ready!

here we come nagoya!

the birthday boy and his sidekicks

happy birthday brownie!!!!!

we love you to bits & pieces!!!!!!!!

and

you are always our best boy!

xoxoxoxoxo

p.s. 

i know your sidekicks, sometimes, are quite annoying

still, you are ever so patient with them *laugh*

p.p.s.

shhhhh mami knows even for big boys like you can get a bit sensitive with the numbers...

shhhhhh  happy 13 years old shhhhhhhh

no one can hear us ....

tree house fun!

it was a super sunny and bright day

in a way lucky (as compared to rain... )

as we spent more than half a day at the tree top cottage

there were a number of activities our group has selected...

the first one was "rafting" in very shallow water *laugh*

despite of shallow water and the fact that he can swim

little bb refused to join..

i tried different ways to persuade and encourage him but failed

it was only when i said to his friends that i would do it with them instead

that he changed his mind...

why he didn't want to do it?

he told him secretly that he didn't want to fall into the water and get wet

and

i guess he didn't want all the eyes on him as we had to line up for our turn

with everyone in the line watching...

next activity was a hybrid of bingo and scavenger hunt

to be honest, it was quite tiring for the adults

but for the kids,

they have endless energy...

before the highlight of the day,

the kids had fun at the tree house

(hmmm.... i was a bit disappointed.... cuz there was only one tree house

i thought there would be more *laugh*)

anyways, it was more than enough for the kids to go up and down the slide

and finally,

it was THE activity i was looking forward to...

climbing up the tree house 

and coming down by sliding down a pole

given his reluctance to do the rafting

i thought little bb would bail out

but no,

he went straight for it!

bravo!!!

after the kids had the rounds of fun,

some parents, including myself, went for it!

(shhhh...  yes it was a tiny little bit scary when i got to the top, looked down

and getting ready for the slide down)

Going up the tree 🏡 ... the driving force: rumor has it that there's 🍦 at the top! 🤣#treehousefun

A post shared by Aileen Is Motu (@aileenmotu) on Jul 9, 2017 at 8:30am PDT

.... and coming down (it's was a little scary according to mami's experience 🤣) #treehousefun

A post shared by Aileen Is Motu (@aileenmotu) on Jul 9, 2017 at 8:32am PDT

surprise you with a surprise cake!

spent another quiet and relaxing afternoon @ sparks & cakes

took this lesson, for obvious reason
i think little bb will be very happy and surprised when he cuts through the cake
with all the candies flowing out!

quite a number of steps to get to the final stage

first bake the chiffon cake from scratch

then make and pipe cocoa meringue sticks

assemble and layer the cake

fill the center with candies

encase the cake with meringue sticks

cover the top with marshmallow

blowtorch the marshmallow to give a slightly rustic feel

the meringue sticks were super yummy

i couldn't stop myself from eating them during the class

brought the cake to my parent's place as desert 

no pictures showing the surprise as i wasn't quick enough to capture the moments!

little chefs & their supervisor

perfect synchronization

new dish for dinner

trying something new tonight for the boys

lasagna made with wonton wrappers 

alternating layers of meat sauce, cheese and wonton wrappers...

big brother prepared his own portion

while i did the one for little brother...

not bad...

summer salad, variation 2

this round,

with bbq chicken

and

quinoa

love love love quinoa

can't wait to open my bag of rainbow quinoa (white, black and red)

yum yum

smoothie time! another experiment...

cucumber

+

pineapple

+ 

honey

+

banana

+

blueberry

+

chia seeds 

happy saturday night

we had a lovely evening with joanna and her family

it was first a surprise cake made to celebrate the arrival of summer
followed by a spelling competition
then a basketball game
dinner
wrapped up with super noisy and crazy fun at the playroom

this is bbb's second time @ basketball court

and it was really cute and funny seeing him cruising his way around the basketball court

as if he is in the game

with his hand up, fingers pointing, hands clapping

as if he is the little coach!

this is another amazing cake made by joanna

it's a surprise cake for the kids

when they cut through, candies and pokemons came pouring out!

and here,

the super happy bunch

led by the super loud and yet youngest member!

drawing for him & for myself

one of his most treasured book of the moment
is definitely this pokemon handbook
you can tell from the worn out book cover, the worn out edges of the pages,
circles, ticks on the pokemons he like, etc etc

the other day, he asked me to get him the self sticky notes
so that he can mark the pages he likes

this morning,
he started marking page after page...
then he asked me to draw him one of the pokemons
mega charizard X
so that he could color it....

while watching him coloring

my multi-tasking mode was switched on....

i took out my box of nail colors

and started painting my nails....

next thing i knew,

he dropped the coloring of the pokemon

and wanted to color mine....

it further progressed to 

him wanting to color his nails...

so i let him

as soon as he colored one of his nails

he said he didn't like it at all and

he asked me to remove it for him

*lol*

in the end, i had to help him color the pokemon i drew for him...

i think i enjoyed it more than he did!

coloring is therapy!

#weekendhealing #coloringistherapy #pokemonishiscurrentfavorite

A post shared by Aileen Is Motu (@aileenmotu) on Jul 6, 2017 at 7:23am PDT