Happiness is... making joy a priority

The year end is always a busy and exciting time as the kids sit for their final exams, as we celebrate festivals like Halloween and Christmas, as we pack the school holidays with lots of activities and travels, and as we prepare to wrap up the year and end it on a happy note.

September marked the start of PSLE written papers for Ariel and while it was a stressful and frenzied period, I wanted to make sure it was still injected with joy and lots of opportunities for play and relaxation.

One of the more crazy decisions we made was to attend Stray Kids concert right in the middle of her PSLE exams! Yup, it was the weekend break and she still had three more papers to go the following week. Initially, the plan was to bring Angel, who is an ardent Stray Kids fan, only. Ariel understood the reason why but when I looked into her eyes and saw her forlorn expression, I asked her if she wanted to go too. She said "Of course, who would wanna miss the concert and just study?" So I decided on the spot to get three tickets instead of two and bring this girl to her first ever concert.

If anything, I think it motivated her to study even harder and it was a decision I do not regret a bit. Eventually, she still managed to achieve her target score and guess what, the thing is she would always remember that concert night and look back knowing that she was very much loved.

No matter how hectic life gets, we'll always try to make happiness our priority. In this post of "Happiness is...", it's about choosing joy.

In leading up to the concert, the girls and I got matchy wear - I bought these printed SKZoo tees online and we got our cargo pants from Uniqlo - and we even did our first ever Kpop cover. I am not a natural dancer and do not have dancing background like these two so learning this Chk Chk Boom song took me way longer than expected. Still, it was so fun doing it as a trio and I can't wait to see if we will do it again. It's one of the ways I can bond with my teens and something I appreciate very much. Check out our dance here on YouTube or Instagram.

On the night of the concert, we made our way to Kallang, ate at Subway before making our way to the National Stadium. It was a night jam packed with catchy songs, amazing dance choreography, heartfelt interaction and lots of squeals and screams from the fans. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would and having my girls with me made all the difference, even if we did quibble at the start, haha. I'm not sure if we would attend more concerts in future next time - concerts are truly very costly - but at least we have this to remember for many years to come. And I hope you are happy to see your idols, my love.

Back at home, we still continue with our family movie nights, have McDonalds' breakfast on some weekends and make time for play. It is so important to balance work and play in our lives and I'm thankful that my kids do not attend tuition classes, therefore our weekends are generally free for us to do whatever we want. I especially loved seeing Ariel's smiles and wanted her to feel our love and find joy despite the exam stress.

Since this month marks the Mid-Autumn Festival, we also made time to attend events, such as making our own lanterns and mooncakes followed by taking a night walk at Changi Airport. It was fun for the kids and as a kid till now, I still love lighting up candles and taking DIY lanterns to go for a family stroll. Such joy in such simple moments of life.

You know, after we walked a good distance to see the dinosaurs near Jurassic Mile (we wished we could have walked it all), the kids said they were still hungry and asked if we could go for supper. The hubby said he was tired and wanted to go home to rest, well, so I guess it was all on me then. Of course I couldn't disappoint the kids and we went to their favourite McDonald's to get a bite or two.

We also did that after their Taekwondo practice one day and I had to remind them that fast food is unhealthy and we shouldn't do it too many times in a month. Haha. Oh well, sometimes I have to remind myself that they are kids and teens and if I were to recall my secondary school days, my friends and I would go to fast food chains for lunch and snacks pretty often too, especially after our badminton sessions.

Having exams doesn't mean you have to stop watching movies so we still gratefully attended every movie event we were invited to. Such opportunities are getting rarer now that there are more up and coming parent content creators so I'm just happy to accept whatever that comes and if it doesn't, it's okay too. We also watch movies every weekend and sit on the couch as a family to snack and catch a show on Netflix or Disney+, and this is the one family tradition that I hope will always stay.

Outdoor time, to us, is very important and we don't like to be cooped at home for too long. So we always make time for jogs, strolls, runs and trips to the playground just to catch a breath of fresh air and work out as a family. It's good that Ansel can now scoot on his own because that means I get to finally run but we are not surprised that less than halfway through, he would just go "I tired. I want Mama carry!" to which I would happily oblige too.

