The Weekend...

It has been a while since we cooked Jap food so finally after much delays, our kitchen is ready for sushi!! We prepared sushi, salted beans, pan fried salmon.

Looks good? He had quite a few pcs of salmon as well! We had most of the sushi while Ezra only had 2 pcs!!
Ezra loves the beans & had fun trying to pop it out!! ! We were so full after dinner and decided to take the MRT to Compass Point since its not a place we go often. Ezra was very excited & kept asking when is the MRT station. We walked to the 1st carriage hoping to take the spot where it has a window but it was taken. Ezra was such a good boy through out the ride, sitting there and just looking ard & listening on to everything going on in the train. A funny thing happened, he was constantly asking me "Mummy, press the bell, press the bell." I had to explain to him, unlike the bus, the MRT will stop at every station. The red button was for emergency only!

At Compass Point, with no agenda, we simply walked ard, bought a few pcs of Thomas the train set tracks to add on his current set. We also bought things for Sunday school class and snacks for our late night movie! hehehe...

On our way home, Ezra wanted to walk up the flight of steps. It was a pretty long flight, somewhere in the middle, he gave that "What! still not there yet!!" look. At 3/4 way, he looked shocked to see more steps!! When he finally reached the top, he dropped his shoulders and shouted "I am tired!" It was so funny looking at him!!

It may be a short trip out, but we enjoyed every moment of the time spent with our son!

Jac bought the dvd of a chinese movie "Red Cliff" It was a movie abt ministers trying to conquer lands to expand their kingdoms. During the movie, Jac had to give me a mini lecture of whats going on!! We watched both the disc till abt 3am!! It was a good show & I cant remember when we last do such but it was an enjoyable time spent alone with Jac.

We thought that we will sleep in late on Sat morning but NOT we woke up early and went for breakfast with Yeye & Nainai. In the afternoon, we attended our 2nd session of Parenting with Confidence by Focus on the Family. It was a pretty good course with much practical tips!!

In the evening, we had yet another yummy dinner. It was basil chicken tigh, mini potato with bacon & onion, salad, garlic bread & celery soup!! Ezra really enjoyed the dinner & look at how he bite into the drum stick!!

Sunday is reserved for church & we just got home & our dinner of Bak Gu Teh is cooking in the kitchen as I write this post!! Will try to take some pictures of it & post later.

Ok we had our dinner... its good!! I added pork ribs, bean curd skin, tau po, black fungus, button mushroom, veg & mee suah!! But next time, I have to add more water cos the soup was too little. It's a very nutritious 1 dish meal!! Ezra liked the soup & had 2 bowls!!

Family Day

It has been a while since we spend time as a family. So Jac took a day off and off to the Zoo we went. Ezra was very excited & wanted to see "lion, elephant, tiger, monkey etc" The weather was good as we reached the zoo but the CROWD was huge!! We even had to queue quite a while to purchase the tickets.

We walked the route which has the lion enclosure cos Ezra wanted to see lion but it was empty!! We moved on to see other animals... we were at the Giraffe enclosure where there were feeding. We paid $5 for a small tray of veg sticks. I was surprised that Ezra was ok with it, one giraffe actually licked or had Ezra's whole hand in its mouth but my brave boy just turned & looked at me with the "Wow mum did you see that!!"
Here's a list of different animals we saw...
By abt 1.30pm, both Jac & myself were a little tired with all the walking we decided to call it a day!! We walked back to the lion enclosure & hoorey!! The lions were out!! When we got into the car, Ezra fell alseep so off to Changi Airport for Swensens 1 for 1 deal! But by the time we ordered our food, it was 2.20pm & the 1 for 1 deal was over at 2pm!! Service was BAD!! Food was ok & Ezra loved the ice-cream!!After that we went to the viewing gallery & the boy loves it!! He was running around pretending to be an aeroplane & evening doing a landing!! He was just so HAPPY!!

That's not the end of our day yet, we wenting shopping at Giant off Tampines. It was our 1st time there & it was crowded! We grabbed what we needed & went home for dinner!!

It has been a LONG day but so so much FUN!!

