"Bento" # 1

Ok call it positive influence which got rubbed off by net friends Angie & Meekfreek... hearing & seeing them created such pretty bentos for their loved ones makes it want to try.

On Monday, Jac was on leave & we decided to go SHOPPING @ Daiso as recommended by Angie. We got quite a few cutters & shapes. That afternoon, while Ezra was sleeping, we did French toast & pancake with special shapes for our dinner at HortPark.

On Tues, I came home early & sms Jac to see if he wants to come back on time & prepare special dinner for the kids. I will cook & he can decorate.

After getting ideas from the ladies, the dinner menu is decided... fried rice with veg, hotdog mouse, hotdog octopus, fried egg & baked chicken wings.

I dont have Jap rice so sms Angie to check with normal Thai rice works? not sure so no harm trying. Well it does not hold together as tightly to be held & eaten so a spoon is needed.

I dont have black seasme, but at the 11th hour, Ezra suddenly took out some black biscuit & I scraped some of the seasame off!!

I remembered Angie asking Meekfreek how to the octupus hotdog. So i tried boiling it water rather than oil & it works beautifully.

Here is the finished works!! The kids were very excited abt the pretty dinner. Here's their story...

Yeah yeah dinner is ready... What!! Need to pose for pictures... ok ok quick quick let's get together FAST... Still got to wait, come on what are we waiting mummy?

The kids are enjoying their 1st 'bento' dinner served on a plate!!

Move the chip!

My mother in law who is a TV addict (just like me) watched a particular Taiwan game show of how they placed a potato chip at the bridge of nose and twitched face muscles to move the chip across face and finally into mouth.

So here is the one she did on our sofa!! It was so funny!! We all had a BIG laugh!!

Homework Time

The 2 jie jies have been given homework to do in the afternoon & Ezra seems to understand homework as something to do with worksheets or work book. I bought him 2 very easy books for colouring & there are stickers for him to peel & stick.

One day when he walked to his Little Tikes table, calling out to me "Mummy, I need to do my homework now."

So out came the book with common items. Started him on the names of the items, got him to find the correct item sticker, showed him the word for the item & asked him to try looking for similar word sticker. He can pick up the item sticker quite easily. I was quite surprised he could stick it in the intended circle pretty nicely.

Here is one of the item he coloured!!

Mini HotPot No More

Cell group was cancelled lats min cos quite a few members cant make it... but Kayun, Flo & our family decide to meet up just for dinner. The venue is a particular mini hot Indo cafe at Tiong Bahru Plaza. We were quite excited & hopeful cos the place was crowded. We ordered 2 mini hotpot, beef with herbal soup & seafood with chicken broth. The pots were really cute.... The hot looks much better than it tasted.. all of us were very disappointed with the food. Even the cooked dishes was a let down & its not extremely cheap. Beach Rd steam boat is so much better!!

When we got out of the rest, there was a queue and we wondered why?

Look!! I can hold cards between my toes!!

I had a $20 gift voucher from Toy R'us & decided to go shopping for some educational toys for Ezra. I mgt to get him this set on matching similar items. Well he is too younger for covered cards for memory game. So all the cards are open & we take turns to find matching pairs.

After a couple of times, he started playing with the cards. He told some cards & hold them between his toes!! He started with 1 on each side, than added more cards!! It was so funny! Don't ask me where did he learn that from!! I told him to be careful in case his little toes cramp!!

Daddy started arranging the cards & spin off some tales for Ezra. The story went something like this.... One day there are a little pigger who wear a watch and went for a ride on the train. There, they met piggy's friend the frog who was wearing an umbrella out on a sunny day! The sun is too hot for Happy Feet & he decided to play on his drums! They saw a ship on at sea & suddenly ...... It was a little far fetch but Ezra enjoyed it anyway!!

Diaperless Nap

I came home last evening & son was still taking his afternoon nap. A quick peek on his cheeks & realised that he is not wearing diapers!! I was surprised & asked my MIL abt it. Apparently, ezra refused to wear diapers before his nap so MIL had no choice & put diaper changing sheet below his little butt!!

He slept since 2.30pm & at 5.00pm, I asked him if he needs to pee pee, he shook his head. At 5.30pm, I checked on him, good still dry so i asked if he needs to pee pee. Again he said no. He woke up at 5.45pm, all dry!! I hugged him tight & told him "Wow, you slept without your diapers & did not pee pee!! Mummy is so impressed with you!" He just nodded his head & said "Yes"

Although this may be a one off incident, not sure if he will still pull off the same today & in future but it is still a BIG move towards diaperless days!! Well done son...

