Party Mom

Instead of being a soccer mom, I am a party mom. I have been accompanying Juliane to attend her classmate's birthday parties. This week, the birthday party is at Wild Wild Wet at Downtown East, 9:45am to 12:30pm. While Juliane was at the party, I sat at Ya Kun to have my breakfast and to do some reading. 

I went to Wild Wild Wet to wait for Juliane at 12:15pm as the children showered and changed. 

A drink from Chatime while waiting for our transport

Although the party ended at 12:30pm, we didn't get home until 2:20pm because her father was a poor manager of time even though we agreed on the pick-up time of 1pm. He only arrived at 1:45pm.

Marieann's 13th Birthday Celebration (in advance)

Today, Marieann held her 13th birthday party celebration in advance of her actual birthday, 2 January. It was held so early because most of her friends would be going to different secondary schools when school reopens and it will be a busy time for all. 
She planned the whole event herself, from the design of the invitation card, to the party activities and to the type of party food served! She also did the shopping for the materials for her party activities such as making flower crowns and the ingredients for the party food such as brownie. 
Her friends arrived consecutively between 3-3:30pm. The party started off with DIY activities, e.g. Marieann teaching her friends how to make a flower crown, Brownie decorating, hair dyeing with chalk, etc. Dinner was pizza at 6pm and the birthday cake cutting at 7pm. Another game just before the opening of presents at 8:30pm. The last of her friends left at 9:30pm. 

Friends who arrived earlier getting ready to make flower crowns

Making flower crowns while waiting for the others to arrive

Pizza dinner

Happy Birthday, Marieann!

Making her wish

Opening her presents

It was a successful birthday party since Marieann planned it and executed it. :)
Happy Birthday (in advance), Marieann! :)

Kallang Leisure Park

Juliane had a birthday party at Kallang Leisure Park, 10-12pm. After sending Juliane to the venue, Marieann and I went to Coffee Bean to do our work. It was a good place to work. But after a while, it became crowded with people doing their work/ studying lol.
Rather than driving to somewhere else, we decided to have lunch at Pasta Mania, Kallang Leisure Park. There are quite a few eateries - Japanese, Thai, Chinese, and a food court. There are a couple of shops and Cold Storage too. Not a bad place. However, it is rather far from where we stay. Not sure if we will come back here again, just for food or shopping.

Ice Cream Party

Juliane was invited to yet another birthday party in the afternoon. This time, it is an ice cream party. Quite different from the usual. :) The kids watched how ice cream is made and even participated in the making process. There was also a competition to see who could decorate their ice cream on waffle most creatively with the ingredients provided, e.g., coco pops, fruit loops, gummy bears, wafer, sprinklers, etc. Of course, there were games too for the kids, in between the ice-cream making and ice cream decoration competition. When the kids were digging into their ice cream and waffles, the parents also had some ice cream lol. Most of us tried the alcohol-based ones. :P Juliane and her creation

Chaperon Duty

I have been on chaperon duty for almost every birthday party that the girls have been invited to. Sometimes it is alright. Sometimes, it can get pretty boring. But every time without fail, it is extremely exhausting being a chaperon. Juliane has been invited to a birthday party for the past 3 weekends, including today! Real exhausting for me. She has another party coming up next weekend. :S Better take some tonic to build up my "qi" energy.

The Girls' Weekend

It's the girls' weekend. I am not talking about me, I am referring to my kids! They had one appointment after another for this weekend.
Saturday
Juliane was at her K2 friend's place from noon till 8pm.
Marieann attended her classmate's sister's birthday party from 6 till 10pm.
I was at home.
Sunday
Juliane attended her classmate's birthday party at Sentosa from 1pm till 6pm.
Marieann had tuition from 3.30pm till 5.30pm.
I was at home.

Hmm, I think I need to have more friends. :P

Birthday Parties

In the early afternoon, I brought Juliane to my colleague/ friend's son's 1st birthday party at Club ITE, Dover. Marieann didn't go because she didn't finish her homework.

We arrived around 12.30pm and soon met my two other colleagues/ friends there. There were a lot of toddlers at the party lol. When Juliane saw the birthday boy, Luke, she had these words, "He's so young?!" haha. She had thought Luke was around her age. :P I was tasked to be camera person for the cake cutting. I am glad to be able to use my skills learnt at work outside of work context lol. :)




In the late afternoon, the girls' father brought Marieann and Juliane to Marieann's classmate's birthday party. I was still recovering from the earlier birthday party so their father had no choice but to bring them and chaperon them at the party. Hopefully he would now know how tiring it is, chaperoning the girls at birthday parties.

Beary Fun Party

My girls were thrilled to be invited to Jewel's birthday party held today at Build-A-Bear, Vivocity, 2-4pm. They were thrilled not just because the party was held at Build-A-Bear but also because they get to play with Jewel again. Marieann and Jewel were kindergarten friends and they were lucky to end up in the same primary school. Juliane of course knew Jewel through Marieann. The three girls have gone out together to the Science Centre, the Singapore Zoo and have been to movies as well.

