Projects

I have been wanting to do this Science Project with the kids for a long time. Didnt get down to it because I needed white flowers and just few days ago, I managed to pass by the florist where I just bought one stalk of white flowers which can be broken into few pieces with tiny flowers on it.

I added colouring to the water and place the flowers in it so that eventually, the children will get to see how the white flower changes colour because of how the water travels from the stem to the leaves.



Also did art project with the kids few days ago as Danielle needed to submit a recycled transport vehicle for her school. I assigned this task to my hubby to do as I did one art project recently with Caleb already. So now it was his turn. So he decided to make a boat with milk carton.

And of course, with 2 kids, you've got to prepare double the materials as the other child would also like to get involved.




Danielle's sail was crumpled because after she coloured a little, she immediately crushed it.

Anyway, had a great time spending time with them as we all saw the rewards after all that hard work!

Faces of Danielle..

Danielle has been a wonderful girl. She has grown to be sweet looking, joyful and independent.



She likes to choose what to wear and she can be very choosy!! Here's her shirt which she insisted on wearing even though its too small.



And there's Danielle in the potty doing her big business at the age of 2 years, 4 months. She was also donning on my swimming cap which she insisted on wearing.

I've got to say, Danielle has character! Love her a lot and I will always be very proud of her!

Won contest

My hubby's company organised a photo contest on their childhood and he submitted this!



My hubby actually won the hunk category!

So he brought home his prize which was this! The whole family attacked the snacks and we all had a great time eating. For me, it was a reminiscent of the past as most were my childhood snacks!

Family workout

Just the night before, we went to check out the latest developments around my area- huge snooker place with many tables as well as an indoor football court



There will also be prawn fishing as well as more restaurants coming up. At present, we have a Japanese Restaurant-Shin Nichi, Popeyes Fast Food, Xian Seafood Restaurant and Frienzie Bistro and Bar Restaurant.


The next morning, we brought the kids for jogging.


The kids loved it!





After the workout, we went to KFC for breakfast where the kids had waffles and pancake which they were chomping down!



Truly enjoyed time spent with the kids doing meaningful activities like this, rather than staying at home, watching TV or playing with the computer.

CT returns..

CT has been away for almost 2 weeks and it felt like ages. But thankfully, I was so busy with work that time flies by quickly. Went to airport to pick CT up and I was so touched when my cell group leader, Daniel and Rachel also went along to welcome CT home. That was a very sweet gesture!

Initially, CT thought of coming home by himself since I have swimming meet the next morning. But I insisted since I knew I would also be at home waiting for him to come home and thus not being able to sleep. So, I might as well, go to the airport to welcome him!

Anyway, the next day, went for my Public Service swimming meet by taxi at Civil Service Club. The same, usual place every year...

They renovated the kids' pool and its nicer with the slide and waterfall.


The reason why I make sure I attend this every year is because I feel competition is in my blood..I will feel something is missing if I do not compete. I also enjoy meeting up with my old swimming friends and making new ones.


And lastly, I have to admit, its the goodies that I get that is the main attraction. Every year, I get new swimming costumes, 2 -3 shirts, one shorts, bag, swimming goggles, swimming cap etc. The list goes on. Thanks to our sponsors like Arena! We would also get extra from last years' prize money from our winnings. This year, Li Ning also sponsored us. So we have extra Li Ning bag and water bottle! Yay!

This year, I swam 50m back, 50m free, and 2 relays. Irritating thing was that I was up against a Filipino female Olympic Swimmer who just joined this year and she was in every event I was down. My results: 3 events- 4th position and 1 event- gold. Oh well..at least I have one gold. ;)

My family came down to support me in the later part of the morning. Danielle and Caleb swam in the children's pool. After the meet, we bought lunch back home to eat as it was quite late and the kids were tired.

After reaching home, CT surprised me with his biggest buy in US. I actually went to check my email and he sent me a apple ipad website and just said, "Surprise" in the mail. I was thinking what is the surprise since its just a website. I really didnt expect anything since he has already gotten me a new Diesel watch from US that costs US$100! So I questioned him about what surprise and he just refused to say anything but smile. So I went to search my drawers and found this!!



I was shocked and speechless..also very happy!! For those who know my hubby, he is not one who would spend extravagantly and for him to buy that for me, it is amazing! Very touched. Thanks CT!! You're the best!

Danielle coping well

My helper, Vicky would go down to pick up my 2 children when they come back in the school bus. When both end up sleeping, she has to put one in the pram, while she carries the other one. So as not to wake Danielle up, she leaves Danielle in the pram.


This is the best way as if Danielle does wake up, she wouldnt want to sleep again and she would end up feeling very tired when evening comes. So, its best to leave her sleeping like that.

I'm glad Danielle seemed to be coping well in school and enjoying herself. She always comes back happy. Even at home, she would be stuffing things in her school bag, and carrying it around.


My prayer for Danielle is that she would continue to enjoy going to school even when she grows up!

Steamed Cabbage wrapped with minced pork

Cooked this really simple, great tasting and nutritious dish.

