“LIFT” us up

Since our last E-polling in August 2008 for the Lift Upgrading Program, renovation work started about 1 ½ years ago. Yes, we endured all the inconveniences of daily dust, noise and walking up & down stairs when the old lift was out of order for a few weeks.

Finally after all the above, our new LIFT is up & operational few weeks back. Now we had lift landing on every floor. To celebrate the occasion, Anthea and Anders have been pushing their own bicycles downstairs in the evening and ride around at the open space.

Our old lift were built in those old days and it served mid floors to the units. This mean if I stayed on the 4th floor, the lift will only bring me to 3rd floor and I have to walk flights of stairs to get to my floor.

An ex-colleague of mine had asked me: “since you already had a lift, why do you want to VOTE for a new lift? You need to pay government monies.” He said his estate has been voting against LUP.

I told him - During my younger days, I was very active in sport and got a sport injury during a badminton game. I had a minor operation in my right tendon and was on hospitalization leaves for almost 2 months. At that time, I was in cast and had to walk around with crutches.

I was still staying with my parents during those days and thankfully the new block we stayed in had lift landing on every floor.

Yes, LIFT is that important to a person who is partially incapacitated because even one flight of stair proved to be a painful challenge.

Beside this point, there are other users like parents with prams, wheel-chaired bound person and senior citizens who may have difficulties in going up and down the stairs.

So the lift is a saver to many of us…: )

Now we are enjoying the convenience of our new LIFT Services and it has definitely lifted our spirit to a new level too… : )

JBG & A DREAM HOME

On last Friday afternoon while having lunch, I got a call from my long time sister – Cindy and she mentioned that she was on ½ day leave and planned to bring her son – Angus to park for cycling. She asked if we would like to join her and we did. We had a good time cycling at Bishan Park and then we came back to our place to play badminton. Both Anthea and Angus had a fun time together.

On Saturday morning, Anthea told me that she wanted to invite Angus to Jacob Ballast Children Garden to play at the Treetop. So I called Cindy and told her of the plan and she was ok and we made a date for the evening.

Around 4.15pm, we met at novena square where Cindy picked us up to the garden. Adrian was having his test on Monday and did not join us for the outing. Anyway, he was also a bit under the weather so I told him to rest at home.

We reached the Jacob Ballast children garden around 4.40pm and Anthea played guide to Cindy, her hubby and Angus. This was Anthea 3rd visit to the garden and Anders 2nd visit. And it was Angus 1st visit …hehe.

Naturally, Anthea brought them around the fun places – suspension bridge, the log, the “fog” area and of course, the Treetop walk. The 3 of them had great fun at the slide and the climb. While they were busy playing, the adults were busy chatting and playing with our camera and sharing about photography.

After the Treetop, we went to the A-mazing race area and again they had Dave to “run” after them, trying to catch them.

Then our last stop was the playground area. They had fun with the sand and the different play stations.

We walked over to the water area to wash our legs…haha. Then we ended our tour of the garden.

The children were all sweaty and dirty from the sand and running around, we had them changed of clothing before proceeding to our dinner.

Cindy recommended Suki Sushi and this was our 1st time to this chain of Japanese restaurant. I was impressed with their menu and told Adrian we must go and try the outlet in Ang Mo Kio which was near my In-laws place…hehe.

After dinner, the children requested to go to Angus home to try a new toy – YoYo. Yes, Angus had about 7 or 8 of them and he wanted to show Anthea/Anders of his tricks.

So we went to her new home near Novena Square. I was totally in full admiration of her new home.

1st admiration – the property has a private life to each unit. This mean there is FULL Privacy. I know many properties are now built with such a lift but seeing it personally really make a different.

2nd admiration – her unit has a balcony and from the balcony we can see the main city view – flyer & a bit of IR. The night scene was just mesmerizing and the wind was blowing quite strongly on that evening. We had a great time sitting at the balcony and chatting while the children played WII games.

3rd admiration – her master bedroom bathroom has a Banyan Tree style bathtub and also a window view to the city. I can imagine how nice it would be to take a nice hot bath in the tub while the wind blew through your face/hair.

