play doh

 Usually during school holidays we will have a play doh making session. It's a lot of fun and a whole lot of mess as well!

Note that this was during the year-end holiday when Sidekick was still around to clean up. I do not foresee any more play doh making sessions in the near future! lol!

FYI: Sidekick left after finishing her 2 year contract. I initially planned to get a replacement, but after waiting for 2 months for one to no avail, I have decided otherwise.
 I am used to doing the house work and in fact think I do a better job, what with my OCD tendencies and all (have learned to reign it in a bit otherwise I'd be cleaning the whole day away). The kids are also so much more responsible now and make their beds everyday, fold their own clothes and help with the chores. Previously they would just leave towels and clothes strewn all over the floor! That is still the case now, occasionally, but I can see an immense difference in them.
Also my Zumba teaching schedule has been adjusted so that I don't have to leave the kids alone at home at night. 
So I think this is it! No more Sidekick for me! I may consider a daily cleaner in the future.
 

 

long silence

IT IS (almost) OCTOBER!

Where did the year go??

I have been so busy and more importantly; maid-less (!!!), so that explains the looong silence! Another reason for not blogging: my geriatric home PC and equally ancient netbook were both due to be thrown out the window!

Anyway, now we have a new home PC, and many, many exciting things and also not-so-exciting changes have happened since my last post.. so I shall attempt to clear off this backlog...

I am now sans Side Kick, but the show must go on!!!! Let's revive my blog!

burst bubbles

So today Solomon got 2 bubbles burst:

1. He wore a 'dinosaur tooth' pendant/necklace to school today. It came free with a dinosaur book he ordered.

In the elevator I casually mentioned,  "You know that's not a real dinosaur tooth right?"

"Ha?!" he exclaimed, looking crestfallen.

Ooops...

2. Solomon told me, "Mummy, I know the Tooth Fairy is not real."

I asked him how he knew..  He said his teacher told him when he showed her the note the Tooth Fairy wrote to him.

Party pooper...  Lol

FYI: Eva wrote the note a few months ago and placed it under his pillow along with the money. He had misplaced his tooth and was worried he wouldn't get any money. The note said: "Why is your tooth not under your pillow Solomon? From Tooth Fairy"

different wavelengths

So in the car, the radio DJ was reading the entertainment news and mentioned that Megan Trainor had a hemorrhage in her vocal chords and was thus going to cancel her tour...

Claire: What happened to Megan Trainor?

Solomon: Megatron??!

mississippi

We were walking at the basement car park when Solomon stopped suddenly and pointed to the ground.

"Hey! That's a mississippi! "

Three guesses...

P/S: there was once he spotted a Monica lizard. 

magic wipes

So there was this one time, I was out sending Annie to one of her activities when Claire phoned me. There was an urgency in her voice and also wailing in the background so I knew something was up. 

She told me that Eva had been playing with Solomon until his tooth came out!

My first question was, "Was it a shaky tooth?" 

She repeated my question aloud and it was replied with even louder wailing! 

Then I asked if there was a lot of blood and whether it was still bleeding. She confirmed that there was not much bleeding and I instructed her to get Solomon to bite down on a towel if the bleeding wouldn't stop. 

Later on when I got home, I got the whole story. This is what went down:

Solomon and Eva were playing with a piece of wet wipe. (FYI: yes, we do buy them toys) They were pulling at it and were terribly amazed that it was so strong, it would not tear! 

So Eva came up with a bright idea and said to Solomon,  "You bite the wet wipes and I pull!" 

He then proceeded to lie down on the floor with the wet wipe clenched firmly between his teeth and Eva of course pulled. 

... and you know the rest...

eyesight update

During the school holidays, I took the opportunity to bring the kids for their eye check-ups. All the girls got new lenses, as their degrees changed and Solomon got his first pair of glasses! So now the whole family needs glasses!

This time cousin Hughie joined us. We found out that he too has slight astigmatism, but nothing too severe. So he can still do without glasses for now, though it will be better to monitor his eyesight regularly.

