Conversations

One of the luckiest things about being a parent is listening to the maturity and development of our children's conversational skills as they grow older. Especially when there are 2 vivacious and talkative girls at hand! These days, Hubby and I found it difficult to chat between the 2 of us, what with 2 girls yakking incessantly wherever we are :)

I thought of listing down a couple of funny conversations I had with the girls this past week:

Big Bee (one night at bedtime)

Big Bee: Mummy...
Me: Yes?
Big Bee: Do you think we will all still be alive after a million days?
Me (tired out yet still had to do some quick mental calculations): Hmmm, I think we will all not be around anymore.
Big Bee (getting excited, which was the last thing I wanted for her just before her bedtime!): OH REALLY!? You mean we will all be DEAD!? (She is at this stage where she is constantly fascinated by morbidity)
Me (struggling to keep awake): Yes, if we assume all of us live up to 100 years old, which is already a grand old age, and each year has 365 days, then we would live an average of 36,500 days (*I did not include in leap years in my calculation!*)
Big Bee: Oh. Is that a lot of days?
Me (pausing to ruminate): Hm...no, not really. 36,500 days are really not many days...which goes to show we should appreciate every single day of our lives, as our lives are so short!
Big Bee (probably wondering what Mummy was going on about regarding the brevity of life): Oh. Ok.

Thanks, Big Bee, for showing Mummy how precious life is, and how we really should live life to the very fullest :)

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Little Bee (this is more of a trend this past week, rather than a conversation)

Little Bee (in her usual cloyingly sweet pleading tone): Mummmmmyyyyy...
Me: Yes?
Little Bee: Can I call you Mum?
Me: Sure! You can call me anything you want.
Little Bee (in a calm, matured, adultish tone): Mum...
Me (feeling a wee bit strange at hearing this from Little Bee): Yes?
Little Bee: Can I call you Mama?
Me: Sure!

Since then, this experimental girl had been calling me 3 variations of "Mummy", "Mum" and "Mama" on different occasions daily.

Whatever our labels are, we will endeavour to be there for our children any time as parents (same goes to our hubbies as wives too, and vice versa!)

Children do have an uncanny way to let us see life from another angle indeed.

Boxing Day Shindig

We hosted the yearly Christmas get-together with our closest friends of over 20 years at our house on Boxing Day. It was a cheery lunch with fantastic company, plenty of food and super boisterous kids. YM, LP, BK and PF arrived bright and early around 11am, and I ordered a nasi lemak buffet with home-cooked fried bee hoon for a simple lunch. YM made delicious strawberry jelly cheesecake for dessert, complete with juicy cherries, and BK brought ice-cream. There were also waffles for the little kids from LP. Hubby ordered a roast chicken, chicken hot dogs and ham, but the food was just too much that we did not heat those up. 

Hubby surprised me with a list of party games and prizes he had prepared a few nights ago, and volunteered to be the party games host to 9 rambunctious children. He also decorated the house with balloons and a Santa Claus poster. Short of dressing up as Santa himself (which I suggested to him, haha!), he was all ready to face 9 active kids alone on Boxing Day.

While the ladies sat around the dining table, munching and yakking away, Hubby - with the assistance of the rest of the husbands - directed the kids in different games stations with skilful finesse, much to my amazement! The night before, he printed out an ambitiously long list of games stations for the kids, and they managed to complete 6 stations:

1) Snakes and ladders as the opening game, using our gigantic DIY gameboard. 

2) Word game Zingo

3) Remote-controlled F1 racing cars at the corridor outside our home

4) Fishing in 60 seconds, which was a hot favourite, comprising of each kid attempting to "fish" as many magnetic fishes from a tub of water within 60 seconds

5) Wii Sports of tennis and bowling, which got all the kids hot and sweaty

6) And finally, after most of the families left, Eugene, Claire and Big Bee indulged in a game of Castle Panic, which they won against the monsters! 

Thanks to Hubby, I could chat with my friends in peace, although the kids did create a deafening din with sheer exhilaration and excitement! Medals and small prizes were given out to winners and non-winners alike, so every child went home with something. 

