!!!! It was such a funny moment! Mommy and Teacher Marge really burst out laughing at him!

Funny moment #2 : Monkey

In Wayne's class, most of the kids can already say many words. Wayne is the slowest of them all, only able to say very limited number of words. So during one session where the kids were to repeat after Teacher Marge the items on the flashcards, all the other kids could follow and repeat the words while Wayne could only look on at the other kids, wondering how come they could and he couldnt? Well, when it came to one item on the flashcard - a MONKEY - when all the other kids repeated "monkey", Wayne suddenly got all excited and did the "uuh uuh uuh" Monkey sound and actions (two hands scratching the armpit action)!! So when all other kids said the word monkey, my little one was monkeying around! I guess my little Wayne was feeling a bit left out, so when it came to one item that he could also express, he excitedly tried to show that he could do the monkey action!! ooops.... haha.

Funny moment #3 : Leaf counting

Here, each kid was given a "pointer" which was made of an ice cream stick with a leaf pasted on one end. So it looked a little like a spatula, a cooking utensil which Wayne loves to play with at home. While the kids were supposed to use the pointer and count along to the numbers shown, Wayne went "chao chao chao" (as in "cooking" action) and then "mam mam mam". *faints* He really mistook it for a spatula???

So he really got everyone laughing with the funny things he does in class. Silly as it may sound, these moments really make mommy love Wayne so much more cos thats just the way my little boy is. Wayne never fails to make mommy laugh everytime!!

Bruised!!

Can you make out what this is?

It's mommy's arm!! With a big blue black bruise on it!

Lately, we have been struggling with having to discipline Wayne for biting. He does not seem to be afraid of us. While I repeatedly tell him that it's wrong to bite others, at times he's just laugh, other times stand there looking defiant or if we are in the company of others, he'd burst out crying. Either for being reprimanded in 'public' or perhaps trying to get sympathy.

Naughty corners does not work either.

I wonder if this is just a phase?

Come to think of it, he never bites HK. Only mommy and sometimes his other caregivers. But never HK. Hmm.. is he scared of HK? Strange.

Well, I guess we'd just have to continue to teach him that biting is wrong.. and hopefully he'd quit this before its time to attend pre-school!

Leaping into the third day of CNY!

The Yap Family

Wow, thats quite an impressive family photo with so many of us Yappies! And that doesnt include 3rd Uncle and family who are in Australia and 7th Uncle and family who are in KL!

This Chinese New Year, we decided to do something different and arrange for mommy's cousins and relatives to gather back at grandpa's hometown Kluang on Chu San.

Ever since, we got married, it has been hard to meet up with relatives from grandpa's side, so this year we all made special effort to meet up. We had lunch and spent some time at grandpa's old house (where he grew up in) and managed to take quite a few family photos which indeed will be very precious memories in future!!

Just us girls!

And the boys... who are clearly outnumbered!!

Even sweeter was the fact that through this rare gathering, Wayne got to meet his "peers" whom he has never gotten a chance to know!! Especially sweet Doreen jie-jie and Sean di-di who Wayne has never met before. Although meeting Doreen jie-jie for the first time, Wayne warmed up quickly to her and from these photos, mommy thinks Wayne & Doreen really hit it off.

Wayne & Doreen holding hands

Ashley and Sean joins in.. the four little ones =) Wayne looking really happy..

Warming up to Doreen..

Hugging each other. Sweet.

Hee.. look at Wayne's sweet smile.. his eyes almost gone!

And surprisingly, Wayne was in such a good mood that day. Friendly and sociable, although he was in a foreign place. When Doreen danced for us all to see, Wayne tried to join in as well!

Totally enjoying himself!

This meet up, though short, was really really nice. =D

Bouncing into the second day of CNY!

On Chu Er, we made our way into Malaysia to unite with mommy's family @ Wayne's great grandma's home @ Batu Pahat!!

We planned to start our journey at 830am but by the time mommy was done packing, it was 930am! We thought we would be very late, but da-yi and Uncle Terry were even later!! Haha. Mommy was really excited and happy to join all mommy's grandma, aunty, cousins and relatives! Thankfully, there was no jam at all at the causeway and we arrived at noon. When we arrived, before daddy even parked his car, ah ma, ah yen yi, mommy & daddy and E and V and Uncle Ken, and Siong ge & baby Chloe, ting and meiyi all gathered outside the house to welcome us!!! Mommy was happy!!!

As for Wayne, mommy must praise Wayne for being such a good fellow traveller!! Haha. Cos although Wayne just woke up in the morning at 830am, throughout the journey from 930am to 12 noon, Wayne slept!!! Giving mommy & daddy no problems at all!! Mommy's proud of you darling!!!

So for the next 3 days, we spent most of our time at ah ma's, where everyone gathered from all over place. Nights were spent at Pine Tree Hotel, which was a brand new hotel! Thank goodness for this new hotel! Cos mommy was really dreading staying at Katerina hotel again which was....err.. not something to look forward to.

We spent the days gambling and eating all the CNY goodies and then gambling some more and then eating some more... And of course, we took many photos that day with all mommy's cousins!!!

And this is daddy, in his "lucky hat" gambling away! But unfortunately his lucky hat wasnt that lucky afterall, as he kept losing while others kept winning!!! Since we were young, we have been gambling every year at CNY, and mommy still recalls the days when we were just kids and the bets were 20 cents and 50 cents.. and now many many years later (15 years??), the bets have raised up to 50 bucks!!! Each bet was a minimum of 20! Mommy is shocked! Hahaha! Biggest losers were the Yap son-in-laws - thanks to Uncle Terry & Daddy!!! hahah! But gambling with mommy's cousins are always so fun - it is always filled with so much laughter!!!!

As for Wayne, he was kept occupied playing with Baby Chloe who is 4 months younger than Wayne! Wayne absolutely loved hugging Baby Chloe! Thank goodness mommy brought some of Wayne toys along, cos that kept both Wayne and Chloe occupied for a good few hours! Wayne was every bit the 'big brother' to baby Chloe - mommy loved seeing them both play together. Last year, both Wayne and Chloe were too young to really play, but this year they were perfect playmates!

We also had our big family dinner (5 tables!) on the second day of CNY, which was held in this big banquet hall with loud music (too loud) and cheesy dancing. Hahah. Not a pleasant experience cos mommy had to spend half the time outside the hall as Wayne was scared of the loud music! But at least we managed to catch some fireworks outside the hall! And the whole purpose was to catch up with relatives isn't it, whom mommy was so happy to see!!!! And of course we had to 'lo hei' to usher in the new year with the many many blessings!!!

And lastly, we also took our yearly extended family photo, very precious to mommy!!!! Each year we will surely capture these precious memories of everyone in the family!! May we all be blessed with happiness and all things beautiful in life!!!