Family Photography with The Snap Shot Cafe

March 2016

We had a family photo shoot with The Snap Shot Cafe in March and we were pleased with the results of the photos, considering how grouchy our little ones were that day. The thing about having family photos done with young children who can be uncooperative and fidgety, you need to have a photographer who is patient, fast as well as having a big love for these little ones.

In the case of our recent photography session, we found Tina, our photographer, to possess all 3 of these above qualities. That day, Baby Megan was a slightly under the weather and so, was rather teary during the shoot. However, Tina was still very encouraging during the process and was definitely fast in catching photos with her smiles.

Tina also helped me to do my make-up that day. So other than having her as our photographer, she is also able to help Mummies to spruce up a wee bit. You are definitely in her safe hands and she has previous experience of doing make-up(you can request for Koren brows!) and hair for brides as well. After months of looking like some haggard-looking housewife, I was so happy that I could be looking somewhat decent for our family photo! Even the dresses that I wore for the shoot was kindly provided by Tina! She is such so generous in sharing to ensure the success of the photoshoot!

Let me share some of my favorites!

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The White Series

Prior to our photoshoot, Tina and I did communicated with each other via emails and she was the one who initiated using a Pinterest board to share our ideas and expectations which is something new to me.  I thought it was a good idea to have some schema before the shoot even started. So as you can probably see, I was trying to go for some white/romantic feel.

Personally, I felt that Tina was pro-active in her suggestions during the shoot. Like what I mentioned earlier, Baby Megan was unwell(she has a vaccination done a few days ago and it developed into a fever). So Tina did asked me if I wanted to have photos done of me nursing Megan. I am glad it is done because I have never had a breastfeeding portrait done with any of my children before. Looking at this photo now, there is a certain emotional value to me, especially so since Megan is very likely to be my last child and this means this is my final lap of my breastfeeding journey.

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The Grey Series

Here’s another series of photos by Tina. This time round, our family were dressed in grey. Despite having much time to plan for the shoot(along with the Pinterest board communication), I started only packing our clothes on the day of the shoot. That’s how disorganized I am as a mother of 3.

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In all, I would recommend The Snap Shot Cafe’s photography services. I liked the mini-makeover provided by Tina. I felt so pretty that day! Tina was patient with Megan, my newborn. She was caring to Gillian, who was very reserved during the shoot. She tried to bring Gillian out of her shell by putting on lip gloss for her as well as showering her with loads of praises. I also thought the Daddy/Ryan photos were captured very nicely. Definitely reflected the playful nature of the boys’ relationship. The post-production was fast. Tina returned me all the photos just under two weeks! We were so happy reviewing all the photos!

My only gripe about the photo shoot is the lack of background. However, this can be easily rectified by communication or even good weather. It was so unfortunate that it was so rainy that day and we were limited to indoors. 😦

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Disclaimer: The photo shoot was done complimentary of The Snap Shot Cafe.  

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V&A Museum of Childhood

March 2016

Last Saturday morning, we headed off to the V&A Museum of Childhood after we dropped Ryan off for his school. Surprisingly, it exceeded out expectations as the place was pretty decent. Our stay at the museum started with a Children’s reading/singing session and Gillian enjoyed it so much.

V&A Museum of Childhood is home to one of the world’s finest collections of children’s toys, doll’s houses, games and costumes. It has the largest collection of childhood objects in the United Kingdom. The museum has been amassing childhood-related objects since 1872 and continues to do so with ‘Incredibles’ figures complimenting bonkers 1970s puppets, Barbie Dolls and Victorian praxinoscopes. In fact, E found some toys(He-Man!?!, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles…) from his era in the museum and he looked really pleased about his find.

I particularly like the iron structure cage looking thing in the building. Upon research, I found out that the iron structure reused a prefabricated building from Albertopolis which was replaced with some early sections of the modern V&A complex. (Read here to find out more about the interesting story behind the architecture of the museum.)

The museum has lots of hand-on stuff for kids dotted about the many cases of historic artefacts. I think Ryan would have so much fun at the museum should we bring him there for our next visit.

If you were to ask me, I would suggest skipping the cafe as I found that it pricey(you might not since money is relative). There are plenty of cafes in Bethnal Green(go check out the restaurants and ratings at Trip Advisor) to check out anyways. We went to Macs for a quick nip before picking Ryan up from his class. 2 hours at this museum is far too short. V&A Museum of Childhood is definitely worth a second visit for us. 🙂

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Hewitts Farm with the Cousins!

June 2015

My cousins, Shawn and Shiyi came over in June for a short visit. It was really nice to have some familiar faces around in the house and the children were happy to see them as well. We brought them to some strawberries plucking at Hewitts Farm on one Sunday after church. (Yes, despite being on holidays, the cousins still went for church. I am very moved by their faith in God. In fact, they even bought the children and myself Christian books as gifts. So Ryan has received his 4th toddler’s Bible. No kidding. He owns 4 toddler’s Bibles now. Amazing! Because we came to London with no bibles at all.)

