We went to West Coast Park to meet up with DN and R today. It actually poured big time! No way! But…. it kinda cooled down the weather so that was nice.

Sophie was quite happy to dig her feet into the sand and pick up sticks along the way, just like in Vanuatu. I think she really missed that.

Thank God my mum came along and she was happily (er… I think) hanging out with Soph while I caught up with the other mummies!

P/s I really love this pic of my mum and Soph. They both look so happy! It helps that Soph can smile and pose on command now, somewhat willingly. Check out the stick she picked up. It took me almost 5 mins to convince her to let it go before we got into the car.

We received a lovely surprise gift from Perth last week!

It’s this beautiful handmade skirt that Sophie is so happy to wear. Once she opened up the gift, she immediately put it on, on top of everything she was already wearing! Thanks Pris!

P/s Thank you to everyone who have sent lovely presents to us while we’ve been here. Esp Mama and Yeye, Sophie loves all the books and puzzles you sent! And a shout out to Grace for the lovely bento box! It’s been such a blessing to receive snail mail. Thank you for your love and thoughtfulness.

The weather is turning cold but still there is lots of sunshine. We spent Sunday afternoon at a nearby lake (about 20 mins from our base) on a boat! It was lovely! We got to fish and our friend got to water ski.

Sophie and Micha were a little scared when the boat went really fast but they really enjoyed it when we slowed down and went into a little inlet. The inlet was beautiful, almost magical. James even caught a trout when we stopped for a little while in the inlet but it got away. So sad……

There are more photos of our weekend on flickr. Check it out!

Oooo we had such fun last Friday. Our classmates raised funds by organising a banana split communal style! About 50 or more kids and adults sat together to eat a long long banana split served on a drainage pipe like thingy that they bought from the hardware store!

Sophie sat with the kids and had a ball!!!!! She was still at it even after the kids were done.

After the ice cream party, we went back to put Sophie to bed and came back to celebrate the birthdays of two girls with KTV using the Wii. It was hilarious! I’ve got a photo of the Pursuits DTS (the youth DTS) dancing to YMCA on flickr.

It was our long awaited turn to host the Sept parents and tods in our little tiny 3 room flat!!! We had a total of 12 adult and 6 little kiddos running and stepping over each other last nite! What chaos but oooo what fun we had!

We set to prep as soon as Sophie went down for her nap. We had to move the furniture around a little for more space and hide all the mess. When Sophie woke up, I roped her in to dry the dishes for the kiddos coz she was fussing. Yes, the best way to eliminate fuss? Involve them!

First to arrive – the Teos! With all their barang – 2 kids, 1 humongous tiramisu in a even more humongous pail, etc etc… hee… Super amazing coz they are the only one with 2 kids but the first one to arrive! And the last to arrive?????? Grace, CL n Clarence coz prince Clarence woke up late! Hee but he was in a good mood when he arrived! And they brought the very very nice fruit punch too!

While waiting for everyone to arrive, we had a conference call with the Ongs! We got to see little DN who is miles away in the UK! Oh how we miss the Ongs at parties!!! Unfortunately that didn’t turn out well coz we didn’t have MSN video on our side to support the call and June’s hardware couldn’t support Skype. But at least we got to see them and hear their voices for a bit! So cool!

While James went with Tony to pick up the dinner we ordered, the kids started feasting on the noodles that Joanne prepared. YUMS! Sam and Shawn took turns to feed Sophie. (Thanks guys!)

The guys finally arrived with dinner. The menu for the day was

1. Chefs Salad w Cherry Tomato Olive n Artichokes
2. Grilled Veg Platter
3. Mushroom Aglio Olio
4. Roasted Chicken thigh w Italian Sausages
5. Oven Roasted Meatballs and Mozzerella Cheese

Left: The Spread Right: The Tiramisu

YUMS!!! We finished all the food pretty fast and quickly went onto the famous Tiramisu that Sam made! Each couple had a 4"by5" piece! I’m serious. It was huge! The kiddos had a bowl of Haagen Dazs Berries ice cream each.

