New Year's Eve at the Gardens

Decided to bring the children to the Chinese and Japanese Gardens today. I probably went there as a kid before, but have totally no recollection of that place. So, it was nice to visit it and venture to the other side of the island.

Certain part of the Chinese Garden made me feel like I was in the scenes of Jin Yong's martial arts drama show which I used to watch when I was a kid growing up-"Return of the Condor Heroes 神鵰俠侶" or "Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre 倚天屠龍記"

During our visit there, Danielle ran too quickly and fell down on the gravel road. Poor gal.

Looking at her reminds me of my childhood as well of how I so often get into accidents, get cuts and bruises etc. Oh well.. Anyway, one thing I learn from them is how fast their recovery rate is! They do not stay in self-pity mode for long and very soon, you see them all smiles again as she fed the fishes.

After that, we dropped by at IMM for dinner and to the children's playground before heading back home.

As usual, time spent with my children is always time well-spent.

Indoor play..

Having received new toys from Christmas sure excites the children! Day and night, they have been asking to play Playdoh..

Most parents I know do not like their children to play with this as it creates a lot of mess which they will end up cleaning. As for me, I definitely feel controlled mess is fine and if the children can learn something by being messy, why not? Its just like feeding my children. Do you train your children to feed themselves thus allowing them to mess up the floor, or would you rather feed them so that they can eat faster and cleaner?

Anyway, I always believing in providing a safe, secure and loving environment for my children to make mistakes or in this case, create mess so that they will learn. I do not wish to provide them with so much that they become too reliant on me and assume that I will always be there for them.

Today, I did with them an art and craft which was given to them for their Christmas. We had lots of fun doing it together. Here's Caleb's piece of work!

They stick it on their own..

After that, I displayed their masterpieces on top of my piano to give them a sense of satisfaction. They seemed very pleased with themselves. Good job Caleb and Danielle!

Christmas with friends..

My students, whom I have regarded as friends, came to my house to celebrate Christmas together. To be honest, I find it hard to separate friends and students relationship. To me, as long as I know your name and a little about yourself , I consider you my friend already. That does not mean my students can take things for granted because in any relationship, there has to be mutual respect. So be it a teacher-student relationship or a friendship, I still expect my friends or students to show me respect as I show them the same. But anyway, now that they have graduated, I can safely say that they are my friends. I specially prepared for them a Christmas dinner. I just love inviting people over for a meal and cooking for them. Just wish my house was a little bigger to host more people.

Prepared ham with sauce (compliments from mum), grilled chicken wings, fruit salad, cheese baked pasta or whatever you call it as well as burrito wrap with chicken marinated with mexican rub (self wrap). After that, also treated them to ice cream.

Like to thank them for bringing gifts for me and my children.

But I wondered if it was really for my children or was there some kind of hidden agenda. Hmm..

After lunch, they played boardgames and we went down to play at the rooftop garden playground as well as the ground level playground

Think they had fun playing with my children..

All of us had an enjoyable time. I sincerely wish them all the very best in their next phase of life in tertiary education!

Christmas with the family

Christmas is a great time spent with loved ones as the whole world celebrates Jesus' birthday.

Woke up on Christmas morning to a nice breakfast made by my new helper, Wina. She made Min Jian Kueh (Peanut Pancake)

Every Christmas morning, we would have a good breakfast together as a family, open up our presents under the Christmas tree and have a family time of sharing. This year was no exception.

Wina sat down with us for our sharing as we talked about how God has been good to us..it was a time of thanksgiving. The next day, Wina again cooked for us a fabulous breakfast since it was a holiday! She prepared Mee Goreng.

Then CT brought us to MacRitchie Reservoir for a nice morning walk..

The kids were having a great time!

I always enjoy the nature and outdoors...something which I love to instil into my children so that they will learn to appreciate it as well and not always go to shopping malls where it is so crowded and noisy.

After our morning stroll at the reservoir, we went to the Singapore Flyer where we had lunch and we sat brought the children up to the flyer for their first time..(it was my third time!)

We had lunch at the flyer ground floor where they serve street hawker famous food from all over Singapore. It was more expensive but I love the ambience and the old, nostalgic feel to it.

Being my third time to the flyer, I thought it would be the same old thing. But glad it wasnt. There was an exhibition before we boarded the flyer. Quite interesting as it was fun and interactive for the children to play.

This time round, I didnt feel as bored in the flyer..probably because I had to take care of my children and the capsule was quite crowded. So, the whole atmosphere was one of excitement while the other two times I went, me and my friends seemed to own the whole capsule. So empty.

Now with more things being built around the area, there was also more things to see..

I was quite bored after a while..so decided to take picture of Caleb's soft toy penguin which I bought for him from Australia

Danielle also started taking my camera to take pictures. I must say, she is quite a good photographer!

Glad the kids had fun in the flyer.

Christmas Eve

Since my 2 children wake up early in the morning, I decided to bring them to the Punggol Waterway for some outdoor fun and exercise taking advantage of also the nice and cool weather.

Because of the rain, the ground was quite wet and the water was disgusting..

Danielle brought her Strider while Caleb brought his penguin soft toy. What an interesting thing to bring to the park. Nevertheless, Caleb had fun or rather, the penguin had fun playing with the 'slide'..

After that, Caleb had a go in the Strider Bike as Danielle shared. I am so glad 2 of them get along quite well as I never believe in buying 2 of every kind just so that they do not fight. I believe in teaching them how to share and handle whatever problems that come their way. In fact, the more problems they face now, I feel it will be better just so they can learn. I do not wish to give them such a rosy life, if not, they will take things for granted and expect life to be like that.. Here's Caleb having fun with the bike as he glides down with it on the slope

Had a wonderful time together!

In the evening, we went to check out the new mall at Expo called Changi City Point

Its a nice mall with lots of greenery which I like..

I even like the carpet in the mall which has artificial grass..

Very pleasant place and beautiful design...

Inside the mall, you also have access to outdoor ponds

A very kids friendly place too as they have a big playground for them to enjoy.

Since it was Christmas season, they had a big Christmas tree at the entrance as well as snow for the kids to play!

All of us had such an enjoyable time at the mall! Cant wait to go back there again to explore the shops!