Cleaned up; Packed up

Our days in Subang were dull and monotonous.  Andrew looked through most of the stuff while I concentrated on the kitchen utensils.  My mom-in-law was an excellent cook and baker.  How shameful am I that I picked up none of her culinary skills.

We also left a number of personal stuff in Subang as we have been on the move.  I am glad to discover some of the precious things that I have long forgotten.  Thanks to technology, we are now able to snap pictures of those precious momentos.  However, with a heavy heart we had to discard them as we could not take everything with us.

Andrew's painting back then... with a little help from his art teacher

Interesting artefact - a ticket to the zoo with only 15 cents entry fee

some of Andrew's trophies

So happy to find this picture of my car with all the soft toys... yup, I used to arrange my soft toys at the back of my car but not anymore

This was handmade by ..... yours sincerely!!!  Attended a children's conference at DUMC years ago and this was my price possession

Finally, we arranged for a lorry to transport all the stuff down to Melaka.  To our amazement, the driver advised us to take a three-tonned lorry instead of the initial one-tonned.  Seriously?!?  Now Andrew's part is over and I'm left to organise a three-tonned lorry load of goods into my already-cramped-house in Melaka.  Do I possess any migical power to make it possible?

Trust me, we threw away a lot a lot more than this

It took us another one week to unpack and put things in place in Melaka.  And yes, looks like my organising skill is apparently not too bad.  I re-arranged the storage place and in fact, the house looks better than before with all the additional shelves.

Andrew and I have always been living at bare minimum.  We made use of whatever that is given to us wherever we are posted to.  For eg: we have been sleeping on mattresses for the past one year plus.  Only recently, we got a bed for ourselves once we were more certain we would be here for a while.  The few furnitures from Subang enhanced our home.  The TV rack, dining table, piano and finally we hanged our wedding picture up. 

Well, I could have take my own sweet time to tidy up the house.  However, this year we have decided to invite the carrollers over and I would never, ever present a messy home to anyone.  Hence, the stress!

Back to hometown

Just when I thought this year's school holiday would be a less eventful time as compared to last year; how wrong am I!!! 

After the passing away of my father-in-law, the house back in Subang was left vacant and we haven't had time to go back since.  Andrew thought of renting out the house though.  As much as we love to visit Subang more often, time is not in our favour.  Hence, it is better to have a good tenant taking care of the house than to leave it as it is.  Besides, the extra income certainly helps.  Just when we were at a loss of how to get a good tenant (well, a good tenant is hard to come by), we found one via Andrew's previous contacts!!!  What's more exciting is: The tenant has requested to move in during the school holiday as she's a school teacher.  She intends to paint the whole house and fix the auto-gate on her own expenses.  See, I told you she's good right?

So, Andrew checked his schedule, made some adjustments and we went back to Subang for 2 weeks.  In between, children and I went back to Melaka for the weekend while Andrew attended a conference in PD for a couple of days.  So, what did we do in Subang?  We looked through every shelves, every drawers and every corner of the house.  This house has a history of 35 years + easily another 50 years of precious memories when my parents-in-law moved their parents' belonging over after their parents' passing.

My mom is so gracious.  Hearing that a huge task was before us, she voluntereed to help us out.  As for my children, they spent most of their time playing with each other whilst the adults were occupied.  How wonderful are they!  We also took some time off to visit a few family friends as we know that it would be months later for us to step foot and breathe the Subang air again.

A visit to Cassandra's house

Children enjoyed the company of this little one

Thank you, Cassandra, for your hospitality

Cookie welcomed me with her kiss

A visit to Vic Cern & Yieng Yin's new home

Didn't realise how big my boy has grown until he stood besides baby Faith

Showing off your muscle, young lady?

