Happiness is... toasting to the occasion

会不会 有一天 时间真的能倒退

退回 你的我的 回不去的 悠悠的岁月

也许会 有一天 世界真的有终点

也要和你举起回忆酿的甜

和你再干一杯

Well, if you are a Mayday fan, then you will definitely recognise that these are the lyrics to the song “干杯”, which is one of our favourite songs because of how meaningful and catchy it is.

I like the word “干杯” because it feels very uplifting and reminds me to toast to the occasion, to celebrate achievements and to look on the bright side of life even when things may look a little gloomy.

So many things in life are worth commemorating, not just birthdays and graduations, and in this "Happiness is..." post, I share about the little milestones in our lives that are worth remembering and celebrating.

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We always try to show our support for Navy@Vivo because it is a way for us to tell the hubby know how proud we are of him for being a submariner who helps to protect our seas and keep our people safe.

Seeing the two boys wearing the navy uniform, it makes me beam with pride yet also reminds me of the day when they will have to go serve our nation. I know I will miss them dearly yet I will also be a proud mum who will cheer my heart out at their passing out parades.

The youngest performed at his annual school concert and it was so amazing! The theme was "Colours of the World" and the kids had to dress up in different ethnic costumes. Ansel had a total of three outfits - Chinese, Malay, Indian and he did so many different dances that I was just blown away by how these kids could remember so many choreographies. More to share in a separate post soon.

Back at home, life might be simple and mundane but I think it's an achievement just to put home cooked food in the table and have everyone gathered together. Yeap, when you have teens at home, you will realise how rare this phenomenon has become.

But, we also eat out at times because we like to venture out on adventures and sometimes, I'm just too tired or lazy to cook after doing chores. It might seem like a norm to have four kids out with me but it's really not, because sometimes one or two of them are out with friends or just refuse to go out with us and it's a decision I have to learn to accept and respect now that they have a mind of their own.

Well, so when we do gather to eat our favourite food like sushi or ramen, I count that as a win and a moment worth remembering.

With the teens growing up fast, it isn't often that they are still willing to attend any media events with us. So when they do, of course it's an occasion worth taking pictures and remembering. We were at Changi Airport for a Disney event and took pictures with the pretty backdrops and adorable mascots. Well, there were tantrums in between that I don't always go into details but overall, it was a fun and enjoyable night which ended in Canopy Park in Jewel.

The hubby also hopped over to join us for a late dinner at Hot Tomato and it's a good thing he works in Changi Naval Base which is pretty close to the airport. With his busy work schedule, weekend family dinners are extremely rare so I deeply cherished it too. Definitely worth a toast.

Whenever I get any one-on-one time with the kids, it's not something I take for granted because we know how precious these sessions can be. On her HBL days, Ariel and I had the opportunity to go for spinning class and also hang out for breakfast together. This girl has made lots of close friends in secondary school which I'm very happy and thankful, but it also reminds me that our time together is getting lesser and lesser which makes it invaluable.

As for the boys, we still get to go on plenty of mum-and-sons dates. They still love bouncy castles, indoor playgrounds, theme parks and like to attend events together. So we do get ample time together and it's blessing that they have each other to play with and hang out with.

Korkor also went for his first wushu performance and it is really hard-earned for him as he doesn't have any outside training and is not chosen to be in the school team. He did wish he had tried badminton or basketball as a CCA instead but we told him the same scenario might have happened where you get benched or sidelined so the important thing is to grit your teeth and keep going when the going gets tough.

Well, he did display tenacity when he went for his Swimsafer Gold assessment. There was a part that terrified him and it was having to dive underwater and swim though two hula hoops placed 10m apart. He had failed a few times during practice and in the actual test day, he also failed on the first try. However, he plucked up courage to try again, stayed calm and cool, and passed on his second attempt. Yay, awesome job, Asher!

We also made our way to Sentosa and tried the new ride, Chaos in Wonderland, at 4D Virtualand. All the kids made time to go for this together and they had fun on every of the rides. I don't think we will still do this when the girls are in their 20s so these few years left are very important for me.

Barbeques are always something we look forward to so we still like to host gatherings and invite the extended family over. The younger kids would swim and play together while the teens and adults will chit chat, tuck into the yummy hot food and just catch up on each other's lives.

My friends have always commented on how it is quite incredibly amazing that my parents and in-laws can get along well, go out for meals and karaoke sessions, and just bond over beer at every of our gatherings. For that, I am truly grately.