This is the kind of DREAM home for many people, especially me…hee. But I know it’s just a DREAM home, finally I will be back to my HDB Flat. : P

Nope I am not complaining because I know “同人不同命“。 Some people work hard and enjoy such luxury. I can only work hard to enjoy my family…haha.

K.I.C & OMNIA B7320

Anders childcare had their K.I.C (kids-in-charge) event on Saturday, 12 September. This year the event was held at Toa Payoh Garden and it was a combined event of a few centers.

The event was scheduled from 9.30 am to 12.30 pm. In the morning we fetched Anthea to Tien Hsia for her class and then proceeded to the Garden with Anders.

When we arrived there around 9.30am, most of the teachers/principals were there preparing the different corners for the event. There were story telling corners, games corner and handicraft corners.

We went to the registration area to register and pick up our goody bag. Then I brought Anders around while Adrian looked after the goodies…hee : P

We played the 1st round of game at the stick area. As we were playing under the scorching sun, Anders kept complaining that it was very HOT!

In the end, we had no choice but to return to the “waiting station” where Adrian was waiting for us.

In the end, we left around 10 am and brought Anders to Toa Payoh HUB for a haircut.

Compared to the previous KIC event, I would say the previous one was closer to the theme and we had enjoyed it more. But still the overall effort for this year event is commendable.

Samsung Omnia B7320
My current mobile contract is due for renewal and these few days, I had been going around making enquiries on all the different mobile phones and their current promotion.

Finally, I shortlisted Nokia E63 but when I was at a SingTel exclusive shop, they were out of stock for the mobile phones. So the sales person started “selling” me another model – Samsung Omnia B7230. This was one of the phones I was considering while making enquiries. After a few persuasions by the sale person – I was bought over and ended buying this mobile phone.

At the same time, I bought a prepaid SIM card for Anthea. As she has been going to the tuition centre on her own and making calls from the public phone to report her “arrival” at the centre. So I thought I can pass my old phone to her and let her use it on those tuition days.

Easy Bake Recipe

Now that Anthea is in morning school, I have to plan her breakfast. To me, breakfast is a very important meal for the day, especially for school going children and working adults too.

There are simple options like – bread, cereal and cornflakes. To add varieties to her choices, I would add waffles, steamed buns and muffins for her breakfast. In the morning, before Adrian leaves for work, he would have breakfast too. So I am actually preparing for 2 of them.

Gone were those good old days of Childcare centre breakfast. Now it’s my own preparation.

My fridge is stocked up with lots of eggs/ham/bacons/tuna and cheese because these are essential items for simple sandwiches and eggs dishes.

Last week while shopping for grocery at NTUC, I came across a Wing’s Chocolate Moist cake pre-mix recipe package. I read through the instruction and found that it was quite easy. All I need to add to the premix are eggs, butter and water. I bought a packet to try.

Yesterday afternoon as I had some extra time on hand, I decided to bake the cake.

After mixing the premix in a bowl with the ingredients, I used the electric mixer to give it a better mix, as stated on the instruction. Then I put it in the oven and baked it for about 30 minutes. The cake turned out very, very nice. This is the first time I am very satisfied with the baking. I think the new over is justifying it’s value too... : )

Anthea had a slice of the cake for her tea break after her afternoon nap and she said it was delicious.

Our breakfast was the Chocolate moist cake which I warmed up while preparing Pizza for Anthea’s snack box.

As the cake was quite big, I shared ½ of it with my parents. This morning I received a compliment SMS from my 大哥 and he said “the cake is getting better. Can open bakery in 2 years”….haha. I confessed to him that I used a premix recipe, so it’s really not my credit…. : P

Now that I get positive feedbacks on the cake, I think next time I will try their other flavor. Or I should start looking at my cake recipes again…hee : P


Just read that one of my blogging friend - Clement was warded in TTSH and went through a minor op. Hereby wishing Clement a Speedy Recovery !!!

开心餐

Ever since Anthea started Primary School, our Sunday dinner routine also changed a little. We used to eat with our extended families on weekends but now we will try to cook and eat at home on Sunday evening.

