gong xi fa cai...or what's left of it

what can i say?

i've not been exactly the most diligent blogger of late...the marking's killing my eyesight and possibly my love for teaching.

but that's what i always say every term when the assignments and test papers are piled up high, anyway.

besides, i don't intend to make a career switch anytime soon.

not in this lifetime at least.

we're at the tail-end of chinese new year and the super-commercialised valentine's day is over. as usual, my bank account shrinks after distributing many red packets to the million relatives whom i've acquired over the years.

as predicted there wasn't much celebrations this year. i wasn't really in the mood either. as any pregnant woman would know, it's no joke heaving a protruding bump around (i've put on a hefty 11kg in total so far!), with 2 noisy kids in tow, and rushing from home to home visiting relatives to exchange mandarin oranges, red packets, nibbling tidbits and leaving for the next destination after 30 minutes of pleasantries. that was the itinerary for the first 2 days as we accompanied my in-laws on their annual round of home visits.

by the end of the day, i was exhausted but still had to run after monsterina and rascelrella who were high on sugary snacks and chinese new year goodies!

i can't imagine how i'm going to cope next year when terroliza joins in the fray. :(

there aren't many photos this year either as the designated photographer (i.e. me) was too worn out. also, while trying to take a family photo at my parents' place, the hub accidentally dropped the camera (he'd set it to self-timer mode and was rushing to sit down when he knocked it off the chair) and jammed the lens. we'd to borrow dad's camera - only to realise that there wasn't enough battery and we'd not taken the charger...bleh.

haven't uploaded the pictures from the camera yet, but i managed to swipe this one of the girls, downloaded from my uncle's photolink. it was taken on the evening of Day 1, at my eldest aunt's place. the princesses were wearing red-and-white outfits which we'd bought from our malacca trip and wearing the jade pendants the MIL had bought for all her grand kids last year.

and as you can plainly see in this photo, grumble bum's grumpiness hasn't melted away...
since tomorrow's the final day of CNY, i'm not too late in wishing everyone GONG XI FA CAI!