She must be wondering why this gor gor is so weird

Until today this guy is still boasting about how baby Faith allowed herself to be carried by him and not me

Ahem.... time to sharpen your camera skill, my dear hubby

Finally the two 'brothers' with the children

Special thanks to Grace for the lovely dinner.  We need to fast for a week to clear off our stomach for the sinful indulgence of a presumptious meal.

Not to forget Aunty Jeannie and Uncle Naden.  With only one-day-notice they managed to prepare wonderful gifts for the kids.

Surrounded by so many wonderful people, don't you think we are loved by many?

Kindy Concert

After months of practicing, finally the kindergarten year-end concert is here.  Erwyn has been rehearsing his dance move everyday at school.  He was so proud of it that at times, he also showed us some of the steps at home.  Every night, he made sure we prayed for him that he would dance well for the concert.  

Elyse, on the other hand, was very upset as this year, she’s in Standard One and her school does not organise such event.

Days before the concert, Erwyn kept reminding us to be there and takes photograph of him.  He also requested to video him but I declined as we would be buying the recording from the kindy.  

On the day itself, I reminded Erwyn to nap before the concert so that he does not feel tired and become cranky.  However, it took him almost half an hour to fall asleep.  Too excited, maybe?  The kindy required all children to reach around 1:30pm.  I managed to wake him up around 1:20pm.  Well, that’s the advantage of staying close-by.  

The acting principal, Gee Ee, is a member of my DG.  Prior to this, she has requested some of the members in the DG to help out at the concert and many of them showed up.  They assisted the young ones to change into their concert outfit, applied make-up to their angelic face and making sure that the children are well taken care of.

At 3pm, the graduation and concert begin.  The MC of the day is none other than Iris.  The hall was packed with enthusiastic parents.  The concert started off with the 4-year-old dance.  My little prince dressed up like a real gentleman with a bow tie.  How could I not fall in love with this little handsome prince?

The performance continued with the 5-year-old Hawaiian dance.  They were simply amazing!  I salute the teacher who trained these cuties.  There were more than 20 of them and yet their movement were well synchronised.  

The 6-year-old performance was a cow-boy dance.

Followed by the 3-year-old.

Then back to my darling again… this time let's do some rock-and-roll!

Honestly, I think my boy did the best in this dance.  Not that I am biased, but he actually remembered every move.  Thumbs up, boy boy!

The 5-yerar-old is back again with an extra instrument – sticks!  Again, they wow the crowd with their almost-perfect rhythm.

Now the 6-year-old with the Gangnam Dance. 

The concert concluded with all the children singing in unison.

A big thank-you to all the teachers/helpers/volunteers who made this event a success!

Church Anniversary Dinner

Phua Chu Kang is in town!!!

To celebrate the much anticipated event- of-the-year: 118^th Church Anniversary, the church has extended its warm welcome to this famous, hilarious, awesome actor/host/comedy performer – Gurmit Singh, or better known as Phua Chu Kang. 

A committee was formed and soon the church secured a booking at Kings’ Green Hotel for a 75-tables Chinese 8-course Dinner.  Tickets were sold out within the second week of the launching. 

Hubby requested to arrange for a dance performance at the dinner.  We started practising in June.  Initially I planned to have 20 tambourine dancers + flag bearers.  After viewing the hall and realised that the stage is quite small, I reduced to 10 pax.  

My stress level was on the rise as the Big Day drew near.  I was scheduled to worship lead the Sunday after the Anniversary Dinner.  Besides, I was supposed to sit for my exam that very week itself.  Preparing the song list for Sunday Worship, completing my assignment and project while studying for the exam – are only part of my near nervous breakdown.  Hubby then decided to test my limit by assigning me to design a brochure.  Thankfully, after hours of staring in front of the laptop, the brochure was done in time for printing; the assignment and project was completed, and I recently received my grade for the exam - with flying colours!!!  And the Sunday worship went well.  Phew!!!

