Gong Xi Fa Cai!!!

Wishing everyone good health and prosperity in the year of the snake! :)

And ... A Last Minute Trim Before Chinese New Year

Overheard - Kids Say the Darnest Things

DD (5 years old): Mummy, is Papa older than Grandma and Grandpa?
Me: :O

I was pretty much speechless while DS started exclaiming, "Of course not lah!", and proceeded to tell DD the ages of the grandparents compared to Papa's age.

Taipei, here we come!

22 Nov 2012
Finally, school is out for Casey and we are on our way to Taipei. After spending 5 days in Taipei, we head to Hong Kong. :) DH will be speaking at a conference in Taipei, and doing a poster presentation at a conference in Hong Kong.

This is also the first time that I'm traveling on Cathay Pacific. Cathay flies direct from Taipei to Hong Kong, so it's much cheaper to fly via Cathay on all sectors. Unfortunately, Cathay doesn't fly direct from Singapore to Taipei, we have to transit in Hong Kong first, before heading on to Taipei.

Below are some pictures taken at Changi Airport and some in the airplane. There's a picture of DD trying to show us the wart on her toe, which is going to drop off soon after it was burnt off a few weeks back.

Mini-Master Chess Players?

DS and DD seem to have taken an interest in chess recently. I have no clue how to play the game, so I think they know more about chess than me at this point in time!

DS and DD playing the game very seriously.

Of course, DD couldn't resist the opportunity to give me one of her funny poses for the camera.

A very special pedicure. :)

It's not everyday we're going to find a brother painting the toenails of his little sister! But DS likes painting and DD likes painted nails, so I guess that works out well. :) However, I'm not sure if DS will be repeating this anytime soon because he wasn't very happy with DD's grumbling that he didn't do a very good job! Haha!

Happy Grandparents' Day!

(This post was written on 6 Sep 2012)

It's Grandparents' Day this Sunday, and DD's preschool celebrated it with a mini song-and-dance performance by the kids and breakfast for the grandparents.

While waiting for all the grandparents to arrive, Dr Khoo, the founder of DD's preschool and a grandparent herself, held a sharing session for the grandparents. I joked that it looked like a self-help group for grandparents. "I really don't like the way I feel when I allow the kids to walk all over me...". "How do I tell my son that I really don't want to look after the grandchildren this weekend?". LOL!

Grandparents waiting patiently for the concert to start.

Dr Khoo giving a speech before the concert, to thank all the grandparents for their continued support and all the things they do for their grandchildren.

The K1 and K2 kids performing. Later, all the kids (including the nursery and toddler classes) sang the Barney song "I Love You".

DD with her granddad! All grandparents received a  "garland". :)

Breakfast with the grandparents!

DD enjoying the food too. :)

The kids whose grandparents were not present helped to clear away the plates and cups after breakfast. DS, being ever so helpful, enthusiastically lent a hand too.

And finally, a lovely picture taken by one of the student teachers on attachment with the school.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank my parents, who have always been ever obliging and ready to help out with DS and DD whenever I need them to. Thank you, Grandma and Grandpa! We love both of you very much! :)

Piano Recital 2012

A day after DD's birthday, DS and DD had their piano recital, jointly organised by their piano teacher and two other teachers.. This was DS's second piano recital and DD's first. DD was very excited to be able to go on stage like her brother, whom she admires dearly.

Pic of the piano and trophies in the background before the concert started.

Shiny trophies and medals waiting to be won

DS and DD both got a trophy for participation and DS also won a medal for  performance excellence.

June School Holidays! Wednesday 30 May

Which school holiday would be complete without a trip to Changi Airport to take the Slide@T3? :) 

Slide@T3 is the world's tallest slide in an airport. Slide@T3 comprises 2 slides. The shorter one is free for anyone above 110cm in height. The taller one is 4 storeys tall and to ride this, one would need to spend $10 in a single receipt at Changi Airport to get one ticket. Of course, thanks to Grandma (who works in Changi and spends money in Changi Airport), the kids get many many tickets to ride to their hearts' content! :)

With good pal, R. Lunch before the fun!

Showing off their tickets

DD is still too short to take the slides, so she waits patiently at the bottom of the slide for the two boys to come down. While waiting, DD keeps herself occupied by looking at kids doing craft work at the Arts and Craft Corner. I think this stall was set up to entertain kids like DD who are too young for the slide.

