An On-line Diary to Share..........

Giving up Art Class

2012-01-18T09:06:00.000+08:00

After this post, I managed to keep my promise and arrived earlier to fetch YX from the art class. He was happy and so was I. However, this does not last long. After attending the classes for a few more times, YX calls it quit. He started to find excuses again for not attending the class. Worst of all, he cried when he arrived at the art center. Not wanting to force him, I decided to let him let go of the class. He seems to be very happy when I told him he doesn't need to attend anymore art classes starting from January 2012.

Even not attending art classes anymore, YX still enjoys drawing. He will draws whenever he had the mood and are free from homework. There are still many more art works from him which I've not posted in his drawing blogs. Hope I will be able to post them up soon as a record for YX to see when he grows up later.

Hotel stay during Christmas 2011

2012-01-16T09:00:00.000+08:00

As early as in June 2011, hubby's friend (Mr. L) already told us that he had booked a hotel stay in the Klang Valley and invited us to join his family for a Christmas holiday. I was really looking forward to this short vacation because it will be going to be our 1st hotel stay as a family. We stayed in the Sunway Putra KL (formerly known as The Legend KL). While sorting out the photos, I only realized that I DID NOT take a single photo of the hotel except for the swimming pool !

24th December 2011
We worked till 6pm that day. After a simple dinner with the in laws, we drove up to KL to meet up with Mr. L and family who had checked in into the hotel earlier. We arrived around 9pm and joined them for another round of dinner as they were having steamboat in the hotel room. That day was also Mr.L 5 y.o daughter's Birthday (JS) and we celebrated for her after the steamboat.

The 3 kids were shy when first met. YX was not very cooperative as he complaint of sleepy. Normally, by 9pm he was already fast asleep at home. But the other day, he was still wide awake even at 11 pm !

JS was looking at YX who was camera shy while XJ was posing readily.

When we get the kids to take photos together, YX showed his moody face. XJ was very obliged for her photo to be taken while JS was very friendly too and does not make any fuss. Looking at YX's bad mood, I quickly change him into his pyjamas and barely 5 minutes, he was sound asleep !

25th December 2011
We woke up at around 8am. Both kids had a glass of milk which I brought from home while hubby and I had coffee which was provided by the hotel. Mr.L and family were still sound asleep (we stayed in a connecting room), so hubby and I decided to bring the kids to the swimming pool.

XJ happily dipping herself

On the way to the pool, both kids were excited. It was a very sunny but windy morning. However, upon arriving at the swimming pool YX had a mood swing. YX complained of the sun shinning down on him. No matter how we coaxed him, he just refused to enter into the pool but choose to seat on an empty chair by the pool side looking very grouchy! Meanwhile, XJ enjoyed herself in the baby pool.

We did not bother him for a good 10 minutes before I went over to sweet talk with him. Soon, he was feeling better and started to dip his feet into the pool. *Shake head*

YX started to warm up while XJ who was already thoroughly wet, continue to have a great time

YX soon forgot about the sun and started to enjoy together with XJ. About half an hour later, we went back to the hotel room for a warm bath. Just then, both kids complained of hungry. So was I ! Mr.L and family were still sleeping so we had breakfast on our own. I bought a loaf of bread from one of the hotel's cafe on the way back from the swimming pool. The 10 inches long bread cost me a whooping RM 8 but it was delicious !

Having fun despite the sunny bright sun

At around 10 am plus, Mr.L and family finally woke up and had light breakfast in the hotel room. After getting ourselves ready, we headed down to Sri Petaling for a Japanese buffet. To our dismay, the restaurant was fully booked for a function. We then went to the Pork Place in Puchong to have our lunch before heading to the Berjaya Times Square.

3 of them started to be friends

After some warming up, 3 of the kids started to hit off. They became good friends and was constantly holding hands with each other forming a long line in the shopping mall.

Posing creatively

They even posed spontaneously in their own creative way for photos. After browsing aimlessly around the shopping mall, Mr.L suggested to bring the kids to the indoor Theme Park. The tickets were rather expensive considering 4 adults and 3 kids to enter the Theme Park. At the end, we decided to bring the kids to the arcade instead.

3 decided to squeeze into the small carriage whereby there are 3 empty horses

For the kids, it was their heaven. They started to run from one machine to the other ignoring us. Both mothers had to keep an eye on the kids while the 2 fathers when to change some tokens.

Water spraying game

Over in the arcade, I was glad the grouchy YX was so cooperative. As most of the machine only allow 2 players at a time, YX offered to XJ and JS to play while he waited for his turn.

YX waiting patiently for his turn

Same goes to this game, he waited patiently and did not make any fuss. Phew !

XJ got a fright when the plane moves

The kids then went to conquer the kiddy rides. This time, we put in the coins for the rides, as normally we don't. Just as the plane started to move, XJ got a fright and refuse to sit in ! haha.....Hubby quickly carried her down leaving YX alone to enjoy the rides.

3 musketeers !

After all the tokens were used up, we windowed shop around the mall. Kids enjoying posing and taking pictures with each other.

Another pose by the 3 musketeers

We then headed to Low Yat Plaza's food court to have some drinks and bread. The food court over here was not crowded, so it was quite comfortable to rest our tired legs. The kids were famished. After some drinks, the 2 fathers shop for some computer stuffs while the kids and mothers stayed at the food court waiting for them.

Best of friends !

The kids became best of friends in less than 24 hours ! After a whole tiring afternoon in the mall, we headed back to the hotel for a short rest while JS requested to swim. She had missed the morning session where they slept in late.

Swimming again in the evening

Both my kids joined JS for a swim again. This time, there is no more grouchy YX. He was thrilled when he knew we will be heading down to the swimming pool. In the evening, there was no more sunny bright sun but it was very very windy !

splash !

Splash splash !

Afraid the kids might caught a cold, we only allowed them to dip into the pool for about 20 minutes long. The wind was so strong until it nearly blew away the pool's towels. Luckily hubby and Mr.L was nearby and managed to catch hold of the towels.

All the 3 kids were very cooperative and went back to their respective room for a warm bath. At around 8pm, we went to have roadside fried hokkien noodles recommended by Mr.L's father. On the way to the noodle stall, XJ fell asleep in the car while the 2 other older kids were still very active.

26th December 2011
Again, we woke up earlier that Mr.L's family. We started to pack our bag and get ready to check out. We left the hotel earlier as hubby wanted to visit his sister in Puchong before meeting Mr.L & family for the buffet lunch in Sri Petaling which we did not manage to dine in earlier.

The restaurant name

We were glad that this time, there are no more functions and we managed to get ourselves a place. To think back, I wonder why we did not make any reservations earlier. Hmm........This restaurant is located on the road right opposite the Hotel Sri Petaling.

The front page of the menu

The buffet work this way. Each table will be given a menu and we will need to write in the column provided on what we would wish to order. The waitress will note down our order and served the food to us. We can order the same dish again and again. Any wastage will be charged accordingly as what is stated in the menu.

One of the page inside the menu

As I was too engrossed in the food, I forgotten to take the food photos. haha ..... but if you are a Japanese food lover, it's the right place for you. After the sumptuous lunch, we went back to Seremban. This time, both kids fell asleep in the car and continue their slumber at home.

Kuala Selangor / Sekinchan Day Trip

2012-01-13T09:30:00.000+08:00

Getting ready for the trip

Two days before the long school break, the principle of YX's kindy informed that they are organizing a day trip to Kuala Selangor & Sekinchan departing on the 28 Nov. The principle open the trip to anyone who are interested, so I invited MIL and both my parents along.

Both kids woke up around 5 am that day but did not make any fuss, unlike every morning when they woke up for school ! Everyone gathered at the kindy and our bus departed at around 6.30 am. We made a few stops along the way. First, the tour guide brought us to a Health shop selling nutrients.

Banana cake for breakfast and vitamin C and goat milk tablets for tasting

This shop was located somewhere near Damansara. We were being ushered into an air con room where a staff gave a 15 minutes talk about nutrients and about our body. After the talked, we were being served with cakes and nasi lemak for breakfast while a few staffs promoting their products over the counter. Every table have a small plate of vitamins for tasting. I bought a bottle of goat milk for the kids and a box of Cordecype for hubby and myself.

The signboard

Next, we proceeded to the sesame oil and sauce factory. Once we got down from the bus, we could smell the sesame aromas. The in-house guide brought us around the factory explaining to us on how they produce the sesame oil and sauces. He then gave each of us a small bottle of sesame oil as a free sample.

Black sesame

We were being told that sesame oil are made from black sesame. This was my first time seeing raw black sesame.

Soy sauce

After visiting the factory, we were being treated with steamed chicken and cucumber accompanying with various of sauces. Everyone just had a small cube of chicken for the fun of dipping it into the sauces.

Steamed chicken, cucumber and variety of sauces

Paddy field

We also visited noodle factory and bag warehouse which was situated along the sauces factory. Each adult was given a packet of uncooked noodle and rice noodle as a free sample. After lunch, our guide drove us to Sekinchan to visit the rice factory. Along the way, we saw many patches of paddy field. It was a beautiful scene.

Raw paddy

Upon entering the rice factory, coincidentally a lorry was unloading a large load of just harvested paddy. The kids rushed to have a look at the pile of paddy. Even I was excited as it was my first time seeing this.

Sophisticated machine

We were then being directed to take a seat in an open area whereby a lady explained about our local rice. She then showed us a short clips which had been aired by ASTRO before about their paddy field. With the modern technology, farmers no longer need to soak their feet into the swampy paddy field. The above machine was used to plant the paddy plot by plot.

The sun was shinning directly at them making them difficult to open their eyes

Our guide then brought us to the mango farms somewhere near to the paddy field. The mangoes were very huge. 2 big mangoes can weighed up to 3 kg. The mangoes were very sweet too.

After visiting Sekinchan, we proceeded to Kuala Selangor to visit the famous Bukit Melawati popular with monkeys. The kids got excited when being told they could ride on a train up the hill to see monkeys.

The train ride cost us RM 1 per person and it was about a 20 minutes ride. Along the way to the top, we could see monkeys standing at the road side waiting for food. Some tourists prefer to walk up the hill and feed the monkeys with long beans which was sold by a vendor. The train did stop for a few seconds for people to get down and get close to the monkeys, but we choose to glue to our seat.

Silverleaf monkeys

After the train ride, our bus brought us to Klang to buy the famous pau ( I don't know where exactly was that place ). We had dinner in that shop too as they served 'dai chow' before proceeding back to Seremban. By the time we reached home, it was already 9 pm and surprisingly, the kids were still full of energy ! They did not even sleep in the bus! I was death tired and knocked off immediately after a warm bath.

Gathering on 19 - 11 - 2011

2012-01-12T09:00:00.006+08:00

YX posing at the KTM station with his weird look !

On the 19 Nov, I brought YX to attend a mini gathering with 3 of my ex-classmates. At first we planned to held it somewhere in the city but Mummy-J suggested to have it at her home instead. That was indeed a great idea because the kids can roamed freely at home without us worrying of their safety. I took half day off and took a train at around 1 pm. By the time we reached Mummy-J's house, it was already nearly 3pm.

