Caleb's Birthday Party

So Caleb got to have his birthday party on Sunday. Due to his latest obsession to be a soldier, I decided that the party would naturally carry an Army theme. When I sent out the invites, I requested everybody to come in Army green and the Daddies and Uncles to dig out their reservist uniform to wear. Naturally, it created an uproar amongst the men as they either could no longer fit into their army uniform or they were indignant about having to put on their army green after trying so hard to get out of it. Gu Gu was one of those indignant ones and he claimed that there was no way he was coming in anything close to that. He said that if Caleb asked, he'll tell him that it was the weekend and he has booked out of camp so he's in his civilian clothes.

So here's the highlights of the party.

Me and ND slaved through Sat and Sun morning to get the house ready. Poor ND spent Sat night blowing up 50 balloons and this inflatable castle that we borrowed from Yeeyee to keep the kids entertained. ND actually woke up on Sun morning with aching arms.
Caleb posing in front of the castle and the balloons.


He was really pleased and excited with the whole setup.


The two stooges relaxing one corner before the start of the party.

Caleb's holding on to a laser gun and a pirate sword made by me and ND. We spent a fair bit of the morning trying to practise balloon sculpturing in the hope of giving them out to the children. Unfortunately, it was a lot harder than we expected. We gave up after bursting like 20 balloons. So that was all we created. (Yes, the things parents do for their kids!!!)

Our very first guests and they came very well coordinated with the theme.


They bought Caleb a military dress up set as his birthday present and he wasted no time in adding them on to his SWAT team t-shirt and army pants.

He loved the present so much that he was going around like that throughout his party and even now, when he comes home everyday, he'll put on his helmet, binoculars, carry his army knife, grenade and handgun and zip around the house. (Actually meimei likes them too... shall post pics of her in them later)

Meimei dressed in army green and munching on a marshmellow.


Daddy was the best. He wore his army pants and army t-shirt and he wore his army helmet which comes complete with camouflage sticking out to welcome the guests. Unfortunately, we were too busy and tired out to take a photo of him.

The guests having a wild time at the party.




We were really blessed during the party coz other than presents and great company, I had a free entertainer for the kids and a balloon sculptor.
Uncle Adrian entertained the kids quite a fair bit when he covered his face in his army scarf and pretended to shoot and catch the children. Yah, the kids were screaming so much and so loudly that I was worried that either the police would appear or the kids would get nightmares at night.


After a while, Uncle Chris joined in the "fun" too, although he looked much, much less threatening than Uncle Adrian.


As for the balloon sculptor, well, I mentioned that me and ND gave up trying to create any thing for the children after our failed attempt in the morning and so we left our balloons and pump by the inflatable castle. Aunty Linda came along towards the end of the party, saw the balloons and started coming up with lots of lovely creations for the kids. The girls had different kinds of flowers to hold and to tie to their wrists, the boys had swords. And she was so fast and looked effortless in creating them, I was truly amazed. Unfortunately, we were really quite tired out by then and didn't take any photos of her lovely creations.

Another big highlight of the party was the cake. The birthday cake is always one of the biggest highlights of my kids' parties coz it's homemade by Yeeyee. And as usual, we tend to stress her with our themes and make her crack her head to come up with new creations.
This year, with an army theme, naturally Yeeyee had to come up with an army cake. (I think she watched too many movies) coz she created a battle scene with army soldiers on the cake. It was a tiramisu cake this time round. Naturally the kids could not eat it but she had non alcoholic versions served in little cups for the kids. What really impressed us all was that she even managed to print a photo of Caleb wearing an army uniform and doing a salute. And get this, Caleb didn't take the photo at all. Yeeyee made her husband spend his morning searching for a suitable picture and he superimposed Caleb's face onto the photo before printing it out and the result was so good, nobody knew that Caleb's face was superimposed.

Overview of the cake. See there's a first aid tent, a tank, barracks, barb wire fences, and even soldiers on boats. When Yeeyee brought out the cake, the guests were all very impressed and of course the most excited was the birthday boy.


Front view of the cake


A closer look at the soldiers.


After the excitement over the cake died down, we had the cake cutting and photo taking sessions.

Singing the birthday song...


Familee photo


Extended Familee photo


Extended Familee photo from my side


Photos with Godpa



Photos with the kiddos at the party


Yeeyee's family photo


Caleb's fav girl's family photo

So, my boy didn't get any birthday kiss from his fav girl. When I asked Kimi's mummy how come there's no birthday kiss, she acted coy and said, "this kind of thing cannot force you know..."

That's true from the Mummy's perspective. And thankfully, the boy didn't think very much about it as well. He did think a lot about opening the presents he received as soon as the guests left and I have to say he was blessed with very nice gifts that he really liked. Thank you everybody!!!

Oh, so the boy had such a great time at his party that night that when we said our goodnight prayers, he asked me," Mummy, are we going to have another party for my 5 year old birthday?" I told him, "Oh, maybe not. We can do something different and celebrate as a family instead. We don't need to throw parties every year." He started his string of whys after that when I explained to him that not everybody have parties every year to celebrate their birthdays.

