1st day of CNY

Woke up late, really late coz' slept at close to 4am. Was trying to post out last night's blog entries and my server was even much slower.

Rather embarassing, but this is the first CNY where we literally rush through our preparations (not forgetting we have 2 unco-operative kiddos who will move even more when we ask them to sit still) and we haven't even had the time to give the children their angpows + KZ angpow. Hubby came back home from his session at 6+am, so he only slept for a really short while. I'm shocked that he can even tahan sleepless-ness that long.

Arrived PIL's place at 12+, they (SILs) were waiting for us ahem.. waiting to see the lil' Aricia coz' they haven't seen her since October. Yup! VIPs must always arrive late mah!

Athena did her role as a big sister and took care of mei-mei, walking together with her. Well err....actually coz' she's bored, she's too shy to talk to her cousins (all boys). Aricia was entertaining us, and she spotted a new friend - a fake duck!! She kept walking to the duck and squat to look at the duck, mumble, touch and walk away. And then she starts doing it again and again. Sometimes, she make the baby sign for a dog. ??
What was I doing? If I'm not talking, I'm eating, In other words, my mouth's always moving. I pop in one goodie in my bag, I mumble "我 怎样 减肥?"(how am I going to lose weight?) I pop in another, "我 怎样 减肥?" And my hubby so naggy even before I said those words, he'd tell me " 还 吃? 够 了."(that's enough!) Not coz' he worry about me getting fat, but worry I'd fall sick due to heatiness. And FYI, I don't get heaty that easily.

A photo of PILs and Aveliane and family. Jasline left and I forgot about it. Duh! And my camera was on the coffee table, right infront of my blind eyes. ?!?! Athena asked me "mummy why you like to take photo?" It certainly is not for blogging purposes, although yes I will put it in our blogs. But mainly because it's for keepsake, I want my children to be able to look through them in years to come. And certainly I want to see how much they've grown each year.

Some other photos

Little Miss Mousey rummaging through the goodies; sniffing out nice tasty goodies. (headband bought in HKG came in useful this year, huh?)

We left PIL's place and we had to idle a little time away coz' we can't go back home to rest and it's way too early to go over to mom's place. Instead we went Suntec, Athena remembers and talks about it: "Mummy, you remember Uncle Richard stay here? Then Uncle Richard come to our house to stay?"
Shops were closed, only a bare few. Our first stop - Gelare. Feed the children waffles, hubby asks if I want anything. Can't resist temptation, I have very low will-power especially when it comes to chocolates.. so ended up with
>> That really shut my mouth up, and I won't say 我 怎样减肥 but 我不用减肥了.

The kids choosing and pointing to what they want (see 1st row last pix), reading the menu again and in the end... daddy chose for them. Ha!
Oh my! They really look a little alike huh?
A family pic of the red red hubby and me, and the two pink princesses (cheongsam bought in HKG)
Hubby and myself. When I saw this photo, I gasped "I'm so fat!! I should use the children to shield me siah!"
Notice Aricia is always smiling? She's always so happy when she's outside.
About an hour later, we left for mom's place. Aricia was so tired that she sat in her car seat staring into space about to doze off, Athena was a complain-queen and yakked & yakked non-stop. What was I doing? Trying to prove that although I am old but I also look good in the Minnie Mouse headband. Taking photos of myself, but it's so close and makes me look so fat, so I kept taking and taking until I'm satisfied with this. Call it boredom.....
At mom's place, fireplace (during Xmas) is converted into a ?? They simply replaced the decos with the chinese red ornaments.

Then, it's photo time before dinner.. so we all look good with a flat tummy (not me though!)

It's very difficult to get a photo of the 3 kids together. Aricia is always moving, she can't sit still. Ignatius is the most obedient of the lot, Athena can sit still but she likes to 'tong tong hee' making funny actions or refusing to smile etc... which angers me.

Dinner starts with lo hei

It was tossing for all of us, then I finally got a picture of the 3 kiddos trying to toss for better health, studies (err... that's for Athena)

Dinner was great! Mom made the effort in whipping up a storm of good food. But I was so full.... all thanks to my ice-cream.
Typical Teochew dessert. Yums! My favourite!! So it's a must have despite a full stomach.

That marks the end of our first day of CNY. It's a good thing we don't do visitations so we can rest at home.