CNY 2012

CNY passed in a flash and although it isn't the same as last year and a less merry one, there were enjoyable moments too. And I'm grateful for that. I'm sure my father will be smiling down upon us when he sees that we are happy too. So I'm going to squeeze everything in a post to recap on the happenings this CNY. 

CNY Day 1 - The children donned their new clothes. The girls had new dresses specially tailored by my MIL. The children had fun playing fully utilising every waking hour of the day! Joseph enjoyed sitting in a box.

CNY Day 2 - Hubby's mission accomplished and that is to take a family portrait before leaving his hometown, Seremban. My mission accomplished too because I managed to meet my best friend before she returns to Singapore.

 

 

CNY Day 3 - Discovered a bird's egg in a nest among the branches of my mum's plant. It looks so cute and fragile. Witnessed a lion dance in Mahkota Parade, a shopping mall in Malacca (my hometown).

CNY Day 4 - 'Loh sang' with my family. Can't get enough of the salmon! Yummy.

CNY Day 5 - The kids had an enjoyable time at the beach.

CNY Day 13 - It's 'Lap Chun', the first day of Spring in the Chinese lunar calendar. Seriously, it's the first time I've heard of the egg balancing thing on 'Lap Chun'. My babysitter invited us over to her house to let my kids have a look at those eggs. I joined in the fun and did the egg balancing act too. Ta da! I succeeded on my 2nd attempt. The egg most in front and the zoomed in picture of the egg is mine. Not bad eh? I can balance the egg on the sharper end instead of the flatter end. :D

CNY Day 14 - Potluck gathering with old friends. I'm in charge of bringing 'yee sang' however it's not in the picture. The children created quite a racket, playing and enjoying themselves to the max until Elizabeth didn't want to go home for she didn't want to be apart from her friend.

CNY Day 15 - Back to Seremban to celebrate 'Chap Goh Meh' and Han Yang's birthday. The four cousins so excited over the cake that my MIL baked. They were also excited over the candles and sang the birthday song loudly.  

That pretty much sums up my CNY. Hope yours was a good one.

A Video To Make Me Smile 2

Ever since I got back to work after the CNY break, I was having 'withdrawal symptoms' and that's the reason why away from the blogging scene for the past two weeks. Not to mention the long weekend we just had. Tell me, how to be not 'lost' for a while with the holiday after holiday. Hehe.

Well, since my fingers are still in lazy mode, I'll share this video I took a few days before CNY when I was back in my hubby's hometown, Seremban. Maybe the kids were bored of waiting while we did our last minute CNY shopping, so they created their own entertainment and I took the chance to catch them on video.

Kids Rule Our Weekends!

Once you have children and once they can talk well like my dearest daughter Elizabeth, they start to request or demand for stuff. Even the little one, Joseph is catching up and learning from his sister. As much as I do appreciate certain requests because sometimes I've also run out of ideas on what activity to do during the weekend but there are times when you have planned out an activity and she's not game for it. Or you're just too tired and about to lift your legs up and then there comes the dreaded request or demand. I don't know about you, I'm not saying they're like that every weekend but if you know what I'm saying then let's high five! LOL.

Here are a few scenarios of how my kids ruled my weekends:

1. I'm happily doing some household chores, little brother is asleep and big sister will suddenly come up to me and say she wants to do some art. She will bug me until I stop what I'm doing and bring out all her art materials.

2. The kids were watching the telly and suddenly papa wants to switch channels or switch off the telly because he said they've watched enough, Elizabeth will whine and Joseph will start a screaming fit. (this same case happens to mummy also). What excuse sometimes works for me is I'll say to Joseph that the TV is getting hot and once it's too hot it will explode and his face will become black because of the explotion. He'll relent sometimes..:P

3. You just came home from a tiring weekly grocery shopping outing with the family and have just put down the groceries when your girl starts asking whether she can go swimming or not. She won't take no or later for an answer. Don't they get tired?

4. I just finished reading to the kids their bedtime stories and was about to bring them to sleep (so happy to finaly get some me-time) when suddenly Elizabeth said she haven't played the piano. I should be happy that she is keen to play the piano but it clearly wasn't the right time.

5. Since morning, the kids have been chanting, " I want to go to the park, I want to go to the park..." and they stopped in the evening when we finally bring them to the park.

Have a great weekend and for those who are travelling back to hometowns for chinese new year, do drive safely. Enjoy the festivity and happy holidays!

Here's wishing those who celebrate, Gong Xi Fa Cai and may you all have prosperity in this year of the Dragon.

CNY Deco In Mid Valley Megamall and The Gardens Mall

Last Sunday, we went to Mid Valley Megamall for some CNY shopping. So I took the chance to take some picture of their CNY decorations for your viewing pleasure. The decorations were beautiful for me but still I felt it was not grand enough. Grand enough if you use it for house decoration but not so for a mall. That's just my opinion maybe others have a different say.

CNY deco in Mid Valley Megamall's Centre Court.



Another angle



The CNY deco at the North Court of Mid Valley Megamall

  

A closer look of the deco. Looks like a huge lantern with tiny lanterns within.

Then we hopped over to The Gardens Mall too since it's just beside Mid Valley Megamall. If it was not because we wanted to borrow their child stroller, we might not even drop by over there. The child stroller in Mid Valley Megamall were all taken up. Wasted because I actually prefer the stroller in Mid Valley Megamall. In case you parents have forgotten to bring your own stroller out for shopping(of all the things we have forgotten!), a tiny review her of the two mall's stroller. I prefer the ones from Mid Valley Megamall because:

1. it's new(they just got new strollers I think!)

