Holiday cooking and crafting

Christmas is the time to do some serious baking!  We need to bring something to Ali's school for their Christmas party, so I have decided to make some healthy and yummy banana bran mini-muffins for her class. It turned out pretty good and Ali seemed to quite enjoy them as well.

Of course the parents won't enjoy the muffins.  Come on, it's Christmas!  So I made them some orange and chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese frosting instead.  Yum!!!!

The next day we were invited to our friends' for another Xmas party.  This time I want to make mango pudding.  I have to say it is pretty damn good, maybe a little bit too sweet, but in general, not bad at all.

We liked it so much that we decided to save a small piece for ourselves.  From this angle, it looks like a piece of tofu.

My first time making a cowl and mittens.  One of my colleagues is a crazy knitter and she taught a whole bunch of us how to make them.  We found them super cute and I wanted to make one for Ali's kai-mama.  She is also a crazy knitter and hopefully, she won't feel too ashamed wearing this.  Just don't look at it too closely, okay?

My godchildren adores Sammy the cat.  Every time we phoned they get really excited talking to the cat (we pretend to be Sam).  So for Christmas, I wanted to make the two cuties a black cat doll and since I am making them one, I might as well make one for Ali too for Christmas!  Now, all my kiddies have one!!!  

While I was making them, I was cursing the whole time.  My hubby kept on asking me why did I even bother with them and just go and buy them a gift instead.  My answer to him is...I never ever handmade anything for the two and I just feel so guilty!!  So here are the kitty cats...this might be the only handmade gift the two will ever get!

To my beautiful godchildren:  Don't look at your cats too closely and don't ask mommy why there is a thread here and there and why the stitches are uneven.  It is a gift of labour, a gift of love.  Your kai mama, kai baba and kai mui mui Ali loves you two very, very much!!!  Just remember, it is Sammy approved!!!

Side note:  It so turned out that their wonderful crafty mom has already made one for Kiki.  Dang!!!  All this hard work and sweat and tears for nothing!!!!  From now on, I got to remember to ask their mom before I get them anything.  (And I always ask her before I get them stuff.  This is the first time I didn't ask her!  Ugh!!!)  Merry Xmas kiddies!

Ali's first school xmas party

Ali has her first christmas party at school last week.  Parents were invited to join them and everybody brought in some food to share.

When we arrived, Ali and her class was singing rhymes and having fun.

Time to eat.  All the kids were SO GOOD and WELL-BEHAVED.  It is amazing to see how good they are when it comes to meal times.  Ali's teachers were telling us the kids just LOVE the school chef.  Every time she walks in the room, they would stop whatever they were doing (even if they were fighting over a toy or throwing a tantrum) and would get really excited and start to lick their lips.  Seriously, they are food monsters!!

Look at the table, it's filled with so much food!!!!

Ali's friend, Chloe and her mom,

I have to admit that hubby and I were kind of uptight about cleanliness.  We can tolerate some mess, but not a whole lot, if you know what I mean.  I think that is not a good thing to do since kids need to learn to explore and will make a mess during the process.  I know it is not good, but it is just hard to let go.  Here is Ali's eating area.

Here is her classmates Colby's area.  I have to say Colby is a lot more advanced in terms of development compared to Ali.  Gosh, I gotta learn to let go sometimes.

Ali's teachers bought apple juice for the kids. And Ali does not know how to use a straw.  Well, so we think. We brought her some cups with straws a month ago and was trying hard to teach her to use it.  It failed big time and we thought there is no way that she will be able to drink her juice without a proper sipping cup.  Anyways, we gave it a go and she was able to pick that up in 2 minutes.  Maybe it is because of peer pressure??  It never ceases to amaze me how well she can do and behave at school.  Really, is that my child?

 Isla and her dad:

I really do enjoy the days that we get to visit our little one.  Another thing that we learned from her teachers is that Ali eats really well at school.  And she means REALLY WELL.  Ali is always the last one to finish her meal.  She will not leave the table or get distracted during meal times.  She just kept on eating and eating and eating.  From what we have seen that day, I would have to agree with her.  All the other kids were done and Ali just kept on going.  They were out to play and she was still eating.  If people didn't know us, they just might think we never feed her at home.  Oh, my little hungry caterpillar!

First day of Xmas break

Ali was in daycare for three days last week while hubby and I got some time off work.  One of the first things that we wanted to do (or really, just me) is to go to Rodney's Oyster Bar.  I am a BIG fan of raw oysters and due to pregnancy and all that jazz, I haven't had it for like...2-3 years???!!  After I heard some good reviews of the place, we decided to check out the place during their "low tide" hours.

Oh man, I was in heaven!!!  The oysters were SO GOOD!!!  It's only $1.50/oyster.  Very fresh and tasty.  I ended up eating a whole dozen of them, while hubby had mussels.  

Here is a picture of the beauties.  Looking at these pictures make me want to go and visit them again!!!!

On Christmas eve, we took my dad to Boathouse for an early Christmas dinner.  Daddy trying hard to put the super excited little one in her high chair.

