We Have Moved...

01 Dec 2012 (Sat):

We have moved... http://lovingthesekids.blogspot.sg/

Do visit us there. :)

Happy Birthday, Singapore!

09 Aug 2012 (Thurs):

Lionel & Rachel wishes Singapore: A Happy 47th Birthday!!! May Singapore continue to prosper.

Line Camera Apps

28 July 2012 ( Sat):

And just for the fun of it, i did a mushroom design using the line camera apps on android. I gave it a title: The Many Faces In A Family. Haha..

A New Look for a New Term

22 Jun 2012 (Fri):

The school holidays are coming to an end.... hence here's Lionel with a new hairdo for a new term. Rachel has also been spotting a new hairdo for the past few weeks; will post her photos up here once i get the chance to take a few.

Photos taken at their granny's place. (my mil's)

Of Wounds & Burns

31 May 2012 (Mon):

Rachel suffered cuts from a fall & burns from a burning spotlight within 3 days of each other. On last Sat afternoon, she ran & fell while playing, thus grazing her knees. Blood oozed out immediately & she cried buckets. Poor girl.

Then on the following Tues, she was playing with some friends & sat down on a spotlight which was shown from the ground. Rachel did not realised the spotlight was burning hot & this caused her to leap up & screamed in pain. Another wound!

The burn wound she got behind her left thigh.

Her grazed wound on her left knee.

Ballet .... and a little Jazz

13 May 2012 (Sun):

Before they begin their regular routine for the day, Rachel & her classmates did a little dance item, sometimes 2 with their teacher. " Mama-mia " & " Greased Lightning ". The kids combined smooth ballet moves with quick jazz moves.

Regrets to inform i do not have my camera with me. But even if i do, I may not have the chance to take fotos or videos as i'm watching from the outside. Let me try my luck next week.

On a side note, Rachel will begin her first coaching lesson this coming Thursday, in preparation for the exam taking place in Nov 2012. Time from 730pm ~ 815pm.  I'm wondering how many students signed up for it.

On a even lighter note, perhaps I should take time off to sneak around abit. Hehe..

Sleeping in Their Own Room

16 April 2012 (Mon):

As of 02 April 2012 (Mon), both kids asked to sleep in their very own bedroom. Okay, we thought. This will only be temporarily as they would crawled back onto our beds within days....

Boy! Were we wrong. It has been 2 weeks & they are still sleeping in their own bedroom every night except during weekends. Lionel would request to spend the weekend nights at his grandma's place & Rachel would either sleep alone or with us on our bed.

Currently, there is only a cupboard & a long cabinet for the kids to put their stuff. We are still looking around for a suitable bed.

We thought of this... minus the upper bunk..we only want the lower bunk & the pull out bed ( ** pics are included for look-alike purposes)

then we saw this... one side of the bed would be pushed against the wall (** pics are included for look-alike purposes)

We cant make up our minds. So far, we have been to Star Furniture & Ikea...

No worries. The kids enjoyed sleeping on their own mattresses at the moment but we still feel that having a bed would be more appropriate. Hubby intends to have study table for the kids too, either one which is L shaped with an individual leg space for each of them or 2 separate ones joined together. I personally felt that 2 separate ones would be a better choice. The L shaped one may not have equal number of drawers or shelves & i will get a headache when the kids start to compare & complain. Lol!!

I Heart

23 March 2012 (Mon):

Was on my way home & got a call from my little jelly bean. She told me proudly she scored full marks for her English spelling & her teacher drew a heart for her on her hand. Too cute.

A pity the drawing had faded when i got home.

Crying Over Spilled Milk

06 March 2012 (Tues):

I discovered some spilled milk on the kitchen floor this morning & asked who did it. No one answered. Rachel just came out from the bathroom after brushing her teeth.

I turned to Lionel & asked if he was the one. He looked at me meekly without answering. Tears begin to swell up in his eyes. I have to asked another 3 more times before he admitted but not before telling me he didnt know he had spilled the milk. He only went to put the cup into the basin after finished drinking his milk. I asked him why did he have to lie. He told me he was afraid i would scold him, hence the lie.

