Lia Ahryn's 11th Month

The celebration continues from the weekend until yesterday as it was Ashrie's birthday and as Lia Ahryn turned 11 months. I took the day off from work to spend the day with the family. We first surprised Ashrie and brought a birthday cake, balloons and goodie bags to her class. She said she was shocked to see the three of us in school! :)

After her class and after lunch, we went to Polliwogs in Vivo City so that the two can play. They actually didn't play together because of their age difference. Ashrie played with kids her age while Lia had the time of her life! I think we have found her happy place in that indoor playground. She crawled and climbed to her heart's content. And both went home very tired and even overslept the next day.

Speaking of Lia, she's standing more often, taking more upright steps but still prefers crawling as her "means of transportation". She has seven pearly whites now and loves to eat pasta, bread, rice, and her strawberry treats. She still hates wearing shoes. She loves climbing as seen on this post and needless to say, would not sit still. She loves her "Ate" so much. And I especially love the look in her eyes every time she sees me when I reached home. 

We're just thrilled to know that she'll be one year old next month! We're so happy, indeed very thankful for the joy this little one has brought to our lives. 

Ashrie's 6th Birthday

It was a very busy Sunday yesterday as we prepared a surprise birthday party for Ashrie. Her Titas invited her for a whole day of fun at Sentosa while the three of us, went to church in the morning and prepare for the party in the afternoon.

To decorate the entry, I opted for this simple arrangement of poppies, some inside an apothecary jar and a cake stand, and a banner of the birthday girl's name. The color scheme was shades of salmon, peaches, and pinks with a little purple.

For the dining table, the pink and purple-themed tablesetting was inspired by the paper poppy’s center. We brought out our white dinnerware, and play along with purple and pink serviettes, party hats and balloons.

Jane prepared a Filipino feast for dinner. We had Roasted Pork Belly, Crispy-Fried Galunggong, Stirfried Prawns, Salted Egg/Mango/Tomato Salad, and Pork Sinigang. 

Ashrie spent the whole day at Sentosa with the Titas, a.k.a. her BFFs and Fairy Godmothers. I will have another blog post for that adventure. In the meantime, here's the Birthday Girl with her Blueberry Yoghurt Cheese Cake and a photo with her beloved Titas.

And finally, some family photos. 

Happy 6th Birthday Ashrie!

We are and will always be proud of you. We love you so much!

EDIT: Here's her birthday celebration in school as her 14 classmates sang the Happy Birthday song, first in English and then in Mandarin.

It's the Climb

Lia loves to climb. Whenever there are steps she would climb it up and go the higher level. So it is really important for someone to look after her and not to take their eyes off her, even just one bit.

As you can see, she loves to climb stairs...

She loves to climb and sit on top of boxes...

She loves to climb into the closet...

And even pulled a toy to step on...

She loves to play the piano but she enjoys climbing it even better...

She even climb onto her book...

And used her sister's bed to reach the top of the study table!

Although we encourage her to be confident and we're glad that she is, we cannot hep but be concerned about this dareangel's safety. 

Look Ma! No hands!

Take care Little Lia! Make sure we are there to catch you when you fall.

Lia Ahryn is Walking!

Look who's walking at 10 months! 

Jane planned to shoot a video of Lia standing on her own, but she decided to give Mommy an even better visual treat.

Preparations for Lia's Party Begins!

Six weeks to go but as early as last week, preparations for Lia's First Birthday Party has begun. We have visited the venue, formulated a color palette, drafted the invite, and finalized a theme, which as you can see in the photo, will be a floral theme. For now it's basically pink, but eventually we will add shades of peaches and oranges, lilac and purples, and a little white.

Right now, the design is still in the early stages and I'm still in the process of making things work, establishing momentum and developing a strategy to expedite things and at the same time make my work better, both aesthetically and structurally.

*Edit: We have added peach-colored paper poppies with purple centers. And right now, we have cleared some shelves for badly-needed storage. All blooms are delicate as we are crafting each petal one at a time and stacking it one on top of the other would just put our hard work in vain. 

We still got more than a month to go, but loving what we have done so far. There were times I feel we are preparing too early and sometimes I feel rushed and cramming. 

Stay tuned!