Hun Family Reunion Dinner @ 25 Jan

Hun family always had our reunion on eve of CNY cos my mum runs a stall in the market & she is very busy during this period. She would close her stall abt 10am in the morning & be back for reunion ard 2pm. Even with so many daugthers married out, we still make an effort to gather back for reunion. Some friends of mine actually commented that married girls dont have to come back for reunion but I find it so sad for my mum!! Nan's family came back from Shanghai for CNY as well.

Our tradition had always been hot pot & this year is no exception. Hun hot pot is very powerful & yummy!! We prepared all fresh ingredients like sliced pork, chicken, beef, liver, fish, sotong, yong tao fu, veg, sea cucumber, fish maw etc. I also made some Coco chilli sauce as dip!!Many of the kids are more grown so they have their table of hot pot... The food was to yummy, tummy to hungry so only mgt some family shots.... Keith, Kwai & Nan... Lydia & Aaron.... Healin & RonUsually we will be too full to move or do anything aft the meal... so the kids & brothers in law wld engage in their usual activity, play with the babies & SLEEP! & that's Ezra snacking on a pineapple tart!! He has been snacking lots!! I faint when the elders offered candies to him at every house we visit!!

Chuang Family Reunion Dinner @ 24 Jan Sat

When I first got married into the Chuang family, reunion dinner was never on the eve of CNY, which suits me ok cos my family can only have it on eve cos my mother runs a mkt stall. Chuang reunion is more dependent on Dany's schedule cos he is an air steward with SIA. However, there was a time where my MIL casually mentioned that although she has 3 sons, but eve of CNY is always so quiet & lonely!! oops so for last year, we rushed & have dinner on eve. But this year, Dany's schedule only permits this Sat. Ok enough of history.... we went for more marketing on Sat morning, the mkt was crowded!! We got home & started preparing in the afternoon. My MIL was the main chef, she always cook up a storm!! Dont believe, take a peek at our spread (enough to feed an army!). There's salted chicken, veg, herbal prawn, steamed fish, sweet sour pork, must have braised mushroom with pig trotter + sea cucumber + dried oyster + ai choi. The children had theirs at the small table, they ate well & asked for more of the dishes!! The adults tucked in once the kids are settle. Dany's MIL came & joined us this yr. The elders of the family!!

The three Chuang brothers in order of seniority!!

The brothers & wives (too bad Michelle is out-stationed & cant be back to join us)

After dinner, the children went down to the void deck for SPARKLES!! Big brother is distributing the sparkles to everyone. All gathered together to get the sparks going BUT the wind is too strong.... Nimrod has to hid in a corner but look at his hair!!Finally.... Jac took some nice pic of the kids writing & making patterns with their sparkles!!

House Reno - Updates

Yippee! So far our home enhancement progress is going very well.

Painting is done (just need them to come back to clean up a bit more and some minor touch up).

Air-con(s) installed.

Kitchen cabinet restored, and improved (provided a new area for viv's herbs).

Flooring polished, and wooden wall and doors varnished.

House is ready to be occupied. Tomorrow we will be going in to do some cleaning of the kitchen and toilets.

Washing machine will be coming in the afternoon.

Kitchen doors & fans will be installed in the morning.

The past few days have been very tiring for us. Viv and myself have been going around purchasing pails, mobs, toilet seats, etc... Poor Ezra following us around have to fall asleep in the car.

Old Pals

Jessy, Viv, Alice & Iris

I have a group of very good & old friends (abt 15 years) from uni days but we have not met as a complete group for last 2 years as Iris was in US with hubby working & Jessy was & still is in Shanghai with hubby working. It was always 3 girls gathering whenever one of them is back for holidays.

But on Wed, we met for chit chat cos Iris hubby is relocated back to Singapore & Jessy is back for the CNY. Yeah yeah!!

We met @ Iris temporary service apt at Frasier Suit.... ordered Mac's, had my pineapple & later even tried doing some Wii games!! We tried to catch up but with Iris 4 kids & Jessy boy, its not so simple!!

But it was a good time spent together with old pals!! We may be meeting up to do pineapple tarts together!!

Thats Alice on Wii Fit, she is in good shape!! Jessy with Sam, he is a hefty 16kg @ 20 mths. Our super mummy of 4 kids, i wondered how she mgt a house with 4 kids all by herself in US!!

House Reno - Updates

Thank God! So far our house "renovation" (actually more of a touch up) is progressing well.

The walls are painted, air-con fixed, and kitchen cabinet repaired.

