HAPPY July 4th

It was indeed a happy July 4th to me!

My youngest has finally recover after 6 days of high fever.  I was so concern that she needs to go through some lab test as  Dr suggested should the fever continue after July 4th.  What a relief to me on July 4th!

While I am still having close monitoring on her, i quickly did a batch of OREO-Cheese cupcake when she took her afternoon nap.  Top with berries & kiwi, these fruity OREO-Cheese cupcakes were perfect for a thankful & joyful July 4th celebration with my family.  :)



My July 4 Sweet Treat


Daddy recently bought a grill and we had a grilled dinner tonight.  Both daddy & I felt that this grill is a good buy as not only it is easy to assemble, it is easy to clean up as well.  Most importantly, it did as what it claimed - a meal under 20 minutes!  A good quality product.

I let the girls took the fish cum pork porridge prior to our grilled dinner especially the youngest one.  We grilled corns, bell peppers, chicken wings, salmon fish, prawns, ribs, pork & chicken meats with self-created marinade and all were yummy. 


Grill in progress..



Waiting...waiting...



Yum Yum!

Complete with a bowl of after meal sweet potato green bean dessert soup, as well as the fruity OREO-Cheese cupcake, a satisfactory dinner! 

I always made an attempt for the girls to have a bowl of dessert soup when we are on 'special menu' day with no savory soup so as to substitute the 'missing' savory soup.   I'm hoping that helps to reduce the 'heaty' on the body as well...if following the old saying.  ;) 


 

Happy Father's Day

After explained to my 5yrs old what is father's day and why there is father's day, we worked on this little card for daddy on last Friday, using the recycle materials and almost everything we can find at home.



Drawings & deco by my 5yrs old 
When asked what she draw, she said daddy drive her to school everyday


It's almost impossible to ask a 5yrs old to keep a secret especially my girl who is always excited and can't hold a thing with her.  Whenever she has something in mind, she always can't wait to tell.  I have to explained to her not to let her daddy knows 'bout our little artwork till father's day on Sunday in order to make it a surprise for daddy.  And to make it quiet like a thing, i cross my last finger with her little last finger for a 'promise' deal.

As expected, when daddy was home from work on that Friday, she kept on whispered to me that she wanted to show  daddy her drawing on the card and i have to remind her 'bout our deal by showing her my last finger.  This continue till Sunday morning and in fact was the first thing she asked when she saw me.  I guess she has been waiting impatiently, but i'm glad she made it and hold this little secret till then.


"Happy Father's Day!"....Girls with their little gift to daddy



Opening the gift from girls



The girls waited patiently for daddy to open his present


The present was prepared with the recycle materials we have at home as well.


An Egg?  Mhmm...guess what is inside?



We made a mini puzzle/sorting game for daddy with words in heart-shape papers drew, cut & coloured by my 5yrs old and put inside his present.  She wrote the simple words while i worked on those longer one.  Daddy suppose to arrange the message in the right order and glue it on the card (inside) that we prepared for him. 

 

Girls 'examine' daddy's 'homework' this time.... :P

Getting close, still not in the right order yet..... ;)

 

Another little surprise inside the egg

   

Wanted to make a cake for daddy, unfortunately my mixer were not able to be used temporarily.  :( 

Saw this quote somewhere and like it: 'Anyone can be a father, but it takes someone special to be a Dad'.  To our beloved Dads, Happy Father's Day!

Happy Mother's Day

It was a beautiful sunny Sunday, with beautiful flowers blooming in the garden in front of our house, whenever i looked at those flowers from my room, just like they're smiling and saying: 'Hello'.  I can't help to return with a big smile too.. ;)

Made a vanilla layer cake with buttercream frosting and home-made strawberry jam filling for the day and my girls seems to be very interested on the cake, mhmm....i wonder what caught their attention?



Happy moments for the girls: cake cutting!

 

Vanilla layer cake with home-made strawberry jam filling


A day before the Mother's Day, my 5yrs old told me she has made a card for me but can't give it to me till Mother's Day, then after she woke up from her afternoon nap, she handed this little artwork she did in her pre-K class, told me the story about it and said: "Happy Mother's Day!".  I guess she thought it's already Mother's Day after she woke up...LOL   

I love this simple idea of hand-print card, a cute masterpiece to keep for future.  What a coincidence, my hubby did this too, a hand-print of my two girls - a great token to keep.  ;)

Well, for me, the best Mother's Day gift is non-other than my two girls are healthy and happy.

Everyday could be a mother's day so long it's blessed with accompany of healthy & happy family members.  Wishing all mothers everyday is a Happy Mother's Day!  :)  

Happy Birthday!

Special day needs deco...even a simple one.  A bouquet of tulip from hubby and a lovely greeting card with cute message + drawing from my 5yrs old just made the perfect one. 

