Little Darlings

Some months back when I went to Ikea, I bought ourselves a dining table. People would comment, “Huh … you bought a dining table? Then where do you eat last time?” When they were much younger, they eat here. Then they shifted to this table ….

And when the family is eating with 3-4 dishes laid out, the four of us have to cramp into this small mini table. So, while window shopping at Ikea I finally got ourselves a new dining table.

We use the storage bench as seats too. That way we don’t need to buy more chairs. We already have a number of them in the storeroom. The bench is also great for storing kids stuff.

When Princess was very much younger at around 1½yo, she likes to do this …..

She finds it so fun and when people react towards her, she would be so excited and she’d do it over and over and over again.

Now at the age of 6, she’s still doing this …

Not only that, now she’s assisting Boy, too …

In the new info age, many people are going for photobooks. When I got married, my wedding album only had fixed layout. I have seen a website that offer custom-made layout wedding albums that matches each picture perfectly. Needless to say, the quality is outta this world. Its super-duper clear.

If you ask me, I would definitely get one of these wedding albums for my friends/cousins wedding as a surprise gift! A few years ago, my kids, too had photos taken at a studio. When it comes to studio shots, everything costs money. When you want to make an album with the pics taken, its gonna cost a bomb. I have bought a normal photo album to fit it all in but I’ve thought about it. Since photobooks are the trend these days and the quality lasts even longer, why don’t I try out the pics and make it into a photobook. Yes  its a splendid idea indeed!

These were taken last year and it was Princess final year at kindy. So far, I’m very happy with her progress. She has improved a lot – both in her school work and well-being. She’s already cleaning up herself in the toilet early of last year. All these times, I’ve been worried that no one would clean her when she does her ‘big business’ in school. She’s a logical and understanding kid. Whenever I advice her, she’ll think about the matter and act on it maturely. For instance, if she have a lot of homework, she’d finish it in school or daycare before she comes home because I’ve always advice her that if she finishes her work, then when she comes home she’ll have ample time to play before going to bed at 930pm. I always remind her that for all decisions she makes, there will always be consequences. Sometimes, I would take people in general as an example. When a man sweeps the road, I would tell the kids, “if you don’t learn and be lazy, next time you will have to sweep the road and earn little bit money”. They understands cos they don’t complain when it comes to learning. They know its the path that leads to improvement. Princess is also a very caring sister. She loves her brother with all her heart. Whenever she gets something, she would get it for her brother. Or when the principal gives her 2 gummies, she would give to her brother because she said its his favourite. And sometimes, when we cross the road or in a busy place, she would insist her brother to follow us closely. Another incident when they were swimming, Boy’s float was punctured. Princess was so worried he would drown, told him to stay nearer to the stairs and offered him her float. I’m very fortunate to have a daughter who loves unconditionally. Like many siblings, they do fight over trivial matters but after that they are ‘friends’ again. She’s one good kid!

This is a summary of what the kids did during the 2 weeks before school reopen.

We went to the Dolphin & Seal Show at Sunway. The tickets for the 4 of us was $120 for a 45mins show. Pretty pricey On top of that they charge $15 bucks for photo taken with the dolphins. Parking was bad. We had to go for valet parking. The amount of cars there were absolutely unbelievable – like things were free.

Before the start of the performance

The dolphins

Haha .. Boy being kissed by the dolphin

Sunway Pyramid Christmas Deco

Enjoying Midori, Japanese Ice-Cream

The week after that, we went to Sunway Pyramid again with my sis and family. They wanted to go for kiddy rides and the mall had installed some new rides like – bumper cars, carousel, ferris wheel blah blah blah.  Tickets was not cheap. Hubs had to rush off for company event. Did a bit of shopping and we had dinner at Xian Ding Wei, a Taiwanese Restaurant with my sis & family. Food taste good. Don’t know whether we were hungry or what but it was quite good. Boy and Princess had a Squid set and each of them finished a bowl of rice with mince meat plus some fried squid and a bowl of double boiled soup. Price was reasonable, too.

Kids on kiddy rides

Dishes we ordered:

Oyster Noodle – its so-so .. I prefer the Shilin Taiwan Snack Oyster Noodle

Squid Set

Cod Fish Set

Sweet & Sour Pork

Braised Chicken

After dinner, we went see some Bloom cosmetics and my little vain pot also want to try some make-up. So, we tested it on her.

