A joyous day

Yesterday was 'hao hao nan ren's' special day! Yes, it was dh's birthday. The kids were excited.

That's the very beautiful thing about children. Simple things make them happy. Although, there was no big birthday bash, they were still hopping around in the house. After school, Ann and Kai came home and did their individual birthday cards for their papa. Then we went out to get birthday cake and ice-cream to have after dinner. I think the greatest surprise for dh was when Noel delivered a birthday gift to him in the office!

No, there wasn't candle light dinner at any restaurant because these days, the kids have to be in bed early and they are so used to having us around before their bedtime, we decided that we will all celebrate papa's birthday at home. Anyway, the kids are excited to be involved in the celebration!


Ann's birthday card to papa


I love you daddy. She is a daddy's girl


Kai's card to pops - that's how Kai likes to call dh sometimes


Kai is a very sensitive and sentimental boy. Expressing his gratitude to his papa and giving him a 'car' as a present ;)


Aglio black pepper seafood pasta. What exactly is 'aglio'. A check in the cooking dictionary, I found out that 'aglio' simply meant 'garlic' in Italian. So when you have aglio pasta, it was just garlic with pasta. Adding a twist to the usual aglio pasta, I have added bacon, capsicum, outopus, white clams and salmon belly. It was simple yet delicious and what a great way to feed the kids with healthy food - SALMON!


This is a cold dessert. It's called 'gula melaka sago' Using pearl sago, I steamed them till they are cooked. Pour melted gula melaka or black sugar and coconut milk over it...adding mint leaves gave it a very sweet and refreshing taste. Great dessert for hot, hot sunny island of Singapore! DH's favourite dessert.


(Remember, we still have our things in the boxes...so this year, no mummy dearest home-baked birthday cake.) The kids chose the cakes. Instead of buying a huge birthday cake, we bought two small cupcakes instead. (No wastage!) Well, from the ornaments on the cakes, you should be able to guess who chose what. Looks more like their birthday cakes than dh's. And yes, those two candles were magic candles, the fire never got blown off. DH was pretty amused and of course, the kids had a great laugh!

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What is a birthday celebration without pictures! More good years to 'hao hao nan ren'!

Recalling last year when we celebrated dh's birthday at Macungie...
Books exchange

Over 57,000 books change hands in NLB's first Book Exchange
By Seet Sok Hwee, Channel NewsAsia

SINGAPORE: The National Library Board held its first Book Exchange on Saturday to celebrate World Book Day, which fell on April 23.

The event enabled members of the public to exchange their used books with other book lovers.
From April 11-24, members of the public were encouraged to drop off used books at public libraries all over Singapore in return for one-for-one book exchange coupons. Over 57,000 books were collected, more than double the original target.
The coupons were then used to change for books at the event on Saturday. About 5,000 people showed up at the National Library building, some as early as 8am...


Of course, we couldn't miss this exciting event especially when we have two kids who simply love reading. Kai, especially was very excited. Last Friday, we brought 15 old books to the Queenstown National Library to exchange for 15 coupons. We could have exchanged for more but Kai was very reluctant to part with his beloved books. In the end, he only chose 15 and Ann also contributed some of her books.

On the day of the book exchange, Kai was up and going at an early hour. Quite unusual for him on a Saturday morning as he was usually the last to wake up. There was no stopping him the moment we entered the National Library Atrium. He was just buried among the books.

An unknown author once wrote "TV. If kids are entertained by two letters, imagine the fun they'll have with twenty-six. Open your child's imagination. Open a book."

How true.


Part of the 5,000 who have turned up