Happy birthday Isabelle!

Isabelle's actual birthday is on 29 September and so we bought her a little cake and a little gift (of course not forgetting a little gift for Joelle too). Daddy unfortunately is in Shanghai but we have the girls grandfather joining us. Grandpa makes many balloon sculpture for the girls. There is the road runner, bubble bees, flowers big and small, a dog on a leash and pretty little wristbands. Isabelle seems to have grown so much since the girls birthday party almost a month ago. She's so happy and always so lovable. Oh... how I love this baby doll.

Girls in PJs

Isabelle has grown out of her full suited jumpers into pretty little PJs. Daddy was filming in a factory in China last year when they gave him some samples of their children's pyjamas. He brought home one of every size! They feel comfortable, very stretchable and joelle likes them very much. When we were holidaying in KL earlier this year, we saw the PJs selling at a department store there. We bought a few sets for isabelle and later got my auntie to grab more sets when she went over later. I think these PJs are good for our nights and especially for children who kick off their blankets when they sleep. Mine does and so these PJs are warm enough without the blankets and cool enough for our sometimes warm nights here. The girls seem to like their PJs very much and I'm happy to have found some comfortable sleepwear for the girls and they have sizes right up to 10 years old. Hmmm... I might consider bringing in the PJs from the factory direct. Any interested mummies?

playground filming

The girls are models for daddy today!
Daddy bought some new "toy" and really wants to try them out so he suggest taking the girls out to the playground and he will film them with his new equipment. The girls enjoy themselves very much despite daddy choosing the brightest, sunniest and shadeless playground.

Isabelle is the more natural model because she doesn't even bother about being in the limelight. Daddy can trail her with his long camera lens and she would just hop around, walk around and run around. Joelle tends to be more curious about the children playing in the playground. She is at the age whereby she likes company and in always at the lookout for new friends. But she doesn't make the first move. She is shy.

Daddy is not too happy with the result from that evening's shoot. He complaint about the lack of time and assistance (he is too accustom to having an assistant wait on him). However he is happy to have some hands on with his new "toys". We're planning the next free-play filming on daddy's next off day. Where should we head to this time?

Sandcastle

The Chans go to the beach again!

The girls start on their solo project. Joelle's project goes up while isabelle's goes down. HaHa! One is piling while the other is digging! So much fun watching them.

Then we decide to have a mini competition. I pair daddy with isabelle while joelle pair with mary. Mummy is the judge and photographer. Mary would have been bias towards her isabelle. So they choose a pit and start on their creative sandcastle. Isabelle's castle couldn't rise because whenever daddy pile, issy pushes it over. That team ends up with a "ant colony" (just a heap of wet sand) while joelle's team wins with a castle with water security all around. The winning team gets a double scoop ice cream while the rest of us get only a single scoop! What a way to spend a nice sunny day at the beach. Looking forward to many more beach fun ahead.

I know this picture might confuse some people, so for the record, I have two GIRLS! Though the younger one do resemble a boy especially when she goes shirtless on the beach. HaHa!

Make-believe house

What is it about tents and camps that children like? Joelle is always "building" make-believe hotel room, house, classroom and sometimes the beach. This is one of her simplest house setup. It can get as elaborate as involving all the dining chairs, all the sofa backings and cushions, all the inflatable floats and all her dolls and animal friends. That of course comes with mummy's "oh-my-goodness!" and mary's consistant head shake and sighs. Good thing is she does pack up. Not quickly or willingly, but she does put them back. Isabelle joins in the imaginary game but only as a follower, a willing follower at that. Joelle instructs, isabelle follows. I was told that's how siblings play. Anyway I think I do remember following my sister around when I was a kid too. So I guess isabelle isn't being bullied by joelle then. She's happy playing fiddle to her sister. As long as they do not scream at each other, scratch or push each other, I won't interfere in their structure of play.

Sleep wins!

 

Yes, even for the food loving isabelle.

My family portrait

This is joelle's latest drawing of the family. They are still "stick" people it seems but fortunately she dresses the girls and must I say pretty well too. We have patterns on our dresses and crowns on our head and shoes on our feet. Daddy has only a cap! Yes, no clothes. Haha! Joelle enjoys drawing princesses and crowns and hearts. They're in almost all her drawings. She likes animals too. I hardly see her drawing anything else. I tried getting her interested in cars and trains and houses, even playgrounds, trees and boats but she doesn't draw them. She's always drawing castles, princesses with long fanciful hair. Hmmm... it's time to venture out of the everlasting fairy tales.

