Happiness is... turning a year wiser

April makes a special month for me because it is the month in which I was born in 1983 and then got married in 2008. Yup, that also means I officially stepped into the 40s club upon celebrating my birthday this year.

It wasn't a lavish or over the top affair because simplicity has always been more of my style. Moreover, some of us had fallen sick during that period so in order not to spread the virus to others, we chose to stick to ourselves and have a cosy celebration as a family of six. I will dedicate another post for more details and thoughts on turning 40 but here's a quick look at how the month went.

In this post of "Happiness is...", it's about turning a year older, and hopefully wiser, and treasuring the simple but memorable celebrations. 

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I love barbeques, do you? There's something about the aroma of BBQ food that delights me and it's a treat to be able to eat barbequed chicken wings, sweet potatoes and roasted marshmallow. To satisfy my craving, we had a small BBQ session for just the six of us even though some of us were sick. The kids were still happy to jump into the water for a night swim and we also got some ice cream from the supermarket as dessert. My heart lives for such simple but loving moments and it's everything I ever need or can ask for.

Of course, having a meal with our parents is a must too and after we recovered from our illnesses, we took my parents and in-laws out for a yummy steamboat at Golden Mile. My dad brought me my favourite cake, Coco Exotic from Four Leaves, and the kids and I loved every bite of it. Sometimes, I wonder if I make my parents proud with what I've achieved in my life, even though I don't really know what that means apart from having four kids and trying to raise them to the best of my ability. I have done, and will probably continue to do, some silly things and make silly decisions in my life but hopefully they know how much I love them and treasure them all.

Handmade cards mean everything to me and that is something that will never change. The kids made me these beautiful cards for my birthday and I appreciate each and every of them so deeply.

Oh, I did have one lavish celebration with some of my 姐妹s and that is because one of them had gone ahead to book a yacht party when we realised that I had missed one of their hens' night celebration - which was on a yacht - when I was living in Sweden. It was a 尽在不言中 celebration and we talked so much yet many things remained unsaid, and I know these are the girls who know me best in life and will always be there for me when I need them.

For me, it's truly rare to have a few hours of me-time away from the kids so this was very much appreciated. We drank, we sang, we ate, we partied, we chatted, we confided, we had supper after disembarking and the only regret was that I couldn't jump into the water to do paddleboarding due to the presence of lightning. However, that meant I had more time to sit around and chit chat with the girls and that was something I cherished too. Thank you all for the precious memories and for taking time off to spend a day with me!

We still love visiting parks and exploring nature reserves on the weekends and this month, we made our way to Rifle Range Park for the first time. It was drizzling but we didn't let it dampen our enthusiasm but instead continued to hike in the rain. We trekked all the way to the top, took some nice photos, stopped to admire the animals, had some cold beverages to quench our thirst before making our way back.

I hope the kids will always love coming to parks as a family, no matter how busy life gets as they grow older. It won't be easy to keep doing this once they have their own social circles and start to use more electronic devices. But hopefully, we will always know when to keep our phones and just enjoy being close to nature and spending time with family - the one thing that matters most in our lives.

For our 15th wedding anniversary, we brought the kids out for a meal at Swensen's and had a fondue treat too. I know many couples choose to celebrate this day on their own sans kids and they tell me couple time matters. However, besides being impractical for us since we don't leave the kids to other caretakers, I also think both the hubby and I prefer to have everyone together on our special day. It's just how we are wired and how we like things to be in our family. No right or wrong, I guess?

I mentioned before that I can never say no to pasar malams because despite the crowd, we still love eating pasar malam food - orh ah mee sua, braised pork rice, steamed corn, tutu kueh, tea leaf eggs, Taiwanese sausges, Ramly burger etc - and the kids get to play games afterwards too. This time round, we had a blast at the claw machines and caught not only plushies, but instant noodles, biscuits and lots of snacks too. Haha. It makes me feel like a kid sometimes but it's nice doing this with my own children and they enjoy the satisfaction of catching something too.

Back at home, I set up the tent for Ansel to have some fun during the day and also bought a whole tray of beans for sensory play. The siblings still love playing with him and it's nice that he has so many people to entertain him whenever Mama is busy cooking or needs a break. This boy is growing up so fast, isn't he?

I've been blogging and sharing less so it makes me extra grateful to be invited to any media events. Watching movies is still a favourite pastime of ours and we are always happy to attend any premieres. This time, we caught The Super Mario Bros Movie which turned out to be much better than I had expected and it evoked so many childhood memories of mine too while entertaining the kids to the max.

The kids tried out fishing too and since it's a sure-catch pond, you bet they were ecstatic when they fished a gigantic seabass or mangrove jack out of the water. I have to give the hubby credit for letting them have these fun experiences and even though we are not rich, he is always willing to spend on the kids and they are lucky to be able to savour such moments.

The big girl has been saying it's nice to eat Yakiniku and be able to cook your own meat ever since she went out with her friends and tried it. So we went to experience it too and it was indeed pretty yummy! I am a beef lover and like I said just now, I love BBQ food so grilled meat makes me happy too. Hee. It's nice to see that the kids enjoy the cooking process too!

Last but not least, another highlight of April was having a one-on-one date with Ariel! I decided to do something special with each of the kids this year and that will mean I need to take time off with each of them and this has to be done when the hubby is around to look after the rest. Ariel is the first to have a sesson with me and we decided to sign up for a mother-and-child culinary class, woohoo! We had her favourite eggs and toasted bread at Yakun for breakfast before making our way to take the MRT to Buona Vista to Palate Sensations where the class was held. 

For two hours, it was just me and her as we made Shepard's Pie and Chocolate Cupcakes from scratch. We chopped, diced, measured, mixed, fried, frosted and decorated to our hearts' content and I could tell she was very happy that morning doing something she loves with Mama. The end product turned out to be really delicious and we brought them back for the rest of the family to try too. One-on-one dates are precious to me and I hope we'll always find time to do so year after year.

That marks the end of a fun-filled, cosy and memorable April for us and it was a month filled with love, joy, good food and family bliss. I'm truly lucky to turn a year older and be where I am today in my life.

Till the next update!