Christmas Eve BBQ

On Christmas Eve we tried something different this year. We put out all the gifts from families and friends under the tree with help from Ashley the little Elf (on previous years Santa gave them all the gifts according to the boys, and we wanted to make sure Santa only fills the stockings and not all the presents were from Santa). The kids were very good at not wanting to open the presents - just happy to see lots of wrapped up gifts under the tree.  

Our friend Stefan organised a BIG Christmas Eve BBQ by the pool so I got the kids dressed up in Christmas colours and off we went! (Matthew had to work till 9ish unfortunately...)

We started off the BBQ with some Japanese Takoyaki making... but the security came and told us off for using the gas cooker - I guess it was a fair call :(

There were lots of people at the BBQ, some were Stefan's Aussie rules football teammates and of course lots of pilots.

He put on some delicious meat he flew from Australia! 

The kids had a ball! With so many friends they never stopped running around the condo. But they were all back for this Christmas Pinata Stefan organised.

The BBQ went on till late.  Matthew came back and joined the party and a good social night with his work mates. We still had to assemble Oliver's bike by the morning plus more wrapping to do so we were planning to leave the party not too too late but...

We ended up going to the second phase of the party at Stefan's place.  

By the time we got home and put the kids to bed, it was 2am! whoops!! Of course some of us were slightly too drunk so we set the alarm at 6am to finish up preparation for the kids presents and went to bed. It was such a great night but maybe next time we need to be slightly more sensible...

Advent fun is almost over

Every morning since the 1st of December the kids have been excited to be up and opening a little window on each of the advent calendars. For Ashley it was the last day on Christmas Eve as I got the Playmobile one in Europe. The boys are very worried what is going to happen after Christmas! No more advent calendar?

It certainly has been very nice to see three excited ones each morning.

Sometimes I feel...

So lucky to have a daughter. Both boys running around and screaming pretty much all day everyday (they do play well together but they flight a lot too...) and dealing with the consequences, dressing Ashley in cute dresses and putting her hair up makes me appreciate having a girl in our family.

Watching her posing so hard for endless photos I try to take... I love it. Very much.

An early Christmas gift

When we moved into this apartment the oven in the kitchen was broken. We had our benchtop oven from Brunei and have been using it until today without any trouble. But our agent came and checked a few things in the apartment so we mentioned that the oven is no good.

It took them only 3 days, our landlord kindly fitted a brand new oven for us. Just in time for Christmas!! We have invited our friends Stefan & Su and the Komine family (Kei's family) to join us for Christmas lunch. To be honest I have ordered a pre-cooked turkey from Cold Storage so I will only be roasting some vegetables... Still, it will be the perfect occasion to try out our new oven!

The boys Shichigosan photos

I was busy catching up on my blog posts for the last few months and forgot to upload these gorgeous photos of our boys. I am very happy with the results of the painful, endless hours we had in Osaka in the studio.

 

Long due catch up

Two days ago I received a very exciting text message from my Indonesian friend Rachel. She was coming to Singapore for the weekend and had time to catch up!

She was one of the first friends I made in English language school when I was studying in New Zealand - 20 years ago!! We were best friends while I was there and of course we kept in touch after we both left New Zealand. She now lives in Jakarta and owns a TV commercial company - extremely busy business woman. We saw each other when she came to the wedding ceremony we had in Japan in 2006 and when we visited her and her partner Peter in Jakarta in 2008.

We made plans to meet up in Brunei and Singapore for the last 6 years but somehow it never happened.

Last night she came to our place and met our kids finally! Oliver made her sit down and play LEGO together for a while.

After putting the kids to bed, the three of us went out for dinner in town. It certainly didn't feel like we hadn't seen each other for such a long time. We talked about our lives for the last few years, family, friends, all the good old memories... Lots of laughs and so much to catch up on. 

She has invited us to her new place in Jakarta so we will be planning a holiday next year to see her. It is actually very close - only 1.5 hour flight there and 2 hour drive to her place from the airport (funny the car ride will be longer than the flight...). She showed us some lovely pictures of the land they own in the mountain just by a national park - amazing views. We cannot wait! 

Box box box

I like LEGO for the kids but I also like Playmobile toys.  Unfortunately here in Singapore they are quite pricy. When we went to Germany I saw this Playmobile advent calendar on sale and couldn't help myself getting one.

I already had Lego advent calendars for the boys so didn't buy any Playmobile ones for them. I actually got the last years model online halfway though the year for 70% off - very proud of myself.

Every morning since 1st of December the kids are excited to wake up to open a new window on the calendar. Guess who is the most excited? Ashley!! As soon as the boys start to open theirs she starts to panic and look for her box. She will run around the house shouting "box box box!" until she can find it. (I have to hide it otherwise Luca or Ashley will open all of it...)

We made a rule that they can only open one when they finish breakfast.  Hence lots of food around Ashley's mouth in this photo... She is learning all the names of the animals day by day which is fantastic!

Only a few more days left until Christmas. I am not sure what to do when Christmas is over... She won't understand why her box has disappeared.

Gardens by the bay

On Monday we visited Gardens by the Bay. We have been there at this time of the year in the past to enjoy the Christmas displays. This year however, everyone has been and were raving about how good it is. Well, it was a perfect night for it - very cool and no rain :) The Roses in the Garden.

We arrived in daylight so the kids enjoyed walking around the park. 

This T-shirt has been worn by all three of our kids :) 

This must be the "Christmas Market year" for us. We have been to one in Germany, one in Osaka and now here in Singapore. Christmas Wonderland - very nice and festive.

The Luminarie light sculpture was just amazing. They were specially constructed and flown in from Italy! There is a very famous one in Kobe (and much bigger display) but we have never been. Our first time experience to see them. 

They have snow making twice a night and we were there at the perfect time. As you can tell it is not real. It didn't really matter to Luca, he just loved it and kept going back to catch more. On the other hand Oliver was so disappointed he couldn't build a snowman because the snow wasn't real :( At some point it really looked like snow tho. 

The Supertrees light and music show was on. This time with some lovely Christmas music :) 

Of course the boys found the Christmas train and had a ride.

After visiting the Gardens we walked over to Marina Bay Sands and had dinner in the shopping mall. They have turned the ice skating link into another Christmas Wonderland. 

While Luca was in the toilet (of course someone has to do no2 while you are out!!) I had a great time taking photos of Oliver and Ashley.

I think we are now deep into our festive sprit. We are ready for Christmas!