[New Year's Eve]

So, the next post up will be the annual "Best Of .... " post, but before that, I've TONS of pictures in my HD that i NEED to post up!
Most of them are of playdates, family time and lots of EATING. Between Christmas and New Year's, we were supposed to have closed the office for a week of relaxation, but somehow the week became the craziest week in Dec! The girls had a blast though, we spent some of most of the days in December with them, and it was so nice to see them really enjoying themselves. We have to keep reminding ourselves that they grow up too fast and should really cherish the times we have with them.
Playdates with S and her bunch. Lots of girlie games...
15min swim in freezing cold water and impending stormy skies. Of course the girls were oblivious to both.

Hilarious shot! Shows the drama of girls.... even little K, she who started bawling when the older girls refuse to share the ipad with her.....Love this shot of K at West Coast Park
Testing out new Apps on the phone
G the little monkey!
More apps effects
Taking a break!K's plasticine modelling. Very cute that she's more into the 2D compositions and G has always done everything in 3D.


We had our New Year's Eve celebrations at New House, which meant another few rounds on yummy yummy food.
Playing with baby E, the cutest chubbiest baby ever! (and nope I'm not getting clucky.... )
Thanks P for the most delish cupcakes from HERE.
Sooooo good.....
G doing her colouring
The Spread
The girls
Cousins
Clowing around in the playroom.

We bought the girls brand new bedlinen for their room for the New Year, of course they couldn't wait for 2012 to arrive before insisting that they slept in it! Luckily for them, we were only too happy to oblige as I'm a huge bedlinen junkie :)
Hello Kitty ones for K, Little Twin Stars ones for G
K posing.
This is why I didn't get a pic of bedspread or G posing
My little bookworm

[Christmas 2011]

We continue the tradition of Xmas day dinner at New House, culminating in the pressie frenzy of yesteryears (and here). It was great to see everybody all in the same place, having a good time preparing food, feasting, playing, and generally getting to know and appreciate each others company. Ultimately, that's all Xmas is about, family & good food!
Here are the photos taken on Xmas weekend 2011:
G and my mum.
Yummy food spread - the Salmon with Nonya gravy was divine!
Satay and mac & cheese
Roast Capon Chicken, bolognese Linguini, salad and garlic bread.
Chefs hard at work!
The Christmas tree at New House with all the pressies :)
Getting the little ones to sit still for a photo op before the gifting begins...
Look here! girls and boys!
Finally, everyone is sitting properly..
Waiting impatiently for the presents to arrive!!! Unfortunately, in the midst of all that present confusion, we forgot to take pics!!! But it was such joy to see all the kids opening the presents and exclaiming in excitement at their presents.
The girls wisely kept some presents unopened underneath our Xmas tree, so on Christmas morning, they were up and jumping about (too!) very early and ripping all the presents open with glee.
Not surprisingly, they received MANY crafting presents, so the first thing we did on Christmas day was to get stuck into a whole morning of crafting and making things (more of that in the next post)
In the meantime, on the last day of the looooong Xmas weekend, here's wishing you a brilliant Xmas holiday period and till New year's day, from all of us..... have a great week!!!

[Dec Highlights]

As the months and the year draws to a close, I realise that i've been so busy "living" that I am left with so little time to do the "recording" aka blogging! hah! Owells, at least i still have another week or 2 - to tidy up the house after day after day of intensive playing of the numerous playdates, to finish buying and wrapping the last few (most impt!) xmas presents, to compose and write the annual reminscing blog post, to plan and partake in the feasting and making merry with all that is closest and dearest.....
So, before all that, here are the pictures that have made it to the december highlights:
Attended the wedding dinner of my littlest cousin. So sweet and so hard to imagine that she is getting married! Time flies!!!Gorgeous bride and handsome groom!
These 2 little girls had a whale of a time playing "princesses" in the ballroom.1 of MANY playdates every week in the hols. This is how my house usually looks like!! hah. Not the cool architect-designer space one would like to inhabit. :)
We had our 1st crafting playdate (which is such a hit we're going to try to do another one before the end of the year!) We made Salt Dough ornaments.
Of course we had to have some snacks! These were surprisingly good - courtesy of Betty Crocker - 3 berries delight... or something similarly cheesy sounding.
Recipe was from HERE - we also wanted to make xmas cards but i think the girls had enough after the ornaments....
So simple to make and the result looks divine!
Stamped their names and birthdates
This was mine.Lunch was a similarly crazy affair with 5 girls all under the age of 7! But luckily, it helps to be next door to a very good italian restaurant, who served their food with dishes up to us!! :) Talk about a private kitchen at our doorstep... heh. The food is good too!
Last weekend we were in Jurong, so brought the girls to their favorite indoor area - Safra Jurong Kids Amaze.
It was mayhem as usual! Even more so with the Dec hols. There was only so much we can take of the noise and crazy crowd, so we left after going down the 2.5 storeys spiral slides for more than 10 times!!

On the crafting front, I finally mastered sewing ZIPS!!! I have always been terrified of them, somehow i never did get around mastering the technique. But I am proud to say I'm on my way to perfecting the zippered pouch. Now to continue experimenting with different shapes of pouches!
A collection of the pouches that have been made, sold and about to be gifted!
Love the french linen fabric.... so lux and so good!
My stack of nicely gift-wrapped pressies for a custom order - how's that for good service!!! Free delivery too :)
Had some ME time to catchup with an old (since high school days) girlfriend. We had the most enjoyable time and it was so great to have some adult time :)Collected my clay creations from the studio. Not quite what I was expecting, the glaze didn't turn out that nice IMO.
Sushi platter. The white glaze was supposed to be much more opaque. That is the thing about clay, it is an experimental medium. Must remember to make more so that I can fire them with different effects!