[2009!!!!] *many pics*

Wow, time flies by so quickly!!! :) Imagine... another year pass.
In no particular order, these pictures make up 2008...
that pure joy of playing at the beach - everyday on holiday.....
playing together as siblings
going to the museum, doing things together
a nice family picture
our first road trip up together to malaysia - K's 1st trip anywhere :)
she's 1!!! in double quick time, this little baby is growing like a weed!
working together days and nights (literally) to put together our entry at the 2008 Venice Bienalle


that look! priceless :)
some xmas glitters in my classes at the LSS
cheeky
crafting and more crafting
i often wish i could keep these pieces all to myself :)


happy happy times
a professional accomplishment
phew!

I'll be trying to get my lists together for 2009.. HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!! :)

[more videos]

More videos of G reading:



A baby layette package for a soon-to-be-out little baby girl :)
all wrapped up inside
apple blankie
matching onesies
matching bib.... :)

lastly, this is how K always comes next to us to call us.... her little bow. For someone so curious and greedy about food (she runs to you as soon as she sees that you've any food), how can she not be on solids?!?

[my little reader]

G has a new pasttime - reading! i must say that i'm really amazed at how fast she picked up on reading. At the start of this month, she has just started piecing the words together and pronouncing them phonetically. And as she grew more and more confident with reading, she got more and more excited reading all her old + new books. Now she manages to read from cover to cover, most of the books that we borrow from the library, as well as all her favorite books at home. Recently, I came across the "big book of nursery rhymes" at a recent book fair, and it brought back really fond memories of my childhood. There were all the classic nursery rhymes in there and even some new ones that i've not heard of. The illustrations were very victorian, with lots of flouncy dresses and parasols. G, still in her princess phase, will exclaim after every other rhyme that she reads - "can i have a long dress like hers... ooo! mummy, i like this long pink one!"
Here's a video of her reading:

you can see that she's started reading very loudly, that's because not only does she like reading, she LOVES taking videos of herself reading. And we've told her repeatedly to speak up, as it will be too soft otherwise for the phone camera to pick up her voice.

[and so this is xmas]

love love this song.... it always brings back memories of the super white, super chilly, super wintry christmas in europe, where for all the years that we were there, me and V will always be spending xmas in a different european city (as london was a ghost town anyways). It was so fun to spend the day just wandering about the streets, often in subzero temperature, going to early xmas mass, where we wouldn't understand a single word that is spoken, but the spirit of xmas transcended all that. I remember the smell of frankenscence in the church as sacreceour, the taste of mulled wine from a xmas stall in helsinki, the wonderful family xmas that we shared with friends in sweden, the magic of that first snow in czechoslovakia. Xmas is seriously magical, no matter all the retail hype and all the cynical merchandising. It is all about family, and love and the magic of all these intangible fleeting moments. Thanks for all the presents and here's wishing all of you a wonderful magical xmas and may all your wishes come true! :)
A photo diary of our xmas morning:
7am (g's first words - TODAY is xmas!!! Rushing out - Santa didn't take away any pressies (as we told her that she'll have to be nice, not naughty, otherwise the presents will disappear); but he didn't bring any new ones either!)
Busy opening all the presents while K looks on curiously....Excited by her presents :)8am: more presents opening9am: Xmas breakfast of smoked salmon croissants (which neither kid liked... heh)


K not drinking her cereal..... but looking cute anyways in her little corner
10am : playing with playdoh set

11am: dressing up as a princess, complete with new accessories



K learning the twirl.... (this one is a real copycat :)2pm: naptime
Everybody was sleeping the excitement of the morning off and i managed to scrap this :)

[MERRY XMAS!!!!]

As i answer the zillionth time - "nope it's not here yet" to G's constant question " is it xmas yet???", followed by "can we open the presents?".... it's finally just a day away! :) it is so amazing that is now the end of 2008! How did time fly by so quickly? Last night, as i lay awake in bed at 3am in the morning, after a mid-slumber nite feed to K, she was tossing and turning, and somehow ended up sprawled over my tummy. Apparently it is the most comfortable position for her to continue sleeping. Not so for me! But as i lay there in the dark, with her wispy hair tickling my nose and her chubby fingers grabbing my pjs, i wonder how many more moments i can spend with her like this, how many more nights she will like to snuggle onto me and sleep, how many more times she will peer into my face in the dark and go "ma ma". Time really flies by, so do spend them wisely and in the most fulfilling way!!! :)



HAPPY XMAS EVERYBODY and have the most WONDERFUL 2009!!!

Here's our Xmas Ecard as always we're too late to send out real xmas cards... :P

[children's garden]

I love the children's garden at the Botanical Gardens. It's a great place to spend the morning (before it gets too hot) and it was especially nice as there were real pine trees all decked out for xmas dotted all over, making the air feel so 'xmassie' :)
cheeky little girl
kissing the little gnomes :)
all sweaty and yucky after climbing up and down the slides but O! so happy :)
Love this little BUM!
caught you!!!
she was fascinated with our toes...
look at that darling face
i think here she was looking up wistfully at all the bigger kids that were climbing up onto the tree house.....

:) Have a great weekend before xmas everybody!!! Posting a scrap / craft entry next :)