Testing...

I've 'privatized' my blog and sent out the invitations for friends and family to my blog. I hope it works and you all can access my blog to read it!

*fingers crossed*

Bersih rally

Today is an historical day for Malaysia. Right now, there are tens of thousands of Malaysians marching on the streets of Kuala Lumpur towards the national stadium to attend a peaceful rally. The rally is organized by an organization called Bersih (meaning clean in Malay) which fights for clean and fair elections.

Although Bersih has been recognized by our King, it has been declared illegal by the ruling government! Imagine that...

Anyway, these brave souls are facing arrests, tear gas, as well as chemicals and dye shot from water cannons! It has slowed them down, but they are nevertheless still marching strong towards their destination.

Although the government has tried to turn this into a racial issue, a lot of Malaysian are not falling for it and the people marching today are of all races!

This, my friends, is the true 1 Malaysia.

I hope their bravery does bring about change.

I am truly proud to be a Malaysian today.

post laksa gym frenzy

So Hubby enrolled us into a very nice gym which is just a stone's throw away from home and right next to Solomon's school. Thus eliminating any excuses I have of not going to the gym, e.g: no time, traffic jam, very far, lazy...

He enrolled us around a couple of months ago, but I only started going regularly about 3 weeks ago, after the school holidays. The tragedy that spurred me into action was a petrifying 2kg weight gain over the holidays, after having laksa for breakfast almost everyday!! Sis no.4 is a Sarawak Laksa fan and since it is very rare back in Singapore, we went laksa hunting whenever we could! The Secret Recipe cakes didn't help much either...

By the way, after trying laksa at many different coffee shops, we decided our current favourite is the one at Mei Mei coffee shop at Chong Lin. Yumz...

This one was from Chong Chon, Central Park.. also very good.

Okay, focus... focus... gym...

So, about the gym. I try to go after sending the kids to school in the morning. I aim to hit the gym every weekday morning for at least half an hour. I believe regular short sessions are more beneficial than once in a blue moon marathon sessions. The most important thing is to inculcate the habit. Also, I don't have much time to spare as I never seem to be able to have an empty 'to-do' list...

Right now I'm doing cardio exercises, I usually start out with the bike for 15 minutes, then use the other machines like the steps, treadmill, etc. My favourite is the rowing machine. It's fun!...... for like the first 5 minutes or so, that is...

Anyway, hope I can keep this up!!

Slimy slug

So we were in the car (most conversations seem to be in the car, where mummy cannot run away!! hahaha...), and Claire started telling me about her day at school.

Claire: Today we watched t.v. at school. The t.v. was about animals!


Mummy: That's nice...

Claire: Got one animal is a snail but don't have shell!!


Mummy: Oh?

Claire: Ya, it's called a slime!!

Mummy: (chuckling) Oh, I think it's a slug dear.

Claire: Oh yes, a slug!


But she wasn't far wrong was she? Slimy slug... sluggy slime?? Same difference... :)

Baptisms, Birthdays and more...

Besides going to the beach, there was plenty else happening over the holidays:

First there was Baby Adam and Baby Dominic's baptism done by Fr. Richard at the beautiful St. Peter's College Chapel. Hubby was appointed Baby Dominic's Godfather! :)

After the baptism, we headed to the club to celebrate Amelie, Amanda and Ethan's birthdays!

The mommies keeping an eye on the kids at the playground...

The birthday trio

No one told poor Amelie that she had to share her cake, so she got angry and took a swipe at Jie Jie when she also cut the cake! :)

Anyway, it wasn't all fun and games, there was also a Tae Kwon Do upgrading and a visit to the dentist!

Annie has since been upgraded to green belt! Well done dear!

This was a first for Claire and Eva. (Solomon escaped!) Annie has been to the dentist before and this time she just did some scaling and polishing. I also had my teeth cleaned and Claire had a cavity filled. Eva's teeth were fine and as I said, Solomon was out the door before it was his turn!! :)

There was one night when Bishop Dominic Su came to dad's house to say mass for mum. All the neighbourhood rosary group folks came over and after mass we had a simple fellowship. (ie: food!)