We want to give praise to God for his blessing in helping us to be able to find a nice contractor to help install a sliding door (for the kitchen) and was able to find a shop with reasonable price for fans (including installation). All these will be installed before end of next week.

So by the grace of God, our new home should be ready just before CNY! :D

Minor Reno Starts Today!!

The last 2 days have been busy with different contractors coming to view & see what minor works that need to be done....

Here's a list of work to be done in our humble home....

1. Repair of kitchen cupboard - 16 Jan 1 day

2. Repair of a toilet door frame (a little rotten @ the corner) - 16 Jan 1 day

3. Air-con whole house - 16 Jan, 1-2 days

4. Paint all walls & vanish all doors - 14 Jan According to the painter, the painting needs lots work 4 days compared to 1 day for normal 4 rm flat... which means cost us more $$

5. Polish marble floor - 19 Jan, they need 2 days for this project

6. Fix a door @ entrance of kitchen, the quote is abt $600 - $1,000!! i did not know doors are so expensive!! we are looking for alternatives like air curtains or just some blinds!!

7. Replace mirror in toilet - 16 Jan, 1 day

8. Fix fans in all rooms - 20 Jan, 1 day

9. Replace door locks - 16 Jan, 1 day

Even with the minor 'reno' work.... this shld cost us abt $8,000 - $9,000!!

Our furniture shld be coming in 23 Jan (Fri) & we target to move in on either 7 or 14 Feb, depending on the rate of our packing!!

Got our keys!!

Today marks a special day for our family.....Yes yes we got the keys to our new home on this day... 11 Jan 2009 (Sun)

I must say the sellers were very responsible, they did not leave a mess but tried to clean up pretty well before they went off. They also quite poor thing, having to pack & leave even to the minute we were there.... We wish them all the best with the new home...

We have arranged for contractors to be there next couple of days to see & quote... dont think we can move in b4 CNY but will target to get all work done b4 that & move in immediately aft CNY.

Hun Family Tradition - Pineapple Tart Baking

It has been a family tradition for our Hun family sisters to get together to baking stuff... mooncakes, bak chang & pineapple tart... It has been increasingly difficult to gather all & this CNY with all our busy work & family schedule, we most wanted to cancel the annual pineapple tart making. But after much discussion we decided to keep the tradition going.

So last sat 10 Jan 2009 was the date set.... we gathered at Lydia's new place abt 9am & got down to biz very soon. Traditionally, we will take leave & do it on a weekday but now we have moved to sat & most other family members can join in....

The kids were very excited & joined in the making!! We told the girls that they must also start & keep this tradition in future.

Ok here's some pic of us making the pineapple tarts.... can see the different 'stages' rolling the dough, rolling the pineapple balls, grazing the egg, packing into containers....

Here's the end product... YUMMY..

TGIF

As the weekend will be a busy time for us (Viv needs to make pineapple tarts), we decide to bring our son out shopping.

Our first stop was at John Little, as we have some just expired vouchers that we have missed to used. After some persistent persuasions from Viv we manage to get the staffs to allow us to used our $100+ vouchers. Thank God.

After that Viv remembers that she have some UOB points to exchange for the marina vouchers. So we go to make the redemption and went to Watson to buy our wet wipes (a whole box of it actually). :p

It was a very good day to shop and get so many things without spending much of our money.

After that we went to food court for our dinner ...and for desserts we go to MOF (since Viv have heard so much good feedback of their desserts and have not try them herself).

Which one is different?

Ezra have been playing with the JumpStart program for a while now. His favorites are the puzzle and 'rubbish bin' (where he is suppose to collect the require items and put into the bin).

Today I realized that he was playing a spot the different one game. Somehow he seems to be clicking on the same one instead of the different one. So I try to explain to him what is different. The conversation goes something like this...

Dad: Son, there are four bears. How many are "green" ?

Ezra: 1...2....3 (and proceed to click on the "green" one)

Dad: WAIT! Don't click first. How many are "red"?

Ezra: 1.

Dad: Right! So the "red" one is different from the other 3 "green" ones. So you should click on the "red" one. (So Ezra proceed to click on the "red" one and it disappear)

Ezra: No more. *smiles*

Dad: Well done! Now you try the next one.
...

Finally understanding what he is suppose to do, Ezra proceed to correctly identified the different ones each time.

Another lesson learned.

Back to school

Today is Ezra's first day back to school. Thank God he is able to adapt very well today.

