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!

2014 academic year

Erm... yeah... I am aware that it is now February 2015! Heh.

On top of family duties, I have been inundated with Zumba activities of all kinds and am usually so physically tired afterwards that all I do is eat and sleep!! Lol

So let's get things up to date shall we?

2014 was another good academic year. All the kids performed well and Mummy and Daddy are as proud as always!

First off, Solomon has graduated from kindergarten! He was a very proud and happy little boy when he walked on stage to accept his certificate!

His graduation portrait is now hanging on the wall at Kung Kung's house with the rest!

The kids also received their Kumon achievement medals. This was Solomon's first Kumon medal so he was ecstatic! It is Annie's last medal as she has stopped Kumon. Claire also received a book, the classic; "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory". She has followed the program for many years and has learnt so much. It is now time for her to focus on other subjects and continue self-learning for her mathematics.

This year Eva came in first in her class again!

Annie and Claire also did amazingly well by getting second position in class.

Well done all of you! Your hard work has paid off!

Now they're all into the new school year of 2015! Solomon has joined his sisters in "big children school"! No more kindy in my bus route!

Solomon has settled well into his new school and in the first week was delightfully overwhelmed by the selection of food at the canteen and wanted to buy everything! Lol!

Solomon getting his new 'big boy uniform' at the tailor.

School was meant to start at the first week of the year, but due to bad flooding in West Malaysia, some schools started a week later.

Here are all the first-day-of-school pics. Let's hope for another great year ahead!

Rise and shine!!

Waking up early for first day of school after sleeping in for 2 glorious months!

Consequences of waking up early!

First day at school! :(

Up before the sun!

Also first day at primary school for cousin Asa

First day at secondary!

Prefect this year! ;)