The party started with a Treasure Hunt where the children had to look for certain items in the shop, followed by each child choosing a soft toy animal to make for themselves and lastly, the birthday song and cake. I think the girls enjoyed the soft toy making the best as they get to choose what animal they want to make and the outfit to go with it. Both Marieann and Juliane chose the plain bear as it would have a fancier outfit to go with it. The funny thing is, there were many different outfits which the sisters could pick from, but both of them pick the same outfit! They both reached for the cloth hanger at the same time. No wonder they are sisters haha. Now I have to find a way to differentiate the bears or the sisters might end up fighting over which bear is whose.


The sisters' identical looking bears in the same Witch outfit

All the girls with their soft toy animals


All too soon, the party ended. The girls really enjoyed themselves and they asked if they could go out with Jewel again, maybe during one of the public holiday or during school holidays. I guess I will make arrangements with Jewel's mother soon, maybe an outing during the National Day weekend. :)

A Bowling Good Time

Marieann was invited to her classmate's birthday party 2-5pm at Singapore Island Club. The birthday programme had bowling first, followed by swimming. Interesting. :) I brought Juliane along with me but I told her that she couldn't join in the party as she wasn't invited. Juliane is a good girl and without complaining, she quietly watched her sister and cheered for Marieann during Marieann's turn to bowl.

Marieann in action - her first time bowling

Marieann had lots of fun bowling with her classmates as well as splashing around in the pool with her classmates. I am glad that Marieann gets along well with her classmates. I think the worst nightmare for any parent is if your child is anti-social either by being a recluse or by being a bully.


Juliane playing with the water features next to the kiddie pool

Marieann totally enjoyed herself at the birthday party. She was completely knocked out in the ride home lol. We were supposed to go out for dinner at Tampopo for Ramen but because Marieann was sleeping, we bought Hokkien Fried Mee from Newton Circus as take-away dinner instead. :P

Swimming Birthday Party

Marieann's classmate, Hannah had her birthday celebration at Singapore Island Country Club. Both Marieann and Juliane were invited to the birthday party. :) It was really nice of Hannah's mother, Sharon to invite Juliane as well. Thanks, Sharon. Since it was a school day, most of the girls departed for the party immediately after school. Thanks to another parent, Shawn who gave Marieann a lift to SICC. After my counselling, I went home to pick up Juliane for the party.

This is the first time the girls were invited to a swimming birthday party. The girls got a good work out as well as having lots of fun. :) They have recently taken to swimming or rather playing in the pool lol. The children were in the pool for almost 1.5 hours. It was a rather hot day but being in the pool, the children didn't feel the heat. :P I happened to meet a close family friend at the pool and we spent some time chatting away while keeping an eye out on our children in the pool. Around 4:30-5pm, it was time for the birthday song and birthday cake. :)


The girls were really happy to attend Hannah's birthday party and definitely enjoyed themselves very much. Both of them asked me if they could attend more of such swimming birthday parties. Well, only if you are invited to one again! Haha.

Pleasure and Work

Marieann has a birthday party to attend at Great World City from 1 to 3pm. We therefore decided to have lunch at Kenny Rogers. It was nice to have some good, old-fashion comfort food such as macaroni and cheese, potato salad, mashed potato, chicken soup, etc. :) After lunch, we left Marieann at the party while we browsed around in the shops.

Marieann, with her make-over, at her friend's make-over birthday party

At 3pm, the girls' father took Marieann to her lesson and brought Juliane home while I stayed on at Coffee Bean to do some work. I needed some peace and quiet to gather my thoughts lol. I could have worked longer but was beginning to feel a little chilled. :( Close to 6pm, the girls' father came to pick me up after picking up Marieann from her lesson.

I might just do a bit more work tonight or maybe I should just watch tv lol.

Belated Christmas Party

The girls' pre-school had its Belated Christmas Party today. It was postponed from last Tuesday due to some unforeseen circumstances. The girls were thrilled to be in school in their party dresses. The Christmas Party was from 10am - 11:30am.

I attended the party because the girls were performing. I wanted to give them support. I was seated right in front for better photo opportunities lol. The girls were extremely happy to see me. I took several photos when they performed their songs. After the performances from the different classes, the graduating K2 class was asked to end the party by hitting the pinata. Marieann and her classmate together broke the pinata. :) Yes, that's my girl lol. The parents were invited to have some refreshment after the party. Some parents took their children home after the party. I let the girls remained in school so that they could play with their classmates a little longer, especially for Marieann as it would be her second last day in pre-school.

Juliane in the foreground and Marieann in the background getting ready to sing

Farewell, Bai Rui

Today, there were two parties. One was the year-end bash for our research centre and the other was the farewell party for Bai Rui, one of the funniest persons I have ever met and a very dear friend.

