Love and Peanut shared a birthday party together this past weekend !  One is turning a big 1 and one is entering the fabulous 4.  Having each kid born in January, February and March, someone's gotta give and share, and this time it's baby Peanut !  Our justifications ? first, he doesn't know it's his birthday, and second, he has no friends :-)  Lovebug puts on her VIP hat and weeks before the party, she reminded all of us the two most important things to her - balloons and jelly beans.  We try to avoid Jelly Belly because they stick to teeth (=cavities), but, since it's her birthday we decided to get Jelly Belly.  Then I thought of some sweets I haven't had for a long time, like peach rings and Twizzlers, so I grabbed them !  Bee saw me so she asked if she can have some worms, then C saw us and asked for Skittles !  Once the candy gate opened, everyone rushed in ;-)

If you've been following me, you know how much I love diy decorations and setting up kids party !  I am sad to report that it's not so much the case anymore :-(  I am quite busy now juggling work and kids and activities so I got no time for home made decorations !  It's all recycled decorations and dollar store items from here and onward friends !!!

The night before the party, Mr. C, Bee and I spent a good hours blowing up about 40-50 balloons.  C filled our mantel top (which is set about 3 feet back from the front) with different sizes of balloons.  He's going for the "balloons spilling out" look.  I know I can always count on him for carrying out the work !  He likes party as much as the kids and I :)  I would sketch out my ideas and Mr. C would take it and make it into reality.  He's good like that !!!  

For party favor, I went with something I personally would like to receive, a take-and-toss container filled with different types of crackers, and a small takeaway carton filled with candies.  This give the parents options, if they don't want candies they can take the crackers for their kids.  The container can be re-used so it's all good !!!  I also bought a whole bunch of rubber balls from Old Navy, $0.25 cents each (there's a ball vending machine in my local Old Navy (Metrotown) store).  Love really like those bouncy balls so she asked us to ensure that her friends get gifted one when they come to her party.  I also was planning on having playdough making station after cake but the kids seem to be happy playing with each other so I left it.  That's another easy and fun activity to do !

I've heard stories of kids getting upset over their goodies bag (O)_(O)  That's just crazy !!!  I feel goodies bag/party favor is NOT a "must have", and it can totally be forego.  There's enough work hosting a party !  I don't know about your kids' friends but my friends' kids are not finicky.  They pretty much just like to play with each other and eat cake, so the goodies bags are just extras .  Even if we don't have it, I am pretty sure no one would notice or care.  My girls never ask for party favor when go to parties, and my friends or their kids never once ask about it either.  I very much appreciate low maintenance, easy to please kids !  My friends are great parents !

All in all it was a fun party and like always, our lunch party always lead into dinner together with our friends !  We went out for dinner then the kids passed out in the car on the way home, a sign of a well spent day.  Sure their mouth are full of sugar, which is OK because my kids can sleep through flossing and brushing once home :-)  They would let us do all that and change them into their PJ, all the while sleeping away.  No fuss, no complaint !  We feel blessed for our kids.

Happy happy day 'Peanut' and 'Love' !

Two-bite brownies with home made frosting !  So good, so fast and so easy :)

Love eating shark gummy and brownie !  She's been waiting for this for a long long time !
(drawing on the white board are done by Bee for her sister)

Candies galore for big and small kids !

Some home made vietnamese food by me, my mom and my mother in law !

Nolan's getting his sugar fix !  Enjoying it while he can because the next one will be a long while.

Got a quick hug with this girl before she ran off to play 

If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.

When I read this the first thought in mind for me was relationships.  Any relationship that we have, each in itself is a kingdom.  The "kingdoms" in my life are very important to me.  Most important of all is my relationship with Jesus, then my family and friends.  Those kingdoms cannot keep strong and remain steadfast IF I don`t foster and protect it.  

My faith life is what keeps my life in order so it's priority to me.  It might sound like a lot of work but I feel like being a Christian, our relationship with Jesus is like breathing.  You just do it automatically.  I don't know how to explain it, but my thoughts communicate with Jesus !!!  Does that make sense ?  Think of a trait of you, like you love dogs, you are just that because that's how you are, that's how Jesus is to me.  He's just a part of my being, my soul.  Living in a world full of obvious temptations and the not so obvious ones, I need my heart and head in check with Jesus.  As for my marriage, my husband is my life partner !  this is someone who will be with me until I return home to Jesus, I cannot let anything come in between us.  To me that means no secret, no lies, no self greed, and anything else that can cause a crack in the wall of our marriage.  As for our family, our kids, we want to protect and keep them ! We must learn to love them unconditionally and give them our precious time.  Time will allow us get to know them and let them get to know us.  For us, this also means we don`t put our work or career ambitions or any other things in higher importance than our children. They are our priority.  All these little kingdoms together make up united kingdoms :-)

Strong relationship are build on firm foundations, made up by grains of time we spent together !   joyful times as well as troubled turbulent times.  This is true for our faith life, our marriage, family and friendships.  I thought about my work place too.  We all play a role in keeping it a healthy place to come to everyday.  Don't follow the mass and always steer away from office gossip !  always choose to be encouraging and supportive of others and don`t take things personally.