The main reason is Anthea is in the morning session and I would prefer her to sleep early, says around 9.30pm on Sunday nights. I know if we were to go out for dinner, we will usually ended up reaching home around 10pm. Plus all the mad rush to go out for a dinner… : P

Last Sunday, I managed to cook a pot of stew chicken and the family enjoyed it. After feedback to my ex-colleague of the good response, she shared with me more easy to cook recipe. For this evening dinner, I prepared the oven baked chicken wings.

Guess what? The recipe required me to POUND the ginger and garlic together. After watching 小娘惹, I understand the importance of pounding…haha. However, I don’t have a “pounder” at home, so I borrowed it from a neighbor. Luckily she had one…hee.

So I did IT – I pounded the ginger and garlic together and while pounding, the 香味of the ingredients sent a sweet sensation to my nose.

Adrian had volunteered to cook the main course – stir fry noodle. This was another dish he learnt while working on his detachment.

Our dinner was – home cooked 莲藕排骨汤, oven baked chicken wings and a fried noodle. It was a simple meal and yet we had a good time at dinner, especially the bonding time that we had as a Family.

开心餐吃了好开心，虽然是简单的一餐。。。

High School Musical 3

In the morning, I brought Anthea and Anders to the hairdresser/barber to cut their hair. Then I bought some food to prepare a simple lunch. I was planning for an early lunch because we had a "HOT DATE".

We were going to the cinema for HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL 3 movie!!!

Anthea and Anders have been fans of High School musical shows. We had watched the 1st and 2nd show on TV and now the final show in cinema.

After a quick lunch, we took a slow walk to the AMK HUB Cineplex. We had tickets for the 1.20pm show. As usual I bought 2 tickets as I had planned for Anders to sit on my laps. To my delight, the cinema was not full and there were plenty of empty seats. When the show started, we shifted to those empty seats and Anders had his own seat.

This time the Wildcats are all graduating from High School and seeing them graduate at this time strike a chord with me, especially my little girl will be graduating from Kindergarten to Primary school soon... : )

I hope that she has as much fun in the kindergarten as the wildcats, of course, minus the LOVE story part at this moment... : P

We enjoyed the 1.5 hours movie and the songs were just as great as no. 1 and no. 2. The dances were all well choreographed. Now I am waiting for the release of the movie vcd/dvd to add on to the collection.

In the evening we had dinner with our extended families at Crystal Jade Golden Palace @ Paragon. After dinner, we adjourned for dessert at the coffee club.

I managed to call Adrian and he had the chance to talk to the brothers. According to Adrian, they are now planning to cramp as much work as possible during the week, hoping to clear them soon and be home in time for Christmas.

Anyway, I told him we just need to follow godwill, if he's meant to be home for Christmas, it's meant to be... : ) Just hope that they have a smooth work week ahead.

I am starting my new chapter next Monday and I am looking forward to the new routine. Just like what Troy and Gabriella sang in the 1st show – “start of something new”... : )

TWO Good Things

In the morning I went to work as usual and decided to take ½ day off to attend to the Two GOOD things of the DAY :

1. The wedding lunch of Sing Lee & Yeong Ming.

Andrea is just like a sister to me and we had known each other since secondary one. Her family is just like my family, so how can I miss such an important occasion. SL is the youngest sister of Andrea and I had seen her grow up since she was a kid. Now she is getting married and starting her own family.

I arrived at the bride house around 11.40am and they had just finished the Tea Ceremony and were waiting for the buffet lunch to be ready.

I had a good chat with Andrea and her mom. Her mom was very happy that I could be presence and kept introducing me as her “二女儿”. They kept inviting me for the wedding banquet but i rejected as there is no one to take care of Anthea and Anders. Being able to attend the lunch is already good enough for me.

I had a good lunch and it was a very nice family gathering as I can see all the relatives sitting around and chatting happily. For a weekday wedding and yet almost 90% of the relatives had shown for the Tea Ceremony. I would say that her family is closely knitted.

2. My Next Move

I had a job interview arranged by one of the employment agency at 2pm. So I left Andrea house after the lunch and headed to my interview.