Mummy-J prepared mi hun kuey for our lunch and I bought Mamak rojak and Seremban siew pau for our afternoon tea. Another friend brought home made coconut jelly for dessert. Literally, we just ate and chat non-stop once we met until we departed.

Mi hun kuey and mamak rojak

The mi hun kuey was delicious. Mummy-J shared her secret recipe with me. She uses fried anchovies powder to add into the soup. She pre fried those anchovies and blend them into powder form. The soup was so tasty and she was very generous in the ingredient too.

Loaded with ingredient

The mi hun kuey was flooded with mushrooms, fishcakes, fishballs, crab claws, meat and etc, and that makes the soup even tastier. Even YX had a 2nd helping !

After the kids finishes their meal, they started to turn Mummy-J's house upside down. Toys were everywhere the house. Laughter and crying makes the house even merrier. While the kids were playing, we adults chit chat while continue eating.

Home-cooked steamed herbal salted chicken.

Soon, it was around 6.30pm and Mummy-J started to cook dinner for us. She prepared steamed herbal salted chicken and turnip soup to goes with rice. Despite we were still full after the late lunch and afternoon tea, we still managed to gobbled down the chicken and soup.

The 3 kids

Before we left, we took photos with the kids. I was glad that YX did not show his weird posed which he normally did, but smile naturally.

Mummy-J's hubby sent us to the KTM station at around 8pm. Once we were inside the train, YX knocked off immediately. He was so tired that he slept all the way back. Somewhere near Seremban station, I woke him up as I don't have the strength to carry him and that makes him a little annoyed.

Thank you to Mummy-J for the space and delicious food, SP for the Christmas gift to my kids and SL for the delicious home-made coconut jelly. Hope to have such gathering again, soon.

New Year 2012

2012-01-10T16:45:00.002+08:00

After a long break, I've finally come back to my blog to post something. This will be my first post for year 2012. Happy New Year everyone. I know I'm late in wishing, but late is better than never, right ? Haha ...

Well, what have I done over the past 1.5 months ?

19.11.2011 ~ YX & I took a train up to KL to meet up with my ex-schoolmates for a mini gathering at Mummy-J's house. This deserved a post on itself, so I've scheduled it to be posted up on 12 Jan. Come back to read ya.

26.11.2011 ~ YX's school organized a day trip to Kuala Selangor & Sekinchan. It was the school first ever trip and it was a success. We had a great time. This also deserves a post on itself and I shall be posting this up after the gathering post. ^_^

30.11.2011 ~ It was my birthday. Thank you to all who wishes me via sms and FB. Am sorry that I did not reply the FB greetings but I do appreciate your wishes !

My parents happened to be in Seremban and we went out for a simple dinner. The next day, we had a mini celebrations with the in-laws. This year, I got myself a birthday presents - Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 ! It was such a good buy and an awesome gadget. Not only the kids are addicted to it, even hubby enjoyed playing the games and constantly reminded me to harvest the crops on Smurf Village. LOL !

Yummy bak kut teh

4.12.2011 ~ Hubby's friend invited us to Klang for a day trip. His main purpose was to eat the famous Bak kut teh. We left home around 9am and spend the whole day in Klang itself and by the time we reached home, it was around 9pm ! We windowed shop at Jusco Bukit Tinggi and Klang Parade before looking for food around Klang by using the GPS. It was such an awesome gadget too. After a sumptuous seafood dinner, we left for home. It was such a satisfying trip but very tiring too.

5.12.2011 ~ XJ goes to school ! She attended the same school as YX. The principle advised to let XJ get used to the school during the holiday classes so she won't have problem when school officially started in January 2012. I was glad I heed the principle's advise. XJ enjoyed school even she did cried during the 1st 3 days. She came back telling us what she learned everyday and can now recite colours and numbers in 3 different languages. Money worth spent !

16.12.2011 ~ In laws went to Taiwan for a holidays. I have to bring both kids to the workshop and it was a tedious week for us. In the morning, we got to rush XJ to school before fetching her back to the office during lunch time. Hubby and I ate out but I cooked simple meals for the kids while in the office. Time pass rather fast and just a blink, it was already bedtime.

24.12.2011 ~ The day I was looking forward to finally arrived. It was the hotel stay with hubby's friend and family in Klang Valley. I will blog about this in a separate post later.

31.12.2011 ~ SIL came back and we had a BBQ party at home to usher year 2012 among family members. We BBQ-ed till 12 midnight and managed to see some fireworks displayed.

1.1.2012 ~ Both hubby and I woke up at around 8.30am and found our 2 kids were quietly playing toys together at the corner of the room. Ahh....such a wonderful scene. In the evening, we brought both to a public swimming pool to have a dip. It was our first visit and both kids enjoyed themselves so much that both asking us to bring them back again. We had planned swimming as our weekly activities and hopefully, hubby and I can get some exercises, indirectly.

Look at how happy my mum was ! All the kids had the chance to cut the cake together !

7.1.2012 ~ We went back to Johor and gave a surprised visit to my parents cum pre-celebrate their birthday which falls on the 16th January. My brother was already back in Johor earlier but did not tell mum & dad that we will be back too. Upon seeing us, they were full of smiles.

XJ happily singing Happy Birthday to her doting grandparents

Free Dress from Malaysia Boutique.com

2011-11-17T11:09:00.000+08:00

As I was blog hopping the other day, I saw a terrific post about a giveaways in Malaysia Boutique.com. What else, I quickly click on the link provided and started to browse the website. From there, I came to know that Malaysia Boutique.com is a unique site. It is unique because I found a lot of useful information. One of them are articles on fashion tips. They share with their customers on the latest fashion trends and gave great advises to customers too ! The articles are so interesting that I'd spent some time to read them one after another.

They also do reviews on other online boutiques where they call them as online blogshops, to share information with their customers. They just worked like a one-stop hub on fashion stuffs. From the reviews, I came to know more on the other online blogshops and have more places to shop for dresses in the future ! Besides, they also encourage other online boutiques to work hand in hand with them. Either existing or new owner are welcome to open their store at the Malaysia Boutique Marketplace by following the easy step to step instructions. This is a great opportunity and a stepping stone especially for new comers to venture into the online fashion business.

The simple and neat website makes the browsing fuss free. Soon, I came to the link where they explained on the giveaways. They are giving away Free Dress for Bloggers. You can choose only 1 apparel from the list provided but are subjects to availability and approval from Malaysia Boutiques.com. The main sponsor to this giveaway is Irenelim Fashion. Many would have known about Irenelim Fashion as one of the reliable online boutique offering good quality apparels.

If you are a blogshop owner and wish to participate to sponsor the giveaway, you can also contact Malaysia Boutique. The more the merrier, isn't ?

As for blogger, this is what you need to do.

1) Sent Malaysia Boutique.com your blog URL in the contact sheet provided.
2) Wait for approval
3) Once approval obtained, Blog about Malaysia Boutique.com, about the giveaway and about the main sponsor briefly. Your post should not be less than 500 words. Remember to insert 2 links in your post with one link point to the giveaway page.
4) Once your post is published, you can notify the store owner to order ONE free apparel. Please take note that delivery fees are not included. You will have to pay for the delivery cost. Don't worry, they aren't too expensive anyway.

For Poslaju, the estimated delivery cost as follow :

Klang Valley : RM6
West Malaysia : RM8
Sarawak : RM10
Sabah : RM 11

Easy right ? However, you will only be eligible to this giveaway if your blog are at least 3 months old, must be decent quality and has regular postings (at least one post every week). Confused ? Check with Malaysia Boutique.com for more information. Hurry ! Grab this golden opportunity to get your FREE DRESS now and spread the words around !

Looking For Roommate ?

2011-11-15T10:16:00.000+08:00

I still remembered when I first came to KL to further my studies in a local college, dad and mum accompanied me to look for a room to rent. Both my parents will prefer me to stay in a place within walking distance to the college. We actually drove around the housing area near the college to see if there is any room to let. Lucky stars were shinning upon us as we found a house just right opposite the college hanging an advertisement on the front gate. Due to the distance, dad said no matter how much the room cost, he will still grab it for me.

Those were the days. If without my parent's help, I think I will be lost if I were to come to KL alone. Unlike nowadays, with the advance of the Internet we don't have to drive around the housing area just to look out for the 'room to let' notice hanging on the front gate. With just a click on the mouse and from the comfort of our home or office, we can get all the information pertaining to the house or room we were looking for. We can also search according to the location and preferences. It is very convenient and most importantly, easy to use.

As for people who are going for a short holidays or to attend a function (eg, wedding) in another town, they can book a house under short term rental. Booking a house is better than a hotel room if you have a bigger group. It will be more economical with a bigger space. You can plan your accommodation ahead and have no worries during traveling. With such conveniences, maybe I should start to plan a short gateway with my family soon since school holidays are approaching !

Wedding lunch

2011-11-08T16:57:00.001+08:00

On the 7th November we attended hubby's ex-colleague wedding lunch in KL. It was held in a school hall and the caterer (Hao Xiang Chi Restaurant) from Sekinchan came all the way to cook for the lunch. I heard it is quite a famous restaurant in Sekinchan. The lunch started at around 1.30 pm and ended at 4 pm. It was a sumptuous lunch indeed and we actually skipped our dinner that night. We only had a cup of hot milo before bedtime.

I wanted to take photos of the food but was too embarrassed to do so because we were sitting with hubby's ex-colleagues. It won't be nice to stop them from taking the food for me to take the picture. haha But I found some of the food images from the restaurant's website.

1st dish - pun choy

The first dish being served was the 'Pun Choy'. It was delicious. The gravy was thick and flavourful. At the bottom consists of yam, fried beancurd (fu chok), meatballs and roast pork. Due to only 6 adults at our table, we couldn't finish all the dishes.

2nd dish - chicken herbal soup with abalone & dry scallops

Then came the chicken herbal soup. Each of us have a bowl. The aroma of the herbs were so fragrance. We drank till the last drop. There were still some leftovers but we did not drink more as afraid of heatiness. The soup have a piece of chicken meat, dried scallops, abolone slices and clams.

3rd dish - steam Promfet

After the soup, we had the steamed fish. It was very fresh with no fishy smell. The fried garlic on top enhance the taste more and the soy sauce was delicious. I had both fins as everyone seems not interested.

The 4th dish was deep fried squid in Thai style. I couldn't find the photo for this dish. Normally, we had this Thai style for either chicken or tofu but, during the wedding luncheon they served with squid. It was absolutely delicious. The skin was crispy and the sweet and sour Thai sauce goes very well with the squid. We nearly finished the whole plate but did not managed at the end.

5th dish - Stir fried lotus root with nuts & celery

Instead of the normal 'chap choy' (mixed vege), we were being served with this dish. I don't really fancy lotus root and only had some celery and macadamia nuts. None of us on the table enjoyed this though. Partly, we were already full after talking the earlier 4 dishes.

6th dish - Pumpkin fried rice

Next, came the Pumpkin Fried Rice. It was being served with this pumkin look - a - like porcelain bowl. The fried rice was delicious as they added some dried shrimps and yam. Even YX had 1 big bowl of this rice. It also have some meat and prawns. I'm not a pumpkin lover but am craving for this rice now.