In comparison to last year when we went in July, the weather in June was much better. Warmer. And the strawberries were bigger, redder and definitely tastier.

These were some of the strawberries that we plucked earlier in the journey. The ones that we picked later were so much bigger! In the end, we purchased £10 worth of strawberries and they lasted us about one week!

I did not managed to take many photos as compared to my last trip as I feel incredibly heavy and tired despite just only being in my second trimester. This is what age did to me… 😦

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These are the photos taken by Shawn. Erhmm… super big difference because he brought the professional stuff! Photo quality is amazing! And it is rare that I am not the day’s photographer!

We brought a milk carton filled with water to wash the plucked strawberries. From the smiles on their faces, Ryan and Gillian enjoyed themselves thoroughly. Summer’s gotta be our family’s favourite season! It is so awesome to be outdoors with the kids exerting their energies!

While the job of strawberries plucking is back breaking, the experience is just awesome for the kids.

Shawn and Shiyi, my awesome cousins! Thank you for spending time with us!

Here’s a group photo taken with the GoPro!

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Back to my loyal camera’s photos…. Not the best quality but I still love you!

We had a picnic outside the farm store with food from the supermarket before heading to Bluewater Shopping Mall for some shopping! E and I were impressed with the array of stores and eateries at Bluewater. Given that it was a Sunday, it was not as crowded as Westfield Shopping Mall at Stratford. I can foresee that we will be heading there more often this coming winter.

Because we did not bring alone the stroller, we decided to rent this cart to explore the mall with the kids.

Here’s the kids having fun playing ‘train’ with their Daddy.

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StudioPlay, Again

December 2014

I always wanted to have a family photography done especially with our latest addition, Gillian. This time round, during our trip back, I was quite sure I wanted to get a family photography done. StudioPlay was engaged again because we had a good first experience with the studio. I liked how my first photographer worked. It was unfortunate that I forgot his name as I would have requested for him again.

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E and I went for a short Bangkok trip before the StudioPlay session where we purchased the clothes that were needed for the shoot. For the actual day of the shoot, we had the help of E’s parents to assist with the shoot. It would be a lot easier to have some extra help during the family photography with kids. Trust me.

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The one with the white background

This was the first concept that we started with. If I could have done it again, I would have preferred if we were dressed in white and denim. We also made the mistake of standing behind the photographer. If you looked through the entire album, you would have noticed that her eyes were not at the camera.

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The one with the huge bear

Gillian was still quite unsure during the second concept. Out of the 13 photos for this background, I thought only three were not too bad.

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The one with the colourful clothes

By the third concept, Gillian was better adjusted in front of the camera. She was interacting with the photographer much better. We wanted two family photos – one would be with our formal clothes and the other was with the casual shoot. E and I thought for a long while about what we wanted. We eliminated the ideas of being colour coordinated (done before for the first family shoot with Ryan) and wearing those family T-shirts, only to end up with us wearing clothes of different colours of varying degrees of warmth (red, pink, orange and yellow). I particularly like the photo of just her and Ryan, with Gillian being in the foreground and Ryan, seated on the red sofa.

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The one with us spiffy clothes

We returned to Singapore, mainly because of the three weddings that we had to attend. We wanted to use the opportunity to take photos of ourselves in nice formal wear, especially since the clothes were an investment. (-_-)”’ This time round, photos were not too bad. Kids were smiley. On the other hand, I looked like a mess. I wished that I spent more time on my makeup and have done my hair properly. My hair was terrible! Argh!

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The one with just the mother and daughter

We spent quite a long time at Platinum Mall in Bangkok just to look for matchy matchy clothes for me and Gillian. I like this concept the best. Even though I would be sending back a few copies to StudioPlay to photoshop my fat thighs. Editing is $3 per piece! That is quite reasonable right? I need some time to study all the photos though. There is a lot of work to be done for the parents. I will update on their editing skills soon. I hope!

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The one with my Manchester United boys

I love this series of photos! The boys look so swell!

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The one with the trike!

Gillian looks so good in this entire series. By then, she was very comfortable in front of the camera! This dress `(which is in mint condition) is from Baby K and I got it for £3 from a baby sale in London! Woots! Love good buys!

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The one when Gillian is an angel and ballerina

Gillian is too sexy in these two series and hence we will not share on the blog. Pictures were very nice though. I liked the ballerina one very much!

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The one that looked retro

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The one with the polka dot background

This is the last series of the entire shoot. Gillian was so exhausted by that time. I like how natural she looked in this collection.

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After the shoot, we ended up at Tim Ho Wan for afternoon tea while the model concussed in my arms! We got back the photos two weeks later and I think the results were quite pleasant. It could be better if we were more well prepared. But that is just me being picky! Anyways, I will definitely send some photos for editing and update on the final results!

I am out~!

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October’s Party!

