LIfe Is Beautiful...

At least that's something I learnt from my kids everyday -> think & live simple!

Surprise Party

It was really really a surprise for Daddy because he really believe I threw the party for my own daddy (I told him the surprise party was for my dad!) When he walked into the restaurant, he was so surprise to see his friends! Happy daddy for sure!

I had the party planned few weeks back by coordinating with his friends and my friends. More like gathering for all of us. Tried out several restaurants before deciding the place (food + drinking session). Kids were thrilled whenever it comes to party although it wasn't a kids party! No pre-planned games but I managed to come out with 1 game. The intend was to make them stay within the restaurant so that we don't really need to supervise them so closely.

I appointed 'guard" (one of the girls) to watch over the kids while the rest of the kids were 'reminding' each other than they were not suppose to cross beyond the line and stepped out of the restaurant. This methods works because the adults get to chill out quite a bit while the kids play the games!!!

In the end, I 'rewarded" them with desserts for being good kids and that was their 'surprise present'...cheapo, I know! But at least that make them stay 'kuai kuai' (good kid) for a while! hahahaha....

When We Asked Her to Pose...

This is what she will do. So fake, I tell you. :-) I think she picked this up from recent school concert's cat walk in preparation for the fashion show ! :-)

PS: She likes this dress (Grandpa bought for her) very much because it comes with beads, which make her think she is a 'grown up Che Che".

I Have A Working Mother...

Since young, I have been telling Ching Ern she has a working mummy. Mummy has to leave her behind to her grandmas until I pick her up again in the evening. She has not been whining all along of having me going away.

Up until the stage where she understand money is needed to pay for things, I started to tell her if I don't work, we can't buy things.

Honestly, I don't know if I have said the right thing to her but looking at the choice (which is none) I have, this is something I have to tell her :-)

So now, she understands the equation of "when mummy goes to work = I have to go to school!". She has yet to know how to calculate days even she knows how to recite Sunday till Saturday. So almost every other day, she will ask me how many more days she needs to go to school! This is because she looks forward for weekend to come because she knows mummy has plan for her!

Tis the Season...

Full of parties, gathering and celebration, we have been taking the kids out attending until the stage my little Princess can ask me this:

Ern: Mummy, tomorrow got school?
Mummy: No, tomorrow is Saturday
Ern: 2 days no school right?
Mummy: Yes! Why?
Ern: Tomorrow we go where party?

I tried to occupy her weekends with activities to do (our bonding time) or I take her for outing. Or I would invite her friends over to do things together.

Fun...fun...fun...what's something I want my kids to enjoy!

PS: Photo was taken during a friend's birthday party where Ern got to decorate her own cup cakes. She was so thrilled!

Cool Off

The forceful way of "cannot do" and "should do" can hardly work on Ern anymore. Well, she has grown up to rationalize things and speak out what she wants. Something I should thank for (I am !) but at the same time, she is also playing the mental game with us! Hmm, or rather I should say testing our patience! ha!

We are in the stage of using 'reverse psychology" with Ern now. Instead of telling her "cannot do" and bla bla bla, we will tell her scenarios of 'what if" and "to be". Then, we (the adults) will walk away, leaving a stubborn girl a cool off to think through.

After a good 5mins, she will came to us to apologize or accept what we told her. Then we will repeat why we say so and make sure she really agree. Well, we want her to understand completely the reasons behind so that she can leart!

Parenting! *sweat*

Bird???

Ern claimed she is drawing a bird. My friend said it looks more like a turtle!!! LOL

Weekend Activities

Being a working mother, I tried to catch up the bonding and spend quality time with my kids over the weekend.

Over the past few months, I had done several activities with Ern:

1) Learning to use the kid scissor to cut --> still need more practise on the motor skill



2) Ferry Ride



3) Playing Sand Art - either at home or at the mall



4) Playground



5) Drawing



6) Visiting State Children Library -> she loves the cooking set



7) Post Letter at Post Office



8) Morning walk at Botanical Garden

A little step forward...

For those of you who are on FB with me, I guess this post is nothing new to you. :-)

2 months back (Sept 23rd to be exact), I pushed Ern to buy her own chocolate sundae at McD. She rejected ( I should say she was afraid) the idea of placing the order herself. So I placed the order (via the drive through) just for other family members except her order before we drove home. She was blank, I can tell. However, she didn't whine but she knew I was unhappy.

