AtteeeeennnnnTION!

The girls never fail to amuse me. The latest thing they do is stand at attention when they know I am about to enter a room. It is usually just E & C cos S can never get to position quick enough. E & C will normally stand at each side of the doorway (that I am entering). They will rush ahead of me into a room so that they can get into position to greet me military style. Dead pan face and all. It makes them giggle.

Here's a special one where S managed to get in position too.

What's there not to love about these soldiers!

October Babies!

The kids were bored at home..... so baking they did. Here they are baking a gluten-free chocolate cake.

Team Work Baking

We had a mini October Babies Party at ours after dinner.

Tada!!! - The Cake

Kids had fun playing charades. Surprisingly, it was the first time for all of them! Much better than Wii or the iPhone. They actually loved it!

What a fun night :) Happy Birthday to the October Babies!!!! xxx

Mum's 63rd Birthday

This year, mum had several birthday celebrations. This one was on the eve of her birthday. Us kids decided to take her some place she hadn't been - Shinji @ Raffles Hotel. Food wise was just ok for the price, but what was important was the company. I think I speak for all of us when I say we all had a great time chatting, just us, no kids.






In my personal opinion, I have the best mother in the whole wide world.

Happy Birthday Mum!!! Xxxxx

Gong Xi Fa Cai from the Chews!!!

Chews had a fantastic Chinese New Year visiting relatives and catching up with friends. Happy Lunar New Year to you all!!!!

And another New Year wish from the little Kum Kuats....

SSSSSSSSSSssssssssssentosa!

Took a nice picture with a white python when we went to Sentosa recently. Sophie was asleep in her pram so too bad this isn't a complete family picture.

Check out the girls' faces.... Emma was absolutely thrilled while Cate was so not keen.

I ought to be ashamed of myself but all I could think about was how it would make a lovely wallet! Ack!

Sisters @ GE Womens' 10k - 2009

On Sunday, we did a "family run" @ the Great Eastern Womens' 10k.

We all met at mine and drove over together with our hubs. We didn't run TOGETHER, but it was fun sharing pre-race and post-race stories before and after!

I was apprehensive about the run having done so badly at TNF just the week before. I wasn't sure if I was just bad on the trail or deproved so much that was just bad all round regardless of terrain. I felt somewhat pressured (by myself) to beat my previous GE 10k time. (See previous race report here).

The weather was PERFECT. Not hot at all. The route was very nice and easy cos it was pretty much flat all the way.

Less than 1km into the run, I bumped into someone and my GARMIN watch FELL OFF!!!! Ack! I looked all over for it but couldn't see it anywhere on the road. I started yelling "Where's my waaaaaaatch!!!!" Luckily, a another runner told me that he saw something fly into the bushes. (on hind sight, what was a guy doing there?...) Anyway I went hunting around the bushes and true enough it was there. Ended up carrying the watch in hand throughout the whole race.

I had to pick up my pace. Wasted a good 0.5 min looking for my watch! It was still the start of the race and there was still a crowd. I kept my breathing steady and tried to keep at roughly 5.5min pace. I would say I was feeling pretty ok through most of the race. Not as fresh as I felt at the Army Half but I guess that is expected seeing as I hadn't been running much lately.

Meng & Paul were not allowed to come into the race area, so they ran outside the barriers - kind of with us. Apparently Paul thought I was much faster than I actually was and was running way ahead looking for me. It wasn't until he spotted Lin when he decided to stop and look for me BEHIND cos it was impossible that I was ahead of Lin. (who btw ran from HOME and still did 49min! Mad.) Paul eventually spotted me at around the 5km mark and pretty much ran along side me the rest of the way.

At the last km, I was beginning to feel tired. I hadn't taken a drink or anything (there just wasn't time). Paul was cheering me on the last few hundred metres. "Comon! Go! You will be able to do it in under an hour!" Man, I wasn't sure if that was meant to be encouraging or discouraging! I was still hopeful at being able to beat 56.5min..... but I guess it was not meant to be..... I came in at 57:10min - about half a minute slower than my last GE run.

I wasn't too disappointed. At least it wasn't too far off.

Elaine and Jasmine did fantastic. Elaine hardly runs and did 1:02hr. She will be able to break 1hr in no time! Jasmine, who only just started running regularly recently, improved her time from the previous week at The Human Race by TEN minutes (1:10hr)! Great job girls!!! Thanks Paul for the support also. xoxo :D

And then there were 8.....

Below is a little collage of all the "Tay" grandkids on their 1st birthdays. All these "1st Birthdays" were celebrated at Nana's. As you can see, Nana kept the same highchair for a good 12 yrs just so that everyone got a picture in it. Straight after Sophie's picture, Nana binned the highchair!

See if you can guess who's who and match up the babies above with the motley crew below.

Am so glad that my kids have lots of cousins. My kids adore their cousins and a simple meal together is just FUN-PACKED. They don't seem to get enough of each other.
Answer key:Top Pic >> 1st Row - Nicolas; Steph; Ems; Soph; 2nd Row - Myra; Mark; Matt; Cate
Bottom Pic >> Behind - Mark; Nic; Matt; Front - Myra; Ems; Soph; Cate; Steph

29!

We had a lovely birthday lunch with the whole family at Mimolette.

Cate smiling at will.... this is one of her new party tricks "Fake smile"

3 generations of gals,.... hey where am I? Emma is such a poser!

These 2 blow hot and cold to each other but deep deep down,.... they are best friends.

Mark: "Emma!.... YOu are so ugly!..."

Emsky: "Maa-ark.... you are so rude to meeee.... *sulk*..."

Mark: "Let's play!"

Emsky: "OK!"

**play..play...play...**....best friends again...

Girls cheering papa on as he swims

Chew & Daughter II

Papa and Cate at sunday school. La...la... Smile at the STORM! Smile at the STORM! La...la...la...

Chew & Daughter

Paul and Ems enjoying lunch at Corduroy & Finch.

Naked baby!

Don't you just want to blow into her fat tummy!