boxing day

1st experience with computer games... compliments of uncle C & aunt E

singing "happy birthday" to Jesus. 3 candles - one for each child in the family. :p

a mountain of presents. overwhelmed with which to play with 1st.

we were glad they learnt delayed gratification - checking their calendar daily *represented by picture of baby Jesus*, asking constantly when christmas is, but nevertheless, waiting (im)patiently for christmas before opening all the gifts.

ho ho ho

a meeting with the housing community santa reduced our little one into tears. he was so terrified of the man in red. boo hoo!

playdate

the boys received early christmas presents today, together with 3 pretty playdates. what a nice way to spend a cold winter afternoon.

here's part of their present - a beautifully crafted mailbox, complete with chute & slot for putting in mail & a "door" at the base for retrieving mail. wow! a complete mail kit with envelopes, writing cards, address labels, "sticker" stamps, mail stamps & 2 lovely personalised mail bags to complete their pretend play. & E to teach them how to play, with step by step instructions. :p

ring around the rosie. no way to play this game with just 2 of them so it's fun to have playmates to sing & go round & round. hahaha. they did try to do it 2 by 2 after that though.

J with his "pretend" sweet princess.

beginning to look a lot like christmas

their only plush toys. i mean, hey! they are boys! & to think these gingerbread boys were painstakingly stitched by mummy.

interesting how snow falls from jr's pic & it's a heap of snowballs for jl.

it's the time of the year to enjoy a hot drink & watch snow fall from the heavens. sigh... what a lovely sight to behold!

gobble gobble

americans ate a whooping 48 million turkeys during thanksgiving.

not a flattering picture of my first turkey or me but hey! it tasted better than it looked! after the poor bird has been drowned in salt water for almost a whole day! coated with butter & italian seasoning & roasted for 3.5 hr!

we had some SG friends over for thanksgiving this yr. & a typical ang-mo dinner. roasted turkey with stuffing, green bean casserole, mashed potato, cranberry & apple, apple & pumpkin pie with ice cream. talk about SG's love for food. yum! yum!

we had turkey casserole & turkey poh piah after that. burp!

pretty in pink

after learning that baby's going to be a girl, we started a shopping spree for all things pink. guess what? & all this 16 pieces in just one afternoon. ranging from 3 to 12 months!

funny how baby's gender can spur our shopping. for months, we've not bought anything except toys and books for the boys. it's fall here & most of the clothes are sweaters, jackets & snow boots. nice to look at but impractical to bring home.

so it's nice to have something different from shirts & shorts to look at for a change.

stinky puppets?

the nice thing about living in a student co-op is tons of activities for families, especially kids. today's a sock puppet workshop.

we used to have more "happening" neighbors in our old apartment. the lady across the hallway who has shouting matches with the husband in the dead of the night. the one downstairs who knocked on our floor (his ceiling) when the kids are too noisy. the frail lady upstairs who punched her fist through the glass door. the old man across the street who waters the grass & mows the lawn at least one a day. he does win the "neighborhood's green-est grass" award.

now, it's just normal folks who have healthy relationships with their families. folks who trot by our window to the playground, share toys & chats at the community playgroup sessions & conduct cool workshops like strawberry jam making & thanksgiving boxes.