October 2014

Three days more before we return to Singapore. It has been almost year since I last saw my mother and the excitement is driving me crazy. I cannot really sleep well because my brain is going amok with all the things that Eugene and I intend to do back home. There will be three weddings, many gatherings involving good Singaporean food.

On a separate note, I realised that I haven’t been blogging. Blogging is so much more work these days with the kids and household chores. I am totally toying with the idea of just shifting all the updates to just Instagram. Anyways, I thought I should do some quick update in this space while E minds the kids. (E is extremely supportive on me in this aspect!) I will just blog whatever that randomly pops up in my head. Here it goes:

1. Autumn is here!

The dreaded cold is back. Out goes the light jackets and in comes the thick woolly jumpers and coats. I am not a fan of winter in London. Not when I have to dress the children and the little ones detest having the additional layers.

2. International Day in school

International Day is an annual event in Ryan’s school. Students are encouraged to wear traditional costumes and families are invited to join in the fun. Initially, we were not planning on attending as I did not have time to make the snacks(I intended to make ondeh ondeh.). However, we ended up there due to unforeseen circumstances. I am quite thankful as it turned out to be an amazing day for everyone and I got to meet many of Ryan’s friends.

3. Sunday lunches!

We are getting used to the church followed by a nice lunch routine. Ryan and Gillian are still adjusting to Sunday school. Most Sundays, they seem to be absolutely fine. However, there are just some occasions when they get slightly whiney and tears will just flow uncontrollably. Thankfully, the teachers at Sunday school are really good in handling the little ones.

4. Steamboat at TW’s

TW hosted a steamboat session at his place and oh man, I totally have forgotten how much I missed steamboat till that day. It was a huge spread of food, mainly from SeeWoo and scallops from Billingsgate! There was the usual Poker session. That day, I learnt how to play the game and I thought it was quite interesting. Still, not a fan of such card games. Give me Bananagrams or Monopoly anytime!

5. Playdate with Martha!

Martha is Ryan’s good friend in school and he was so happy when she came over for dinner! Look at how chuffed he looked!

6. Ryan’s long day in school/Sg lunch

Ryan’s long day in school is usually the day when I meet up with my Sg ladies friends. It is one of the days that I look forward to because I get to speak in Singlish, talk about Singapore stuff and random stuff. It just feels relaxing because I get to be in my comfort zone. As Ryan would be in school for longer hours, it also meant that I only need to handle Gillian. Easy peasy. Heehee.

7. Playdate at Helena/Miki’s

Helena invited us over for lunch and playdate. It must be one of the most well planned playdate that I have been to. Lunch was really delicious and she even had a breadstick making session for the children, followed by tea provided by Claire. Ryan and Gillian definitely enjoyed themselves!

8. “Not a Halloween” party!

We went for a “Not a Halloween” themed party at a church with Yiling and Edward. Instead of celebrating darkness, the good people at church were explaining how they wanted to celebrate the notion of light, something opposite of what Halloween is about. There were pretty neat activities planned for the children- like designing their lanterns, carving heart shapes into pumpkins and whatnots.

9. Halloween at Yiling’s.

It was a very impromptu one actually. It was one of the Saturdays in October when I met Catherine for a thrift sale. E left Baby Gillian at Yiling because he had to pick Ryan up for Chinese class. We ended up staying at Yiling’s place for the entire day and we decided to throw a last minute Halloween party for the kids. It was unfortunate that only Gillian was in her Tinkle-bell costume. Ryan and Edward did not want to wear their pirate and Dracula costume respectively. Noah did not bring his bat boy costume. Not so nice for photo opportunity. But the children had fun with the balloons and the torch lights that we bought from Poundland. Hahahaha.

10. Dimsum at Saikei!

It was our first time to Saikei and I must say that it was quite  a good one. They have a relatively good variety of dim sum. It was also on that day when we discovered that Gillian might be allergic to prawns. As usual, we put some noodles and a prawn on her bowl and she started eating all by herself. It was like 15 minutes laters when E noticed that she was scratching her neck and quite abit. It was only then we realised that she had rashes all over her chin and neck. After putting away her prawn and getting her to drink loads of water, the rashes did go away. Thank God!

11. Playdate with Annabel/Noah

It was one of those days in October where the sun was out and the kids did not need their jackets. 秋老虎 is what we would call that day. Anyways, the little ones met Noah and Leo for a picnic and playdate at Greenwich Park. We got some stuff from M&S as I was too lazy to prepare the picnic items. Ryan and Gillian got their much needed run in the park and enjoyed a good night’s sleep that day!

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Okay, these basically sums up our October. I suppose more happened but I did not remember them as there were no photos taken. Note to self: To remember to take more photos! Amidst all these happenings, I also had to pack everything as we had to move on 1 November. Looking back, it was quite a busy month, I must say. Thankfully, despite all these activities, we managed to have a smooth move to our current place. Thank God!

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