happy birthday for real

Happy birthday for real! To our favourite most beloved sweetheart ever, mummy and papa love you. You make us laugh, you make us cry, you make us crazy, you make us love life! Five years is so little but so much. Keira at 5ive is:
1. An intuitive person.
2. An honest person; always fessing up when breaking/messing up or creating a huge mess but with that face, that cute little voice and such naivité, it's easy to just hug her to bits instead.
3. A fun imp! Ready to dance, clap & sing along (and if she doesn't know the words, she makes em up as she goes along!). Karaoke.. here she comes!
4. A cheese-lovin' 5 yr old. Able to eat spoonfuls of parmesan, without the pasta!
5. A memory-loading, learning machine. Able to tell you off the bat what happened at the precise moment last year, also able to tell you the direction you're going in the car is wrong (and she's usually right!). As my mom says, "her brain is a sponge with new batteries and it's going on strong".

Baby girl, we love you for being you.

it's a keira weekend!

I won't cry, I won't cry...

It's a Keira weekend! Our little girl is turning 5. To start off our celebration for this weekend, I've put together a little video montage going trippy trippy down memory lane. Sit back, relax, drink your latte cuz it'll take a while! (warning: video is about 17 min.)



Keira - The Wonder Years from chantal on Vimeo.

l'artiste

I usually don't pay much attention to Keira's drawings when she brings them home each and every night from the service de garde (where she usually goes before and after school-it's at her school btw). I glance at them and go, "wow! great job!" and then put them on a big pile of her other drawings accumulating on the kitchen counter.

While most of her peers her age are drawing cats that look like cats, dogs that look like dogs, people that look like people... well you get the drift, Keira usually draws à la freeform abstract type. You know, lines, squiggles, random crayon marks.

Lately though, I've noticed the way she draws "people's" faces. She actually draws a circle for eyes (or the iris) and then another circle within as pupils. And then, 2 nights ago, she came home with these: I was blown away!!

Check out the awesome hair! 2 bad-ass ponytails, like her own. Yep, the arms are still sticking out of the heads.. hehe.

The Spotty Dog!

Field of Flowers

My absolute favourite of them all! Whack-job bunny bonhomme with flowers sticking out. Total awesomeness!

hairclip

Rarely do we see Keira with her bangs off her forehead. Rarer still will she put in clips or barrettes in her hair. But these are the clips she got from a friend for her birthday. Hello Kitty clips. She asks her daddy to put them in her hair for school (usually on the sides). Tonight, she let me put up her bangs with the clips for 1 whole minute!

Scary part is... when her hair is off her face, she kind of looks different. Can't really tell from these pics but... whoowee. Look at all that baby hair framing her face! I could just squeeze and hug her and freeze-frame this time. Time is going waaay too quickly!

Btw, yes, this is the third evening/night in a row where she has been wearing that velvet dress. She's hoping for another ped-week where she can wear her non-uniform clothes to school! Can't bear to tell her it won't be til next year...She seems to have taken a liking to that dress...

Ah yes, Megatron!! She likes him cuz he's "bad!"

the puzzle-meister

The Puzzle-Meister at work. I wanted to do the puzzle with her but all I got was, "Maman! Je peux l'faire toute seule!" (I can do it by myself!). Sheesh.

sundays...

A whole day being the Tickle Monster (that would be moi), Keira in her Tommy dress (so velvety soft), acting out various episodes of the Backyardigans with... the Backyardigans plushies, watching Transformers 2 (I covered her ears and eyes at the iffy parts! I know I know, bad movie but we loved it!) and playing outside in the backyard. Perfect Sunday...

Keira et Papa

saturday pics

Just noticed.. her hair's getting pretty long.

This is Zoë, she's my friend!

charms

Every year, I go on a quest for a new charm to add to a charm bracelet Keira received from her Godmother when she was a baby. Her Godmother being my sister. The bracelet came with a ladybug charm and we started from there. Eventually, there will be a total of 17 charms: the ladybug along with a charm for each year until she reaches sixteen when we'll give it to her for her Sweet Sixteen.

So far, we've added charms just for fun and slight meanings behind them; the jade budha charm for her asian heritage, the little baby chicken in egg for her french heritage, a key (to our heart!), etc. I'm now searching for a 4-leaf clover for her Irish heritage and a tiger for her Korean heritage.