Grandpa and Santa-Ali.  A big thank you to Kai-mama for the wonderfully cute Santa-vest!!!    Ali just loves it!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!!!  It has been a really busy break thus far, with so much to do!!  Gifts to buy, gifts to make, dinners to go to, treats to make and dinners to prepare....the list is just endless!!  More blogs on that later.  

We had my in-laws over for xmas dinner this year.  In the morning, we gave Ali her first Christmas gift - a kitty cat doll named Sammy.  It is such a simple doll to make, but it took me forever.  Mind you, I am the kind of crafter that takes like 10 minutes to sew a straight line.   Ali seemed to quite like it and when I brought it out, she said cat right away.  Well, at least she can tell it is a cat!  I feel so accomplished.  Hahaha.... 

I don't know why we always forget to take pictures of our dinner.  We had SO MUCH FOOD!!  It was unreal.  My sister-in-law and her hubby were cooking the bird this year - huge relief for us and we were supposed to make the sides and the cousins were bringing some dessert.  Somehow, everyone brought something over and our tables were just loaded with food.  The dinner was delicious!  Thanks everyone for bringing over food!

Here is a picture of Grandma and Santa-baby:

After dinner, family got together and spent some quality time with the kids.  

Marie, Andrew and bew goh Anders:

The newly weds playing with the boys:

Uncle Ming trying to help Caleb to stretch:

Uncle Bunn chilling with Ali:

Aunt Kari and Uncle Boris giving Ali her Xmas present.

Time to open some presents!!  Ali seemed to be more interested in the wrapping paper than the actual gift.  Maybe I should have just wrapped ten empty boxes as Xmas presents instead.

 Aside from Ali trying to escape from Gran, this is a decent family pic:

Ali torn between these two boys....hahah...they were just hilarious!  Ali does adore her Uncle Andrew tho!

Ali has NEVER, like NEVER, given anybody a real kiss before.  She always does this "headbutt kiss", but NEVER a real kiss.  So when we asked Ali to give Andrew a kiss, we expected that she would just headbutt him on his head, but no no no, she gave him a real kiss.  We actually taped this momentous moment, but then for some reason, I couldn't load the video on blogger.  Oh well, I will give it another go next time.

Thank you for spending your Christmas with us this year!  Wishing you and your family the very best in 2011!

Xmas displays

Christmas is always a great time to check out all sorts of displays in the malls.  

At Aberdeen mall,

We took another train ride in Metrotown.  The girl just LOVES it!

"Waaaa....look at the view, it's awesome..."

Ali checking out the computer trash robot's....nose.  Um, don't put your fingers up his nose, please.

Weekend trip to Seattle

Hubby wanted to visit his ex-coworker in Seattle for awhile now.  Since we have two weeks of vacation (and a few parcels to pick up), we decided to go and visit them and and stayed for a night.

Check out their gorgeous kitchen.  My, it's pure bliss for any cook!!

Shirley and her hubby David and son, Daniel enjoying their breakfast:

While they were having their breakfast, daddy was busy checking out their cool couch and Ali was busying reading her magazine.  Good housekeeping, yes, baby, learn to be a good housekeeper and help mommy out please.

After Daniel finished breakfast, Daniel kept Ali entertained by giving her an "Ali-style" kiss...(aka headbutt kiss)

Ali returned the affection by giving him a hug:

Daniel has been a great host.  He is very generous and kept on suggesting which toys Ali should played with.  He is such a good "brother" to Ali!  Here is a picture of Ali roaming around his playroom.  A playroom!!!  Man, I want one just like this.

While we were playing upstairs, Daniel and I had an interesting discussion.

T:  Daniel, can you put your arms around Ali's shoulder?

(Daniel took a quick look at me, hesitating)

T:  Daniel, please?  Can you put your arm around her shoulder?  I want to take a picture of you and my little girl.

D:  Ali is a boy!

T:  Ummm, no she is a girl.  

D:  No, Ali is a baby.

T:  Yes, she is a baby, but a baby GIRL.

D:  No, Ali is a baby boy!

Trying really hard to hold in my laughs when I was taking this picture.  Man, I sure hope that her hair comes out nice and full and 15 years later, Daniel would regret saying those words.

Ali's first school performance

It is always exciting to go to winter concerts, especially your own child's first performance.  Ali was sick last week and we thought of ditching, but on Sunday, she got better (and also we didn't want to waste our money, $38/person, buddy) so we decided to stick with our original plan.  All in all, it was really nice to see the kids and the teachers interact and all the parents get to meet other parents and chit chat about school and other random stuff.  Food was okay, but the performances were just too cute.

Here is a clip of Ali "performing".  At first she was just kind of stunned watching all the people on the floor, but then she got into it and started to shake the bells.  Pretty cute.

We sat with one of Ali's classmates, Colby.

Ali and one of her favourite teachers, Ms. Brenda P.

Ali and her reindeer:

Taking a picture with Santa and another reindeer.  By that time, Ali was so tired that she was not amused at all, she just wanted to go home.  In fact, she started clapping when we told her it's time to go home.