First and Last Day of School 2015

As the school term for 2015 comes to a close, the babies reached another milestone. Jolie completed her preschool and will go to Primary school next year. Jayden completed his playgroup and will move on to the same preschool as his sister, Hope Kindergarten, next year. The last day of school has been quite hectic. Jayden got a performance party in his school while Jolie had to miss her last day of school party to attend orientation at her new school.

After all the hustle and bustle, I finally had the time to reflect on how fast time flies and how much my babies has grown. I dug up photos of their 1st day of school and the difference was startling! I forgot how freaking adorable my babies were. How much they have changed!

Jolie started to go to Hope Kindergarten on 2013. Look how sweet and precious she looked! So fair and pretty like a porcelain doll!

I was learning the ropes of being a stay-at-home mother to 2 children and it was not easy! Missed alot of blog posts during that period.

My sweet princess...

After 3 years, the skirt shrank, the shoes were covered in dirt and she's much more tan from taking swimming lessons.

Considerable number of teeth missing too! But still the cheeky girl. Haha..

Jayden on Jolie's 1st day of school. I forgot how adorable he was! Cheerful baby saying goodbye to 姐姐!

After a blink of an eye, 2 years have passed and Jayden started going to playgroup at the beginning of 2015.

Throughout the year I worry for him. As he was born near the end of the year, (November) I worry that he cannot catch up academically. It didn't help that his classmates were all very chatty and bright little children.

But I decided not to stress myself out and let nature take it's course. Important thing is that he is a happy, healthy and bright child. See how much he's grown in just one year!

One year on and he grows more cheeky by the day! Makes my blood boil but can also melt my heart with a smile and a sweet little kiss!

The relationship between the siblings are so unlike mine. All day long they fight, bicker and disturb each other. But when they are not fighting, there is so much love and laughter between them. The brother would ask for the sister to carry him, they would hug and play with each other. So extreme!

I hope that they will stay close with each other even when they are all grown up. And never forget that the same blood flows inside them. I love you my babies! Can't wait to witness more milestones coming your way!

A good friday

No it's not really Good Friday yet but many things happened today that made me happy.

1. Jayden's 1st day at school
Jayden finally went to school! Well it's actually a 2 hour playgroup but it's still another important milestone reached. Felt quite emotional as I thought about how he has grown from a tiny infant to a chubby baby and now he's carrying his little backpack to school.





The "school" is just a room with 2 teachers and 13 toddlers. But today it was even more squeezy as all the parents and grandparents were in the same room too. I wanted leave when I felt that Jayden seemed ok. But the teacher said we should stay today and get familiarised with the routine.



Ok.. abit bored after awhile.. the other kids seemed fine except for one girl who's a little more annoying and taking other people's (even adult's) stuff. But we survived the 2 hours easily.

2. Jolie goes to Kindergarten 2
Last year of Kindergarten for my Jojo! Time flies and her uniform seems to be getting shorter and shorter! Haha.. Wanted to bake a cake for her class but it flopped, so dug around the store room and found a huge packet of mini mash mellows. Sis bought for Jo when she had tonsillitis so its perfect. Share the sweets so she wont have to eat them all!

As usual she had a good time at school. I love how she loves going to school and never had much problems in that area.

3. Took a nice long nap
I know that sounded trivial but I'm always lacking in sleep. Too much to do too little time! So when we got home after lunch, I put Jay to nap and I flop onto bed and slept away. About 2 hours!! BLISS!! Better and 10 cups of coffee!

4. A wonderful trip to Bishan Park
I had to pass some items to a buyer at Bishan, so I suggest we bring the babies to Bishan Park before dinner. Turns out to be an excellent idea! We couldn't ask for a better weather for a stroll at the park. It was breezy and sunny but not hot. Perfect for the kiddies zooming around in their scooters.







The park so so beautiful, but I had to go meet the buyer, so I had to leave the kids with Cobby. I felt so sad to leave and worse when I arrived way to early and even more worse when the buyer was late! I could have spent another 15-20 minutes more with my babies! Darn it! But all was forgotten when I met up with Cobby and the kids again. We walked to the food centre opposite the park and had a simple tze char dinner. Nice.

5. Sold another item
Even though I was a little pissed I'm always happy to sell off another item. There's so much stuff at home and instead of throwing away, I'm trying to sell off some stuff. They are all in such good condition, it's a waste to throw them away! Always happy that the items have a 2nd lease of life instead of rotting away at our home.

Come check out my list of stuff I'm selling! Click HERE

6. My video was shared
On the way home I got a notification that one of my cooking video (So easy A1 Chicken Curry) was shared by someone named Kia Joo Lim. I don't know who he was but since his timeline consist of nothing but A1 products, I would assume he's the owner of A1 condiments? Haha, I felt strangely honored because I love his brand of curry paste! Maybe he should pay me for promoting his products? Nah just kidding. I was happy to do it for free.

