SNG and their Pretty Photo Frames

I was busy packing the bookshelves last week and found some plain Ikea wooden frames. Since the kids are at home, i took out the paints and some ear buds so that they can paint the frames.  After painting and drying them, we pasted some stickers on it to decorate it. 

  

See.. Nice work arh?

Nick and his Imaginary Bus and House

Nick "pong tang" school on Friday and mummy decided to bring both Nick and Grace to Ikea!  We did not go one near our home as we have been there every other day for the whole week!  We went on a BUS to the Alexandra Ikea! 

  

From my place, we had to walk 15 mins under the hot sun to the main road, then board on bus 33 (gosh! i didn't know the journey would take us over an hour!) and by the time we were there, Nick and Grace were already fussing big time!

  

When we got home, Nick took the magic geometry box and did this to show me. 

He calls this " Nicholas's 3 deck bus and mummy's house on the bus".

  

Nick : Mummy, see.. This is Nicholas's 3 deck bus and mummy's house on the bus. 

Me : How come Nicholas owns a bus? 

Nick : Then i no need to take the bus and stop at every bus-stop. I can go on the highway.

Me :Why 3 decks? Most buses are only double decker you know.. 

Nick : Because there are not enough seats for everyone to sit in the bus. People push here and there.

Me :  I see.. Then why is mummy's house on top of the bus?

Nick : B'cos mummy like to go kai kai (shopping) so i put mummy's house on the bus. Then when mummy walk and walk, Nicholas can go home to pass motion(my fault, whenever i am too engrossed with shopping or too lazy to bring him to poo in public toilets, i tend to tell him the toilets are stinky and dirty!  But well, also cannot blame me cos when Nick poos, somehow, Grace also want to poo! And i hate cleaning their butts!). 

Nick and Grace at the Beach

Been a long time since the kids took their bikes to the beach. Today, we popped by to East Coast Beach when daddy got home as Grace got "upgraded" to a "like Nicholas's bicycle (in her own words)".  We were pretty surprise that she could actually cycle. :)  

  

Hope daddy will be home early everyday so that we can pop by the beach more often! :P

Grace having fun with the Tangram

I have looking around for another toy similar to the Tangram, but as it's a Montessori kind of toy, the original version would be very expensive and difficult to find in Singapore. The imitation china made ones would usually come in poor quality like rougher corners so i didn't want to take the chance of Grace getting pricked by the wood.  I chanced upon the chinese tangram while window-shopping the pasar malam a couple of nights ago, dunno where was it manufactured, but the quality was decent..  With that, i made up my own cards for Grace to play around with it. 

Sample of the cards that i DIY for Grace.

Grace trying to fix the right piece into the right place. Seems like a simple task, but not so for the little girl. She needs to get the colors, sizes and directions right.

A short getaway to Genting Highlands

On bright Friday morning, I opened my eyes and declared to the kids "WE ARE GOING TO GENTING HIGHLANDS TODAY!"..  My husband stared at me and asked "I no need to work arh?" :P  So, daddy went off to work and came home in the evening, shocked. I declared i've booked the rooms in Genting, packed all the clothes and we are ready to leave right after daddy gets his bathe.. :)

  

So, off we go after daddy gotten his bath!!

  

The journey to Genting from SG took us 8 hours!! There was no jam on the causeway nor the highways.. So we have no clue how come we took ages to reach there..  Maybe too many pit-stops.. 

  

Grace and Nick at one of the Rest Stops.  

We reached Genting slightly after midnight. Daddy was hungry, so we had to accompany him to look for food.

The next day after breakfast.

Me and My Reflections

Over the past years, I have been so caught up in the rats race that I hardly have time to sit on my butt, sip coffee and think about my family, my directions and my goals. More often than not, my husband and me only think on our feet and seldom will I/we have the time to ponder on it after a decision is being made or to follow-up thoroughly the goals in detail. All the family planning with my husband are usually done in the car on the way to and fro work, and once it’s decided, we usually do as planned rather than to re-think how and where we could do better.  

Now that I am a full time Stay-At-Home-Mum (a nicer word than a Full Time Housewife right?) I have time to sip coffee and think while the kids are at school or having their afternoon naps.

My day to day lifestyle :

Meals - Now that I am spending more time with the kids, I take great pains to cook a decent meal for them at dinner time. Most of my friends who know me well enough know that I can’t cook! Even simple task like stir frying vegetables or steaming a fish is just so so tough that I will either overcook or undercook them.  But glad to say, it’s all much better now.  I also stick with the healthy food choices like fish, chicken or meat in a meal, complete with vegetables and soup.

Household chores -  Since we fired the maid, the responsibility of cleaning up the place automatically falls onto my plate. And yes.. I AM HOPELESS WITH CLEANING UP TOO!  Lucky for me, my husband is completely aware that I am not able to clean up the place to his standards, he has decided to get in a part-time cleaner 3 times a week to help out on it. :)

Me time – My 3 kids are in school in the mornings, so I have the “luxury” of heading to the library or Borders to buy or read a book, or  head out to coffee joints for the free air-con while sipping coffee and reading the papers / book or just to surf the net.  Some days, Grace or Nick get to “pon-tang” school so that I get to spend some time in the morning alone with each kid. We usually end up in the indoor playgrounds or parks, or even the zoo.

Well, overall, life's good although there is lesser money to spend, but thinking back, what is worth more than spending quality time bonding with the kids? 

The World Captured on Grace’s Len – Botanical Gardens

Do we only see things that we want to see and miss out on others that are there yet fail to catch our eye?

  

How often do we remember to slow down our footsteps to appreciate the beautiful surrounds we have around us?

  

We recently made a trip to the Botanical Gardens and I am surprise to see some of the pictures taken through the camera lens of my young lady, which I missed out when I am at the Gardens.

  

Enjoy.. :)

A trip to the Zoo

It's been some time since we last visited the zoo. Well, this trip wasn't to visit any friends (animals), but to go to the Rainforest KidzWorld.. :P

  

Sam on the Rhino 

Nick and Grace with the Otters (ps: Grace got so scared that she started crying and didn't dare to move)
Sam and Nick with ah meng..
Nick and Sam's joint effort to catch the crocodile :)

Finally arrived at the Rainforest KidzWorld. Forgetful mummy actually forgot to apply sun-block lotion for all so Grace and Daddy were BURNT by the time we left..