As each year passes, all of us cherish such gatherings more, especially with each other's busy lives. From gawky teenagers to young adults to mothers, I am grateful that I have such close friends to share life's journey's fulfillments. It is also very satisfying to see all our children bonding so well with each other, and hopefully, they would be good friends in future as well! 

An Intimate Day Of Celebrations

Christmas Day was spent with our closest families this year. We had a sumptuous lunch at the Bees' paternal great-grandmother's home, with relatives from Hubby's paternal family. It was uplifting to see everyone coming together, bonding, laughing and merrily exchanging presents.

The Bees had a convivial time with their aunts, and Big Bee were busy dabbling in photography with young Auntie Brianna and Auntie Merrilyn. Such fun indeed!

The new paparazzi

Indulgence for those with sweet tooth! 

We went for a little break at Coffee Club, luxuriating in a caffeine boost, before heading for dinner at my brother's home. Once again, he was the chef, and we were all treated to 2 excellent choices of oven-baked rice (I forgot the actual name of the dishes!), filled with aromatic and rich melted cheese, and a choice between chicken, mushroom and asparagus, as well as mussels, prawns and scallops. Epicurean indeed! My parents were thrilled to be able to sit back and be served, and the Bees were enjoying every morsel.

More log cakes!

Val popped by with her parents for a little while, and the Bees had great fun jesting about with their little cousin again! 

Peekaboo!

Despite the cold, rainy weather, we were all revelling indoors, with heartwarming food and snug, warm-hearted family bonding. 

Good food with wonderful family time - life is brilliant indeed :)

Grilled Christmas Delights

Our usual Christmas Eve tradition comprises of an intimate and quiet family dinner amongst the four of us, with more cosy family time at home thereafter, followed by an early night's rest. This is a marked contrast to days long ago when Hubby and I would revel in glitzy Christmas parties with friends till the wee hours of Christmas Day's morning. 

Hubby had traditionally been the chef for past Christmas and New Year's eves, and this year was no exception. He decided to revive the grill, which had been standing rather neglected in the balcony, much to my delight! We went supermarket shopping for the ingredients in the afternoon, and it was really nice getting into the mood of the festival, seeing the hustle and bustle of everyone outside. 

He started work early at 5.30pm, busy grilling away, and by 6pm, the entire family was sinking our lucky teeth into succulent wagyu beef burgers! This was followed by delectable sticks of satays before we slurped down piping hot mushroom chicken soup and munched on crunchy fresh salad with piquant Italian dressing. I was joking with Hubby that we were eating our dinner in a reverse fashion, starting with the entree and ending with the appetizer! I guess we could not help but be over-enthusiastic with the grilled burgers. Big Bee relished the burger and soup, and chomped everything down in record speed!  

After dinner and some quiet downtime, we took a walk around our estate, indulging in a little voyeurism and playing our usual game of spotting Christmas trees amongst our neighbours. It was heartwarming to see most families staying home for a peaceful night. We had a tranquil time sitting down outdoors, indulging in each other's company, and enjoying the steady and gentle night breeze that is evocative of beautiful December evenings. We finally ended off the evening with the Bees playing some sparklers as a mini form of celebration. 

Thank you, Hubby, for cooking a wonderful Christmas Eve dinner as usual! 

A Happiest Christmas To All

As the festive cheer gets denser and more exhilarating today, may we wish everyone a Merry Christmas and may everyone enjoy the celebrations which will start tonight right until this weekend (and next week!). 

The Bees and their Papa had a snow globe experience on 4 December - they had a blithe, high-spirited time immersed in a tiny snow blizzard, throwing fistfuls of "snow" at each other, and generally having great fun. 

According to the organisers, the artificial snow the Bees played with is the same as that being used in movies like Narnia. It was so soft and fine that Hubby and I had so much trouble trying to get the "snow" out from the Bees' and Hubby's hair! Amazing!

It was a magical experience for the Bees to be inside a snow globe. Merry Christmas everyone! 

Farm Animals Flapbook

We did this farm words flapbook a couple of months back, and it is now a nice fixture in Little Bee's first farm lapbook! 