That was the best time to take pictures coz we got all of them to sit in a row and they were sitting as still as they possibly can! Bren and Shawn were going a bit crazy singing and making silly actions to get the kiddos to look up so that the rest can take pictures! Aiyo super funny!

Towards the end, we took a group picture. At the end of it, Sophie stood up and started singing and dancing in front of all of us! And the girls joined in and then Clarence and Jovann all joined it and they just all started jumping up and down and laughing. It was so funny to see our kids "performing" for us!

Finally we had the exchange of presents and they presented us with a special present for a reason which we will reveal in a bit on the blog. It was so sweet……. we got a calendar which Grace made with all the kids’ pictures and winter stuff like gloves and scarves. Cool beans, just what we needed!

I really had so much fun and I think the kiddos and everyone else too.

Sophie had some girl friends over yesterday morning and they had a blast!

It’s the season for parties!

Last Friday afternoon, we had our cell mums group Christmas party! Lotsa food, toys, carols and even story telling. Wanz read to the above two year olds and I took the under twos. I was pleasantly surprised that Sophie chose to sit thru the long Christmas story with Wanz instead of tagging along with me while I read to the babies. Hee my baby is growing up and being independent! Really proud of her.

Here’s Sophie having a conversation with her new friend – Michael over dinner (fish fingers n ketchup, unfortunately or fortunately Sophie didn’t take to the fish fingers. She only licked up the ketchup.). More photos here.

This photo’s bit blur (taken with my iPhone) but the moment was so funny – Evan started to lie back to eat her banana and Sophie followed and both of them were laughing at the same time and being silly. It’s so good to have a best friend!

ML n I organised a little Christmas party at our church mums grp yesterday.

The turn out was so good! We had more than 10 mums and more than 20 kids from 7 mths to 8 years old running around. We set up three tables – 1 for craft, 1 for cookie decorating and 1 for the food and drinks. After singing some carols, everyone took turns for craft and doing the cookies coz we didn’t have space for all.

Last year, we did the same activities but I had to do almost everything for Sophie but this year, she did both activities almost on her own. Cool beans!

Sophie REALLY enjoyed decorating her "gingerbread" man, with the help of Auntie SA n ML coz I was busy manning the craft table. All the kids were eating their chocolate chips, sprinkles and I caught Sophie eating off the icing that fell off even before they finished the decorations on the cookies. Sophie decorated three cookies and finished eating them all!

At the craft table, we made Christmas trees as Christmas tree decorations using foam. Some turned out very pretty but I was too busy, forgot to take pictures!

Sophie’s good friend DN is going away to England to join his mummy for a while and we are going to miss him. We will miss his appetite, his smiles, his affection for Sophie and his good sign. Funny how they have the same smile!

Sophie thinks he’s going to see the Queen, like in the poem Pussy Cat Pussy Cat.

The reason why we were in Melbourne was coz James’ long time friend Nick was getting married.

They held their civil ceremony outdoors and dinner indoors at The Prince Deck, Acland St, St Kilda. It was a very modern hotel that overlooked the beach and sea. The wedding was held at about 6pm so we managed to catch the sun setting. It was gorgeous! But it also meant it was freezing because of the sea breeze! oooooo so cold! Don’t ask me why Sophie’s not cold at all, I was freezing!

After the dinner, the couple and guests headed to the pub downstairs but we were stopped by the bouncer coz Sophie was too young. So James dropped us back at the hotel which was nearby and went back to party with the couple.

We are really happy for the couple that they took this huge step. Wish them all the very best!

I had dinner with an old old friend last night.

Irene and I go way back. We were best friends in secondary school and have kept in touch since then. We try our best to meet yearly during our birthday month.

She hasn’t seen Sophie in a year so I bought Sophie along. I was afraid that Sophie was going to be a handful after a whole day of activities (morning swim with Evan and afternoon walk at West Coast with my parents) but it turned out so well! Sophie was totally entertaining and kept making Irene laugh with her little anecdotes and funny expressions. She become more fussy towards the end when she wanted to get down the highchair but nothing a packet of raisins and some biscuits won’t pacify.

Great, looks like I can bring her out for more dinner dates with single friends/those without kids.