1) Wake up after a little nudging from Mummy and Daddy.
2) No fussing when brushing his teeth and wash up.
3) Happy little boy all the way to school.
4) No fussing when daddy let him go in to school. (Ok, he did cry a little but was soon pacify by his teacher)
5) Able to enjoy the 2hours program and even help to keep the toys at the end.
6) No fussing all the way home (and even can tell Daddy when need to "shh shh" half way through the journey) - Thank God he was able to hold on till daddy reach the petrol station *phew*

Here's some video of Ezra's first day in school...

Ezra Reading

We started reading to Ezra from a very young age & to our pleasure, he loves to read. He would pick up books (sometimes only those few again & again) and want us to read to him.

Recently, we introduced him to the Leapfrog story telling disc where they wld highlight the words read (like karaoke). With that, he started to want to read his own books.

Here's one he was trying to read his Bible!!

Last Post of 2008

As I sit & write this last post for the year, I was wondering if it shld be a long reflective one or just a quick one to get it over & done with... I have no idea.. we will see at the end of this post.

2008 has been yet another eventful year (which year has not been!!)

Started 2008 with lots of hope & excitement with just being on the job of heading the church kindergarten. Like Pastor Richard once told me "Viv, I am so happy for you... you are finally at the place you like to be" Yes, I am enjoying myself, interacting with parents, organising events for the children, seeing the children having fun & growing, working & leading the team of teachers. I know I still lack much leadership & mgt skills, leading, encouraging & bringing the teachers to the next level... this is something I want to learn for 2009. When I took on this job, I told God that I still want to minister to adults & God never fails to honour. In my short time, I had quite a few opportunities to share life with distressed parents, listen & hear their worries & concerns in life and praying with & for them. I am asking God for boldness in 2009 to share God's love & invite them to church if there is chance!! Amen!!

As for church ministry, I am just serving in the Children Ministry as teacher, no longer a leader. It certainly took a while to get used to.... not being constantly in the know of happenings. But I am now starting to enjoy the time where I can interact with brothers & sisters in Christ & sitting in service listening to God's words being preached. I would love to be more grounded in His words in 2009....

Family life has been great. We were there to witness many of Ezra's milestones and development. He has been such a joy and really pride of our lives. After a long day work, coming home & having him run to the door & hug me washes away all the tiredness.... This yr also saw Ezra going to school with me. I hated the part of having to wake him up so early but enjoyed preparing nice bkf for him to eat on the ride to sch. The last couple of months were very quality & quantity time spend cos Jac took time off work for a couple of months & we did so many family stuff together... I am still waiting for a promise God assured me sometime earlier this year & that is I will be having my 2nd baby.... We have been trying for a while but no happy news to share... at a time where we got discouraged, God spoke & await with us as He fulfil His promises. Amen!!

2008 also saw the farewell of a few very close families, Kwai & Nan's family, Pastor Richard & Josephine. But with technology they are still much communication.

Ok i better hurry if i want to make it in time, with the TV countdown behind me ticking away!!

2008 also saw our most expensive purchase.. a place where we can call home. I have been staying with my in laws since we got married, they have been wonderful help but its abt time for us to have our own space & place. We have seen God's hands working thru this whole move....

God's faithfulness, grace & favour never fails, never ends... Thank you God....

Goodbye 2008 & welcome 2009!!

While I was ill.....

While I was resting as much as I can @ home & keeping a distance from everyone.... Jac was left with the job of caring, looking aft & playing with Ezra.

Father & son watching TV together....Playing toys together....

Posing together for silly mummy....

Playing badminton together...

Jac wld be patiently teaching Ezra how to hold the racket, how to hold the feather, drop the shuttlecock, swing the racket & hit the ball... When Ezra can't hit, Jac would encourage him & say "Its ok try again, you can do it" When Ezra hits the ball, Jac would clapped his hands & say "Wow you did it!! Well done!"

Very often I am the one losing my cool & getting impatient with Ezra but Jac, he is the one constantly, steadily encouraging & teaching him much skills. Take a peek at the video & father & son played badminton together



As I watch them from the side, I can't help but thank God for blessing me with such a loving husband. Yes Jac may not be the most friendly, outspoken, funny guy but he has so much strength that sometimes still surprises me!! Thank you darling for who you are and all the love & support you showered on this family. I pray that God would lead & guide you as walk in His ways. I love you.

Jump Start

Jac went shopping 1 day & bought a educational disc by Jump Start for Ezra.... oh boy how he loves it!! It requires quite a bit of click & drag which Ezra had some difficulties in the beginning but eventually got it. For some worksheets, he needs to match items to its shadows, some he listens to stories & songs.... not too bad!!