Nice way to end the day. But still quite sad that I didn't get to spend more time with the kids at the park. Cobby said we can go swimming tomorrow if the weather permits. Fingers crossed!

Holiday Baking class!

I didn't want Jolie to just sit around the house the whole week, so I signed up Jolie and I for a baking class. We could always bake at home, but I thought it would be a great opportunity for Jolie and I to spend some quality time alone outside the house and away from Jayden.

We found out about the class from the SmartKids exhibition and I was sold when they told me that one of the locations was at Sembawang Shopping Centre. So near my home! Perfect! So on Wednesday I got my mom to come over to watch Jayden while Jolie and I headed out.

When we got there they dressed us up in aprons and the kids even got a baker's hat! So cute! Wished they would provide one for me too but its only for kids. :P envious... There was 11 people in class, including us and most of them were in pairs of Mommy and daughter or sisters. Only one little girl came alone. Wonder why aren't there any boys interested in baking?

Anyway the cute little girl next to us came alone, so we chat with her and Jolie immediately made another friend. :)

The class was quite fun and the recipe was quite simple, but it took longer then expected and I got a little stressed as I didn't know if Jayden's alright with my Mom. But I thought, there's nothing I could do anyway, so I just tried to enjoy myself and have fun with my Jolie. Nearing the end of the class I noticed the Daddies hoovering outside the classroom window, and I quietly wished that Cobby could join us too. Unfortunately he had to work, so we just have to do something else together another time.

I would definitely recommend this class to little kids and parents! It's fun and best of all, we didn't have to clean up after that. Hahaha... After lunch we headed home and I found my mom asleep in Jayden's room. Turned out that Jayden did give mom a hard time, so I felt a little guilty. But at the same time felt very grateful to have spent a few hours with my girl, definitely worth it.

Check it out! Genius R Us

Jolie sleeps on a bed

As we start clearing the other room in preparation for the baby, we thought it was time to let Jolie sleep in a proper bed instead of the mattress on the floor. Everything was ready weeks and months ahead. She was already sleeping on Cobby's old mattress, so we just needed to set up her Dad's old bed frame and put the mattress on it. MIL had even bought a "safety bar" for her bed way ahead of time. So since it was the weekend, and we're at home, we just cleaned up the frame and set up the bed for her. Just like that.

Well, we did needed to replace some of the worn out screw and nuts and I gave it a good cleansing, but on top of that, we were a little worried that she wouldn't like sleeping on the bed. Well, we were wrong! Jolie couldn't wait to hop onto her "new" bed and we had to keep nagging at her to get down as we weren't ready yet. But when it was finally done, she hopped onto her bed and happily exclaimed that it was "so high up", and that she "can see...(her) books". Haha... I think she meant that she can see her book shelf from a higher point of view now.

I did consider buying a newer, fancy children's bed, but what for? Those fancy beds cost a few hundred dollars and they are smaller than your typical beds, so in a few years you would need a new bed again. Meanwhile, we have a custom cut foam mattress that doesn't go out of shape, and a unused bed frame that looks perfectly fine and sturdy. Jolie could probably sleep in it all the way until she grows up! Why not?

Anyway, seeing Jolie enjoying her new bed really moved me. Seemed like yesterday when she was just a tiny baby, looking so small curled up on her giant cot. Now, she's gone into a new phase in her life where she's sleeping by herself in her own bed like a big girl. Where did the time go? My baby's growing up so fast!!!

Drama aside, I was a little worried if the "safety bar" could take her weight or if she would fall of her bed, afterall, she really moves around alot when she sleeps! When she was sleeping on her mattress, she could sometimes roll off her bed and end up sleeping on the floor a meter away! So I got up twice that night to check on her. Thankfully she slept normally and safely that night in her new bed.

Sigh, another accomplishment for her and us. Cheers. :)

Update:
The following week, I thought it would be nice to give the bed frame a fresh coat of paint, so during the National Day holidays, Cobby painted the frame white. But the smell of the fresh paint was so strong, we had to put it in the living room to let the smell dissipate for 2 whole weeks before letting jolie sleep on it again. So now her bed is actually white. :)

Jolie reads her 1st book

A few months ago we went to the PAGE ONE warehouse sale and bought a couple of children's book. One of them became Jolie's favourite. She loved it so much, she made me read it to her every night! So after listening for several nights, she learnt to read it all by herself! OK lah, I think she just memorised the book by looking at the pictures, but still, I think it's pretty awesome for a 2 year old plus toddler!

Her pronunciation still needs work, so I've added subtitles.