The day has finally arrived!  One of my friends whom I invited for the dinner, See Kar, reached around noon and thankfully, Doreen was there to pick her up from the bus station and brought her to the HomeStay.  I re-scheduled the worship practise to the morning.  However, time was really not on my side.  After the practise, I had to rush home to cook for my two kiddos and then deliver it to the hotel as hubby was there with my girl to oversee that everything was in place.

Then, sent my princess to art class and drove over to meet See Kar and Doreen at Jonker Street.  Although they assured me that they understood my busy schedule and graciously told me not to rush over, I did not heed their advice.  :p  It was good to catch up even for that short one hour.  Went back home to wash up, got my kids ready, drove to the church to pack up all the flags and then finally, reached the hotel with my heart beating profusely.

I am so grateful to have my DG members, aka Siang Ling, Karen and Irene, to help me up with the make-up and hair-do for the dancers and flag bearers.  One of the dancers’ mom, Erny, was also there to assist that evening.  In fact, they reached the hotel earlier than me!  (*shy)  The reward is: They took a photo with Gurmit Singh even before the event commenced.

The early birds... exclusive photo with Gurmit Singh  (*jealous)

A special note of thanks to Susan for staying put at the hotel the whole day.  She was the first one to welcome Gurmit.  All of us were surprised by his early arrival.

Let the magic begins....

The dancers rehearsed a few rounds on the stage.  Though they were not perfect, they were awesome!  I am so glad to work with these incredible people for the past few months.  They have always tried their best and even took the extra mile to practice with extended hours.

Since it was still early, I took the opportunity to snap a few shots... hello, smile!

The 4 handsome flag bearers

The beautiful tambourine dancers

The majestic wings carriers

The girls...

Now, a group photo

My DG members

Soon, the hall was packed with people.  Elyse was eagerly waiting for See Kar and Doreen at the entrance while I rested at my table, munching some left over fries and sip a few mouth of coke.  At last, our guests of honor arrived and we continued to catch up with each other till the event started.  Bee Gek and her family arrived late as they were caught in heavy traffic jam.  Nevertheless, it was such a pleasure to meet her as the last time we met each other was 17 years ago!!! 

Buddies since secondary school

 

Simon led us in a time of worship followed by some video slides presentation.  The flag and tambourine dance was scheduled after the 2^nd dish.  The youth were nervously waiting for their call.  Karen, the MC for that evening, welcomed the youth with the sound of applause from the crowd.  They performed the routine without any mistakes.  It was such a joy to see the fruits of our labor finally accomplished.  I am proud to lead these precious ones through this journey.

The crowd waited patiently for the appearance of Gurmit Singh.  Our patience paid off as he made his entrance to the stage with jokes and songs.  Surprisingly, he sang extremely well!  And we had the honor to be the first to purchase his first debut album.  

The crowd went crazy as Gurmit walked around the hall posing for photographs.  He even played a silly game with a few gentlemen.  His transposed humor brought waves of laughter around the hall. 

The hall went silence as Gurmit shared with us his testimony on how God miraculously healed his mom and thus paved the way for his family to come to know God.  There’s a story behind every man.  Indeed, his life story allowed us to peek into his world where Christ and His grace are deeply embedded in his life.

The Dinner ended with the signing of his autograph for those who buy his album and a photograph session.  I was one of the last few to take a photo with him.   

My friends and I parted after the Dinner as I had a terrible headache.  I felt so guilty for being unable to accompany them back to the HomeStay.  Again, a big thank-you to Doreen for playing host.  

It was a beautiful evening, meeting up with beautiful people; watching a beautiful performance; listening to a beautiful story; having an encounter with a beautiful God.

p/s: And a beautiful ME!!!  :p

Trophy

Elyse won her very first trophy early this year.  Actually she has had two other trophies which she received at her kindergarten when she was four.  But we all know that that was more like an encouragement to all the kids.

