Monday, December 27, 2010

Kids Photoshoot

Exactly a year ago, I participated in TwoPixels Photography's 1st Anniversary Giveaway. I was very lucky to be chosen as one of the 3 lucky winners. We had a photo session with Jazz and Sue at the end of November. We went to Taman Tasik Permaisuri in Cheras. The backdrop is very nice -- got trees, lake and colourful playground.

We reached there at about 9 (sorry we were late, girls), and the place was very crowded on a Sunday morning. We chose to wear a little formal for the session and I brought a change of casual clothes for the kids. The main purpose was to shoot the kids and while we're at it, take some nice family portraiture. As mentioned in my contest entry, hubby dislikes to be photographed. So this was a great opportunity to get him involved. Thank you, TwoPixels, for making my wish come true. ;-) And of course, must thank hubby dearest for his cooperation. hehehe

When we were walking around the (crowded) park, I felt so out of place. I can feel people (who're there to exercise) staring at this bunch of weirdos in formal attire. But what the heck, we have a mission to accomplish, so I tried to imagine we're the only ones there. :-) Jie jie warmed up to Jazz and Sue quite fast. But didi started to show his angry face after a few shots coz he wanted to go to the playground. Earlier, I'd promised to bring him to the playground after the photo session but he was getting impatient. Maybe he was only expecting a few shots. :D

~ didi showed his angry face while folding his arms ~

Jazz and Sue are very patient with the kids. We just couldn't get didi to cooperate. Things/words that normally tickle him didn't work. Thanks to Jazz's brilliant idea and Sue's iPhone, they managed to cheer up the grumpy boy.

~ Talking Tom Cat saved the day :-) ~

~ lovey dovey shot ~

From then on, the photo session went rather well. When we reached the playground, the kids were like monkeys off the leash. Jie jie went climbing high and low, swinging on the monkey bar, trying out all the slides. Didi, on the other hand, was rather cautious at the beginning. Once he's warmed up, he did his spiderman stunts as well. He loved walking on the "bridge" and playing slides. It was definitely a fun day for the kids. And as usual, tiring for the old folks. hahaha

~ the toothless monkey :D ~

~ spiderman in action ~

Oh, I almost forgot...
Happy 25 Months Old, TwoPixels!

Monday, December 20, 2010

Holiday Activities

There're only 2 weeks left of the long school break. How time flies! We didn't plan for any vacation this year end -- no budget and no time (PaPa's very busy). :-( Apart from playing tv games EVERYDAY, doing a lot of colouring and minimal writing, and revising with jie jie (mainly on BM and Maths), these are some of our activities so far.

1) Visited Petrosains StreetSmart Exhibition in KLCC.

2) Did science experiments. (a) Stole the idea from My Little Sprouts! and built balloon jets. (b) Grew dinosaurs in water.

3) Played and had a good workout at Critter Land.

4) Water play at home, in the rarely used 3-ring pool.

5) Had a great time wasting money at Sunway Pyramid's mini amusement park. I think their favourite is the bumper car.

6) Jie jie had her first try at ice-skating. We got her an instructor to coach her for 30 minutes (fee = RM60). She was taught how to balance herself, get up after falling down and of course, to skate. Not much she can learn and master in 30 minutes. At least she's mastered how to walk (on normal floor) with the skates. :-) She really enjoyed herself. Too bad it's quite far for us, if not, I'd let her take lessons. Never mind, we'll try to allocate time for ice-skating whenever we go to Sunway Pyramid. I'd love to try it too.

7) Watched Rapunzel: A Tangled Tale. As usual, didi was there just for the popcorn. He could not concentrate fully on the show. After he's finished his popcorn, he started to disturb me -- asked for more snacks, sat on my lap. Luckily he didn't roam around. I started warning him a few days before the outing. If he wants to follow me to the cinema and eat popcorn, he mustn't walk around or disturb me after he's finished his popcorn. Well, he kept half of his promise, ok lah. :D

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Mommy The Dentist

XY's upper right central incisor had been loose for quite awhile already. A few days ago, she showed me her very loose tooth. On Friday afternoon, she came to me crying and there was blood on her finger. She said she knocked her mouth on didi's head and I saw blood at the gum around that loose tooth. While trying to wipe off the blood in her mouth with tissue paper, I just pulled out that tooth, without telling her first. It came out at my second try. She was still crying. I doubt it was due to pain. Must be because she panicked when she saw blood earlier. Then didi started crying and asked me not to pull out jie jie's tooth. hahaha Since when my boy became so "drama" one? Later jie jie told me it just hurt a little when I pulled it out. After that it was not painful anymore. Then I let her bite a gauze to stop the bleeding. 1 gauze was enough.

