[the enchanted forest]

You might remember not too long ago, we brought the girls to the nearby Bukit Timah Nature Reserve. I might have let slip that it was going to be the Enchanted Forest, hence the total lack of excitement and anti-climatic outcome of that particular visit!! hah.... So, last weekend, we chanced upon the same nature reserve, but at a different part. O! The thrill of discovering something so unexpected and so good! The girls were over the moon. We, loved the serenity and calmness of it all.
Here are the pics:
It was sneaker day
K with her trademark "bossy" pose
Checking out the spider webs
A view at the end of the walk - what a nice clearing!
The girls started drawing on the bench with water...
The artwork.. i love how they can just amuse themselves so easily!
Preview of a future teenage "gei lek" (swagger) ?!?
The best part has to be the playground!!
K loving the swings
It almost feels as if we were in a temperate country like Japan... except for the weather of course!
Nestled in the rainforest is this fantastic slide.....
Down down down....
and Up Up Up!
My little monkey :)


Definitely coming back again.... most likely this weekend!

[Happy 4th Birthday Katie!!]

To our dearest Katie... It is impossible to imagine that it was only 4 short years ago that you came into our lives. You are the most loving and gentle natured little girl. You are also the epitome of the most princessey and girlie girl I know. You love dressing up, always asking for your "skirt connected to the shirt", preferring dresses over pants (much to the chagrin of jeans loving daddy) You are outspoken on your own opinions, yet have the maturity beyond your years of saying the right things at the right time. You still need the security of your 'Barney bu bu' to fall asleep, but can independently pack your camping over night bag without our assistance. You are meticulous and exact in what you want. You will also not budge once you've set your mind onto something. We are often amazed by how conscientious you can be, packing up your toys after playing with them and even compartmentalizing the smaller items into their own boxes).
We love you our littlest girl... :) mummy & daddy
Lucky girl had 2 birthday parties! The 1st one, coinciding with the Childrens' day celebrations, was with all her friends in school. Here's the happy little girl, who kept telling everybody - no, i'm not 4 yet! my birthday is on Sunday.... she was so super thrilled with the princess cake, which she has specified a loooong time ago, and which i spent the day before stressfully constructing out of 2 readymade round cakes (6" + 8") and lots of buttercream frosting! :) The look on K's face when she first saw it made it all worthwhile!!
We all went to celebrate her bday with her in school as usual.
Blowing out her candles all by her self..
The princess cake :)
Check out the gleeful expressions on their faces! Soooo cute!



The weekend started with another birthday party for her, this time, for the family and close friends.
Princess goodie bags.
The decor
K wanted all the girlie girlie things, so we had manicures, pedicures and glitter tattoos
Happy girl with the glitter tattoo
The 2nd cake we had for her birthday was totally outsourced (read: mummy can't take another stressful night of baking!!) Cupcakes were from Artisan Sweets, and I bought the princess cupcake stand.... (which came with all the cupcake toppers)Checking out the cupcake and making dibs on the ones they wanted to eat first!
Blowing out the candles with help from jie jie.
Family shot
Of course, the best part of the party - opening up the pressies!!! :) She loved all the pressies (which she smartly chose beforehand by getting mummy to put up a birthday registry on FB - see how organise she is!) A big huge thank you for all the little friends, cousins, aunties, uncles and grandparents who turned up and made it such a special day for her!! :)

Flashback through the years :
K @ 0, 1, 2, 3!

[A year older.....]

Thanks all for all your wonderful birthday wishes!! It was a little quiet celebration dinner on the actual day with my parents and over the weekend, we had sunday free for a super mini celebration - just us and the girls.
V being the person that knows me best, gave me a little surprise bday pressie - an icecream making workshop!! It was the perfect gift - combining the eating of desserts (yum!) my favorite activity (cooking!) and 3 whole hours of "me" time!! We made a total of 4 little tubs to bring home, plus recipes for 6 different varieties (and methods) of making icecream. Who knew icecream could be made so easily!! Of course I then spent the afternoon making even MORE icecream at home...

Here's some pix:
Ice cream buffet... yums!
Making the double chocolate icecream
Cooking the custard
A very happy me after the class is over with my spoils :) And 2 very eager tasters!

Below some pix of the girls at our mini celebration lunch...
K enjoying her complimentary icecream with the free kid's meal at Brussels Sprouts.... A really great deal if you have kids and if you like mussels and frittes! This was the one really near one of my projects at Robertson Quay, will definitely try out the one in East Coast Park soon as well....

The girls looking for an avenue to workout all those carbs and sugar after the lunch!
K in her super cute jeans and hand-me-down pink converse

During the week, we took a break from work to look at some museum offerings. It is a good way to rejuvenate the mind, and whilst doing so, clear up some cobwebs for some new inspiration.

These were taken at the museum at UCC. A new find by V when G was having her ballet concert.
Archival display circa the early 19th century
Birds.
Totally worth a visit for a good quiet afternoon of musing around long forgotten artefacts. The concept of the exhibition is really interesting too - it was all about how a museum came into being - raises really interesting questions on colonial thinking and strategies.


K's birthday card to me... :) Love the sketches as usual....

A preview of K's princess cake for her celebrations in school tomorrow..... More of that in a later post!! :) The cakes are store bought but everything else was made this afternoon!!

Last but not least, the past few months, we have been working on this project.... by a fellow blogger / designer mum I whose blog whom i've been lurking on for months! She's a brilliant person and the images of the apartment shows it at it's best. Looking forward to the fully styled photos (a 1st for us!) and working together on future projects!