Hopefully, they'll all fit on this delicate bracelet and we're looking forward to giving this to her. But not just yet... I want the years to pass by slowly so we can savour every fun & sweet moment of little Keira.

kid magazine - street style

Guess who made it to Kid Magazine? Yes! The Keikster. It's a summer photo but one of my all-time faves. Check her out on street style!

I love looking for new kid's sites and this one really caught my eye! It's a site from Down Under and it features indie and awesome Aussi designers. Check it out! Thank you Kid Magazine!

and on tonight's menu

Keira just had to make something tonight. So, I pulled up a chair to the counter, got out all the ingredients and... Keira added a bit of this, a splash of that, some bay leaves, a whole lotta spices et voilà! Gloopy-gloop for supper! Mm... ca sentait du yiable et ça goûtait aussi bon. yiam yiam, bon appetit! Voir le vidéo, c'est pas moi le chanceux à manger ça... hahaha. 

A bit of this, a little of that...

Proud of her gloopy-gloop.

And on tonight's menu... from chantal on Vimeo.

Magic Trick from chantal on Vimeo.

early 5th birthday party!

We survived Keira's 5th birthday party! All in all, it went relatively smoothly and the kids had fun. Whew! I am so glad I put out that crafts table where the kids got to make their masks. I didn't think they'd get the invitation that I sent out but most of the girls apparently knew right away they'd be making masks at this party. Smart kiddies!

This Hannah Montana balloon was a big hit. The kids hit it and the balloon started singing.

None of the parents stayed (they all looked pretty grateful to get the morning and part of afternoon off!) so I now have tons of leftovers. And the one girl I made the menu egg-free for didn't even show up (see ps note below, updated)! Not a call or email. I'll send off her loot bag at school anyways.

Kids had a great time playing cache-cache, going through Keira's toys (I put most of it away in the basement in hiding), colouring, watching the new Tinkerbell and Up dvd's and generally playing with each other their own games. I could also see who buddied up with who at this party.

The eggless, peanutless, gluten-free cake with a Thumbelina doll surprise on top! The cake is Ange-Gardien and was pretty darn good!

There was one little girl, Miss M who helped me out alot (so sweet!), cleaning up with me but every time she stood or went up/down the stairs, she freaked me out. She kept tripping over her own feet! Frig, she nearly fell down the stairs 3 times this kid. So glad I stuck by her side all 3 times. Actually, I just told her to stay away from the stairs. lol.

Watching UP and making their masks..

Miss M and her mask!

Miss L and her mask!

Miss A with her mask!

It's Miss M and Miss B!

Mr P!

And the highlight of the party? Why the pinata of course! Man, those kids went wild for the pinata. And when it finally cracked open (thanks to Adam!), they went crazy for the candies inside! Thank goodness my sister was there, making sure the kids didn't knock their heads off and making each one take their turn in orderly fashion.

Keira taking her turn at the Hannah Montana pinata

All in all, a great time. Some kids were upset their parents came back to pick them up. They didn't want to leave which made me feel like we did a good job entertaining them!

Going wild for candies!

Playing with her new Barbie 3 Musketeers dolls and Thumbelina

We went out for an early dinner to the Cage then back home for Keira's bathtime (with all her Barbie 3 Musketeers dolls!) and a super early bedtime for me (7:30pm!). I am sooo glad it's over now.

PS NOTA: The girl who didn't show up? Her parents mixed up the dates and she showed up on Sunday instead (we weren't home at the time!). Her mom left a loooong message about how sad her kid was and how sorry she felt she mixed up the dates. Ah well...

lilly

I love Lilly Pulitzer . Do I have the guts to wear these prints? Hm... probably not. Especially not here, where summer is fleeting. But! I think Keira can pull these looks off. I also love the mommy/daughter matched looks. haha! So cheesy but so cute...

ped days

Well, it's another ped-week. Wonder what those teachers do on ped days and weeks? Lucky for us, Keira's school offers service de garde on those days (daycare!). Of course, these service de garde days aren't included in the school fees. On top of that, whatever added-on activities offered are also extra fees. Fug. But at least they're fun! Activities scheduled this week are: african dance+music, animal-art, educazoo (where they bring in animals and teach the kids about them) and Friday is free-for-all gym (means they can go nuts in the gymnasium all day long - and it's freeeeeeeeeee).