Happy isabelle

Daddy always feels that isabelle's childhood is probably not as fun as joelle's. Somehow I couldn't disagree more. Joelle may have the luxury of all our firsts, all our love and attention for the first three years of her life and all the outings and hotel stays and holidays. But isabelle has the benefits of our experience, our knowledge and our steadiness as parents. We are less clumsy, less jumpy and definately less uptight about everything. No doubt she has never stayed out of the house except our holiday in KL, nonetheless she doesn't seem to be missing out on anything. Like what mary said, isabelle is the more homely type. It is her character and I wouldn't say she would be happier staying over at her grandma's or in hotels with relatives. She might miss home too much to be happy. I'm not about to determine their characteristics now but as far as my observation goes, joelle is more outgoing, always restless and feels bored at home. There are times of course when she asks to stay home but generally she prefers "out". Isabelle on the other hand, stays around me when we're out shopping, asks to "go home" at the lift lobby and seems to be anxious within crowds. She doesn't cry, she just doesn't participates. She would stay around our side. People change and I'm sure they would too. In fact they are already changing so much, I'm getting confuse. Joelle used to be a timid hide-behind-my-pants toddler while isabelle was the brave walk-in-the-dark toddler. Now... they're the opposite! So like I said, I'm not about to determine their charcteristics here. As for now, I firmly believe that isabelle is as happy as joelle and their childhood are both well taken care of. I will ensure that isabelle will remember her childhood as fondly as her sister. Afterall one is my firstborn and the other... my baby.

Tattooing

The girls received a body tattoo set for their birthday and they got all messy with it. Isabelle even got her face "tattooed"! Mummy and mary could not escape too. We had our arms "tattooed" by the girls. For some messy fun over the weekends or the holidays, this tattoo set comes in handy. But if you dread seeing your table like this, it's advisable for you to keep the set out of their reach! Anyway for us, it's going to be a holidays activity only. The ink is not easily removable so I do not want joelle going to school with faded ink patches on her arms. Mess aside, we had so much fun drawing on each other's arms and laughing at the damages done on our arms and their clothes and esp isabelle's face!

Durian

My girls eat durian! Joelle started eating durian at about one. She has been rather indifferent towards durian. She neither likes it nor dislike it. She eats it but she doesn't ask for it. This is isabelle's first taste of durian. She seems to like it... like with any other food. She rarely dislike food. She does reject certain food but it's rarely the case. Durian... I think she likes. 
  

Thank you!

Here are the girls with their presents. They are really happy. Look! Even isabelle is posing! Thank you for celebrating the girls birthdays with them. Your presence make their day special and your presents make them super happy. I welcome any review on the food and/or cake for future use?

A birthday party!

This year we had a combo party for the girls! Yes, we celebrated the girls birthdays together on sunday 31 august. Joelle is five and isabelle is two. Both born in the month of september. This is the first time we are holding two birthdays in one party. It seems to sit in well with the guest. After all they will not need to pop by twice in a month! So for convenience sake... I think it's a great idea.

Another first this year is the double tier cake. Since it is to celebrate two birthdays, we thought it would be appropriate to have a double layer cake. One for each. And each layer is of different flavours. Top tier is fresh strawberry cream cake for the young and the bottom tier is lychee martini for the young at heart. Pretty good review for the cake. In fact it's all gone within the day. No takeaways and no leftovers. And I thought I could have some for breakfast the next day!

Isabelle enjoys the food most and joelle enjoys the company of so many children. We have the girls cousins Germaine and Evan. Natalie, Deron, Tiffany, Tricia, Ryan, Ethan and later in the evening, Wayne and Jayne pops by. We were expecting more but quite a number couldn't make it over. Fortunately we are able to temporarily convert the office into a playroom for the children. We put in a "ball castle", a play kitchen, a mini wagon and some farm toys. It's good because while the children play in the air-conditioned room, the parents can watch from outside.

My mum and her sister got brave and allow the girls to carry their cousin Evan. It's nice to watch the girls being gentle. Especially isabelle. She's often rough with her dolls. Enjoy.