The chinese cabbage made the difference! Basically, I used minced pork. Seasoned it with the basic stuff like salt, soya sauce, sesame oil, pepper. If you have water chestnuts and spring onions, you can add it too!


Then just wrap it with cabbage and steam it. After steaming, you will have some 'juice' from the pork and cabbage. I retained all those for my sauce. I basically added the 'juice' to the pan and added abalone sauce and oyster sauce. Then thicken it with corn flour. If you want to add another dimension to the sauce, you can throw in dried scallops as well! I can imagine it will taste really good.

The most important thing about this dish is that you should not overcook the minced meat inside. You would not want the meat to end up tough and dry. Everything should be sweet, tasty and juicy!

You can substitute minced pork with minced chicken as well!

Enjoy!

Visit to SPCA

The last time I visited the SPCA was about almost 10 years ago when I had my current dog, Ashley. Went today to bring my students there to expose them and to teach them how to care for their pets.

There was a volunteer who gave us a lecture on pet abuse and many of my girls cringed at the sight of those gory pictures.

After that, we went to the cages to take a look at the dogs and cats. There were two dogs which I liked very much.



Here's the other one


From today's activity, I saw a different side of some of my students who were not afraid to enter the cages of the dogs to be with them and pet them.




Some of the dogs, I would even hesitate to enter the cages because of their sheer size but I was really impressed with the love of animals my students displayed during this excursion.


We all had a great time!

having fun together

I think ever since Danielle has started going to school,taking the school bus with korkor, she seemed to have matured and grown closer to Caleb.

Here's Danielle still trying to get used to the school hours as she fell asleep at the sofa while watching TV in the evening at about 6pm.


Then after dinner, she and korkor were playing with the pram. Danielle sits on it while Caleb would be pulling her around. How cute.



The next day, there's Danielle and Caleb playing together again..as I got out my old Singapore Airlines Mastermind game. The kids had fun putting in the pins into the holes.


Another night, both of them started playing "doctor" to each other by taking Vicky's earphones as the stethoscope. The funny thing was how Danielle used the 'stethoscope' to hear Caleb's feet! haha.



And there's Caleb playing injured and showing his hand to the doctor. Then Danielle used the 'stethoscope' to hear his hand. So funny. I really wonder where they learn this.


There's Dr Danielle.


On one Sunday, I did art and craft with the children. It was actually for Caleb's school work. His teacher required the parents to do art with the child and submit the
work. The theme was underwater creatures, using recycled materials. So I decided to make a turtle with him. I also had to teach him a line or two about the sea creature that I made so that he could go to school and present his artwork to the class. I was actually a little stress as I thought about what to do.

I knew I couldn't be doing the artwork without Danielle's participation. I was sure she wanted to join in too. So I had to prepare the materials just for this. Quite an effort I would say since its not natural for me to do such things with my kids.





However, I have to say that I do appreciate the school for asking the parent to do this art work with the child as it is a great time for bonding and at the end of it all, I'm sure the kids had fun and they would be filled with joy and pride just looking at their finished work!


So instead of fighting and struggling with what we do not like to do, its better to just bear with it,embrace it and learn to enjoy! Something good will definitely come out of it!

Leaving on a Jet Plane

My hubby will be going off to US for almost 2 weeks. So just the night before, I cooked a special dinner for him and the family.





We had Lo Hei (Salad toss) which I used corn flakes, green apple, radish, carrots and jellyfish. Nice and healthy. Also made creamed corn chicken soup as well as braised pork with sze chuan vegetables and beancurd.

CT's flight the next morning was at 6am. So we had to go to the airport at 4am. Here's both of us at the airport during the wee hours of the morning.


After having Macdonald's breakfast together at the airport and sending CT off, I could have gone home to sleep about an hour plus. However, I didnt as I was quite awake already and moreover, I might be even more tired after going back to sleep. So I stayed in the airport to set my exam paper before heading to school for work!

By the way,during breakfast, I went into the internet to facebook my status and my colleague actually messaged me to get her Macdonald breakfast! The power of facebook and technology!!

Have a great trip CT! Will definitely miss you.

Birthday Celebration at CSC

Went CSC today to celebrate a friend's birthday. My parents are host parents to 2 China University students and it was one of the student's birthday. So my parents suggested taking them for a swim, bowling and dinner to celebrate.



After the swim, we had 2 games of bowling. Caleb also had a go at bowling for his first time.


The Man Zhu Restaurant at CSC has been revamped and it looks really nice. The children were also given colouring paper and crayons to keep them occupied.



The food as usual is good and reasonable priced. CT had Hainanese chicken rice

My mum had the Hock Lam Beef Noodles while I had the fried beef kway teow.




As for the children, I ordered a dinner set for 2 for them and for my helper, Vicky. It comes with soup, 3 dishes and dessert.





Danielle loved the soup!


We had a really enjoyable time celebrating the China student's birthday. Nothing means more to me than to see my children enjoying themselves too!