Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Mini-concert

This is the final year (2nd last book) of che-che's music lesson. As usual, they have a concert after every 2 terms.



Tuesday, June 29, 2010

scrub.. scrub..scrub..

It's only the second day of the new term, and I took a hiatus.
Decided at last minute after dropping the kids home to go for my facial. That's the pro of going for facial or pampering myself on weekdays as I don't jostle a 'bed' with others. In my mouth, I say I don't care and simply asked che-che to do her homework and do the work I assigned for her for the day but... in my heart I can't let go.

It was a well deserved break for me. And throughout that 3+ hours I was away, che-che kept calling me. Sigh...........looks like she can't let go of me too. Heehee!




Friday, June 25, 2010

Grumbles grumbles

Four weeks of hols slipped by in a wink of an eye.

I look back and wonder what constuctive things my kids have done? What quality things have I done together with my kids? Sadly, this school holidays I could have brought them out more often but I didn't. I spent their holidays cleaning up the house - VERY GOOD QUALITY SUPER CLEAN HOUSE. Tsk tsk! Bad mummy. So you see, not that I can't live without a helper; not that I'm too dependent on one; not that I'm so bloody useless to cope but the fact is .............. I want to do best for everything so in the end I slave myself to death.smiley icons. Household chores have taken control of meindifferent smileysjust like this toilet bowl has pulled me in. But first - I must scrub the toilet bowl clean with bleach + use toothbrush to clean small nooks and corners. See lah! Die also must die in glory and cleanliness!

So exactly how tidy and clean I try to maintain my house everyday? Those who've been to my house will know. The only mess I could remember then was mei-mei's home session box outside on the TV console which is kept in the storeroom before any parties or playdates. I walk past my neighbours' house everyday, I see their things stashed around everywhere. Not that I'm boasting, my house is considered very clean & tidy for a family with 2 young kids already. Even a friend who did a surprise visit to my house during the school hols was surprised with the standard of cleanliness around the house.

In a few hours, the kids will get up ready for school. Her school uniform had been pressed neatly at the start of the school holiday, shoes whitened, schoolbag packed. Everything done? Nope..............I forgot to sharpen her pencils!!!! Wah .... panic panic .... whoever created the battery-operated sharpener - I love you!! - you practically hear the 'gee......gee......gee.......'

Her mood?
She wasn't spare much during the hols. (Had loads of homework from the school which was completed before we flew off. Except for Chinese homework which was loaded into the webpage later, so we came back from hols and did the work after that. Che-che had to do some work for me too.) The momentum was there, there was still that daily regime. Mom's a killer!

Of course I did bring them out jalan-jalan on some days. But there are things which I had wanted to do with them but I wasn't left with much Mondays and Tuesdays.

1) I was in Parkway before the Princess makeover was officially open, they were doing the setup everything. That was in the morning after we dropped mei-mei in school we had breakfast in KFC and saw. Secretly I told myself I am going to find a day to bring them for this - they're afterall girls and all girls want to be a Princess. Okay, but I will not say anything.... Darn! Not achieved! That carriage was there past how many midnights and no sign of my kids queuing up for photoshoot.
2) Che-che did ask to go to East Coast Macs after the last one we did in last year's school hols. She said "mummy, next school holiday you bring me ok?" I did promise her, I felt bad but she forgot. ?!?!?!
3) Zoo or Birdpark. If I ever found the time to bring them there for the full day, my house would look as messy as a pigsty- no need to go zoo to see that.
4) Jacob Ballas, Vivo City - I was just dreaming big time

Okay, I hope I fare better the next long school hols. Muah hahaha... by then I'll start panicking and prepare her for P3's work.

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Playdate II

SW and myself always have alot of things to talk about but too little time. After our last chat on the playdate over at my place, we could still go on... infact we stood downstairs chatting. Haha! Then we decided to meet some time soon to chat and for the girls to play. They didn't want to part, were seen holding hands and whispering to each other.

The date was set rather fast. It's so nice of SW to take leave amidst her busy schedule.


We met two days later, a Thursday, since mei-mei is on her Shichida term break. Sent her to school, then went over to SW's place. The kids played with WiiSport. Hmm.... very interesting. So tempted to buy one.

Left her place to pick mei-mei up while she brought the 2 girls and her boy for
lunch near the cinema. By the time I got back from picking mei-mei up, I was punctual. Duh! No time for even a quickbite. But never mind, I can go on a hunger strike and settle for a nice teabreak after the show.

As usual, my girl doze off in the cinema. Well, quite an achievement for her, coz' she endured half of the movie. Usually, she'll doze off not even 20 mins into the movie. Waste $$!! Went Macs for teabreak. K, their classmate came by to greet me when I was queuing up at the counter. Pleasant surprise to see her so I asked her to join us. 6 kids in our table - 3 big and 3 small kids.

Handsome boy. Look at their smile - so identical. He is 3 months older than my girl


They experimented a new creation - spicy fries with McFlurry. Yucks!
Good things must come to an end. See you in a few days time.

