All I wanna do is rollerblade - Ariel is 12!

知足常乐。That has always been my belief in life and it's a very important mindset that I try to cultivate in the kids from young.

When we were thinking of how to celebrate Ariel's 12th birthday last year, I asked her for her preference and it was plain to see that she wanted to help us save money and was contented to do simple activities that were fun and free.

The one thing that she said she really wanted to do was to... ROLLERBLADE! So we made sure that she got her wish. This girl has always been a sweet, thoughtful daughter who doesn't like to spend money on unnecessary stuff and I hope she will always stay this happy and contented in life.

But well, this being the year that she is done and dusted with PSLE and has said her goodbye to primary school life, I wanted her day to be a little more special so we threw in a couple more activities for her too. Here's a look at how we celebrated this precious one turning 12.

******

She loves Christmas — it's her ultimate favourite festival and holiday of the year — and since her birthday is just three days before, she gets to open her birthday gifts under the Christmas tree every year.

Since she was a kid, she loves building LEGO so this year, she received a Little Mermaid LEGO set and also an advent calendar that made her squeal in delight every time she opened one of the dates to reveal a figurine or accessory.

On the morning of her big day, both of us woke up early and had a nice mother-and-daughter cake making session. Yeah, this girl super love Oreo cheesecakes and always loves it when we make it ourselves. So I got the ingredients ready the night before and together, we made the cake while the siblings were still in bed.

The cake wasn't perfect and we needed to freeze it to make it harden but that's the thing about life too — learning to love the imperfections, to enjoy and appreciate the journey, and to see the positive side of things. In any case, the taste was so good that we enjoyed the cake a lot that night.

In the afternoon, we made our way to Pasir Ris Park to realise her simple wish of going rollerblading! It's always a hassle of bringing out so much stuff for this sport — rollerblades, helmets, knee guards, wrist guards, elbow guards, and everything multiply by 4 sets. On the plus side, we have all the gear we need at home for all four kids so we didn't need to rent or buy anything.  

Also, it is always worthwhile seeing their big smiles. We might not be experts at this sport but the fun part is in the trying, falling and then picking ourselves up to go again.

It was Ansel's first attempt st rollerblading so that made this outing even more memorable. He was a brave boy and didn't give up despite falling down many times and also learnt to break his fall using this hands. Kudos to you, little one!

So who is the best at rollerblading in our family? Well, without a doubt, the birthday girl! She always makes it seem so effortless when she glides down the path and given that she has had no formal training, I think she is pretty talented at this sport.

When the other siblings were tired and had changed out of their rollerblades, she wanted to go on a little longer and a little further. I really wanted to accompany her on this day and not let her be alone so I put on the big sister's blades, plucked up my courage and told her "Let's GO!!!"

She could have gone much faster than me but being the sweet daughter, she slowed down to wait for me. I also made her laugh out loud when I couldn't control my speed around a bend and rode straight into the grass to cling onto a lamppost. Was I afraid? Yes, terrified because I am not very good at rollerblading, I can't slow down when going down slopes and at this age, I don't really wanna fall down and injure myself. But I wanted to be brave for her and I was so, so glad we had that precious half an hour or so of one-on-one time.

Remember climbing up 'spiderwebs' as kids? I used to do that aplenty with my friends back in secondary school and now, I do it with the kids. Ariel loves to do all sort of climbing, including rock climbing, and is quite adept at it too. Yeap, I have sporty kids!

For dinner, we hopped by a beachside restaurant we happened to see while we were rollerblading. We ordered western cuisine and Ariel's favourite chocolate lava cake, as well as enjoyed the cool sea breeze. I love this shot taken of the kids and I wish they will always make time to celebrate each other's birthday, no matter how busy.

It was too early to call it a night after dinner so we made our way to one of our favourite playgrounds, which was complete with slides, swings and flying fox.

The kids always love it when Papa and Mama join in the fun so we made sure we did it too. They were very excited to get us to sit on the flying fox, push us with all their might and then see us flying into the air. Haha. Such simple, carefree, happy moments are priceless.

