Gong Xi Gong Xi!

Here's wishing you and your family a very
Happy & Prosperous Chinese New Year!

Gong Xi Fa Cai!

For those travelling outstation, have a
safe and pleasant journey!

And to the rest, Happy Holidays!

A Day Of A 32-month-old

This is CE's routine on most days.

Morning
Wake up (7:30 - 8 am)
Drink milk
Take 1 tablet of Bio Chlorella (his supplement)
Eat breakfast - biscuits/bread/cake, while watching tv
Do big business (on most days), brush teeth and bathe
Watch tv/play time

Afternoon
Lunch - rice/porridge/noodles/pasta
Watch tv/play time
Drink milk
Nap time (2.5 - 3 hours)
Tea time - fruits (favourites are dragon fruit and banana)
Bathe

Night
Dinner - rice/porridge
Take 1 tablet of Singulair (for asthma prevention)
Watch tv/play time
Brush teeth and wipe, change into pajamas
Drink milk
Bedtime (10:30 - 11:30 pm)

Unsightly Lawn

We engaged a gardener to cut our grass coz hubby was too lazy to mow the lawn. The lady came on Monday morning. She was wearing an oversized jacket, long pants, boots, big spectacles and straw hat.

The kids were really funny (and embarrassing). First, it was jie jie. She wanted to see what the lady was doing so I asked her to see from the window in the computer room. Then she referred to the lady as "Uncle". When I told her that's not an "Uncle", she continued with "man?" "No." "Abang?" hahaha "No." She was a bit confused when I told her that's an "Aunty". :D

Next was didi. He was peeping from the front windows. He too referred to the lady as "Uncle". :-| So jie jie corrected him. I hope the lady didn't hear any of the kids conversation. That'd be so embarrassing, right?

I spoke to the lady about the grass, which has dried up. She told me not to let the grass grow too long coz it'll cover up the roots and they'll dry up and die. We have to maintain the grass, trimming them every 2 months or so. I also need to water them on non-rainy days. They aren't as hardy as I thought they are. hehehe I'm really hoping with more care, the grass will eventually grow back.

From this green lawn one year ago...


... to this brown patch now. What an eye sore.

Virgin Cake

No, that's not the name of the cake I baked this morning. I called it virgin coz it's the first cake that I baked with my oven (which is already more than 1 year old). The last time I baked a cake was more than 10 years ago. However, this one didn't turn out well. The top overburnt and the bottom wasn't completely cooked. TOTAL DISASTER. I shall blame it on the lousy, small oven of mine. :p

The top browned too fast while the insides took so long to cook. I thought the cake's ready when I tested it with a wooden stick. Then I found that it's a bit wet in the middle when I cut it. So I put it in the oven again. That's when the top overburnt. Arrrgh!

I think another problem was because I used a smaller baking tin. So the batter was almost filled to the brim before baking. Maybe that's why it's very difficult to cook coz it's too thick? *scratch head* I don't know.

The cake is sweet enough but a bit too oily for my liking (I've already put less butter wor *scratch head again*). And definitely not fluffy. But the kids love it. Of course I scrapped off the burnt top and took away the wet part before giving it to them.

~ the ingredients ~

~ batter almost filled to the rim ~

~ after 1st round ~

~ 2nd round, overburnt :( ~

~ see the wet patch at the bottom? sigh... ~

Anyway, I'd like to share the recipe here with you. I'm sure you'll do much better. :-)

FAMILY NESTUM CAKE (taken from Agnes Chang's Baking Made Easy recipe book)

Ingredients :
240g butter/margarine (I used 210g butter coz that's the remainder I have)
200g castor sugar (I used 160g and it's sweet enough for us)
1 tbsp honey
4 eggs
50g Nestum
200g self-raising flour, sifted
150ml milk

Method :
1. Put butter/margarine, sugar and honey into a mixing bowl and cream till light.
2. Add in eggs one by one, beating well after each addition till creamy.
3. Add Nestum and mix well.
4. Divide flour and milk into 3 parts and fold in alternatively till well-combined.
5. Pour mixture into a 22cm/9in lined and greased square baking tin, baked in a pre-heated oven at 180ºC till golden brown and cooked, about 45 minutes.
6. Remove from oven, leave to cool before serving.

Triple Awards!

Thank you so much, Fussy Mum, for these wonderful awards!

Here are the rules for the recipients:

1. Put the logo on your blog or post.
2. Nominate at least 10 blogs which show great Attitude and/or Gratitude!
3. Be sure to link to your nominees within your post.
4. Let them know that they have received this award by commenting on their blog.
5. Share the love and link to this post and to the person from whom you received your award.


And these awards go to :
1. Jo-N
2. Jacss
3. Anggie
4. Wen
5. Irene
6. Doreen
7. Olive
8. Mummy Gwen
9. Mummy Moon
10. Hui Sia

Haircut Weekend

Over the weekend, the whole family (all 4 of us) had our haircut at the same salon. I went on Saturday. Wanted to get a haircut and highlight. Very bored with the same old look and I've not coloured my hair for almost 10 years already. But the hairstylist told me that highlighting would need more maintenance coz it'd look quite horrible after subsequent haircuts. As I don't intend to keep highlighting/colouring my hair nor keep long hair, colouring would be a better choice. So I spent almost 3 hours (including waiting time in between) in the salon. And this is the end result...

