Happiness is... embracing a new chapter

It's amazing and incredibly humbling to know just how fast time flies in this world. I mean, think about it, we humans are just small, teeny specks in the entire universe that has survived 13.8 billions years. That always makes me marvel at life itself and remind me to be thankful for everything we've got.

So it's time to wave goodbye to 2025 and usher in 2026. A new year, new beginning, new hope. There's so much I wanna try to do, change and accomplish this year, like trying new ventures, quitting bad habits, stepping out of my comfort zone and so much more.

I also wanna try to cultivate a close and healthy relationship with each of the kids, forge stronger bonds and just be a better mum and a person overall. In this post of "Happiness is...", it's about embracing a new chapter.

I now have two teens, one tween and one preschooler and even if it doesn't look like it, it is quite a handful to handle and some days are just harder than the rest. Sometimes, I really wonder how other mums do it because even if I try to hold it altogether, a part of me is falling apart and it only gets tougher over time. Still, as the saying goes, when the going gets tough, the tough gets going so I remind myself that I am stronger than I think and this will all pass.

Day 1 of 2026 was spent with my dear jie meis from secondary school and it's always nice to catch up with these girls who have been a huge part of my life. I was surprised that none of them stayed up to count down to the new year except for me, but it's a tradition with the kids so we always end up sleeping in the wee hours.

We even took out poppers - the little things that go 'Pop!' when you throw them on the floor - to celebrate and also shouted "Happy New Year" across the block to all our neighbours. Of course, we also watched fireworks on the TV and lots of song and dance performances too.

One thing I'm absolutely thankful for is that the kids stll make time to hang out together and join me for outings. We made it to Canopy Park at Jewel and had fun walking in the mirror maze and hedge maze, as well as the walking and running nets. 

At the running net, we took turns to stand or sit in the middle while the rest just surrounded and jump as hard as possible so that the middle person bounces up high, which was hilarious and fun.

The kids laid down together and I asked for a photo and was pleasantly surprised when they used their fingers to combine and make a star shape. Cute! 

IKEA remains as one of our favourite places to visit and I love heading there for lunch with the little one. We will walk around the showrooms, enjoy the soft serve and have fun getting inspiration on how to revamp our house. This time, I surprised the kids by getting them some animal plushies and they were totally over the moon.

Awww, meet Raffey and Coca, our new friends and how the boys love to cuddle them. In case you think I ma biased, the firstborn also got a dog (she wanted it) and the sister got an otter. Yeap, life's fair.

It was late one night when we were returning home from our friend's house. But the kids say the exercise area and asked to stay and so we did till nearly midnight. The girls did this heart shaped pose by hanging upside down on the monkey bars and I thought that was pretty cool!

Back at home, I don't and I can't find the energy to cook every day and honestly, I'd much rather cook a soup and prepare a steamboat anyway. It's a bonus when all the kids are around to eat together and I love how we can hear about each other's day during mealtimes - provided they are not at each other's throats or quipping the whole time.

On days when I feel too tired to cook, the littlest and I will go out for meals and I'm not guilty of that since I think he is old enough now and doesn't need to eat bland, healthy, salt-less home cooked food anymore. We both love Japanese food and would be happy to tuck into a bowl of udon or ramen and a cup of chawanmushi.

The boys still like to dress up and play pretend fight complete with action and lots of interesting sound effects. It can be quite interesting to watch and every time I see them playing, I am just glad that these two have each other.

We still like to go for theatre shows and this month, we watched Gruffalo's Child at KidsFest. A true Julia Donaldson classic and one of our favourite children's books to date. Ansel was so happy - check out his big smile after getting the cute tattoos - and I am thankful that he still gets to enjoy such opportunities.

The boys and I spend more time together these days as the teenager Jiejies get busier and busier with their school, CCAs and social circles. In our free time, we still head to the neighbourhood playground just to hang out for a while. One day when the kids are all grown up, I'll stop coming by and that part makes me feel a little sentimental just thinking about it.

Now that he is almost five, Ansel started swimming classes this month. He isn't as much of a water baby as his sister and brother and it can be a struggle getting him to change and go for his swim class. Still, with time and patience, I think it will get better and I can't wait to have him join us for snorkelling trips.

We checked out the Punggol Heritage Trail and I have to say we have been cycling, scooting and running quite often as a family, which I totally hope we can continue to do for years to come.

