Christmas coffee morning with Japanese friends

The very last coffee morning with my lovely Japanese friends for the year 2016. I was very happy to be able to use all my Christmas coffee and latte cups :)

My wonderful Colombian friend baked a beautiful chocolate cake for this occasion. It was amazing!

Also Junko's husband once again made some special sweets for us. This time creamy custard pudding. It was so delicious. You can only taste them at RISE Lounge or Waku Ghin restaurant at Marina Bay Sands. 

Thanks ladies for joining us for a fun morning. Merry Christmas to you all and have a Happy Holiday!

Fun day out with daddy

While I was enjoying some quiet time with the other mummies at home, Daddy took the little ones scooting on the ECP. They can now scoot quite far. From our place they scooted for about 30min to get to the area where they have a big playground, prawn fishing and some restaurants.

Oliver has already been to this digger place, but for Ashley and Luca it was the first time. Look at these very happy kids :)

You can scoop sand, hit empty bottles with a wrecking ball attached to the front of a digger and pick up balls and wood with a claw. Very simple but so much fun for them!

Italian brunch

We haven't done a proper brunch at a restaurant for a long time. I think the last time we went out as a family was when I was still pregnant with Ashley. Yes, a long time ago.
No specific occasion just a friendly catch up with some friends - it was excellent.

The kids were happy with all you can eat pizza and desserts.

Matthew and I went for these giant oysters. We certainly got our moneys worth. 

We were out from early morning to watch the boys rugby so by the time we sat down we were starving and thirsty. I definitely ate way too much. And the free flow of prosecco killed me... 

With so many glasses of bubbles the boys got merrier and merrier and carried on drinking at the next door bar for the afternoon. Then till late at night... I was surprised Matthew got home ok...

Now that the kids are getting easier we must socialise more often outside the condo I think. It was fun!

The best photo of the tournament

I have been very lazy and not carrying my big camera when I go to rugby tournaments anymore. But seeing this kind of amazing shot I really think I should.
One of the parents took a photo of Luca. Wonderful shot.

Centaurs Tournament 2016

The last tournament for the boys for 2016. It was held at Turf City on the weekend of 3rd and 4th December. As we live far away from the tournament venue, we had to get up super early. Even before the sun was up!

Both Luca and Oliver's teams did very well on the first day. The games were very well organised and it certainly helped not waiting so long between the games like the last tournament they were in.  Matthew had to work on the first day unfortunately. I stayed with Luca's team most of the time. Just to make sure he didn't wander off! He was pretty sleepy and dopey for the first two games but got better in the last two. Phew...

Oliver was playing defence superbly.  The only issue was that he gets in wherever the ball went and got stood on quite a lot of times... screams and tears. I think he watches too much soccer on TV - appealing for too many penalties to the referee. From next year, he will be playing full contact rugby - we will see how strong he can become. 

By the end of the day they played 4 games and won 3 of them. Very very happy with the result. 

Luca's team got through to the Bowl final too. He is still 5 but playing in the Under 6 team with some bigger boys. 

Day two went by very fast. Both of the boys played so well but ended up not winning the Bowl. Oliver's team especially came so close. Playing an extra 15 min in the final but still tied. Final decision came to who got the first try - BOOO :(

Still smiles all around - Well done team Dragons!

Baby Noah's very first BBQ

Naz and Shem put on a special BBQ for their new born son Noah. He is now 6 weeks old.
Of course the BBQ started off with opening a special bottle for him!

We really are lucky to have such great friends here. Wonderful company, amazing food - we love it!

Am I cool or what?

Luca insisted on getting his picture with his hand me down bike. Now he is allowed to ride Oliver's big bike. One very proud boy here.

Gorgeous sky is back!

The rainy season must have kicked in earlier this year. We had some dull days for a while but today the blue sky finally came back!

Weekend & blue sky = We start our day downstairs - some yummy pratas and masala dosa - yum!

On Ashley's new pink bike, Luca and Ashley had a wonderful time playing together. 

I hope the weather will stay this way until we leave to NZ! Fingers crossed. 

Christmas shopping and lunch date

It was a very rainy day and it even felt cold and Christmasy. So Matthew and I decided to leave the kids with our helper Gini for the day and go into the city for some Christmas shopping just the two of us.

We started off checking out the Christmas bazaar at the Pan Pacific Hotel on Orchard. There are about 30 little stalls selling all sorts of Christmas gifts. Unfortunately I didn't see anything I wanted, can you believe that? Me at a Christmas fair??

Then we walked along Orchard Road. The famous street lights have been up for quite some time Every year they been put up earlier and earlier, and I hate it! Christmas atmosphere should be for December.  I think they were up as soon as Halloween finished this year. 

Tangs Christmas shop:

Inside Paragon:

Well the main reason we went out was for me to find a new watch and some gifts for the family. We completely failed in our mission. We didn't end up buying anything on our list except for Matthew's new sunnies. I gave up halfway through. So we decided to have something to eat. We were at the right place when we decided to call it for the day.  Our friend Meisha recommended this place called Luke's but I never knew where it was exactly. It was in Robinsons department store in The Heeren which is the one I visit the most (but I didn't know?) It was very well tucked away in a corner of women's clothes section. If you didn't know about it you wouldn't think there is a restaurant behind the black doors.  

It was slightly pricy for a casual lunch but the service was excellent and the food was amazing!

We had three different types of oysters to taste:

Then for the main, two different burgers to share. Shredded pork and their signature dish - chunky beef burger - OH MY it was the best beef burger I have had in my life!

Since we kind of gave up on our shopping by this stage, we didn't have to rush. We ended up just enjoying our "just us" time - a perfect lunch date - thank you Matthew xx

Opening the advent calendars

Last night we gave the LEGO advent calendars to each of our kids before they went to bed. They were so excited!

Unfortunately Oliver had to go to school before the other two got up so he had to open it by himself when it was still dark outside... but he was very happy. Same as the last few years, he got a Star Wars LEGO advent calendar.

Luca got a LEGO City one and Ashley got a LEGO Friends. She is still slightly too young to put it together by herself but she wants everything the same as her brothers, just in PINK!

At night time we opened our chocolate advent calendar that Maike and Hans brought over when they visited us. How lucky are our kids?! Even Matthew got a chocolate calendar to open too!

When we visited the Brunke family in Germany 2 years ago, Maike showed me the picture advent calendars. They are so beautiful, very soft and sparkly pictures with lots of glitter. This year she kindly gave me this row of houses. There are 24 windows to open and each has a lovely picture behind. Even though we don't get any items from opening, our kids are very excited every day to see which kind of picture is hidden. I love it. 

We cannot take the chocolate ones into NZ so the kids have to finish them before we get there but hopefully I will have enough room in the suitcase to put all three Lego ones plus my picture one.