After she learned to read these basic farm animals from the farm animals' wheel, plus other reading activities at home with appropriate story books, I got her to choose and write her five favourite farm animals onto a flapbook, and then she pasted the pictures of these animals beside the words. She could also independently spell some of these 3-letter words, although spelling is not a priority for me now. 

After a few days where I acquainted her with the corresponding Chinese names of these farm animals that she wrote down, I encouraged her to work independently to stick these Chinese words in the relevant spaces beside the English names. 

She was able to match all words correctly, except - ironically - for the easiest Chinese word 牛. However, I read somewhere that young children do get confused by Chinese characters with simple strokes as they get them mixed up with other simple, similar words, hence it explains why Little Bee could read those characters with more Chinese strokes than 牛! She is always confusing 牛 and 羊, probably both do look a wee bit similar! 

This is a fun activity which she gained much sense of satisfaction from, especially when we attach it to her lapbook, as she created everything herself. 

The Yuletide Feasting Had Begun!

The year-end parties had begun in full force. Last week, we attended our first 2 Christmas parties - one on Wednesday which was a Christmas celebration organised by my estate's adept management, and another one last night, organised by Hubby's good friend J at his place. 

Christmas celebration with the neighbours

Val joined us for this Christmas gathering with all our neighbours, which comprised of much fun and games, as well as a brilliant magic show that awed all the kids (and adults!) to no end. Imagine seeing plump rabbits appearing in a magician's hat, followed by much touching of the quivering rabbit. Imagine seeing white doves vanish into small flakes of white paper. I shudder to think of the fate of the poor animals, but Big Bee told me the magic show was amazing, and felt that it was the best part of the celebrations for her. 

The Bees and Val had great fun running around the party during the dinner break while I gorged on the scrumptious buffet food, and the rest of the adults were having dinner upstairs at home. At one stage, I was eating on the floor, and trying to look after 3 boisterous kids - quite a handful indeed!

Val and Little Bee fooling about

Big Bee and her primary schoolmate whom she hung out with during the party

The highlight of the celebrations was most certainly Santa Claus who gave out presents to the kids at the party. Needless to say, we parents were the ones who contributed the gifts, but the delight on the kids' faces was truly gratifying. 

Christmas party at J's

Group shot of all the kids in the party! 

The Bees had a fabulous time playing way past 9pm with their friends at J's party. He invited a "Santa Claus clown" (in Little Bee's words!) who sculpted breathtaking balloons for the thrilled little kids and played games with them, so that us parents can enjoy dinner and chit-chat with old friends in peace! 

Little Bee and her pretty Tinkerbell balloon sculpture

We also headed outside to play with the kids' favourite sparklers again, and it was enchanting to see the Bees enjoying themselves so much with all their friends, running about, shrieking in excitement and laughing wholeheartedly. 

We are definitely looking forward to more parties in the fortnight to come! 

Without The Kids

This afternoon, YM, BK and I gathered at Hotel Rendezvous for a sumptuous high tea - without all our kids since a long long time ago! It was so luxurious to be able to combine good food, great company and wonderful conversations - without any interruptions or distractions! We had great fun discussing our families, life in general and reminiscing about the past. We just wish Loon and LP could be with us as well, but I am sure there would be other opportunities soon! 

What a great way to celebrate our friendship of almost a quarter of a century (amazing!), and thanks to all our hubbies for helping us babysit the children while we could indulge in a little me-time :) 

Staying Home Again

It is the typical time of the year again when I am taking a couple of weeks' off to immerse myself in my favourite activity - being a stay-home mum! It starts today, and it will be a bustling fortnight to add to an already brilliantly exciting quarter since Big Bee's final exams! I can't wait!

However, for all full-time working mothers like me, busy juggling between work and family (and ourselves!), and alternating between feelings of guilt and frustration, exhilaration and fulfillment, read this article below (you can click on it to enlarge the image). 

