Wishing you a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY, we wish we were back home to celebrate your big day with you. Love from Dublin 
Archive for the 'Birthday' Category
Aidan’s 1-derful Birthday!
Published May 13, 2010 Baby , Birthday , Family , France , Home 6 CommentsLast sunday we invited a bunch of people to celebrate Aidan’s first birthday.
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It was a very low-key and intimate event held in our humble home in Dublin. A bbq in the park was on our mind too but we felt it could be inconvenient what with the unpredicatable weather. And besides, Aidan would be most comfortable at home too if he decides to take a nap.
Two families couldn’t make it due to work commitment, but we still had close to 20 people coming over. The initial plan was to just invite 10 people as I was worried that I couldn’t cope with the preparation of the food.
First to arrive were Uji and K.Serina. They came at 10 am when I was still in my jammies! They made cute finger sandwiches for the guests.
Uji hard at work
K.Serina, her kids and my cousin helped a lot with the decorations. I had no theme in mind, my only aim was a colour coordinated look with matching napkins and paper plates. I did secretly wished mom was here, she’s fantastic when it comes to hosting parties and I think I only inherited 10% of her talent, oh god help me!
Bought the deco at a local DIY store.
Matching 1st birthday hanging swirls
and even a matching balloon! I found all this by chance
We kept the food as simple as possible and ordered kuey tiaw as the main dish.
It was yummy!
A bbq was running at the same time so there was plenty of food to offer.
Tasya brought 72 sticks of satay, thank you so much dear! And sorry to hear your nails turned all yellowy because of the kunyit 
For the desserts, hubby went on a quest to find that special cake. I wanted something french, and finally after hopping a few french cafes in town he found one . I met with the pastry chef 2 days before the big day and suggested to him if he could do it into individual portions, saves me a job on the day just in case Aidan becomes clingy.
Chef Oliver made it just like how I wanted it to be!
Tasya to the rescue! Thanks for helping to serve tapi apa marah- marah ni? hehe
We also had an unexpected second cake, my mom wanted to be a part of the celebration too and so she ordered a cake through one of the Irish websites to be delivered to our home. She’s full of surprises, thank you mom!
This was a hit too with the guests and I agree, it was really good!
On top of the 2 cakes, K.Serina gave us kuih bakar which she personally baked herself and my cousin made her signature pudding jagung. So as you can see, food was overflowing and at this point of time I regretted not inviting more people. I wished family back home could hop on the first plane to Dublin and be part of this momentous moment.
And this is us early that morning. Hubby : 'Cukup ke ni ?' Hehe.
The bbq was constantly burning from 12 to 7pm, hubby did a great job grilling the meat, fish and prawns and Chef Bob gave a helping hand too when he came later that evening
The birthday boy and his daddy
Towards the end of the evening, we didn’t take as many photos. I missed so many photo opportunities with some of the guests , heck – I don’t even have a photo of the 3 of us.
But at least I have one of my little tyke!
We ate and ate, took seconds (and thirds )...
Played a game of giant snakes and ladders and I won first! We had a good laugh with this one...
Played House of The Dead on the Wii...
Sang Happy Birthday and silly me for not buying any candles..
opened presents...
And at the end of it all, Aidan was one really happy boy! Thank you all for coming!
So that’s a little recap of the party. I guess first birthdays will always be a big celebration, Aidan would probably never remember it but I wanted to do it for him.
Hopefully one day he could look back at these photos and say, ‘Mummy did this for me ?’ ( So don’t go sending me to a nursing home, boy!) Apart from celebrating Aidan’s milestones, it also marks a year of us being parents. We hope the next time we celebrate his birthday, the family will be there too and it would be a big plus to have all his 14 cousins.
Till then, I’ll end with 15 more shots of the party in the slideshow.
( Unfortunately I can’t remove what’s been put up there, so fast forward if you find it boring! )
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Bitha and family paid us a visit over the weekend, surprising us with a lovely gift, cute cards for each of us and even a cake.
It’s amazing how she remembered both our birthdays! 
The surprise birthday cake for the both of us
Funny thing is even I didn’t buy a cake for Aidan! Bad, bad mum! 
Birthday boy, birthday mum and Aidan's new toy
Looks like we’ll be sharing many, many more birthdays together Aidan, whether you like it or not! 
with the lovely guests, Bitha and her bouncing baby. Thanks dear!
Have I ever mentioned that Aidan’s EDD was supposed to be on my birthday ?
BUT, of course he wanted his own special day and came 3 days early!
Drenched in sweat, Kuala Gandah Elephant Sanctuary
Keep on smiling dear and HAPPY 1ST BIRTHDAY!
*update*
I was just about to give Aidan a bath when the door bell rang this evening
I opened the door, and there was a delivery guy with a very big box!
Woohoo! Totally unexpected all the way from Malaysia!
