The Omnitrix

I remember those days when sugar crafting was completely alien to me. And now I'm crafting mysterious watch-like alien device out of sugar! By the way, this is a birthday cake for a Ben 10 themed party.

For those who don't know, an omnitrix is a device worn by Ben 10 that is used to transform him into some kind of alien form (I think).



It was Nigella Lawson's old fashioned chocolate cake recipe, an old favourite and lots and lots of ready rolled out icing.



Disclaimer: No person(s) were transformed into aliens in the making and the demolition of this cake.

Check out some of the other cake creations that I've made in the past. Click click.

The Middle Child

This is Lucas, our second born child. Some people say, he has the middle child syndrome. He craves the family spotlight, the attention seeker. He is LOUD. He is boisterous, adventuresome and somewhat destructive.

He wants to be independent. He picks what he wears. This is his absolute favourite shirt of all. His "Party Shirt", I picked from a $2 rack at the second hand kid's market. He NEEDS to wear it every time we go out. And here, he paired it with a pair of RED ugg boots, in the middle of summer.

Just imagine him, sitting in a supermarket trolley wearing his red party shirt and his red ugg boots! We do get a LOT of attention!

So the middle child phenomenon, is it true?

Lily Jade @ 9 months

My baby girl is 9 months old, can you believe? She is at this SUPER CUTE age, I wish I could bottle her up and keep her this way forever! She's full of smiles and giggles, constantly exploring the world. It doesn't take much, even the simplest thing keeps her happy. She loves her fruits. Throw her a nectarine or an apricot, she sits on her chair munching her fruit for ages.

Over the space of one month, Lily's development has PROGRESSED at lightning speed. And she has all her aunts and uncles, grandaunts and granduncles, grandma and especially grandpa, to thank for that.



She is 8.5 kgs. She has grown 3 teeth and she looks so cheeky when she smiles. Just one of her top incisors has grown and it's so freaking huge, it is so scary to feed her. Just what happens when she has two?

She loves to crawl to where the big boy's toys are. And often you would find part of Buzz Lightyear sticking out of her mouth or Lightning McQueen smothered in her saliva. She loves to stick her bum up high in the air, with her feet and hands firm on the ground, like in a downward dog (yoga) position. She pulls up on furnitures to stand, and sometimes couldn't get herself back down and calls out for help.



Thank you grandpa for teaching me how to clap hands and wave bye-bye.

Thank you grandma for teaching me twinkle twinkle little star.

Phaik Gunn Kor-Poh for teaching me how to blow. Kim-kim for splashing hands and kicking legs in the water. Aunty Yee Ling for blowing kisses. Ching Yoong "che-che" for teaching me how to say "che-che". And everyone else who has cuddled me, talked to me, nurtured, taught and showed me so many things in life. Most importantly, thank you for teaching me how to smile.



She oozes happiness, everyone just can't get enough of!

Camping at 'The Prom'

Over the Christmas holidays, our family went for a camping trip at the southernmost point of the Australian mainland, Wilsons Promontory (affectionately known to Victorians as 'the Prom').

Day 1: Yanakie Caravan Park

31 family members, a convoy of 7 cars packed with tents, camping equipments, food supply, 7 pitched tents, 4 camp sites and 2 cabins. Well, we sort of went "camping". When we stayed very comfortably in our very well heated cabin, the rest of the family were freezing their butts off in their tents!

The drive from Melbourne to Yanakie was quite pleasant. The kids were well behaved and Lily slept most of the way there. We settled into our cabin, while the rest pitched up their tents. We spent the day just relaxing and lounging around the camp site, exploring the caravan park and its surroundings. The boys watched boats being pulled to the docks and released into the water and dug on the sand in a near by beach.

Day 2: Wilsons Prom and Mt. Oberon



The drive from Yanakie to the Prom was interesting. Blackened trees amidst bursts of fresh green eucalypts, the views were simply breathtaking although what's left behind was a sombre mood, a memory of the "Black Saturday".