Year-end Bash
The bash started with buffet lunch. It looked good but as I had a heavy breakfast, I couldn't eat much. :( There were games after lunch, followed by a lucky draw. I didn't take any photos as there were colleagues with better photographic skills and cameras taking the photos. :P I will upload the photos after I get the photos from them. :)

Bai Rui's Farewell
His farewell started just after 1pm. There were about 15 of us gathered in the meeting room for Bai Rui's farewell party. :) Bai Rui found out about the farewell by accident. He tried to grill Sharm and I about it but we were really good actresses HAHAHA. :P We had Bai Rui give a speech, followed by each of us saying something about him in return. This is one of the best farewell I have ever attended because I was laughing so hard. Bai Rui is really funny and a real entertainer. Without fail, whatever we said about him, he would say something funny in response. Hahaha. I think the world has lost a stand-up comedian to research. :P

Us listening attentively to Bai Rui's speech :)

Bai Rui going to cut his cake.

Bai Rui, you are a very dear friend. I really treasure your frankness, something we don't see much of in people now-a-days. So please don't change. :) Thanks for all the candid and valuable advice you have given me. I really appreciate it. Thanks for your friendship too. We will keep in touch, especially since your new workplace is not that far away! :) Take care. :)

Pei Party Ma Ma

You have heard of the term Pei Du Ma Ma, right? Instead of that, I am Pei Party Ma Ma, lol. Today, I accompanied my girls to a lunch birthday party. I have lost count of how many birthday parties I have accompanied them to.

Marieann's ex-classmate celebrated her birthday today at Queensway McDonald's and Juliane was also invited to go. We arrived at Queensway McDonald's at 12:40pm. Before the party started, the kids played at the playground. Before long, the party started with a game and then Mckkies! Yeah! I was hungry too lol. After lunch, there were more games. I was alternating between keeping an eye on the girls, taking photos of them and reading my book. I brought a book along to read, something that I have read before, Temple by Matthew Reilly. :)

We were the last to leave as we had to wait for the girls' father to pick us up. While waiting, I had a chat with the birthday girl's mother. What do you know, both the birthday girl and Marieann will be classmates again soon. They are both going to SCGS next year. Hahaha. :) At least, both of them will know a familiar face in school. :)

Marieann and Juliane really enjoyed themselves. :) They even asked if they can have their birthday parties here too. We shall see, lol.

Bambini

* Go Juliane Bambino
Today is Juliane's N2 classmate, Kyle's 4th birthday. Kyle had his birthday celebration at Go-Go Bambini, Dempsey. Go-Go Bambini is an indoor children's entertainment centre. There is an enormous custom-designed interactive playscape that provides children (0 - 11 years) many opportunities for active play such as climbing, sliding, bouncing, balancing, crawling, etc. In two words, it is "Kids' Heaven"! Lol. There is a library and cafe where parents can wait and chill out. And there is free wireless too, you either use their computers or bring your own notebook or pda. Hmm, next time, I can come here with the girls and yet still get to do work, lol. Oh yes, there is a Nail Spa too, lol. :) Ok, digressing too much. :P

Kyle's birthday celebration started at 10:30am. The girls' father dropped Juliane and I off at Go-Go Bambini around 10:20am. Juliane was really shy at first. She refused to let go of my hand, so I had no choice but to stay with her at the party. (I brought my HP7, thinking to read it again at the cafe. No such luck, lol). Juliane had her name written on her right forearm and a heart drawn on her left arm. The children at Kyle's party wore green tags (for easier identification, I think). After all the children have arrived, the GGB party host brought the children into the playscape. By then, Juliane has already warmed up and has forgotten all about me, lol. It looked really, really FUN as judged by the laughter and screaming from the children. I felt like joining Juliane too (parents were allowed to enter), except I was wearing a short dress so not that suitable for climbing and sliding and... you get the picture, hahaha. :P While the children were playing, the parents were mingling and talking. I would be too anti-social if I read HP7. Yes, I was mingling and talking with the Juliane's Caucasian classmates' parents, lol.




After an hour of play, the children were brought back into the party room for lunch, cake cutting and a game of pinata! Juliane was the 4th child and the 1st girl to attempt hitting the pinata. Oh Goodness! All the parents were really surprised to see the vehemence of her attack on the pinata and they turned to look at me. Aiyo, so embarrassing, lol. Yes, Juliane was darn violent and gave it her all when hitting the pinata. She was the first child to make a dent in the pinata. I must remember not to put any kind of stick in her hands, hahaha. :P The party ended at 12:30pm with Juliane leaving with a goodie bag from Kyle and a bag of candies which she collected from the broken pinata. We were lucky there was an empty cab just as we left Go-Go Bambini. Otherwise, we would have to walk all the way out from Dempsey Road to Holland Road, lol.







* Johanna
Tonight, my cousins (paternal) and their respective spouses came over for dinner. It was also the first visit by my 10-month old niece, Johanna. She is really adorable! My girls were really taken with her. They carried her and were sayang-ing her, lol. I am glad that they don't mind playing with a younger child. :) No, don't even go there. I have already done my "NS"!