Well, I've got one more year to psycho him about it. Hopefully, I do not succumb to peer pressure again. It shall be the battle of the wills!

Prelude to Caleb's Birthday Party

So we're throwing a birthday party for Caleb tomorrow. May is a really busy month for us. So many things to celebrate. Mother's Day, my birthday, Caleb's birthday, our wedding anniversary. That's almost a once a week celebration. (Yah, ND says it's super siong for him and he'll advise his son not to get married near to his spouse's birthday next time.) But it's a blessing to have things to celebrate isn't it? So we shouldn't complain.

Actually, it's not in my plans this year to throw a party for Caleb. Last year when I organised a birthday party for him, I told myself,"Wah, this is very siong! I'll probably do this on alternate years." Seriously, it's tiring to organise parties. You spend 2 months planning and then leading up to the party, there's intensive preparation and then you rest for a while and next thing I know, I've to start planning for Sarah's party at the end of the year. On top of that, this year I'm preggy and now the thought that I have to plan 3 parties a year for goodness knows how many more years, sounds daunting. Besides, the last 3 years that I organised parties for Caleb, he seemed quite oblivious about them. The first 2 years, he seemed too young to realise what was really happening. Last year, he only seemed to realise it on the day itself when we told him repeatedly that it was a party to celebrate his birthday.

So this year, that was the plan. No party for Caleb so that I can rest for a year. (Ha, and naturally no party for Sarah at the end of the year lah). But you know how some times things just do not go the way you want it? At the beginning of this year, Caleb came home telling me he'll like to give out balloons to his friends during his birthday party this year. I was like...eh... maybe we won't invite friends but just celebrate as a family ok? He didn't look too happy when I said that but he didn't protest violently. Just asked me a few "why???" And then in Feb, he got invited to a classmate's birthday party at Frisk & Romp at Big Splash. He was really excited after that and talked about inviting all his classmates and his teachers to his birthday party this year. Again I was like, "eh... no need lah, there's no need to invite all your classmates and teachers to your birthday party... we'll see how ok?"

And then in March, we went to Kimi's KFC party. Yah, you know what happened there. This Mummy here was starting to think, "Oh dear, looks like things are not going according to my plans!" And in April, we went to Megan's birthday party where there was a professional face painter and balloon man sculturing balloons for children. (Peer pressure was seeping in...)

So, in my little boy's mind, it was only natural to throw a birthday party, and the standards of the parties that we attended were very high. And seriously, he has been very, very excited about his birthday party. So excited that since Feb, he has been inviting people to his birthday party, yah, one that was not suppose to exist! He'll be talking to an adult and they'll be asking him how old he is, and he'll say he's three, turning four. And when he turns four, he'll invite them to his birthday party. On top of that, he is constantly reminding me about what he wants for his party. It'll be very random but yes, on top of inviting lots of people, he'll talk about how he wants to decorate the place, how to entertain his friends and of course, what presents he wants! And he'll always make it sound like he's got something really important to tell me and if I try to dissuade him, he'll sound very disappointed.

One conversation went like this... I just picked him up after school and he told me this.
Caleb: Mummy, Mummy, I got something to tell you.
Mummy: Yes?
Caleb: When it's my four year old party, I want to invite lots of people to my party. Like my care group friends, Kimi, Megan, Clarisse... and my classmates, and grandpa, grandma, nicole jiejie, natalie meimei.... (and the list goes on...)
Mummy: Urm, Caleb, maybe we don't invite so many people? (By then the reality that I will have a very disappointed boy if I don't throw him any party, has started to sink in.) Maybe we just celebrate with our family?
Caleb: No, Mummy... I want to invite lots of people, I'll be disappointed and sad if very few people come for my party. I'll be happier if a lot of my friends come, especially my caregroup friends. I like to play with them...

So, to cut the long story short. I have succumbed to pressure. I realised that at the age of four, my child is a lot more aware of things happening around him and has his own expectations. Well, I decided to compromise a little and instead of a lunch or dinner, I'm organising a short tea party for him so that it's less siong for me and yes, he gets to invite his caregroup friends and his cousins. Friends whom he really enjoys playing with.

I have also come to a conclusion. If I want to get away with not organising parties for my kids, I can do that before they turn 4, when they're still a little "blur" about their environment. So, my poor Sarah, hee, sorry girl, end of this year, probably no party for you. We'll have a small celebration at home ok? Ok lah, come to think of it, I'm still fair to the girl coz we had 2 small celebrations with immediate family when Caleb was 2. I was pregnant with Sarah then, and like how I'm feeling now, tired and really not up to throwing a party and entertaining guests. In the end, it was Yeeyee who helped me organise some catering and ordered the cakes for Caleb. Ha, the beauty of having a big sister!

Oh, I am plotting for my break for next year already. I have started telling Caleb that next year, maybe we won't have a big party for friends. We can do something different, like celebrate within the family and it can be fun too!

