Grace's Birthday Final Part - Episode 2

Wow....I've abandoned my blog for the longest time....year end is always so very busy....I'm not quite done with Grace's birthday as yet....

And so...after our breakfast, we went home for a much needed rest and nap....

In the evening, we head on to TGI Fridays for a birthday dinner....and a little surprise for the little girl....when ordering our food, I told the waitress that we are celebrating Grace's birthday and wanted them to celebrate it TGIF's way....and for that we get a Friday's Sundae on the house....

And so we let the little girl ordered whatever she wants and then we eat....

After which, the crew came out with the sundae all lit up with a candle....and while Grace is anticipating them to sing for her.....she was asked to stand up (on the chair) and sing a song.....hmmm....now that's a surprise for her....

Later when went to Toys R Us....to pick up a present for Grace (this is from her grandma 奶奶)...what else can a princess like Grace pick?.....barbie dolls off course...and yes, she also picked a set of barbie doll when her uncle (my brother) took her shopping for her present....

So...here's the last bit of her 5th Birthday in photos....

Here's the very pretty birthday girl

Birthday girl enjoying her food

Waiting for her surprise

Singing a song

from her 奶奶

from her 舅舅

Grace's Birthday Final Part - Episode 1

So how did we ended up celebrating her birthday on the actual day?.....

Well...it all started very early on Saturday (26th Nov)....intended to start it at 5.30am but as "mom-the-alarm-clock" couldn't wake up...it started at 6.30am.....both girls skipped their morning bath...too early....and someone...yes...someone even accidentally skipped brushing her teeth.....hehehee....must be too excited..

Where did we head to?....."The hills are alive....in the sound of music...."err....got a little side-tracked there.....we head on to the Penang Hill...and since it was a school holiday here in Malaysia plus it was a long weekend, and being very kiasu (how can we not?...we just don't want out kids to get sandwiched....) we went early to beat the crowd....

It was a great experience for the girls to be on the new funicular train up the hill....we had small walks there...and someone complained that her little feet are tired...and since there was no food found on the hill...we head back down after about 1 hour....and went to our favorite (more of like the girls' fav) Starbucks outlet for breakfast....

Notice the episode 1 on the blog title?....yes...there's more for the little girl....

In the meantime...here's some photos on the hills....

The amount of crowd when we board the train

A curious girl...

Beautiful scenery

with beautiful people....ahem

Grace's birthday Part 2

Like I said earlier....that little girl gets to celebrate her birthday over and over again (I mean...the same year!!!!)......

First celebration was with her school mates....and the second one was with my side of the family and it was in Kuala Lumpur.....ahahaha.....one lucky girl....we usually do birthday party at home but this year my mother-in-law was not around, as she went overseas for the birth of her 7th grandchild....

Anyway....it was school holidays and so we packed gong-gong's (my father) car and off we went to Kuala Lumpur on Sunday afternoon....her uncle Daniel usually fly back for her birthday...but since we are down there....we might as well have a celebration there....and so we have it at Delicious....and the food was delicious....

Here's some photos....

A Happy...happy...happy...(x100) birthday girl

with gong-gong and po-po

with Uncle Daniel (my brother)

Stay tuned for her final birthday celebration on the special day....with her special parents (ahem....)

Grace's birthday Part 1

Like last year, Grace wanted to celebrate her birthday in school with her friends and so we have to celebrate it one week in advance as they will be on school holiday starting tomorrow.....

This year, I have lesser time to prepare special goodies bag for her friends...and so we had just made princess wand for each of her girl friends (altered from windmill candy...which the boys get) plus bought some stationery sets......

Why part 1?....let's just say some lucky girl gets to celebrate her birthday a few times this year....stay tune to see how many times she gets to celebrate it......

Here's some photos....

Summer "Wahaii"

...that's Grace's version of "Summer Hawaii".....her tongue sort of get twisted and couldn't (initially) get the Hawaii right....she got it right later on though....

What's with this Summer Hawaii??....well it was the theme for her school's Children's Day Potluck party this year....and so we handmade her costume (err...except for the blouse and pants...of course)

we made hula skirt out of raffia strings....flower lei for the neck out of a whole bucket of Prima Marketing French Can-Ection, Paris flowers and flower lei for the head with simple handmade flowers.....

