Throwback Year 2015

January

• Elyse cut her silky long hair!

• Elyse is now a Standard One student.

• A visit from an ex-colleague cum old friend.
• My faithful little Kancil had a punctured tyre.  The drama continued when a traffic police almost issue a summon for my car.  
• Erwyn fell sick, followed by me and then Elyse and back to Erwyn again.  
• Had a mini birthday celebration in the office for Andrew and Pastor Moe.

February

• Farewell dinner for Dr Fong and Sally. 
• Meeting up with an old friend/ex-UTM junior and her family.

• A bold step - climbed Mt Kinabalu with Audrey.  Yes, I did it!

• Elyse finally has a room of her own.  She was so excited about it.  Sleeping all by herself doesn't seem to be a problem to her at all.

March

• Elyse saw a dentist for the very first time in her life.  An extraction was done. 
• Mission trip to an Orang Asli Kampung.  An eye opener for Elyse.  A good reminder for the rest of how blessed are we.

• JB trip.
• Visited UK Agro Farm. 

 

• Teacher-meet-the-Parents Meeting - Class teacher commended how hardworking and diligent Elyse is.  I am proud of my princess.
• Movie time - Cinderella!  First time bringing Erwyn to a cinema to watch a movie.  He sat through the 2-hour show without a fuss.  Although towards the end he felt a bit tired and wanted to go home.  Bonus: Frozen Fever was showned before Cinderella.  Love the cute little Olaf!
• Finally upgrading my phone to a smartphone. 

April

• Sunday School Easter Party!   
• Visited The Shore Oceanarium.

• Cousin Reunion!  Splashing away at Bayou Lagoon.

May

• Church Camp: T-shirt painting activity with the kids... awesome masterpiece!

 

• Visited Dinoscovery,  a dinasaur exhibitions a Discoveria at Avenue K.  

• Celebrated Ah Gong's 69th birthday!   

• Started piano lesson for Mommy!
• JB Trip: Brother-in-law brought us to Angry Bird Indoor Themepark.  Children had fun to the max!

June

• Mourned for the loss of my KK mountain guide.
• Watched another movie with kiddos - Jurassic World.  This time, Erwyn watched the entire show with full attention!!!    
• Elyse begins piano lesson. 
• A good fellowship with Vic Cern, Yieng Yin and baby Faith.  Faith played with sand for the very first time!

July

• Mourned for the loss of my father-in-law.
• Sunday School Children One-day Camp. 
• Visited Upside Down House with Audrey and Bi Ee Ean.

• Brought Elyse along to join my DG members for the 6KM evening walk at Botanical Garden in preparation for Sg Lembing trip.

  
August

• DG 3 days 2 nights Outing - Sg Lembing.  The highlight of the trip: Rainbow Waterfall, sunrise at Panaroma Hill, hanging bridge, and tin mines.

• Father-and-son bonding time: Zoo Melaka

September

• Celebrated Elyse's birthday.
• Sunday School Outing at Golden Craft.

October

• Up close with Gurmit Singh aka Phua Chu Kang.  Met up with ex-schoolmates.  A dance performance by the youth and tambouriners.

 

• Celebrated Mr Wee's 70th Birthday at Old Town Grand.

• Celebrated Lucy's 70th Birthday.
• Andrew was ill for almost 2 weeks followed by Elyse and then me.
• Tag along to LCEC Retreat at PD Golf Resort.  We stayed in the same room two years ago.  But thank God that this time the air-cond was functioning well.

November

• Celebrating yours sincerely's birthday

December

• Christmas!!!
• Back to Subang to pack up the house.  Discovered lots of precious jewel.

As much as I've tried to include every single details, there were events, photos and people which I have missed out.  I am thankful to God for everything that happens, and every person we met.  Needless to say, the most important event in year 2015 is the passing of my father-in-law.  Till this day, we are still missing him.  Yet, there are so many things we are grateful to God for.

We pray for God's grace to continue to abound richly in our lives in year 2016.  That we may continue to grow into the likeness of our dear Lord Jesus.

Christmas 2015

This year, I am totally guilty of being an ill-prepared amateur.  Unlike previous years, I didn't prepare any presents for others except my two little kiddos.  I felt so terrible when little children came to me with expectancy yet I have nothing to offer them.  I guess all the packing and unpacking have drained up all my energy.  I remembered those few weeks my feet was in pain whenever I walk that I could hardly shop around in malls.  And waking up on Christmas Eve with severe backache that I couldn't bend down for a few days.  Signs of old age???  Oh please.... I refuse to admit.