Finally, the desserts were served. We had the white fungus with dried longan soup (served cold) and deep fried 'mua chee'. I couldn't find this picture in their website too. The deep fried 'mua chee' was so delicious that I had 3 of them despite being very very full. The outer part was crispy and the inner was soft like cotton. It just melt in your mouth !

I told hubby this is the BEST wedding luncheon I had so far because the dishes served were so different from the normal wedding reception. I really feel like 'flying' all the way to Sekinchan now just to eat some of those delicious delicacy, especially the Pumpkin fried rice and deep fried 'mua chee'. I really missed them !

Versatile Blogger Award

2011-11-04T13:39:00.002+08:00

Yay ! I've received an award from Venie from Veni,Vidi,Vici. Wow...all the Vs ! And she is a blogger from Brunei. Thank you so much Venie.

The rules for the Versatile Blogger Award are as follow:
1. Post your acceptance of the reward on your blog and link back to the person that gave you.
2. Tell 10 things about yourself.
3.Nominate 7 Versatile blogs and let them know that you have award them.
Here it goes ...........

1) My dreams have colour. Sometimes, I could still remember the colour of certain 'thing' appeared in my dreams. And they are nice colours with beautiful scenes.

2) I love Malay food. Some of my favourites are Asam Pedas, Rendang Ayam and Soto Ayam. But one of the best is Laksa Johor cooked by my mum. The taste was so irresistible. Am going to ask mum to cook this dish for me again. I've posted the recipe over here.

3) I'm afraid of cold but I cannot stand hot weather too. Very troublesome ya : P

4) Before marriage, I always dream to have 4 children. I wish to have 2 boys + 2 girls. But after marriage and having 2 children, I dare not dream anymore but let everything happen naturally.

5) I'm not a sports person. I never like sports and will always find excuses not to join in whenever there are sport days in school.

6) I must use blanket when I sleep regardless of the weather. If cold, I will cover up to my neck. If hot, I will still cover with blanket but only cover my stomach area. Without blanket, I can't sleep well.

7) I'm very close to both my parents. Even after married, I can still chat with them for hours and we can talk about anything to everything. Sometimes, we ended up arguing but we will forget that very fast and still enjoyed talking.

8) When comes to eating Nasi Beryani, I enjoyed eating them with my hand. Finger licking good !

9) I'm a very absent minded person. Recently, I've started to write small notes and set reminder in my mobile phone, so I won't miss those important stuffs. So pathetic ya.

10) I'm not a fruit person. I seldom eat fruits because I just dislike them. But due to health reasons, sometimes I will remind myself to eat some.

Ok, that's 10 things about ME, but I'm not going to nominate anyone for this award because I think every readers of mine deserved this ! Go and grab the award and tell me 10 things about you now ! ^_^

Maths - improvement

2011-11-03T14:51:00.000+08:00

Homework from school

The above picture were YX's homework which he brought back a few days before his exams. I'm glad to say that now he ENJOYED maths homework as much as the other subjects. He finally understand the format and managed to work them out with minimal supervisions. Unlike previously, he was always so afraid of his maths homework.

Counting with his little fingers

He still relies on his little fingers to count. I have taught him to count by showing 10 with his fingers and keep the remaining number inside his head. For example, if he has a sum of 13 - 5 , he will show 10 with his fingers and 3 keep in the head. He will then count, after 3 will be 4, 5 while taking away his fingers one by one. The remaining 8 fingers still standing tall will be the answer.

Writing on a piece of rough paper

I gave him a piece of paper and asked him to write the format there. After he got the answer, he will only write them into his book. So far, he is enjoying because he already found the joy in counting. Phew... what a relief !

Pig in the blanket

2011-11-02T09:00:00.000+08:00

yummy delicious !

I made this last month. The sausages and bacon are the leftover from the porridge steamboat we had at home. Since no one are cooking them, I decided to make Pig in the Blanket. I've heard about this recipe from blogs and never knew sausages and bacon made such a perfect combinations !

3 for hubby & 3 for me

The taste was awesome and it was very easy to make. I put the sausages into the oven for a few minutes (to half cooked them) before wrapping them with a thin slice of bacon. Roll and roll and the bacon will stick together even without being secure with any pick. Place all of them into the oven for a few minutes and you are done !

Unhealthy? But once a while, that's ok ^_^

Dress just for her

2011-10-28T15:48:00.001+08:00

See what I've got for XJ ? It's a dress from Nivniv Handmade ! As my brother's daughter will be celebrating her 1st Birthday this coming November, I order a dress for her. At the same time, I took to opportunity to order another dress for XJ.

Red for XJ & Green for my niece

Thanks to Pei Yi who managed to 'rush' the dresses for me and sent to me on time. I know you have your work and family to take care off, but you still did a great job !

When Pei Yi told me that she had sent the dresses out a day earlier, I was panicked because there was no sign of the delivery man. That was around 4 pm +. Five minutes after that, the delivery man suddenly appeared at my office : D Phew ! We thought the dresses went missing in the thin air !

Dress a bit long but never mind as can last her for a few years !

Back at home, I quickly dress up XJ and see if she fits the dress. It was a little bit too long but that was fine because she still look cute in it. This dress will definitely last her a few years, accompanying her to grow ! Sorry for the messy hair (sweaty) as she was playing chasing with her brother before I interrupted them.

Tie a knot (sorry, I was in a hurry and did not tie properly before taking a photo)

What I like about this dress was the V shape at the back and the huge ribbon. I know, I did not do a good job over here as I was in a hurry and YX was DISTURBING me taking a photo of his little sister. He was using a pillow to cover my camera and was running up and down in front of me ! And he makes me laugh when he said the ribbon looks like a backpack.

I love this photo ! because YX gave me the most decent look !

After a nice scolding from me, YX finally stop his silly act and took a photo together with XJ. This is the best sister and brother photos because YX did not show his signature pose (those Ultraman sign, weird and cheeky poses). A photo which I hardly had the opportunity to get him SMILE for me ! Oh ya, the dress came with a matching head scarf + hair clip too. And again, YX makes me laugh when he said XJ is a Red Ridding Hood !

Lovely brother & sister. Mei mei hug so tight !

There he goes again, acting silly. I asked him to hug mei mei for a nice photo but he refused. Instead, mei mei quickly went and hug him and indirectly, he put his arm around mei mei ! Ahh...... love the way they bond !

Hair clips for XJ

In addition, I ordered some hair clips for XJ too. These lovely hair clips are just so irresistible. And thank you to Pei Yi for included some extra hair clips for XJ. I really appreciated that !

Under the skin

2011-10-27T09:00:00.000+08:00

Pencil nib under his skin

Last week, YX came back from school with a 'souvenir'. Until today, we do not know how he hurt himself or being hurt by friends as he can't seems to give us an answer. The teacher was unaware of how this thing happen too.When MIL went to fetch him, he complaint of pain in the hand. MIL was shocked when she saw what happened and waited for us to return from work to remove the nib.

The skin was a bit red around the injured area

We tried to removed the pencil nib with a twister, but the pencil nib kept on broken into tiny pieces because of it's powdery form. To take out the nib was not an easy job too because YX refuse to cooperate. Three persons need to press him down and he was yelling on top of his voice. After we decided to gave up, my poor boy was soaked with sweat and tears.

Flavin to prevent the infections

To avoid any infections on the injured area, I applied some Flavin and covered with plaster. I checked his condition every day and was glad that no more redness around the injured area. We suspected the pencil nib must have fallen off and left the stain under the skin. No matter how much soap we washed, the stain still remains. Since YX did not complaint of pain anymore, we just let it be. Hope he won't bring back anymore 'souvenir' from his school or anywhere else in the future.

Bye Bye Art Class

2011-10-25T13:00:00.000+08:00

I was disappointed when YX told me that he wanted to stop his Art Class which he will be attending for about 1 year coming this November. I still remember when he first attended, he was so excited and full of enthusiasm. I've blog about it over here.

Starting from last month (September), he started to lost interest in attending the Art Class and always giving me excuses that he does not want to go. When I managed to persuade him to attend, he will always ended up crying when I went to fetch him. He complaint that I was always late to fetch him and he has to wait very long for me. As his class was 1.5 hours, I always went about 10 minutes earlier to fetch him, yet he complaint I was late.

In the past, he will entertained himself with toys and comics or just sit around at the sofa waiting for me. Lately, he felt lost and wanted me immediately after the class. The teacher said he was not being bullied or anything like that. As far as I'm concerned, the system in this Art Class was like that. Once you have finished the whole drawing (the teacher estimated 1.5 hours for each lessons), you can go home. I believe once he finishes his drawings (less than 1.5 hour), he did not see me and ended up crying for me. He doesn't have any friends in the Art Class as the students there were a mixed of ages. Some are about his age while majority are older.

Last week, I was there to accompany him throughout the class. I sat at the sofa waiting for him and monitored the environment. Yes, it's true that he don't have any friends and he finishes his drawings in less than 1.5 hour. But I was glad that the teachers were both very friendly and even can jokes with the older students (around secondary age). Both teachers are very soft spoken and did not even raise their voice throughout the lessons. It was a very relaxing class with laughter in the air. I guess YX felt lonely and makes him out of place.

I've promised him that in the future, I will pick him up earlier. I also promised that I will arrive at the Art Center before he finishes his drawing. However, he refused. I felt it was such a waste to stop the class since he enjoyed drawings very much, but I have to respect his decision. Since I've already paid for the October Fees (have to pay on every 1st week of the month), I explained to YX hopping he could finish the classes for the whole month of October and we shall stop the lessons starting from November.

I wanted to laugh when he said, "I don't want to attend Art Class in November, but I want to go in December ! " *Ohhh....so there is still hope*

I told him to think carefully because we cannot simply stop and go as when we like. I've yet to talk to his teacher about stopping the class. I'm not sure if we can stop the class temporary for 1 - 2 months and continue again when he is ready. Keeping my fingers crossed.

I know YX loves drawing a lot because he still draws EVERY DAY. To see his drawings, hop over to his drawing's blog over here.

In the hospital

2011-10-24T15:13:00.004+08:00

Last Saturday, hubby gave me a heart attack. He was hospitalized for a night and the story was like that....

As usual, at around 7.50am we reached the office. Hubby was fine and worked as normal. 10 minutes later, he came to me and asked me to bring him to the hospital immediately. He was having a very bad stomachache and was groaning in pain. The pain came suddenly without any warnings. I quickly rushed him to the hospital and YX was frighten by the looked of hubby. He did not even speak a word along the way but was later ok while we were in the hospital.

Driving to the hospital took us like forever. Hubby was still groaning in pain and tears actually rolled down his cheeks. The pain was unbearable and all he could do was to hold to his tummy and groan. I drove as fast as I could and once I reached the hospital, I literally 'jumped' down from the car and informed the nurse on duty. They pushed out a wheelchair and wheeled hubby in. After a few minutes, a doctor came and started to press hubby's tummy. The pain was intense and hubby's both hands turned cold. He barely could open his mouth to speak and was lying lifelessly. The doctor then decided to gave him an injections to stop the pain.

Doctor suggested to have an ultrasound done to see if there are any growth. The results turned out negative. Doctor then suggested to have an X-ray taken to check his kidney. Again, nothing. Finally, the doctor suggested to do a scope to see his intestines and stomach. In order to do the scopes, hubby needs to clear his bowel. Doctor admitted him into the wad and gave him some medications for cleaning the bowel.

