Parents and Babes Look Alike

I still feel that both Reuben and Phoebe looks like me, rather than their papa, except that they both have much nicer eyes than me. They have inherited their papa's eyes which are good because they're big, round and strong, and no squint! I'm born with an Exotropia squint (one eyeball turned outwards), which I've inherited from my dad (aka gong-gong) but his is not obvious. Mine was very obvious, anyone who has seen me could not tell if I was looking at him/her or the person beside him/her. So when I was about 23 years old, I decided to go through an operation to tightened the muscle on my right eye so that my eyeballs can be aligned. So eversince I was pregnant, I would pray very hard, every night, that my children will not get a squint from me. God is faithful and He has answered my prayers, haven't He? See it for yourself :)

Mommies Power

We were supposed to go to Aunty Jessie's new place in AMK but at a twist of fate, we ended up having the gathering in our place. We had delicious sugar pizza and yoghurt pizza from Sarpino's. Aunty Linah also joined us in the gathering after Sophie had finished her dancing class in Thomson Plaza. It was a good time having adult talk. The girls played and I was busy chit-chatting and smelling Alfee that I forgot to take pictures of Sophie and Alfee. It was a meaningful afternoon spent!

Chalk Playing

I grew up in the era where chalk was the weapon of the teacher. No teacher was not equipped with a stick of chalk. I have even heard of flying chalks thrown by teachers to awake the daydreamers in the classrooms though none of it have happened to me in my convent school. But children these days have not heard of chalk. Teachers use whiteboard markers and IT peripheral to excite and engage the pupils.

When Phoebe and Reuben first saw the chalk in my friend's kiddy birthday party, they were intrigue by it. They drew pictures on the cemented ground. That was their first encouter of chalk. When I went to Ikea, I saw boxes of chalk being sold there, not expensive, about $1.50 for a box of 12 sticks. Surely I will not deprive my children of my childhood experience. I bought a box and they played with them on one of the saturday mornings, doodling on the common corridor. They had fun and Phoebe was surprised at how fast a stick of chalk got worn off. Actually, me too. I didn't know that chalk can get worn off so quickly. Of course, how would I know, right? When I started teaching, I was already using whiteboard markers and when I was a pupil myself, we wouldn't dare to touch the teachers' weapon. They were sacredly placed on the blackboard, not allowed to be touched unless the teacher enthroned it to you to inscribe your answers on the blackboard.

Anyway, back to now, after about half an hour of doodling, the children were dusty and perspiring. Off they went to have their shower while Mommy Me washed away the chalk traces with a bucket of water and a brush. Have fun - checked! :)

Goofing Around

Goofing around, pretending to be cats... Meow...

**Ooops! Phoebe saw this blog entry and told me that they were pretending to be poodle dogs, not cats! Haha :)

Pinnochio

We took Phoebe and Reuben to watch the musical Pinnochio on 10 December 2010. We bought the family package which consist of 4 tickets. Phoebe has watch many musical performances before but it was Reuben's first musical. The performance has about an hour plus with an interval. It was recommended for 4 year olds and above but Reuben was able to sit through the whole musical without any fidgeting. When the performance started, I could see that he was totally immersed in the show. I too felt that the performance was very captivating. A few days before the performance, we borrowed story books on Pinnochio and read the story to the children first. Hence, both Phoebe and Reuben could comprehend the show. They had enjoyed the show and they were able to give us a brief account of the content later on. Reuben couldn't pronounce the long name, Pinnochio, and changed him into a Japanese instead by calling him "Kinioto". Haha. Alright, from now on, Reuben can also join us in catching nice children musical too!! :)

Phoebe giving a brief summary of Pinnochio


Reuben had changed Pinnochio into a Japanese by calling him "Kinioto". Haha :)

Team Work

I had to be in school one of the school holidays and my parents had just flown to China for their tour. I had no choice but to leave the two kids with the maid, Aunty Nia, at home for a few hours. When I was back, the two kids were having their nap and I saw this stuck to the door of my bedroom. It's a little handbag with pictures of Prince Reuben and Princess Phoebe. It instantly melted my heart and I went over to kiss the faces of my sleeping children. Apparently, Phoebe drew the pictures and star, Aunty Nia drew the flowers, cut the pictures and made the handle of the handbag and Phoebe stuck the scotchtapes and Aunty Nia stuck it on the door. Teamwork = Funwork. Glad that they had fun, doing something meaningful together.

H for Helicopter Hat

Children is one of the best gift that God has given us. Sometimes, I just can't help but laugh at their goofiness. Every of their action is innocently cute to me. Why? Because I simply love them, much much and MUCH. When I go shopping, I no longer look at my own things. The first department is always the Children's Department. Even when sometimes I know that buying a particular item for them is a definite waste of money, I still cannot help but indulge in them. Whilst spending money on them is a pure joy, I was stingy to myself. Before I decided to make a purchase for myself, I often contemplate for quite a while, mentally debating if I really need that item and I sometimes find myself putting back the item onto the shelf.