This month, we celebrated the special days of two November babies - my mum and my firstborn. Yeap, but we got two different cakes just to make it more personalised, a chocolate ice cream cake for the teenager and a fruity sponge cake for 婆婆. I made DIY flowers in a vase for my mum and also crocheted a snake for her since she is born in the Year of the Snake. As for the big girl, I already made her two snakes and also gave her a crocheted beanie which is my first ever attempt at doing one (yes, it took me weeks).

On her actual day, I brought the kids out to have a meal at Gyu-Kaku because yeah, we just can't have enough of BBQ food. Haha. We also ordered an ice cream and added a candle to let her make a wish. I always make it a point to celebrate their actual birthdays and let them have a candle blowing ceremony. It's my way of loving them and celebrating their milestones for them.

Back at home, we have a new addition to our living room and that is our super huge and comfy beanbag from Yogibo. The kids love lying on it and it's come in handy for our fondue and movie sessions too. Yay!

Another place we visited this month was Curiosity Cove at Mandai Wildlife Reserve. While the boys were excited to play tag, explore and run around, the girls were happier to sit down, chat and use phones. Well, at least they made an effort to join us and were nice to take photos too. Nowadays, I keep on reminding myself to accept the fact that kids grow up, that preferences, habits and pastimes evolve over time, and that I also have to adapt to their changing needs and wants.

Oh wait, we are not done celebrating the big girl's birthday because I had also planned a special 4D3N getaway to Johor to celebrate her sweet 16th. I will share more about this trip in the next post so stay tuned to see the highlights, including a very cool Avengers themed apartment that we stayed in that includes a slide and rock wall.

There are so many things worth celebrating life, not jus the big milestones but the small and seemingly insignificant moments deserve our attention too. So yeap, I wanna always remind myself to 干杯 and toast to every small achievement, every special occasion and every moment that filled my heart with joy and love.

Even a seeing a sunset as gorgeous as this is something to be thankful for. Thankful to be living, thankful to be healthy, thankful for family and friends

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

Happiness is... showing my love in little ways

While I might not be able to achieve great things in my life, I can do lots of small things with great love. At least, that is what I've always believed in.

So since young, I like showing love in little ways, like making handmade cards and cross stitch bookmarks for my mum and grandma, making friendship bands for my secondary friends, going door to door to give out goodies and personalised notes for my hall mates during exam time, and making lots of stuff like a poem book, personalised calendar and nagomi art for the hubby.

After becoming a mum, I like to make birthday cards, children's day gifts, exam packs and write personalised notes for my kids. Yup, my presents for them are never lavish or costly, but they's always done with love and that's how I like it to be.

Other than handmade stuff, showing love also means spending quality time with the kids, understanding their needs, listening to their never ending stories and going on adventures with them. In this post of "Happiness is...", it's about showing my love in little ways.

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No matter how big the kids grow, they are always my babies and thus I always like to give them a token of love for Children's Day. This time, I used a Swedish Dala Horse shaped mirror from IKEA to make a card for each of them. I added sequins, beads and wrote a personalised message for everyone. Sweden was the place where I stepped into motherhood and gave birth to the firstborn so it will always have a special place in my heart.

There are times when I suddenly feel like crocheting and this month was one of them. I made small amigurumis for the kids and in particular made two snakes for Angel (it's her favourite animal) to wish her all the best for her 'O' Levels. Yup, I hope they will be her good luck charms.

Showing love also means taking the kids out for some fun and as the girls get bigger and busier with life, I am mostly left with the boys and just like how I've always been, I still like to take them out for fun adventures and don't like to be cooped at home. This time, we went to play Floor is Lava and we also went on VR rides at the arcade.

The one who spends the most time with me is still the 5-year-old who only goes for three hours of preschool. I love that we get to walk to school every day hand in hand, I love seeing him dress up for special occasions, I love how we go on mother-and-son adventures and do things that fill up our love tanks.

On days that the Korkor is home because of HBL, we also make it a point to spend time together, like how we went for McDonald's breakfast after sending the little brother to school. We also made raspberry and blueberry sorbet for the first time and it was yummy!

On Children's Day, the kids and I decided to go to Teo Heng for a karaoke session and we love how we can dabao our dinner in and have a good time singing our hearts out. I hope they will one day look back and remember these kind of days as the happy, carefree ones filled with nothing but joy and love.

