Celebrating Jovyn's birthday is a joyous affair, as with the case of other birthdays within the family although in the case of our family's youngest member, it's also the time when I reminisce the loss of Rubee, my very first dog; who passed on in the same year that Jovyn was born.
It has been six years and even our little bundle of joy has grown up to be an utterly charming kid with a ready toothy smile wherever she goes. And yesterday, the entire family met up at my house for her big day.
Hair was too messy for photo-taking and the mum insisted on combing it to at least a manageable and more presentable state. As usual, her cheekiness remained in spite of the discomfort.
Okay, I purposely refocused the camera on the cake; because I am the one who baked it! As the kids don't enjoy any stuff (slices of pineapple, shreds of carrots etc) in a cake, I decided to bake a swiss roll, covered it with cheese cream frosting and topped it with rainbow ball sprinkles instead!
The customary photos with all the family members except for me as I am camera shy (and have no trust in the photo-taking skills of my family as they always bring out my bad angles). My true self though. Haha.
She was selective on who can take the place beside her and it's not her immediate family. My younger sister is the one who got the absolute priority, together with my mom.
Many people made the mistake of assuming Jovyn is Louise's daughter, given how close they are and it's a fact that Jovyn did resemble her when she was younger!
After the 4-version birthday song (yes, they crept back this year), it's time to blow the candles! I still remember how Jovyn used to have difficulties blowing her candles and instead of gusts of air; it was splatters of saliva.
Cut-cake time with the assistance of Louise as I didn't have a plastic knife at home and Jovyn had to use the dangerous-looking stainless steel, serrated knife.
Making the Swiss roll wasn't difficult but what were supposed to be little pink flowers turned out to be a big mess as the cream wasn't stable enough. I eventually spread the pink frosting over and it looked kind of weird. Maybe I should take a course of cream cheese/butter cream decoration with Phoon Huat using the skillsfuture credits.
Present time! I love buying presents although it's hard chore deciding if the receiver would like the stuff I purchase. Hence, I always prefer to know what the person would like to have. And you know what Jovyn told us when we asked via the family WhatsApp chat group? She said we should give her a surprise!
By surprise, my sister's immediate reaction in the chat group was that she will buy her a bra. That will be surprising since she can't use it until a few years later. I am eviler; my reply was "tampon". :P
Whispering to my dad, she daringly asked where is her present. Pity for her, my dad isn't a big present giver even when we were young. It might be easier for her to get a red packet rather than a wrapped present.
Jovyn and her presents; want to guess what's mine?
The crocodile dentist! I like to buy things I like for others and I guess this toy would be immense fun for family bonding! It sure resulted in a lot of laughter when we started playing it after clearing the table!
Birthday gal and her bag of presents! Want to know how much she has grown over the years, check out my almost annual postings for Jovyn's birthday; 4th, 3rd, 2nd and one month.
Happy Birthday Once Again, Jovyn!