Champion Class

Children Ministry recently started a new Sunday school class for the toddlers called the Champion Class!! Instead of having many of them in the Nursery room with all the mummies/ daddies, we started a formal class for them!! Aunty Chris was the 1st to head the class for the month!! Here's some pictures of what the toddlers were doing!!
They played toys, sang songs, recite short rhymes, listen to Bible story & even have quiet time where they lay down on the towel, rest & think abt the lesson taught!! quite cool rite!!

I think with Ezra going to school, he is a lot easier to bring & leave him behind... he was ok even on the 1st time!! Ezra is quite responsive in class & think aft a couple of times, he may be talking too much!!

Quick Updates!!

It has been a few busy days for us @ home...

I had my NUS friends & their family over for steam boat on Friday evening... we had such a good time cathcing up with each other & the kids 7 in total were able to entertain themsleves with the toys & stuff!! It was supposed to be a early nite cos many of us has early day on Sat but we got so carried away & party only ended abt 10.30pm!! we only got into bed abt 12am & ezra slept only abt 12.30am... guess he was overly stimulated!!

Sat morning was Welcome Brunch for new parents in sch.. a speaker from Focus on the Family shared with us "Dare to Discipline" which provided much insights to discipling our children in LOVE!! Cos of the late night, Ezra was extremely cranky.... which makes work difficult for us!

We went for Disney on Ice @ Indoor Stadium in the afternoon. It was GOOD... really enjoyed this show, it was so much better than the last 2 shows... catch it if you can!! My 2 sisters came over for dinner after the show....

Sunday, we had a "Senior Canaan Youths" gathering where we met some old friends.. it was a pity that Li Yen cant join us last min!! we had some fun & laugh looking at some old pictures of us!! Some comments were... "Huh that was me?" "Really!! have mah, you guys celebrated my birthday for me!!" Again another late night for all of us...

I am so looking forward to my short 1 week break....

Weekday Marketing

I have since starting to do weekly marketing so that there's food in the fridge to prepare & cook our meals. It started with just shopping at NTUC but I realised wet market fish & seafood are fresher!! So sat morning is 'reserved' for that!! But I had to wait a good 20 mins to park my car & every stall is so crowded!!

As I have having a gp of friends over this evening for steamboat, I had no choice but to go wet marketing this morning. It was a breeze!! There were so many free lots that I can choose which to park!! I am the only one taking my own sweet time to choose & even chat with the stall holders!! I was done & out of the mkt in 40 mins!!

So decision made... I shld do wet marketing on weekdays instead!!

Ezra Girl!!

I was doing my facial last evening & Ezra came into the room, asking to wear my hairband!! He looked so funny & even posed for me to take his pic!! Doesnt he look like a girl?

Japanese Friends

We had a Japanese couple friend over for dinner, Eitaro & Tamae with their 2 beautiful girls Tamaki & Yuki. Tamaki is the same age as Ezra & the 2 had so much fun jumping, playing cars etc. At some point, they were screaming & laughing so hard we had to stop them!!
Yuki who is younger was quietly watching from the side!!
Dinner was a simple home cokked meal of steam fish, tong gui chicken, tofu, veg & soup. This is our 1st time dining with them & I was not sure what's they likes & dislikes but was glad Eitaro enjoyed the meal every much!!

More New Dishes!!

While Angie is actively making bentos in the wee hours of the morning, I am experimenting with dishes in the evenings (at least my beauty sleep is not deprived!)

This is my 2nd attempt @ banana muffins... after a quick check with my sis Linda, she mentioned that adding apple chunks are good & yummy!! Ezra was very excited, eyeing on the butter cream and insisting to finger lick the cream. I was quite happy with the texture of the dough and as I scoop the batter, he put the apples chunks in each muffin cup.

The muffin were so soft and the apples are so yummy so much better than the 1st try. Ezra even said it was good!!After baking the muffin, my engine got started & I tried making one of my favourite tim sum, chee chong fun with fillings. I used roast pork & prawn as fillings, made the soya sauce etc. First I steamed the empty chee chong fun to soften the skin so its easy for me to unroll and flatten it so I can put in the filling & roll it up. I added some lettuce, roll it up & put it back to the steamer.