2. it's more comfortable

3. more sturdy and safer

4. it has a big under-seat storage basket for you to put your baby bag and shopping bags

5. it has a hook to hang your shopping bags

6. it has a footrest

The best picture I can find of the Mid Valley Megamall's stroller.

The ones from The Gardens Mall are:

1. not new, it has been there for quite a while. However, it doesn't look dirty

2. not so comfortable

3. not sturdy because it fell backwards before if there are shopping bags hanging and if the child is not sitting on the stroller

4. the under-seat storage basket is small and I had to squeeze the baby bag in it

5. it doesn't have a hook to hang your shopping bags. I had to hang them at their handle

6. it doesn't have a footrest so Joseph’s legs were left dangling.

The Gardens Mall stroller.

Ok sorry for the diversion. Now back to the CNY deco in The Gardens Mall. The decorations are simple and nice but nothing to go ooh and aah about it. They have some props around as if to make us feel at home. It would be nice if those props are really in a home. It would be a nicely decorated home ready for CNY. Haha.
  



The CNY deco in The Gardens Mall



A view from top of the props along the shops. They are all different but I'm lazy to take picture of each prop.



The CNY deco at the Isetan side.



Elizabeth posing in front of a prop. They did put effort in decorating huh? How nice if my house can be decorated like this.



Elizabeth with another prop. That room panel divider is beautiful isn't it?

So between the two, which mall fare better in their CNY decoration?  

CNY 2011

Finally here's my post on my CNY celebration this year. This year, I think I did not take as much photos as I did last year. Maybe I was just a little lazy and busy handling two kids. I cannot imagine if I have more than two kids. Photos - NIL? :P

The plan was to head back to Seremban early morning on Federal Territory Day. But my hubby came back late the night before resulting him to wake a little later than planned. We still managed to start the journey in the late morning though. But first before I ran through my checklist, I had to hang red cloth at my main door. An sms from my sister the night before reminding me to hang it between 7am to 8am that morning. Not many people in KL practice this hanging of the red cloth. So if you see someone's house in KL with the red cloth, that person must be from Malacca. LOL.

The kids were the ones that enjoyed the most. It's expected because they can play till the cows come home. Sometimes my daughter even forgotten she has a mother. LOL. Thankfully, my son still acknowledges my existence. This year, my children got to play fireworks for the first time. Don't worry it's not the dangerous type. They played the sparklers and pop-pop. I was disappointed my husband couldn't find any roman candles (a type of firework).

Like every CNY ever since I got married, reunion dinner will always be in Seremban at my in-laws house. My MIL will cook up a storm and serve delicious dishes for us to devour. It's really a waste I didn't take any pictures of her dishes because I don't want my in-laws to think I'm a lunatic. And just like nearly every year, my MIL will sew some CNY clothes for her grandchildren. It's very sweet of her.

Then day 2 finally arrived. The day I look forward to most because I can get to go back to Malacca. I can be with my family especially my parents and I got to meet my best friend not once but twice because she stayed longer in Malacca this year. ^_^ Last year, we didn't get to meet for CNY because she left Malacca on the second day of CNY. I had the opportunity to meet my cousins too when they came to visit this year. My family even went to the beach at Tanjung Kling just for a walk. I went for hi-tea with my best friend. My family 'lou sang' too this year. So if you asked me whether I had a good CNY, I would definitely rate it as "very satisfied".

The kids all geared up to leave for the holiday. Already can't wait to wear their new shoes.

Eve of CNY - Elizabeth and cousin sister, Zi Yu. Elizabeth trying to play it cool.

Joseph was bold at first until he hurt his hand. Somehow that didn't stop him the next day.

Elizabeth not so cool already. She's seeking protection from her Suk Suk.

Joseph's favourite sound, "Ooooo"

Joseph with his Gong Gong and Ku Che.

1st day of CNY. The dress tailored by my MIL.

1st photo op attempt. Little rascal refused to stay put on the sofa.

And happily sat on the floor.

And did the "ooooo" sound again.

Elizabeth with her cousin brother Han Yang and cousin sister Zi Yu.

2nd photo op attempt. Failed again but managed to snap a photo quickly before he's out of the picture.

Everyone ended up on the floor to accompany Joseph.

This is what he's been doing that kept us busy. He wants me to lose more weight!

On the way to my husband's relatives house.

2nd day of CNY - In Malacca already. Joseph finds it funny to keep bumping the tricycle to the door.

My princess just woke up from afternoon nap. Another dress tailored by my MIL.

Still so glum.



3rd day of CNY. Yee Sang with salmon and jelly fish.



Tossing the yee sang! Yipee!

Joseph already demanding to join in the fun.

 

Finally get the chance to toss the yee sang his style.

Elizabeth and cousin brother Benjamin.

My princess.

'Manja' Joseph with cousin brother Brandon.

Elizabeth hasn't gotten over her fear of the beach since the last time we went to the beach.

Joseph loved it!

Pulling his papa nearer to the waves.

Enjoy wading in the sea.

4th day of CNY - After going to church on Sunday. Just couldn't keep still in the car.

Sweet lil' dahling of mine.

Cam whoring with my son. Haha.

Those things he refused to get away from. We have to drag him away each time he goes on one of these.

Elizabeth also wants to sit.

My two lil' dahlings.

Elizabeth with my nephew Brandon.