The moment she got home and saw MIL, she broke down and cried. Manja!! I told MIL I have received feedback from Ern's teacher she is lack of confident in class. We need to 'do something' to help her to overcome. So, MIL stayed at my side *grin*

The whole crying drama lasted for 1 hour no matter how we (MIL and I) coaxed her. I even did a role play how the situation would be at McD and tell her how she can place the order. She 'participated" in the role play well, still with tears in her eyes & sobbing. LOL

In the end, I told her if she is brave enough to place the Chocolate Sundae herself, I will get her the Happy Meal that comes with a Power Puff Girl toy (She saw it when we were there earlier). She buy the idea and agreed to go back again. She decided just to get the Happy Meal and not the chocolate sundae. Well, she just wanted the toy!

I drove her back to McD again. I wanted her to order from the counter but it was raining heavily. So I have to settle with the drive through machine again.

While waiting for our q, Ern even said to me this (in Mandarin): " Mummy, we have to be polite, right? So we have to say "Please" and "May I"!!"

This was the conversation when it was our turn to place the order:
Ern: Please, May I have 1 Happy Meal?
Cashier: Ok. Anything else?
ERn: Please, May I have 1 pink Power Puff Girl?

I tell you, at that moment, I had a mixed feeling - Proud and funny!
Proud because I managed to push her step forward to do something...funny because I couldn't stop laughing on how she spoke and placed the order!!

Anyway, from that day onwards, we can see a leap jump on Ern's courage to do more things on her own.

Btw, she dare not play the slide that comes with a cover (Sorry, don't know what's this call), fear that she get stuck half way and we can't see and rescue her. 2 weeks back, she did it without me telling her to try.

Bravo Ching Ern. Mummy is proud of you!

Romance vs Boyfriend

I heart this photo of Ching Ern.It comes in so naturally. :-)

There is this funny conversation we had few nights ago.

Ern: Mummy, I want romance
Mummy: Oh..what is romance?
Ern: You know, the love..love..love..
Mummy: Oh is it! Who do you want to 'romance' with?
Ern: Er...I want Ken to be my boyfriend (she got to know the name Ken from Barbie movie)
Mummy: Who is Ken?
Ern: My boyfriend Ken loh!!!
Mummy: Ken from Barbie hor??
Ern: *shy* Yes

She is STILL in the "princess" and "barbie" phase. Never tired of them! Girls always girl!

How Much My Girl Has Grown Up...

When I downloaded this photo, I realized how much my girl has grown up. It was taken inside the car on our way to a hotel ballroom to attend a wedding dinner. She no longer have the 'baby look'!!

The first wedding she attended, I can still remembered she was only like 3+ months old. We placed her in the carrier basket and she slept almost the whole wedding.

Look at her now, she no longer sits on baby chair but an adult chair. She is brave enough to dedicate a flower to her god-father on the stage singing, she can run everywhere (with my eyes on her of cause!), mingle with other kids almost same age like her and etc.

When we look at how fast our kids grow, it's a scary thing to look at ourselves! hahaha

To The Butterfly Farm...

The last visit to Butterfly Farm was back in Jan 2009, that's just 1 month before I delivered Sean. This time around, we have Sean with us.

Ern also started to ask more questions and we can tell she appreciate the nature more! Grown up liao mah! haha...

We spent like 1+ hour inside the farm until we need to 'bribe" Ern out for a good ice cream treat! Yeah, she loves this place even she is not brave enough to touch the butterfly.

A note to self, we should do more outdoor activities for the kids!

School Birthday Party

** Photos are blur becaused they were snapped from my phone **

Oh ya, on her actual birthday, I went to the school by taking the cake and party packs to celebrate her birthday! That's something not only Ern looked forward, so as all the kids in school.

I tell you, the kids and teachers are so 'pro' in handling birthday celebration in school. They know what to do, when to sit down, when to gather to take the cake, etc.

Here's the cake that I ordered for Ern - Snow White. All the girls were thrilled when they saw this!

On Her Actual 4th Birthday Day....

We just had a dinner at our usual Chinese restaurant and we ordered a Pandan Cake from a nearby cake house. Other than family members, I invited my Godfather, also Ern's Godgrandpa and Sean's nanny family.

Good dinner, of course!!

The highlight of the day was, I turned one of the rooms to become the kids room for Ern & Sean. Now that Sean is big enough, we were thinking why not let them sleep together.

