A Christmas Lunch Party

When we moved to Rahway, we said we would probably never have guest over at our house. Whoever wants to come to Rahway? It's in the middle of no where, and there's absolutely nothing around here. Our house was pretty much a storage space too because we just downsized temporarily from an almost 4 bedroom house to a tiny 2 bedroom apartment.

BUT!!!! We still managed to pull off a Christmas Luncheon (with me being preggers at 38 weeks) for almost 10 adults and 4 kids!

Cheese & Merry Christmas!!!

Round 1 Food Spread!!

Aunty Joy helps out with the food (tasting)

Christmas Roast Pork (Chinese Style!!)

All Christmas Party needs a log cake right??

And friends from 2 decades back!!

The whole cousin gang visits!!

The three second cousins!

Wishing all a very Blessed Christmas and Happy New Year!!

Happy birthday Papa Z

Wishing papa Z a very happy birthday! Love you lots and lots!!! From Mama & Shane

 Cheers to Papa Z on turning 35!!

Dinner @ the Waiting Room in Rahway

A all time favourite! Ice Cream Cake!! This year we got a mix of flavours - Cookie Dough & Chocolate Mousse Tracks

Ending the celebrations off with the BEST birthday present. How awesome is this!!! Linghams extra HOT that was missing from so many stores for a few months. Good Bye Sriracha, Hello Linghams

Whippany Railway Museum

The little one loves his trains... especially the one that looks like the NJ transit or a subway. The Whippany Railway Museum was great for what he loved! The photos says it all....

Not interested in the other cooler trains, but loves this boring old one

Checking out the mini trains going by

He called this Harvey... like the Harvey in the story of Thomas

Inside the pretty cool Museum

There's the Whippany Santa Train!

Photo with Santa!!

And finally... picking out a gift from Santa's Helper... A Xmas Mouse!!

A month on at school....

I would say it took Shane about 2-3 weeks to get used to the idea of going to school.

This week is week 6 since we started school, and he's been really good about it. Our routine now comprises of him waking me up, eating a small breakfast, driving him to school, walking him in, taking off his coat, giving him a hug, saying bye-bye, and off he runs off to do whatever the other kids are doing.

His favourite part about school is the food (duh...).

Our typical after school conversation goes...

M: Shane, what did you do at school today?
S: Eat Chicken Nuggets
M: Only eat chicken nuggets?
S: Go playground
M: Did you do anything else?
S: Sing Spider song
M: Any other song?
S: Row Row, E-I-E-O
M: So what else did you do?
S: Eat Chicken Nuggets
M: Again????
S: Ya

It's been the same conversation for the last 2 weeks. I'm sure he did something else according to his reports... but those were his favourite I guess!!

Shane's 2nd Birthday

We had a long celebration over a few days!! This is what happens when your birthday falls just before Thanksgiving. You get many days of celebration!! Hooray.


Round 1: Thanksgiving Birthday Celebration

We started off the first cake at Aunty Cindy's Thanksgiving dinner party... Mama made peppa pig for the little boy who recently had a peppa pig craze after watching a few episodes on TV. It was a maiden attempt on Peppa pig... So I'm pretty glad it turned out ok.

A simple Birthday Celebration with Isabella, Skylar & Norah...

Thorn amongst the Roses?

Round 2: Sesame Place

Over the long weekend, we took a drive down to Langhorne to Sesame Place again. This time, it wasn't as cold as the last time we went in December last year. Great weather does make a difference! Also in 2015...
1. He could walk a lot more confidently as compared to last year where he barely learnt a few steps.
2. He knew most of the characters and got really excited at seeing them live!
3. He's not as afraid of big big characters
4. He was not terrified of Santa any longer
5. He was tall enough to go on some rides

Number 1 favourite at Sesame Place.... ZOEY!! Shane actually spotted her from afar and wanted to go take a photo

He even gave Oscar a hug!!!

Met Bert & Ernie too!!!

And finally, he got to pick out one present he liked from Hoopers Emporium. He initially picked out Ernie. But after walking around the store, he suddenly spotted Big Bird and returned Ernie to its original location and started carrying Big Bird all around.

Round 3: Celebration on the Actual Day!!

Well, I didn't think this was as fun for him because he had to go to school. Since there were so many restrictions on what we could bring (including no cake, no candles?!), we decided to do a morning snack. A lot of fruits, cheese and crackers. I guess the kids enjoyed them a lot compared to the Cheerios and other cereal they normally have.

First school birthday celebration

Then we took him to the dentist!

Some people say that's cruel.... but I say it was practical. The dentist isn't open on weekends, and there was almost no way I could take him on my own and letting him lie on my lap. The belly is just way too big now.

Present opening time after the afternoon nap

And finally... a Mango Mousse Cake which we all used a fork to dig into! Happy Birthday Little one. We love you!

