Another birthday party for Oliver

We couldn't accommodate all of Oliver's friends on Friday at our place for the Sushi party so the lucky birthday boy had another party on Sunday! This time with his Japanese friends from Bayshore.

I prepared Japanese meat patties to make their own burgers by the pool. Nice and simple!

Unfortunately Matthew was away working so he missed out on daddies Sunday beer afternoon.

Yum Yum Yum!!!

Everyone had a great time in the pool. I like how all the Japanese kids know each other very well across all the different age groups. 

For a party activity I prepared shaved ice - Japanese style.  Nothing special - we use a hand ice shaver and put some flavouring on top. But for the kids it was kind of the highlight of the party. Everyone loved shaving their own ice! And it was a perfect hot day for it!

For mummies I put something extra, cooked red beans and rice cake balls. I know most of you are not into these flavours but for us Japanese - delicious! Especially when you are away from home :)

For the birthday cake Oliver wanted a pandan cake from Bengawan Solo. Which was perfect for the occasion. It is a very soft chiffon cake with some pandan flavour. I bought two of these and put one on top and decorated with some All Blacks coin chocolates and an NZ flag! Kind of a rugby cake?! 

Happy Birthday Oliver!!!

Once we got home Oliver got to open his presents. One very happy birthday boy! (And very excited assistants...)

One more birthday party to go! I must say sometimes it is a lot of work to put on a party but I DO enjoy organising it. And seeing the kids smiles makes me so happy!!

Brunei Reunion

What a wonderful couple of days we had together. My Brunei friends Heather and Jane had a long due catch up here in Singapore. I had the kids with me so couldn't join them exploring Singapore except for one day shopping.

It was nice they were here for Oliver's birthday so they could join in the celebration and meet some of our friends. And I really enjoyed the bottle of red wine we had together!

Rafi's 5th birthday party

For us May and June are the busiest months for birthdays. Starting with Ashley's then Oliver (and Ashley's best friend Aisla on the same day), then Luca.  Two of Luca's classmates had early birthday celebrations the other day before the school holiday started.

It was at Rafi's condo, just across the road from ours, nice and easy. We walked there but it was such a hot day! Lucky the boys got to cool down in the pool as soon as they got there.

Ashley and Aisla didn't swim but they played nicely while I got to talk to some mummies.

This piñata took a while to break which entertained the kids for a long long time!

Luca was very impressed with the hedgehog cake Rafi had! Such a great homemade birthday cake!!

Happy birthday Rafi! 

Oliver's 7th Birthday celebration

Each year the 27th May approaches us very quickly. Another year has passed and Oliver is now 7!! For a primary school boy who needs to get on the bus at 7:05 we didn't have much family time together in the morning. But we managed to wake him up and give him all his exciting presents!

Super Rugby - Sunwolves rugby ball from his Japanese grandparents:

A BB8 alarm clock and Star Wars LEGO from us:

He also got a present from the English Roses and a Star Wars T-shirt each from Ashley and Luca. Lucky boy even got a classic All Blacks top from Heather!

Once he returned home from school we had his birthday party at our place. Nice and easy - some rugby watching and sushi and a cake!

The kids played very nicely together:

Oliver was very happy that the lounge was decorated with all the Super Rugby team logos :) 

Heather helped me to bake (or should I say she pretty much baked it for me...) a beautiful birthday cake. An NZ pavlova with a rugby theme!! 

Cake and movie time with all his lovely friends. 

Us adults had lots of fun too. It has been a while since we had people over to our place. Very nice to catch up with everyone and I certainly enjoyed the yummy wine :)

I am so happy he is turning out to be a beautiful boy but I wish he could stop growing so fast!!!

Happy Birthday our super star! We love you so much Oliver xxxx

Pinata Making

Gabi had a wonderful holiday project for the boys. Getting the kids to help prepare Rafi and Ansel's birthday party. They watched youtube videos and learnt how to make a pinata from scratch.

The first part was blowing up the balloon and making newspaper strips which they did on day 1. On the second day Ashley and I went to join them. They were very excited to dip the pieces of newspaper into flour/water glue then stick them onto the balloon.

Luca and Rafi:

The kids had enough after doing 20 pieces or so each so us adults were left to finish the project. It was kind of therapeutic and I enjoyed chatting to Steve and Gabi :)

The result? Unfortunately it didn't dry well and ended up collapsing :( 

Lucky they had a back up pre-made one for the birthday party!

Kindy - show and tell

This year the kindy did something different for the teacher - parent meeting at the end of the term. They invited a small number of families for each session and showcased all the classwork. The children had to show the parents around and tell us what they have done. It was a very good way to see and learn.

Ashley's class theme was "house and family members". For a holiday project they had to make a "dream house" using recycling materials. I only remembered to make one with her a day before she returned to school so her one didn't look as amazing as her friends' ones.

Ashley's little pink house in the front corner:

Ashley made a house shaped photo frame too. The teacher told us she was very proud of telling everyone about the family member and said 1. we were on holiday in this picture and 2. everyone is wearing sunnies!

In her Chinese classroom:

They were put in a few groups to work on furniture making using paints and paper. They had great fun. Ashley's group made the dressing cabinet. 

A butterfly wall art for the bedroom:

They also learnt about opposites this term. This is Ashley's tall and short trees:

Then we moved to Luca's classroom. They were learning about different occupations/jobs. They made a clinic and a restaurant. 

Luca made some noodles at the bottom:

On the top right corner the red one is Luca's piece contributing to the town picture:

And his picture of "my siblings" - very cute :)

Overall comments from both Ashley and Luca's teachers were positive and both of them were very proud of themselves. I definitely prefer this much more than the previous teacher - parent meetings I have attended. Well done both of you! Now you can enjoy a whole month holiday!!!