If Yan can cook so can Jac

Last Thursday was my father in law's birthday & Market Place had 50% Aust beef sale. We bought some 1 inch thick rideye for dinner. I marinated the beef with rosemary, onion, pepper, salt. To complete the meal, we had chicken mushroom soup, bacon prawn roll, garlic bread, baked potato & veg salad.... Jac came home & took his place in the kitchen.... He even got those flames burning in the frying pan!!

The beef is really of very good cut & was so tasty & tender. It was a very good dinner.... but major cleaning up was required aft dinner!!

Beef with potato & soup

Tasty grilled bacon prawn

Ezra's Surpsied Playdate

A good friend of mine is due real soon for her 2nd baby & I promised to deliver durians to her anytime. So after work today, I went to buy 3 durians for $10 & brought them to her place. I stayed and chatted with her for quite a while. Her son, Janek is just 3 mth younger than Ezra. I casually asked Janek if he wants to come to my place & play with Ezra. He said "Yes" I hate to disappoint him so aft all the good byes with his mum & grand parents, we are heading home!! He even asked his grandmum to stay home, dont walk him to the doors!!

According t Fiona, Janek has not really been away from them so I was quite worried that he may cry on the car ride.... but he did well.... He played with the frog & we sang some songs...

When we got home, Ezra was really surprised. Janek too a little while to warm up to the place & children. In no time, he was playing well with jie jie & kor kor. Aft dinner, I promised them to make pancakes. They had so much fun measuring the flour, milk sugar & mixing them together. They waited ever so patiently while i cook the pancakes!! Once it was ready, they whack!!

We send Janek home abt 8.30pm, he was such a good boy. In the car ride back home, Ezra kept asking where is Janek & insist that he wants to go to Janek house!! Next time son....

LK Surprised Party

We had a surprise party for Lai Kuan on Friday @ my place, think it was her 1st cos she is not one who likes attention!! It was difficult to get her to my place.... finally the kids did the job!! She came over on the excuse of playing with the kids!!

The next difficulties was how to have her in the house, moving ard & not sense that the food, surrounding was not for a bigger gp later!! But all went well.. Brian (her hubby) & the rest of our friends surprised her at the door with a cake!! We all had to look busy so that she can get the door!!

We had home made popiah, baked chicken wings, cha siew, stuffed fried fritters & apple pie!! Aft the food, its DURAIN time!!

Why are we waiting?? Everyone is getting impatient waiting!! Hurry Nimrod....

Finally... Yummy.... The conversatio ard this table was... "Wow good good this one bitter!" "This one also not bad, seed small" "Wait wait, i want that one, pass it over" "yucks, this one not nice, dont waste tummy space on it"

Even our youngest Nadya loves the king of the fruit!!

My Date with Best Pal

Last Thurs, I had a date with my old pal Lai Kuan. Since our birthdays are both in July, it has been our practise to make a date in between our birthdays. This year, we decided to go for facial at Jill Lowe Raffles Hotel. It has been a while since I pamper myself.

Ok this pic may look scary to some but boy it was so relaxing behind that mask!!

Aft the very relaxing time, we went Raffles City to get a gift some a long time girlfriend in the US. We got a pretty unique pokka dot pen for Nicole cos she likes to write.

We wanted so much to dine at Ding Tai Fung but they were closed by the time we get there. In the end we had to settle for Thai Express. Food was ok but we had a good time chatting and sharing. By the time we were done, it was 10.45pm!! When I got home, both Jacky & Ezra were sound asleep!!

Henderson Waves

I am getting so FAT that I really need to get some exercise. I was telling Jac that people travel all the way here to walk the bridge while the bridge is behind our house & we never walked it!! So we decide to walk the Henderson waves!! The 1st evening walk was really good & besides exercising, we just held hands and share hearts... just like we used to.

We brought Ezra along on our 2nd trip. He was all excited to walk and was running ard until he comes to the bridge. He asked to hold our hands, one on each side.... cautious little boy! When we came to the middle portion, Jac asked him to go 'under' the big waves & do some kung fu fighting!! I tried to coax him to ride along the waves but he refused to let go of papa's hands!

Aft that, he insisted that papa carry him. I asked him why..... his reply "Be'cos I don't want to walk!" Of late, we noticed that he is using quite a bit of 'becos' in his replies & they were used correctly!!

On the way back, we ran across the bridge & that was good exercise!!

Puzzles

Talking to friends & reading what they do with their kids, I realised what little activities I do with Ezra!! We recently bought some simple puzzles for son & started Ezra on that. I introduced the activity, showed Ezra the puzzle & name of the picture on it, mix the pieces up and ask him to fix it. I chose not to tell him how to fix it & let it to him. Not bad, he would take each piece and try to find its position.

I noticed that each time after I tried to help, he would said "Mummy help me fix."

My reply to him "You can do it, try."