About this job - Admin Assistant (Half- day for 5 days week). Location – Novena.

This is my DREAM job and work location.

So I went all prepared for the interview. It went quite well and actually it was more like a chit chat session, rather than interview. None the less, I dare not take it too lightly. When the interview ended, the interviewer mentioned that he will get back to the employment agency by next week for the outcome. I was prepared for any rejection.

In the late afternoon, the consultant called me and asked me on feedbacks on the interview. I told her all the details and to my surprised – she said I had left a good impression to the interviewer and stands a good chance to get the job.

I was happy to hear her comment but again will keep my options open as nothing signed means nothing is confirmed. I will wait till next Monday to get the confirmation.

2 good things happened in a day and I know I can't asked for more...hee : P

Meanwhile I will enjoy my weekends and look forward to daddy's homecoming.

13

“Mommy, it's exactly 13 more days and daddy will be home.” Anthea told me while we were walking to childcare. She has been trained at counting down days, especially when we are going on family vacations.

Indeed, we are living in very high morale counting down to Daddy's homecoming. Although it will only be 2 weeks that he will be in Singapore, I know we are going to make full use of the time that we will have with him.

As for Adrian, work is hectic over his end – working like 16 hours a day but I guess when you are counting down to coming home, these long hours will be insignificant to the mind...haha.

Recently on Singapore Motherhood forum, there was a Bulk purchase on some kitchens stuff. I saw 2 frying pans and thought that they will be useful in preparing some nice breakfast for the children.

Nowadays, for weekend's breakfast, both Anthea and Anders will ask for heart-shaped bread or elephant/pig bread. Then they will enjoy the “animals’ breads. So to add some more varieties to our shapes bread, I ordered a Heart-shape and Hello Kitty frying pans. However, instead of getting a heart shaped pan, I got a Star frying pan, well; I guess it should be fine with the children… : P

The 2 pans cost me $13.80. I am now considering another bulk purchase where there are some many Bentoing stuff...temptation is so great..haha.

My collection of the pans was at Yishun MRT this evening, so after collecting the pans, we took a walk in Northpoint. There was a John Little sale on Pillow/Bolster and I can't resist and ended buying 1 bolster for Adrian. His own bolster is already very OLD, so it's good chance to throw it away.

This weekend, I will wash daddy's mattress cover and prepared for his bed for him. Last Saturday, his blanket had been washed. Adrian always said “nothing beat his own bed/mattress at home.”

三人行 的 第8个星期天

The weather has been HOT these few days. I thought it would be good for the children to take a dip by the pool. So after a good breakfast, we went to the swimming pool.

It was a good call – both Anthea and Anders had an hour of fun water play, especially Anders is getting more daring in the small pool and he moved around without my guidance. Anthea, as usual, enjoyed her swim and play with her brother.

Lunch was simple home cooked dishes – potato soup, fried broccoli and steam golden pomfret. After lunch, they had their power nap.

On Friday, i read about OG Ads on the Kukeri Thermal Lunch Box and i told myself that i have to get one this weekend. It was selling at $19.90 for OG Card Member. I think it would be useful for next year... : )

So after their afternoon nap, we headed to town around 5.30pm. Dinner was at New York, New York in Centrepoint. We order a Pizza and Sphagetties to share. Anthea enjoyed the pizza and she had about 4 pieces with alot of CHEESE on them... : P

Then we walked over to OG @ Orchard Point and i bought 3 sets of the lunch boxes. Two of my colleagues have requested for me to help them to get it, if i am buying for myself.

It has been another relaxed and enjoyable day for us. We are counting down to 2 more weekends and Daddy's going to be home soon. : 0

This will be the last 2 weeks of work for Adrian and he mentioned in his email:

“Dearest, this will be THE week to watch. It is a mixture of everything you can think of. It will be a week of long working hours, it will be a week to put what we have learnt the past one and a half months to use and test our knowledge, it will be a week to test our physical endurance and see if we can take the long working hours and still remain fit and operational.
Dear, give me strength. Again, I LOVE YOU ALL!!”