Soon, the doctor was ready to perform the scopes. That process was scary enough but I took the courage to participate as I wanted to know and see what was wrong with him. Luckily YX was cooperative enough and did not refuse to enter the room where the scope was being carried out. Lo and behold, the doctor finally found the answer to hubby's pain. His stomach was very badly infested. There were a few swollen red lines on his stomach and that was the reasons he was in a great pain. Luckily no growth or anything like that, so operations was not required.

Hubby was warded for a night and he was given medications and was on drips. Until today, the doctor was puzzled with the reasons on the infections. The doctor had thought it was the xxx bacteria (can't remember the scientific name) but the test on the samples he took during the scope turned out to be negative. However, the doctor advised hubby to avoid sour & spicy stuffs.

After just a night in the wad, hubby can't wait to go home. As no pain re-occurred, hubby was declare fit to go home the next day. He was still under medications and occasionally, his stomach still felt uncomfortable. He felt lots of winds and could feel something 'floating' inside his tummy.

Taking for Granted

2011-10-21T10:09:00.002+08:00

A few days back, while on the way back from work hubby and I saw a man (around late twenties) was walking at the side of a very busy main road. One of his hand was carrying a toddler ( 2 -3 years old) while a young girl (4 - 5 years old) was following behind him walking by herself. Hubby and I was saying why can't the man hold the girl's hand since he still have one hand swinging freely. Or we were wondering why can't he let the young girl walked in front of him so he could still keep an eye on the girl.

We then proceeded to the petrol station nearby. As hubby was filling up the petrol, I saw that man walking towards the petrol station mini mart. I was shocked because he was ALONE ! When I turned my head to look behind, I was even shocked to see that he left the 2 kids by the road side. The elder one was hugging the younger one and both were standing at the side of the busy main road with cars zooming past them.

I quickly signaled hubby to look at the kids and I suddenly felt so worry for the kids. I was thinking what will happen if the kids suddenly decided to cross the road by themselves or unconsciously walked onto the main road or being kidnapped ! My eyes kept on looking at the kids and both were so obedient as they did not even move an inch !

Soon, the man finishes his 'business' at the mini mart and walked towards the kids. Suddenly, the younger ones wanted to rush across the road. Luckily the elder sister managed to hug him tighter. The man then quickly crossed the road and walked towards the kids. Upon seeing this, I felt relieved and glad that nothing happened to the kids.

Maybe I have kids around their age too, that's why I felt so worried for the kids. I definitely won't dare to leave my young kids alone at the side of the road. Be it busy road or not, accident will happens.

He reads, She listens

2011-10-19T09:00:00.000+08:00

XJ fiddling with Patrick's tail while YX reads to her

I'm really glad both kids enjoyed each other company. I like to see how they bond with each other, play and laugh together. Since YX can read simple words, he read for XJ. I've get them to sit on the carpeted floor but both insisted to squeeze into the same chair.

What's so funny over there ? Look at how XJ sits. Tsk tsk tsk

When they did not fight, they are the best siblings in the world.

Both were pointing at a picture

XJ loves to imitate her brother. Whatever YX was doing, XJ followed. Indirectly, YX managed to teach XJ some numbers and colours. YX is not only a great brother, he is a great teacher too !

Absent minded

2011-10-18T09:10:00.010+08:00

I was so absent minded. Last weekends I cooked chicken porridge for the kids for their lunch. Before I cooked the porridge, I fried some eggs as I thought chicken porridge was too plain. No other ingredient was available with me except for some eggs & leafy vegies.

I cut the fried eggs into strips and kept them in a tupperware and put them aside (in the kitchen area). Then, I prepared to cook the porridge. While allowing the porridge to boil, I entertained the kids. Read story book, play with them and at the same time, peek at the porridge. About an hour later, my porridge was done! The kids were famished.

I scooped up 2 bowls ~ 1 for YX and 1 for XJ, dashed with some sesame oil as the kids love the smell of it. I cut the leafy vegetables and added into their porridge to give them some fiber. YX ate on his own and I fed XJ. Both ate really fast and I was very happy as they enjoyed the food I cooked for them. After finishing their bowl of porridge, both requested for more ! Luckily the pot still have a little bit more and both finishes their 2nd helping in a jest.

I was still feeling very happy looking at the kids' good appetite and glad that nothing goes to waste. Just as I was washing the bowls, my eyes suddenly saw that fried eggs in the tupperware ! OMG ! I purposely fried the eggs for them and I FORGOT to add into their porridge.

Good that I have a Roti King with me. YX loves bread and he must have a slice of bread after every meal. Since his bowl of porridge was quite huge that day, he did not ask for bread immediately. After an hour or so, he started to request for bread. Instead of the normal style ~ spread with peanut butter / kaya, I asked if he would love to have his bread with eggs fillings. This is the first time he ate bread like that and he loves them ! As XJ does not want to have any bread, she just ate the fried eggs. At the end, the fried eggs still went into their tummy ^_^

His favourite

2011-10-17T11:08:00.000+08:00

Pancakes

Last Saturday, we did pancakes. The last try was over here. This time, we did better and the pancakes look more presentable.

YX helping to mix the ingredient

YX helped me to stir the mixture and can see that he was enjoying himself.

Evaporated milk added into the mixture

Involving him in preparing the pancake was good too because he managed to learn some new things. One of them was the evaporated milk.

ENO

He got excited when I poured in some ENO into the mixture as it makes the 'ssssssssss' sound. At home, hubby used to drink ENO whenever he has stomach discomfort. Before he mixed the ENO, he will get both YX and XJ to watch the 'volcano' and the kids will get so excited when the water begin to rise. haha

YX enjoying his pancakes

YX loves his pancakes ! I poured some honey on top to make it taste better. If only I have some ice cream, guess he will be happier !

yum yum........

Random Notes # 2

2011-10-14T09:00:00.037+08:00

Here's another random notes to share.

Note # 1
If the radio channel you are always listening to had some frequency problems (ziiii zaaaa sound) will you turn your radio off or change to another channel ? I just don't understand why that 'someone' can tolerate listening to an unstable radio channel for the whole morning. I would prefer that 'someone' could just turn the radio off! I felt so disturbing yet can't do anything ! Hmmmppphhh !

Note # 2
Two days ago, there was a water recessions in the office. Before that, we had also experienced water recession which I've blogged about it under the title Random Notes #1. Today, there is a water recessions again ! It had been happening too frequently. Sigh ! So inconvenience ! !

Note # 3
I'm looking forward to this coming Deepavali Public Holiday ! Yay !

Note # 4
I prefer tea over coffee. However, recently I found that coffee are so aromatic and are so suitable to goes with bread. I remembered my uncle used to dip the bread into his kopi O and I tried his method. Wow... delicious ! But mine was coffee with milk.

Note # 5
Hubby's friend have vouchers for free stay in one of the hotel in the Klang Valley during Christmas time. He invited us along. One room for his family and another room for us ! Can't wait for this wonderful short getaway.

Note # 6
This coming weekends will be attending a relative's wedding. In November, there will be another relative's wedding. End of the years always have lots of wedding receptions to attend.

Note # 7
XJ used to call MIL as Ah Ma (grandmother in Hokkien). Recently, she likes to call Ah Ma as Nai Nai (grandmother in Mandarin). She learnt that from the Astro XTY and I finds that amusing. I prefer her to call Ah Ma instead of Nai Nai.

Note # 8
One morning, YX complaint his milk was too diluted. I was rushing for time and thus, don't welcome such complaint from him. I nagged at him asking him to just drink his milk faster and get ready for school, while we need to rush to work. He obediently finished the cup of milk but in a rather slow pace. When I washed his cup, only I realised I've mixed XJ's milk instead. No wonder he had a hard time drinking the milk. Both are drinking different brand and he must have felt the milk a bit weird that morning. Sorry boy. I promised no more mistake in the future!

Note # 9
Normally, I helped hubby to update his bank passbook. Recently, to my surprised bank does not allowed a third party to update the passbook on behalf anymore. They said it was for security reasons. It will be so inconvenience for people like hubby who can't go to the bank during office hour.

Thick pile of drawings by YX over the past few months

Note # 10
I've finally updated YX's drawing blog (My Arts, My Inspirations) after a 3 months long break ! Hop over to see what YX had been drawings. Thank you.

Happy Weekends to EVERYONE !

Shhh...............It's a secret !

2011-10-13T09:00:00.003+08:00

Shh....Don't tell mama, ok ?

Ok Ok, I will help you

Good ! I will share my toys with you


It's a deal then !

*Pat Pat* We are the best buddies, aren't we?

Recently, YX & XJ love to whisper to each other. I love to see how they interact and their facial expression really amused me. Sometimes, I will ask what are you guys talking about and both will rush to me and whisper on my ears. Haha.....

Another Year Wiser

2011-10-11T09:00:00.002+08:00

I've scheduled for a post to be publish on the 8th October, but that post did not appeared. When I checked in my 'Edit posts' tab this morning, I realised it was still a DRAFT ! But I do remember clearly that I'd set the date and time. Never mind. 8th October is over, anyway.

Actually, that post was a short note wishing hubby a Happy Birthday. We did not celebrate on the 8th October as we went to a friend's new house for a house warming party. But we literary celebrated on the 9th October. We had buffet lunch ~ western meal @ Viva Home together with my in-laws.

This was what being included in the buffet when you order a main dish.

We had actually planned to dine in this restaurant last month. Due to everyone have their own plans over the weekends, it was postponed until last Sunday (9th October) where everyone finally able to attend. Hubby heard about this restaurant from a friend and decided to gave it a try.

One part of the menu

The buffet concept works like this. Every adults will have to order a main dish from their menu, and you are entitled to unlimited consumption on the salad bar. Child will be charged at RM15 + , according to certain height.

Some fresh salad, rojak and cucumber prickles

I started of with some fresh greens. There were a few types of salad dressings for you to mix and matched.

XJ enjoying some nuggets and fries

For XJ, she had some nuggets and fries as a start. I limited her to such deep fried food as afraid she might be too heaty eating them. But I do offer her some other type of food. A bit of here and there are enough to keep her full.

Taiwanese braised pork rice for YX

For YX, I get him some rice dish as he does not fancy fries as much as XJ.

Some of the main dish ordered by my in-laws. L-R (Beef, Prawns, Garlic chicken, squid) Middle - lamb

Here are some of the main dish ordered by my in laws.

Hubby's dory fish fillets

Both hubby and I ordered something the kids could share with us. Chicken & fish.

My garlic chicken + prawn combo

As XJ requested for prawn, I ordered a combo (chicken + prawn). The main dish portion are not huge for such price. I believe they marked up the price to cover the buffet spread.

Black pepper sauce

They have 2 types of sauces ~ black pepper sauce & beef mushroom sauce. We choose the black pepper sauce. It was thick and taste not bad.

Garlic bread + mushroom soup

Besides than salad, they served 2 types of bread. You will have to DIY ~ spread the bread with the desired jam / garlic butter and put them into the oven to toast it. The garlic bread was delicious as it was fresh from the oven. Great to dip them into the mushroom soup. I had 2 bowls of the mushroom soup as they tasted real delicious. It was added with loads of fresh mushrooms too !