You might feel better after reading this, although I do have some reservations over the findings in the article (how can one hour be enough!?). However, I believe there are respective strengths and weaknesses in staying home and working full-time. We all have our own very valid reasons for the choices we make, and whatever they are, so long as we ensure maximum quality time is spent with our family, life would be picture-perfect :) 

My mum found this article, cut it out and passed it to me to read. As a stay-home mother, she is always encouraging me to be an independent working woman, with my own financial resources and juggling family and work life. In fact, she commented recently that I seem to spend much more time with my kids than her with us, as she used to be so busy with housework and caring for other kids as a nanny at home. And I am thankful to her for all the help in looking after the Bees while I am at work, of course :) Otherwise, it is not possible to work without reliant help. 

But for the next 2 weeks, I can't wait to be drenched with the Bees (and Hubby!) 24/7! Woohoo! 

Three Generations Of Gatherings

My cousins and I used to play very frequently as kids, with our mothers bringing us out for outings and gatherings, leaving us to our own devices and then they would chat happily amongst themselves while we created our own little merry children's world.  

Blast from the past! Whole brood of cousins 30 years (!!!) ago. Thanks to Irene for the photo :)

Now, with some of us being mothers, we are doing the same with our children, and the grannies are still participating actively in our gatherings (and still chatting incessantly!). 

Just yesterday, my aunt, Fio's mum, were discussing how amazing that we had progressed to 3 generations of gatherings already! It is a perpetual cycle, and I hope our children will continue this tradition when we are old. 

Here are some of our latest cousin outings: 

1) Val (with Fio and my aunt) at my house, playing gleefully with the Bees. She adores Big Bee, and Little Bee always welcome her company. We played some water games and I took the opportunity to do some simple art and craft with all 3 of them. 

Waterplay time! This can keep them occupied for ages, much to the adults' delight, haha. 

Hard at work creating a fruit orchard

We made fruit trees, in accordance to our farm theme, and the girls all had fun! Val made a banana tree (although I was trying to persuade her to make a lemon tree with the yellow crepe paper instead!), Little Bee made an apple tree, and Big Bee made an orange and apple tree. We should be harvesting these fruit trees soon...as I am also trying to let them learn the concept of harvesting in farms. 

Big Bee's ultimate fantasy - owning a fruit orchard with wild horses roaming around! 

2) While Hubby and I were in Beijing for work over the past weekend, my Mum brought the Bees to play with Chloe on 2 occasions. Thanks Irene for helping to babysit them as well! They had real fun cycling about, driving Chloe's electric car, playing in the playground, enjoying each other's company and luxuriating in the balmy morning breeze by the verdant hillside. Wonderful! 

Chloe happily grinning away, perched on the bike behind Big Bee

Little Bee relished her passenger role! I love the expressions on their faces. Once again, thanks to Irene for the photos :) 

We cousins are planning more outings regularly, and our little ones are sure looking forward to all these fantastic times!

Of Castles And Dragons

Hubby and I used to play the good old-fashioned boardgame Dungeons and Dragons while dating. And then we moved on to the fabulous computer game "Might And Magic" which immersed us into a world of fantastical creatures and mysterious magic. And somewhere along the line, after Big Bee was born, I kicked myself out of this addictive habit of nightly encounters with this world of enchantment.

And now, Hubby is starting to immerse the entire family into the world of dragons and chivalry, of ogres and elves again. With new boardgames.

And I must admit these boardgames are so different from the days of yore when we were playing Dungeons and Dragons where we needed to project our imagination onto the 2-dimensional game. These 3 new boardgames that Hubby bought captured Big Bee's fascination and Little Bee's amazement...and my awe! Hence, almost nightly (other than days when he is away for work), Big Bee would pester Hubby to take out these boardgames to play. I usually had to holler at them during bedtime to stop the games.

I enjoy letting the kids indulge in role-play strategy games. Besides being a whole load of fun, these games enhance creative and logical thinking (battle strategies are hardly fodder for the weak-minded!), strengthen visualisation and imagination, and reinforce reading skills (lots of reading on myriad cards, compared to iPhone or computer games!).

What Hubby bought:

1) Heroscape

This is an awe-inspiring game that is 3-dimensional, and is a cross between a boardgame and a miniature Dungeons and Dragons/Lord of the Rings toy set. The girls got to create a different landscape of forests, deserts, lakes and swampland every time they start a game, and then construct their very own castle in the structure that they imagined...and use miniature elves, dragons, knights and ogres as game tokens. These miniature game tokens are a sight to behold, many of them exquisite enough to be collector's items. How cool can this be!? This is my favourite game thus far, and it is a delight to see the Bees building a different landscape and castle everytime they played.

