+ party invite.  These were printed on shimmery cardstock paper to bring out the theme of the celebration. 



+ party decorations.  I decided to hand-make the birthday bunting after having fun making one for the watermelon-themed party. The bunting read Kayleen is 1, and each letter was made of three layers - the top layer with a blue letter, the middle layer with scalloped borders which I painstakingly cut out because my lousy decorative scissors decided to fail on me, and the bottom white cardstock paper. 



Menu for the catered dinner was printed on the same background as K's party invite and framed using a white wooden frame. I added my yellow smiley rubber star which I bought years ago.


 + party program.  Games were intentionally left out for this party as we wanted everyone to mingle and chat. ZY did a slideshow of K which brought back so many fond memories of K's candid moments. We also had a cartoon movie screened to entertain the younger guests too. 

Some of our guests

Happy birthday dear K! You are definitely the star in our family, and I will always love you. Mommy prays that you will continue to be healthy, meeting your developmental milestones at your pace with our help and support. I know that God has been taking care of you and people around you will see His mercy, love and power. Kiss you! Muaak!!

Liverpool from top, bottom and even inner!

Eph 4:2 

with all lowliness and gentleness, 

with longsuffering, 

bearing with one another in love,

The weather has been so unbearably hot! My family practically sleeps with the air-conditioner every night and I have to bathe two to three times a day. To hide from the heat, we have also gone to shopping malls and swimming pools. I counted- just in the month of June, we have gone swimming more than what we did for the last one year!

Because of the increased frequency in swimming, I notice one problem- the kids complain of being cold after a swim as their towels keep slipping off their body. I want those cute beach ponchos but find it too expensive if I have to get for both kids. This prompted me to try sewing one myself. It would also be a nice present for each of them. I did an online search on Sunday night and discovered very beautifully done and easy step-by-step tutorials by Kyla from Funky Polkadot Giraffe and Fawnda from Fireflies and Jellybeans. Following the instructions given, it didn't seem too difficult for a novice like me who last touched my mom's sewing machine to sew a pair of culottes as my Home Economics project. Excitedly, I searched my cupboard for unused towels and cut the required pieces on Monday.

This morning, upon reaching my mom's place, I explained what I have in mind and started work. Since I had already pre-cut the towels, I only need to sew the pieces together. The first part of the project involved sewing the hood. Mom stood beside me and gave advice like how I should position my fingers to pull the cloth, which type of stitching should be used (although I already told her that the tutorial suggests the zigzag stitch).

Barely less than 5 minutes of sewing, I asked for help. The zigzag stitches did not turn out well around the curved part. Mom took over and happily helped to finish the stitching for the hood. 

How many times have I also done likewise, and insisted on doing something MY way when my children want to do it their way? Like insisting L to write his birthday greetings on a card for Daddy even though he only wanted to paint, and how I made Ch wrap her gift in the way I like it to be done.

Maybe, everyone of us becomes our moms when we have our own children?

Anyway, the poncho took 2.5 h to complete, and I merely contributed about 20% of the project. Nonetheless, I love the finished product!