But this year in the midst of festive mood we missed Ah Gong very much.  This is our first year without Ah Gong.  I used to help Ah Gong to wrap up all the presents for my children.  Life is precious.  Take time to be with your loved one while you may.

We are so thankful to so many people for blessing us with the countless presents.  Our Christmas tree looks so small compared to all the presents we received.  Perhaps it's time to buy a bigger tree?

It has always been my desire to have a big Christmas tree.  Guess what?  That's one of the presents I received this year!!!  We shall put that up next year, ya?!

The children eagerly waited to open up their presents after the Christmas Day Service.  It's such a joy to see the smile on their faces. 

The greatest present is found in the heart of the present itself: The love of someone who carefully selected the gift, wrapped them up and presented it to us.  Thank you!  We are so blessed to have you in our lives.

Whilst all the gifts are special and unique and my kids love each of them, there's one particular present I would like to highlight it here.  This present was bestowed by none other than my dear hubby to my little princess - VOUCHERS!!!

The vouchers entitled my girl to severals benefits/advantages such as:

- This voucher entitled Lim Elyse to have an extra 30 minutes before bedtime.
- This voucher entitled Lim Elyse to choose what she wants for dinner.
- This voucher entitled Lim Elyse to eat another three spoonful of her lunch/dinner.

Isn't it cool?  Only my notorious, sly hubby could think of such gift.  But at the same time, don't you think it's kind of...... LOL  

Yay holiday!

Finally, time to take a break and go for a well deserved holiday.  We made a last minute plan to visit my sis in JB after Christmas, for the kids missed their cousins dearly.

It's been quite awhile for hubby to travel back to JB with me.  I am so glad he managed to come this time.

The best of all is meeting up with my primary school friends.  After Standard 6, my family shifted and I have lost touch with most of them.  It was until recent years, we are re-connected via FB. Twenty-seven years of friendship... wow, isn't that amazing!

Another reunion with a sis-in-Christ.  We used to work together under one roof, enduring all the 'hardship' and 'persecution'.  Thank you for being my support and listening ears those days.

And finally, my sis was so incredible.  She prepared a barbecue feast for us all.  The children were excited to play with fire whereas the adults had some fun time getting ourselves 'on fire' under the rain.

How else to burn those calories away without a little exercise?  Enjoying the cold breeze as it was still drizzling.  Children are not allowed to but apparently the mother broke the rule.  shhh.... don't tell them, ok?

That concludes the highlight of our JB trip.  See you in a couple of month's time, JB!

Carolling

Back in my younger days, I used to join carolling every year without fail.  Life was much simpler then.  We only practiced the carols for one or two rounds before we were sent forth.  The lack of skill and talent did not stop our enthusiasm or passion.  We were a bunch of crazy youngsters ever ready to bring the carols to every home that invited us.

A Carolling Night during my youth.  Can anyone spot me?

 
I used to dream of inviting carollers to my house.  And this year, this dream finally came into reality.
Perhaps my only disappointment was, it was still bright and early when the carollers arrived.  The idea of carollers holding candles, singing carols and walking towards my house remain a dream after all.  These youth + children were definitely more professional, with a conductor and a few guitarists.  There were around 30 of them cramped into my tiny living room.  I was surprised to see Brennice and Clark amongst the group as they are of the same age as my daughter.

We prepared some snacks for these awesome group of carollers.  Glad that some of the utensils that I brought back from Subang were put to good use.  The carollers lingered for a while before they moved on to the next house.  We literally sent them off by walking together with them all the way to ACS (where the bus was waiting).  My kids really enjoyed the fellowship of all the gor gor and jie jie.  Whereas their parents were a bit exhausted as both of them are the typical introvert.  The night was still young.  We cleaned up the mess and left quickly to Mei Ling's house for another round of chaos.

This year, Koon Roy and Mei Ling had graciously opened up their house not only for the carollers, but also as a gesture of thanksgiving to the organising committee of the church camp for the past two years.  After the dinner, we waited patiently for the guests of honor (the carollers) to arrive.

Dressed in red and black, the carollers broke the silent of the night with their beautiful voices.  I love Shearn's solo on 'O Holy Night', one of my favourite carols. 

Thank you for blessing us with your angelic voices.  Thank you for all the hardwork prior to this.  Perhaps I should be part of these sweet voices next year!  Wait a minute: Am I too old for this?

Carolling rocks!!!

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!