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Playdate

2ith the school hols coming to an end this week before the mad "you don't get to hear or see me" rush begins for Term 3. I planned a play date for her school girls. The name list could have go on but I had to stop somewhere..before my girl ends up inviting half her classmates. Ha! I think I'm real biased. Poor Aricia don't get a chance for a playdate with her friends. I should do so one day. The weather had been really unpredictable. Hot on one day and flood the next day. I wasn't going to bake for sure, I'd have melted in the heat. The next best idea would be to do something where we all can hide in the study room - make Teacher's Day cards.
Che-che was really excited and kept talking about it the night before. She even suggested I bento for the kids. Huh? No time to bento for 1 kid, how to bento for 8 kids? Then adults leh? Pizza and that's it.

As usual, snacks were displayed.
Lesson learnt : Kids don't like soya bean. I bought soya bean and milo for the kids. Displayed the soya bean and when offered; KZ notice their grin. We offered Milo and soon the kids were asking for that. Ha!

The kids came and played first.


Had lunch - this group hor.... don't really like pizza? We embarked on card-making on schedule. Initially I had planned to separate the group into 2 - the other group would do chocolate-moulding. But thanks to the extended long table in the room. Everyone can fit into the comfortable room. I was being too ambitious thinking that 1 1/2 hrs should be enough to make 3 cards each. Nope! Extended time to 2 1/2hrs.






Athena only made 2 cards. Never mind, we still need to prepare a few more another day
Maxine's cards
Sophia's cards
Andrianna's cards
Amanda's cards

Bonita's cards
Had tea break.
* Lesson learnt : never prepare too much food. The kids are more interested in playing than anything else. Special thanks to all the mummies who brought snacks along though there's no need. Everyone carried back alot of food. Don't want also no choice had to force them to take home otherwise it'll be wasted!

Jelly sponsored by Maxine's mummy
Pastries sponsored by Amanda's and Isabella's mummy. I bought pandan cakes, chocolate chiffon cakes (not photographed here). Sophia's mummy sponsored bread which is not photographed here. Andrianna's mummy sponsored snacks - which the kids took and ate it in the room as well as some ice-cream
The adults were chatting while the kids were more engrossed in playing. These are some snapshots of the kids playing; screaming. They were playing ?? Had no idea but they sounded like they had alot of fun so I don't care
These 2 girls liked it better playing by themselves in the studyroom.

The kids also used che-che's Hello Kitty makeup. My poor little Aricia came out looking so wayang-like. 2 of other kids came out too with makeup.Haha!

The kids then embarked on last chocolate-moulding. Didn't give them much choice. Took out exactly 8 different moulds for kids to do, otherwise I'd have kids fighting for "I want this and that". Suggested that they can do on one mould each and then do exchange with another friend for hers.

Mei-mei wanted to do it as well, so let her be. She's got chocolate on her face. Ha!


I quickly put the chocolates in the fridge, the kids ate their ice-cream
The girls had fun playing together; letting their hair down before new term starts the next week. One last shot for the playdate.
Thanks girls and ladies for the wonderful time.


Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Holiday

We left for a short trip on 29th May, just as the school holidays begins.

This time we went for a scenic trip in China. Boring! China again! On hindsight, I should be thankful to husband for being so "loyal" to visit China coz' I never had the chance to do any sightseeing in China when I was flying. And since we're travelling to China, I never want to do a F&E which I always prefer my mode of travelling.
I, being the angmoh kind who prefers Europe, hubby and me are totally opposite. And he really knows Chinese history very well. The tour guide says something, he's able to connect the place to dunno what dynasty; who was there etc... IMPRESSIVE!
We've been to China for a couple of times, must admit that Chinese history is really rich (though I'm more interested in the Pharoahs and still dreaming of my initial crazy ambition of being an archeologist digging dunno who's grave). We can never finish covering China. I dunno if he hopes to finish covering the whole of China. Argh!!! Then I can never finish covering my Europe; Easter Island; Central America. Haha! Wishful thinking!

This 8 day trip took us to Nanning, Detian, Yangshuo and Guilin. Must say amongst all the tours we took over the years, this is the most relaxing one coz' we spend 2 nights in each place so we were not unpacking and packing our luggages that often. Not much packing everytime we check out too coz' we keep our room really neat by bringing out only what we need. But things are a little different when I have 2 kids who insisted on bringing their luggage and trying to help you by packing up stuffs. Next minute you realise - they even pack in their used disposable bedroom slippers. ?!?!?
Since it was the school hols, we expected alot of children in the group. But it was still okay, there were 6 kids. 4 kids in P2, the oldest being P4 and the youngest being mei-mei. This trip too, my kids liked playing around with the other kids. The 6 kids were very close this trip, the parents also initiated some pictures taken together at certain tourist spots. Che-che even sat with one girl many rows behind us - chatting; playing and eating. Hubby and me rotated taking care of mei-mei. She's not making too much noise (tour guide calls her 麻雀. Even commented that while she's taking a nap in the bus she can hear her yakking away) We travelled far distances too and were kept entertained by this interesting serial. Che-che on the other hand was kept occupied by my phone or by playing the girl's PSP.