It also happened to be Uncle Kent's birthday so we celebrated with a cake. FYI the cake was a glorious white chocolate macadamia nut cake from Secret Recipe and NOT made by me! Apparently Dad thought otherwise and told people that if they wanted, they could order it from me!!

*ack*

 Thank goodness I haven't had any orders for white chocolate macadamia nut cake yet!! :)


Oh yes! there was also a cake baking session. We left the kids with a recipe and let them whip up their own cake!

Aspiring Junior Masterchefs??

Their Devil's food cake was not bad at all! It had  a great soft texture. I was impressed. It's amazing what kids can do if you let them try!

Also, we managed to squeeze in a movie! Kung Fu Panda II at MBO cinema. It was the first time Solomon's been to a cinema and till now, he keeps asking to go again!

So that was it! A jam-packed holiday! We miss the 'Singaporean boys' and can't wait till the next get together!! Christmas perhaps??

It was especially nice for Solomon to have so many boys to play with for a change!

Vampire Schampire...

Annie has a hyperactive imagination. Much like me when I was younger, she is afraid of the dark and imagines monsters and ghouls in open wardrobes! Scary movies are a definite no-no, as they give her nightmares and keep her awake in the night! At the cinema, I even have to warn her of scary movie trailers so she can cover her eyes!

So the other day we were heading home in the car, from a day of playing with the cousins.

As usual, everyone was talking to me at the same time and above the ruckus, I heard Annie asking softly:


Annie: Mummy, do we have lizards in our house?

I did not answer, as I was busy attending to the others, not to mention driving as well!!
So, she asked again:


Annie: Mummy, do we have lizards in our house?

Mum: Yes Annie. Why?

She did not answer me.
I persisted, because I could hear the tone of serious concern in her voice:


Mum: Why Annie?

After some hesitation, she confessed:


Annie: (Cousin) Timothy said that if there are no lizards in your house, it means that there are vampires...


!!!!!




Hahahahaha!!! I was laughing my head off when she added:


Annie: Uncle Polycarp told him one...



Lizards?? Vampires???
Uncle Polycarp???!!! What do you have to say about this???!! Hmmm???

Mid-year school holidays 2011

Wow! So I haven't updated my blog for way too long! I just wanted to leave my 'privatization' notice up for a while..... so I could collect more email addresses...... 'cos there aren't a lot right now..... actually, there are only like..... 6??!  

*sniff sniff*

So I shouldn't worry about over exposure should I? Since apparently, NO ONE reads my blog??!! Hahahaha...

Alright, so now I should warn you, there will be a 'diarrhoea' of blog  posts coming up, 'cos I've skipped blogging about so many happenings. And I'm a bit Obsessive Compulsive, so leaving out events would just really, really bug me!

Okay, anyway, the school holidays ended like 2 weeks ago. Sis no.1 and Sis no.4 came back from Singapore for 2 whole weeks! It was great fun! I don't think they've ever been back for so long before. Here, mid-year school holidays are only 2 weeks, in Singapore, it's 4 whole weeks!

The kids had plenty of time to play and bond with their cousins. While the mummies had plenty of time to gossip and giggle!!! (FYI: all the daddies kept their distance whenever possible! Noisy kids plus gossipy wives repel daddies like oil repels water!! Hahaha)

Here are the photos then...

Yup, we went to Damai Beach again... here's Kung Kung watching over his brood of 17 grandkids!

Needless to say, all the kids had a blast!

Asa said,"See, Annie jie jie make longkang!" :)

Ta Ee even entertained the kids with a fun game of Pictionary!

Daddy and his pretty daughters all in a row! Yedeh... Only Little Brother is missing here...

Even babies Adam and Dominic went out for a bit of sun...

Benedict teaching Solomon how to do sit-ups!

Our staple diet at the beach!!

Happy days....

"Privitazation"

*sigh* 

It's kinda sad, but I've decided I'm going to change my blog settings so that only invited guests may view it. I guess it's got too many personal photos and private information about our lives that Hubby and I think it's a bit risky, what with all the psycho creeps lurking in the big bad world out there!