From home:

Dear, I have strong BELIEVE in you that you will achieve much from the 2 months training and work experienced. STRENGTH is within your own self.

Remember: We will always be right here waiting for your successful return.

May he be filled with loving kindness.
May he be well.
May he be peaceful and at ease.
May he be happy.

“TALKS” of the Town

AIA

I guess by now everyone has already heard of the latest updates from AIA and MAS assuring the policies holders that they have enough FUNDS to weather the current storm. Honestly, I am very worried because our “EGGS” are all in ONE Basket. I am considering taking some of these out and put it into another basket.

I had asked Adrian for his opinion and he said will leave the decision to me. I know it's be a lost now to withdraw the policies but it's better than to wait for the worst scenario.

I do hope to get some lights for the situation before making the decision, by end of this week.

The Diamond Castle

Yesterday, one of my colleagues was sharing with me this news - Barbie is back in town and this time in The Diamond Castle. It is another musical starting Barbie and Teresa about the fairy tale story of Liana and Alexa.This is our annual collection item, so how can I not buy it for Anthea... : P

This evening while waiting for Anthea to finish her MPM Math class, I shop around the VCD shop and found the VCD. We bought the Barbie VCD and Anders also chose a Dora DVD. We had not bought any new VCD/DVD for a long time. Both anthea and Anders are in for a good treat.. : )

My PA Card

I have been contemplating to sign up for the PA Card from Community Centres. The membership fee is $10 for 3 years, so it is really affordable.

The main reason is the tuition centre which I intend to sign Anthea up when she starts Primary school next year give discount to PA member. Also with the PA Card, there are many privileges to enjoy. So why not...haha. （省省省，妈妈最行！！）

Changes - For the Better !!

In life, changes are inevitable. I am a firm believer of POSITIVENESS in changes, like I have been telling Adrian on our daily exchanges of emails. I know that he is going through some hardship in his training but I know this hardship will bring out a better man in him. This will also be valuable to our family.

These few weeks, we are experiencing a lot of changes that will affect our lifestyle, positively I Believe...: )

CHANGE 1: Lift upgrading programme.
It is confirmed that the constituency had gained the 75% of the eligible votes and the project will go ahead. The project will start in the 2nd quarter of 2009 and complete by 2nd quarter of 2011. This letter is signed by none other than PM Lee Hsien Loong himself.

CHANGE 2: Increase in INFANT /Childcare subsidy with effect from 17 August 2008.
During his National Day Rally, PM Lee had mentioned that the Govt will be enhancing some of childcare subsidy to make the fees more affordable for parents. The old subsidy for working mom is $150, the new subsidy is $300. This is indeed a piece of good news for our family.

Currently the Full Day Childcare fees for each child is $500 and less the new subsidy of $300. It means that we are paying about $200 for each child. It's a lot of financial saving for us, especially comes next year when I becomes a PTSAHM.

CHANGE 3: Anthea new class in 天下。
Since she came home from her 1st lesson with Teacher Lin Lin, she is full of praises of Lin Lin. She kept saying she is looking forward to her next lesson. Also last Saturday, my MIL bought her 2 enrichment workbooks for K2. She did the Chinese book with great interest. I am very happy to see her great appreciation of Chinese and enjoying the worksheet. I hope she will love the language as much as i do.


CHANGE 4: My plan to get a Part Time job.
So far, I have been writing in to companies who advertised for the positions but still not shortlisted yet. How do I feel – well, a bit disappointed at times but deep in my heart I know. What's not meant to be mine will not be. So I am still waiting for the right opportunity. If it does not comes true, I will just have to be contended to be a FTSAHM for the time being.



This evening after dinner, we went to the central and bought a Pomelo for the childcare centre Friday Celebration. The K2 children will be performing the story of "常娥登月" and Anthea has been "shortlisted" to be 常娥 and she is very excited about the performance. Guess what - she told me she wants to wear her Hello Kitty Dress for the performance... : P



Looking forward to 八月十五- 月圆花好之夜 !!

三人行的第6个星期天

New Haircut

Both Anthea and Anders hair have grown long and I had wanted to bring them for a haircut. So this morning, I brought them to the hairdresser and barber respectively.