I told him if he had told me right from the start, I wouldnt need to be so angry. I was angry that he did not informed me when he spilled the milk. Instead he ran away thinking he can get away with it. I was also angry with him for telling lies.

For his punishment, I told him we may not attend his school sports day on 09 March 2012 afterall. He cried himself to sleep that night.

End of " Read In A Week " lessons

19 Feb 2012 (Sun):

Lionel has officially finished his " Read In A Week " phonics lessons which begun last March. Teacher Yvonne gave a consent form to all parents some time back regarding a continuation with higher phonics which was scheduled to begin next week but the timing was not suitable so i did not follow through.

Sad to say, no certificate was given. I asked Lionel if he would like to enrol with CMA ( mental abacus) or drawing lessons. He did not answer me but looking at his expression, i think he would prefer art. So for now, i am looking around for suitable art classes. Any one has any suggestions?

Happy Valentine's Day

14 Feb 2012 (Tues):

Who says Valentine's Day are meant for couples only? 5 crazy galfrens went for a simple meal of "frogleg" porridge after work & the laughter they shared were contagious.

This is the kind of simple life we lead & love to have. We even talked about going on a holiday all together but it would be hard to plan as having 5 staff from the same dept taking leave all at once would send our manager jumping sky high.

A toast to: VALENTINE'S DAY.

In Memory Of...

14 February 2012 (Tues):

Feng Fei Fei - 1953 ~ 2012.

She died of lung cancer on 03 Jan 2012 but her death was only revealed yesterday. She was 60 years old. Lovingly known as the " Queen of Hats", she last performed in 2010 as part of her world tour.

凤飞飞：掌声响起



Whitney Houston - 1963 ~ 2012

Found dead in her bathtub inside her hotel room, hours before her scheduled interview with " The Insider ". Reports shown that she died from drugs, not from drowning.

Whitney Houston - I Will Always Love You

Might Savers Account - OCBC

07 February 2012 (Mon):

Both kids got their saving accounts opened & activated finally. This will be useful for them to learn how to save & withdraw money for the neccessary.

I have just found out that depositing money into their account does not require any ATM card & password. Keying in the account number will do. But what about withdrawal? So ATM card is still neccessary right?

I have applied an ATM card for Lionel & will be applying another one for Rachel.

Prior to this, Lionel's CDA (child development account) has been closed & his balance being transferred to his PSEA (post secondary educational account).

** I have received a letter from MOE indicating that the balance in Lionel's CDA has been transferred to his PSEA which was created for him on 27 Jan 2012.

Whereas for Rachel, we can still continue to deposit money into her CDA where it will matched up to a cap of $6000, she being the 2nd child.

Scenario 1: if she has $6000 in her acct, it will be matched to the max. of $6000, so she has a total of $12000

Scenario 2: if she has $8000 in her acct, it will be matched to the max. of $6000, so she has a total of $14000

Correct me if i am wrong here.

I have just deposited some $$ into her CDA so by next month, i shall received the dollar for dollar matching.

Right nw, my priority is their savings account where all the $$ that they received will be banked in. This is a joint account under my name so any withdrawals needed will have to go thru me. Haha... i am so in control.

Still have not find time to count the kid's Chinese New year ang bao money yet. Anyway, will divide the total by 2 & deposit into individual accounts.

Reckless Mother

05 Feb 2012 (Sun):

I was passing by a basketball court just a while ago. There were 2 boys playing basketball & a little one is his stroller with his mum by the side. Not sure what was the mother thinking when she actually allow the little on to get out from his stroller & mingled with the big boys.

Remember, they were playing basketball. What do you do with a basketball? Try to get the ball from your opponent & aim high up into the basket right?

And what happens? The little one got right smacked on his face with the ball and from such height as well.

Reckless mother was all i can say. Not the fault of those big boys & defintely not the fault of the little one as well. WHAT WAS THE MOTHER THINKING ANWAY?

Bed Ridden

03 Feb 2012 (Fri):

During the visit to my granny's for lunch on the 1st day of CNY, we found out that my grandpa was sitting in a wheelchair. Usually, he wld be helping ard the house; serving food & drinks to the guest or helping my granny in her food preparation.