Pop corn + mamak style fried noodles

There is a pop corn machine and they tasted as good as in the cinema ones. Both my kids had a handful of pop corn as their snacks after their main meal. They served fried noodles ala mamak style but not spicy though. We had a bit of here and there and was quite fillings.

XJ enjoying the super sweet watermelon

They served watermelon, honeydew and papayas. I gave both kids some papayas (because good for constipation) but at the end, I had to finish them all by myself as both refused to eat. The watermelon was super sweet and juicy.

ABC with ice cream + my DIY sago ABC

After a heavy meal, how can we give desserts a miss ! On the left was ABC with ice cream and on the right was my own creation. I mixed the sago with some shaved ice and jellies and make my own version of ABC. Gula melaka and evaporated milk was provided and you can add as much as you like. The shaved iced was all well prepared earlier and kept in the freezer where you can scoop as much as desired.

Ice creams

For those who does not fancy ABC, they can have some ice creams.

Kid's favourite !

Both kids definitely won't give ICE a miss. They sat down so obediently and enjoyed the ice cream. The above portion are not for them alone. We shared with them and I kept asking XJ to feed me which she obliged to do so.

Total bill came up to RM300 ++ for 10 adults and they missed to charge the 2 kids (YX and his cousin). We did not realised that (hubby do not have the habit to check the bill) and I only found out about it when I looked at the bill in the car on the way back. The cashier must have forgotten about the kids and that helped to save us RM30+. haha........

I do find it is a little pricey. For such price we can have a better buffet spread with more varieties. Anyway, we should give new thing a try, isn't ?

What do you think ?

2011-10-10T08:30:00.010+08:00

A friend of mine experienced this and wanted to share her story over here. In my opinion, we shouldn't take our friends for granted. We should be glad to have such friends who are kind enough to shower us with gifts and are willing to celebrate happy occasions together with us. We should appreciate such great friends. Tell me what do you think after you have read the below story.

~ START ~

“Aussie, Intan and me are close friends. Aussie and me are mothers of our own children. And when Intan was pregnant, we feel happy for her too. However, Intan who was pregnant seems to have her own opinions, she didn’t heed our advice on how to take care of herself , and instead of that, she liked to eat instant noodles (Maggie Mi brand- curry flavor) almost everyday in a week, and then, loved to eat heaty deep fried food example pisang goreng, and cempedak goreng . She ate these food without her husband knowing at all (her husband disallowed her to eat) . This had led her to sore throat and body heatiness. Both Aussie and me disagreed with what Intan did, but couldn’t advise much, as Intan won’t listen.

Anyway, Intan finally gave birth. She tried the natural way, but after a torture of pain close to 24 hours, she was pushed to the operation theater. Aussie and me happy to know her baby’s arrival, and hence we planned to buy Intan’s baby a nice present. Some of our friends wanted to have a share of the gift too, but knowing their contribution was around RM20+ per person, Aussie and I bought our own present. We had got her a branded baby chair close to nearly RM 200, knowing that Intan is a person very particular with product brand.

Soon, the shop sent the gift to Intan’s house. When Intan saw the baby chair, she phoned to Aussie, with an unhappy and anger tone, Intan “lectured” Aussie, and asked why we bought a present for her? Instead of a THANK YOU, Aussie was scolded. Intan even said she had a baby chair already (but it was a hand-me-down by her relatives). Aussie never expect such reaction from Intan, and she also told Intan that some other friends would buy her gifts too. And this news made Intan angrier.

Immediately after Intan called Aussie, she called me too. Same case, I was “lectured” by Intan. In my heart, how could she did that, instead of appreciation, she even sort of “blamed” us for the present. Moreover, Intan started to call the other friends, telling them DO NOT BUY HER PRESENT. She wants ANGPOW, CASH VOUCHER, or at least diapers. And, if cash voucher, it should be Jusco cash voucher, since Intan only go to Jusco to buy things, even PArkson voucher also cannot, and if want to buy diaper, must buy Mammy Poko, M size, other brands, other size also cannot!

The friend who received her calls came to Aussie and me for complaints. They felt Intan was too much! How could she expect tokens according to her expectation? To obeyed Intan enquiry, all of them bought her these !

MamyPoko Diapers 'M' size !

Even after few days of the gift receipt , Intan still sms to Aussie, “blaming” her why we bought her the baby chair, as she already had one at home!! Well, we suspect Intan is in short with cash, hospital may charge her double for natural and ceaserean, then she bought too many “expensive” baby products before the baby was born. But that doesn’t mean she can expect CASH from FRIENDS…!”

~ THE END ~

Porridge Steamboat @ Home

2011-10-07T09:25:00.000+08:00

Plain porridge steamboat

One of the weekends, MIL decided to make steamboat. Instead of the normal soup based, she decided to substitute it into plain porridge. I remember having this porridge based steamboat in OUG years ago and find it quite creative.


Some of the ingredients

MIL made some Foochow fishball (fishball with minced pork fillings) upon FIL's request. Taufu is our favourite (adults and kids) and it is a MUST have item in a steamboat. We also had 'yau char kuey' but it is not in the picture.

My favourite ~ crabby !

The first thing I dig in was the crab ! My all time favourite. It was finger licking good.

Cheers !

To add in the 'kick' into our steamboat, we had some beers. SIL recommended this brand as she said smoother and not that bitter comparing to the others. It was an enjoyable meal even we were all soaked in sweat !

Our Sunday

2011-10-05T09:30:00.000+08:00

I happen to watch one education show over the Astro XTY channel together with the kids the other day and I just have to agree with what the little girl said. They were talking about the Days in a Week and the little girl mentioned that she ♥ Sunday because it is the day daddy will bring her out to play !

Same with my kids, we are only free on Sunday to bring them out of the house. Last Sunday, we decided to bring the kids to the City Park S2 to cycle since we have not been doing that for a long time already. We left home at around 7.30am and the weather that day was cloudy as it rained during the night before. It was a perfect weather for outdoor activities. The kids had a great fun cycling a huge round around the park while we adults walked behind them. We too, took the opportunity to exercise.

After spending about 30 minutes or so at the park, we proceeded to take our breakfast as the stomach are already making noises. haha..... We ate at a nearby coffeeshop before we continued to shop at the Tesco Hypermarket to stock up some groceries. I always tell hubby shopping is also a good exercise. We walked a lot too ! Even longer than in the park ! haha. At around 11 am + , we took early lunch as YX complaint of hungry.

Our next plan was to watch Nasi Lemak 2.0. Have you all watched this movie ? If not, you should plan for it fast as I heard the movie will be removed from the cinema soon. We laughed from the start till the end of the movie. It was so entertaining ! Initially, hubby and I had planned to watch this movie on Friday night. Right after dinner, we rushed to the cinema but was disappointed that the tickets were all SOLD OUT. On Saturday night, hubby went out with his buddy and he simply checked at the cinema to find out the tickets were all SOLD OUT again! So, on Sunday we went to the cinema an hour earlier before the show starts and managed to grab the tickets 4th row away from the screen.

Remember we went to the park in the early morning ? After we got the tickets, we rushed home to take bath (the kids too) before rushing back to the cinema again. Phew ! So rushing ! Again, the cinema were FULL. Even the 1st and 2nd row were all taken up ! It was indeed a good show if you wanted to have a good laugh. Many little things showed in the movie were so true where we experienced them since we were a child. It was very local and I guess only we, Malaysian can truly understand this movie in depth.

After the movie, we went back home to rest while XJ skipped her afternoon nap again. Oh yes, this time she did not sleep in the cinema. I guess she enjoyed the movie as much as me ! Since she did not nap, she knocked out pretty early during the night. A peaceful night again to end the day. What have you done during the last Sunday ?

Note : Got the news from Namewee's FB that Uncle Chee (who acted as Baba in the Nasi Lemak 2.0) had passed away. I was still shocked with this news. May he RIP.

The way they sit

2011-10-03T09:00:00.007+08:00

XJ smelling her Patrick's tail while YX was so absorbed to his cartoon.

When the kids have their cartoons on, it will be a PEACE for a moment at home. I can clean up the table after dinner and wash the dishes while hubby can read his daily newspaper without any disturbance. So when I saw them sitting like the picture above, I don't mind at all for as long as they don't unbalance themselves and fall down !

Gotcha ! They noticed I was taking their photos and posed for me !

I thought I could quietly take their pictures since they are so absorbed to the cartoon, but they noticed it anyway.

XJ looked sleepy....while the mischievous YX, trying to do some stunts !

Afterall, I'm still lucky....

2011-09-30T11:36:00.000+08:00

The picture was taken after I've cleaned up the desk about 2 hours later.

Today's the last day of September but things does not turn out well this morning. While I was making milk + oats for hubby (for his teatime at 10am), I accidentally knocked on his cup and spilled his milk. I mixed with boiling hot water and you can see from the picture above how bad it 'injured' the surface of my working desk.

Positive thinking :
1) Luckily the hot milk did not scald my hand
2) Luckily the hot milk did not spilled onto my notebook or the office's desktop
3) Luckily the hot milk did not spilled onto the office's carpet. Else, more work to do.
4) Luckily the hot milk did not spilled on my clothings. Else, I will have to drive all the way home to change as I don't have any spare cloths in the office
5) Luckily the hot milk did not spilled on the office's printer which was on my desk
6) Luckily I still have enough milk powder and oats so I could make another cup for hubby. Else, he will have nothing to drink in the morning. (The milk powder and oats are going to finish soon as I've planned to buy them during this coming Sunday)

Afterall, I'm still lucky despite I need to clean up my yucky desk. That bad mark left on my desk will served as a reminder to me TO BE CAREFUL in the future.

ONE

2011-09-29T10:00:00.000+08:00

Wholemeal buns

I had this wholemeal buns at one of the coffee shop in S2 area. I can't remember how much per piece but they are not cheap. I remember Papparich are also selling them. Coincidentally, we saw the same brand at the Jusco supermarket. It was at the frozen area.

Frozen buns. Hard like rock !

I'm not sure why it has to be frozen. A pack of 5 buns cost us around RM3.50 - RM4.50 (sorry, can't remember the exact price). I only remember they are quite costly and not worth eating them too often. LOL !

The buns are not really big in piece and for only 5 pieces, it is not even enough for my family of 4. My son who loves bread can walloped half pack of it in one go. I gave him a nickname ~ The Roti King. After every meals (either lunch or dinner), he MUST eat one or two slices of bread.

Steamed hot

The inconvenience part was we will have to steam them hot before consumption................

Cut them into half

............... and need to cut the bun into half in order to spread our favourite kaya or peanut butter. We can actually skip the cutting part, but the bun will be too thick and not economical. haha

Apply with some butter and peanut butter

The texture was really soft (like cotton), very fragrance and you can feel the wholemeal in every bite. It was indeed delicious. However, it is a tad too expensive for everyday consumptions. I've heard of Massimo bread but have not get the chance to try it over here.

Maths - the correct way

2011-09-27T09:00:00.001+08:00

During the 1st term (Jan - Jun), the homework which YX brought back from school are not that much whereby he can finished them before we came back from work.

