Happy Birthday Daddy

I had made plans to celebrate hubb’s birthday. But had to cancel all of them when my major project deadline fell exactly on hubb’s birthday.

So I decided to make up for the lack of celebration by self-baking a cake for him on the weekend following his birthday. Besides, I know the kids would love to have a birthday cake to sing & blow candles for.

Hubb is very picky when it comes to cakes, all thanks to aunt who used to bake and sell gourmet cakes. I use to hang out at my aunt’s house frequently and she will spoil us with her baked goodies. Her cakes are better than Secret Recipe or Manila Place. That’s how good they are to us.

So pretty cupcakes are a No-No.

So I decided to make a chocolate banana cake. I used a choc mud cake recipe, with whipped choc ganache frosting and banana fillings, covered with rich choc ganache.

For decorations, i have to thank my dear fren, who gave me some fondant that she had made herself. Initially she gave me some of the basic ingredients for fondant. But since I am only using the fondant for some minor decoration, I asked if she would give me some made fondant…and I am so glad when she said she have some that she could give to me…*muaks* *muaks*

So here’s the cake.

It was really fun to assemble the cake. The best part is making the fondant decorations. Now i can understand why so many people want to do the cupcake/ fondant cake business. It is a really fun way to make money.

As expected, both the boys were very happy to see the cake when they woke up from their afternoon nap.

I only managed to take one family photo (using tripod). I am not 100% happy with this one as Dylan looked blur-blur. But what to do ah… As the timer was ticking away for this photo, hubb’s phone rang.

As soon as we took this photo, hubb rushed to answer the call which turned out to be a call fr his office asking him to look into something urgent.

By the time he was done with work, it was time to go to MIL’ house. We’re late for our steamboat dinner.

So we packed the cake to MIL for dessert.

Here’s how the cake looks like inside…moist & rich!

Happy belated birthday hubb…we’ll have a belated celebration soon ok…

Daddy loves..

Bryan, You have to know that though daddy don’t say it as often as he should, daddy loves you very much!

Today, he devoted the whole morning & afternoon to making you happy.

It was your quality one-on-one time with daddy.

Daddy wants to eat sushi, but you want to eat McD.

When daddy wanted to look at the Superbike exhibition (which have gorgeous sexy models too), you wanted to go to Toy’r'us (Mommy says, “haha”)

When daddy wanted to look at the Transformers exhibition, you wanted to go to Borders.

When daddy wanna shop for some clothing, you wanted to go to the Jusco Playland (who is just next to the men’s clothing dept).

Both of you spent nearly 4 hours in the mall, doing everything that YOU wanted.

So, don’t you think that daddy spoils loves you?

And daddy loves mommy too, because daddy did all that with you so that mommy can go to a photography workshop and have a good time.

P/S: You can look forward to bullying having fun with daddy again in 2 weeks time, coz mommy signed up for another workshop…kekekekekeke..

Scared of the sand, sea & waves

We took Dylan to the beach for the first time last weekend. I thought that he would have a blast playing with the sand and water.

But the moment his feet touched sand…he froze..and screamed.

He refused to come down at all…

Refuse to sit on the mat.
Refuse to play with sand. Daddy tried to tempt him by showing that how he can play with the shovel & stuff…Not interested.
Refuse to let daddy walk near the shore line.
Refuse to let ME go into the sea to fetch some water for the other kids. Guess he was scared that the waves may swallow him up.

Almost every single photo that we took of him has this pitiful look.

Can you see Dylan and hubb at the far back. While everyone is happily playing with sand, all Dylan wanna do is cling to his daddy.

He only lightened up much much later when it is snacks time.

Poor Dylan, mummy bring you here a couple more time to familiarize yourself ok. Then you can start having fun.

Big boy already

Situation #1
Last Monday was a public holiday, but I had to go back to the office in the morning to get some work done. I left Dylan with my parents and Bryan a good one-on-one time with daddy.

After Bryan had his breakfast of milk + Nestum at home, daddy took him to the McD branch at P Terubong. Bryan had been asking to go to this McD branch, and daddy obliged.

Daddy ordered the McD breakfast set and Bryan had the hash brown. He played for a while and he wanted french fries. There are limited tables near to the playground and daddy was afraid that their table might be taken if he leaves the table to order more food.

