Heidi's birthday party(ies)

Heidi turned one on 8 April 2013, which was a Monday. We did not initially plan to do anything, but at the very last minute, we sort of caved and decided to give our little girl a small birthday bash. Before the bash, however, there was a mini bash at my parents' place here in Penang. We invited my relatives from my father's side, and since Hannah would be turning 4 soon, we had a combined celebration for them.

My father put up some simple decorations at home - we had these colourful letters from Hannah's 1st birthday, so we kept them for nearly 3 years. Good to recycle and reuse :)

Here is group photo of all of us - Hannah is smiling widely in anticipation of party packs, presents and cake!

Here are the party packs which my mum bought and Hannah helped to prepare before the party.

Here are the girls with their great grand-aunt.

And with grand-aunt Sue.

Family photo with the cakes.

Hubby ordered these cakes, one chocolate and one butter from Jan's Homemade Cakes in Abu Siti Lane, and they were super yummy, especially the chocolate cake. First time I have seen a birthday cake get eaten that fast.

And then it was time for the girls to cut their cakes. Heidi cut hers first with a little help from Mummy and then it was Hannah's turn.

It was sure a fun party - Hannah loved her gift from her grand aunt.

And Heidi loved the colourful wrappers!

On her actual birthday, we had just a small gathering of our immediate family and close friends. We decided to have a buffet, and Evergreen Laurel seemed to give us the best price, so we decided to go there. 

Most definitely, the highlight of the evening was the birthday cake!

The cake was made by Jennie's cake house in Pulau Tikus, but the Little People (which is Heidi's favourite cartoon) cake toppers was bought by my mum all the way from Australia. So we just gave them to Jenni and she did a fantastic job decorating the cake. It definitely looked too good to eat!

We took plenty of photos with our family and friends too. 

These are the Nolls who came all the way from Australia to celebrate with us.

Birthday girl with Nanna:

And both girls with Nanna and Gong Gong:

Birthday girl with Ah Mah - she must have just eaten something because she is doing her sign for "Good!"

Our friends Tze Ming and Jacintha - thank you for the gifts for Hannah and Isabelle! They were also remembered despite it being Heidi's birthday.

Hubby's school mates and their wives and kids - a whole bunch of us. Many years have passed since leaving school but they still remain good friends.

The lawyer group:

Happy birthday little Heidi! We hope you enjoyed yourself and we look forward to many more birthdays to celebrate with you!

Heidi is One!

Baby Heidi (technically no longer a baby!) is one today! Exactly one year ago we held her in our arms, safe and sound after all the "surprises" we had during my pregnancy. It seems just like yesterday and now she is already a year old!

Mummy, Daddy, Jie Jie Hannah, Ah Mah, Ah Gong, Nanna, Gong Gong love you very much! May you grow up healthy, safe and strong, always your happy, cheerful self, and may God continue to bless you always!

Papa's 60th Birthday

My father will be turning 60 this coming May, but since he is around this month for Heidi's birthday and my uncle from KL was around for cheng beng, we decided to throw him a surprise 60th birthday dinner with his siblings and extended family.

We ordered a special cake for him and this is what it was:

Check out the dentist paraphernalia on the cake :) Jenni cake house did a good job and my dad was pretty surprised indeed! :)

We had two tables at the Chinese restaurant and we took lots of photos with the birthday boy. Here are some:

 With us

 With his siblings

Whole group photo

Heidi behaved quite well despite it being way past her bedtime, and Hannah enjoyed her food and playing with her cousins.

The biggest joke was when the kids starting taking the dental tools off the cake and pretended to use them! Hannah is getting her teeth "checked" by my dad ;) I guess there is no danger of pain in using a tool made from candy so her mouth opened quite willingly! 

Happy early 60th birthday Papa and we look forward to many more!

Hannah's first cinema experience

I was on leave yesterday to look after the kids as MIL had to attend cheng beng prayers. She came back earlier than expected, but since I had already taken the day off, I took Hannah to watch a movie at the cinema. She had been pestering me to take her, ever since she saw the movie "The Croods" being advertised outside the TGV cinemas at 1st Avenue, so yesterday seemed like a good day to go and see the show. She was super excited before the show, asking when would the movie start!

She has never been to see a show at the cinema before, so this was her first time. And of course, no movie is complete without popcorn!

TGV have what they call "popcorn royale" and it's super yummy. With regular popcorn, I usually try and find the brownest pieces with most caramel on it, but for popcorn royale, all pieces are brown and coated thickly with caramel - you can see it from the picture above. Scrumptious! :)

Once we got inside, she settled comfortably into her seat and dug into the popcorn.

When the trailers started, the sound was pretty loud so I think she was quite startled by the noise, but she was not afraid. She only asked me, "Mummy, why so loud?" She managed to watch the movie for quite a bit, until about one hour she asked, "Mummy, finish already or not? I don't want to see anymore". I suppose sitting through an entire movie for 98 minutes is quite tough for a little girl not yet 4, but when I told her that she has to sit down and finish the movie, she managed to do it without a fuss.

At the end of the show, I asked her if she wanted to go to the cinema again since she did not want to finish the movie, and she nodded enthusiastically.

Well, maybe next time when she is a leeetle older :)

Our Easter Baby one year later

We celebrated Easter Sunday yesterday, and it sure brought back memories of Easter last year, which was the most memorable Easter yet! Little Heidi was born at 7.26 am on Easter Sunday last year and so I spent the day in hospital, rather than in church :)

Technically, she will only be one year old in a week as Easter Sunday fell on 8 April last year, so we are definitely looking forward to her first birthday coming up soon. Her smiles and cheekiness never fail to brighten our day and she is truly a miracle of new life. We love you, our little Easter Baby!