Gong Gong and Reuben

My dad mentioned yesterday that he don't remember taking any individual pictures with Reuben, since his full month celebration which was about 5 months ago. I quickly took this picture for them. My dad has aged a lot. His hair is turning grayish white and the skin on his neck is sagging. My mom too, has grown old. Because of the therapy, my mom is not encouraged to dye her hair. I can see white hair sprouting from her scalp. So sad. I feel so sad that my dad and mom have grown so old :( Please God, do not let them go without seeing and receiving your Kingdom :(

Grandma's Yummy Mooncakes

The Mid-Autumn festival is around the corner. For the past 20+ years, my mom has been making and selling mooncakes during this period of time. Orders from my aunt's office in American Express would be streaming in. There would be cartons of salted eggs, flour, 'nian rong' (lotus paste), chicken eggs and other ingredients in my mom's place. My dad would be in charge of cracking salted eggs to extract the yolk, running errands, as well as delivering the home-made mooncakes to my aunt's office. My sis and I would do the simpler stuff such as checking and taking down the orders and labelling the boxes of mooncakes. When I was younger in primary school, I wouldn't mind getting my fingers oily to help my mom in the process of making. My mom can make baked mooncakes and the snow skin types. Her mooncake is superb. Hence, we have never bought mooncakes from elsewhere because those in the market are usually overpriced and not as yummy. Typing all these brings back so much memory... All these are precious memories and I don't think I will ever enjoy other mooncakes other than those made by my mom...

Anyway, put aside these nostalgia.

This year, due to my mom's illness, she has ceased her mooncake production. We all thought that she should not over strain herself with the huge orders. But in the spirit of festivity and also in the hope of passing her skills to me, my mom decided to make just 3-4 boxes of mooncakes for ourselves and my aunt and grandma. She decided to make the snow skin type as it was much easier. Phoebe also wanted to join in the fun. She's quite a good player... Oops, I mean, helper. She'll knead the snow skin (and pop it into her mouth) and also roll the lotus paste into mini balls (and pop into her mouth again). We had to stop her from pinching the ingredients or we'll end up having only 1 box of mooncakes. The mooncakes were pandan flavoured and were usually green. However, Phoebe requested for pink ones, so my mom made pink pandan mooncakes. Why not ? Afterall, we have pink guava and pink lemonade. Surely, pink mooncake is also just as sensational! :)

Everyone helped out, including Reuben. Watching the big hulabaloo in the kitchen brings smile on his face which in turn, cheered us on. After 2 hours of fun playing, we made 4 boxes of snow skin mooncakes. But have I learnt the art of snow skin mooncake making? Hmm... I hope that my mom will live as long as God is willing so that I can enjoy many more years of mommy-made mooncakes :)

All ready to go mama's house

Grandma's yummy pink pandan snow skin mooncake

High and Mighty

We didn't fix any dinner yesterday night as there were no fresh food in the fridge. We haven't had time to do grocery shopping for the past few days. Hence, my hubby suggested dinner in Tampines Ikea and thereafter, grocery shopping in Giant. I love the food in Ikea, especially the Swedish meatballs. The food is not expensive, we can get free soft drinks and the place is very children friendly. Phoebe loves going to Ikea too because she can play on the indoor slide and mess around with the toys there.

Since Reuben is able to sit rather steadily, we decided to put him on the high chair while we had our dinner. I must conclude that it was one of my most enjoyable dinners. The 2 kids were very well behaved, no squealing, whining or fussing around. Seems like Reuben enjoys eating with us at the dining table. Next time we should put him on the high chair too but we must remember to bring his favourite Nestle Rusk so that he can eat with us :)

Polling Time

Yesterday's gathering session ended much too soon to my dismay. I thought we haven't talked enough and we have missed some of our friends' presence. We had a mini 'white space' and contact time meeting amidst our chit chats and decided to plan for another gathering.

The place has been set - Jacob Ballas Children Garden. We could not decide on the date, either 1 Oct, Wed (Children's / Hari Raya) or 27 Oct, Mon (Deepavali). As we're democratic Singaporeans, we have decided to take a poll on the date. So if you're keen to go with us, leave your name and prefered date in the comment box. We will finalise the date (majority wins) and the food items to bring later on. All hubbies, other children / grandchildren and maids are welcome too. Other aunties, uncles, grandparents who are keen to help to keep an eye on the little ones are very much welcomed too! :)

I will kick off the polling. The rest of you, start making your decisions, latest by 19 September, Friday (2359 Hrs).

Thank you (^_^)

A Bunch of Noisy People

Teachers are famous for their loud voices. I guess this is our occupational hazard. Today, a bunch of noisy teachers came to my place with their equally noisy kiddos :) We chatted, relaxed, chilled out and laughed whole heartedly ! Phoebe was excited at first but her excitement plunged into a sulk when she realised that she was the oldest amongst the children and there were no like-minded kiddos to play with her. Justin was cranky because he was deprived of sleep, Yun Er was a little clingy to her mommy, Reuben dozed off on and off throughout the whole session and Joshua was busy playing and exploring on his own. I thought amongst the little ones, Joshua enjoyed himself the most. His bright smile sparkled and Phoebe soon caught his sunshine and they were able to play together :)

UPDATED VERSION

A Tribute to The Teachers

Finally able to find pictures of the teachers in the circle of blogs. Scroll down for the updated version to see their pictures or simply click here. http://thetiredmommysdiary.blogspot.com/2008/09/tribute-to-teachers.html

Rugby Jersey For Boys

I have always love to see boys in horizontal striped shirts like the rugby jersey. I feel that boys look especially good in the rugby jerseys, very boyish and charming. So Papa got little Reuben a jersey-look-alike to toughen up his look. I thought Reuben has fulfilled my obsession about rugby jersey = charming boy :)

A TimeTo Catch Up

My long time old friend from Nanyang JC brought her 2 kids to my place yesterday morning. The children played while the mommies chatted. I love school holidays because it gives me more time to spend with my children and catch up with old friends. I got the children to sit together for a snapshot. It was tough trying to get the 4 kiddoes to focus on the camera all at the same time. Their eyes were glued to the television. Then we went to Compass Point's Ajisen to have lunch before parting our ways. We had a lovely time :)

A Tribute To The Teachers

HAPPY TEACHERS' DAY

to

all the teachers

and

the teachers of our children

Touch Water

As Reuben grows older each day, I begin to see more of his character. He is quite a fussy baby. He doesn't like his milk too hot or cold. It has to be just right or he will just pout and refuse to open his mouth. But he is also quite an inquisitive baby. During bath time, when the shower head is placed above him, seeing water streaming down like strings, Reuben will stretch out his hands and try to 'catch' the water. After learning that it is impossible to grab hold of water, he changed his mind and decided to receive the water in awe. He's such a clever baby :)