My cousin had his wedding this month and even though it was a chaotic period for us, of course we had to make time to attend! From the opening of car door in the morning (my cousin opened the door for my hubby in 2008 and now 17 years later, Asher opened his car door, how nice, right?) to the tea ceremony in the afternoon and wedding banquet at night, we were there gathered with our family the entire day. Awesome memories, precious time spent, especially with those family members who specially came back from overseas to celebrate as one.

Back at home, the brothers still bunk in my room with me but since the hubby is seldom back before wee hours, I wouldn't have it any other way. I love seeing how they adore each other, how they like to wear matching shirts, how they pretend fight, how they roll in bed, how they would come up with a cute show to entertain me on some nights. It doesn't matter if others think that they are too old and should shift to a room of their own, we do what we feel is right and what makes us happy at the end of the day.

The kids love eating kaya toast with half-boiled eggs so we make it a point to have that at least once a month. It's nice that we still hang out together to check out newly opened malls, have family meals and best of all, I don't even need to wash up. Haha. So yes, I totally don't feel guilty about eating out now that the kids are bigger.

Playgrounds form a big part of the kids' growing up memories and even now, we are always on the lookout for new playgrounds to visit. Yes, even the teen daughters still join us too whenever they can and that is something I am truly thankful for.

I remember that we planned a trip to the new Pasir Ris Mall and the original plan was to let the boys play at the indoor playground while Ariel and I revised for her PSLE at the coffee play right beside. That was, until she voiced out that she wasn't really in the mood to study so we scraped the plan and instead, let her join in the fun at the playground followed by the arcade.

There really is no point forcing them to cram for the exams when they are not willing to, right? At least, that is how I feel. We can encourage, motivate and nag all we want but at the end of the day, their attitude and willingness decides everything.

We also took the kids to bowling and they had so much fun that evening with their cousins. It was just two week to PSLE written papers but like I emphasised, I don't really think last minute work helps much so I would rather they take it easy and not stress themselves out too much but instead believe that their consistency efforts would pay off.

Yup, we do dine out but I still make it a point to cook a couple of times a week at least. Otherwise, I would really feel bad since I am a full time SAHM after all. Plus, the kids do enjoy my simple home-cooked dishes so that is a motivation for me to keep it going.

I don't think I would have learnt to cook if I didn't become a mum though, but I kind of had to for the well-being of my kids and considering that I stepped into motherhood in Scandinavia 10,000 miles away from home with no helper. Yup, for me, it's done out of love more than enjoyment for sure.

Meetups with girlfriends are far and few as everyone is very busy in different ways but we try our best to make them happen despite the hectic schedules. I am very thankful to have known a few good friends from this blogging journey and I don't think you need a whole bunch of them, just a few that you hold close to your heart and that you would meet up to celebrate birthdays.

While we did attend a Mid-Autumn event, we still kept up with our own family tradition of taking a stroll in the neighbourhood with our lanterns and ending the night with mooncake tasting, tea and sparklers. Well, the kids wanted to have late night supper after so we happily did that too.

I'm not sure for many years more will this tradition last but while the kids are still happy to play with sparklers and have fun at playgrounds, I will always make time to do this with them on 中秋节. Just make sure to always clean up after and never leave any rubbish, yeah?

One thing that especially warmed my heart was seeing the kids stacking their sparklers on top of each other to create a stronger, brighter spark.

Yup, unity is strength and hopefully the four of you will always remember to stand by, support and love each other and you will be stronger together. 团结就是力量!

I know there will be many more challenges waiting for us to overcome as we approach the last quarter of the year but there will also be lots of fun, joy and laughter for us to experience together too. For now, we are taking things a step at a time and reminding ourselves that our well-being, be it physical, mental or emotional, is of utmost importance.

Joy is not in things; it is in us. Let's all learn to choose joy for ourselves, our kids and the people we love.