~ purplish mop :D ~

It was my 2nd visit to that salon. They opened mid last year, if I'm not mistaken. Now they have a small toy car for kids. So I brought the kids there on Sunday. XY was very cooperative, as usual. Kept quite still, which is considered a big achievement for a hyperactive monkey like her. hahaha But he didn't cut much as she wanted to keep her hair long. Just trim the back. Didn't cut her front as I wanted to keep her fringe long. Don't have to keep maintaining it. Lazy mommy mah.

It was very difficult with didi (his 4th haircut). He refused to be wrapped in the plastic sheet. So I took off his shirt. He didn't keep still, looking here and there, playing with the car steering. At some point, I have to hold his head still by cupping his face. Of coz he has hair all over himself and got very uncomfortable. But he survived the whole session. Once done, I borrowed their washroom and stripped him naked. Applied some powder and changed his clothes, including his diaper. He was all normal after that. Then PaPa had his haircut while we went shopping at Parkson.


Before going back, we stopped by the spectacles shop and purchased an oversized sunglasses. I've checked it out the day before so bringing hubby there to see before buying. It's meant to be worn over your existing spectacles. It's quite loose for me actually (only comes in 1 standard size) but I plan to use it while driving only. Here's my li'l model wearing sunnies (mine and jie jie's)...

The Day Has Finally Come

... when CE takes medicine on his own, willingly. I'm so happy I don't have to force feed him. He's having runny nose again (2nd time since we came back from our holiday :-( ). I have to give him 2 types of medicine - runny nose and cough. Yesterday, I tricked him with chocolate (which he got to eat some) and an unopened lollipop (which is still unopened ;-) ). Today, I didn't even have to use any bait. What an improvement! *big smile*

After pumping the medicine into his mouth, he likes to use the syringe to drink water. So I let him play with the syringe. He fills up the syringe himself and pumps the water into his mouth. He won't stop till the bowl or cup is empty.

~ filling up the syringe with water ~

~ drinking from the syringe ~

Does this mean force feeding medicine is going to be something of the past? I seriously hope so! And I hope I'm not jinxing it by posting this. *keeping fingers crossed*

School Reopened

On the 1st day of school, PaPa fetched XY to kindy although she could follow chik chik's (BIL) car. Her cousin brother, CH, is also attending the same kindy. BIL left after awhile and SIL stayed on to accompany CH (who's adapting very well in school). So I fetched all of them back when school was dismissed. This orientation week, the school hours are shorter.

XY was very happy that her class is called Strawberry 6. Coz she loves pink and red. The names of the classes change every year, depending on the theme. On Monday morning, she was quite reluctant to wake up, as expected. During the holidays or weekends, she can wake up very early on her own but on a school day, it's very difficult to get her to wake up. :-| But today, she woke up once the alarm rang because she wants to be in Strawberry 6. :D I wonder how long this enthusiasm will last.

They had assembly on Monday. XY told me she was asked to raise the flag (together with another student) when they sang Negaraku. This is her 3rd year in the kindy so I guess the teachers know her very well and know how "helpful" she is. hehehe

When I checked her bag, there're only 4 books there. Some of the books have been taken out and kept in school. We got the books in December but I was just too lazy to wrap them. I only wrote her name with a marker pen the day before school reopened. What a lazy mommy. :p When I saw that the books were slightly dog-eared after just one day in the bag, I decided to wrap them. Luckily I have some transparent wrappers at home. So I spent about 1½ hours wrapping them yesterday. Better late than never. hehehe

Now that CH and XY are in the same school, SIL and I can take turns to pick them up after school. But PaPa insisted on fetching his precious to school every morning (like what he's been doing). Guess he just wants to spend as much time as he can with her, even though it's only a 5-minute drive.

Hello 2009!

Happy New Year! Today is also our 8th Anniversary (ROM). But we’re not celebrating it in any special way. It's just another ordinary day. As for New Year's eve, managed to countdown in front of the tv with hubby. The kids were very cooperative (without them realising it). Surprisingly they fell asleep within 15 minutes (went to bed at 11+) and didn’t stir although there were loud fireworks right before the clock struck 12. So I sneaked out of the room and were able to “5..4..3..2..1.. Happy New Year! And Happy Anniversary!” with hubby. Then after that, he continued to watch tv while I surfed the internet. How unromantic! hahaha

The last week of 2008 was a time for family gathering. PIL (from Johor) and SIL (working in Singapore) were here. They just went back yesterday afternoon and my mom (from Penang) reached in the evening. I’m sure the kids are the happiest coz they have their grandparents to dote on them.

We didn’t eat out much when PIL were here. Cooked at home most of the time. We had barbecue on Sunday night. SIL was the main chef. We ate barbecued lamb, pork, chicken, sausages, mushrooms, corns, salad and pasta. Sorry, no pictures for you to drool over coz they're in BIL's camera. :p

XY stayed overnight at BIL’s house with Mah Mah and Ye Ye. She likes to sleep with Mah Mah when they come visiting. The house is definitely quieter with only 1 child at home. But I’m sure it’s havoc over at BIL’s house. :D I bet she’s very happy there coz they bring her out for breakfast (go ‘yum cha’) and she got to eat more junk food as compared to being home with strict mommy. And the kids got to sleep late every night, playtime to the max. Anyway, last round of fun before school reopens next week.