2011 大年初二

We have a very different 初二 this year, as we had invited both our families over for dinner!! So, I had a busy day preparing for a feast for 12 adults plus our 2 children!!  It was very challenging, but I enjoyed it!! Haha... It really feels good to have so many people in the house for CNY and I hope everyone enjoyed it! As for pictures... sorry, cos I was really busy cooking and no time for me to have a snap or 2!!  Ashley & Adwin enjoyed very much, they were asking why so many people were at our house.  Cos the last time so many people were in the house was for Adwin's 3 year old birthday celebration!! I hope to continue this yearly!! Haha... it just feels so good!!...

2011 大年初一

The long awaited 大年初一 is here!!  We got up pretty early, but by the time we left the house, its time for lunch!!  Why?  As we were busy getting the kids to change into their new clothes and keep the toys before we leave the house!  It's supposed to be a tradition to not scold and beat the children on 大年初一, but they really left us with no choice, especially Adwin!  He is really getting so mischevious that with no cane, he will not do anything that is ask of him!  Even for changing into new clothes, he can take his own sweet time and after changing, he complain the long jean is painful and went on to change into a pair of old shorts!  And before we leave for parent-in-law's place for lunch, we thought to have some pictures taken and have a mini 拜年 at home so they know what to do later! Haha... But as usual, it's a tough job to get Adwin to do what we ask of him!!

Anyway, when we arrived at my parent-in-law's place, we proceed with our normal 拜年 to 老爷爷 and our parents.  红糟面线 is a main dish we have during festivals or birthdays and also my favourite! Haha... After this we proceed to my parent's place and have another round of eating and another round of 拜年.

My parents will head back to Malacca after we leave, as they find it boring here and also all our relatives are there and I do misses the time back there when we were still kids.  We play tons of fire crackers there, eat lots of food, visit lots of relatives and friends there and collect lots of ang baos!!  And we also get to have small mahjong and card games back then.  I had always hope to be able to go back for a visit during Lunar new year, but only managed to drive back once after marriage when Ashley was 2!  Hope we can have another drive back during Lunar new year again...

Year of Rabbit -- CNY Eve

This Lunar new year seems to arrive faster than anything, or is it cos I was sick at the beginning of the year and thus not much time for me to prepare, so everything seems to be in a rush!!  The same goes for my work, as I was not in office for about half a month, so my work had been piling since last Xmas till mid of Jan!!  This is really terrible!!

Lucky for me, not much spring cleaning, as we just shifted in in mid of Sept last year, so 80% of the things are in order.  With the weekly cleaning done by our part time helper, everything looks easier to manage!!

Oh yes, we were also doing some last minute shopping too!! Haha... And my Ashley's new year's dresses came by post only on Tuesday and I had to wash & put them in the dryer on the day I received them, so she can wear them during CNY! :p

And the kids have their CNY celebration on the eve as well... so they were dressed in their traditional clothings and we need to pick them up by 1pm...  And this year, the childcare is opening later then the past few years, so I had to stay home to look after them... :(

Woodlands Waterfront

Ashley went for her 1st colouring competition for 2011 on 23rd Jan at Woodlands waterfront... Can't recall is this for the Official Opening ceremony for the waterfront!  Of course the competition was mainly for fun, as it was organised by her Art class and we did not expect her to win as she got impatient half way through the process and towards the end, it was the mummy taking the part in the competition, if you get what I mean! Haha... And coincidentally, we ran into our old neighbour from Sembawang!

But the kids had lots of fun at the playground!! And parking was a pain, as there were already very limited parking lots and after reserving some lots for the VIPs, we had to park our car along the roadside just after the zebra crossing!! Haha...

Postings supposed to be done in 2010... :p

I only realised there's lots of catching up for me on my blog!!  Since I fell sick during last Christmas, recovered for 3 weeks and fell sick again in mid January, all my things had been backlogged, including my work, my housework and my blog!!  I must say, last Christmas and my 2011 beginning sucks, and I hope from this Lunar new year onwards, me & my family will be in tip top condition for THE YEAR!!!  Haha...