My kids were not mermerised to the mountains they saw in Guilin. In their minds, mountains were white and very majestic looking. Mountains are long & wide and endless, the ones they saw pops out like a weasel's head. I was impressed with the performance in Yangshuo 印象·刘三姐 using nature, Zhang Yimou has brilliantly turned it into a marvellous performace. There's another acrobatic performance called Dreamlike Lijiang. The kids love both performances. I'm so thankful that mei-mei didn't scream or make alot of noise. The only time she only shouted in the Dreamlike Lijiang show was when the male performers only wore briefs, she shouted "eee...a......shame shame. Never wear any clothes." So embarrasing!

This trip too, our group had a few hiccups. Two ladies had the much dreaded travel sickness (vomitting and diarrhoea) at separate times. The SIN tour guide had to bring them to the hospital for treatment. Thankfully, they were well a few hours later. There wasn't much change in our itinery, we went along with the local guide. Three men were pickpocketed (at different times/places) -one of his video camera; another of his wallet; last guy of his tissue. Haha! Pickpocket wasted his effort for that pack of tissue. However only the video camera was lost forever, the wallet incident was stopped by another man from our group. Apparently, what we heard was that the pickpocket had already 'took the wallet using a chopstick' out. When it was out, that (hero) man saw and stopped him. He beat him up, then another two local accomplice beat that man in our group. 3 against 1, they ran into an alley and took out a chair wanting to hit our man with it. Seriously, I wonder why that 'victim' didn't even render any help when he was apparently being 'helped' by that hero? We heard that some one shouted and then they ran away.
So where were we? We were suppose to be walking in the front when we got off from the boat, but we were browsing at some stalls so we were walking behind with the 2 tour guides. We missed the nerve-wrecking action, most importantly is that thankfully our kids didn't see what happened coz' we were taking slow walk. Wah.........that girl was crying and crying when she saw her own father being beaten up. Poor girl. Mother consoled her daughter but her own hands were shivering too. The place is in Yangshuo, where we took a boat to see the mountains etc..
If China wants to attract tourists to their country they got to bloody do some big action to stop crimes from happening. And you don't even see any police patrolling. Ha! We were told the police and the pickpocketers there are friends. If pickpocket picks out any passports, they call the police to tell them they've discarded passport and which dustbin. They only want the money.

(Anyway, that's partially the reason why I never want to do a F&E in China. Join a group and travel in big group a little safer than being alone. Also, with 2 young kids I cling on to them so tightly. Never let them out of my sight at all. With a group, they do help you look out)


Photos :



We could ........

have been denied entry over there if i had signed che-che up for another class. OMG! That's the road I drive to get to GWC.

When I saw the severity of the flood, I gasped. What happens if I'm there?? I'd be stuck with 2 whiny kids. Worst! I compared the height of the water level next to the sedan and estimated where the water level would be in the Mr Bean car. Sure mati!

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Angry! Mad!

On 11th, I made a trip down to The Better Toy Store to check on my orders.

Guess what! None of my orders came. I was really mad at them for giving me false and high hopes that my orders were in. And what's frustrating is that not one single item from what I've ordered ever came in. Their stupid excuse was they didn't know what the supplier packed in for them in the container, they will only see the items when it arrives in SIN - which is a whole load of rubbish!! So what happens if they load drugs in?? Use their brain when they make stupid excuses lah! And they don't even have the onus to inform us - the customer. I was really angry and scolded the staff. "you left me dangling in the air waiting for so long, without informing me. So if I don't come down, I won't even know the status of my order? You could have informed me earlier, I would have received my item by now by ordering online." Bad service!!



Murderer!

I'm a murderer!! But I'd like to push the responsibility to mom, bro, sis etc... who helped to fish-sit for me when we went for our holiday. (hahaha!) And it was more hunchbacked when fishy fishy was brought back home. I didn't see it coming that its time was almost up.

Fishy fishy had been doing real well, KZ had been taking great care of fishy fishy. She speaks to the fish..........when she's gone and in my care - I KILLED IT!!!

RIP fishy fishy. Thank you for the wonderful days swimming around and around the small tank, making me dizzy. Thank you for brightening up the living area. Thank you for giving my 2 kids some responsibility.

Must admit I didn't want anymore fish coz' KZ's doing the cleaning for us. I am so lazy to do it and thought it'd be a good time to stop keeping fish. But I'm so used to seeing a fish tank on our TV console, so decided to replace. So many fishes to choose from, the kids wanted clownfish which I find appealing but no - it's a marine fish and difficult to maintain the water. Had been dreaming of owning crayfish, crab but ... the kids pointed to this tank full of pinkish fish. Nice eh! After all the Q&As about the care of this fish, I bought a pair for $12. They're pink cichlids. Never heard before and on that Friday (11th) night I checked the internet for information. *Gasp* Aggressive and needs alot of water. I worry I become a mass murderer as my tank is really small. The next day, was in Simei so reconfirm with the staff there. No problem they say but was so tempted with this promotion (glass tank + filter + pottery + plant = $75). Bought this and the new fishes have a new home.


This is the more rounded one. It's what Aricia chose and its name is Nemo
This one the timid one, coz' Nemo keeps attacking it, is che-che's fish. Dory is its name.