I'll put their results here so I can have a record to refer back to next time:

Date: 16th December 2014

Annie:
Right- 200* myopia/ no astigmatism
Left- 75* myopia/ 100* astigmatism

Claire:
Right- 125* myopia/ 375* astigmatism
Left- 150* myopia/ 400* astigmatism

Eva:
Right- 225* myopia/ 25* astigmatism
Left- 200* myopia/ 50* astigmatism

Solomon:
Right- no myopia/ 100* astigmatism
Left- no myopia/ 175* astigmatism
(currently long-sighted)

First pair! He chose the exact same colours as Dad's!

seiku poh from london

In December, Seiku Poh visited us all the way from London. This time she stayed quite long and managed to spend a lot of quality time with family. It was great chatting with her and learning more about what the previous generation got up to in their younger days!

hunting for sports shoes and scarves at India Street

ice kacang and rojak on a hot day

the complete set of siblings

goodbyes are never easy...

till we meet again

Christmas party @ Tebedu

packing gifts - assembly line style

So every year, we help out at a church at Tebedu, which is near the Indonesian border. We pack simple gifts, sponsored by the Lions Club and other kind souls, to bring there and give out to children during the annual Christmas party. At the same time, we usually bring up bags of second-hand clothes and toys which have been collected over the year.

This year, Cousin Hughie managed to join us, as he was home for a long holiday before moving far away to New Zealand! This year's party was a little earlier, so the Singaporean cousins missed it.

photo op with the organizers

tasting raindrops!

On the way back home, Kung Kung's car overheated. The radiator was bone dry and attempts to revive the car, after many litres of water, proved unsuccessful. In the end we called a tow truck and it was towed to a workshop at the nearest town. Later on, we found that the only option was to totally change the engine!

When the whole entourage stopped by the roadside to have a look at Kung Kung's car engine, Cousin Hughie asked me, "Why are we stopping?"

I told him that there was a problem with Kung Kung's car and I was stopping to have a look.

He promptly wailed, "We're gonna be stuck here forever?!!" and was starting to cry!

The poor boy! Luckily after some reassurance he calmed down and all the kids waited patiently in the car while the adults tried to figure out what to do.

All in all, it was a fun adventure!!

bowling @ megalanes

The whole academic year is always so hectic, what with all the rushing to and fro school, tuition classes and extra-curricular activities. So holiday time is when we finally have time to do things which we have always wanted to do but  never got around to doing. One of these things is bowling. The kids always bug me to bring them bowling. So they were ecstatic when we finally visited Megalanes, a new bowling alley in town.

The kids had a blast of course!

Annie's vacation

Over the long holiday, Annie attended her dance school's Vacation Camp. At the end of the camp, there was a small concert for parents to see what their children had done over the week. It was very impressive, they can learn so much in just a few days! Now Annie and Cousin Allyson are both senior dancers and can dance on pointe, i.e: on tip toes, just like professional ballerinas!

going through their exercises

Symphony of the seas

the Lion King's 'Circle of Life'

receiving a medal for 'most improvement'

 
After that she started working at my friend's ice-cream shop, Cloud 99. It was a very good experience for her, earning her own pocket money and using some of it to make her first online clothes purchase! She also now knows how to make quick-freeze ice-cream using liquid nitrogen! Many thanks to my friend for giving her this invaluable experience!

Annie had a lot of visitors at work

hard at work

kids love to see the liquid nitrogen become nitrogen gas

Christmas parade 2014

The year-end school holiday was packed with fun activities. One of them was the annual Christmas parade. This was the first time all the kids participated. It is a yearly event organized by churches of different denominations in Kuching. The parade was from Jubilee ground all the way to the Waterfront and back.

We walked and sang Christmas carols and gave out small gifts and sweets. It was so much fun and the kids really enjoyed walking in the middle of roads specially closed for the occasion, which on normal days were only meant for cars! They sang and laughed and greeted strangers watching at the roadside!

All ready to go!

Assembling at Jubilee Ground

cousins Amanda and Tim were Christmas elves!

Cousin Hughie was over for the holidays and joined in the fun!

passing by the Waterfront at the centre of town

Everyone had a great time! Since the kids are all old enough to walk longer distances, we should do this every year!