Birthday Prep

The girl's birthday is approaching and she's been going on and on and on how she wants to celebrate it...her way.

She has requested for 2 celebrations.

One in school and another one, a normal birthday bash. (and she has made it clear that she would like to invite HER friends and not mine.)

Anyway, my friends, don't worry, just gatecrash only! Heheehehe!

1) Party in school

Princesses Birthday Cake (Greedy la this one. She wants to squeeze at least 3 princesses on the cake)

Party gifts

Now, the second birthday bash is the tricky one.

Because she has experienced immense fun on a yacht, she asked Mr E if he could book a yacht, just like her nenek Gayah few weeks back.

Nyla, you're no Paris Hilton so please don't feeling feeling hor.

Besides, you wouldn't want your friends to be seasick! Uh Uh...Not a good idea at all babe!

Till now, we are still undecided on the venue and birthday is like real soon. ;S

Entertainment for the party has been settled.

Of course, I called up my JC mate.

Farid aka Funky Freddie of Funky Magic.

He is so kind to sponsor his latest product- The Awesome Magic Party.

Cool stuff bro. Can't wait to be amazed by your exciting repertoire of magic tricks and balloon twisting!

So venue is not settled...yet...

Entertainment is settled.

Cake?

Halfway because the birthday girl is fickle about which cake she would like.

She is still thinking. Better think fast babe. If not, mommy will get her favourite Mango cake. ;)

Cake Number 1

She would like a plain pink cake with black toothless dragon (From the movie: How to train a dragon) in the middle.

Cake Number 2

And then she saw a 'photocake'...you know the cake printed with a favourite picture?

When we got home, I asked her to select her favourite picture of herself.

Then she looked at me as if that was the silliest suggestion ever made.

'Mommy, I'm not going to put a picture of myself hokay."

Yeap, I was very much confused because to me, a birthday photocake always displays the picture of the brithday girl/boy.

I was wrong.

I asked her what picture would she then like to put on her birthday photocake.

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And she added,"I want a heart shaped cake with Justin Bieber's picture, surrounded with blue roses.

The words on the cake," Justin Bieber loves Nyla."

Erm Nyla, shouldn't it be the other way round because you are his fan... *shakes head*

Tsk tsk.

So how ah?!

For Princesses cake, I know I can order it from Bengawan Solo/Prima Deli.

But I'm not so sure about 'Toothless' or 'Justin Bieber' cake. If you are a cake maker and you can bake either one of these cakes, please email me at nuraesman@gmail.com soonest because I am one kancheong woman now. Thanks bebehs!

Happy Momsy Day!

Today is a special day for us Mommies.

Yeeeha!

My mommy, I love you. I love you. I love you!

You are one stern woman right up to when I became a new mom. Wait...even till now, actually.

Thank you, because now, I understand why you did that and I can never thank you enough for bringing me up to be who I am today.

Mom, I hope to be as committed to my family as you are to yours even though your 3 kiddos are all pretty much...old...already. I also hope to be as intelligent as you. At least half also can la...heee!

Thanks for being that perfect role model, Mom.

Thank you God for choosing Mdm Rokiah as my mommy.

My mother in law, Mdm Mahani.

After nearly 6 years of marriage to her son, I'm glad that we still have a positive relationship. Heng ah! Hee!

Mak, I will never forget what you did for me during the first few months after I gave birth to Nyla.

How you took newborn Nyla the wailer from my room and let me have a 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep.

How you massaged my whole body when the masseuse couldn't come that one day. (yes my MIL has already seen my boobies!)

How you cooked healthy meals during the confinement period.

Erm Mak, here, I would like to make a confession.

You know that morning ritual of having to drink that essence of chicken during the confinement period?

On some days I cheated.... No no...I didn't throw it away... Your husband (my dearest father in law !) gulped it down for me. Wahahahahaa! Thanks Bapak! Will never forget this! You are the best accomplice!

So Mak now that Nyla is older, please take your well deserved rest.

