Ushering in the bunny year

Gosh, this would be a very backdated post. I had better get this going before I lost my blogging mojo again. 

I just wanted to highlight some of the special things that we did, just for the record of it. 

I took both the girls for a haircut at the hair salon (they normally had their haircuts at home). Since it's the first time for SJ, I only remembered to take her photos (and got labelled as bias by Sze Yi because I forgot to take hers - she's the first to go, you see). Actually, even though it's not the first time for Sze Yi to have a hair cut at the salon, it's the first time I took her there myself (last time Amah took her there), and it's also the first time she got her whole head trimmed. Yes, this time I requested the hair stylist to give her a bob-style design, too bad I didn't take a photo of that. Previous times, she only had her fringe trimmed. 

SJ was very steady, didn't cry at all! 

(P/s: That's because she was promised a candy after the cut!)

Initially we didn't plan much for this year, as we're not in the mood to celebrate. The house needed much cleaning, and both hubby and I were reluctant to decorate our house with Chinese new year decorative items despite the constant promptings from Sze Yi and Sze Juin. Until the very last minute, the mood just came. Hubby worked night shift while I continued on with morning shift right before CNY eve! Our house just transformed overnight, I'd say. Even the store room was cleared and organised, something which I've procrastinated for years. 

Finally!

All ready for the bunny year....

Our new little garden

Reunion dinner

That very night during dinner, SJ complained that her tooth was painful, and willingly gave up on candies. Even agreed to brush her teeth first thing first before sleep. But we couldn't find anything wrong with it, Amah said maybe she's going to have a new tooth soon, and I suspect it's more of the gum. Well, we'll see....

Both girls posing for Daddy... SY didn't want to open her eyes!

On the way back to Ipoh the next day - SJ insisted on sitting on Jie Jie's lap

Yeah, I know what you're going to say....you'll be more shocked when you see the next one! 

Koala bear on Jie Jie...

Sze Yi in her new cheong sam, on the 3rd day of CNY in St Michael's Church, Ipoh

(Didn't manage to take Sze Juin's photo in her CNY costume, too bad - 

but that makes it fair & square, yeah? blink*)

During the whole 15 days of CNY, the girls went kai kai till late at night after school. SJ insisted to go kai kai every night, and her definition of kai kai is MUST be out of the car! I guess the late nights outing had made her restless due to lack of sleep, so she would cry when we left her at school the next day :(

So happy to have her dreams fulfilled....

The two girls agreed to fly the helicopter together - helped Daddy & Mommy save some $$

 Nice model for Renewal & Anti Wrinkle Ad with Aladdin?

2 busy drivers trying to get Barbie to her destination..

We also took them to Kek Lok Si temple - it's SJ's first time too. The last we went there was 3 years ago. Gosh, how time flies, and see how much Sze Yi has grown since then. 

SJ riding on one of the horoscope animals - I couldn't figure out which was this...

The other photos were still in Daddy's h/p.

 The girls had fun sitting on the horoscope animals - these are the mini version

 Inside the temple

The girls insisting of joining the crowds in donating a bucketful of coins too...

The whole place was brightly lit, and it's very beautiful. No wonder the girls requested to come again soon! But it's really pack with people, and there was hardly a place for parking too. It was a scary experience, trying to prevent your car from reversing backward down the slope while waiting for the car in front. And not to mention the narrow road too, especially when there was traffic from the other direction. 

Indeed, CNY is a time to eat, and eat we did. We had several rounds of yee sang, and even Sze Yi has mastered the art of tossing it high. We also had makan-makan gatherings especially with relatives, and this year one of the new places that we went was no other than Hai Bui at Gertak Sanggul.   

 Breathtaking scenery

 The 3 cousins - missing one coz SJ was not in a good mood to take pictures

Finally SJ agreed to take a picture with Mommy

 Highlight of the event - food!

A closer look...yummy!

God knows what happened next, nobody was in the mood to snap more pictures after more food arrived. So, that's all I could share here :)

On Valentine's Day,  which was the 12th day of the Lunar New Year, we took the girls to watch 天天好天 in cinema. It was a funny, yet touching movie, and the girls kept gigling away, as if they understood the storyline. What surprised me and hubby the most was that SJ actually knew how to sing the whole song! Before this, we only heard her sang part of it, together with her Jie Jie, but on that night, we had to kept hushing them to be quiet as they sang quite loudly whenever there were songs being played. SJ also kept kicking the seat in front of her, even though I told her not to, because she complained there was not enough leg room for her! I find it more difficult to control her as she grow older, sigh...

Oh, I forgot to mention that we actually took them to watch Yogi Bear on the 3rd day of CNY in Ipoh, together with my siblings. And I was disappointed to say that it was also the first time SJ misbehaved in the cinema. I had to go out to get her another set of pop-corn halfway thru the movie. Now you know why I was thinking that maybe we should stop taking her to cinema....

And finally on the last day of CNY, we took them to Esplanade. 

Sze Yi playing with her new found toy - I don't know what it's called. 
It's something that you can shoot up high into the air, and it emits light from the LED. 

Amah got SJ a new toy as well - it's a light-emitting ball. 



Our our way to watch the throwing of oranges



It's the first time we didn't miss it! SJ was estatic!

 Daddy with SJ

 

Daddy decided to spoil the girls by giving them a trishaw ride!

 We passed here, and I was amazed at how skilful the trishaw man manoeuvred the trishaw in between the cars on a busy road

We're just back in time to catch the lion dance. 

Look at the crowds! Can you see the lion?

Towards the end, we're treated with a grand finale of fireworks, which lasted as long as the 天天好天 song was being sung by the group of choir. Imagined how much money the State Government spent on this! Here are some fo the spectacular shots that hubby managed to capture. 

Yes, that basically sum up how we ushered in the bunny year. Of course I omitted the part where we paid some visits to friends and relatives, collecting ang pows for the kids. Phew, another item marked off my checklist. Stay tuned for more backdated posts yeah!