~ the bloody gauze ~

She was very excited as she knew she'll be getting a little something from the tooth fairy at night. She asked for a plastic bag to keep her little tooth and happily put in under her pillow at bedtime. The "tooth fairy" couldn't find the plastic bag in the dark and didn't want to disturb her sleep. So the "tooth fairy" just left the coin there without taking the tooth. As expected, XY was satisfied with her 50 sen reward. But she asked me how come the tooth fairy didn't take the tooth away. I think I mumbled something like, "Oh really? Never mind lah. Just give it to me." coz I was still sleepy. hahaha

She's been a really brave girl and never gave me any problems when it comes to dental care and dentist encounters. I hope didi will be the same too. Haven't brought him for a check-up before. Maybe I'll start psyching him and bring him before the holiday's over.

Sunday, December 05, 2010

Big Eaters

We had Domino's pizza for dinner just now. For 2 adults (PaPa's not home) and 2 kids, I ordered 2 regular pizzas and 1 chicken crunchies. The chicken crunchies are quite spicy. Comes with tangy cheese dip. I don't really like it, prefer KFC's nuggets.

There's a promotion where you get a regular pizza for RM3 with purchase of any regular/large/extra large pizza. I received the info via sms. The coupon code is SM9. Feel free to use it if you want, as the delivery guy didn't ask to see the sms for verification. You can order online (under Redeem Coupons) or through their hotline. This promotion expires on 19/12/2010.

The kids ate 3 slices of pizzas each, the same portion as what we ate. That's equivalent to half a regular pizza. Oh my, they are really big eaters. And just less than 2 hours before dinner, each of them had 2 pieces of gardenia bread and biscuits. o.O Nowadays when we dine out, they'd have their own servings, instead of sharing. Of course I'm more than happy with their good appetite. Better have big eaters than picky eaters. :-)

I doubt their super big appetite has got anything to do with their water play in the morning. I took almost half an hour to set it up and fill it up with water (less than half full). We bought this 3-ring pool from Toys"R"Us in March. This is the 3rd time they're playing in it. Luckily SIL has an electric pump, if not I cannot imagine how long it'd take and how tiring it'd be to pump up the pool manually.

~ having a tea party ~

~ then pour water on each other ~

~ riding on jie jie ~

Friday, December 03, 2010

Critter Land

SIL and I brought the kids to Critter Land (knew about this place from Irene) on Wednesday. We reached there at 10+ and we're the only customers there till the time we left. So nice to have the whole place to ourselves. :-) The boys spent a lot of time at the Lava Dome, where they erupt a volcano with foam balls and play shooting game -- shoot foam balls from compressed-air guns. XY loved the Sponge Drop, doing the flying fox (I enjoyed it too) and swinging on the rope. There are also slides, big and small. Funny that they're not too interested in the big trampolines but they always bug me to let them jump on the small one at home. *roll eyes* There's a dedicated area for little tots -- small plastic seesaws, ball pool, padded obstacles, etc.

Baby XN who's 7+ months old, didn't play much. Don't know why she didn't really enjoy the ball pool. But she loves to munch on the foam balls. hahaha She was model of the day as her mommy clicked away, practising her photography skill. The colourful backdrop is very nice for a photoshoot.

Since we have the whole place to ourselves, the big kids (the mommies :D) tried some of the slides and games too. shhhh... It was quite tiring for the adults to move around the place as we've to bend almost 90 degrees with crawling/walking tunnels above our head.

~ "wheeee!" into the pool of balls ~

~ isn't baby XN super cute? ~

~ 3-storey high slides, very "chi kek" ~

~ the high spiral slide ~

~ shooting game ~

~ trampoline area ~

~ the flying fox, this is fun! ~

~ "Jane" in action :D ~

Critter Land is located at The Heritage Village (opposite Mines).The entrance fee (for kids 1 to 12 years old) is RM15 on weekdays, RM22 on weekends, school and public holidays. They open daily from 10am. When we're there, got ample parking space. And it's free after you validate your ticket at Critter Land. After 3 hours of play, we went downstairs for lunch, at a Kopitiam. There's also a cafe and Persian Restaurant. That's all we can see near the Kopitiam area. Didn't explore the place as we're very hungry already. Hopefully can bring the kids there again before the school holiday is over.