Now looks like we need to clear some space for him @ the study table!!

HDB 2nd Appt

Guess many knows that we recently bought a potong pasir HDB 4 room flat. Over the festive season, we got a letter from HDB informing us that our 2nd appt is on 2 Jan 4.15pm. Wow thats this coming Friday!! so fast & cool....

Talked to my agent, he mentioned that the seller wanted to delay hand over cos they are having some delays on the house they purchased & asked for an extension of stay. After much discussions & prayers, we decided to say NO!! kind of mean rite but timing works better for us. Jac is still off work & shld be starting work end Jan.... so it would be easier to arrange for workers with him ard. This will also solve the arrangement for Ezra's aft school place!!

Calls were made to contractors asking abt the work thats needed for new place, hall air-con, painting, floor polish, repair of kitchen cabinets etc.... We reckon most works can be done in 1-2 weeks time. If that works well, we will try to move in b4 CNY... a bit rush but shld be able to make it!!

Now we are collecting boxes & going to start packing our stuff. I pray that it will not be too much!!

My Worst Nightmares!!

I have seen or heard of kids getting HFMD but never in my wildest dreams would I think I would get that as well. I was ok on Christmas eve was still very busy preparing dishes for church buffet. On Christmas day itself, I noticed 1 funny spot on my palm which I dismissed it as some insect bite. On Boxing Day, more spots seems to appear & the 1st blistered to quite big in size!! We have made arrangement to visit Popo, while we were there I started feeling sick & feverish. We had a quick lunch at Jurong Point & Jac had to drive us home instead.

More ulcers at the both sides of my tongue & even the top of mouth and more spots appeared on my palm (abt 20). It was hurting quite badly. I went to see the doctor & one look, she confirmed HFMD!! I was given fever medication & another to kind of slow down the symptoms. Doc advised to minimised contact with others especially Ezra as HFMD is highly contagious... thats a toughie. We arranged for Jac to sleep with Ezra & I will sleep in the study room. I had to keep a distance from Ezra & tried my best not to touch him. I had to 'reject' him a couple of times when he came running into my arms. Ezra asked why cannot mummy? We had to explain that mummy has HFMD & cant touch Ezra for a few days. It breaks my heart not to be able to pat him to sleep & kiss him good night. Today, when I tried to touch him, he would avoid & run away!! (clever boy but makes me feels worst)

Jac has been such great support.... tending to son & pumping himself with vitamins!!

Anyway, it has been some lousy days for me & my family but thank God for all the wonderful friends who send regards & prayers offered to God Almighty!! I am healed in the name of Jesus!! I will be well for school & this bug should stop at me!! Amen!!

Here are some pictures of my mouth & palm!!

My poor darling is down... :(

*sighs* Viv is down too. Just hope she will get well soon.

(praying hard)

Panic!!

When I came home last evening, MIL told me that Nadya seems to have HMFD!! I checked her, yes ucler in mouth some spots but looks more like allergy rash. Aft dinner, checked her again, more spots on palm, feet & even bottom!! very high chance of HMFD!! Our panic buttons were pressed!! If she gets, high chance the other 3 kids in the house will kenna!! Even Janek & Anneka may also be exposed!! Sms were sent, all Christmas gatherings are cancelled... sob sob...

We are monitoring the kids closely....until today, the rest of the kids has no obvious signs & we are praying that it will not spread.. Amen!!

Avillion Port Dickson

The day has finally come... out long awaited drive up trip to Port Dickson @ Avillion with 11 adults, 6 kids & 4 cars!! Our group consist of .....

Dan, Fiona, Janek, Anneka & Dan's mum

Nimrod, Joanne, Natanya, Nadine & Nadya

Brian & Lai Kuan

Linda & Julie (she was not feeling well so no pic of her)

Jac, me & Ezra

We arranged to meet along Tuas West Drive before hitting the customs. Thank God the crowd wasn't too bad & we were over in Malaysia fairly quickly. With kids in every car, we decided to convey together, travel @ 110km/h and do 1 rest stop. The journey should take us abt 4 hrs excluding lunch break.

We took a lunch break at Ayer Keroh where we had A&W. The meal was quite a disappointment.
Nimrod, our convey leader took us for a spin by almost all the way to the fringe of KL!! The true spirit of convey, we followed his car despite the GPS telling us "Make a U-turn, you are 200km/ 300km .... away from your destination!"