I was shocked to see him sitting on a wheelchair & questioned my dad abt it. My parents were D so they ( my grandparents), my aunt (read stepmum) & brother (read half brother) & uncle ( dad's brother) were living together.

Dad told me grandpa has this bad habit of waking up at 3am for a bath. So ard May, he had a bad fall & was bed ridden since. He does not like sitting up in a wheelchair for long & wld always request to lie on the bed instead. I quesioned how come no one informed me about this. Dad replied that i have my own family to take care off & that he did not want to add on to my worries. That's besides the point.

Poor grandpa. Most of the time, he sat in his wheelchair in a daze & only responding should someone called out to him. Well, at least he responded & recognized all of us.
My aunt(aka stepmum) told me his hunger pangs were very consistent - he wld hv already finished his lunch just an hour ago & he wld soon asked for food again.

While we were having ours & i called out to grandpa to join us, my granny said he had his. After about 20 mins, my grandpa called out to say he was hungry. My granny took some food & fed him. Another shocked came to me. My grandpa cannot even feed himself now??? My aunt (aka stepmum) told me he's very weak & doesnt have the strength to feed himself. The only consolation is that his speech is still loud & clear & he recognises everyone.

I looked at my grandpa & was suddenly overwhelmed with emotion. I excused myself & ran into the bathroom to calm myself down. What lies ahead now? I can only hope for the best.

The Growing Up Years - Rachel

07 Jan 2012 (Sat):

Rachel, born in the year 2007.. See how much she has grown over the years..



1 year of age - 2008


2 years of age - 2009


3 years of age - 2010


4 years of age - 2011

5 years of age - 2012

The Growing Up Years - Lionel

07 Jan 2012 (Sat):

Lionel, born in the year 2005.. See how he has grown over the years..



1 year of age - 2006


2 years of age - 2007


3 years of age - 2008


4 years of age - 2009


5 years of age - 2010


6 years of age - 2011

7 years of age - 2012

Carelessness

05 Jan 2012 (Thurs):

This happened yesterday evening. While packing his school bag, I realised Lionel dropped some of his money in school. Well, i had to assume that cos he himself did not realised it even.

Breakdown: $5/week ~ $1 daily.

03 Jan - $1 on noodles during recess
04 Jan - sil safekeep $2 for him
04 Jan - $1 on noodles during recess

so he should have a balance of $1, right? But there was only $0.30 inside his wallet... where did the $0.70 gone to?

So today, my sil will give him another $1.00 out of the $2 that she safekept. So he should have $1.30 for school today. Let's see hw much is left inside his wallet tis evening.

Lionel told me some of the P1 did not have any money on them. So what happened? The teachers gave the kids food coupons to be used during recess. What's your view on this?

1) used the coupons given by the teachers ( but i dont think the teachers have enough coupons for everyone)

2) bring bread/cake to school

3) bring daily allowance

I prefer point 2 & 3. Daddy prefers point 3 as this teaches Lionel on how much to spent & how much to save.

Of Aliens & Monsters

04 Jan 2012 (Wed):

Lionel has this thing for ARTS. He portrays passion, an imaginative mind & creativity when it comes to drawing. I found this 3 pieces of drawing when i was clearing his book shelf & he explained to me these were aliens & monsters in combat mode & were preparing the neccessary fire arms & bombs to fight.

If u look at the picture closely, for a beginner like me, you will agree with me that u see flowers & grass & eggs, etc... but no... those are bombs, fire & a machine producing fire arms, aliens & swords & canons... every level has a different job scope.



These 2 pieces were drawn with a very creative mind. When i asked where did he copied these from & he answered " freehand la " He draws whatever comes to his mind & add little details here & there. Daddy commented that if these drawings were in colour, it would be very nice. A little artist in the making?

Happy New Year

Wishing everyone all over the world a:

HAPPY NEW YEAR. BLESSED 2012!!

And in approximately 3 weeks from now, its time to welcome the Golden Dragon - Happy Lunar New Year.