Let me try to recall what I missed here...

1) I had imported some suncatchers for the kids to have painting at home in early Dec, and this is the first time the kids tried this at home... As I thought it was really expensive when we go shopping and the kids asked to do paintings... we need to fork out at least $20 each session and afterwhich, the 'suncatchers' are left in a corner of their room or play area...  These suncatchers are easy to start and keep, but drying takes longer, as we need to air them to dry naturally, which takes about a day or 2 before we can hang them up...

2) As I mentioned earlier, we were grounded during Xmas, Adwin was sick and all our Xmas outing plan was put aside... And we were supposed to go over to my mum's place for a mini gathering and have Turkey for Xmas, turned out that they deliver our dinner... haha... (forgot to take a pic of our delivered dinner... only pics of Adwin enjoying his Xmas pressie and some pics set by Adwin on self-timer.. haha...

3) Our Post Xmas shopping after I recovered and Adwin fell sick AGAIN..
We decided to pop by the new shopping mall, Nexx @ Hougang the day after Xmas, as we thought we should all go out for a breather and Adwin was feeling better.  But did not expect his fever to be up again after our 1st hour of shopping there... and went to get the cool patch to 'stick' on his forehead, hoping the fever can subside... but sadly, no, the fever was pretty persistant and we had to head home before we can go for our dinner...

4) As for our New year's eve, we only pop by Square 2 for Waraku Pasta and went over to United Square for some shopping went Whampoo market to packet the frog's leg porridge home for dinner!! What a plain New Year's eve.... :(

Ready for CNY 2011

The kids need to wear their traditional CNY clothings to the childcare for celebration every year, but it's the first time for Adwin.







These clothings are normally only wore once on 初一, so I normally let them wear the last year's! Haha...

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Thoughts for the new year

Had been thinking of writing my thoughts for my 2 children for some time, but had been really busy since we had them! Haha...

I must say, the kids really grow up very fast, Ashley is turning 6 this July and Adwin will be 4 this coming December. I do misses the time when they were just babies, and I would occasionally go back to watch those small clips I had taken using my HP back then, they were really cute and adorable!! And of course with me missing their growing years, I do misses the time when they were still in my tummy, waiting eagerly for their next kick, waiting to see them during monthly gynae check up, popping in all the vitamins and fish oil to ensure they get all the required nutrients to grow and of cos the wait for labour!!!

The kids have grown up learning lots of things from the childcare and those enrichment classes they are attending now. And now, I am being bombarded by their tons of WHY questions!! It's amazing why they have so many questions!!!

And I really wonder if Breastfeeding is the reason to why Adwin is so sticky to me. Ashley only had direct latch with me for the first 2 months, after which all her feed is through bottles, not that I do not want to direct latch for her, she refuses my breast at the time and would have the "wanna throw up" sound when she's near my breast!! So I express out for her till she's about 8months old. As for Adwin, he enjoyed the latching process and thus managed to latch him till pass his first 2 years!! I find it amazing, and lucky it was him who decided to stop 1 day!! Haha... I guess breastmilk does help to boost his immunity, he does recover faster compared with Ashley.

We managed to start Adwin on enrichment classes this year, and are glad he's doing quite good in starting, firstly is him attending Tian Xia, follow by his music lesson at Yamaha and just the pass Sunday, he went for I Can Read!! As he's a left hander, WL finds it tough to teach him at home, and he always refuses to learn to write.

I hope we can prepare Ashley well for her primary 1 next year! And I also hope she can have a happy childhood, the same goes for Adwin. My dad is concern about us sending the kids to all the enrichment classes now, asking me not to stress them at this young tender age, but I did ask Ashley if she want to stop any of these lessons, so far her feedback to me is, she's enjoying all of them!! The only lesson she quit so far is the electon class at Yamaha! And the reason for her losing interest is the teacher!!

I took 2 days to complete this entry, as many things are on my mind now, hoping to be able to pen down my thoughts so far, of cos, it's not 100% complete, but about 50%! Hope to find some time again later this year, to pen more of thoughts for my 2 children!