Together with a yummy cheesecake, a one of its kind intimate river cruise dining experience with my 3 lovers, the overwhelming greetings from family & friends on FB.....what else can i ask for a perfect birthday celebration?

Hubby has been saying wanna to get a cake from cheesecake factory, but i thought it would be a great chance for me to try my 1st homemade cheesecake instead since i seldom bake a 'real' cake if not for special occasion.  Well, baking own birthday cake may sounds a bit pity to some, but i totally enjoy it and thankful for given such opportunity to practise my cake baking.  :)

My 1st try of cheesecake - a heartshap birthday cake

When eating the cake, my 5yrs old told me that she wanted to finish all of the 'ice-cream' on top.  As the cake was in the fridge for 'bout 7hrs prior served and my fridge is pretty cool, she thought the cheese was the ice cream!  (LOL).  My little one just non-stop eating & she finished everything given to her.  Hubby commented it was better than store-bought and he liked it more than the one from cheesecake factory.  (Wow....what a compliments!) ;D 

  

The downtown lunch cruise experience with Portland Spirit River Cruise Dining just made the day. 

Though i've experienced the dinner river cruise during a business trip attending my company conference in Portland previously, but enjoying it leisurely together with my dearest family was totally a new kind of experience for me. 

A Birthday Toss from my 2 little lovers

We all enjoyed it very much, especially my two girls.  More details of our lunch experience with Portland Spirit River Cruise will be on my upcoming post.  Stay tuned ya...  ;)
      

Spring Easter Fun

Smell the Spring?  Oh yes, with cherry blossom blooming beautifully in Tom Mccall Waterfront Park, the beautiful spring is hopping in. 

 

The first spring fun for my two little lovers is non other that the Easter fun.  It will be our first Easter  celebration since we didn't really celebrate it back in our home country.  We have activities line up for the weekend and hence, i'm pulling in the celebration with my two little lovers at home on Friday.  I prepared a surprise egg hunt for the girls and they were so excited. 

While the girls were having fun on their egg hunting, i'm working on this candy bird nest inspired from my 5yrs old who brought back her creation from her pre-K class last week.
    

This is the first time i'm being introduced to this cute little idea and she told me that it was a candy bird nest that they did in the class, she even shared the 'recipe' & 'how to' with me.  :)


My little chef's creation: Candy Bird Nest




DIY Tangled Rapunzel Themed Birthday Party



DIY Tangled Rapunzel Themed Birthday Party




DIY Food


When my 5yrs old lover's 5th birthday was approaching, i just thought of making a birthday cake for her with her favorite princess - homemade Tangled Rapunzel Birthday cake.  Then i thought of perhaps throwing her a birthday party since she never had one after she was born.  And i  believe a Rapunzel Themed party would make this 1st ever party in her life even memorable for her.  From there, my DIY Tangled Rapunzel Themed Birthday party planning journey began... 


DIY Deco & Party Favor

I got this wonderful idea of Rapunzel Sun Banners & Rapunzel hair braid from Supermom-moments for the party deco.  While i'm having headache on how to accomplish the hair braid as there are only limited hands in my house, my supportive hubby came into rescue.  With his little intelligence, we managed to get this done fairly fast and easy.


The making of Rapunzel hair braid



Deco with the Rapunzel hair braid

I also did the Pascal Party Blowers and got some Rapunzel tattoos as welcoming token for the kids on that day.  

On the food serving table, besides the Rapunzel birthday cake, i prepared fried noodles, fried Tomyam beehoon, lemon bar, peanut cookies, butter cookies, fruit & jelly platter as well as green bean and sweet potato dessert, while my supportive hubby prepared the most difficult roast chicken and salted chicken for the guests invited.  As for the kids, i adopted the idea from supermom-moments on the Flynn and Rapunzel's Boats jelly, also made the vanilla cupcake for them.   

Flynn and Rapunzel's Boats Jelly

While we were busy preparing for the food, the birthday girl woke up and we presented her with her birthday suprise.... a playhouse from daddy and she was so excited about it.   

  
The playhouse was the hit for the kids attending the party and was the most popolar toy on that day.

The birthday girl got a drawing done to welcome her friends for the party while we were busy preparing the food.  She also sorted the party favor for distribution to her friends.

Birthday Girl's drawing: hands open wide to welcome friends, and sunrise, sunset. 
Guess she is imagine to have a full day long party.....LOL

Sorting the party favor for friends

Party favor & the Rapunzel cake

Can't imagine i can DIY a birthday party for my beloved daughter given i don't really know how to cook well and have zero knowledge in baking previously.  Am glad that i managed to do it , though it was tiring, but that happy smile on my 5yrs old lover's face for that whole day was worth it.  :)
 

   

Happy Birthday, Sweetie!