What a nice surprise when the balloon came flying out of the box
Aidan loves the gifts AND the box! Aidan says THANK YOU to the grandparents and the rest of the family in 7438
I'm 1 today! ( I wonder why they made such a big hat for a one year old, he's drowning in it ?! )
Count Your Blessings, Not Your Wrinkles! :)
Published January 23, 2010 Baby , Birthday , Family 4 CommentsHubby turned another year older last Thursday and so we had a simple celebration at home, just the 3 of us.
It was way past Aidan's bedtime, the birthday boy came home from work rather late!
I made hubby’s favourite dish- Chicken Briyani for dinner that night. You can’t be too ambitious with the menu when you have a very adventurous baby in the house!
The balloon, hats, desserts were sort of a last minute thing. We had actually celebrated his birthday the night before but I felt bad that I didn’t prepare anything for him on the day itself.
Check out the cool birthday card and it sings too!
I didn’t get a birthday cake this time as the neighbourhood shopping mall didn’t have anything to my liking hence the large chocolate eclair and fruit tarts! Marks would have been a better place to go when it comes to desserts, their cappuccino cheese cake is the best.
Even Pepper dressed up for the occasion but I think she wasn't too happy with the hat
As usual, the videos
And finally, I was just going through some old videos and found an old video of the nephews and niece singing Happy birthday for their Usu. This must have been 5 years ago!
Ida, do you remember this video ??? 
We finally made the trip to Northern Ireland last weekend .
Hubby had been on call for 3 consecutive weekends in February and the month of January we were so busy moving into the new house, so there was no way we could make a weekend escape.
Just to give you an idea of the trip, below is the route we took from Dublin to the little town called Newry.
The route
It is a brilliant place to shop as the currency is in British Pounds so we get to save a lot as compared to paying in Euro.
Nowadays, the Republic is really ripping people off that people do not actually mind clocking the extra miles to get a really good bargain.
The drive, taken with the Fuji bridge camera
Anyway, the real reason we made the 90 minute drive was to get his belated birthday present.
Hubby’s birthday was actually in January and knowing that it would cost a bomb to buy it in the Republic, he was willing to make a wait. Heheh. Hey, it saved me 150 euros! (Now I am hoping come May I do not have to wait 2 months too) He now has upgraded his camera to a D60 so I now own his old camera. And by the way, all the photos in this blog were taken by the Fuji camera, I think it does the job though.
Whilst we were there, we bought a few baby essentials too. I am now slowly ticking off the list and hopefully come April we should be prepared for the little one’s arrival. With no family support and hubby literally working 24/7 with his on calls, it would not be wise to leave things to the very last minute. I only felt comfortable buying things after reaching 30 weeks and that is why I didn’t bother catching the xmas sales even though I knew we could have saved a whole lot more.
Anyway, back to the trip – that evening I volunteered to drive us home to let him play with his new toy. And here’s the first shot in the car…
A glimpse of my growing belly
We were planning to test the new camera this weekend but the weather forecast is predicting snow and rain. I think it’s best we stay home, nothing beats a good book, warm socks and a mug of hot chocolate. If lucky, I really hope to watch Slumdog after all the good reviews!
This entry is getting way too long, finally I leave you a shot of Pepper lounging at home
Pepper all curled-up
Look at him- just back from work, still in his work clothes and playing boxing on the Wii. (And dinner’s waiting on the table)
If you’re wondering why I have been quiet on the updates, this is the reason why. I am in love with my birthday present!
The Wii Fit is very addictive and I am trying my utmost best to do at least 20 minutes of yoga per day.
My Wii Fit age says that I’m *cough* 10 years older so lets see if I can tone these flabby muscles to at least , my actual age. 
I have every reason to be happy as my birthday came 2 weeks early this year.
I spent the last few hours of our stay in London browsing through Selfridges when an unexpected phone call came through.
Two of my best mates had suprised me with an early birthday present!
Now, can you guess which two ?
The night before, one of them had amazed me with her collection of Thomas Sabo Charms which she had collected from 2006.
So after much contemplating, I used the Gift Voucher to treat myself to a bracelet and 2 charms to represent both of them.
I absolutely love it!
Thanks a million, guys!
(Indeed one was really happy as the birthday girl herself hadn’t remembered her big day was approaching!)
I have to say, my other half took fabulous photos of this place that I have to give him some credit.
We visited Howth on my birthday last year. Just 30 minutes drive from dublin, it was the perfect getaway from the hustle and bustle of dublin city.
I remember flying to London one day and from the plane, I could see views of Howth harbour. To this very day, he thinks I am making it up.
Howth is a fishing village with wonderful views of dublin bay. You have to be here to truly experience the spectacular views of dublin bay and you get what I mean.
So this is the view of dublin bay from Howth pier, pure serenity.
And below is the photo of the village itself. I especially love the vibrant colours of the buildings in the village.
The village also plays host to the best fish and chips I have ever had and I should take a photo of the place one day.
And if you wander along the pier, you will come across this particular birdie
I think I am coming back here again on my birthday just for the fun of it ! Can we, pretty please ?
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