Happy 71st Birthday Gong-gong

We celebrated gg's 71st birthday a week before his actual birthday with a simple Thai food dinner. Gg loves to eat spicy food and he requested to go back to the Thai food restaurant in Serangoon North Avenue 1. It was a simple but satisfying meal together. Yiyi was unable to join us as she had gone to London and Paris for her holiday.

On the actual day of Gg's birthday. We did not announce to him that we were going to have a cake-cutting ceremony for him. It was meant to be a surprise :) I made a red jelly cheese cake for him. Gg loves red because he thinks it's an auspicious colour. When we appeared at his gate at 8 pm, we really caught him by surprise. We had a simple cake-cutting ceremony. The children made a card each for Gg and yiyi made a phone call back from Paris to wish him well for his birthday.

All these gestures put together made Gg a happy man. We could tell it from his face and this made us very glad too :)

Look Who's Awake!

You know that they have not fallen asleep yet when you can see these luminous sticks dancing in the darkness of the room! These little ones! :)

Mid Autumn Festival

Mid Autumn Festival is here again. This year, we took part in SKMC Mid Autumn Festival event. It coincided with the church 12th anniversary celebration, hence there was a massive carnival in fun fair style. I had to conduct a Snowskin mooncake workshop while papa had to mend a games stall, so Pb and Rb were unable to attend the carnival. In addition, Rb had just recovered from fever and Pb had Chinese class at home. We could only bring the 2 of them to church at 7 pm, after our duties were over. They could participate in the lantern parade. Though disappointed for missing out the fun in the earlier part of the day, the children were glad to participate in the parade. Pb and I decided to carry our lanterns and walk all the way home while Rb were driven home after a short walk. It was peaceful holding the paper lanterns and walking home together with my girl. We had a good chat along the way :) A tiring day but it was meaningful! :)

Thank You

Every day, I'm blessed. I'm blessed that I am able to perform my duty of sending and picking up my children from their school and home. Every morning, I will send Rb to school and pick him up after that. Likewise, I am able to send Pb to school and pick her up from her school at 6.30 p.m. Although some may deem it as a hassle, I love to do these running about because I am able to chat with my children along the way. I can pray with them before they reach school and I can receive the first-hand news about school from them when I pick them up. I become their first and last contact. I enjoy this privilege and treasure this a lot. I do not wish to give up this privilege for anything in this world. I am thankful to all who have helped to make this duty possible - papa, for converting the car, my school for relieving me of my last period (6.00 - 6.30 p.m.) so that I can get into Pb's school on time to pick her up at 6.30 p.m. And most importantly, for God who speaks into the hearts of many and for showing me favour. Thank you. I am truly blessed! :)

Waiting for Pb at her school gate at 6.30 p.m.

 

Pb's Show and Tell

Show and Tell is something new for Pb. She has not done it before in her kindergarten days. However, I must say that she has put in good effort in trying out new experiences. She is able to present in both Mandarin and English and she is not afraid to repeat in her practising. I must give her credit for her hard work. Here is it, presenting Phoebe in two of her school's Show and Tell presentation :)

Pardon her for her craziness at the beginning of her Show and Tell.

She's just goofying around :)

 

Phoebe doing her Show and Tell on "Pandas"

Seng Kang Fire Station

As I was conducting the Mooncake Workshop at home on 15 September (Sat) morning, papa decided to take Phoebe and Reuben to the nearby Seng Kang Fire Station for a visit. The place was not crowded at all. In fact, they were the only visitors there. The children had a lot of fun learning about the vehicle and equipment used by the firemen. They also gathered some information about the firemen's work, e.g. when the siren sounded, the firemen had to get changed and hop into the fire engine within 1 minute and reached the distressed destination by 7 minutes. The children also had a chance to use the high pressure water hose to "put out" the pseudo fire (water the plants). They were given the firemen plastic toy helmets and a watch /wrist band each. It was a short visit but definitely a new and exciting experience for Reuben and Phoebe, especially for Reuben as he is learning about occupation in his nursery at this juncture.

 

 



Jurong Bird Park

I have not been to the Jurong for a looong time, at least 7-8 years ago. Phoebe and Reuben have not been to the bird park too. I didn't have a good impression of the bird park because, for one, I'm not a bird lover. A park with just birds are just too boring for me. Two, I remembered having to walk for a long distance, up and down the slops in the bird park. Three, Jurong is way too far from our home. However, because papa managed to get hold of the company pass to the Jurong Bird Park entrance, we decided to pay the place a visit.

The place did look different since my last trip. The entrance was beautifully adorned with different breeds of orchids of various colours.When we entered the bird park, we were attracted to the outdoor penguin enclosure. I was wondering how those African penguins could survive outdoor. We walked around to look at the different kinds of bird in the aircon enclosure. We walked around and saw many colour birds and pheasants. I was hoping to catch the view of a Kookaburra but there was no Kookaburra in the Jurong Bird Park.