Early on the morning of Sunday 8 February 2009, the day after what is now known as Black Saturday, a dry lightning storm passed over Wilsons Promontory and a bushfire ignited. Lightning struck a gully just north of The Cathedral, a mountain at the north end of Sealers Cove on Wilsons Promontory's east coast. This bushfire burnt 25 200ha over five weeks, close to 50% of the national park.

We saw some wallabies and kangaroos along the way.

What we did on day 2 of our trip amazes me, up till today. Some of us still shook our heads in disbelief! We hiked up Mt. Oberon, ALL 5 of us! I had Lily (8 months) in a backpack carrier, Lucas (2.5 years) managed a third of the hike on foot and the rest on alternating shoulders of various strong gentlemen. Lachlan (4.5 years), well HE DID ALMOST 100% of the hike (up) on his own. It was 3.4km each way, with a gradual moderate slope.

Photo credit: Top photo was taken at the peak of Mt. Oberon, panoramic views of the prom. Second photo, on the way up to the top. Both taken by an uncle (Thanks Uncle Yeoh!) :)

We did not bring our camera as our hands are already full as you can imagine!

Squeaky Beach.

Exhausted but not defeated and very VERY hungry, we got takeaway fish and chips and headed to squeaky beach for a picnic. Wrong move. When you put a 2.5 year old and a 4.5 year old in a beach with sparkly quartz sand that squeaks AND fish and chips, you end up eating very VERY sand peppered crunchy chips. What a cute name for a beach don't you think? It was because of the squeaky noises made when you walk on the sand. Squeak, squeak!



Day 3: Whisky Bay

There are so many beautiful beaches at the Prom, and we love them all! Day 3 was spent at Whisky Bay. Here are some snapshots of the kids...



It wasn't her first touch of the sand, but here Lily had her first real taste of the sea! She rolled in the sand with the gentle waves, ate fistful of sand, and then another. She splashed her hands and feet in icy cool water (the water is still very cold although it was a rather hot day) and had sun kissed nose for a couple of days. (But she is still very VERY fair, just like her mummy who tried so terribly hard to get a nice golden tan. Did not happen!)

Day 4: Home sweet home.

End.

Hello 2011

Why, hello there! It has been a while hasn't it? Here's wishing all of you a very VERY belated merry Christmas. I hope you all had a fantastic time celebrating with family and friends. I hope you are well rested and rejuvenated for the new year and I wish you a blessed and successful year ahead.

The last few weeks for us has been interesting. A little crazy, but we had a blast. We celebrated Christmas and ushered in the new year with guests from Kuala Lumpur, Klang, Shah Alam, Sungai Petani and Brunei. Exactly how many of them I don't actually know, that's because I loose count everytime I hit 30. We had mattresses rolled out in the lounge room, people lining up to use the bathroom and puzzled neighbours wondering if we were hosting a convention.

Oh, one very important bit of news: We are SOLD! Yayy! It was a few days before Christmas, and our lovely neighbour Pam saw us jumping up and down the nature strip posing for photos! She must've been the first to know.

:)



Santa (you know who you are!) had been very generous to us. While I was busy cleaning windows for house inspections, I was totally unprepared and disorganised for the silly season. Even our christmas tree was put up haphazardly a few days before. As it got closer to the day, presents started piling up so high I was getting worried. We have to move. But thank you! Thank you all santa(s) for spoiling us silly!


Christmas morning 2010.



Even I got spoilt rotten by my own personal santa. He bought me a book, the exact same book I have that had been sitting on the shelf for a couple of months!

I have forgotten how many christmas dinners, banquets, feasts we had but this was one of them:


Roast turkey with a pork, walnut and cranberry stuffing and Chorizo sausages.


Pumpkin, caramelised onions and brie tart.


Hassleback potatoes.


Chocolate ripple log with fresh berries and cream.


Smooth and elegant, red velvet cake.

So yeah, that was our christmas in a few pictures and words. I hope there's more to come from me to you in the next few days.

Welcome 2011! Here's to an exciting new year, a new house, a new chapter of our lives.

Graduating from 3 year old kinder!