Best part about garderie days? Keira comes home ready to get into her bed for the night! lol. She is plum-tuckered out. Worst part of it all? There are none!

Can you tell Keira has had it with wearing a uniform day in, day out every weekday? She has been wearing dresses the past 2 days. Not just any dresses, her "best" dresses. Actually, she prefers wearing skirts and dresses to pants. The only thing I made her swap out were the glittery shoes. I told her they weren't meant to run in. She swapped them for her Puma's. Good choice!

Day 1: Dress & shoes by Mexx. Tights: Have no idea. Top: Care Bears, Junk Food for the Gap

She requested 2 ponytails, served sunny-side up!

Day 2. Top, skirt and hosiery: Mexx. Shoes by Puma. Props: Papa.

11•11 lest we forget

Photo credit: Terrence Wong on Flickr

In loving memory of my dad...Brigadier General "Papa San", ROK Marine Corps.

look of the day_milk

Here is my ultimate favourite magazine of the moment: Milk Magazine  from France. Everything on everything for kids: style, accessories, furniture, deco, articles and more. I get tons of inspiration & ideas here.

Here are some of the look of the day that I love! Why can't I seem to find these slender type pants here for Kiki (without having to button in half the waist fabric)? Or maybe it's the same for these kids and we can't see it?? Hmmm.

Love those jeans!

Awesome T!

birthday preps

Make-shift aprons made from dollar tea towels and ribbons. Plus the loot bags!

I took advantage of my little skinny mini being sick last week and all yesterday by trying to finish up the basement and trying to figure out and finishing the upcoming birthday preparations. Keira pretty much spent all last week and all day yesterday in bed. I think all that snoozing really helped (along with lots of water and a good hot bath before she went to sleep for the night!).

I spent about 2 days just priming the basement ceiling and walls and then, cleaning (and mostly scraping) all the paint splatter and plaster dust from the floor. My shoulder, neck and arms are killing me right now but it all looks so clean! Where was my hubby in all this? Ah, sadly Mr C was also sick.

Can't go wrong with Hannah Montana balloons!

Since Mr C also has an upcoming business trip, I really wanted to push and get everything I needed for the birthday party prepared. We borrowed a long table from the MiL and bought new folding chairs. I spent last week cutting out masks and getting all the crafty stuff from the dollar store. I also put together the loot bags (luckily, I got my treat bags at work. I think I only paid 2$ for the lot of them!). I also made aprons (I found the instructions online but can't figure out what the site is anymore!) from dollar store tea towels and ribbon I got at work (a big roll for a buck, lol). I then used the Crayola liquid crayons and wrote out each kid's names on them. This way, when we do our crafts, the parents won't get too ticked off if they get glue, glitter or whatever else on their clothes. Hopefully, these kids won't come dressed in their best finery!

The papier de soie pompoms. I hope the kids will like the crafts! Girls get butterfly masks, the boys a cat-like mask.

Keira even helped me make big rose flowers from papier de soie. I got the idea after finding the same thing hanging from my coworker's office door. I thought the Essence stores sold them but alas, it was only a sample from a company. Then I remembered the crafts I used to do when I was a kid. Only, I used to make the rose pompoms from Kleenex. I had 0 budget back then.

All I need to do now is do one big cleanup, add some more balloons and get the food. Good, cuz I am seriously pooped out!

Nota: Ok, since none of the kids can read right now (haha!), here's what's in the loot bags: 
For the girls: cute little notepad+kawaii-type hair elastic or clip+mini jelly pen (various colours)+2 japanese candies.
For the boys: set of either pirate or beast figurines+japanese candies. I can't remember what else I put in there. There'll only be 3 boys. The rest are all girls. Like, 8 of them!

eh que ça passe vite!

Oui oui, le nez encore bloqué mais esprit vif! Elle feel mieux aujourd'hui.

Crafty corner! Keira's ceramic plate from one of her "garderie seulement" days at school. Can you see her hand print? I love it! I am now waiting for all the other unrecognizable ashtrays, cups etc..