June School Holidays! Tuesday 29 May

Everyone, especially the kids, have been looking forward to their dental appointment today. It took us almost 6 months to find a date when everybody, including DH, is free to go to the dentist together. DD was very excited and she was the one who kept reminding me in the past 6 months to make an appointment with the dentist.

DD, as usual, insisted on going first even though she was the only one among the 4 of us who has never had her teeth cleaned.

 DS got to go next!

I Feel Redundant at the Zoo :)

DD trying to read the Zoo map

DS and DD discussing where to go next

And off they go, with DD trying to navigate with the help of the map!

Maybe soon, I'll be able to drop them off at the zoo and go have afternoon tea with some friends! Haha.

June School Holidays! Monday, 28 May.

OK, I give up. I could not finish blogging about the March school holidays before the June holidays started. Oh, how I wish there were 72 hours in a day!!! Oh well, nevermind, we shall look ahead and blog about the ...drumroll please ... June school holidays! This being DS's first year in primary school, he was pleasantly surprised to find out 2 weeks ago that the June holidays would be 4 weeks long! Yay!

We celebrated the first day of the June school holidays by going to the Singapore Zoo. We have been to the zoo more than 10 times since DS was born, about 2-3 times a year in recent years and I think we've still not done all the activities nor seen all the animals. We would probably go more often if the Zoo was closer to our home!

One of the first few animals we saw was the White-faced Saki monkey. I'm always amazed at how these monkeys and some other animals do not need to be caged. Yet they stay in the trees and not jump on some human being trying to snap a picture of them! I didn't bring a camera to the Zoo this time and this shot was taken using my iPhone 4. The monkey was barely 1.5m away from me.

Another animal found near the entrance to the zoo is the otter. We usually don't go around the enclosure to see the otters underwater, but today, we did just that. Look at how cute the otters are swimming underwater!

The Singapore Zoo has 2 white tigers and every time we visit the tigers, one would be pacing back and forth, and another would be sleeping. I'm wondering if it's the same tiger pacing back and forth. It sure does look hungry as it eyes the visitors looking at it from the opposite side!

Animal feeding! DS's favorite activity at the zoo! Today, he got to feed the giraffes and the white rhinos for the first time. Look how long the tongue of the giraffe is! A giraffe's tongue is about 45-50cm long. Another interesting fact is that the number of bones in the neck of a giraffe is the same as that of a human being (7!), even though a giraffe has such a long neck.

Look at the giraffes curling the tip of their tongue to get the piece of carrot stick DS is holding. DS later told me that he enjoyed getting his hand covered in the giraffe's saliva while he was feeding them!

A picture taken from afar showing how tall the giraffes are. I think it's really ingenious that the platform was built to allow visitors to be able to feed the giraffes.

This is the first time we watched the Animal Friends Show at the zoo. The show goes on for half hour and the kids really enjoyed it! Guinea pigs, cats and dogs were featured and children get to pet the dogs at the end of the show.

Petting the dogs after the show. :)

Ah Meng memorial to remember our beloved Ah-Meng, the orang utan.

DS feeding the white rhinos. The white rhinos' nose and mouth were dripping wet with mucous. I was so worried that one might sneeze or snort and DS will be covered in mucous! Haha! DS later told me that he could feel the strong "suction" created by the rhinos' mouth as it was trying to suck the fruit from DS's hand.

And finally, this is actually a video of the back view of the pygmy hippos. I found it interesting to see the fish eating dead skin and other deposits off the back of the pygmy hippo.

School Holidays - Monday (12th March)!

DS has enjoyed visiting museums ever since DH started bringing him there a few years back. There would be times in the past when DS was home and I had to put DD down for her nap. DH had suggested that he brought DS to a museum (DH loves museums!) so that DD would not be distracted by her brother during naptime. I was skeptical the museum would keep DS entertained, but it did!

This time, we brought the kids to The National Museum of Singapore. The kids had a fun time identifying local fruits and animals from the pictures displayed at The William Farquhar Collection of Natural History Drawings. DS also spent a very long time in the Singapore History Gallery, looking at the exhibits while listening intently to the audio guide provided. This was the first time he was actually listening to the audio guide while following the exhibits being explained. We think he is more interested now because he has learnt a bit about Singapore's history in school.