We ended the night with a cake cutting ceremony at home where we dug into our homemade Oreo cheesecake. She loved it and it was so worthwhile to see her big smile. Such ceremonies might be simple but it usually takes time to gather everyone and film everything down. But I hope that when we look back many years later, these clips will form a part of the kids' fond growing up memories.

Oh, we also celebrated Ariel's and Asher's birthdays at Adventure HQ at HomeTeam NS. It was a fun-filled action packed session for the big kids and myself as we conquered high element rope courses, climbing walls, caves and firemen slides. More details here if you are keen to see the highlights.

We also attempted a Ninja Warrior course and the girls managed to scale to the top of the vertical wall before going down the fireman pole. Woohoo! Yup, even Ariel is growing up fast these days and is a stronger runner and better athlete than me already. Awesome!

Of course, I can't forget to mention our epic 17-pax Bali trip where we celebrated Ariel and Asher's birthdays in our villa and got her a velvet cheesecake that she requested for. It was exactly the kind of celebration that this girl loves — no frills, no lavish meals, just the family enjoying a BBQ together, with a pool right beside, where she gets to eat, swim, play with her cousins and siblings, and just enjoy all that life has to offer. Happy 12th birthday, my dearest baby girl!

******

Dear Ariel, 

Happy turning 12! This year is such a huge milestone for you as you complete your PSLE, graduate from primary school and get ready to move onto the next phase of your life.

Secondary school is an exciting time and I can't wait to hear about all your adventures in your new school and hope that you will find a bunch of close friends whom you can count on and accompany you for the next four years.

Thank you for requesting for such a simple 12th birthday celebration but I hope you had lots of fun nonetheless. I know you are thinking for us and wanna help us to save up money — you have always been the thrifty and thoughtful one — but I want you to know that you deserve nothing but the rest. 

Well, I hope you enjoyed all the fun outings we had during the year end, especially our family celebration in Bali where we sang the birthday song for you in our cosy villa which had the most amazing pool and we were surrounded by all our loved ones. Family is everything, but I think you know that already, don't you?

May you always be blessed with lots of joy and good health in your life and be our kind, loving and sweet girl always. We love you more than words can say.

Love, Mama

******

Read more on Ariel's birthday parties here:

Ariel is 11 - A Splishy Splashy Celebration

Ariel is 10 - A Long-awaited Holiday

Ariel is 9 - It's a Feeding Frenzy

Ariel is 8 - It's a MAGIC Party!
Ariel is 7 - Let's have ICE CREAM!
Ariel is 6 - The Ocean is Calling
Ariel is 5 - It's a Shopkins Tea Party
Ariel is 4 - A Royal Princess Party
Ariel is 3 - Sofia the First Birthday Bash
Ariel is 2 - Let's Get Frozen
Ariel is 1 - Turning One Under the Sea

Happiness is... celebrating every sweet moment

The year end is always a busy time for us because it symbolises the start of many birthday celebrations in our family. It also means that we are done and dusted with exams and yet another academic year.

In other words, it's time to..... party, play, get out and celebrate!

It doesn't mean that we need to travel far or spend a bomb because celebrations can be simple yet fun-filled and memorable too. In this post of "Happiness is...", it's about celebrating the sweet moments in life and remembering that the journey matters more than the outcome.

******

We went to Jewel to check out The Gift of Disney Cruise Line where we saw exhibits inspired by the themed areas on board the ship. Well, though we love cruises and have been honoured to be invited by Royal Caribbean and Genting Dreams on board, I'm pretty sure we won't get a chance to go for the highly sought after Disney cruise. So it felt rather nice that we at least managed to go for this event and come up close with Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Goofy.

It is also a huge relief and joy to know that the big kids are still willing to come for such events with us and together, we explored Canopy Park where we went through the mazes and bounced on the nets.

You know what is one big occasion we are celebrating this month? Well, it's Ariel's graduation from primary school, woohoo! The icing on the cake is that she also obtained her target score for PSLE. Yeap, phew! I was there for her graduation ceremony and seeing her dancing and performing on stage brought tears to my eyes. You are a star, Ariel, don't let anyone dim your spark.