Here's the "Hawaiian" princess....

Ancient Chinese Princess

It was Grace's kindergarten Concert cum Graduation Ceremony on Sunday. So we all packed up early to go to this very important (as per Ms Grace) event. Grace was too excited that she couldn't even rest during the afternoon nap....and had very early dinner and kept on asking, "Are we in time? Do we have enough time to reach there on time? Is the concert place very near or far from our house?".....

Well, I could understand her excitement....they had been training and practicing for this event for the past 3 months!!! and the teachers had been telling them lots about it.....how could a 5-year-old not be excited with it!!!!

Well, it was a long wait for her performance to finally be on stage....but we were not bored at all, as all the other shows were super cute too....and we enjoyed every moment of the waiting time.....and I was of course overwhelmed when I see my girl doing her dance.....

She was selected to join the 6-year-old class in the "Kingdom of China" dance.....

I've ordered a DVD for the whole event and so, my camera was specially for my girl... it was zoomed towards my girl....hehehe...yes I am bias.....

It was so dark and their make-up was so excessive....we couldn't recognize our own daughter!!!! We need to look for her by looking at her shoes!!!!.....

She did a great job....really proud of her....

And here are the photos with her "fans".....

Pack, Move, Unpack....

Well...that's about all I did this past week....other than the nursing, fetching kid, making lunch, feeding lunch, frustrated with Elise rejecting her solid food (still) part of my 24 by 7 job.....heheee.....

Yes, the new house is now complete and I'm slowly decorating it with pretty things and filling it up with more stuff.....

I've been...of course, lagging in blogging as well as scrapbooking......I guess scrapbooking will have to wait as all my crafty stuff are now in the new house.....

However, I did managed to get this precious piece ready before the hectic house moving activities even begin....

And since I'm in the "new house" topic, here's some pictures of the new house...The study cum craft room will be in another post....(after I'm done arranging and decorating it)

Master bedroom

Guest room

Kids room

Kitchen

My new baby!!!!

Making Memories Slice Elite...and it is in pink!!!!

I'm so excited and so is Grace.....she insisted we try the designs yesterday and today we tried another design card.....

Yeah...my parents just came back from their 2-month holiday from the United States(visiting my sister and their grandson there) and they help me carry this precious back...together with additional design cards and some border punches....boy, I sure saved a lot in shipping......at least 50% lesser....whoa.....

Non-crafters must be wondering what this is......it is a digital die-cutting machine which I had been eyeing for sometime now....and when my parents decided to go to the US, I just had to grab the opportunity to buy it.....children at church will be expecting some cool new die-cut shapes to use in their craft work....and I can foresee Grace making request to use it everyday.....

Here are photos of the stuff that my parents brought home for me and the girls from the US....

Little girl on the move

Well, the title tells it all.....my little girl, Elise is now officially walking....she'd been holding on to our hands for a few weeks now...and sometimes when she'd forgotten to be afraid, she did managed to walked a few steps unassisted...but once she remembered, almost every time she will fall...

On Thursday, she finally walked a few more steps....but still needed motivation and help....she will still asked for our hands to hold her...but when forced to...she will walk the few steps herself....on Friday she perfected her walk a little more...and tonight, while daddy was having puzzle time with big sister...little sister walked from the shoe cabinet to where daddy is at...picked up a piece of puzzle and walked back to the shoe cabinet to "post" the puzzle piece...the distance is about 3 feet...

Here's a video of her doing her new found favorite play..."posting" books or whatever that fits through the ventilation holes on the shoe cabinet and her new found skill...walking...

The Flower Girl

3 years ago, when she was merely 2 years 1 month old, she walked down the aisle (as a flower girl) bravely.....though she needed reminder along the way...and though she needed to be bribed with marshmallow.....I was so so proud of my baby girl......

Her "new style" of sprinkling confetti, gave the wedding guests a good laugh and bringwarmth to my heart....

3 years later....again she walked down the aisle (as a flower girl)...not needing reminder, not needing marshmallow.....but elegantly and a good lead to the ring bearer and bride's maid whom was not able to attend the rehearsal.....I was also very proud of her....this time round...a young lady....

(I've yet to have the professional photos...these are my iPhone photos)