We ended the trip with lunch at Novus Cafe, situated in the museum. Our outings are getting longer because we do not need to rush home to put DD down for a noon nap anymore! The cafe served simple, but good, cafe food, and the ambience was great! I can foresee that we'll be back again during the next school holidays!

School Holidays - Sunday (11th March)!

This is the first term break school holidays for DS since he started Primary One this year. In Singapore, we have a 1-week break after 10 weeks of school term, then a 4-week break in June, another 1-week break in September, and finally, a 6-week break in November/December.

We started off the holidays by going over to R's home for a playdate. R attended kindergarten together with DS, and R's mum and I have been friends prior to that.

The kids always have a ball of a time playing together. :)

Here was the 1st tooth!

After blogging about DS's 4th tooth that dropped off, I guess I should blog about the more important teeth milestone - the dropping of the first tooth, his lower left incisor!

Well, it happened on 18 April 2011. As his adult tooth had already grown out behind the baby tooth, there wasn't much of a noticeable gap in his teeth after the tooth fell out.

Here's the tooth. DS intends on keeping all his baby teeth, so we have been washing them clean and placing them in a small, transparent container for his viewing pleasure. :)

Here's how he looked after the tooth fell out. Not much of a hole in his teeth since the adult tooth was already almost fully grown out!

4th Tooth for the Tooth Fairy!

Finally, after almost 2 months of being loose but refusing to drop off, two weeks of gum infection due to the loose tooth, and being unable to bite into apples and other hard foods, DS loses his 4th tooth! Yep, it's his right upper incisor that fell off. He's now a happy camper, waiting for his adult tooth to come in.

Family Pictures

Since last year, we've also been trying to remember to take family pictures during Chinese New Year. This picture below, taken at my Dad's second sister's place, is my favorite family picture this year! Why? Because it has been about 10 years since I last took a family picture with these relatives. Every since I got married in 2002, I have been accompanying DH and his family to visit his relatives on the first day of CNY. The first day of CNY is also when my Dad's sisters and nephews (my cousins) would visit him. So I've not seen my cousin, Alan, during CNY for a very long time now.

It was a nice surprise to see them at my aunty's place on the second day of CNY, when we visited her. I was really happy that we could get this family picture below. In it (besides my parents, DH, DS and DD) are my Dad's first and second sisters, my cousin Alan, his wife, and 4 lovely daughters, and my cousin Ah Heng.


OK, not really "family" here, but I think we can consider them so given that these people have known my parents for ages and ages! It has been a CNY tradition for at least 36 years that these friends of my parents go over to my parent's place on the second day of CNY for dinner. The group is much smaller now given that my parent's friends' children are all grown up and most don't join us for the gathering anymore.


A picture with my parents.


And finally, a picture with DH's mum, sister and her husband, and their 2 sweet girls!

DS Goes To Primary School

My baby starts primary school this year! This is DS, with his new hair cut, uniform, school shoes and socks, and new school bag, all ready on his first day of school. He has been so excited about his new school. Doesn't he look smart in his uniform? :)

Gong Xi Fa Cai 2012!

Happy Chinese New Year! We were in such a rush this morning that we forgot to take a family picture early in the morning when everyone still looked fresh. This picture was taken at the end of the day and DD had already changed out of her red CNY clothing. Strangely, DD woke only at 9am this morning, which means that everyone else only woke up at 9am too. DD is my alarm clock because she usually wakes up before 8am.

As we were late, we had to meet DH's mum at her mother's place instead of picking her up from DH's sister's place. We then headed to DH's cousin, Henry's condominium function room for a huge family gathering. This is the second year that DH's relatives are meeting in a function room rather than having everyone go on a house to house visiting spree, which I really think is less tiring for everyone. On previous years, we had to visit at least 6 families before heading to my parent's place in the late afternoon.

Gong Xi Fa Cai to all who read my blog! Hope you ate lots of yummy CNY goodies!

Cycling and Skate-scooting

Here's what the kids get up to on weekends. Cycling and skate scooting with Grandma and Grandpa! :) (P.S. Please ignore the fact that I was holding the phone up the wrong way when taking the video!!!)