The hubby and I also accompanied her on result release day and despite this being my second time, I still felt the jitters and I could only imagine how nerve-racking it must be for my girl.

I was the first to hug her when she got back her results and her relieved smile was all I needed when she said that she just managed to hit her target score. She was disappointed in her Chinese score as she dropped a couple of grades but she managed to pull that back in other subjects. So overall, she still did better in her PSLE than her Prelims and that is definitely an achievement worth celebrating.

You know what is another amazing thing about this girl? She loves doing handicrafts and the thing is, she doesn't just do it for herself but for the people who matter to her. Yeap, I guess that aspect is a lot like me because I used to do lots of crafty gifts for friends and family too. Check out the creative and cute fidget boards she did for her friends to congratulate them on graduation day. How thoughtful and sweet, right?

Another kid who achieved a milestone this month is none other than... Ansel! Yeap, this 3yo took to the stage and performed at his first ever concert where he even dressed up as an adorable sea star! Haha. I will be writing and sharing about this in a separate post so stay tuned for more.

To kickstart the start of the year end holidays, we decided to go for a karaoke session and sing our hearts out. Yup, I love to go for KTV sessions with the kids even if it means we have to take turns to use the mics and wait for our favourite songs. The good thing is we have a common love for some songs so we can sing together, with or without mic, and just enjoy the music and each other's company.

Eating out is something we do regularly during the holidays since we are usually not at home. While we try to limit our expenses and keep to kopitiams, food courts and hawker centres, we sometimes also indulge in yummy and slightly more expensive meals — one of the kids' favourites is is Yakiniku where they can cook their own meat.

We also made our own pancakes at Slappy Cakes and this was something fun for the kids who loved drawing creative shapes with the batter and even signing their names too.

Airport again? Yup, it's one of our favourite places to hang out as always and this time, we celebrated Hello Kitty's 50th anniversary at Changi Festive Village. The kids were thrilled to visit the carnival and play lots of games, get up close with Sanrio characters like Pompompurin and Kuromi, and have a splashing good time at Cosmic HydroPark.

It was so fun that we went twice and as usual, I made sure I got into the water so I could play tag, run around, ride on the banana boat and splash in the water with the kids. We also took turns to whizz down the 8.5-metre tall giant water slide which sent us flying and squealing in delight. Never forget to join in the fun and do it while we still can, yar?

This month also marked my mum's birthday so I brought her for a treat at Chao Niu Hotpot. Being beef lovers, we simply couldn't get enough of the fresh, tender beef slices so this was our second visit and my parents gave their thumbs up for the meal. The kids also presented Popo with their handwritten cards and we had a cake-cutting ceremony to remember that special moment. Thank you for raising me, Mama, so that I can now raise my own kids too.

The kids are still small enough to enjoy kiddy rides though I know this won't be the case in a few years' time. So while they still like to sit, ride and play with each other, we will cherish such moments — well, it doesn't mean we have to spend money cos' most of the time, I just tell them to sit, pretend and imagine.

But well, we still do spend on indoor playgrounds once in a while, especially during the school holidays, because they entertain the kids and bring joy.

Seeing how Ansel dress up as a policeman, how Asher velcro-ed himself to the wall, how Ariel still likes to play tag and hide and seek, how we all love to do indoor climbing, it's all the smiles on the kids' faces that draws us to these playgrounds. Thankfully Ansel is still young so we will likely get to enjoy such joy for a while longer because of him — yup, he is very much loved and doted on in the family because he is our 小宝贝.

My elder kids love high element courses and I can see how it gives them a sense of satisfaction and achievement upon conquering the challenge. Thus, any indoor playground that comes with a rope or high element course is a bonus for us and one that we would always look forward to. 

We don't usually head to town but come school holidays, we would do it just to take a walk down Orchard Road, go window shopping, take photos, find our favourite traditional ice cream, and just soak in the festive atmosphere.

I always think that I don't do enough art and craft with the younger kids, considering how much I did with the firstborn where we had art and craft sessions every fortnightly.

So I cherish every opportunity that helps to unleash their creativity and this time, we did clay creations and their end products were really cute. By the way, Ansel loves Hello Kitty and that is totally cool in my view.

