Our Christmas Tree...

This is the time of the year I absolutely LOVE! I wait and wait for December the whole year because it's time to celebrate... there's Christmas Eve, Christmas day, Christmas caroling, and this year there's going to be Little Pumpkin too... (arriving AFTER Christmas, fingers crossed!). More to celebrate this year... the festivities, smell of Christmas in the air, the Christmas cheer... and of course, the holidays! What more? hehe

So, we decided to put the Christmas tree up a little earlier this year, instead of the usual 12 days before Christmas. Julian and Genevieve were delighted and the joy on their faces were... ahhhh!!!! No words can describe it! Julian's 3rd and Genevieve's 2nd Christmas... but I would say it's the 1st Christmas that they are both taking part in the decoration of the Great Christmas Tree.

Ours is 7 feet tall, and many many years old... and we've been collecting decorations only like for 20 years... haha... gleeful!!!

Genevieve : excited looking at the Christmas balls

Maran helping the 2 tots hang up decos... at their height

Julian hanging up a snowman

Still trying to get it right

STILL trying to get it right... hehe. You need nimble fingers, my dear boy

Maran showing off the stars

Maran getting the proper dimensions to hang up the star

Maran hanging up the star

Julian monkey-ing around

And Maran's no better

Genevieve looking at the 2 guys wondering how to get in on the fun

My mom and Genevieve

Tired OLD Maran,decided to crash on the sofa

My dad and Julian

Julian decides that he needs a little more height

And finally crashes UNDER the tree

 What an eventful afternoon.... How I wish we had Christmas every month!!! hmmmm...

When you have only 2 hands.

When I initially got married, I had thought to myself then that I was going to honeymoon for the first 2 years... and then start a family.

Yeah right!

It has been 2 years and 9 months since I married my darling husband Maran, and to this date I have 2 children aged 2 years, 1 year and am 8 months pregnant. Which means, on the 7th of February 2012 (which would be my 3rd wedding anniversary), I'll actually already have 3 children!!!

The thought scares me.

Mainly because I only have 2 hands.

This is what happens with the current 2 little ones at any one point of time.

All nice and happy, it's only Genevieve

Then comes Julian, he wants some action too

OK, fine... Maran lets him get on the swing too

Genevieve decides to swivel to sit, and Julian is on his feet... Ahh difficult, but Maran managed

I don't really remember how Maran swished Gen around and Julian to sit.

But he did, One happy family, with no bruises/ cuts.

 I have NO CLUE how I'm going to deal with 3 kids in 2 months time...

A Little Birthday Party.

Genevieve turned 1 on the 19th of Oct, and Julian turned 2 on the 27th of Oct. Yes, the 2 little one's are less than a year apart in age and they play nice. Most of the time anyway.

So, since we had a Great Big Party (120 man event) last year for Julian's 1st birthday, which happened to coincide with Genevieve's 30-day naming ceremony, this year I decided to have something smaller, also because I'm 31 weeks pregnant and absolutely can't run around looking for paper napkins and extra spoons. Much to Maran's dismay, I put my foot down and only called 20 of our closest and dearest family and friends. We had the BBQ on the 6th of November (slightly later than intended due to my dad being out of the country on work) at 6pm in my mom's place, since I've decided to park myself here until I deliver Little Pumpkin...hehe! Thank god for moms!

Prep for the Party:
1.Blew up about 50 balloons... I did not participate and was only supervising in case the adults get naughty and decide to burst them. We hung them up after.
2.Made little personalized picture cards for guests to leave messages on. So, in 10 years Julian and Genevieve can read them and laugh...
3.Got the BBQ stuff ready.
4.Made sure the cake was done and ready to serve when the guests arrived.
5.Dressed Julian and Genevieve up for the party... (best part!).
6.Had Maran put up the Birthday wall Poster.
7.Wrapped up the gifts for the "little" guests.

Party started at 6pm... and we had loads and loads of fun!!!

Genevieve trying to run to the cake

What's happening?

Julian : The Bullet

Sis and Me

Father in law writing a message for the little ones

Mom and Me

Anand (BIL) and Maran BBQ'ing

Nephew Jay and Me

Genevieve and Me

Sis and Genevieve

Julian... Does he look like he's just put something in his mouth???

Julian trying to chew on the rafia string

 I love having parties!!!

2 word sentence!

Little Genevieve (age 1 year 2 plus weeks) just said her first 2 word sentence today!!! And it was "Doggy there" haha... she was pointing at Bailey, our pup at the time. She has said "Doggie" and "There" before, but never together! And she said it twice, so it was definitely NOT a fluke!

Her current vocabulary consists of:
1.Amma  (that's me)
2.Mum mum (when she hungry or when she sees food)
3.Doggy (whenever Lexi or Bailey are around)
4.There (when I ask her to point to the fan / light / her nose etc)
5.Wowow (when I ask her what sound a doggy makes... this is cute)
6.Hello (whenever she sees a telephone or handphone, and sometimes the remote- hehe!)

and now...
7.Doggy there!

So proud of my 2-word saying little girl... I really hope this continues...

Pointing, when I asked her to point at the camera.

Delightful Play-Doh

The kiddos who usually sleep for  3.5 hours in the afternoon, decide TOGETHER to wake simultaneously after what was barely an hour. There goes my afternoon, I thought. As I normally plan my day around their nap times, I had a tonne of work which I had to finish today... and it seemed to me that if the 2 bubs were going to be awake and wanted to play, there was no way I was going to have anything done.

So I came up with a brilliant idea... Play-doh!!! Homemade, of course. Too much toxic substances in the shop bought variety. It took me only 5 minutes to make it, and a WHOLE hour and a half to myself whilst the kids made a mess in the wet kitchen. Yay!!!(I couldn't have them play outside, as it was raining.) Thank god for maids! I just popped in with my laptop to supervise.

This is the recipe I used, and because my brother is a part-time baker... I had ready stuff in the house which I could grab. Phew!

Everyday Playdoh
1. Mix 1 cup of flour, 1/3 cup of salt, and 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar in a bowl.(didn't have tartar, so I went without)
2. Meanwhile, bring to boil 1 cup of water, one tablespoon of cooking oil and a few drops of food coloring.
3. A little flavoring essence could be added, too.. I used vanilla.
4. Pour hot mixture into flour mixture and stir. Add more flour if necessary.
5. Store in refrigerator after use.

I had them pick the colours, since they had about 30 to choose from, there was a little bit of a turmoil there.

Very excited!... Note: The kitchen was very clean when we started.

At this point he was deciding what to do with the Play-Doh

So, he decided to share it with his sister, Genevieve...Awww, so sweet!

This is Genevieve, happily playing on her own.

Note the sticky fingers. Luckily this Play-Doh came off with a single wash, no trouble at all!

Julian trying to pat the Play-Doh down with his foot, to later cut it with heart shaped cookie cutter. Smart boy, multi-tasking!

He rolled this one on his own!

STILL trying to figure out what to do with the Play-Doh

Note the even messier fingers!

Trying to add Play-Doh buttons to the red roll.

And this is what Genevieve finally achieved. A messy self, and an even messier kitchen. Note the "I didn't do this" look.

Smiley: Julian made this, with my help, of course.

Play-Doh safely tucked into plastic bags for later use.

They were so tired after the exciting afternoon, that they had an hours nap after... good for them, and even better for me!