Simple things I did 'secretly" - bought bed sheet according to their preference (Ern's bed sheet is a gift from Yan! Thanks Aunty CW!), tailor made curtain by getting Ern to choose it and put up the wall sticker. Oh ya, I bought 2 same design handmade quilts when I was on vacation in Hanoi early this year.

This is how the room look like:
1) The bed + curtain


2) The wall sticker + reading corner + writing table


I managed to record a video when both Ern and Sean entered into the room. Priceless!

Princess Party - Last Part

Part # 1 --> here
Part # 2 --> here

I only cooked simple meals for the kids and their mummies - spaghetti oriental style, apple tuna salad, potato salad and cocktail sausages. My spaghetti failed as I didn't manage the sauce well. :-( notes to self - next time no need to cook so much.

After that, it's the cake cutting time. I got Ern the same cake last year as it will not go wrong. Well, she choose the same cake when I brought her to the cake house too!

See how many the kids in singing the birthday song and blowing the candles!! Love it!



Everyone had a good time, both the girls and mummies!!! I am the most happiest person because I can get see my afford all paid off from the smiles that I saw from the little angles!!!

Princess Party - Part # 2

Story continues from here...

Activity/Game # 3: Pop the bubbles
Since the girls were given a magic wand each, they needed to pop the bubbles using their wand and shout how many bubbles they have popped!!! This is sort of make use of the wand they had! I have gotten mummy to help me blow and bubbles and the girls just shouted their lung our in the number...ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR....

I haven't check with Yan's Mummy if she happened to snap picture on this activity as daddy was away doing something..

Activity/Game # 4: The Royal Treasure Hunt
In this game, I have asked the girls to hide in a 'princess room' (actually it was my study room) so that I can put the treasure outside the living room. I don't know what the girls did inside the room but I can hear their giggling and laughs!

Then, all the mummies busy putting the chocolate bar (it was suppose to be chocolate coin but during the shopping, I just can't find the coin!) everywhere at the living area. Visible enough but still need the girls to look out type!

Then, I went to the room and gave them instruction again by giving them each a 'treasure bowl" (I think it was a I*kea bowl that MIL has). The bowl is colorful and so happened that I have 4 different colors! After the briefing, I lined them up and telling them they are about to go for the treasure hunt. You can see all 4 pair of eyes went blink blink with excitement!

Right after I shouted "3,2,1, GO!", they ran with smile on their face, hunting for the treasure!!

After that, I get them to count on the treasure they had found inside their bowl! Again, the same rule applied. The winner get to draw the prize from the goody bag first while the other 3 also get their turns!!

Activity/Game # 5: Cinderella's Lost Slipper

Before I started the game, I told them story about Cinderella. Not the real classic Cinderella's story but I told them how Cinderella lost her slipper and how she found it back thingy. Then, they were suppose to do the same thing too. Again, they were asked to go back to their "princess room" and waited for my instruction.

I got 1 side of their slipper and hide them in the living room again! The same briefing given again just like game # 4! True enough, the girls get familiar this time in finding their slipper..faster sleep as they knew how the mummies hide the things! haha..

Activity/Game # 6: Princess Coloring
In order for me to heat up the food, I get the girls to do coloring as it would take them a while to complete a page. I placed the color book inside a plastic folder, along with crayon, a mini board (that comes with marker), writing pad, pen with multiple color lid to change and sharpener. I managed to get all of them in the same Princess print. It was a happy shopping experience while getting these.

Princess Party - Part 1

** Long Post - I want to take down what I did for Ern in her 4th birthday party!**

I have started planning Ern's 4th birthday party few months back. Well, I love planning on my personal thing!! *grin* I enjoy the entire planning process, from the thought process, research, to the actual day!

I didn't have to think at all on the birthday theme as my girl is in the "Princess" phase. I know throwing a Princess Theme party will never get me wrong! LOL

As the theme speak, I only get to invite girls over. Based on the age, I only invite those girls that are close to Ern's age, ie 3+ till 5 years old. As I don't intend to make it a big party like how I did it for her during her 1 year old party, the guess list came out to be 3 only!

After then, I started goo*gle on the theme decoration ideas, princess games, goodie bag, etc and the shopping spree begin. Fun & excited, i tell you during the shopping on the items! Aiyoh, princess related items are too cute not to buy.

I didn't tell Ern about the party until the day before! You know, I just don't want to disappoint her if for whatever reason, I need to cancel the party. She was so EXCITED and look forward for the party.

