CNY 2015

This CNY is a time of many firsts. 

This is my first time purchasing a complete family outfit. When I stumbled upon the website JumpEatCry, I was absolutely delighted. It is not just family tees or mere colour coordination but a whole set of identical pieces of clothing! It's like a dream come true for me who has an obsession with matching things. LOL 

Not only was the price affordable, I was downright pleased that I could find a design which I adore with the right sizes for everyone. The material is surprisingly comfortable and the kids love wearing it. We wore the outfit on the second day of CNY.

The kids

The boys

The girls

Since the older children were mature enough to help me with putting up the Christmas tree, I decided to involve them in decorating the house for CNY. However, I made the mistake of doing it with the younger ones around. What a highly stressful experience! Hahaha... Looks like a child must be at least 5 years old before their "help" becomes welcomed and enjoyable. :P

The older two did the cushions
all by themselves.

This is also the first year I made a personal contribution to the reunion meal. Ever since I got married, I had to adjust to my extended family's custom of going to restaurants for the reunion dinner. My own family did steamboat reunion dinners at home for as long as I could remember. 

This time, my in-laws decided to make it a private affair, which I think was pretty awesome because it gave a more traditional feel to the event. I tried cooking abalone, probably the most expensive dish I ever made! I also experimented with using plum sauce instead of the usual rice vinegar for the sweet and sour pork. I'm glad to say that the dishes turned out pretty well. (Except that I realised I cannot use the microwave to reheat abalone cos they'd turn rubbery.) The kids loved the sambal chicken so much that they ate more than half of what I prepared. There were more than 2 dozen wings in all! Strange that my children are so good at taking spicy food without any encouragement from us adults. They are true blue Singaporeans! 

Abalone with chinese spinach

Grilled sambal mid-wing chicken

Steamed batang fish

Sweet and sour pork
(I separated the sauce and the
fried meat to prevent sogginess)

My mother-in-law gave the children quite a few pieces of new CNY clothes all of a sudden this year. Combined with the ones we already have, I actually have enough traditional costumes for them to wear a different one each day! They are really spoiled for choice. I didn't have to "recycle" the clothes for the kids at all for this year. *beam*

CNY visitation is truly exhausting and tricky with young children. Joram especially had it the hardest since he is such an introvert. He takes time to adjust to new places and people. It didn't help that whenever he started getting used to a relative's home, it was time to leave for the next visitation. He also couldn't nap well outside. Today, he could finally sleep on his own bed during his nap for the first time in four days. He actually squealed in delight before leaping onto his mattress and napped for 4 long hours! Poor boy... He must have been so tired not being able to sleep properly on the go this week.

But with the kids getting more independent and the food allergies of my daughters becoming increasingly under control, I can foresee better years to come. Thank God we survived!