However, as he entered the 2nd term (July - Dec), his homework multiplies and gets tougher for him to solve. He started to 'keep' his homework aside despite warning from MIL and always waited for us to be back from work before he is willing to do. When I checked with him, he said he don't understand how to do them. One of the homework he dreaded to do is MATHS !

Previously, the sum are in smaller numbers. eg : 10 - 2 = ? ; 6 + 2 = ? whereby he can use his little fingers to count.

Now, the sum are getting bigger and he was unable to count them by using his little fingers anymore !

Yesterday, he brought back 2 pages of Maths workbook to solve. All the number given were big numbers.

Example No.1 )
46 - 13 = ?

In his school, the teacher taught the kids to count by drawing circles on the smaller number. Referring to the above sum, the kids are supposed to draw 13 circles. Then, countdown (descending) from no. 46 while cancel the circle one by one until all the 13 circles are being cancelled. The answer will be 33.

The problem here is, YX does not know how to count using the descending order. He only managed to mesmerized the ascending order. So, I helped him to draft out a table where he wrote the numbers from 10 - 50. By referring to the table, he don't have to think so hard on what number comes before what number and so forth.

He can only do this method at home, but what if during exam time ? He got nothing to refer. So, we tried another method. We taught him to break the number into two.

- 13

------------------

We taught him to count the number separately (6 - 3) first, then only count (4 - 1). The numbers are small and he can use his fingers. He did very well. But, when it comes to number like.....

Example No.2 )
36 - 19

YX was unable to do the sum.

- 19

--------------

---------------

YX don't understand how to count 6 - 9 as he don't understand how to 'borrow' 10 from the front number which makes 6 = 16.

I was pulling my hair while explaining to him. I just don't have the patience to teach him while he just do not understand ! At the end, hubby help him with the maths while I accompany XJ to sleep. It was way passed his normal bedtime and he was still struggling with his maths homework. Even MIL sat next to him to help out a bit here and there.

In the bedroom, I suddenly thought of this post by All About Your Child. I'm glad I did not say that hurting word to him but I admit I did raised my voice. That post makes me think, maybe our methods are wrong ! Maybe we should think of other way to teach him to help him improve!

When I saw him sleeping soundly that night, I pitied him. I don't know why, but I just felt that way by looking at his innocent look. Whatever method we used to teach him, the most importance is Patience ! Patience ! Patience !

'Couple song'

2011-09-26T10:30:00.000+08:00

After this post, on my parents' wedding anniversary, I suddenly thought of our 'couple song'. That time, hubby and I was still in a courting stage. He came down to Johor during CNY for a visit and we went to the cinema for the first time ! (That one and only cinema in my hometown had since been closed down after our visit ! ). Since my hometown is a small and boring town, cinema is the only place we can spent our time together rather than sitting at home. We watched a film by Jackie Chan and Shu Qi and the theme song was sung by William Soo and Kit Chan. Eventually, this song became our 'couple song' but not the movie though. haha....so far, 'couple movie' was not found yet.

Both of us like this song because of the soothing melody and beautiful voice presented by the 2 singers. Over the years, we somehow did not mentioned about this song anymore. The other day, I heard this song over the radio and was glad that I'm able to find it over YouTube.

Do you have any 'couple song' or 'couple movie' with your other half ? Or perhaps any 'couple' stuff to share ?

Our Best Moments

2011-09-23T08:51:00.000+08:00

This morning, I happened to stumble upon this photo contest and thought it will be fun to submit my kids' photo. I have a few loving ones but only picture less than 2 MB are accepted. Hence, I started to search my picture folder and finally settled with this one below.

Brother & sister bonding time. YX was sharing the 'pop pop' with XJ

I like to see them share while playing. I like to see YX, being the elder brother showed his love towards his younger sister. And I like to see how both of them communicate among themselves like a loving couples.

Please help to click 'LIKE' to this photo (click for the link over here) and my family & I might be a step closer for a 2D/1N holiday ! Hahaha......

Appreciate your vote and thank you in advance for your help.

For those who have lovely family or kids photo to share, you may enter this contest. Hurry ! Contest ends on the 31st October 2011. Good luck !

Specially for the grandparents

2011-09-22T09:00:00.001+08:00

Both my parents never celebrate their birthdays (both shared the same birth date) or any anniversaries in a special way because they believe if we are healthy and happy to be together everyday, then we are celebrating literally.

However, this year was different. I received a surprised call from dad a week ago asking me if we can spare some time to travel back to Johor (since brother are going back too) as dad decided to celebrate his wedding anniversary with my mum ! Dad was never a romantic person and it was not his style to do a celebrations.

Of course we agreed to travel back since we are not working on the 16th Sept (PH). I get YX to do a card for the grandparents and since it was a last minute arrangement, we had to hide in our bedroom back in Johor to finish up the card and surprised the grandparents the next day !

The front part

Wrote and coloured by YX..........

The back part

Initially, I planned to use their thumbprint to sign off but only realised I do not have any water color in my parent's house. At the end, I suggested for YX to draw a boy which represent him and a girl with ribbon which represent XJ.

A heart shaped holder

I tied a pipe cleaner and bend it into a heart shaped for easy hanging.

2 kungfu kids posing with the self-made card

Taa daa.......mission accomplished ! We hung the card in the kitchen after everyone went to bed and mum was the first person who saw the card the next morning.

In the afternoon, dad brought us to a restaurant for lunch before we travel back to Seremban again (working on Sat). In the mist of excited cum hungry, I totally forgotten to snap any of the food photos. Sorry.... nothing for you all to drool......but I managed to take a picture of XJ at home before leaving for the restaurant.

Malaysian made Vietnamese girl !

Note : Please click 'LIKE' to my kid's photo. More info over here. Thank you

Random Notes #1

2011-09-21T10:13:00.003+08:00

I think I've never posted any Random Notes before in this blog and thought it will be fun to do so as I have some little things to share.

Note # 1
Yesterday, I met 2 difference races of people but both could speak very fluent Mandarin. One was an Indian lady worked in a local Pharmacy and another was a Malay lady worked in a bank.What a coincidence.

Note # 2
This morning, there was a water recession in the office. I felt so uncomfortable as when I wanted to wash my hand, there is not water running down from the tap. Everything just seems so not right. So inconvenience.

Note # 3

Taiwan version. Image source : Facebook

張棟樑 (Nicholas Teo) new album has been launched and are officially in the market in Taiwan. Malaysia will only market the Taiwan Version on 21st Sep (Today) and as for the Malaysia Version, it will only be release on the 28th Sep. I just can't wait to get myself a copy of it.

Note # 4
My parents are planning for a holiday overseas early next year and I wanted to join them. However, I'm in a dilemma. Should I bring both kids with me or leave both kids at home while I went solo? Am not going to choose either one to bring so it will be either both or none. Without the kids, it will be less hassle, but with them around, my trip might be more memorable !

Note # 5

Angry Birds craze. Drew in June 2011

I felt so bad for not updating YX's drawing blog for so long. He had drew a lot of drawings over the past few months but the lazy me yet to take the photos of his drawing. His love for drawing are so deep that he need to draw 1 or 2 pieces EVERYDAY.

Note # 6

XJ enjoying her sushis

Last weekend we had sushi for lunch. Hubby and YX does not like sushi but I'm happy to know that my girl love sushi !! She seems to enjoy what I like to eat and she will definitely be my best 'kaki'.

Note # 7
I just received my credit card statement and was shocked to find out that I've over spent this month ! I must start to control myself in spending.

Note # 8
As of 18th Sep 2011, I'm proud to declare that both of my kids are no longer afraid of CLOWN ! Usually, when we see any clown at the shopping mall, we will be very excited and encourage the kids to queue up for balloon. But both always refused and pulled us away. However, last weekends both kids somehow agreed to join in the queue and even 'high 5' with the CLOWN !

Mooncakes Festival 2011

2011-09-16T09:00:00.002+08:00

Birthday girl in her birthday dress. By the way, she is not allowed to climb like this at home.

On the 12 September, we had a mini party at home to celebrate the Mooncake Festival. FIL suggested to have dinner outside and I took this opportunity to dress up my little princess in her Birthday dress.

lanterns

After dinner, we set up the tables and lit up the lanterns. It was drizzling that night, thus no moonlight.

nuts and yams

MIL steamed some peanuts, 'sai kok' and some mini yam for us to munch.

Pamelo and jelly mooncakes

We also had pamelo and jelly mooncakes. Some of the jelly are given by relatives and some are homemade by MIL.

MIL's homemade jelly mooncakes with red bean fillings

soya bean milk and tau fu fa

Earlier, SIL went to the pasar malam and bought some soya bean and 'tau fu fa'.

pre-packed tang yuan

Hubby did his part too..... he cooked 'tang yuan' where we bought the frozen packed type from the hypermarket. Taste quite good. We had the red bean and black sesame fillings.

ginger soup

Hubby also boiled some ginger soup for the tang yuan..........yummy!

yummy delicious tang yuan

tang yuan in soya bean.

Since we have the soya bean milk, we added into the tang yuan. It was delicious to eat this way too.

As for me, I'm in charged in clearing up the mess after the mini party, and ...........

Kids with Angry Bird lanerns

......... accompanied the kids to play with the lanterns. Did yo noticed YX was in his pyjamas ?

I'm sick but still active !

Well, because he was having a slight fever that night. But he is all well now. Must be the bad weather these days making his body too heaty...

Famous among the kids at all age !

SIL bought this Angry Bird lanterns for the kids. We had a very simple yet enjoyable Mooncake Festivals that night. Both kids slept at around 11 pm which is consider very late for them. Hope you have a memorable Mooncake Festival too !

Childhood memories in the 80's

2011-09-15T09:01:00.004+08:00

PS 2

A few years back, we shared with SILs to buy this PS2. It was fun and once you started, you will get hooked to it.

Fight ! Fight ! Fight !

During the recent school holidays, we installed it for both YX and XJ to play. Most of the game are too difficult for them to control except for Ultraman. No matter what button you pushed, you still managed to fight with your opponent.

On their birthday week, FIL gave them a big surprised. Hubby and I were surprised too !

PVP

With the help from SIL, the grandfather bought 2 set of hand held consoles for his precious grandchildren as their birthday presents ! The PVP has 25,000 built in games and it comes with a cartridge of 99,999 games where many of the games were repeated on each screen. That does not matter to us because a few of the games can already kept the kids quiet for a long time. What's special of this console was it brought back lots of childhood memories for both hubby and I as 99% of the games are what we used to play during our childhood time. Even SIL couldn't helped it and bought 1 console for herself ! LOL.

If your childhood time are during the 80's, I'm sure you have played these games before. Do you remember them ?

Super Mario.

Super Mario is one of our favourite ! We even know where to find the hidden green mushroom which gave an extra life and we know which bricks contain extra golds when you kept on knocking on it.

Mappy

Another of my favourite is Mappy. I've always thought this is an elephant not until recently, I finally realised it is a MOUSE !

Contra

My brother and I used to pair up and fight until the last level. We had endless fun of shooting. We even managed to break the secret code to add extra lives and do not have to only rely on the pathetic 3 lives given at the start of the game. However, now I can't remember what's the code is.