A note to Shane on your big TWO

Happy Birthday son! You are TWO today! It may seem like an ordinary day to you, but for Mommy & Daddy, it was a very special day. It meant we had two great wonderful years with you watching you grow up. From your first cry, to your sit up, to your first crawling session, your first step, your first word and even your first day at school... each new thing you do just made us so proud! You are just so precious to us. Have a great day (even though we took you to the dentist on your special day!)

Lots of hugs and kisses!! Mum & Dad



ps. We hope you love your birthday Big Bird that you picked out!!!

First Day at School

November 2 marks the first time taking Shane to school. First time for us parents, and first time for the little boy. It's such a big step from having him at home with me all the time. He cried, and so did I.

He was all smiles stepping out of the house. He carried his back pack, bottle and snacks, walked happily to the car (perhaps thinking we were going on a road trip). Papa Z came along for his first day at school too. On the way, we psyched him up... but that didn't quite work out once we stepped into the building.

When I picked him up after school, Shane wasn't crying anymore, but he completely lost his voice. He must have been crying for a long long time. My poor baby... The coming days and weeks will be better.

Halloween 2015

We have a tiger this year for Halloween!! 

Started the day off with a small halloween / fall party at the apartment block.

Didn't do quite much this year... no trick or treating (just cause it coincided with his nap time and his bed time). Nevertheless, we still managed to head out to the parade in our town.

Edaville (Thomasland)

While searching out for amusement parks (aside from those Disney ones) during summer, I stumbled upon Edaville. It's a train themed amusement park. The best part was... Thomas land was coming (at that time) to Edaville in August 2015. I immediately knew that we had to take Shane there for his birthday. I guess I was more excited than he was. At that time, I had just gotten him a Thomas the Train set, and he had been pretty excited.

However we decided to do this trip over the Columbus day weekend instead of Thanksgiving for a few reasons - More daylight, Grandma popo was still in America, Longer opening hours and not so cold!!

Edaville!!

What I really like about this place was that Shane could go almost on all the rides. Previously at other parks, all he could do was watch the rides go by. Also, even though it was a long weekend, the queues to the rides were not terribly long. Maximum wait I would say was less than 5 minutes.

And so he went on his first flying elephant ride

Thomas land within Edaville

It was after our visit to Thomasland that Shane started recognising the other engines like Toby, Percy, James, Henry, and also the other characters in the story like Bertie & Harold.

Thomas land rides

Trip to Thomas land isn't complete without a photo with Thomas

The biggest enjoyment we had was the 20 mins ride on Thomas. It was a ride around the perimeters (i think) of Edaville park. We hopped on it twice and the little one loved it so much!!

Overall, a very very nice day at Edaville. I would definitely return more often (if not for the 6 hour drive!!!). 

First Hair Cut

Shane's hair got long on the side and I just had to snip it off.... Never really cut anyone's hair in my life... but I wasn't really going to pay $20 and have a screaming toddler.... So, i did it myself...

After I did it, he now looks like a big boy now. So different!!

Stringing his first sentence

I think Shane just strung his first sentence at 20.5months!

For a really long time (about 3-4 weeks), he's been saying… Papa, Train, Choo Choo. Then it progressed to Papa, Train, Choo Choo, Go. Then it progressed to Papa, Train, Choo Choo, Go Work.

Finally, today, it became… Papa took choo choo train to go work.  Well, not the best English sentence around, but it's his first sentence strung together after several attempts.

Last Hall Mercer Session

I have been driving to and fro from New Jersey and Philly and i find the morning 2 hour drive during peak hours very tiring and stressful. Having Shane sitting in the car for 4 hours or more and driving from place to place doesn't seem like a very productive time for him (and for me). So I guess it's time to call it quits, and find stuff to do here in NJ.

So today, we had our last hall mercer playgroup in Philly. Mixed feelings for me (I don't think Shane realizes what's going on yet)… because I know most of the little ones (and their moms) in the group since they were really tiny! It's been a long 1.5 years journey watching them all grow up, playing with each other and enjoying the hang out sessions outside class.

Shane & Morielle when they were just 6 weeks old!!

Shane & Morielle @ 20 months old

So here are just some shots from today's last class. Hall mercer, we will miss you…. You have taught me so much on parenting and how to keep calm in the midst of baby chaos. You have instilled in Shane routine and discipline through songs and kind words. We (I) will always remember the last 1.5 years!

His newly discovered toy

His all time favorite Hungry Caterpillar slide. It was this slide that got him hooked to the book.

Shake Shake Shake… Oh what fun

Shane's favorite garden

Painting session since it was raining and we couldn't go to the roof to play

After months of stretching and reaching, he finally got tall enough to reach to the end of the sink to turn the tap on! Well done tall boy!

Milk and Muffins (one in each hand)… what else could be better

Hoarding the puppets...

And while I'm at this… I might as well add a few more photos of his wonderful time at the roof garden play area!