Oh ya, the party was held at home on 11th July 2010, Sunday afternoon. Party started at 10am!

On the day, I woke up at 5am and started to cook at 6am till 7+am. After then, decorated the house with balloons, put up the birthday banner and bunting. Nothing fancy actually but I managed to buy princess theme's banner & bunting. Oh, to be exact, I get EVERYTHING with a princess print on top! hehe

Outside of the house:


Living room:


When Ern woke up and get down to the living room, she was thrilled to see the decoration that I put up. My sweet girl even thanked me!! *sweet girl*

The little guess (together with their mummies) started to arrive at 9+am. The Games/Activities started the moment they stepped in the house!

Game/Activity # 1: Autograph & Tea


I used the jewelry box that daddy got for Ern and the small stool that I purchased from market and turned them into the 'autograph area". The girls were suppose to write their own name in each card like below with a princess pencil.



The girls: Yan, Wei Xuan & Charlotte...no Ern as she wrote her name much earlier and I forgot to snap picture! *slap forehead*


Then, I placed them on the wall to turn it into their respective "dressing area"!!

Oh ya, the guest were greeted with a 'tea biscuit' too, in a princess wrapper! LOL



Game/Activity # 2: The Dress Up & Royal "Parade"



The girls were given a 'briefing' prior to the game. See, they were so focused listening to my instructions!! After I count "1,2,3", they ran to their 'dressing area" to check out the pink bag.



I got the girls a pink color bag, with a dress, tiara, ring & nail sticker in it! All the mummies (including myself) were having fun changing the girls into their Princess outfit. I tell you, it was as if we were in the backstage of a model contest!

After that, I put on light nail polish on their little toe! Then, the mummies put on the nail sticker to complete the dress up!

I have gotten the girls stand at their respective "dressing area" and asked them to close their eyes for a 'mystery gift' - a magic wand!! They really listened to the instruction and close their eyes tight!



When I told them they can open their eye to see (in 1,2,3 again), all 4 gave us the same reaction - WOW!!! See their mouth in the picture below. Love it!



Next it's the "Royal Parade" time...the girls were asked to walk and pose with their outfit & wand! The best "poser" walk away with a prize! Oh ya, I have prepared a BIG bag of goodies bag on the prize! See the girls in action.




Charlotte won the first prize as she posed very well! Actually, all the girls were 'rewarded' as I just don't want to make the other 3 disappointed! It's just that Charlotte can to take her prize first!

Finally, a group pictures of the girls.


Stay tuned for more updates on the party...:-)

Ultra Man...Girls' Version

As the title speaks, Ern self declared she is Ultra Man...:-)

Ah, pose also pose wrongly as the hand is not completely right! LOL

Picnic

For quite a while, Ern had been requesting me to take her for a "Picnic with many food"! I don't know where she get the idea from but she has been consistently asking for picnic.

I procrastinated it for several weeks until the guilt's kicks in!!! :-) So, I planned the picnic day on Sunday (06/27/2010), having a venue in mind. I decided to bring the kids to the nearby park for 2 reasons - safety & convenience. The kids get to picnic and play at the playground, it's killing 2 birds in 1 stone. Why not??!!! :-)

On the day before, I told Ern about the plan but with a condition - no rain! She nodded her head okay, accepting the fact if it rains, we will call off the picnic plan.

So the next day, she woke up early as what I expected. Kids are kids huh!!! Happily finished her morning milk in the fastest time, changed and off we went.


That's the so called 'food' that I prepared for the picnic. To be exact, I didn't prepare anything but just buy from the market! *LOL* Other than all the nyonya kuih, I bought chee cheong fun for Ern as it's easy to eat. I just need to add soya sauce and it's ready to serve and eat! Easy work! Then I carried the pink rattan basket and tell my girl that's our 'picnic bag'!

Ern ate almost 90% of the chee cheong fan and I think she ate 1-2 pieces of the kuih! I let the kids (oh ya, Sean was with us also) run on the big green field, without need to worry whenever they fall!

After a good 5-10mins of running & chasing, Ern went to explore the playground. She love the 'tunnel' as it comes various sizes. She walked passed through every single one, from the 'S" size to the "XL" size...



The next stop was this swing. She has not gotten the guts to swing up high. So, I need to help a bit to push!



I spent a good 1+ hour at the park! The kids had fun, so the mummy is happy :-)