Ice Climber

This is classic! Do you remember how to play this ? The Eskimo will have to break the ice and make all the way up to the top. Along the way, the Eskimo will have to avoid the seals and bird. Interesting !

Door Door

This is another classic game! I love this a lot. The cute white color creature will have to open the door for the monsters to enter before closing the door again. Once all monsters are trapped behind the door, you will proceed to the next level.

Road Fighter

When comes to racing, I personally prefer this one. It is not so complicated like the other racing game. At least I managed to clear the stage with satisfaction ! haha..... And do you remember seeing a superman flying on the left side? That superman will appear and give you bonus point.

Adventure Island

How about this ? Do you remember playing this ? The boy will have to collect fruits hanging in the air for points and in order to collect extra power, he will need to crack an egg for a skateboard which will make him go faster, or a fairy flying beside him to protect him.

Arabian

I hate those crows !

Balloon Fight

Wooo.....another of my favourite ! Fly and fly and poke the opponents balloons. I still remember having a sore thumb for playing this because it is quite difficult to control by the console.

Bubble Bobble

Do you like this too ?

Circus Charlie

Ahh....my brother and I love this a lot! We can play to quite a high level. It requires a lot of patience and tactics in order to clear the level.

Jewelry

Not forgetting the block games like Tetris, we love this colorful jewelry. The game comes with great music !

Star Force

Disappointed is, the PVP do not have THIS GAME ! Another of my favourite which I will never failed to choose to play. At the end of each level, we will have to fight against the master which are named as Alpha, Beta, Gamma, etc...... An interesting air force game !

There are still a lot of games like load runner, ninjas, pacman, Donkey Kong, etc...... it will be a long post if I list them all here ^_^

We only allowed the kids to play with the PVP during weekends as do not want them to be addicted to it. Long hour of playing is also not good for their eyesight. On weekdays, no need to guess you already know who will be playing with it ! Ahhh..........childhood memories !

Cikumuffin-ed

2011-09-14T10:53:00.002+08:00

a parcel for me !

Last week when I read about this news from 'ling in de house', I quickly did as what was instructed. In the next 10 minutes or so, I got a reply from the owner informing me that I was one of the lucky one! On the 6th September, my parcel arrived.

Well sealed with bubble wraps

Can you see what's inside ?

beautifully tied with ribbons

2 boxes of cookies

Yay ! It was some delicious homemade cookies by Cikumuffin. The thoughtful owner actually took the hassle to tie up the boxes with ribbon and protect with bubble wrap since she was sending the cookies to me via courier post.

a note for me

I've read from other lucky winner's blog where they received lemon cupcakes as their freebies and I was so eager to try that. However, I do understand it will be very difficult to sent those cupcakes to me via courier service. By the time the parcel reached me, I think the cupcakes will be out of shaped with the cream all splatted everywhere over the box ! haha ...

yummy delicious cookies.......

Nevertheless, these 2 boxes of cookies are heavenly too ! The double chocolates cookies was loaded with sinful chocolate chips which melt in your mouth with every bite ! The oatmeal & raisins was delicious too. It was very chewy and best of all, both cookies are not too sweet. Once pop-ed one into your mouth, you just can't resist to have another one.

Thank you Cikumuffin for the delicious freebies and thank you for the trouble for sending the cookies to me via courier service. Those cookies are still in good shapes when I received them ^_^

Wish to know more about Cikumuffin and want to taste some wonderful goodies from them? Hop over to her baking journal in FB over here and it will be nice if you can click 'LIKE' to be one of her fans !

Officially THREE !

2011-09-12T14:20:00.001+08:00

Mooo.......I'm a mouse in a cow mask !

After so many Birthday celebrations for the past week, there will be no more candles blowing or cake cutting for XJ on her actual birthday. Nevermind. She had her fair shared already. ^_^

For XJ at the age of 3, she is quite independent. She can ease herself at the potty, pull off and put on her own pants / panty without any help. Despite she is very 'manja', she is consider mature at her age as sometimes, it is hilarious to hear her scolding YX when he misbehaved. She speak exactly like an adult !

She is still a complaint QUEEN and will complaint to us on whatever issues, immediately she saw us getting down from the car after work. She will talk and talk non-stop following behind us while we walked into the house. Sometimes, I find her very noisy but without her voice, sometimes I do feel the house is too dull ! haha ^_^

As a girl, XJ loves people to praise her PRETTY. She will melt your heat by giving you a very sweet smile and pose for the camera. She likes her hair to be 'decorated' with those hair clips and doesn't mind you working on her hair for as long as you told her "You looked so beautiful !" after that.

Seeing her brother going to school, XJ are so eager to attend school too. Every now and then, she will be telling us that she is already a BIG GIRL and can goes to school just like her brother. We had planned to sent her to the same school as YX in January next year and we shall see if she will cry bucket then! haha

I actually do miss their baby times but am truly enjoying their growing up moments now !

Enough of the Happy Birthday greetings for this year.............but I wanted to wish everyone

HAPPY MOONCAKE FESTIVAL !!!

Remember to spent some time with your loves one tonight to light some lanterns, chit chat under the big round moon or munching on some mooncakes / peanuts while sipping a cup of hot tea. Treasured those besides us while we still can. Let's do it together ! ^_^

Shopping with parents

2011-09-10T09:00:00.047+08:00

Last Sunday, I brought both kids to Jusco with my parents. Hubby never enjoy shopping unless he has got something to buy, so he prefer to stay at home. Luckily both my parents ENJOYED shopping a lot ! and I've got them to accompany me. I've wanted to leave the kids at home with hubby but, both wanted to tag along.

We headed to the shopping mall after breakfast at home. That was at around 10.30 am. Parking was easy to find and we have plenty of space to choose from. With dad around, he assisted to look after the 2 kids where they spent most of their time at the Jusco's indoor amusement park. Mum and I managed to take our own sweet time browsing through the ladies department. What a bliss ! And I even managed to buy some blouses.

As I have a RM50 Starbucks vouchers, I suggested to have a light lunch somewhere and we can proceed to Starbucks for afternoon tea later. Both my parents agreed and we choose to eat at the Manhattan Fish Market since my parents never ate this before and I only had this once a few years back.

We ordered a set of baked fish with rice (RM16.90) and a set of grilled chicken breast with rice (RM16.90) and a mixed platter (deep fried button mushroom, deep fried prawn & squid - RM13 ++) to share. Love the deep fried button mushrooms to bits. It was so crunchy at the outside and so juicy in the inside *sorry, no photos to share*

Next, we went to Starbucks to fill up our half full tummy. We had 3 drinks, tiramisu, chicken pie and a classic donut for the kids. Dad enjoyed the cosy environment. While sipping on our drinks, we chatted and relaxed while the kids enjoyed digging into their donuts ! Glad that both were so cooperative that day which makes me wanting to plan for another shopping spree with my parents again next trip they are in town.

Then, I received a call from MIL inviting my parents to have an early dinner together at around 6pm. Since it was already around 2 pm + when the call came in, I suggested to stay at the shopping mall until dinner time. I regretted doing so. I was dead tired and came back home with a pair of sore leg. XJ skipped her bath that day because she slept in the car after our dinner. The mighty strong YX still managed to watch one round of cartoon before agreed to sleep.

As for my both parents, they were tired too. They slept early that night after bath. I jokingly told my parents that I broke record that day by staying in the mall from morning till evening for the 1st time ever in Seremban! Even I do enjoyed that very much (with their great company), but I don't think I can do this again (long hour) in the future as my legs can't take it. hahaha.....

Note #1 : Salute to those who can stay at the shopping mall for the whole day. You know who you are ^_^
Note #2 : I felt so lucky to be able to spent time with my parents even I'm already married with kids. Hope they will stay healthy and we can still do this in the next 5, 10, 15 or 20 years ahead !
Note #3 : I should wear a proper walking shoes. Maybe my legs won't hurt so much if I really did.

Birthday Celebrations - Part 3

2011-09-09T09:25:00.007+08:00

Ice cream birthday cakes

This year, the kids are so lucky to celebrate their birthday so many times with different groups of people. Part 1 was with my friends, Part 2 was with my parents and finally, Part 3 was with hubby's family.

Love by both young and old

As we had already had cakes for the previous 2 celebrations, we chose something different and opted for an Ice Cream Cake instead. Doesn't required special order but just simply grab them from the confectionery section from Tesco. Easy and cheap !

The cheeky YX always gave funny posed. XJ was definitely on cloud 9 as can blow candles again !

Most importantly, both old and young loves the ice cream cakes ! Both kids had the privilege to blow candles AGAIN and they doesn't mind at all. In fact, they are looking forward to it.

Busy unwrapping her pressies.....

After eating the birthday cakes, it's time to unwrapped their presents. This is something I personally love to do, even until now. But since it was the kids' birthday, I let them unwrapped the presents themselves. As XJ doesn't know how to tear the wrappers, she asked me to help. Oh, I was so happy to tear the wrapping paper away, just like the presents was for me. haha.....

Waiting anxiously to see what's inside !

YX on the other hand was a bit rough. He simply tear here and there but at the end, still asked hubby for some help.

A fishing set

Aren't the kids lucky ?

And these are what the kids have for this year ! plus ang pows which I've already 'fed' their piggy bank. How lucky they were. Thank you once again to all for the well wishes and birthday gifts !

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Earlier in the morning of 7th Sept, we bought a cake for YX to celebrate with his classmates in the kindy.

Celebrating birthday with classmates

A closer view of the KungFu Panda cake.

I handed over my camera to the teacher and asked her to help to capture some photos. Kung Fu Panda is one of YX's current favourite cartoon and now, he is eying on The SMURFS !

Birthday Celebrations - Part 2

2011-09-08T09:00:00.012+08:00

Birthday cake for YX & XJ

On the 3rd September, while my parents were still in town, we celebrated the kids' birthday again. Unfortunately, both my PIL had a buffet party to attend on that day, so they did not join in.

Posing with their birthday presents from my brother. Next to XJ is my brother's son. He got a share of present too to avoid the kids from fighting. hehe

My brother gave each kid a box of presents. It was not wrapped, thus the kids immediately requested to play with their new toys on the spot.

Singing Birthday song for the kids. My dad said, it was ALL THE KIDS' BIRTHDAY that day !

Blowing candles

Every kids had the chance to blow the candles, including my 9 months old baby niece. haha

Cake cutting ceremony.

Together with grandma, they cut the birthday cake to mark they are 1 year older !

To read part 1, click here

Birthday Celebrations - Part 1

2011-09-07T09:00:00.007+08:00

YX is 5 TODAY and XJ turning 3 on the 12th Sept !

The next day after the wedding dinner, we had another party to attend. It was my friend, Mummy-J daughter's birthday party where her birthday falls on the 1st Sept. Since both my kids' birthday falls on September too, Mummy-J suggested to co-join the birthday party which was held at her parent's home in Johor.

Part packs for the kids

Animal foam masks for the kids

All food were provided and prepared by Mummy-J and her mother. I only bought some party packs, animal foam masks for the kids and some siew pau & birthday cake for the party. Mummy-J was so kind to provide everything. Thank you so much Mummy-J. We did not even stayed back to help with the cleaning up as we need to drive back to Seremban after the party. *so sorry for that*

Before the party starts, the 3 Birthday kids playing with toys.