After walking around for two hours, the hot afternoon sun discouraged us to venture any further. We decided to cut our trip short and proceed home. Phoebe had to attend her Chinese class at 4.30 p.m. I even missed seeing another of my favourite, the owls, too. Next time maybe.

 

 

ABRSM Grade 1 Piano Examination Result

About 3 weeks ago, Phoebe went for her ABRSM Grade 1 Piano examination. Just this week, we have received her exam result via online. She has obtained a Pass for her piano exam with a score of 116/150. Although she did not obtain a merit or a distinction, to me, this is a great achievement! I am very proud of her because I know that she has tried her best and has been very diligent in practising all her 3 pieces and scales. I have initially expected her to get 115/150 and she is one mark above my expectation. :) On the day of the examination, Phoebe told me that she had opened her examination booklet because she was afraid of playing the wrong notes despite the fact that she has memorized all the pieces. I am very happy that she has made this move because it goes to show that she is responsible and is trying her best to do the perform as flawlessly and fluently as possible! :) Now, we just have to wait for a while more to receive her detailed examination description sheet which will be mailed to us soon. Then, by looking at what the examiner had penned down, we will be able to identify her exact weakness and try to improve on it. Thank God for giving me a responsible daughter and glory be unto the Creator! :)

Reuben Loves Math

I'm very proud of my little boy. At 4.5 years old, he's able to do addition and subtraction within 20 (without renaming). He is currently doing addition using the "Counting on" method. Reuben seems to have a strong concept of numbers as he is able to grasp addition and subtraction of numbers at a relatively fast speed. However, it is still too early to tell. As it is now, he enjoys doing the sums in his Lightning McQueen Addition and Subtraction book. We will just let him enjoy the process of learning with his favourite cartoon character! :)

The Cat in the Hat

Yesterday morning, we took the children to watch "The Cat in the Hat" by Dr Seuss. Dr Seuss books are familiar to Pb and Rb. I thought the use of rhyming words is brilliant. The children love her books especially "Green Eggs and Ham". Hence, when I found out that there was a production entitled "The Cat in the Hat", I immediately bought the tickets without hesitation.

However, I was rather disappointed with the duration of the production. The whole performance was only merely half an hour long (or rather, short)! This is the shortest production I've ever watched, other than those FOC performance staged in the shopping mall. On top of that, each ticket costs us $21. I could not help but felt a little short-changed. Most of the paid performance we've watched were at least an hour long but this was exceptionally short. There is actually a sequel to the story, a part 2, entitled "The Cat in the Hat comes back". I thought the production company should have done us a little more justice by staging the sequel (after a short interval of 10-15 minutes) if they have already known that the story was going to be completed within half an hour.

Nevertheless, Pb and Rb have enjoyed themselves, especially Rb. They were just as puzzled as us when they realized that the whole play was over.

*sigh* Disappointed indeed. I've already bought the tickets to their year-end production, "Fantastic Mr Fox". I hope their upcoming performance will not fail me!! :(

Class Monitor

Last Friday morning, Pb's school hours were shortened and brought forward to the morning session. Her school was celebrating Teachers' Day. When I went to pick her up at 11.30 am, her excitement could not be contained. She was very eager to break the news to me - she was chosen by Mrs Sekar (her form teacher) to be Term 4's class monitor. I could see her monitor badge gleaming proudly above her name. She was grinning broadly but not with a tinge of arrogance at all. She has been waiting for this day but yet, she could not believe her ears when her teacher announced her name. Of course, I'm very proud of her! Most importantly, I hope that through this experience, she will learn to be more responsible, independent, leader-like and compassionate. I'm thankful to her teacher for giving her a chance. From now on, I've to constantly remind her to set a good example to her peers and brother! :) Thank you God for your Potter's hand! :)

Baking Like my Mom

My mom is really a very good chef. She cooks and bakes well. She has a whole drawer of recipe. She's my inspiration.Recent years, I've taken a liking in cooking and baking because of my mom's influence.

Long before all the bakeries flourish, my mom used to bake us our birthday cakes. She made agar agar for us too. I can still remember very clearly that she made a huge birthday cake and a strawberry shortcake agar agar for me to have a mini celebration in school with my classmates when I was in Primary 5. Whenever we have school outings, she will make for me and my classmates custard cream puffs. They are superb and they are my all time favourite!

With my interest in baking escalating, my mom naturally becomes my consultant. She has taught me many baking skills and even passed me some of her treasured recipes and baking ware. I hope that I will be as good as my mom so that her legacy will live on. I'm thinking of baking Pb's birthday cake. I've ideas in my head but I need to practise more.

I used to dream of opening an enrichment centre but I guess, over the years, my interest in that field has been diminishing gradually, though not fully subsided. Right now, I hope that in years to come, I will be able to start a small scale online baking business, bake only upon confirmed order. This will ensure that the cakes made will be of utmost freshness, straight from the oven. Who knows, I might just combine education with bakery, running workshops for children in a real kitchen studio and baking for the young and old at home using an oven and not an oven toaster! For now, it is just a dream, and I just have to keep baking and practising for as much as I can. :)