Once he mgt, I would clapped, say "Wow, you can do it w/o mummy's help. Well done"

He mgt to fix all the 8 puzzles within 30 mins.... not bad for the 1st time!!

1st Visit to Popo

On Sat monring we went & pay respect to our grandma who called home to be with the Lord during the June holidays. Her 'nich' was at Choa Chu Kang Colobarium. We told Ezra we are going to Ah Tai new house & when we got there, he immediately saw her photo & asked to touch her pic. I'm glad that Ezra still remembered her. I recalled a time where I talked to popo with my very limited Canto, asking her if she has anything wishes not fulfilled & she told me to look after the children, feed them well and raise them well. I promised her that & told her we will not forget her, we will tell and talk to our children about her & so they will remember her. I was telling Jac that we need to come visit popo more often. I need to take some pictures the next time.

Being at the Colobarium 1st time, we walked ard & KPO.... saw the MacDonalds popo, saw a few very young children, one only 8 mths, one 15 mths & another 2 yrs who passed away. My heart hurts & tears started to flow. I cant imagine the kind of pain & suffering & void the parents must have felt when they lost their little ones. I know I am selfish when I prayed that God wld never allow me to go thru that cos dont think I can ever survive that. I felt a kind of heaviness as we leave that place & the rest of the day was kind of moody.

Electric Guitar

Ezra had always fancied guitars. He loved to see and listen when Uncle Brian plays on the guitar. The last M&M session with friends, he also played on their children's guitar. We chanced apon a couple of guitars at Kiddy Palace & decided on this one cos daddy thinks its so cool!!

True enough son loves it & was so excited abt having it as a gift. He kept saying "Daddy you buy guitar for me?"

When i came home this aftn, ezra was sleeping and guess what, he was hugging his guitar to sleep!! I am not kidding!! When he woke up, he asked to play his guitar & sat at his bed playing!! Quite pro looking rite?

Ikea Tampines

Our family decided to go for a spin & went all the way to Ikea Tampines (Ikea Alexandra is less than 5 min drive). That place is huge & Ezra had a wild time running ard & catching some laser image on the floor. Ezra is also making himself comfortable in no time....

We were looking ard for a toddler's bed for Ezra, we asked him which bed he likes. This little boy ran to 1 blue bed starting sleeping in it. He said "Mummy, this is my bed rite?" A look at the price tag "$250" wow he has expensive taste, thats the most expensive bed on display!

My Birthday!!

Happy Birthday to me
Happy Birthday to me
Happy Birthday to Viv
May the good Lord bless me..

Hahaha yes I turned 3???.... yesterday!! Had some plans to go out for nice dinner but I was down with fever for 2 days & was on MC!! Actually many of us fall ill after the durain supper on Monday... we tried the Mao San Wang durains & genna MAO!!

I was feeling much better in the afternoon & decided to watch BATman @ MS with Jacky. The movie was nice but were distracted by another 'show' starring a super young couple (not more than Sec1) next to us!! Jacky asked if one fine day we catch Ezra doing that, what wld my reactions be? *Scream* if he's that young!!

Aft the show, we had some hot & juicy Shanghai dumpling at Imperial Treasures... not bad...

Canaan Family Day @ HortPark

Our kindergarten had our 2nd Family Day at HortPark last Sat 12 July 2008. This year we had almost 190 pax in total. The whole week was busy preparing & running ard, buying things for the goodie bags & such. When i saw a bug catcher (a clear container with magnifying effect at the top & complete with tongs) I knew that must go into the gooddie bag. It however burst my budget!! Other well thought items in the goodie bags were.... fan when the weather gets to hot (which it did), bubbles for the children to play & snacks when they get too hungry on the hunt etc.

Many parents & HortPark people asked what is my wet weather plan? I told them the church is praying for good weather and there is no Plan B.... Well our God is good.. although the whole week has been rainy but on Sat... it was a bright SUNNY day.... Thank you God.

On Sat itself, I was busy organising things, running the show & talking to parents while Jacky being our official photographer, he was of cos busy snapping away!! Ezra being the goody boy followed Uncle Tham (1st time) through out the day, walked the park with him, fed fish with him & even ate with him.... Thank you Uncle Tham..... This is new cos Ezra has never followed Uncle Tham alone b4 & we were pleasantly surprised!! Our son is growing up!!

Its was a good day everyone enjoyed the fun time with the families. Aft the event, a few of us went to an ice-cream palor for yummy homemade DURAIN ice cream at Valley Point!!

When we got home, aft the shower all of us knocked out in bed.... But that's not the end.... we had an afternoon session of Music & Movement at Liana & Jeff's place... However by the time we got up & when we get there.... Ezra missed the SUPER fun session but we still had a wonderful time of catching up with friends.