Take a look at the Ikea helicopter hat. Reuben liked it very much the minute he placed it onto his head. It was not an expensive item, probably about $4.90(?) But does he need it? No! He has many of such hats - Chicken hat, Ladybird hat, Cowboy hat, Fireman hat... He definitely doesn't need a helicopter hat. But did I buy it for him? Yes. Why? Because he likes it, he looks cute in it and he is HAPPY. I could have gently tell him to put it back onto the shelf and I'm quite certain that he will not protest violently. Like he always does, he'll probably wave and say,

"Bye bye helicopter hat. See you next time."

Reuben can be such a sweet-natured boy sometimes. And at the end of the Ikea trip, I bought the helicopter hat for him because I love him!Loving my two children is the best gift I can give them and the best way to thank God for them :)

Loving them is the best gift I can give my two children...

Ice Ice Babies

I have not had the time to blog. Holidays are very busy, I'm with the children all the time. We took them out for various activities and ice-skating was one of them. The rink was in Velocity Mall. A child (below 1.4m) can get to ice-skate for 30 minutes when he/she produces a receipt of $60 in Velocity. So in order for Phoebe and Reuben to ice-skate each time, we need to spend $120. The two of them had ice-skate together for 4 times, so you can imagine how much money we had spent - $480. What did we spend the $480 on? Choice Vouchers. We bought the Choice vouchers from Cold Storage. These Choice vouchers can be used in Giant supermarket, Cold Storage, Shop N Save, Guardian etc. That's how far we were go for the sake of our precious babes. Haha. But the most important thing is that, they both enjoyed themselves very much and they were very excited about it. Velocity holds this event yearly. Next year, we'll surely them if they have this event again! :)

Go steady, my ice babies...

Blogger Mommies Date Again

Next week, the blogger mommies be meeting up for lunch. We will then catch the free live performance of Sesame Street. If you're interested to join us, please drop a message in my comment box and I'll contact you regarding the time and date. :)

Summary of Free Live Performances This December

Below is a list of live shows in December 2010.

1) Musical Christmas Comes Alive!
Venue: AMK Hub, B1 Exhibition Hall
Date: 10 December to 19 December 2010
Time:
Tuesday to Friday: 5pm & 8pm
Saturday & Sunday: 2pm, 5pm & 8pm

2) Care Bears Mini Musical Live Show
Venue: Event Square at Downtown East
Date: 30 Nov - 31 Dec 2010 (Weekends and Public Holidays only)
Time: 6:.00 p.m.

3) Strawberry Shortcake Berry Bubblelicious Show

Compass Point
Date: 23-28 November
Time: 1pm, 4pm & 7pm

Causeway Point
Date: 30 November - 5 December
Time: 1pm, 4pm & 7pm

Northpoint
Date: 7-12 December
Time: 1pm, 4pm & 7pm

Centrepoint
Date: 14-19 December
Time: 1pm, 4pm & 7pm

4) Dora "The Big Pinata" Live Show
Venue: Raffles City, Level 3
Date: 19 November - 5 December (except Mon)
Tuesday to Friday: 1pm & 7pm
Saturday to Sunday: 1pm, 4pm & 7pm

5) Mr Men and Little Miss Christmas Musical
Venue: Takashimaya
Date: Friday, 3 December to Saturday, 11 December
Time: 1pm, 4pm and 7pm daily(No show on Monday, 6 December)

6) Barney's Christmas Surprise!
Venue: United Square Shopping Mall
Date: 24 November to 6 December
Time:
Monday to Friday: 2pm & 7pm
Saturday to Sunday: 1pm, 4pm & 7pm(No shows on Tuesday)

7) Go Diego Go! - The Iguana Sing-along
Venue: United Square Shopping Mall
Date: 9 to 20 December
Time:Monday to Sunday, 12pm, 4:30pm & 7pm(No show on Tuesday)

8) Hi-5 Live Show
Venue: Central Atrium at Marina Square
Date: 26 November to 12 December
Time: 1pm, 4pm, 7pm (dailyexcept Monday)

9) The Elves and the Shoemaker retold by Precious Moments
Venue: JP1 Centrestage at Jurong Point
Date: 1 to 12 December 2010
Time: 1pm, 7pm
Weekend meet and greet: 4pm

10) Pokemon Show
Venue: Open Plaza at Tampines Mall
Date: 26 November to 26 December 2010
Time:Tues to Fri, 1pm, 7pm
Saturday & Sunday, 1pm, 4pm, 7pm11 & 12 December, 1pm, 7pm

