New Year’s Eve (NYE).

What were you doing? Partying at some happening countdown?

I didn’t plan for anything at all. Not until that afternoon when Jerry kept asking for Gorgor Issac. He has been asking for him non stop! He somehow likes to invite people to our house so he is always asking if who who who is coming to our house. So I sent a text to Irene and they didn’t have anything planned and I invited them over to spend the evening together with my kids, and maybe have dinner together.

It’s too late to grab any proper food by then and the husband said he didn’t want pizzas so the fastest option was hot pot. A trip to the supermarket will do!

Not too shabby right? I managed to grab all that I need and quickly prepped the ingredients quickly before Irene showed up. In between all that, the stars somehow aligned and Estella came to join us, bringing Joy.

Here’s a behind the scene picture of how I made that Instagram picture happen. There are paparazzis in my house! Yup, that really did happen. I also took pains to swap the ingredients around so they fitted into a square. #socialmediaaddict #dontjudge #dontbelieveallthatyousee

And while the parents are busy tucking in. The kids. They had a whale of a time in the playroom, turning it upside down, mixing up all the toys, screamed at each other non stop, and the room was constantly filled with laughter. Sounds like fun.

And as though these 3 Js aren’t enough trouble…. Here’s another one!

They were all madly cooking up a storm… I was observing them play and it is amazing to note that they were all trying to play a part. Joy was wearing oven mitts, James was holding into a pot, Jerry was holding a plate, and Jerome was holding an egg.

This picture was taken when they first started playing. At the end of the day, the entire floor was littered with toys from ALL the drawers and there was barely space to move around!

In the midst of the chaos, a pair of love birds went about their dinner…

TOO CUTE RIGHT? My husband saw this and he went… Jerry, do you want some candles? So that you can have a candlelight dinner with Joy?

(P.S. I heard Estella rolled her eyes big time.)

And James came along and joined in the fun. Both Joy & James have come a long way! Joy used to scream non stop at the sight of James and run away, but now they can play together already!

They had A LOT, A LOT, A LOT of fun. Like for at least 5 hours non stop. 10 minutes to midnight, we rounded up the kids for a short break, and took family shots and count down, with bottles of vino. Yummy.

Glad the really impromptu dinner brought so much laughter and fun to everyone! Wonder if there would be another fun session like this soon. We suffered the next day, but I reckon everyone feels its worth it. 🙂

Do you let your kids stay up during special occasions like this? Or do they stick to the schedule and go to bed? Share your views with me, would love to hear!

Photo credit: Kids’ play photos are all taken by Estella & Irene took the one of me standing high up, trying to Instagram.