Children's Day Celebration

I tends to act upon sudden impulse without proper planning. Earlier I have reserved 2 tickets on a children's ballet performance - Swan Lake, but without knowing it's Children's Day on Oct 1. The show is at 11am, what will I do with Ashley during rest of the hours in the day? What about Cieran? I am pondering on the thought when the day draws nearer. I went online to check what celebrations are there in town, or rather, what I can do with both kids on that day. Since I will be at Esplanade where Swam Lake is showing, I check the activities for children at that venue. Hummm... colouring contest sounds interesting! Not sure if Ashley would want to take part in a colouring contest, I decide to check with her before I sign her up. To my surprise, Ashley is excited over the contest. But this mummy is the usual blur and made a mistake. instead of colouring contest, it was drawing contest for her age. Ashley was not keen on drawing contest. Nonetheless, I thought I will bring her there since the show is at Esplanade. Ashley suddenly express her interest in the contest the day before, and fortunately I manage to sign her up. The night, we did a quick pack up of colour pencils and sharpener before off to bed. Poor Cieran, I have to sacrifice him by leaving him at po po house instead of bringing him along. Well, lots to consider should I bring him along. I have to consider his lunch, what will he be when we both go for swan lake..etc. I felt so guilty towards him and I promised I will buy him a beautiful balloon when we are done at Esplanade. Lucky little Cieran was a happy boy when I told him about the balloon I will bring him when I came for him at po po house. Actually I am not sure if he does understand when I talk to him about it... but I do feel better after seeing his happy smile when I mention balloon for him. We arrived at Esplanade quite early at around 8.10am. To my surprised, the place was already full of people. Some already started their drawings! There are students who take part in the competition as part of school program, and some are like us, from public registration. This is the 1st time we took part in a drawing contest and seriously we are inexperience and definitely not 'professionally' prepared for it. For all we have, was a pack of colour pencils! Others? Well, some came equiped with proper table and chair, some with floor mat... etc. We found a corner, nothing to lay...(haha!) and Ashley started drawing with the floor as her table. Apologetically, I motivated Ashley that we can still draw well even on the floor..haha! While Ashley is drawing her picture (theme is a colourful day), I browse around and see how the others are doing. Amazingly, some really come in well prepared for the competition. I saw some did a draft picture at home, and they are simply 'duplicating' the same drawing onto the drawing paper given. They must be seasoned-participants! I take a look at Ashley's drawing. Well, honestly speaking, I find her drawing cute and beautiful. I think what the professionals say has some truth in it-A picture tells a thousand words! Looking at Ashley's drawings, there's no doubt that she loves her family! I have the urge to keep the drawing instead of submitting it to the committee. But how can I deprive her from the competition? A little unwillingly, we went on to submit her drawing. In return, she was given a certificate of attendance on the spot. How amazing right? The organiser is so well-organised! From registration to submission, all are organised in such good order. The timing went well, after a short rest of muffin and water, we went for the show-swan lake. The auditorium was almost full with children and their teachers/parents. Seems like the younger generations appreciate ballet more nowadays than in those days. It was a good introductory as the director was on stage explaining to the children about the performance. Being a 'ballet-nuts', I learnt something as well! For lunch, we met up Grace and Vernon. My sister had arrange half-day school for Vernon only on this special day. The cousins get so excited when they see each other. Over lunch, we agreed to bring the kids for fun play at Peekapoo off Kallang Leisure Park, and Cieran will be coming along! Thanks to Grace...hehe! Coz she drove me to pick Cieran. I have never know there is a in-door playground call Peekapoo. I suppose when you are into such business, you have to aware of your competitors? Nowadays, there are many such providers and children really have so much of fun options. Cieran was excited when I went to pick him.. especially when he saw Ashley and Vernon in the car! He seems to know that we are going on a outing! It always a pleasure to see his happy face of smiles all over. Ashley and Vernon have lots of fun running around and exploring the maze... unfortunately Cieran belongs to the 'shy club' who prefers to remain outside the maze. Upon much encouragement, he inisisted not to step in. Haiz.... what a waste of money. :-( It was only after much 'warm ups' that he started enjoying a little in the play area. Thanks to his sister, who 'kinda-of' show him around that he tends to be more brave. Nonetheless, I believed all the children had a fun time somehow or rather. :-) In conclusion, a well-spent day on Children's Day!