First day in P1 for Princess was great. It was horribly jam when I sent her to school but luckily I found a place to park 15 mins before school start. She was totally excited. Wanted to carry her bag from the school gate itself. I didn’t let her cos I find that the trolley bag I got her was actually quite heavy. I carried for her until she reached the assembly line. Wanted for another half hour before she actually got into her class. On the way I bumped into Lisa. I was kinda blur cos I was rushing. Sorry Lisa couldn’t talk much but it was great seeing you and you look great! I was in Princess class almost half an hour and I had to send Boy to kindy and he was already running late. So I left her there after explaining everything she needed to do, should do and shouldn’t do.

Boy reached school 15mins late. This year he and his friend goes to different classes. I was relieved cos when the 2 of them get-together, all hell breaks lose. So I suppose the principal knows this that’s why they were separated. Hehehe. He was cool too though he did grumble that he didn’t want school to start cos he wanted to play nds the whole day long. You see – during school week days they are not allowed to lay their hands on any gaming device. TV is also minimal on week days.

After I picked Boy from school, dropped him at daycare then went scouting for Princess’s new bag. The trolley one is really a no-no. Finally got her Impact that cost an arm and a leg! I tested it and find that its quite comfy. A bit smaller than her previous bag tho. I just had to get her another smaller bag to put her exercise books. Since the kids have been good on their first day in school, Daddy got them Nerf – something that I would never ever buy for them!

Princess being the 1st day in a new school, she showed independence and adaptability that makes me very proud of her compared to her 1st time in kindy. Time really flies by and she’s entering into another chapter of her life. Tho she’s growing fast, she will always be my baby girl. For Boy, this year is his final year in kindy. I have a good feeling that he will be like his jie jie – independent.

Princess with her friend, Xiang Ting

Boy with his friend, Alvern

Nerf: The gift Daddy gave. Look at them posing!

Today is another milestone for my Princess. She’s going into Standard One. It seemed like only yesterday she entered into kindergarten. Time really flies by like a speed of light. I remembered when she first went into kindergarten 2 years back, she was clingy to me and wept for a week. Looking back, my baby’s grown so much – mentally and physically. She had her Orientation in school last Thursday and she’s doing so well. The hall was swarmed with parents and some weeping kids. We left her with her class at the hall. I stood by to make sure she’s ok. The boy sat next to her was weeping badly. I stood there thinking – my girl who’s quite emotional and weepy when she was younger .. will she follow suit and cry? She looked at the boy half day-dreaming half sleepy and looked away. I was beyond relieved. Though four of her friends are attending the same school not in the same class, she’s still cool about it. I’m really proud of her. She was really excited going into Standard One. When school closed for the long break last year end, she immediately asked when school’s starting again. During the holidays, got her a new bag, stationaries and shoes. And guess what are the new bag and stationaries .. sigh HSM. She’s still crazy over that. I prepared all necessities plus an activity book and pencils just in case she gets bored and her mind starts to wonder off to ‘missing mommy’ land. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that later she’ll be fine. Here are some pics taken at the orientation last Thursday. Gotta get some shut eye. Looks like mom is even more excited then the girl. Hehehe. Will update later.

I have kept 2 pics that was taken sometime back. I thought of blogging bout it but I’ve been procrastinating. I’ll just post it here with a short summary.

This is the kids’ concert performance dated 26th July 2009. They were great. Boy’s movement was minimal probably cos they were younger but Princess and friends performance was really good. A lot of movement.

On the way back from school, he likes taking out glasses to wear and look what he’s invented!!!!

X’Mas dinner at my mom like every year as always and have always been great. The kids were warned to finish their dinner if not no presents! As usual every Sunday when they get-together, they don’t always finish their meals  until being told many many million times. This time, for presents sake I suppose they finished without much nagging. So I was really pleased. My kids are getting skinnier by the day. Don’t know whether they’ve grown taller or skinnier. Hmph! Been having problem getting them to finish their meals. If the food is good, they don’t have to be told. They’ll wallop everything in sight. What picky eaters I have … hmph!

For BBQ this time we had the usual lamb, squid, chicken and salad but no beef cos many of us don’t take beef anymore. The kids had fun roasting marshmallows. It was good too. Yummy! When dinner was over, the kids were bugging us for the presents and when they finally opened it, it was havoc in the house .. paper wrappers everywhere!! Imagine over 60 gifts for both kids and adults! The surprise on the kids faces were a nice sight.

The presents under the tree

Boy with my 8yo nephew

Excited boy he is!

Hahha! His bumblebee head is too big for his body.

Princess counting the number of pressies she receive. Hehehe!

The cuties with the masks my sis got from Ikea.

We are off to my mom’s for a sizzling BBQ dinner. At the bottom of the tree, there are more than 60 wrapped gifts. You can imagine how big is our family!! Will update on the dinner later on. Till then …

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!