spring with grandma

 Visited Hampton Court Palace with grandma. All the tulips are out.

 Keeping a beady eye on the swan.

Me and my bro.

 Enjoying grandma's noodles. We're well fed and nourished.

 Taking  a walk in Isabella plantations in Richmond Park.

 The azaleas and rhododendrons are in full bloom.

 

Lots of mandarin ducks in the garden.

An introduction to horticulture

Welcome to our garden. This is a picture of it just as we were moving in. The two big trees are fig trees.

It used to be a well cared for allotment type plot, with lots of different types of vegetables. A warning to the kids: It's a jungle out there.

Then it became strewn with weeds and random plantations. We are still in the midst of finding out what's growing where and when.

Josh found some grapes growing from the vine, quite sour though.

 Taking a trim of the overgrown fig trees. There were gates and fences surrounding the vegetable plot.



 There was an old glass house which many of our friends still insist we should have kept. Being naive gardeners, we were more atune to the aesthetic than practical.
Once spring arrived, our spirits were slightly lifted. Peonies of assorted colours started popping out of the ground, all by themselves, much to our delight.





The little white splashes of a flower are known as pinks, although they are really white. They have a strong pleasant aroma.

After a few months' of hard work, the grounds begin to take a slightly more appeasing form. A better,  under control growth was in check.

 The white peonies smell really fragrant, with a tinge of pink in the middle.



Flowers indeed last but a day, indeed beauty is fleeting.

To blossom to its fullness for a while. 



The poppy above was the first to open today, after months of anticipation, and Josh plucked it eagerly to show it to me. Elation or desperation, I swung between the two.

Giving dad a helping hand with taking down the shed, pronounced as "hh-eee-dd" by him. Amazing what kids learn through observation.

Gong Xi Gong Xi

In his traditional outfit, Josh poses seriously for Dad.

Having a laugh.

Leanne being a happy big sister, can be quite protective over the little one at time as well. As Josh still doesn't do much talking, she seems to understand what he wants to say better than we do.

Joshua's 2nd birthday party

After more than a year's break, we finally revived the blog. So much has happened, where do I start? This is Josh's 2nd birthday cake. He loves helicopters and aeroplanes, anything that flies really. Perhaps this explained the fact that he slept only 2 hours on a 13 hr flight.

Some of Josh's friends came along as well.







They get on really well together. Looking forward to being able to play together again.

 Josh and his godparents, he simply adores them.

The adults in the sitting room, whilst the kids were in the play room.

 Looking very wistfully at the cake, perhaps even making a wish. Or just wondering what's mom doing, putting my helicopter on a brown cake. As we finished singing Happy Birthday, he paused before taking a big puff and blew the candles out.


Dad seems to be more excited about Josh's birthday pressies.

Father let me dedicate..

Feb 14th - All in one, a celebration of Valentine's day, Chinese New Year, Joshua's dedication and his very first birthday. Indeed a special occassion. Josh seemed to be a little fazed by it all. His cute outfit is from Ching Yin.

We were delighted that Ching Yin, Martin and Rachel agreed to be his godparents. Craig also dedicated Leanne as well about 3 years ago.

After the church service, we headed home for lunch. Mommy fried some noodles, chicken with chilli and curry leaves, braised pork belly, grilled pork ribs and vegetables, followed by lychee and pineapple. Geetha brought along some yummy chicken and wild rockets in couscous.

Josh fell asleep after the service until half way through the party, his usual napping time. Took him a little while to realise what was going on. 

It was just a handful of us, 6 adults and 3 kids. Josh seemed to be very  interested in Leanne's party hat.  

Leanne was very excited about the cake, and offered to blow out the candle for her oblivious brother.

However, when it came to eating a piece of his cake, he knew just where he stood.

Happy to be in KC's arms. Josh gives the thumbs up. 

A close up shot of Josh's 1st birthday cake, mommy's bold attempt at dare I say it, Cars. His very own personalised number plate already. The wordings, eyes and tyres are of chocolate icing, the rest are butter vanilla icing, covering a   lemon chocolate chip madeira cake with a hint of strawberry jam in between. 

Happy New Year

Feels like the Christmazs holidays are a distant memory.

The new year is as busy as can be. It is a real blessing that Grandma could come and spend a couple of weeks with us. We were all very spoilt with yummy meals and an extra pair of hands to babysit.

Grandma was entertained by Josh's antics. Our little acrobat has been climbing up tables and beds, standing on high chairs and having his share of falls and bumps. It is a hard knock life!

Here is Joshua chewing a celery stick. Maybe it's just a guy thing to eat just about anything. It could be quite soothing for his gums as it is cold and crunchy. 

A new perspective, looking at the world through onion rings.  

Dada has to get used to staying home with both of us as he will be working from home 3 days a week from February onwards.

Someone to keep mommy company whilst she cracks the code.

Leanne and her paper hat, part inspired by Cbeebies. She made hats for everyone in the house.