Staying fit is a benefit of it but the main point for me is how the whole family comes together and the precious bonding we have amidst it all. So one of my resolutions for 2026 is definitely to work out more in the hope of getting stronger and healthier, so that I can do more with the kids too.

Till sharing more snippets of our lives in the new year! 

Colours of the World - Ansel's concert 2025

This is a day that I look forward to every year - Ansel's annual preschool concert.

Even if he is not a graduand yet, I love seeing him shine on stage with his friends, dancing, singing and just having a ball of a time. I also love listening to the graduands' speeches and their parents' heartfelt wishes to them, and can already imagine how I would be tearing up when my lastborn graduates from kindergarten.

The theme for his concert this year is "Colours of the World" and the kids get to dress up in different ethnic costumes, sing to multilingual songs and celebrate racial harmony. I love seeing Ansel in the different outfits and it was amazing seeing him dance to the songs with his friends.

Of course, I had to make sure I tried my best to capture videos and turn this memorable day into everlasting memories for my darling boy. Here's sharing all the fun highlights.

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His first performance was a Indonesian Javanese folk dance and this type of traditional horse dance is known as the Kuda Kepang. I thought the handcrafted bamboo horses look amazing!

Then he switched to this Chinese outfit that made him look like a 武侠英雄 in a pugilistic world. We all thought it suited him to a tee. This was also my favourite song of all "和你一样" and it made me tear the first time Ansel sang it to me.

After that, it was an Indian dance titled "Tinak Tin Tana" and he looked so cute doing all the Bollywood style moves.

The finale was "Golden" which was apt given how all the kids were in love with KPop Demon Hunters at that time.

I love how the teachers chose "Our Second Home" as the venue because there were games and even a small playground for the kids to run around and play when the concert ended. Yes, how nice for them to interact with their friends and siblings, and reward themselves after a job well done.

So big thank you to all his preschool teachers for giving us parents this day to remember, for celebrating our kids' milestones and for pouring so much time and effort into the rehearsals to make this dream day come true.

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Immortalising these special moments of Ansel into eternal memories for him. You did so well, Ansel, and I love you to the moon and back!

Happiness is... enjoying a whirlwind year-end holiday

We always look forward to December because it is always a month filled with lots of fun activities, celebrations, gatherings and family vacations. December 2025 was no exception and in fact, it was one of the best year end holidays we've ever had.

Let's see, besides going for family walks, visits to Sentosa, indoor playgrounds and two camps, we also had BBQs, playdates, family get-togethers, movie dates and a Christmas gift exchange. The most important highlight had to be our epic 9D8N road trip to Malaysia where we visited Kuala Lumpur, Genting, Cameron Highlands and Melaka. Yes, super exciting!

Of course, we also celebrated Ariel and Asher's birthdays and I can't wait to share more about their celebrations. We also counted down to 2026 and ended the year 2025 with a big bang.

In this post of "Happiness is...", it's about thoroughly enjoying a whirlwind holiday with my loved ones.

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Guess where we were? We were at the southernmost point of continental Asia, woohoo! To get here, we crossed the iconic rope suspension bridge at Palawan Beach in Sentos and the views were amazing!

You know why I love school holidays so much? Because we get to spend so much time together and the kids get to hang out with each other too. Sure, they will never stop bickering or criticising each other but to look on the bright side, they also play together, look for insects together and have fun together.

Since a couple of years ago, I've tried to instill a healthier lifestyle and that means making time to work out, exercise and keep fit. Better still if we do it as a family. Some of my friends often refer to us as the 'sporty' and 'outdoorsy' family and they are absolutely right about there.

This time, we cycled and ran to Coney Island because the kids love to go to the beach and look for marine creatures there. We ended the evening with a yummy mookata meal - which probably added lots of calories and rendered our exercise effort useless - but it was so worthwhile and we seriously love having a good mookata meal together.

Just a day before we set off on our long road trip, we were still attending events and travelling across the island. The kids had lots of fun at Airzone in City Square Mall where we climbed ropes, overcame obstacles, whizzed down slides and even played laser tag too. Yup, laser tag was the most fun bit as we teamed up and competed with another family. I think my kids are like me, kinda competitive and have the desire to win when it comes to such events.

We love Luge and can never get enough of it. So whenever we get a media invite, the kids will all try to make time for it. This time, we got to whizz down all the four different slopes despite it drizzling earlier and we all enjoyed it very much. It's always a challenge for me because I have ride tandem with the 5yo and still be able to film ourselves and the other three kids. Yeap, but seeing the big smiles on their faces, it's all worthwhile.