Big Bee and Papa built this castle, and Big Bee chose all the powerful creatures on her side of the fortress, haha!

Papa's weaker creatures all outside Big Bee's castle, waiting for a chance to storm the fortress! Check out the landscape that Big Bee and Little Bee built!

Guess who put Belle from Beauty and the Beast into the castle, right behind the many barriers of defence? Little Bee, of course!

2) Castle Panic

This is Big Bee's favourite game. She would patiently wait for Papa to come home after work, and then persuade him to play with her. This is a typical boardgame (although these days, boardgames always come with some semblance of 3D structure, which in this case is the simple cardboard castle structure, nothing like the formidable fortress of Heroscape). However, what is fun is that all players are in the same team to protect their fortress, hence it encourages teamwork and of course, enhances plenty of imagination.

3) Warhammer

This is another jaw-dropping game. It comes with rows and armies of knights, cavalry soldiers, trolls, etc. All unpainted. Just like the terracotta warriors in Xi'an whose colourful paint had waned completely. And then it also comes with bottles of paint - for us to paint these armies! Right down to the types of terrain they fight on! *Faint* Hubby spent many nights poring over the tiny soldiers with a little brush to paint shiny new armour for them. This delicate task is definitely not for the impatient me! But Big Bee is like Hubby, more suited for such meticulous work, and she painstakingly painted a few soldiers and pieces of grassy terrain. Hubby beamed and said this would be his year-long project. *More faints*

All in all, plenty of war strategies happening nightly at home. And who says little girls cannot go to the battlefield? ;)

认识短句子

为了培养 Little Bee 的中文认字能力，我自创了一套生词卡，一方面针对我们在家里所学习的农场主题，另一方面也想进一步提高Little Bee的中文了解。

这些生词紧扣了我们的农场主题，也能让她深一步地认识这个主题的基本字词。学华语的基础也不仅仅集中在学个别生词，也包括加强真确的华文句式。

我创造了21张基本生词的闪卡。Little Bee 可以把这些卡结合起来制造五花八门的组词，比如：大马，小猫，我爱，可爱，等等。然后我鼓励Little Bee 把这些个别的组词又联合在一起，形成了一个很简单的句子，比如：我爱小猫，一只大马， 甚至“我爱一只小猫”。这样，她可以规整地认识不同的华文组词，也能提升她的中文认字本领。

我把生词分到不同的词类，然后鼓励Little Bee把她所喜欢的生词造个句子

她自己独立地把生词造成句子

培养好玩的Little Bee学华文的重点就是把华文显得特别有趣，也需要采取用游戏学华文的概念。所以，在以下的列子，我把一些闪卡翻到负面，然后鼓励她用抽奖的一个游戏模式来引起她的兴趣。这样，她也更能认字与记得组词。

Burst Of Luminance

Dear Little Bee, 

In this month that you turn 4, may I congratulate you that you are swiftly approaching K1 with confidence and gusto, despite being almost a year younger than many of your classmates. Your zeal and sunny personality creates a powerful affinity with your peers. Your charmingly brilliant smile - showing all your little white milk teeth - endears you to most adults. And your fearless nature without a sliver of shyness ensures that you make many fast friends wherever you go. 

It was not an easy task when I had you in my tummy. You started demonstrating distinct signs of your presence when I bled profusely during my 5th week of pregnancy with you...which never ceased to stop until the 7th month of my pregnancy. This ensures that I treated you with tender, loving care even when you were in my womb, just like how you flourish under our love and attention till now. 

You like to make a strong statement, even when you were in my womb, and till now, your clear, resonant voice in a little seemingly delicate body ensures an overwhelming acknowledgement of your presence. 