And btw, any guesses whether the birthday boy will get any birthday kisses tomorrow?

About Caleb and Kimi

While I'm at it about Caleb and Kimi, here's the extent of how much my son likes the girl.

When Caleb and Kimi go on "chaperoned" dates, there have been times when, after the outing, the boy goes to sleep at night and apparently dreamed of his girl. We know coz he'll be sleeping and all of a sudden, he shouts out her name. (note: Kimi's parents have reported that Kimi has done the same thing as well... shouting out Caleb's name in her sleep...)

On Maundy Thursday, we went for service in church. It was a night service so there weren't many children in the baby room. Caleb met another girl Janine in the room and asked to join her coz her grandma was going to read her a book. The book that Janine's grandma was reading to her was about some princess and a prince. Well, at the end of the story, Janine and Caleb started playing together and Janine told Caleb that she was the princess and he was the prince and she wanted him to kiss her. Instead of grabbing the chance to kiss a girl, (And get this, Janine is a really pretty girl) he ran for his life.
It was super hilarious. There they were running from one end of the room to the other. Janine was shouting "Kiss me, kiss me!" and Caleb was running away from her shouting "No, No!" After a while, Janine being the princess, got upset by his rejection and started saying aloud how upset she was with Caleb for not wanting to kiss her. Ok lah, my son being Mr PR, made it up to her by drawing her a picture of a princess before she left.

On Easter Sunday, Caleb and Kimi attended the same Sunday school class. After class, the Sunday school teacher related to me what happened during class time. The teacher had prepared 5 Easter eggs to give out to the children but there were 7 children in the class, so 2 kiddos would not get any Easter egg. Caleb was given 1 Easter egg while Kimi was one of the 2 who didn't get any. Immediately after getting his egg, Caleb gave it to Kimi. The Sunday school teacher was shocked and asked him,"Oh, don't you want your Easter egg?" and he said," It's ok, Kimi doesn't have any. I'll give mine to her."

So, at the age of 4, my son has gotten his heart stolen by a girl.
Looks like he's really starting young.

Party Time - Kimi's Birthday!

In March, we got invited to Kimi's birthday party. As you all know, my son is infatuated with Kimi. It's always Kimi, Kimi, Kimi... So when he got invited to Kimi's birthday party, he was really excited.
Kimi had a KFC party at Playground@Big Splash. When we arrived, Caleb created a stir.
What did he do? Well, he did this....

Yup, he gave the birthday girl a kiss! Don't ask me who taught him to do that, but he actually walked ahead of us with the birthday present, went into the restaurant by himself to look for his gf and planted not one, but three kisses on her cheek! His first kiss created a huge stir and then he was asked by Kimi's mummy to do it again for a photo moment. Haha, looks like the future in-laws are approving of my son. And see, Kimi looks pleased too. And then his friends aka Megan and Clarisse from our CG, goaded him to give Kimi one more kiss, and he did.

After that, Caleb presented Kimi with her birthday present.


Anyway, that was the most exciting part of the party. After that, it was your usual kids party with the food, games, and cake cutting. Of course after that kiss, my son planted himself next to Kimi to eat his food. See, he wanted to look stylo milo in front of his gf so he refused to take off his sunglasses for the most part of the party.


Here's some other shots from the party...

Caleb wearing his party hat...


The birthday girl with the possible future in-laws?


Since it was a KFC party, there was the KFC mascot, Chicky. I think majority of the kids were scared of Chicky when he appeared and a number of them ran for their dear life and started crying. Very strangely indeed, Caleb wasn't afraid of Chicky. Instead he was very excited about him and kept touching him and holding his hands. Perhaps he thinks he has to put up a brave and macho front in front of his gf.


One thing that I was happy about was that Caleb didn't not forget about his meimei even though it was Kimi's birthday. He went to play with her from time to time and when they were giving out balloons, he remembered to ask for a balloon for her as well.



Actually, come to think of it, Caleb wasn't the only one who attracted attention at the party. Meimei herself attracted a fair bit of attention on her own. Goody bags were given out to all the kids at the party and after Meimei got hers, she settled at a corner to examine her bag.
See the girl innocently minding her own biz...


Along comes boy number 1 who started squatting next to her to stare at her and see what she was doing...


After getting no reaction from the girl, boy number 1 leaves and immediately boy number 2 appears and follows suit to squat beside her...


He leaves shortly after when he also didn't get much reaction from her... (yah, my girl doesn't talk to any Tom, Dick or Harry that comes along ok...) Anyway, immediately after he leaves, along comes boy number 3!



Boy number 3 was in luck for she decided to share her toy with him.

Me and ND were watching in amusement as we see one boy after another coming up to our daughter and peering curiously at her and trying to interact with her. Haha, now we just sit back and laugh, but I wonder whether we'll be so relaxed about it 16 years down the road. (Especially ND. Bet he'll scruntinise and interrogate every boy who tries to date his precious girl.)