Numbered candles. No. 2 = baby-G, No. 3 = XJ & No. 5 = YX. Oh dear, my photography skill was so bad that I did not managed to capture the candle No.2

Chocolate birthday cake for the 3 kids.

All singing Happy Birthday song for the 3 stars of that day !

Once the Birthday song ended, all kids were so excited to blow the candles. XJ did not managed to blow hers and cried loudly to protest. Mummy-J need to lit up the candle No.3 just for her to blow again. With tears still on her cheek, XJ finally smiled again. *shake head* What a manja little girl !

Kids with party hats !

Birthday presents for both YX & XJ.

Thank you to the newly-wed bride (who spare some time to join in the party), Mummy-J & aunty, SP, PL & SL for the lovely presents and ang pows. I did not allow the kids to open their presents yet but they can do that TONIGHT ! To avoid the manja XJ to cry, of course I will allow her to open her birthday presents together with her brother.

Scary jam along the highway

We left Mummy-J's house around 2pm and both kids slept in the car. Along the highway, we were quite disappointed to be caught in the jam. We thought the journey will be smooth sailing as 1st Sept was still a PH but never expect many people were rushing back as well. Luckily, the jam was just for a short distance only (along the Muar/Pagoh exits) and the whole journey back to Seremban was a smooth sailing one.

Thank you again Mummy-J for organizing the birthday party. Hope you all did not spend the entire afternoon to clean up the house after the party !

Coming up next, Birthday Celebrations - Part 2 .............

Wedding

2011-09-06T10:38:00.000+08:00

Image from The bride's facebook

On the 30th August we went down to Batu Pahat, Johor (my place of birth) to attend a friend's wedding. I've known the bride since primary school but we were never classmate nor schoolmate ! We got to know each other from private tuition classes. Since both of us were staying in the same housing area, we will always cycle to each others' house to gossips. Those were the days. Now, she has found her other half and start a new chapter in her life. Here, I wish her all the best and enjoy being somebody's wife. haha !

Attending this wedding dinner is also like a mini gathering with my secondary ex-schoolmates/classmates who were from the same primary school as the bride. That night, I was feeling so excited and anxious at the same time because it had been years I did not meet up with them. Even the bride, I've not seen her for many years. All these while, we only keep in touch via phone and FB. I was really happy that night. Happy for the bride and happy to have this opportunity to meet up with old friends.

Hope we can have another gathering, soon. Perhaps, have a picnic in the park ?

Don't Cross The Line

2011-08-25T14:00:00.002+08:00

Both concentrating watching Tom & Jerry Cartoon

They may be a pair of loving siblings, but they always fight over small stuffs ! The loser will cry his/her lungs out while the winner will be beaming with pride and joy. Hubby and I will be tearing our hair !!!

- They fights over tv channel. The boy prefer Disney channel (channel 615), while the girl prefer Baby TV (channel 618)
- They fights over the colour of the cup
- They fights over toys
- They fights over food (must separate 2 bowls)
- They fights over territory !

The other night when both were watching Tom & Jerry cartoon, I had to place a bolster in between of them as both fights for a bigger space. With that bolster around, both managed to finish the cartoon without any fuss !

Will they continue to fight to take care of us when we grow old one day ?

Malay kuih

2011-08-24T15:51:00.000+08:00

Pink sago coated with coconuts

I had the first taste of this pink sago kuih when I was still working in KL. Never knew what they were at first, I was tempted to buy because the color looks like my favourite malay syrup drinks. I love that air sirap a lot and still remember they were only selling at RM0.10/ glass in my school canteen. Wonder how much they have increased the price now ?

Ok, back to the kuih. Once I've tasted this pink kuih, I'd listed it as one of my favourite kuih ! Those days, I bought them quite often from the roadside malay stall near to the LRT stations. Last week, we visited the Radmahdan stalls and I bought some home. It was so delicious. The fragrance rosy smell, not too sweet nor too bland and very well coated with a tad salty sheared coconut flesh. I had 4 in one shot and that spoiled my dinner for that night ^_^

Putu Piring (rice flour with gula melaka)

This is also another of my favourite. I'm not sure of the correct name (Is it Putu piring? ). I used to bug mum to buy this for me whenever we visited the pasar malam. And I still love this kuih up till now ! The gula melaka stuffed inside the rice flour are so addictive.

Other type of malay kuih that I love will be ondek-ondek. The green color mini balls stuffed with gula melaka and coated with shredded coconut flesh are something I love since I was a child. Some made the balls bigger in size but funny, they don't taste the same. I still prefer the cute mini balls.

What's your favourite malay kuih ?

August is a good month, Red is a great colour !

2011-08-23T11:01:00.001+08:00

N.S Carnival 2011

Last week, there was this Carnival held in Seremban. There were about 100 booths to promote their products such as Banking, Furniture, Electrical, Beautician products, etc ...Our main purpose to visit this Carnival on the 18 Aug night was to bring the kids to see the Lion Dance performance which starts at around 7.30pm.

Are you lucky enough to get spotted ?

There was this Spot & Win contest. If lucky enough, the reporter might capture your picture and published in the newspaper and you will win a brand new CSL Blueberry handphone. For those who made a purchase of RM50 and above, they will be entitle for the Lucky Draw contest which will be drawn every night before the closing of the carnival at around 9.30pm. Prizes like motorbike, bicycle, LCD tv, electrical goods, etc to be won daily. We did not buy anything, thus not entitle for the Lucky Draw.

Can you spot XJ in the photo ?

But little did I expect that MY PHOTO WAS BEING CAPTURED BY THE PHOTOGRAPHER and being published in the Chinese newspaper (dated 20Aug) !!! Those being circled in RED will win the CSL Blueberry handphone.

After work on Saturday, we went to the Carnival again to redeem my prize from the registration booth but was told that the prize will only be given out on the stage together with the lucky draw events at 9.30pm. What ? I need to go up to the stage to receive the prize ????? I was then thinking should I go or not. Should I forget about this phone ????? Since it is not iphone or ipad. hahaha


On the left : The emcee (spoke very well in Chinese, Cantonese, Bahasa & English -		talented ! )

After discussion with hubby, I decided to go. This kind of winning does not come everyday. So, relax and let's have fun ! At around 9pm, we went to the Carnival (again) and I was feeling kind of anxious and excited.

Receiving my FREE handphone ! I jokingly told hubby that he was jealous with my winning, thus taking such a BLUR picture !!!! And this is the only picture he manage to take during the prize presentations!!!!

It was such a great feeling to experience a 5 minutes Celebrity feel ! Many photographers were taking photos and I just got to smile and smile until the photographer showed the 'Good' sign.

Metal casing

Looking at this handphone, it was just like a dream. Until today, I'm asking myself "Am I really that lucky ? " WOW !

I still remember last year, AUG 2010, I won big too (winning Bio Essence products worth RM1000) which I've blog over here.

AUGUST IS INDEED MY LUCKY MONTH !

PINK blueberry

Even it is a very basic phone (worth roughly RM150 +), I'm still happy to be the new owner of this phone. I'm currently using it as my FM radio.

The basic functions of the phone

No WiFi, no bluetooth, no 3G, but still a great prize !

Family

2011-08-15T15:35:00.001+08:00

Last Sunday, while my parents were still in town, we impromptu made a plan to visit Tg. Sepat which is about 1 hour + drive away from Seremban. Since everyone have never been to this fishing village, all agreed immediately. The weather that day was just PERFECT. It rains in the morning and was cloudy for the whole day.

We left home at around 4pm by 2 cars. One was ours and another was my brother with his family. My brother hardly follow us to any outing as he always have his reasons and choose not to participate. But on that faithful Sunday, it was a surprised that he agrees to join in !

The famous pau shop

With the help of GPS, our journey was smooth sailing. Our first stop was the famous pau shop. When we arrived, the shop was packed with people and many were queuing up to buy the pau. Mum was reluctant to enter the shop at first (as she said we can buy pau anywhere in the town) but was tempted to do so after seeing so many people. Was it really that delicious ?


Snowy white pau skin in the making

'mui choy'

They offer a varieties of pau but we only bought their famous 'mui choy' pau. It was indeed very delicious and SPECIAL because we never had this type of paus in both Seremban and Johor.

Not cheap eh ?

At first the lady boss told us the 'mui choy' pau were all sold out. Whatever are available in the shop are all being reserved by customers. If we wanted to buy, we can place a reservations and come back 2 hours later to collect. But upon hearing that I only wanted 6 pau, the lady boss sold to me ^_^

YX posing with a huge fishing boat

After the pau shop, we went to the jetty area (The Lover's Bridge). There were some roadside stalls selling fresh fish balls, dried stuffs, fruits and tidbits. Near the jetty, there was also a shop selling dried food stuffs and we spent some time shopping there. Mum bought some prawn crackers and sweet potato crackers where the kids enjoyed munching away.

2 happy kids

Just right beside the jetty, there were 2 - 3 seafood restaurant. I've seen somewhere in the Internet that the one nearer to the jetty served very delicious food. The name is something Ocen ..... Since it was around 6pm, not many people were eating, we decided to have early dinner to avoid the crowd.

We ordered the below 3 dishes ....................

Claypot tofu 'geng' (tofu soup slightly similar to shark's fin soup texture. Taste still acceptable. 7/10

Deep fried calamari rings. Not crispy and not well marinated. 5/10

YX's favourite - 'ko lo yuk' (Sweet & Sour pork. I can get better ones from the economy stall in Seremban. 2/10

........ steamed fish, fried mantis prawn with salted egg and a plate of green vege. You must be wondering why I did not snapped photo of the remaining 3 dishes. Well, the dinner was a great DISAPPOINTMENT ! Not only the taste were lousy, the mantis prawns were NOT FRESH (have a kind of stale smell) and the sweet & sour pork consists of FATS more than meat !

On top of that, their service were really bad. We have to wave our hands for almost 3 times before someone came to take our order.

We paid RM 116 inclusive of rice and tea (6 adults + 3 kids + 1 baby).

Regardless of the 'BAD' dinner, we still enjoyed this trip a lot because it has been ages since we, one family got the chance to get together for an outing like this. And I'm sure dad & mum were the happiest of all to be able to see their children (that's us), their son and daughter in law plus grandchildren all by their side. ^_^ It's the togetherness that counts !

Brother, let's do this more often while we still can !

I ♥ PINK

2011-08-11T15:06:00.000+08:00

'Huat ger' (Not sure what it is call in English, anyone?)

We first introduced this 'kuih' to YX when mum bought some over from Johor. He fell in love with it instantly. He always said this is 'Pink kuih-kuih' and will ask us to buy for him whenever we are at the Pasar Malam.

Cut into small pieces for YX to eat

However, hubby and i don't really fancy this at all. XJ don't really like it either, but will eat it when she saw her brother eating. She never finish the whole 'kuih'. Only 1 or 2 bites and pushed the whole 'kuih' to me. I will then offer the unfinished 'kuih' to YX and he will happily ate it! haha

My favourite 'kuih'. Do you like this too ?

This is my mum's favourite 'kuih' too. She loves to steam them hot and spread some butter over it. Now she knows YX loves this 'kuih', she never fails to bring some over whenever she comes to Seremban to visit us.