Besides, Hubby reckons he'll be a multi-billionaire pretty soon, so that'll make the kids sure targets for kidnappers who would want dibs on our many underground vaults stuffed with mountains of gold bars!! Muahahaha...

Anyhoo... I suppose it's not such a big deal, since I am blogging mainly for personal pleasure and to keep in touch with family and friends, as well as to preserve precious memories. God knows I am not earning any money from this blog anyway! Unless you count the US$6 from Google ads!! Hahahaha...

Oh yes! And also RM3.65 from Nuffnang!!! Don play, play okay??!! :)

(Yes, for all the years I've had this blog... 2 years I think!! Though I only joined Nuffnang recently)

I do enjoy reaching out to people from all over the world though. It's like when I was small and had pen pals (I don't think our kids even know what pen pals are anymore... or even letters for that matter!!!) in Canada, France and US. It just seems so cool to be able to connect with people so far away, especially those with the same interests. I've 'met' quite a few friends, 'Supermommies' and 'Uncles' on the amazing Blogosphere and hope they'll want to continue visiting me!

Well, at least I will still have my cake blog to reach out to other cake-crazy strangers with!! :)

Okay, I've got to figure out how to do this 'privatization' thing... I think I have to invite via email.

So, if any of you friends and family out there would like to still have access to my blog, please leave me your email address and name in the comment section at the bottom. Don't worry, I won't publish it so others won't get to see your information.

I'll leave my blog as it is for a while, to see if anyone actually wants to still read my blog!!

I'll change the settings in a few weeks then...

Sayonara!

PS: can also email me at priscillachuo@yahoo.com to leave your name and email add ;)

Back on track...

Oh my! I haven't blogged or read the blogs which I follow for a whole two weeks!! I've been super busy (and also lazy lah...) entertaining the kids and cousins as well as my sisters who are back from Singapore! Also, New Sidekick is still a bit blur, so I'm still training and helping her and can't really leave her alone with the kids for too long.

It's been a wonderful holiday, and when the 'Singaporean' cousins go home tomorrow, things will be slowing down to the same old boring repetitive schedule.

I'll start sorting out my photos and blogging as soon as I can manage to turn off my 'holiday' button and warm up my 'work' engine!! I've been neglecting the shop as well, so will have to see to work and also start going to the gym!! All this holiday Sarawak laksa is migrating to my waist!! *arrgghhhh!!!!*

Next week.... promise....

Damai Beach May 2011

The school holidays have started. They coincide with the Gawai Festival, which is the harvest festival for the natives of Sarawak. So the kids have 2 whole weeks of 'no school'! Which means I also get to sleep in for 2 whole weeks!!
 
*Hooray*!!

Anyways, Cousin Hughie is back from Miri for a week, so we went to the beach last Sunday. We stayed a night at Damai Beach Resort. They seemed to have refurbished the place, so it's much fresher and cleaner now. It used to be quite run down and dark and dank before.

We stayed in the chalet room. It is a bit cheaper to use a travel agent. I booked through Wah Tung Travel and it cost RM235 a night plus breakfast for two,whereas the walk-in rate is around RM290.

I like the chalets because they are conveniently situated right in front of the beach.

We had two days of clear blue skies and crazy hot sun! The kids had a whale of a time playing at the beach and digging holes on the first afternoon, right up till the evening.

There was, of course, an ice-cream break. What's sun, surf and sand without ice-cream eh?

Then there was more sand play...

That night, we had dinner at the hotel restaurant. I wouldn't recommend eating there, if it were not only for convenience's sake. The other option would be to pile into the car and drive to nearby mosquito-infested seafood restaurants which are moreover usually crowded and hot.

 The next morning, Hubby had to go back to town early for meetings and errands. Tai Ku and Uncle Dylan had already left the night before because they had to work on Monday.

The rest of us had the buffet breakfast, then headed off to the beach. Annie loves exploring the tidal pools and discovering little snails, fish, prawns and crabs among the rocks.

I think Cousin Hughie enjoyed himself the most, as this was his first time playing on the beach! I'll bet he can't wait till the next beach holiday!