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Our time...

Finally, the kids are big enough to go for classes together and we get some "our time" when they go for classes!!!

Here's our fav drinks...



And the kids get to enjoy their Happy Meal before their class. This is the only time slot for both to attend class together. And this is only their first lesson to 'I Can Read' program, hope Ashley can progress faster, so she can start to read on her own, as she really enjoy reading!! And hope adwin can start to love to read and write soon!!







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Adwin hair cut

Finally, managed to find time to bring adwin for his hair cut and just in time for the coming CNY!!!

Look how messy his hair before the cut:



WIP: Work in progress...



Final result: clean and smart!



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Bak gua

Haha... WL always suggest to buy the new year goodie, bak gua much early so as to avoid the queue as well as to avoid the price increase!!




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Sushi tei

As usual, ashley would ask for sushi when we ask her what for dinner!! And today we saw on the menu there's a promo on pufferfish!!



Here's the pufferfish hot pot, which says for 2 pax but it's really small and only a few pcs of pufferfish!!






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New music wonderland

Adwin just started his musical journey today!! We did not prepare for this first lesson actually, after dropping Ashley to her Tian Xia lesson, we had thought to drop by yamaha to check the new lesson schedule for him, but coincidentally, theres a new class starting today at 12pm!! So without much hesitation, we registered him for it and off we went for lesson!! Haha... And he was really not prepared to be attending a lesson after sending Jie hue off to class!!



Here's a pic of him and his new teacher and his new books!!

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My new project

Ok, I decided to find some nice Ang baos this year to make this...


A candy holder using Ang baos, which I saw in the office of my car workshop!! Haha... And I also wanna make some lanterns using Ang baos this year!! Been a few years since I done them again, but am having some trouble finding nice Ang baos... As always, things ate hard to find when you need them!! Haha...

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Cheeky Adwin

Ehm... I really think my 2 kids are soooo alike!!! Adwin is doing exactly what Ashley is doing now and I really find his boy traits are coming out... Super duper mischievous!!!



This was taken on New Year's eve at United Sq outside of popular!! Lucky they were exposed to this Super Why weeks back...

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Transformation

Haha... See what I had transformed in the house today...


Since CNY is coming, had got some festive sticker to go onto the power switch!!



I personally like this!!! Very cute!! Peeping goofy!!



This is for my room... Hee Hee...

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Adwin's first enrichment class

Finally, starting on his enrichment class this year!! As WL had been saying he's a lazy boy when comes to studying, I guess mainly due to him being a left hander!! WL says Ashley is able to recognise many Chinese characters when shes at his age, but we do not see this from Adwin!!

And it's tough starting him for class cos he's really sticking on to me and I could not get out of the class!!! Had arranged for a trial lesson at Tian Sia this evening and for the first hour I was inside the class with him!! Along with ashley, as WL is busy with tuition and ashley is running high fever so have to bring her along, else would have left her with my mum!

Adwin only allow me to go buy him ribena when he started doing some coloring!! Lucky he was able to participate in the class after we left!!



See him busy coloring after wr left!! ** the left most boy in green is Adwin!! **



After our short shopping, he was still sitting at the back of the class!

When the class ended, he was full of smile when he saw us!! And when asked if he enjoy the class, it was a definite Yes and asked if he would like to come again next Friday, he also happily nod his head!!! I do hope he can keep his promise!! Haha...

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Happy 2011

We just finished watching the countdown to 2011 on TV. 2010 is officially over... A year just passed by so quickly... In fact, we did many things during 2010, of course the major one will be shifting of our house and WL had finished the required 40 hours of volunteering work at CF Pri Sch and also, adwin started attending childcare with ashley, had his first performance on stage.

My wishes for the new year is everyone to stay healthy. As everyone had fallen ill, starting from adwin since Xmas eve all the way till today and passing on to me, then now is WL and Ashley!! Hope I can find out more effective ways to keep our family healthy and strong!!!