Its time consuming but the results YUMMY!! We had this for dinner together with stir fried veg, steam fish & mushroom. Its so yummy that I will definitely do this again with more friends & more different fillings like chicken & mushroom & dough fritters!

Happenings in the Evening

We missed the BIG rainbow last week (or was it 2 weeks ago) but when I recieved an sms from Lydia (thanks, so sweet of you), I rushed to the kitchen windows with Ezra in the arms , hoping to catch a glimpse of the rainbow. WOW.. it was a beautiful sight.. I was reminded of God's promise & goodness again. I told Ezra that God made this rainbow just like the rainbow in Noah's Ark story. For those who missed it... here's for you...
We wanted to try this deesert over the weekends but no time & since I had some time last evening b4 Jac comes back. I tried my hands at preparing the mango pamelo dessdert. Jac told me that we need to blend fresh mango as puree to add into the milk. It's really simple to make & taste not too bad... I used low fat milk, coconut milk, sugar (reduced amt) mango, pamelo & 'little colourful tapoles'. Chill it & serve with ice cubes (with shaved ice wld be better!)

Mango Pamelo DessertMy 2 darlings enjoying the dessert!!

Ezra kind of spill some on our new coffee table & he had no choice but to wipe it clean!! But look at his cheeky face!!

My 1st Try @ Baking

It has been a very long time since I bake anything as I dont have a oven at home. But that is history as we now have a good big oven. I came home early on Monday, saw some rotting bananas so decided to bake banana muffins. I dig out my recipe books & choose a recipe that is easy & one that I have all the ingredients.

Ezra was very excited and help me with things. Well the muffins are fairly easy to prepare but I think the bananas were not quite enough, the muffin is a little too dry & not as yummy as I wished. tot, definately room for improvement. I have already bought another bunch of bananas to try again!!

Orchids & Herbs

We really enjoyed watching Jaimie Oliver cook shows & always envied how easy it was for him to just walk to his garden/ window ledge & pluck some herbs & add to his dishes. So when we moved into our new home, we thot we can try growing some herbs. When we found this perfect place (but I had to ask the carpenter to knock away some partition wall), a ledge between the windows & sink to grow our herbs.

Last Sat, I got a call from Linda saying that a nursery is having 20% on all plants and since we will be in that area, we decide to make a trip there. It was not a wasted trip!! We mgt to buy basil & mint. Nimrod gave us a pot of oregano & now I am still short of rosemary!! My herbs growing is bring much envy to some friends... hahaha

We are not the green fingers type so lets see how long can my herbs survive!!
We also bought a pot of white orchids for our living room, the pot & even the plate which was purchased from a regular plate & bowl place fit together very nicely. This certainly brought much colours & life to our home!

Tag: 6th folder, 6th photo

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Tag: 6th folder, 6th photo

Thanks for the tag, Angie!

***Rules***
1. Go to your Picture Folder on your computer or wherever you store your pictures.
2. Go to the 6th Folder and then pick the 6th Picture.
3. Post it on your bloggy and tell the story that goes with the picture.
4. Tag 5 other glorious peoples to do the same thing and leave a comment on their bloggy tellin’ them ’bout it.

This picture was taken at Fidgets Turf City. We brought the kids; Janek, Nana, Nadine & Ezra during one of the school holidays. Ezra never really like slides, especially long ones so I had to squeeze thru many obstacles to get to the top of the slide with him & slide down with him on my lap. But it was really quite scary cos it very fast, can see my scary face!! so its once & no more for me!!

Ezra & one of his girlfriend

It was funny, everytime we asked Ezra abt school & his friends, "Nicole" will definately be on his lips!!

Like this week, they were supposed to each bring a favourite toy to school. I was asking him abt it & who did he share his toy with....

Viv : "Son why do you have to bring toys to school?"
Ezra : "Yea to show my teacher & share with my friends"
Viv : "Oh really so who did you share your toys with?"
Ezra : "Nicole, I share my car with Nicole."
Viv : "Oh thats good to share, anyone else?"
Ezra : "No, only Nicole"

So she is Ezra lastest girlfriend.

