The Hengs

We have a big family at the maternal side. My mum has 4 brothers and 5 sisters. Every lunar new year, most of the uncles/aunties will take turns to host gatherings at their places.

We don't attend all the gatherings, especially now that we have kids. The simple reason being that our bodies cannot take it! Haha. And we have no means of private transport. Waiting for a cab during this period can be quite frustrating.

After the waterfront outing, the whole family had a good rest, except me of course. I find it hard to nap long in the day. I'll think of all the stuff I have to do and jump out of bed, no matter how tired. :p

At least, the adults got to gamble a bit (and won) that night, and the kids had a blast playing with Felicia and Ivan who made them makeshift 'houses' out of mattresses. :)

 My nephews and nieces are all quite camera shy. Hehe.

And we won our taxi fare home.

While the kids cooked and ate in their new found home.

Once, Barry ran out, holding a plate of poker cards and told me that was his dinner. Haha. 

The next day, we went to Mrs Lee's place, which will be in another post. Sunday was my mum's turn to host lunch. By then, we were all half dead. Haha. Bo stamina.

We left the kids to my cousins while we ate and gambled. They had their naps 2hours late!

That's Barry's signature scowl this new year. Like his sister, he isn't the sociable type and will freeze up and frown whenever someone other than The Closest 5 (I'm going to use this term for the people my kids are comfortable with, ie jiejie/didi, papa, mama and the 2 grandmas. ha) comes near.

Warmed up after my mum played with them. After that, they were ok without any of The Closest 5 around.

They even had a makeover by Ivan. Pirates!

The kids had so much fun they looked a bit sad when my cousins had to leave. Now, they're saying they want to go my xiao gu's house to build houses again. And they finally know Felicia's and Ivan's names! :)

And we welcome the rabbit

As with previous years, we ate a light breakfast before heading to my mum in law's place. For she always prepare yummy fried nian gao with sweet potato and yam and 糖水 for breakfast. But unlike previous years, she didn't make the pancake that hubby and I so love. Still, she made up for it by preparing EXTRA nian gao! So we could bring home a whole big box of nian gao for breakfast the next day. Shiok!

We reached her place at 10am. After enjoying the yummy food, the kids did their favorite activity. CLIMBING! They love to take the cushions off the sofa and turn it into a climbing frame. Ha.

Lunch was delicious as usual. I ate so much that I joked that I should take off my belt and change my dress to a maternity one. :p

Then, we went to my mum's, mainly to let the kids nap. After that, it was off to my 2nd uncle's place, just a 10 minutes walk away. 

We didn't stay for very long before adjourning back to my mum's for dinner. On the way, the kids had some fun!

They love their rabbit milk candy.

My mum and hubby piggy-backed the kids back. Boy, I was glad to be the bag lady, although unglam.

Since the camera was out, we took the opportunity to click click click away.

 My mum made some wonderful accessories and I want to show you all!

 A rose bracelet. Meant for adults but Mandy likes it.

 Rose brooches.

 And here is a sucky model with a really nice flower necklace.

We were supposed to iron it first. Oops.

It comes in blue too. Will try to model it in a white dress. But minus the face lah. I can't smile into the camera.

My mum has already sold 2 of the flower necklaces! Yay!

Eve of CNY

After their little lion dance costume craft, the kids got very interested in lion dance, especially since I showed them a few Youtube videos of it. So when hubby told me there would be a lion dance performance as part of the CNY celebration at his school, I immediately said the 3 of us would tag along!

Thing is, we all had to wake at 5.30am to make it for the performance at 7+am! Gosh. We did it. But pity the kids. They were soooo tired.

As usual, the kids didn't take well to the uncles, aunties. gor gors and jie jies who gushed over how cute they were, who talked to them and tried to take pictures of them. Barry even wore a scowl whenever anybody went near him. Mandy was better, she just kept still and kept quiet. Previously, she would have cried. Ha. That's my kids. If they are comfortable with you, they can be the craziest bunch with non-stop laughing and funny actions and games. BUT, they are only comfortable with their papa, mama, mama (mil) and popo. Yap, still only the 4 of us. Ha. Nobody, except the 4 of us, has seen how they really play.

My mum is quite exasperated that they freeze in front of others because she wants others to see how fun the kids can be. They are really fun to be with. Especially the boy. He has so many tricks up his sleeves. Hubby and I have long gotten used to others thinking that our kids (and us, who are very much like them) are the most boring people in the world. Ha.

Brought them up to the stage to see the lion heads. They were very happy.

They waited for a really long time for the show to start. Until Mandy was so tired she nearly fell asleep. She said she waited for so long but the dance was so short! :p

Then, we went to the school garden, away from the crowd and noise. I know that's what my girl needed because she was looking all moody and tired. She's kind of like me. :)

After that, we went for lao yu sheng for the staff. Then, since it was early, we trooped off to my mum's.

Over there, we chilled and had lunch before heading home to nap.

Master shifu watches the TV, balloon in hand.

In the evening, we had 盆菜 from Tunglok and other yummy dishes for reunion dinner. The 盆菜 (a treat from Jennifer. Thank you!) was delicious!

Aiyah, shouldn't blog about food so late at night. I'm getting hungry. *grumbles*