Oh my goodness, will you just look at my little man! The past year has seen him blossomed into a charming, handsome boy, a serious chatter and a caring and giving person. He is a home-body, a mummy's boy. He does amazing things with his agile fingers. He loves building, making fantastic structures from bits of Lego.

Last Friday, Lachlan graduated from 3 year old kinder. They had a mini Christmas concert and a break up party. Oh goody, he goes from 3 to 4 year old kinder, so that means an extra 2 hour session in a week. 2 HOURS, 3 TIMES a WEEK! Golly... just enough time for me to have another cuppa with just 2 littlies at home.

The K.S.G.

Here's something I wanted to share. My husband calls it the K.S.G.

Koay. Sweat. Gene. Koay being my family name.

It would be in the middle of winter. My boys go to bed rugged up, but not excessive. Their limbs and torso would be nice and warm. Sometimes even cool to touch. But their heads would be drenched... in sweat. They call out, waking up in a puddle. Their pillows soaked through.

Now Lily has the K.S.G. too. She has little beads of perspiration on her cute button nose and it's just terribly TERRIBLY cute! Her soft black hair curl up in thick wet locks. I must remember to take a picture one day.

There was an incident that I wouldn't forget. It was in the early years when I was still a little girl in Malaysia. My father had taken the family out to dinner. We had curry and rice on banana leaf. When Papa was signing for the bill, drip, drip, drip. There were droplets all over the bill and the waiter attending to us had looked up to the ceiling, thinking that there MUST be a leak on the roof. Drip, drip, drip. You should've seen the look of astonishment when he found out!

It was the K.S.G.

Passed In

The gruelling weeks of sleeplessness, renovations and cleaning for open for inspections did not pay off. The auction that took place last Saturday was inconclusive, our property passed in at a price lower than anticipated. Oh how I have been looking forward to sticking the "SOLD" sticker on the board outside the house, how I thought never again would I be cleaning windows for the rest of the year, how exciting it would be that I could now look forward to the "new" place.

But.

We have not sold. We're back on the drawing board. We have more open for inspections to come, offers to be considered, decisions to be made, a household to run and a LOT to be done. The game is still on.

I am exhausted, a little bit deflated but not defeated. We shall see what the week ahead bring us.

5 Top Tips for Home Inspections

from a non-real estate expert!

It's all about playing with the senses. You want to be invited into a home, and be tantalised not only by what you see, but what you can smell, hear, touch and possibly taste.

1. Openness create a sense of space. So removing a piece of furniture here and there, or hiding all traces of mess and clutter takes away a lot of distraction from the room. Neatness and cleanliness is paramount. You want to show that the house has been looked after.
2. I like a house with rooms bathed in natural light. A house that is bright and airy is a happy, cheery one. We're lucky that this house has windows lined from the front door to the back, and that was one of the main reasons why we bought the place. (This makes cleaning windows a pain in the backside, but hey, they didn't need to know that - make sure all windows are squeaky clean though, no icky finger prints or slobber marks)
   
3. A little birdie told me that houses that smell like freshly baked bread makes you warm and gooey in the inside, and will sell better. I concur! So I whip up a batch of cookie dough or bread the night before and leave it in the fridge, then stick it into the oven an hour or so before inspection time. I do serve up the cookies during inspection times too, and the real estate agent promised me a couple of grand more for that reason. And they better stick to their promise!
   
4. I try to create a scene and stick to a colour scheme for every room. Like for the master bedroom, a red romantic hideaway. The guest bedroom, a blue countryside retreat. I bought new cushions to jazz up an old couch, borrowed some paintings and pictures to brighten up a wall or two, bought some new pots and plants for the garden, and freshly cut flowers for the lounge. You don't have to spend a fortune, and remember that these things can be used for your new place when you move out.
   
5. And finally, a no brainer, a soft lullaby playing in the parents' retreat, a jazzy tune or two in the lounge and the sound of trickling water in the courtyard. Some aromatherapy candles burning (but make sure they don't burn the house down or clash with the smell of biccies).

Fingers crossed, someone will fall head over heels with this house like we did 7 years ago, and bid bid BID!!! But who are we kidding? It is definitely not the seller's market at the current moment, but we're remaining positive, and we can only hope for the best.