11) Sesame Street Live Show

Plaza Singapura
30 November to 12 December

Bt Pajang Plaza
14 to 19 December

Time: Tuesday to Thursday, 1pm, 7pm
Friday to Sunday, 1pm, 4pm, 7pm

12) PowerRanger
Sembawang Shopping Centre
30 November to 5 December

Bt Panjang Plaza
7 to 12 December

Tuesday to Thursday, 1pm, 7pm
Friday to Sunday, 1pm, 4pm, 7pm

13) Bob The Builder
Venue: West Coast Plaza
Dates: 20 November to 5 December, Saturday & Sunday only
Time: 4:30pm, 8pm

14) Thomas The Train
Venue: Millenia Walk
Date and Time:25 & 26 November
2, 3, 9, 10 December at 7pm
27 & 28 November, 4, 5, 11,
12 December at 1pm, 7pm

DVD on the Move

I always disapprove the viewing of DVDs/VCDs while travelling in a car. I always feel that the children have watched enough programmes while they are at home or in my parents' house. They should not be watching anymore shows in the car and it may not be very good for their eyes. However, when we travel long distance, watching a show can keep the children occupied and they will be less fidgeting and cranky. When we travel to Malaysia, we used to take along a laptop for the children to view their VCDs/DVDs. However, recently, there was a Philip sales and we decided to buy this portable DVD player for the children. I thought that since the children are going to be occupied while travelling, we should occupy their time and mind with shows of wholesome content. We bought several Christian DVDs for the children. Some are on bible stories - the old and new testament and some are Christian stories on values (e.g. the Fruit of the Spirit, the Armour of God etc). So even if the children's mind are floated with programmes, they're meaningful and valuable in content. The children loves the DVDs and they even ask for more of these Christian DVDs :)

Eeny Miney Eeny Mo

I don't think Reuben had any clue what his jie-jie was doing but he just imitated her actions anyway. It was a funny but pleasant sight. We went sitting on the bed while the children were eeny-mineying us. For what reasons ? Beats me! Haha :)

"...tinish," said Reuben :)

Brave Reuben

Reuben used to be very scare of the rides in shopping malls. He wouldn't even want to sit on it, be it moving or static. But since about 3 weeks ago, he suddenly became brave and did not resist when we put him on one of the rides. He loves cars of all types - fire engine, police car, ambulance etc. He's a typical boy :)

Tiong Bahru Market

We had dinner in Tiong Bahru Market. I love the food there - the delicious Tiong Bahru bao, the Jian Bo Chwee Kwey, the Hainanese Boneless Chicken Rice etc. While waiting for their Chicken Rice, we took some pictures for the kids :)

Snack Time at Home

Eating together...

Jacob Ballads on Deepavali

On Deepavali this year, we took the children to Jacaob Ballas Children's Garden again. The children love that place. We equipped them with swimming suits so that they can have their water play in the wet area. They also brought along their sandcastle-building toys for the sand play. The weather was good and the children had an enjoyable morning. We went to the food court in Botanic Garden for lunch and popped by the Swan Lake for a stroll before heading home for their nap.

Phoebe's Drawing

Most of the time, Phoebe will draw with pencil and then refuse to colour her drawing. I always encourage her to colour her pictures. Now, I tell her to use the crayons to draw directly and fill in the pictures with colours. This is her latest drawing.

Mice Chopsticks

Got these chopsticks for the 2 kiddos :) One Minne and One Mickey. Phoebe is able to use it easily but Reuben still needs some practice. The Mickey one comes with a carrying case so I put both pairs into the carrying case. They love their new chopsticks. Now they want to eat noodles all the time so that they can use their new chopticks. Haha :)

Hamily

Meet our newest family member, Hamily. We got the hamster from Uncle Alex's family. They were taking care of the hamster for a while and then they decided to pass it to us for us to take care of it. In Uncle Alex's family, Hamily was known as Snow White but Phoebe decided to name it Hamily instead. I must say that she is quite innovative in naming her hamster. Haha. Anyway, we do not know the gender of the hamster but we just assume that it's a girl.

Reuben Likes Computer

This is Reuben's favourite website. He can use the mouse to navigate easily.

Jusco Malaysia

We drove to Justco Malaysia on 6 November. It's in Bukit Indah, which is just ten minutes drive from the Tuas Checkpoint. We went on a day trip, just to walk around, eat and buy groceries. It was our second time there. The shopping mall was clean and new (with toilet papers in the toilet which is rare in Malaysia! Haha.)

We had our lunch in A&W. I have not had a Rootbeer float for almost 10 years!!

Phoebe get to try out the Swaveboard. 10 RM for 45 minutes and the trainer will guide her.

We had our dinner in a restaurant that serves herbal food and then we went to Justco to get our groceries before proceeding home :)