Dry in the Night x 2

Yes yes Ezra had stayed dry for the last 2 nights!! Usually his diapers in the morning were quite heavy as he wld still have his milk b4 sleep & milk when he 1st wake up in the morning. But suddenly for the last 2 mornings, his diapers were totally dry!! I praised him for staying dry & very soon he can go to bed without diapers like a big boy!! I even let himn touch the dry diapers!!

He was very excited to hear that. We taught him that if he needs to pee in the night, he has to wake up & call for mummy. He nodded his head. My coming 3 years old is growing up so fast....

Finally...

We finally moved into Potong Pasir last Sat... the movers were really quick but they were shocked at the amt of stuff we have from just 2 rooms!! The estimater who came to assess our stuff told him, 1 lorry load MORE than enough!! But on Sat, we had abt 40 boxes, 1 queen bed, 1 bunk bed,, 1 display unit, 1 table, 2 book shelves, 1 fridge etc!! With their clever packing, every thing went into the lorry, it was FULL!! don't be fooled by the pic, this was taken at the start of move, this whole lorry was packed!!

Poor guys, they had a hard time carrying all our stuff up 1 flight of steps & thru the rather tiny door of our flat. Everything was moved into our flat abt 5pm. We had to quickly set up the beds, unpack our clothes, bath stuff so that it can be livable for the night. By the time we were done and had dinner, it was abt 9.30pm. Totally tired but all of us did not sleep well the 1st nite. Guess we were adjusting to new sight & sounds.

It was a super short drive only 5 mins to churh on Sunday. On Sun, we put up the curtains, fix up the TV & set up the kitchen. We decide to go back & have dinner with my in laws & off to Vivo City we went. It was a good dinner & we got their cable TV fix & set up as well. Sunday night sleep was much better, Ezra slept on our bed, transferred him to his own bed & he slept thru the night.

Ezra got up a little later than usual on Monday morning but we were still in time!! As the car ride is much shorter now, he can't have his bkf in the car but now have it in sch while waiting. He had his 1st ride in the sch bus home today. He is very excited and look forward to it. My big boy.

Up to today, we have only the study room stuff (which is the most) still left unpack. We need to get book shelves & study table before we can do anything! So I am going supermarketing this evening aft work to buy some stuff to cook.

We are slowly adjusting & enjoying ourselves in our humble home. God is so so good.

Ezra

We have been so busy with the new house that I felt we have somewhat neglected Ezra. But he was as sweet as ever, finding things to keep himself occupied most times.

While waiting for me to finish up my work in office on Friday, he asked for paper and pencil so he can draw. After a while, he showed me his drawings.

Ezra "Mum, see this is an aeroplane!" The wings, the tail and body seems to be accounted for!
"Mummy, see daddy mouse & baby mouse!" The body & the tail is also there with daddy mouse bigger in size than baby mouse!! Not bad....
Here is a Chinese song that Ezra learnt in sch....

What is Wrong?

I am not sure what happened but I am kind of feeling down this morning... Maybe I got up on the wrong side of the bed!!

Jac went back to work at his former company, we are very thankful that after a 5 mths break & desipte the economic downturn, Jac was still able to secure a job w/o much pay cut. He just sms me that he is bored cos his PC is not set up yet!!

This morning, with me alone in car & Ezra sitting at the back, he finished his bkf & I tried to reach back to get his box & in doing so, my car swing quite a bit!! A lorry quite a distance behind me high beamed me!! Ezra did asked me "Mummy what happen?" He must have felt it. I was taken aback but thank God we were all safe!!

When I got to sch, there were quite a few things not in place so everyone is a bit disturb... As I prepare to read the Bible with the children this morning, I started walking ard & pray in the spirit cos I need to be lifted up!

I am not sure whats wrong.... maybe the packing is wearing me down, maybe Jac returning to work is an adjustment I need to make, maybe its the tot of the move this Sat.... but I am praying for God's peace & grace to reign!! Amen!!