You have a streak of steely hardiness in you, which is hidden beneath the facade of your gentle, petite build. You hardly cry, despite stern reprimands or touching movies, and it takes a lot to see tears well in your eyes. Despite your diminutive build, with your peers towering over you, you possess an unwavering courage - you were brave and spirited to swing on a lofty flying fox when more than half your peers cowered in fear. You watched the fearsome T-Rex in Walking With Dinosaurs roared deafeningly with nary a flinch in your wide-open eyes, never raising your hands to cover your ears. 

You have a quirky sense of imagination and humour, never failing to make people guffaw around you with your open, naive nature. Like for example just last night, you made jiu jiu and Popo laugh so hard when you asked Popo how she laid eggs to jiu jiu. 

Most of all, you are highly sensitive to my emotions and moods, and you know exactly the right actions to do and the perfect things to say to banish away those moods. Your sweet lamentations of "I miss you, Mummy" when I was overseas for work always boost up my cheerfulness quotient. Your little reassuring adult-like pats on my arm or back with perpetual utterings of "It's ok, Mummy" when I expressed consternation or fear in front of you makes me confident of facing a future in an uncertain world with you. 

As you approach the big kid age of K1, you are now able to read fairly, largely preferring whole word recognition than phonics, because it is so reflective of you, to want to absorb one big piece of information rather than creating a systematic structure. Your large scrawly handwriting reflects your spontaneous personality. Never one who is meticulous, your sweeping attitude with beaming smiles makes it easy for teachers to close an eye if you cannot complete your work. This is something that Mummy is hoping to improve on as you grow older. 

You are a lot clearer in your diction these days, although your rapid-fire articulation sometimes does reflect your impatient personality. You ask plenty of questions and are not shy to speak out in public, to young or old, and it brings a certain charm to your babyish diction. 

You are so attracted to pretty, attractive trinkets, and bear the early traits of a future shopaholic which I am trying to curb. And you see the world in large strokes of colourful brushes, visualising everything in psychedelic multi-coloured hues, all widely fascinating to you. 

Papa and I are so reluctant to let go of our little baby, unwilling to see you gradually grow older, for we want you to remain forever as our baby. But, despite your babyish traits, we are beginning to see inklings of independence, of mature understanding and empathy in you...and we know you are all poised for the stage of a big kid. 

Happy 4th birthday, my burst of eternal sunshine. 

Your self-drawn portrait

Writing 101

This holidays, I had been trying to nurture some writing skills with Big Bee. I veer from using the ubiquitous term "creative writing" because all forms of writing - be it diaries, journals, blogs, poems, scribblings or essays - are all creative to me. 

Besides encouraging her to write her diary or scribble little notes everywhere, I bought writing assessment books from bookshops and attempted to impart some writing knowledge to her. However, most fundamentally, a love of writing stems from a love for reading. Big Bee is a voracious reader, ravishing books after books, day after day. 

Here was what Big Bee came up with, after I suggested an essay topic for her to write on. I thought it was a good attempt. I am also trying to nurture 华文作文 but that might be a little more challenging. 

*********************

A Field Trip To Sentosa

On Sunday night, most of the pupils from Rainbow School could not get to sleep. As they had an outing to Sentosa the next day, their minds were whirling with excitement. The next morning, the pupils leapt out of bed enthusiastically. In school, the pupils' arms were gesturing wildly while they rattled on like a machine gun. It was their first visit to Sentosa, so they were really enthusiastic. They set off in high spirits. 

When they reached their destination, their faces were all flushed with excitement. They were obviously more than thrilled. The sky was as blue as cornflowers. The leaves rustled in the gentle breeze. There was a splendid view of the emerald green trees. The pupils whispered among themselves as they looked at the tall clock tower, the high cable cars, the grand Merlion and the fast, yellow train. The pupils listened attentively to the teacher as she explained everything about Sentosa. They went back to school by bus. They were tired but happy. 

A Party For A Princess

Little Bee's ultimate dream is to be a princess. She is a vision of royalty perpetually, enjoying decking herself up in little pretty trinkets and long dresses. Hence, when she requested for a princess party for her 4th birthday, I could not resist her endearing request.