Elyse mentioned to us a few times she participated in the colouring contest in school.  But one day, she came back home with this trophy and a certificate.  We are really proud of her.  This is her first trophy in her primary school life.  Way to go, girl!  We hope that this trophy will motivate you to work harder next time.

Four years old birthday

This was written months ago but kept in my Draft.  Finally it is out of the shelf!



Erwyn has finally turned FOUR!!!

I believe this is a common illusion that most parents face when you have more than one child: I know that my son is so much younger, but very often I thought/expect him to do more than he should.  This could partially due to I have an older child and she could accomplish quite a lot by herself without my asssitance.  So I tend to treat my son the same way.  The advantage is: My son is more independent.  He could do a lot more things by himself as compared to my daughter when she was four.  But at times I do feel a bit guilty for not giving him the attention he deserved.

Erwyn is one child that does not want to grow up.  And he constantly remind us of that.  I am extremely curious of what makes him to think likewise.  I thought all children want to grow up.  Perhaps we always tell him and his sister when you are older you need to do this by youself.  I could imagine him saying this, "So, I no need to do if I don't grow up lor!"  Sounds logically, right?

Well, I am also struggling with the idea that my son is growing up.  "Please, don't grow up so quickly!" That's my secret desire.  I fear for the day when my children no longer enjoy chit-chatting with me; I when my children prefer to play their own games instead of having fun with me; when they leave the nest and the house is empty.  So, please... let me just enjoy kissing them, hugging them, snuggle with them, tickle them, running around with them...

Erwyn likes Mandarin.  That really surprises me, A LOT!  Unlike Elyse, he doesn't read a lot of books.  But once in awhile he would recite to me what he learned in kindy, especially the Mandarin reading.  He would flip through his Mandarin books and showed me his masterpiece.  It's always my dream that my kids would be able to communicate with my parents, sharing laughter and jokes with my parents.  It would never fulfil as my dad has passed away, but I wish they would do so to my mom.

My boy likes mee!  Wan Tan Mee without black source, to be exact.  And soup!  Just like his father.  All the dishes, be it chicken or fish, he named all of them chicken.  He also likes to eat white rice.  His favourite is plain chocolate, just like his sister.  He also loves Mamee Monster and Pringles.

Little prince adores his Ah Gong.  Perhaps Ah Gong plays with him most of the time.  There was once Ah Gong went back to Subang for a couple of days, Erwyn missed Ah Gong so much that he almost cried.  The bond between them two is strong.  You may be surprised that he chooses Ah Gong over Daddy at times.

He is one cheerful little boy with lots of facial expressions.  How I wish to capture every one of these precious moment in camera.  His cheeky expression often brought laughter to us.  I wonder how long would this last?

My little boy sweat a lot!  Not his entire body though.  This is only applicable to his cute little round head.  Whenever he run around, or just stay in a warm room, or travel long distance in a car; his hair is so wet (due to the sweat) as though he just had a bath.

Why... why... why... That's his favourite word.  I confess that at times I am so frustrated with his 'whys'.  It isn't as easy as you think to answer every questions he asks.  Nevertheless, I am glad that he is one curious cat that is hard to pleased.

Happy birthday, my little prince!  

Mommy and Daddy love you!

Specially for you, my little prince

Erwyn was so shy standing in front of his class and listening to his friends singing birthday song to him

Cake cutting ceremony

Erwyn and his classmates

The little ones enjoyed the special treat

Homework

About a week ago, Erwyn came back home with some homework from kindy.  He was doing his colouring without my supervision.  That's the awesome thing about Erwyn.  I never need to sit with him to monitor his homework.

Then Elyse came into the room.  She asked Erwyn if he needed Jie Jie to help.  Erwyn was happy to hear that.  His little fingers were getting tired.  But before Elyse took up the colour pencils, she asked little boy: "Will your teacher scold you if Jie Jie help you?" 

Erwyn answered:"Yes, Teacher Jane will scold.  But if I don't tell Teacher Jane then she won't know lar!"


:)