Birthday boy has the say?

Above, right...
Jon to Ben: It's my birthday, I get to blow the candles!

Like a present to himself, Jon won his first individual medal from a chess tournament on the eve of his birthday last month.

I'm proud of him and happy he's got the breakthrough. At the same time, he also knows that more important than winning -- as he expressly asked me about it one tournament before this -- it's giving his best in whatever he does, that's what counts.

For the birthday bakes, it was younger brother Ben who reminded me of Jon's choice of cake. The same pineapple upside down one as last year.

And for how strapped for time I am these days, I scrambled to make it the moment Kait lay down for a nap, though not for long. She awoke crying away, just before I put the cake into the oven to bake.

Good thing it's one of those bakes that uses a boxed cakemix, and it doesn't need any frosting. Just invert it (hence, its name) after it's baked and cooled, and voila, we've got ourselves a pretty simple but good enough cake!

It didn't work out quite so nicely for the cupcakes for Jon to take to school. Already gave myself some slack, using storebought cakemix and frosting.

Still, it was 2.30am when I was finally done, even though I started on them at 10pm. Made them before, and it's not difficult. Just that Kait wouldn't be consoled by Vern, and I ended up feeding her many times that night.



I was close to tears not just from the built-up lack of sleep, but also because my so-so frosting left much to be desired. The consolation came when Jon's classmates enjoyed the sweet treat. But I really should have just bought the cupcakes.

With or without kids, I do stay up for projects and crafts in the bid to personalize gifts. For now though, it's best I shelve such homemade/semi-homemade ideas.

And it was indeed a bonus, when we eventually did get to meet the birthday boy's request, within reason, for a party with a few classmates, and outside of home, so it'd be more manageable. It was something we talked about doing awhile back.



There were pizza and more pizza, and we also provided the children with tokens, and more tokens, for the arcade games. It's more affordable than getting the birthday package, minus all the pomp. Just glad everyone had a fun time, and Ben was happy he could be a part of it, too.

And no, we didn't try to kill ourselves packing everything into a single day, but had the party the weekend after, albeit a belated celebration. Better late than never, that's also my blogging policy now, as you can see! ;p

Left: A class picture after their play based on the book they recently read. Can you guess which one, looking at the characters?... There's a pig, spider, and rat...

Jon didn't have a role in the play itself, but for his part as co-lead singer for the opening song, he did practise and practise for it!