Early Mid-Autumn Celebration-Sept 27

It's all from a sudden thought of lantern fun for the kids...that a mid-autumn celebration came about. Topics over the lunch has been what food items to bring, where, when. Eventually we settled on Sept 27-Sunday and involving 5 families. Well, suppose to include Ms Joan Tan who decides to abandon us and choose to spent time with her mother. She scores a point again being anti-social. Haha! Anyway, our menu looks tempting and interesting. Val decides she will bring her home-cooked curry chicken and soy bean curd. As for me, I will prepare fried beehoon, hotdog, quail eggs, fishball & cuttlefish balls and chicken bites, the non spice items so that children can eat. Geneve had been given the task to get satays while Joanne has been thinking and thinking what she will brings... and eventually she brought something that most children enjoys-Bubbles! The group arrives almost the same time-6.30pm, coincidentally! Same comment on Golden, size is big that was not expected. Golden was the usual excited over guests coming. Ashley too.. but unfortunately not so for little Cieran. He has a little shocked to see the group coming into the house and gave me that gesture of 'scared-scared'. Poor little boy, this mummy had been updating Ashley about friends coming, but not to little Cieran. Sorry... mummy will remember to pre-am you next time. :-p After 'loading' the food on the table, all of us went for a short tour of the house before we attack the food. It was a busy time where mummies and daddies have to take feed their children, eat while keeping an eye on the little ones...etc. But I suppose all of us are having fun despite all has been busy at 'own itinerary'. Geneve was the 'official photographer' for this gathering by default with her professional camera. Haha! I am sure she has lots of fun with her new gadget. Next, we proceed with our lantern walk. Little ones and adults walk slowly to the playground across the road. It was not surprising that the children eventually divert to playground play, and bubbles instead of lanterns. Val bought sparkles for the children as well, and Ashley had the most fun from it-I believed! Little Cieran was busy 'chasing' after his sister, wanting very much to hand over her lantern to her (lantern was being left aside for bubbles and sparkles play). It seems like Janelle and Ashley are good friends now. Where's Phyllis?? hahaha... she has been busy chasing after her Kai Teng! Kai Teng was trilled over the slides, maze...etc and was real busy exploring this new fun place. Phyllis indeed has lots of exercises at the playground till she has to raise white flag and headed back home. Little Matthias was having fun too... watching the bubbles in the air. Baby Joshua was very happy too. He was easily amused by almost anything. Real cute! Ashton was having fun at bubbles and sparkles as well. He chose a blue bottled on his own, bet that's his favourite colour! Slowly the group gets smaller at the playground and more headed back to the house. Well, little babies need feeding and gets tired... but the older children, such as Ashley was reluctant to go back. Haha! She and Janelle decides to continue their bubbles play at the car pouch area after deserts. The night ends with food, fun and... little accidents. Ashton was scald on the finger by sparkles, Cieran was scald on the feet by sparkles (I only realised when I shower him coz he didn't cry), and Geneve's husband-Alex got his slippers dripped with bubbles soup. Hahaha! But it ended well.

Happy Mid-Autumn to Everyone!

Mum's Birthday at Park Palace

Another year passed, it's mum's birthday again! Last year, we throw a birthday surprise for her on National Day as it was her 'Da Shou'. This year, we had to celebrate her birthday on weekday instead of a weekends. Know why? Well.... coz mum had planned her day with lots of programs. Her own celebration starts on Fri on a weekend cruise, followed by Monday evening a opera show. Monday was her actual birthday. Since she already has program in evening, we had to arrange a lunch instead with only 2 youngest grandchildren celebrating with her. Lunch was arranged at Grand Palace restaurant at Grand Park Cityhall Hotel. I remembered the kung-fu soup served in teapot which I believed mum & dad will like, thus recommend this restaurant for lunch. I called Rachel to reserve a private room and pre- order the soup. How can a birthday without a cake? I went on to check what cake best suits mum and Phyllis suggested me to try Glace cake made by Japanese Chef. Japanese cakes tends to have a lighter sponge of which elderly would prefer. I went in the website to have a look. Hard to make a decision... In the end, I decided to select different slices of cakes instead of a whole cake so that we can them all with almost the same price. :-) The food is yummy at Grand Palace. We ordered few dim sum, a vegetable dish, a mixed roast item, a fish and a noodle dish...and of course, the kung-fu soup served in teapot. I am glad that they all like the soup I recommend, especially little Cieran! He kept asking for more 'tang'! :-) All of us have a sumptuous meal. Glace cake was the desert serving as last dish. Joanne commented that it was kinda special to have cake slices instead of whole cake. Refreshing idea! kekeke.... Happy that they love the cakes as well. Mum who doesn't like heavy cakes with buttery was also praising that the strawberry shortcake was light and nice. All of us get to choose a slice of our liking. We all like our choice except for Eric. he had chosen a green tea cake and he doesn't like the cake texture. 3 slices were left behind, of which we kept 1 for Vernon and Ashley each. Another slice I was initially intend to keep for Jeremy, but mum had packed it for Joanne instead. Never mind lah... just don't mention about cakes to him...haha!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MUM!