Ansel still loves theatre shows and as long as he wants, I am more than happy to bring him. Yes, that is provided that we still get media invites because these diminish as the kids get older and as my following gets surpassed by other up-and-coming mum influencers. I have learnt to make my peace with that fact and all I wish for is to continue to have an outlet to write my parenting thoughts and to share heartfelt, genuine experiences with my readers.

Do your kids love babies? Well, mine do and that isn't a surprise considering how much I love babies too. Anyway, my kids are already aunts and uncles and we visited their nephew and niece this month — we were all thrilled to be carrying an infant once more. So adorable! My kids keep asking me to have another baby but I tell them no thanks, I think four kids is just nice for our family and together, the four of them keep me pretty busy day in day out already.

Do you love shopping at IKEA too? Our sofa was kind of spoilt and for over a year, I had been eyeing a sofa bed from IKEA which would come in handy for our weekly movie nights. So this month, we finally made the purchase, much to the kids' delight. Guess what? The hubby was out of town when the delivery came so the kids and I took up the task of assembling the new sofa. Yup, call me the DIY, ambitious mum. It took us hours to do it but it was so, so satisfying to see the end product.

We even disposed of the old set ourselves and even Ansel helped too. It feels different sitting on the sofa, knowing that you contributed to the process of putting it together so we are loving our new sofa bed lots. 

We also got a garden bench set for the balcony and I'm not sure if this will come in as functional but for now, the boys are happy to eat there, do homework, play and paint there too.

Always make time for friends, no matter how busy life gets. For me, it still doesn't happen very often because the hubby is usually tied up at work and I don't like leaving the kids alone at home. Still, I try to make time to catch up with friends once or twice a month. That's not too bad, right? It's gonna get easier as the kids get older so I'm not complaining about the lack of me-time for now because I know I will get plenty of it in future.

Back at home, now that exams are over, it's time to party, play and.... DANCE! Yup, we still to play outdated Wii games and dance with each other by following Just Dance clips and it's one of the favourite pastimes in our household.

Movie nights are still very much welcome and treasured and we still try to do it every weekend in the comfort of our home. The kids and I enjoy such mum-and-kids sessions lots and we will always get some yummy snacks and indulge in these little joyful moments of life too.

The eldest turned 15 this month and to celebrate her special day, we went for a family mookata lunch, tried out aerial hammock, went to the arcade, had her favourite Saizeriya for dinner, caught a movie and also gathered with the extended family. More details here. Birthdays don't have to be fanciful or lavish in order to be fun and memorable, right? I find that the older I get, the more I value simplicity and it's probably something that the kids will realise as they get older too.

Remember the crazy thing we did when we went to join in the crowded autograph session when Energy was in town? Well, this month, it was their concert, woohoo! It's something I finally wanted for myself and I am still very happy and thankful that I got for myself a pair of tickets. Asher was my companion for the night so that I wouldn't be alone and I thank him for accompanying me to 追星 and being patient enough to last the night, even though he did end up playing games on the phone because he couldn't see the big screen clearly. Haha.

It's like I finally 圆梦 to see my long-time idols on stage in person and I think I probably shed a tear or two, especially when they encouraged us not to give up on our dreams even when the going gets tough. I will definitely try to do better from now because of the renewed confidence that I can do it. 谢谢你们，启发了42岁，已是四个宝妈的我。

Check out what my girls did to Ansel while I was at the concert. Hahaha. It made me laugh so much but oh well, at least they were keeping him safe and keeping themselves entertained.

Last but not least, we also had our mum-and-kids vacation in Bintan to celebrate the big girl's birthday and the start of the school holidays. I can't even describe how much I cherish these trips, even if they are short ones and not far from Singapore, because each trip leaves behind such priceless and lasting memories in every of our hearts.

So yeap, just one more month left before I finally wrap up 2024 and move on. It takes time and effort to document each month but I still wanna do it so that we can have these posts to reminisce and look back on next time.

It also reminds me to be thankful for life and cherish what I have around me instead of wishing for what I don't. 身边这些小小的幸福，是多么值得我去珍惜和收藏的。

Till the next post of "Happiness is..."!