4 Kids & 4 Adults @ Vivo City

A few of us teachers mummies decided to bring our tots for a lunch date on Youth Day & Vivo City is THE place!!

Here are the stars.... Angie & Jaimie, Joyce & Cherryln, Me & Ezra, Wolfgirl & RR.

We met really early like 9.30am at the playground & we had the whole place to ourselves!! The kids were running, climbing slopes, turning, & doing all sorts of funny stuff!! Ezra was very careful on the slopes, he was holding on to the railing for his dear life!! While the girls were so fast & daring (what is happening to our boys!!) But he tried a few new stuff... He was standing & holding on to this metal pole while I turned it. It started slow & his face was white but as it continued, his face displayed a smile & than a laughter!! He usualy preferred dry playgrounds compared to wet but this time, he took the initiative to play with the water! He was even running through it!! Well done my boy!! When some airplanes flown by, Ezra covered his ears... so funny!!

Ezra as usual was a little slow in warming up... but he did warmed up & ran wild with Jaimie!! Look how they climbed the chair together!!

After running, we went to Earl Swensons for lunch. Nice place, food so so, nice regreshing salad bar & not much crowd!! The 4 kids were seated together in the middle!! All the mummies were busy settling the kids, out came the chilrens utensils, milk bottles & even video clips!! I think the kids did a wonderful job, all behaved themselves, ate their lunch independently & mummies were able to chat & eat our lunch more 'gracefully'!!

This date has been SUPER & looking forward to more of such dates....

BTW for a more animated version of this date.... check out Angie blog http://kinigu.blogspot.com/2008/07/complicated-story-of-4-kids-and-4.html

Stamping & Rubbing

Ezra recieved a mini stamping set as gift from Kids Church. He was so excited and wanted to play with it immediately but our deal with him is to nap and after that stamping! It was amazing how he remembered & once he woke up from his nap, he asked to do his stamping.

He really had fun stamping and rolling.... aft that i remembered Joyce Long mentioned abt putting a dolly below a paper and having Cherryln rubbed with her crayons. I dont find any of that so cut some patterns for him to rub....

After the session, Ezra had to do some cleaning up!!

"This is the way I clean my table, clean my hands, clean up after my Art session!!"

Chuang Pleasures

I am threading on thin grounds by posting this! One of the hibit we had after we got married was to 'dig' each other ears once a week! Its so comfortable and relaxing... Now our son is joining the club & enjoying himself....

Here is daddy 'digging' his ears for him on a Sat morning!! even when he is done, Ezra wld still say "Some more, this side!" He will roll over to the other side and ask for more!

Trip to Desaru Malaysia

Our family together with Chuang seniors (yee yee & nai nai) and Chuang juniors (3 shu & family) went for a short get away to Pulai Desaru.... some 3 hours drive from Singapore. Maybe its end of the June holidays and the traffic at Woodlands was not as bad (unlike the last time where I had leg cramps on manual car!)

The rooms are ok, big with lots of space for the kids to run & jump!

We did things like fruit farm tours, goat feeding at Desaru Fruit Farm. We saw many different types of fruits like jumbu, dragonfruit, bread fruit, pineapple, durain and even veg. Ezra was really scared of the goats cos they came too close for comfort!! we stayed there for as long as our nose can take it!! hahaha

At the resort, most times were spent at the indoor playground swimming at the pool, playing at the beach & the kids also went for a ride on "Thomas the Train" ard the resort. It was going so slowly that we can walk along side it!!

I need to share abt our swimming pool experience. There was a very nice slide which adults can try. Jac encouraged Ezra and finally he agreed. Jac promised him that daddy will hold him tight. Indeed Jac held him so tight to his body that when they get into the waters, Ezra just sank to the bottom of the pool with him!! He cried so hard!!

Aft the swim, we decided to eat simple with our cup cup noodles!! Yummy

For most dinners, we drove to another town near the sea & had FRESH & CHEAP seafood. The drive was a new experience for me.... only a short stretch of road had street lamps... other than that its pitch DARK... cant see a single thing... occasionally there will be insect flying towards the screen or you see 2 floating lights coming towards you (cars on the opposit lane). But thank God for His grace & protection!

Anyway back to FOOD, we had fish, prawn, crab, shell fish & even Lobster!! See even the lobster leg also have meat!!

On the last morning, we got up early to catch the sun rise.... Pretty... Jac mgt to snap some very nice sunrise pic...

Like Father Like Son

Everyone knows one of Jac's passion is photography.... but little did we know that Ezra is just like his dad!!

We were in the room and somehow Ezra mgt to get hold of our mini camera & he knows how to flip open the screen... Jac quickly took his camera & took a pic of son doing his thing!

And below is the pic Ezra took of his Dad doing his thing! Not bad rite, unless Jac is in the pic!!