A 'Blessing in Disguised' Day

We have a 'blessing in disguised' day on 30Aug. I am extremely surprised when Jeremy told me that someone had stolen my credit card and attempted to fraud. Apparently, the bank called him to verify a declined transaction. It was mentioned that this person had been trying to book air tickets online with Emirates with amount more than 4k at early morning of 4am! It was really a blessing that the transaction declined even after several attempts of purchasing on line. Immediately Jeremy cancelled both cards. It was coincidentally that my card was not with me, but I was confident that I have not lost it. I have placed it inside a small pouch and left it in the office. To verify the truth, I suggest we make a trip back to office and verify if my card is in my pouch. Nonetheless, Jeremy advises that it serves no purpose of verification, importantly is to make a police report. After settling the kids at home, we drove off to the nearest police post. As a procedure, a report was filed. The policeman had highlighted that there were several similar cases and they had recently caught a China syndicate who was involved in many fraud cases using credit cards. The syndicate was capable of printing their own credit cards with numbers and details that belongs to other owners. I have never thought that such incident will happen to me and luckily the transaction had not been a success. On our way home, I was joking with Jeremy that this person must be real cursing that who is this person that holds a Gold credit card but damn shit that doesn't have money! haha! Down in luck that failed to take advantage on the card. The next day when the office, my card was still in tact inside the pouch. I cant explained how those syndicate could have retrieved my information. They are indeed 'clever'. I have filed a case with the bank to further investigate this fraud case. Believed that since the syndicate attempted to book air tickets online, the system could have captured some personal information. Hoped the bank will have some clue and work with the police to put him in court. I cant imagine what will happen if the illegal transactions went through.

National Day Activities

This year's National Day falls on Sun as such we enjoyed a longer weekends. The children have lots of fun with home activities. Firstly, the weather has been good in the day, so I allowed the children to have water play by the car pouch area. As usual, the children's laughter filled the air when comes to water play. This mummy, of course... will be at the side busy snapping and capturing the happy moments of the children. Due to mummy's laziness, Cieran is not changed into swim wear, but wearing his romper. After all he needs a shower after the water play... so .... (actually that's mummy's excuse). But! You would never have thought that there's accident happening while playing... Cieran surprises us with his 'tea' added into the pool. Haha! Ashley blah out loud "Eeeeeeeee! Di Di urine inside!"We have a great laugh over it while poor Cieran has no idea what's happening. He laughs along with us. Kids are so lovable, aren't they? After water play, the children had a little feast... snacky time! Look at the children facial expressions and you would know how much they love snacky time. I can't helped but having the camera in my hands once again. After snacky, the children are off to play again. This time, it was led by Ashley who happily dancing around the living room. Little Cieran followed behind, jumping and jumping behind his sister. In

fear that they might fall with the sofas on the way, I chase them out to the car pouch area. I have to put my hats off the children.. now they got Ismi involved in their dancing. From dancing, it proceed to spinning. Children can be really creative! Even Golden gets excited and want to be part of it. A pity that daddy is not around to see how happy his children are! Rolling n Baking is our next activity. Mummy made a dough out from plain flour and the children pretends to be bakers moulding their cookies. This is not the 1st time we had this, but each time the children enjoy rolling their dough. You may think that Cieran is too young for this activity, but you are wrong. He is having a lot of fun rolling his dough as well... it's a good hand and eye coordination activity for the little one. Look at him, aren't he being quite a professional baker... if only there's a chef hat for him. The children are looking forward to evening's program. We have made a date with Grace (my sister) that we will be going to her house for dinner and watch the National Day parade together. From her house, we will also get to see live fireworks that display during the parade. The day is so long, the children keeps themselves busy next by drawing and colouring. Cieran loves to draw... though he cant hold the pencil in proper manner yet. He has his way of drawing. We called that 'Chou Xiang Hwa'...haha! At times, he would come to us and request us to draw apple, Elmo, fish...etc for him on his paper. I especially like to see Cieran's expression when I draw Elmo for him. When the Elmo drawn was in a happy face, Cieran will smile and make a happy face. When I draw a sad Elmo, he will pretend to cry. The best expression of his is angry face. He bends his head down and frown. What a cute little Cieran. Sometimes he reminds me of Ashley when she's as young as Cieran. I did the same with Ashley before, and she does exactly the same. :-) The sky soon turns dark. The children are all dressed up for National Day-Red is the theme! Ashley even got a tattoo for the celebration. The children watched the parade start while waiting for daddy to bring us to Grace's house. Ashley is a little tired after so many activities in the day, and she is starting to feel restless. On the other hand, Cieran is still having lots of energy. What a contrast! Nonetheless, the children participate with the parade performance, with their hand-shaped drum. Cieran is the one having more fun. I guess boys are 'rough' in nature. Haha! At Grace's place, the children become 'dragon' with lots of energy! Together with Vernon, they entertained themselves while the adults can have a good meal with no disturbance.

