Blowing Bubbles

Alicia was still having runny nose so Mummy let her skip swimming class on Saturday. Caden din follow along cos he developed rashes after his fever subsided - old folks call it false measles. So, Mummy brought Brandon there alone. We started earlier at 8.30am, half an hour earlier to compensate for the session missed on CNY eve. Other than learning to kick, he's learning how to blow bubbles now...

After the swim, we headed to Gu-gong's house for CNY lunch, followed by a short nap at home. Then, again to Da-gu's house for CNY dinner. Daddy drove us to the Esplanade and we caught a glimpse of the Chingay Parade's fireworks and those beautiful vehicles.

New pose

Alicia has been striking a new pose recently, after meeting Sharlyn over the new year.

Happy 2nd Birthday, Caden

We celebrated Caden's birthday in advance on Valentine's Day this year. Mainly cos we could get a birthday cake on Day 1 of CNY at Tampines' Emicakes. Had 2 cakes, 1 for the day at 99's place, and 1 for the nite at home.

Birthday cake toy with music & lights - a gift from Er-gu & xiao-gu.

Happy Lunar New Year!

Here's wishing all a Happy & Prosperous New Year!

Well, we din really take lots of photos this year... Alicia ran a fever since New Year's Eve and Caden started on the first day of CNY. Sigh... Mus be all the heaty food that we've been eating. Even Mummy me was also down with sore throat.

Alicia & Caden, with the cool pad on their forehead. Luckily, Brandon is ok.
While the kids were sleeping, we went to the Kovan flora market on the eve abt 2am and bought 3 pots of 'ju' and 2 pots of flowers @ $10 per set. And, isn't our Doraemon nice?
Our reunion dinner at home. Er-gu ordered the pen-cai from Tung Lok @ $425. So big pot!

Our Fu-Lu-Shou posing...

Potty training

Caden's been pretending to pass urine at the toilet bowl/potty these few weeks. He'll jus walk there n say he wants to "shee-shee"... Each time, it'll jus be nothing done.

Yesterday, I tried to make him sit on the potty in the morning. Well, my kids do their big business 1st thing in the morning, after their milk. And he did it!!! Hope this is a good sign towards potty training. Way to go, Caden!!!

Kids' New Room

Finally, we're done with the renovation to the kids' new room. For the past 2 nites, we've been "camping" at their room. Told them that they'll have to sleep on their own from tonite onwards, and they're all ready. (Hopefully!!)

A little too pink? Xiao-gu said I forgot I have 2 sons. What to do? Alicia chose the color!!! At least the toilet's blue.

Little details -

Happy Kids.. : )

The right time to go Orchard Road

It's the right time to go Orchard Road now. We went down town to shop on Sunday after Alicia's art class and found that it's so quiet. Our guess - everyone's completed their CNY shopping and is busy stocking up the goodies now. Hence, only heartland malls and supermarkets wld be packed like sardine.

Dinner @ Orchard Central's Crystal Jade HK Cafe

Lucky draw dip by Alicia

Brandon followed Mummy to Level 4 for the mall's spin & win and insisted on taking photos with the lion dance

We spent too much time having dinner and was left with too little time to shop. We shopped till the shopping complex closed! Good thing Daddy bought his stuff for CNY. Now, left with Mummy... : (

Chinese Tiger

Alicia drew tiger for her art class on Sun. Looks like a Chinese tiger to me...

A tradition

It's a family tradition to go Chinatown during this festive season for the past years. We did so on Sat evening. Had dinner at the Neil Road's Qun Zhong Eating House, one of Mummy's fave. Brandon loved the food so much - after a small portion of porridge which I brought, he had a portion of the minced pork noodles, 3 dumplings, 3 ah-bor ling and red-bean pancake!

It was too crowded - we only managed to squeeze thru one lane and decided to get out once we saw an exit.

See this pix - naughty Caden pulled Brandon's hair for no rhyme or reason, immediately after they took photos.

1st Swimming Lesson

Alicia & Brandon had their 1st swimming lesson at Toa Payoh Swimming Complex last Sat. The coach was very bad. When he saw Brandon, he said, "This boy cannot lah... too small. 2 or 3 years old?" I quickly said, "No, he's turning 4 already." His reply, "Huh... so short ah?" : p

I was quite worried initially, as they started off immediately at ther 1.2m deep pool. I kept reiterating to the coach that they dunno how to swim. Aunties Corina & Pat whose kids are also learning to swim, kept laughing at Mummy, saying I'm too uptight.

I'm glad Alicia & Brandon loves it. Alicia did very well, while Brandon only paid attention initially.

Playing when the coach was coaching other kids.
They were taught to kick and stretch their legs.

My lazy boy soon became lethargic and the other kids tot he fell asleep!

After the lesson, they played water with Daddy at the kids pool. That's when Brandon became energetic again.

We headed to Tampines for brunch & some last minute shopping for the kids.

Daddy was so hungry after swimming few laps and was happily enjoyng his food at Sushi Tei.

Barrier-less

After wear and tear, the safety gate at the stairwell has retired. Brandon was so amused when I wanted to take photos. Luckily, Caden is able to understand now and does not climb up unnecessarily without anyone watching him.

J8 again

Dunno y, but we seemed to be going J8 ever so often these few weeks. Went there again last evening.

Had dinner at Crystal Jade.. the kids were making funny faces, so difficult to take pix for them.

Bot a LCD TV at Best Denki for shu-shu's new home.

Playing with the electric organ at Best. Time to start her on music classes...

Walked over to the CNY Bazzar to c c look look. Nothing much.. but the stench of the smelly toufu made me nearly want to puke. Jus look at Brandon & Alicia!

Then, they had fun playing the kiddy rides. Daddy said we should jus bring our battery-operated car there for them to play with. Er... true?

Art Classes

Haven't been updating on Alicia's art class for some time. Her works for the past weeks.

Haircut for CNY

Brought the kids to Uncle Simmon's salon on Sun morning. Alicia wanted to keep long hair, so only cut her fringe and trimmed the length slightly.

Brandon, as usual, had his monthly haircut.

Caden, refused to cut his hair - jus happily eating his sweet.

All played outside while waiting for Daddy to have his haircut. Mummy shall do hers on Tues.

Excursion to CNY Factories

The kids' school organised an excursion on Sat to a few CNY goodies factories and vegetable farms. Since it's the 1st for the year, we signed up for it. The kids were excited and woke up early in the morning. As it was a full day trip - from 8.30am to 4.30pm, we din let Caden tag along. Even Alicia & Brandon fell asleep for abt an hour each on the bus.

Ah Ma and Er-gu joined us. Before the trip, Ah Ma said we should not buy the stuff for CNY as they would not be cheap. But, at the end of the day, guess who bought the most things???

We went to places like Bengawan Solo Factory, Fragrance (Xiang Wei) & Bee Cheng Hiang Factory, Organic Wheat Grass Farm, Vegetable Farm, Frozen Seafood outlet, etc.

They had originally planned to let us have lunch at Causeway Point. On the bus, they told us it has been changed to Vista Point (where on earth is that?). We ended up at a food centre somewhere in Jurong West, which we called it Dissa-Point.

Brandon helping himself to the freshly fried mushroom... 4x!

The organic wheat grass farm

The kids with their friends

Beautiful flowers n a longan tree at the vegetable farm

Part of the barang bought. Brandon had to help lug 1 big pack of the keropok to the car