Hence, on 28 November, we threw a little party for 18 of Little Bee's closest pals and cousins (together with the grandparents) - little kids whom she had played with regularly in our circle of friends. She was anticipating this party for a whole, constantly bombarding me with questions on how her 4th birthday party would be like. We selected the theme of "princesses and princes" for this party, and dressed Little Bee up in her favourite Disney princess, Belle, from Beauty and the Beast.

Finally, when the day arrived, she woke up bright and early to immediately exclaim excitedly "It's my birthday today!"

We decided to throw the party at JWT Kids Gym at UE Square this year, as I had previously enjoyed a few terrific parties at this same gym. Therefore, I was not to be disappointed by this party, as the folks from JWT Kids Gym really made the party so hassle-free for me! All I had to do was to order the food and cake, and buy the goodies for the party kids - and that was it! Hubby and I did spend a fair amount of time searching for individual presents for each kid, as the age groups of the party kids were too varied for homogeneous party bags, but we enjoyed the process thoroughly!

Some highlights of the party included:

1) Seeing Little Bee's friends trickling in, and the thrill on her face as she greeted them cheerfully, accepting their presents with a delighted smile while leading them into the gym like a gracious host.

2) The exuberant party host, Shah, and his helpful staff, who made the party so memorable for Little Bee.

3) The wonderful games that Little Bee and her friends enjoyed so much starting with a competitive yet crazy obstacle race, followed by a zany limbo contest that got the kids all exhilarated and warmed up. 

These kids turned absolutely delirious when the party host took out a gigantic colourful parachute cloth, involving the parents in the game. 

The highlight of the games was definitely the flying fox, with all the kids eager to launch from the start of the flying fox right into the food table for the cake-cutting session. Little Bee was the first to descend from the flying fox, accompanied by a tune from a Disney princess movie theme song. Talk about grand entrances!

4) I enjoyed the food break with all the kids eating and the parents idly chatting around them. More importantly, this break gave me some time to decorate Little Bee's 2-tiered princess castle cake with her favourite Disney Princess toppers - Belle, Aurora, Ariel and Cinderella!

5) The look on Little Bee's face as Papa brought out the cake, complete with candles and toppers, was priceless. The atmosphere was dense with the usual child-like excitement as everyone sang Happy Birthday to Little Bee, whose eyes could not leave the cake for a nano-second. Big Bee was right beside her, lending her support and gamely instructing her what to do.

6) Lest the kids thought the party was over with the cake-cutting session, more exciting games await them soon after. The party host gathered all the kids for a hilarious session of "dance and freeze" game, followed by a magical bubbles session where the entire gym was dim and filled with sparkling bubbles, enchanting all the kids from the very young to the big ones! Everyone was immerse in his or her little world, at one with the bubbles, chasing them and trying to burst them.

Intense fun followed after the idyllic bubbles session - the parents were all asked into the gym for a feisty foam ball fight versus the kids! Parents and kids, all armed with several foam balls in all sizes, stood in a face-off with each other. The moment the whistle blew, hysterical frenzy broke loose! The kids ignored all rules and dashed all around the parents, throwing the balls incessantly at us - it was a matter of time before the parents were fatigued although the kids were imbued with boundless energy levels! That was truly uproarious.

7) The finale was truly dramatic - but befitting Little Bee's gregarious nature perfectly. She was made to walk down a long red carpet to a little raised platform (where I was seated with all the presents for the little kids). As she strode regally along the red carpet, to the tune of another Disney princess movie theme song, holding a big bunch of balloons and surrounded by her closest friends and family around her, her smile had never looked more radiant nor luminous.

As she perched on the raised platform, calling out the names of each of her friend with gusto, giving them their presents and extending her arms to hug everyone, I could see how Miss Extrovert was enjoying being the centre of the party.

She might become more shy as the years grow on her, she might prefer much smaller parties, but for now, I am happy that she was elated with her 4th birthday party, hoping that this is a gem that would be indelible in her little mind.

Happy 4th birthday, my little one. Time is swift indeed, as I see you growing up from the baby we all fussed over to an (almost) big kid now. And to Little Bee's friends and cousins, she was ecstatic that everyone could join her to celebrate her 4th year in this wonderful world.

All the adorable princesses and princes at the party!