Sayang you, mak!

And I would like to wish a very Happy Mother's Day to the third mommy in da house....ME!

Ya la, must dedicate to myself mah since Nyla does not know how to blog yet.

While I was teaching tuition yesterday, Esman brought Nyla out.

Of course, I did some wishful thinking like, 'Hmmm, what are they going to get me?'

Nah they didn't because both of them returned home an hour later, both lenggang kangkong...empty handed.

:(

I pretended to be upset and asked Nyla,"You didn't get anything for me?'

She replied,"I already gave you the card I made in school whaaaaaatttttt. I put sparkly stuff all...'

Yes, thanks baby. Beautiful card indeed. :)

Then I turned to her dad, my husband.

He said in his most pitiful voice,"Our anniversary is next week leh honey...Die man me like that. Must buy present for Mother's Day...Must buy present for wedding anniversary....Somemore Nyla's birthday also falls on this month..."

So people, especially ladies out there, here is one piece of advice from me.

Do not get MARRIED AND GIVE BIRTH in May.

Your present sure kena compromised one. Like me.

Anyway, no biggie honey!

Going kite flying while I was doing my TVC shoot yesterday, cooking lunch for Nyla and making tea for me just now can be considered as Mother's Day gift already la huh. I'm a very easy-to- please kind of person!

Earlier today, Nyla already made my heart swell with so much love.

When I helped her button her pants, she cupped my face in her hands so firmly and said,"Oh Nura, I really lovvveeeee youuuu!"

Oh Nyla, quite rude ah you! Call me by my name! Chet!

On a serious note, every day I pray to God to make me the best mom I can ever be to this amazing child He has given me and every day I thank Him for choosing me to be her mother. :)

To all mommies reading this, Happy Mother's Day, ya all!

Cheers!

M.A.D Bloggers

Yes, I know that I can be very crazy at times but MAD here does not mean gila hokay.

Just continue to read what does M.A.D stand for.

I know this is driving you mad but you know, with good news, you tend to beat around the bush, create that bit of suspense.

Ok ok!

Here goes!

I am absolutely thrilled to announce that I am the newest resident M.A.D Blogger for UFamily.

There...So now you know what does M.A.D stand for after clicking on the above link.

I feel very proud and honoured to be invited to be part of this project.

An initiative of NTUC, U Family’s objective is to build up a community of "strong and happy families" in Singapore with the development of family-focused initiatives to strengthen family bonds and support working parents with the advocation of pro-family practices at the workplace.
Recognising that better work-life integration contributes to happy families, leading to more engaged and productive workers, U Family actively provides its members with a slew of benefits and activities that cater to their lifestyle, recreational and parenting needs.

Nice stuff ey?

Esman, Nyla and I have just received a special invitation to the May Day Family Fiesta at NTUC Club's Downtown East on 22 May 2010. The 3 of us are so going and we are so going to spend our whole day there!

In fact, we are going to be there real early at 8am because the 3 of us are participating in the 'A Healthy U' morning workout session!

Nyla keeps asking me whether 'today is the day?'

Hehe! Poor excited child of mine. I should not have informed her so soon!

So fellow MADs, what are you waiting for?

For a start, why not register as a UFamily member?

Membership is FREE and you get to enjoy family fun activities, benefits and loads more.

And if you are keen on joining our M.A.D Bloggers Interest Group, allyou have to do is drop U Family an email with your name, NRIC, your contact number and your blog address!

Looking forward to learning from one another about family stuff!

Have a great weekend with your family! ;)

Mini Materials

The husband and I are now teaching Nyla about the concept of money.
How money does not grow on tress...(sigh, if only....)
How important we not take it for granted....(Needs VS Wants)
so we got her a wallet!
She's into princesses so obviously, she loves it!



Because my wallet contains her picture and Mr E's and Mr E's wallet contains my picture and hers, she 'gets it' that, other than cash, a wallet is also a place for you to keep the pictures of those you love.