The National Day had been a good fun time.... especially for the children!

Ashley's Enrichments - Ballet & Piano

Many people feels that we have been spending alot on our children's enrichment. Well, I do agree if you look only at dollars and cents aspect. In my opinion, I have made good investments in them. For Ashley, I enrolled her to ballet and piano on her interest. Talking about ballet, I was sceptical upon enrolling her to ballet when she expressed her interest. In fact, I hesitated for sometime before I agreed to her request. I enrolled her to attend pre-primary ballet at the community center as a 'test'. She was only 3+ then, which cant helped caused me to wonder if her interest in ballet will sustain. I have heard so much, where parents enrolled their child to ballet and subsequent, the child dropped out from the course. I don't wish that to happen to me. After all, I don't think the cost for a ballet outfit and accessories are cheap. As such, not wanting to put my money to drain, I enrolled her to the class in Community Center. I told myself, should she showed interest and would like to excel further in ballet, I will provide her full support and enrol her to a certified school. I was a blessing that she does enjoyed ballet and after 4 terms of lessons at the CC, I enrolled her to Crestar for certified ballet. Jeremy shared the same thoughts as me " Unless you have no interest... if you have, go all the way and get certified". The ballet course in Crestar cost more, but as long as we can afford, we don't mind sending her. Ashley hasn't gone for any examination at this stage, but I am glad that she continued to enjoy her lessons. Each time I asked if she likes ballet, she gave me a happy answer "YES". I know I have made the right decision in letting her continue her ballet lessons. She is turning 6 soon... my persistent in letting her go for the lesson pays off... though there aren't any certification for her at this young age. As long as she still has the passion in ballet, she will excel! It's just a matter of time... ;-)

Ashley had also initiated her interest to learn piano. However, I have not paid much attention to enrol her. Sorry to mention, I have my reservations. Mr Ho (my ex-colleague whose wife is piano teacher and he himself a violin teacher) recommend me Yamaha's foundation course when I asked him for advice (this mum is not 'musically inclined', that needs help lah', and the course was a 4 year course, with 2 years parental participation in class. Well, I am not prepared to give this commitment.... thus this was 'delayed' for a long while...The idea on sending Ashley to learn piano was then arisen with Jeremy's 'traditional' thought that dancing is of no value. His thinking, to learn a skill with value in the market, it should be playing an instrument such as piano. I disagree with him. To me, learning any skills has its value so long as there's interest and passion. It depends on how you judge its 'value'. Learning a skill is a long-term investment. In order to ensure this investment is the rightful one, I again 'test' Ashley on her interest in piano by asking her several questions on different occasions. It's not easy to tell how far a young child's interest will last. As parents, I told myself not to 'force' her interest, should she be not interested to proceed, stopped her lessons immediately-Don't waste money. Constantly, I have to also 'remind' Jeremy that we should let her decide what she prefers, and not enforcing our 'hopes/likes/dreams' on her. The path is hers, not us. We cant force her to learn piano just to satisfy ourselves. Ashley started her 1st lesson on Jan 09. It was once again a blessing that Ashley enjoyed the lesson. To be honest, I enjoyed too. I have learn to play as well..since I am in the class with her....haha! For once, I have the regrets that I did not seize the opportunity to learn to play the piano when I am young like her. Ashley had her 1st mini performance in class on 28 June 09. Though she is playing with her right and left hand separately, I think that's already returns of our investments. With only 6 months of learning, we are happy to see her progress. Ashley is nervous while waiting for her turn to perform... her fingers are cold according to Jeremy, which I didn't realise earlier. I can see that she takes her performance seriously. With the presence of her daddy and Cieran watching her, I do believed she feels the pressure Ashley played her 2 songs very seriously (look at her expression when she plays)... and a sudden relief when she finished. While watching her playing the tune, I explained but feel proud of my little girl. :-)

Sometimes I told myself, why not just let her choose between ballet and music to save costs, but when I look at her... I know I should persist in letting her excel in something that she enjoyed and may provide her a better future.....

I know it's worth this persistence!