The boys and I still go for Heguru lessons every week and I love how we always get to hang out after that, be it going for dinner or having fun at the playground with our friends. This is the one enrichment class we've stuck to for a long time because the kids truly enjoy the classes and have benefitted from these right brain training lessons, made a handful of close friends and got to know some pretty awesome teachers too.

I hopped into my room one day and saw this scene of the brothers hugging each other to sleep and sharing a earphone. Yeap, the big brother was using YouTube to play music on my laptop and somehow they ended up sharing and dozed off together. Too, too sweet.

It isn't always that the big sister has time to join us for outings so this kind of meal was deeply cherished, and me bringing to her favourite fast food chain was a way of showing her my love too. Yup, I even bring them out for supper after midnight but that's only because we are not strict on bedtimes and love eating nuggets, hot fries and ice cream at the weirdest timings.

As for Ariel, I brought her out on a rare one-on-one date and we caught Cirque Alice at The Sands Theatre. We were both mesmerised by the impressive circus acts and I was glad to have her company and that we got to spend time together.

Compared to family time, time with friends is much more rare but every time we get together, we always have so much to talk about and it's like nothing has changed. I love my 姐妹s from secondary school so much and will always be thankful for their presence in my life.

October also marks Halloween which is one of our favourite festivals of all time. This year, we didn't just have an intimate celebration at home, we even dressed up and went out for Halloween parties too, woohoo!

The first was a Halloween themed escape room at Waterway Point. The place was set up to look like a hospital and had live actors dressed as scary nurse and coroner in a morgue. It was terrifying! Not surprisingly, I ended up screaming the most because these thrills really get to me. 想玩但是又害怕，hahaha. Anyway, I was so glad my three older kids were there with me and Asher was the bravest of the lot, not backing away when the live actors asked him to do tasks.

We managed to 'escape' in the end and it was definitely experience that would be stuck in my mind for a long time to come. Still, it makes me excited go for more fun escape rooms with my kids soon!

Next, I also brought the boys to Kiztopia in Marina Square for the Halloween night. We were expecting it to be chill and cool and kids-friendly but it turned out that they set up a haunted 'house' filled with jump scares from their staff which terrified the young kids, including Ansel who started to scream "I wanna get out!". So we stuck to the friendlier activities while Korkor went around completing all the scarier stations. Kudos to the staff for dressing up and there was even a guy with a giant pumpkin on his head.

We also joined in our estate celebration and it was so madly awesome that it totally blew our minds. So many households took the time and effort to dress up their gates, doors, corridors and ceilings and there were many treats tables set up too. Some even went the extra mile to dress up like how there was a scary nun giving out goodies and at our place, our neighbour dressed up in the 'Scream' outfit while the hubby hid in the stairway to scare visitors with his skull mask and light sabre. Haha. So fun!

Of course, we also had our very own pirate party in the comfort of our home. Once again, we played so many games and made so many cherished memories from that night, which is the motivation that keeps me going year after year. Read here to find out more about what happened at the party.

It's been a while since we did a family photoshoot so I was very thankful to have had the chance to do a Christmas shoot with Bloom Photography. It was for a good cause somemore as proceeds were donated to charity.

We had this amazing looking backdrop made out of cardboard and we took so many beautiful pictures here. I love that we managed to dig out these matching outfits from our wardrobes so we didn't have to spend and I think they turned out awesome.

My favourite was this Christmas collage we did which was done bu filming us separately. The poses were spontaneous and we thought of them on the spot but when everything pieced together, it was just perfect.

Every year, we also try to celebrate Mid-Autumn Festival together and this year was no exception. We made our way to Gardens by the Bay and took a stroll to check out the cute exhibits.

Then we lit our candles and took our lanterns for a walk. I am still pretty amazed by how well our DIY lanterns have held up over the years and are still going strong.

I brought along mooncakes and sparklers and the kids had a good time playing on the grass patch. When we tried to write our names in the air with our sparklers, I suddenly had an idea, let's play Win Lose or Draw!

So we started drawing in the air with our sparklers to let the others guess, be it an animal, object or phrase. Some turned out to be pretty funny as we had no clue what the person was drawing while others were pretty obvious. Even the teenagers joined in too and that was rare so we cherished all the family bonding moments and fun times we had that night.

We ended off with a race across the grass patch where all six of us dashed side by side. Yup, my kids like to compete that way and love it when Papa and Mama join in the fun.

That marks the end of October and I can't wait to share with you more about our year end holidays before we move on to our family happenings in 2026.

Thanks for being here all along and let's all remember to show our love not just in big ways but in every little way we can, every single day.