CNY Lion Dancing : Jan-09

This year's lion dancing I'd managed to arrange a session at Benny's place... When our lorry arrived at Benny's place, I am welcomed by my lovely family together with all my nieces, nephews, cousins and friends who are ready for the show... Although I have watched lion dancing together with En'en numerous times on my handphone, I am really keen to see En'en reaction towards watching it 'live' for the first time. She seems to receive it well and enjoy herself extremely.

En'en's mastermind : Jan-09

Watch this video carefully and you will realize who's En'en's mastermind to all her mischief.

Chingay Parade : Jan-09

This year there are a few tickets for us to watch the Chingay parade 'live' at Marina Square... so we reached city hall at about 8pm, have a ice-cream feast before we proceed to take our seats. The Chingay performance are always full of entertainment especially with the enhancement of many "flower cars". Two performance groups which strike me the most are the dragon dance from Chong-qing and of course, nothing other than our very Soka performancers! Watch the video to see them... :-)

CNY Day 1 : Jan-09

This is En'en's first CNY to see how her jie-jies pay respect to the elders and also enjoy the company of many friends and relatives... and more importantly, receiving the ang-pows and passing them to Mummy... :P

Reunion Dinner : Jan-09

Our reunion dinner feast as always, was prepared laboriously and lovingly by mama. Though it looked like a simple affair, the dishes took many hours to prepare, and preparations started early morning.. home-made shark's fin soup, home-made ngoh hiong, steamed fish, home-made spring roll, mixed vegetables, grilled prawns with bacon, and last but not least, yu-sheng!

A thoroughly enjoyable and delicious dinner. This year, even En'en was able to eat some of the food!

En'en, "the housekeeper" : Jan-09

En'en, apart from looking similar to baby Qiqi, she also adopted Qiqi's way of enjoying simple household chores.

'Music Book' artwork from XuanXuan : Jan-09

'With popular demand', Xuanxuan had spend a whole saturday afternoon designing a cover page of a Music Book... she really has a passion in arts, something which i found very similar in myself when i was young. I hope she would continue her passion longer than i do... :P

Hilton Family Day : Jan-09

I experienced my first family day at Hilton, held at the Conrad Centennial Singapore - Salon by the Pool on level 4.

This is the first family day in which I was a total participant, and did not in any way help in the organising. I spent the entire time with my family. I guess the girls had a pretty good time - ice-cream, candy floss, magic show and many laughs during the show. Oh, not to forget the helium balloons and the Conrad teddies! ;)

Another niece's 21st Birthday : Jan-09

January is also the birthday month for Yean Her, my niece... except this year it is special for her, she turns 21... Yean Her always struck me with her cheerfulness and friendliness, although sometimes abit cheeky... :P. On this special birthday, she celebrates by holding a BBQ along the East Coast Beach with plenty of nice food. The weather is very kind to her too, breezy, cool and dry! (A day after, it is raining cats and dogs the whole day)

"Suffer what is there to suffer, enjoy what is there to enjoy" : Jan-09

During this month discussion meeting, I will be sharing this Gosho "Happiness in this world", one of the Gosho which strikes me the most about life and happiness. In this short Gosho, Nichiren explained that in life, there are both times of suffering and of joy. These are all irreplaceable scenes in life's drama. Without suffering, we could not appreciate joy. Without tasting the flavours of both suffering and joy, we would not be able to savour life's profundity. Regard both suffering and joy as facts of life and continue chanting Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, no matter what happens.

Our Euno West 2B District Target for 2009 : Jan-09

Our district moved into our very first new year in 2009!

Since the formation for our new district in June 2008, we have seen significant growth to the district. Everyone from members to leaders had put in good effort in contributing to this growth. We would want to continue this advancement in Kosen Rufu and thus set our district targets for 2009, Year of Youth & Victory.

(little typo on the Daimoku target.... should 20 million instead)

Archive ~ Gals receiving prizes in HIPS : Jan-09

A few days ago, Xuanxuan and Qiqi passed me these two photos and requested them to be blogged, and so i obliged... These two photos are taken during the annual prize presentation in Holy Innocent's Primary School.  Qiqi received her special award for outstanding CCA participation in 2006 while Xuanxuan received her 3rd in class award in 2008.  As Buddhism says, life is about winning or being defeated... Hopefully, they will continue to excel in whatever things they do in many years to come and be victorious in their lives. 

Triple Celebrations! : Jan-09

As we usher in the new year 2009, it is also birthday celebrations for the two most important men in my life - my papa and hubby!! The whole family gathered, and we cut two cakes after a home-cooked dinner and the mahjong session. Well, the two cakes came about because of two birthday boys, as well as mummy's and Victor's very opposing preference in cakes, but it served the rest of the family well as we have not one, but two yummy cakes to feast on!

Oh, i forgot to mention there was a third and fourth cake which did not make it to the video, ie Flo's and Hong's home-made tiramisu cakes. Definitely not camera-friendly but still bearable to the palate fortunately.. i am surely looking forward to more delicious and pretty home-made tiramisu cakes!

How time flies, it has been half a year since Ah Jia left us. I wonder where and what is she doing now..

Another great Birthday gift : Jan-09

Another great surprise from Shin Yang, Qiqi and Xuanxuan... issuing me coupons to be utilized anytime i like... such a cool idea i thot.. I would probably claim my first massage coupon from Qiqi, whom kept complaining how much strength she needs to use to massage me for 20 mins... I want to see how sincere she is.. :P

Start of 2009 : Jan-09

Today is the beginning of 2009... The whole family started our very first day of the year by visiting SSA HQ to do our new year's prayers. I'm sure each of us will have our own resolution for this new year and may all of our wishes come true.