Thanks to The Beautiful Moment Photography, our family was recently invited to an outdoor photo shoot. I can’t tell you how thrilled and excited I am; because we’ve never been to an outdoor photo shoot with a professional photographer before.

Honestly, prior to this invitation, I’ve been thinking of doing a professional family photo shoot since early this year. However, Little Edison has not been very cooperative lately, especially when it comes to taking pictures of him. He will hide his face whenever we say, “Boy, say cheese!”

That is why the plan was brushed under the carpet until recently.

Joshua Sim is a young and talented photographer with an amazing eye for photo opportunities. It was like he knew instinctively what settings and angles would make the perfect photographs. He made everyone of us feel at ease during the photo shoot, and he’s able to capture excellent shots of our boy who can never stay still. I just don’t know how he did it.

The photo shoot was done at Jacob Ballas Children’s Garden – one of our favourite family hang-out. I truly admire Joshua’s dedication, professionalism and attention to details throughout the process. He arrived half an hour earlier to scout for locations for our shoots. So, the moment we arrived, we knew where to start off.

The photo shoot was a smashing success. The weather was awesome. Our pictures are gorgeous and full of life.

A picture paints a thousand words, just take a look at these pictures and you’ll get what I mean.

That’s our family! From left: my FIL, my BIL – Kenneth (who is also Little Edison’s Godpa), Little Edison, me, my MIL and V.

No words could adequately capture the love between generations, especially between grandparents and their grandchildren, and these pictures capture it all. These pictures of my parents-in-law holding Little Edison’s hand are so heartwarming!

And this picture shows two handsome young man (my brother-in-law, Kenneth and V) standing with their proud mother! She is still looking great and youthful in her 60’s.

These pictures capture our son’s personality so perfectly – active, enthusiastic, positive and sociable.

Last but not least, these pictures make me realize that black and white photography can be far more striking than conventional colour photography when it is shot by an experienced photographer.

We truly enjoyed our outdoor photo shoot experience. Again, a big THANK YOU to Joshua for spending the afternoon with us. My next project is to make a photobook with all these fantastic pictures!

The Beautiful Moment Photography

Website: http://www.the-beautiful-moment.com/

Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/thebeautifulmoment

You might have seen this advertisement on the newspaper recently. It has been published for at least three times since last week.

My father-in-law commented that this boy looks like our dear Edison. I chuckled and said, “Well, yes, that’s him!” Coincidentally, our boy carries the same blue water bottle to school. Haha!

But this advertisement is not the reason why we booked an apartment unit at Bartley Residences.

Our journey to find a new home started late last year. We visited a few projects in Sengkang and Punggol but we couldn’t find one that really suits our requirement.

Early this year, when we knew that Bartley Residences will be launched in the first quarter of 2012, we dropped the whole idea of buying a new home in Sengkang / Punggol and we shifted our target to Bartley / Serangoon area.

The biggest advantage of this project is its location. It’s within walking distance to MRT station, our preferred primary school for Little Edison and my parents-in-law’s house. It’s also within 2km from my office (just one MRT station away!).

V joked that I can trade my car for a bicycle and cycle to work every day, and at the same time, I can shed some kilos too. (indirectly implying that I’m FAT!)

This project has smaller units, and the price is on the high side. As compared to other projects, the facilities in this project aren’t that fantastic either. But there will be a lot of time savings and convenience if we stay here.

We thought about the location, price, unit size and facilities factors over and over again. At the end, we still feel that location is the most important factor to us – mainly because we already had our hearts set on the primary school we wanted to send our boy to. He can conveniently walk to school in future, and we don’t have to worry about school bus, traffic etc.

The developer offers a 20% discount for early birds, so we decided to just bite the bullet and go for it before our choice unit of 3 bedrooms, pool facing and mid-floor are being snapped up. After confirming our booking and paying the first 5%, I heaved a sigh of relief when we returned home.

Last night, when we drove passed the Bartley Residences Show Suites, our boy asked if we can stay there. Apparently, he likes the place a lot too. I smiled and replied, “Not now, son. You have to wait till 2015!”

And from now on, we have to work doubly hard for our new home. Our new future.

When I was young, I grew up surrounded by siblings, cousins and a large group of neighbor friends. We had a wonderful time growing up together and we were all raised to make our own fun. We didn’t have any of the electronics handheld devices of today and even the TV program was very limited.

We rode bicycles along the dirty road in front of our houses. We played dressed-up using the remnant pieces of clothes from my mom (she was a tailor). We played hide-and-seek in the woods behind our house. We caught spiders, grasshoppers, beetles, dragonflies and even birds just for fun.

Basically, we played using our own imaginations. We didn’t get toys from our parents so often. So, we really treasured them very much whenever we got one. Our parents, on the other hand, worked very hard to make ends meet but they were happy.

The door to our house were opened throughout the day – except only bedtime. But we never once worried about thief, strangers or anything dangerous from the outside. We had free access to each other’s house but we had no complaints.

Today, the environment is completely different. Our boy has a lot of toys and electronics devices to play with, but he lacks playmates. I’m glad that there are two boys (one Indian and one Chinese) who are staying next to my in-law’s house. Occasionally, they come over and ride bicycle with Little Edison.

Even when we stay in a private apartment with security guards, we don’t open our main door all the time. I’m not worried about safety, but I prefer privacy. I dislike strangers looking through our door or listening to our conversation.

Our boy also doesn’t get to meet with his cousins so often. Maybe just once or twice a year due to our distance. Every time when they meet, they have lots of fun.

I’ve a series of pictures here from Year 2008 till now. You can see how much the kids have grown up over the years.

Year 2008 – In Jacob Ballas Children Garden. Little Edison and Jaerone (my nephew) were about one year old. Jaynie (my niece) is one year older than Edison and her brother, Jaerone.

Year 2009 – At my parents’ house in Ipoh. This is my father with the three kids.

Year 2010 – In Cameron Highlands. Little Edison and Jaerone were about 3 years old. Jaynie was 4. And in this picture is my sister, Stevie.

Year 2011 – In Jusco shopping center, Ipoh. Taken just a month ago.

And now, they have one more playmate – that’s my baby niece Khloe, who is about 1.5 months old now. In my next home trip, I’ll probably be seeing Little Khloe snatching toys from her older cousins.

Jaynie & Khloe, our two princesses in pink and my mom.

They should meet up more often, I know.

Dear Readers and Friends,

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival! May your day be filled with lots of yummy mooncakes, colourful lanterns and happy family reunions!

Love from Emily & Family

There is always a special bond between a father and son. Maybe it’s because the son will carry on his father’s surname or because a father can share his hobbies with his son.

Whatever the reason, the bond is there. It’s a very beautiful thing, I always tell V. However, if the father-son relationship is not nourished, it will gradually weaken and eventually disappear, especially during those teenage years.

I feel that the best way to strengthen the father-son relationship is to share their hobbies. I constantly remind V to take his time to start teaching our son and involve him in his hobbies when he is still young.

V loves swimming at the beach. He brought Little Edison to Sentosa on Monday (school holiday in replacement for Sunday Youth Day). I didn’t join them as I had to work. Both of them came home with a nice tan! I’m sure they had a fantastic time at Sentosa.

On weekends, both of them like to take a stroll in the garden and feed the fishes in the pond. The boy feels special because he gets to go out with his dad. The Daddy is happy because he enjoys the quality time spent with his son.

How does your husband spend time with your children when you are busy or not at home? I love to hear some new ideas from you.

…

P/S: Have you participated in the Little Blue Lamb leather infant shoes giveway contest? Tomorrow will be the last day.