When Nyla showed off her wallet to my parents, my dad wants to make sure that Nyla also holds him dear to her heart and included his picture in as well. Yes, my paps very not shy one.





Yeah, that's another picture of me, alright. What happened to the previous one?
Well we quarrelled. The next thing I knew, Nyla removed that photo, crushed and crumpled it.
Horrible hor she? Me so hurt. :(
Anyway, we made up after 2 minutes and she asked if I had another picture to replace. Luckily I have plenty. Why plenty? Because I had to keep re-taking passport sized photos over and over again until I was satisfied. Don't you realise that the majority of people just don't look good in passport sized photos? I wonder why...


Anyway, Nyla always puts her wallet in her schoolbag because she carries it with her most of the time, five days a week.


That's my mini Posh Spice carrying her 'Birkin' with her pink 'LV' wallet safe inside. ;P

Men in my life

The four men in my life, who would do anything for me and whom I would do anything for.

Mathematics

Primary Six Mathematics is no joke, boy.
I felt my 'O' level Mathematics questions were way easier than Primary Mathematics, which explained why I received a distinction for the former.

Seriously, I personally feel they need to rename 'Problem Sums'.
They should change it to 'CHICKEN FEED SUMS' instead.
This will bring smiles to the faces of the kids. Surely!
Whenever I set questions for my Bottoms Uppers, instead of typing 'Problem Sums' as the heading on their worksheets, I'd put 'EASY PEASY LEMON SQUEEZY SUMS!' and their faces would light up instantly....and then dim when they see the * beside the last 3 questions. Heee!

I am not in favour of 'PROBLEM SUMS' because in a way, 'problem' is a negative word.
So how can the children give their attention to, or have a thought about, something that is negative and not have a negative emotional response to it?
Almost every single day, they see and hear these 2 words 'PROBLEM SUMS.'

Just think about Law of Attraction.
If you are feeling fat, you cannot attract thin....
If you feel poor, you cannot attract wealth.....
If you feel that 'PROBLEM SUMS' will always be a problem for you, you cannot your get A* or A, or worse, you attract the most feared grade of every kid (and principal and teachers and parents and tutors!): the U grade.

Anyway, on my off days, I'd usually chill at Macdonalds after dropping Nyla off at school.
Most of the time, I would be tackling the problem sums and try to come up with ways on how to make my Bottoms Uppers 'get it'.

However today, I was having a terrible migraine and I couldn't solve this one tricky son of a B&*^% problem sum.

Now, I am a firm believer of : When in doubt, ask.

I saw a group of girls who are probably from an elite school who were chit chatting among themselves, probably about Justin Bieber.
Yeap, they are in Primary Six alright because I asked.
Like I said, when in doubt, ask. Somemore, they were not wearing uniform so I had to be sure.

I approached them for assistance and they merrily tried to solve that horrible horrible question.
Man, I felt like they were my seniors.
I told them this and they were so sweet to tell me that there were a few ocassions when their teacher was also unable to solve some sums.

FOUR alert and vibrant heads are definitely better than ONE (yes, me.)
Within fifteen minutes, they managed to solve and their representative explained to me step by step, I wished I brought a voice recorder along so I could play it for my tutees. She was damn clear lor!
Girl, please apply for NIE in 10 years' time, ya.
I felt really good after all that uuhhhuhh....ok yes... uhuh....Oh yes I get it!

However, the happiness was rather shortlived.

Me: Thanks so much dear!
The representative of the group: No problem! You're welcome, AUNTY!

Hmm...Apparently, doing Maths not only gives you a headache. In my case, it makes one age faster as well. :S

Caught on camera

I came across this picture taken at the zoo 3 years back.

And it took me only NOWWWW (!!!!) to realise that the focus in the picture is actually not the 3 of us but the couple behind us.
Amboooiii...Bukan main syiok lagi.
Well, Singapore Zoological Gardens, being one of the best zoos in the world, sure provides for its animals the ideal environment for some lovin' and romance! ;)