We watched a couple of movies in the cinemas this month because it's something that we all enjoy and I usually get one to two hours of peace to sit back and relax, haha. So we caught Five Nights at Freddy's 2 (we watched the first movie during Halloween) and also Anancondo. The former was a scary thriller that kept us at the edge of our seats while the latter was a comedy that made us laugh and chuckle.

It might be a busy month but there's always time to meet up with good friends. We visited Steven's house which has nine cats and and over 40 birds and the kids were so, so in love with the felines and wished they could stay there longer.

Our friends also came to our place to eat and swim together and we had these poppers which we let the kids play and inside each of them was a fun riddle which we could take turns to solve.

The hubby and I also hosted a barbeque cum playdate session for some my mummy friends and their lovely families. I took time to pump lots of cute inflatables for the kids to play while the hubby took charge of the food.

I also brought the boys to feed the horses at Gallop Stable at Downtown East while the girls chose to wait it out and then head straight to the next venue to meet us. Since they have different likes and dislikes and teenagers have a mind of their own, I now get it that we need to split up sometimes so that everyone can be do what he/she wants and be happy.

The good thing is that the two sisters still go to indoor playgrounds with us once in a while so Ansel still has plenty of siblings to play with. He adores his Korkor and Jiejies and love it when they do kiddy stuff with him.

There are also times when I would just bring the two boys out when the girls head out with their friends and stay back in school for CCA. Although their age gap is over five years, these two can still play the same kind of games and get along well together. Thank goodness they have each other.

We also attended two fun camps which took up almost two weeks in December already. The first was a Science camp by Cognutive Whizz and the kids were thrilled to learn about Science concepts, visit farms, take home black soldier flies and even create a terrarium for isopods too. This would be Ariel's last Science camp with us so it made it even more memorable.

The next camp was an Adventure camp with Newtonshow Camp which brought us to a different place every day of the five days. We visited Rainforest Wild, Lee Kong Chien Museum, Snow City, Jurong Lake Gardens, East Coast Park, Pasir Ris Park and more. It was an exhausting but fun-filled week for the kids and myself, who tagged along everywhere, and likewise, it was Ariel's last adventure camp and we are surely gonna miss her in future.

This was the first time I crocheted a beanie on my own and it was for the big sister who turned 16 recently. It is one of the easiest patterns you can find but I am still just very happy that I did it all by myself.

We love hotpots so we were happy to get the chance to have a mum-and-kids dinner at Wang Lu. The kids like to cook their own food so this was a good way to keep them busy, happy and full, and also make sure they eat what they cook and get a good balance of nutrients.

But most of the time, we will be eating at food courts and kopitiams because it is just too expensive otherwise. Plus, the food here can really be good like this tissue prata and coin prata we had were really crispy and good.

So about the road trip I mentioned, we embarked on it on 15 December and returned at wee hours on Christmas Eve so that we could still celebrate Christmas Day with our families. We stayed three nights in KL, two nights in Genting, two nights in Cameron Highlands and one night in Melaka. I will be sharing more in depth in the upcoming posts because there's just so much to share and you bet I took lots of videos too so stay tuned for those.

It was a superb and absolutely unforgettable trip that saw us spending lots of time together as a family of six and we are so proud that our secondhand car made it to so many places and back. Haha. From safaris and zoos to theme parks and farms, we visited so many places and I'm glad that the kids had a ball of a time too.

On Christmas Day, the kids found their presents under the tree and were thrilled that Santa gave them those as well as drank the milk and ate the cookies they had left for him.

Even though we had yet to recover from the trip, we still hosted a family gathering where the hubby cooked whereas I packed the house and logcakes to share. Well, I was also in charge of getting ALL the gifts, which include for our parents, nieces, nephews, kids, brother, sis-in-law and so on, as well as wrapping them all. Yeap, in our house, it's always the mum's job. But that's also what makes Christmas so fun because we get to spread love and joy on others and sprinkling some on ourselves too.

The kids, without a doubt, love this festive season for secular reasons and it is the time of the year where they can receive lots of gifts and hopefully get one or two items on their wish lists.

Whenever the family comes together, magic happens and December was definitely a truly whimsical month filled with lots of fun and happy memories. What a wonderful way to end off the year 2025.

Till more happiness posts in the new year!