Daddy: Bryan, come sit here, and don’t leave. If you leave, someone might take this table.
Bryan: OK
*Daddy goes to get some french fries. Unfortunately, they don’t serve french fries until after 11am. So daddy goes back to the table, and there’s Bryan, still “jomming” (book) the table per daddy’s instruction.
Daddy: No french fries. They don’t sell until much later.
Bryan: Daddy, buy soft drink.
*We never use the term soft drink, so i have no idea where he picked that one up. And they don’t serve soft drinks at school either.*
Daddy: No soft drinks during breakfast time. Only got coffee. You go back and play at the playground.
Bryan: *looks around* Don’t want already. So many people.

Situation #2
He did something wrong and I hit him, really hard. I know that it hurts.
Bryan: Mommy sorry. Pu yau liao (Don’t want already)
Bryan: Mommy pu yau ta tak tak li (Mommy don’t hit so hard). Ta siau siau li (hit lightly). Tak tak li huei tong te. (It hurts when you hit hard).
*Bryan oh Bryan*

Situation #3
I had a night teleconference just now, and daddy took care of the boys. I got out from my teleconference at 10pm ++ and the house was quiet. Dylan is asleep and Bryan was almost asleep. If I had not gone into his room, he would have fallen asleep without me.

Daddy tried to pat him to sleep and Bryan said, “Hey, no need to pat pat pat already. Mummy says I am a big boy!”

Yes, dear you are a big boy. You do get on mummy’s nerves with your mischievous antics sometimes but at some other times…you are such a darling!

You are certainly growing up, and getting more mature. And because of that, mummy is letting you help out (play) with more things.. Yes, including baking with mummy…but that’s another story for another day. Love you Bryan!

Sleeping on daddy

Daddy’s shoulder is just sooooo comfy

Maybe it is because i can’t spend as much time with Dylan as I had with Bryan last time. But Dylan gets along much better with hubb when it comes to nap or sleeping at night.

I can always count on hubb to put Dy to sleep. Hope this continues on & on…..

Nicknames

Most parents have sweet nicknames for their kiddos. Lil prince, princess, cutie pie..etc.

I am no different. When Bryan was small, i used to call him cute-cute baby boy. And I would call him in a sing song tone.

But his daddy probably think that that name is too sweet for his son. So he modified it.

To: Kuk kuk baby boy – an exaggeration of the word cute

Then, Bryan have always been a mischievous baby. In hokkien, we say “kuai ku.” So after some time, hubb changed the kuk-kuk to mean the “ku” in “kuai ku”

As he got older, the word baby was dropped. And soon it became “kuk kuk boy.”

But the nicknames evolved over time again. Hubb started to call Bryan, “Ah Ping.” (Self translated mandarin version of the Hong Kong phrase “siu peng” = wanna get beaten) Why? Coz Bryan gets more mischievous as he grows.

Soon, the name becomes Ping Ping (cuter mah). “Ping” is pronounced as like the sound of biscuit in Mandarin

Then hubb would ask Bryan, “Suei si ping ping ren?” (Who is Ping Ping person?)

And Bryan would reply, “Bryan!”

Then Dylan came along. And he is also another mischievous little kiddo. So hubb starts calling Dylan Ah Ping also. In fact, Bryan also followed suit, and said that Dylan is “ping ping ren” and not him.

Aiyo, so many ping ping people, how to differentiate. Thus,

Bryan = The official “ping ping”
Dylan = Siau Ping Ping (small ping)

And who is Da Ping (Big Ping)?

Hubb of course! The person who started it all…Hahahahahahaha

Happy birthday daddy

Bryan sings,

“Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday to DADDEEEEE
Happy Birthday to you”

*Yeah, finally get to blow candle & cut cake*

Sommo, got pressie* from Daddy….

Bryan, aren’t you a lucky boy!

*We are getting more generous when it comes to getting new toys for Bryan nowadays. We figured that whatever we get for Bryan now, can be passed on to Dylan. So better get more toys for Bryan now so that both of them get to enjoy them eventually.

Daddy with the boys

Daddy complained why the previous post did not have his photo with his boys. So, as per daddy greatest’s request, here’s the pic.

I did not post the photo YET because I want to photoshop that flashlight reflection at the back of the photo first. But no time to do yet. But since you so kan-cheong want to show off your photo, post first lo!