Exploring Our Children’s Potentials

 
Brie,
I thought of writing this post as a letter to you. You know, so you can read it later and remember what it’s like when you turned six.

Well, let me start by telling you, … did you know that you’ve been counting the weeks and days towards your sixth birthday? =)

‘Mommy, in FOUR days, I’ll be SIX!’Like when we had our regular ‘family sleepover’ where we all cramped into one bed and you’d be next to me, you woke me up in the morning, smiling, and say, ‘Mommy, in FOUR days, I’ll be SIX!’

You said you’re excited because you’d be BIG, … BIGGER than before! =)

(Well, being the youngest in MY family, I totally know what you mean, Brie. When I was your age, I too looked forward to my birthdays, because it meant I got a little older, like my sisters)

Anyway.

That photo at the top, that’s taken the night before your birthday.

We celebrated it ‘early’ because Daddy had to travel for work the next day. He didn’t want to miss getting together for your birthday! (Yes, that’s how much he loves you!)
 

 
Then, some five days later, you celebrated your birthday with your K2 friends.

(Why FIVE days later? Because Mommy was so very busy that week, and day 5 after your birthday was the best date for everyone =)

Anyway, you looked forward to THIS one, too.

You asked me (so many times) about the kind of birthday cake I’d be preparing for you.

Can it be Frozen? Or Little Pony? It’s okay if it’s just Olaf.
 


 
And, my answers have always been, … we’ll see later what it’ll be like, ya. Whatever it is like, we need to be thankful for all the blessings that we get.

My week was a crazy busy one that it seemed impossible for me to plan anything for your birthday at schoolBrie, I need you to know something.

I really wanted to bake a cake for your birthday. I wanted to bake birthday cakes for all my kids while I still can. But, my week was a crazy busy one that it seemed impossible for me to plan anything for your birthday at school.

I thought of just buying a cake off a shop. I mean, at least we have a cake, right? It’s okay if it’s bought or made, … yes?

Well, somehow, I still wanted the privilege, … the privilege of preparing birthday cakes for you. After all, it’s just ONCE a year … I sure can think of something, yes?

And so THIS was what I managed to create.

I remember seeing the big smile on your face when you saw us bring it to your class. You gave us big hugs and said, ‘Thank you, Mommy! Thank you, Daddy!’. Such a rewarding feeling.

Thank you, Brie, … for saying thank you, and for loving what I’ve made for you.

…

Btw.

I thought you should see some behind-the-scene photos =)

I’ll start with this photo of your pink pocky birthday cake.
 

 
And the photo below, is how the actual cake looked like on the INSIDE.

Nothing fancy =)

There were TWO cakes: vanilla strawberry cake, and chocolate marble cake below it.

Instead of baking your birthday cake this year, I bought these two at the supermarket. I thought this is the best solution to my ‘not-enough-time-to-bake-a-birthday-cake’ situation.

With NO time spent on baking the cake, I only needed to put the whole ‘decoration’ together.

This is do-able, I told myself.

I lined up the pocky sticks around the cake, using strawberry jam as the ‘glue’ (this is just me experimenting. The jam apparently didn’t help much).
 

Here’s one thing you must know: it was difficult to get the sticks to ‘stand’ (ie. Not fall to the sides).

So I used my ‘ round baking pan’ to help hold the sticks up. It sort of helped in the beginning, but I couldn’t use the baking pan to hold ‘all’ the sticks, because the pan was bigger than the cake itself.

So I decided to use my pink wool yarn to hold the sticks together.

It worked!

When I managed to get the sticks all around the cake, I used a new pink wool yarn to tie the sticks together (and threw the old yarn I used earlier).
 

 
The next thing I needed to do, was to find something to fill up the ‘hole’ in the middle of the cake.

You see, I wanted to cover the top of the cake with fondant and decorate it with your name and all, but I couldn’t do it if there’s still a big hole.

Thank God for the glass of mineral water I saw on the kitchen top.

It fit the hole perfectly! =)
 

 
After this, it was pretty much straight forward.

I used a bit of fondant to cover the cake’s top. Then, with some food colouring, I made just enough pink fondant to make your name, the big number ‘6’ and two stars.

Oh, and I purposely bought tall candles to make your cake look more … ‘special’ =)

Voila!

This is how it looked when it was done!
 

 
Brie,
That was how your cake was created.

Buying one off a shop would have been a quick solution for everyone, but I knew if had done that, I would’ve regretted not hand-making your birthday cake, while I still can.

So, this was the best that I could come up with, given the little time we had.
 

 
Celebrating your birthday with your K2 teachers and friends was another blessing, btw!

You chose the song ‘L.O.V.E.’ (which everyone sang and danced to). You also chose the birthday ‘newspaper’ game.

It was so fun to watch!

(At the same time, I felt a little tug at my heartstrings. I realised it was your last birthday in Kindy. You’re growing up too fast, Brie)
 

 
So there you are.

You’re six.

I really thank God for you, and for everything that He has blessed you with.

Always remember, you are so blessed. Don’t ever forget to thank God for everything.

Remember too, that we love you, and that one of our prayers is, for you to grow up and be the kind of person God wants you to be, to know Him personally, to be a blessing to others, giving all your God-given talents back, for the glory of God.

Amen.