'Tis the season...to be SUPER busy!

What can I say? It has been a whirlwind past couple of weeks. We are selling our house.

It is funny how we've lived in this place we called home for the past seven years, built our little cosy cove, breathe in so much life and in fact made three precious little lives (OK, so we won't go into much more detail here). Damn, we got married in this house, right here in our very own back yard. And we think we know every nook and cranny. It's not until we want to sell the house, that we scrutinize every little mark on the wall, the hair line cracks, the unevenness of the paint, a leaky tap etc etc. Every little scuff has a memory to it. A nail in the wall that held a precious picture. Every little stain on the carpet has a story to tell.



So it is common knowledge that selling your house is a busy and exciting time. You want to ensure that the features that make your home stands out among the rest, really does stand out, so to achieve the best possible price for your house. And that's what it comes down to. Money. Buyers look for negatives to give them bargaining powers in negotiations. So for exactly that reason, we have put in our best effort in eliminating the negatives. And it is here we begin to depersonalise this home. Erase every little scuff of memories that we won't be bringing along with us to our new home, fill up holes that held the nails for our pictures and make some space in the house so someone can come along and say hey, I could make this house mine.



A new coat of paint. Refreshing the carpets and polishing the tiles. Ensuring that every room is as neat and as clean as it possibly can be. Decluttering (a very therapeutic exercise!). Little finishing touches, it does count. And creating a warm and welcoming atmosphere, so that a potential buyer would feel that emotional tug as he or she walks into the house.

First impressions count.

So yeah, we've been busy. 3 little kids tagging along with the ride. Literally, during house inspection times. We practically LIVE in the car during those times. Throw the kids, the dirty laundry, the mess on the floor, dirty cups, saucers etc etc into the car and off we go! Haven't we noticed, kids and mess come in the same category? So that very room every house has, the room that we shove all the mess into when there's an unexpected visitor, our car has become just that. And it's a bloody good one too.



So too-do-loo, off we go for another car ride!

More on Open For Inspections.... later.

Internet Listing is Up!

I am completely happy with the professionalism and services of our real estate agent. Things are happening at lightning speed, and everything seems to fall into place nicely. Even the sun cooperated on the day of photoshoot!

Anyways, here is the internet listing:

Lifestyle With An Architectural Edge

A grand and unique home with the sweeping lines of cathedral ceilings and imposing angles makes ‘The Diplomat’ by Bellemore a truly distinctive residence.

Set on a gorgeous tree-lined street in the company of equally distinguished display homes, the 31 square (approx) family retreat offers lavish living bathed in natural light. A palladium window to the lounge and glass walkway along the dining room’s atrium set a glamorous formal scene, flowing to spacious open plan living set against lush paved gardens.

A magnificent kitchen impresses with north facing light, amazing bench space and a host of lime-washed solid timber cupboards, with the meals area and rumpus room opening to a private palm-lined patio.

Clever bedroom zoning has a parent’s retreat out front with a palatial spa ensuite, walk in robe and a sun kissed sitting room, two bedrooms upstairs for teens and another on the ground floor near the main bathroom and open study. Decked out with ducted heating, evaporative cooling, stylish furnishings, a secure dog run, double garage and a smart Merbau front fence and perfectly placed near Knox City Shopping Centre, Eastlink and The Knox School. This is the home and lifestyle a discerning family deserves.

Click here for more photos.

Lily @ a little more than 6 months

Babies are so darn flexible! I love how they could reach out for both their feet, and pull their big toes into their mouth. Or arch their back at a 90 degree angle at tummy time. Amazing! The pictures here show how Lily tries to roll over. She props her head up, and unlike the boys who would just tumble and flip, this little girly girl would do this graceful arch with her back. She stretches one arm like doing the arabesque. Then with both hips still planted firm on the ground, she rolls her upper body over, sometimes her head touching her bottom. With a swift motion, she does a little pirouette with her bottom half, and end with a cute curtsy and a smile that covers half her face.

I know her ballet teacher kim-kim would be so darn proud of her!

:)