Anyway, we finally found our way to Avillion aft consultation with Chris Tan, a church friend who was from there. Thank you Chris & bless you. By the time we checked into our room, its already 5pm!! We had the water chalet where its built on silts over the waters. The room is beautiful with a King-sized postal bed, a queen sized day bed by the windows, balcony opening to the sea & an open roof standing shower. The surrounding has lots of greens & beautiful swimming pool.

Avillion from a distance

The pools & greens

Our Water Chalet

After the long drive, we decided to jalan jalan to the nite mkt & look see & dine at one of the small malay shop. The whole dinner with fish, chicken, beef, tofu, veg & drinks only cost us RM110!!

The walk from hotel to nite mkt

We retired early on 1st nite so that we can be recharged for the next day activities!!

DAY 2
We started the day early with bkf provided by the hotel, nice spread with ok food. After that, its time to hit the pool!! The kids had a wild time there, swimming, dipping in water, having water gun fight... even the adults were engaged in the water war!!
With the heavy bkf & snacks, lunch was skipped!! The kids were made to sleep in the afternoon cos we adults also needed that rest!! hahaha.... We drove out to a seafood rest for 2nd dinner but I believed we were chopped!! This meal cost us RM500!! After dinner, we gathered in my room for SNACKS, wine & cheese!! The kids were watching DVDs while the adults played Taboo!! It was a very enjoyable night!!Ezra refused to sleep aft everyone left abt 10.30pm. He even poo at 12am!! Think he had too much snacks!!

DAY 3
After bkf, we headed to the beach for actvities. We wanted to rent the water bike but the tide was too low.... so the kids had a blasting time playing sand. There was a particular time where Nadine & Ezra started snatching over toys.... but the 2 mummies were busy snapping away instead of breaking the fight!! Bad mummies!!While the children were paying sand, the daddies played Frisbee. Thanks to the mummies, all the poses were captured!!In the afternoon, we started fishing & laying our crab trap right from our balcony, so convenient. We did not bring any baits but smuggled some hotdog from bkf!! For the records, we did not catch any fish on the rod, no crabs in the trap but caught a puffer fish in the trap. We were checking out the fish in the trap when suddenly it turned over & puff up!! Ezra got quite a fright seeing the ballooned fish!!My elder sis, Linda was so kind, she treated Joanne & me to a scrap & massage at the spa. The place was beautiful & it was so relaxing!! Thanks sis...

Good times past so FAST... very soon, its time for us to say bye bye to this place & return home on Sat. We will miss this place & the fun we had!! Well, like the saying "Pictures speak a thousand words" here are the pictures that speaks much of our trip!!

Getting Ready for Trip

I am SOOOoooooo excited & looking forward to our short getaway to Malaysia Port Dickson, Avillion. This trip we have 11 adults & 5 kids with 4 cars driving in. All of us tried to finished up 5 days of work in 2 days & I came home abt 7pm yesterday. We only started packing last evening. Not sure if Ezra was also excited but that boy toss & turned & played on the bed until 11.30pm before he dozed off to slumberland!! I cant really sleep well & kept waking up almost every hour so finally at 6am got up & prepare.

We are meeting Brian & Lai Kuan at 8.15am & leaving home for Tuas checkpy at 9am!! See you & look forward to my post on our trip!!

Yet another eventful day!!

Together with my MIL, we brought Ezra, the girls to catch the movie Bolt.. the super dog. We got our usual pop corn & the kids wasted no time in attacking them....

Its Ezra 2nd cinema movie this holiday... he did well & sat thru most of the movie. At some point he even LOL!! It was Nadine who got scared & sat on Nai Nai lap throughout the show.

After the show, we went shopping for our Port Dickson trip on Wed. I was supposed to buy snacks, noodles, coffee, milo & such.... I bought stuff worth abt $180!! B4 you dropped off from your seat, we have 11 adults & 5 kids!! I am so looking forward to this.

Unlike Stardust, I dont encourage these rides but since they helped me with my supermarket shopping & there is 3 of them(cheapro mummy!!), we granted their wish!!
I was tasked to bake Kuah Lapis for a birthday party in church & since it has been so long since I baked that... better trial & today should be it so we can bring the lapis for the trip!!

Every time I bake, Ezra would come into the kitchen & asked to taste the cream!! His expression & comments "hmmm, mummy this is so yummy... its TASTY! Can I have more!" It warms my heart & love him to the bits for doing that!! While after much layering, the lapis is ready!! The top is a little burnt & the cake is a bit oily.... taste ok but definately need to work on the texture b4 it can be served to the church!!