Yet another long overdue update

First, big apologies all around for the very long pause in between blogs. This year has been difficult, marked with first emotional events such as Daddy’s surgery and my pay cut. And then we started with our renovations at home and our house, not to mention our lives have been completely topsy turvy. Construction and dust everywhere! The girls’ room have been halved and squeezed though they’ve been absolutely fabulous about it; they’ve taken everything, every new thing in stride, dare I say even nonchalant about it. This has been a godsend, as we didn’t have to deal with tempers/ fears arising from all the changes. Things got really hairy when we renovated our kitchen as then most of our kitchen stuff got moved into the living / dining room, and that made our livable space really small. Cooking (in my second kitchen in the basement) also became really difficult, especially the first weekend, as I’d inadvertently forget something and had to keep running up and down the narrow stairs to get stuff. Groan. But we made it!!! After four long weekends without a kitchen, I have my new kitchen which I adore! Most importantly, I finally have my oven in the kitchen so I don’t have to run up and down the stairs. I love my new kitchen (though it’s still not my dream kitchen – love to have something big enough with an island and a huge dining table so we can eat in the kitchen while I cook). Our walk in closet is also completed; we just need to finish up painting our bedroom. The girls’ room in the attic is almost done. Hopefully the girls can move in soon. They’re all excited about their new room! They’ve been climbing up and down the new stairs, and marveling about everything!! From the pink walls, to the slanting ceiling (wonder what they would say about them when they’re older though – gives me a sore neck!) and soon, princess beds. Ah yes Princesses. The girls, especially Bibou is terribly ga-ga over princesses. That’s why one of the things we did last week … for Seraphine’s birthday, we spent the whole day at Disney!! Given our previous experience (almost 2 years ago, when Seraphine was born), we were a tad bit apprehensive! But everything went very well. We chose to go on a Tuesday, a school day, so the crowd wouldn’t be too bad (there were still lots of people, but nothing compared to the horrific summer crowds). I was just so tickled as we approached the main entrance of the park and she exclaimed really excitedly “You remember?? We came here long long time ago, with Dan!!!” (Indeed we had, it was 2 years ago and it’s amazing that she remembered!!) We were really lucky to have a good friends, Heather and her 2 boys join us. They have an annual pass to Disney so they know the place really well and showed us all the ‘short cuts’ and good rides. Most of the rides went really quickly, with about 10-15 minutes wait only, which was GREAT! Bibou was no longer afraid of getting onto the rides (in fact, she was really looking forward to them), and Seraphine was just game for everything! They loved all the rides, you should hear the squeals of delight from them (I myself, didn’t quite like the teacup and obitron rides that go round and round… but that’s just me :)). The girls were absolutely mesmerized by the “It’s a small world” ride. So much so that we went back to the ride again later that late afternoon. But the best part was the day I think was lunch, where I had made a reservation for us to have lunch with Cinderella and other princesses and prince. By golly, how the eyes of my little princess lit up when she saw all the princesses and prince. I think she was a little awed too! She was a little bit quiet at first! Especially when Snow White and Prince Charming came by to ask her questions…she couldn’t answer!! Seraphine however, didn’t care much for Prince Charming… I think she thought his costume was a bit too poufy! LOL. He was rather quiet and didn’t do much except hold onto Snow White’s waist or hand! Bibou however drank everything in. She loved all their gorgeous princess dresses and most of all taking photos with them and getting their autographs. And then Seraphine had her birthday cake brought in by the singing wait staff…. She even (tried to) blew out her candles. The dessert plate looked really really beautiful (note the word “looked”…I thought that the taste was a little bit too sophisticated for the kids – really dark chocolate!). And the kids went away with a little gift – wands for the girls and helmets for the boys. After a 2 hour lunch (without any melt downs too!), we continued on with more rides. Bibou especially LOVED the Buzz Light year ride where she got to shoot at ‘Zzzzs”. I think she said that that was her favorite ride. We went on until closing, stopping to watch Mickey and friends sing and dance at the parade (while I nipped into the shops to buy a few things hahaha). Bibou so enjoyed the parade that she started dancing on the street with the characters!! To escape the departing crowd (at closing time), we went off to Disney Village to grab some dinner – at a take-out counter. By the time we’d finished and slowly walked back to the car park, the crowd had really dwindled and had a leisurely drive home. The best thing was, the girls were so exhausted (remember no nap even for Seraphine) that they fell straight asleep in the car, got transferred into their bed and didn’t wake up till the next morning. All in all, a perfect day!

The weather has certainly warmed up a lot now, in fact, we even have had some really warm days (though it’s suddenly cooled down again now). warm enough for sun dresses and most of all…BBQs! We celebrated Daddy’s birthday with a BBQ and also hosted a MESSAGE magazine BBQ lunch.