New resolutions for the year??!! Ehm, I dun think I had ever realized my resolution, so let's forget about it this year as well... Haha...

Happy 2011!!


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Ashley posing for photos

We had always been wondering how come Ashley can pose so naturally whenever she's in front of a camera!! See this one, it was after a jogging session on a sat (day before adwin's birthday party)!



And Adwin's pose, as always... (enjoying his H2O)



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Ashley injury

Ok been quite a long while since I post an entry here again... Am wondering if I can reach my target of the 100 postings for this year!!

Back to my topic here... Ashley had hurt her left foot when she went for a cycling trip with her uncle (WL's bro) on a tuesday evening (14 Dec) after dinner at my MIL's place. Seriously I was really upset and guilty. Firstly, when they left the house and me seeing my BIL pushing out the bike, my first thought was "would she get hurt if she were to be riding at the back seat?"! I always feel there's a mother's instinct in me, so I always do not allow my kids to participate in certain activity if I can sense a danger in it. And lucky thing is, I had not allowed Adwin to follow, as I know no one would be able to handle him if he throw a tantrum and especially when I heard my BIL's wife asked him "who to take care of him if he follows?". Secondly, I can't blame anyone here for the accident, only myself, if I had insisted not allowing Ashley to follow!

Anyway, I really hope Ashley learned her lesson, as I had told her, no one knows how to take good care of her except for her mummy. And if she continue to always act on her own decision she is the only one to suffer if things were to go wrong somewhere. I believe all doting parents would feel this way for their children!

The picture below is after 2 days and had been covered with medicine.



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Adwin's 3 Year Old Birthday at home...

This is the first time Adwin had a Birthday party and he was really happy and excited about it!!  Especially after we put up the Birthday banner at home, he was really looking forward to it (as we put up on Friday but party will only be held on Sunday... :p)

I realised I had forgotten to take the photo all the goodie bags we had prepared... The last one taken was 2 years back, when we prepared for Ashley's 3 year old celebration in the childcare... Haha...  Anyway, I had customised some Birthday pencils this year, with the kids' name on it "Adwin is 3 today! 12122010" the same for Ashley (as I had forgotten to blog about this in her Birthday Party entry... :p)

The party was mainly for family and close friends, also as a house warming party, since we moved in in mid Sept.  And since it's a smaller place compared to our old house, we can't invite too many, the house will be super duper cramp!!!

Ok, back to Adwin's party, we decided a Toy Story theme at home, since he likes Buzz Lightyear & Woody.  I had planned to get him a customised birthday banner, but was not in time somehow... so what did I do??  I did up the banner MYSELF, meaning, doing up the artwork and FIND someone to print the banner out for me!! & I am super impressed with MYSELF! Haha... Everyone I spoke to who knows the banner was done by me, say it's very nice and the quality is good, as in the artwork was done only in MS PAINT & not any other professional photo editing software!!  Well, maybe I can start to think of doing some business in Customising Children's Birthday Banner!!! Haha...

Adwin had 2 cakes this year, a Toy Story cake from us and a Jelly MacQueen cake from his 公公!!  The jelly cake taste as good and the size of our Toy Story cake was just nice!! Perfect!!

Adwin was really happy with ALL his presents and since he saw Ashley's having so many presents during her 5th Birthday Party, he had been lamenting how come jie-jie got so many presents but he did not... SO, it's his moment now!!  The party ended around 3+pm after everyone left our house, we were trying really hard to get the kids to nap, cos they were really still in the 'mood' of partying and keep asking why had everyone gone back home?? We still want to party!! Haha... so, their 'nap' ending up starting only at 5pm!  And by the time they are up, it's DINNER time!!  & after their dinner, its time for opening up of presents, so you can imagine what time they ended up in bed for the day!!  Anyway, the most important is, Adwin really enjoys his birthday, so do we!! Haha... :p

Here's a better view of his banner!! 


** DO CONTACT ME IF YOU ARE REALLY INTERESTED IN CUSTOMISING BIRTHDAY BANNERS FOR YOUR KIDS!! THANKS! **