Luckily there was a ladies salon and man salon next to each other at our market place. So after the hairstylist started on Anthea's hair, I brought Anders to the traditional barber shop to do a crew cut for him. While both were having their haircuts, I was juggling between the 2 shops to make sure both are ok...haha.

I was very satisfied with the new haircut that both of them had and each cost only $6. Total of $12.

We had our usual afternoon nap after a simple meal of yong tau foo noodle soup.

Dinner & Window Shopping @ Suntec City

The other day I bought a pair of NIKE shoes for Anthea and when she tried them out, I realized that they were a bit small for her. So I decided that we will go and exchange it for a bigger pair this evening.

We left home around 5.15pm and took the MRT to City Hall Station. With the 2 children in tow, I prefer to go by public transport as it is less “stressful” for me...haha.

We reached Suntec City Shopping mall around 6pm. Both of them kept saying they were hungry so we had our dinner first.

Anthea ordered her favorite Subway Ham & Cheese 6 Inch sandwich. Then we ate in the food court. Anders had his roti prata. I ordered a 盅仔饭with 西洋菜汤. Both Anthea and Anders shared the soup as this is one of their favorite soups. Anders also ate some of the rice. It was a simple meal with my 2 kids, yet I enjoyed it so much, especially when I see Anthea feed Anders. (Ahem...they were actually role playing a Zoo Keeper feeding a crocodile.. : P )

We went to Nike Shop after our dinner and managed to change for a pair of bigger shoes for her. Then we went to Carrefour and did some window shopping.

The children had wanted to buy some toys but I told them NO because there is no reason to buy toys. I don't want them to make a habit to buy toys as and when they see one.

On our way to the MRT Station, we managed to try a WII game at one of those electronic shops. It was quite fun and thrilling, no wonder so many people are addicted to it.

又是一个快乐星期天,我们到数爸爸 回国的日子也越来越近了。三人行的日子也越来越得心应手。亲爱的。。我会好好加油的！！

天下与冰淇淋之约

Today is Anthea 1st lesson for Term 4 at 天下 and her lesson is in the late afternoon from 4.30pm. My plan was for the Anthea and Anders to have early nap, so that they can wake up in time for Anthea's lesson.

My MIL had called me in the morning to mention that she is available to provide me with logistic support as she was not babysitting my niece. I was quite great to get her help as it's was anthea 1st lesson with a new class/teacher 粼琳, she had requested that I sit in with her at the class. I planned to let Anders stay with my MIL while I attended the lesson with Anthea.

For lunch, I prepared the sweet corn with carrot soup. I also managed to fried Thai Pineapple rice. The feedback for the rice was mixed – anthea don't like it and Anders finished his bowl...hehe.

Both of them took their nap around 1.30pm. Anthea woke up around 3pm and Anders was up by 3.30pm. Overall, the timing was just nice. Anders stayed with my MIL while I brought Anthea to her lesson.

Anthea enjoyed her lesson and she likes粼琳老师 very much and kept saying “mommy, I like 粼琳老师，she is better that 云芳老师. : P Actually the administrator did mention to me that Lin Lin is a very good teacher and I should not worry too much of the change... : )

Dinner was with the extended families at 满福园@ Intercontinental hotel. I brought along the mini snow skin mooncakes for the families to sample.

We finished dinner by 9pm and both Anthea and Anders was still not too keen to go home as they kept asking me “go where?” So when my youngest BIL mentioned that he was going to collect his golf set from his friend, I told him we will joined him for a car ride.

Along the way, Terence mentioned that his friend was not home yet and decided to adjourn to Geláre for Ice cream. Both Anthea and Anders were most happy and readily agreed to go for ice cream.

It was raining and yet the ice cream place was packed with people. Terence said this is a happening place during weekends.

Both Anthea and Anders had a great time sharing the waffle ice-cream with Terence and Cherry. Cherry will be leaving tomorrow to London for a 5 weeks work assignment and then continue with 2 weeks honeymoon in Europe when Terence meet up with her. I know the children are going to miss her a lot.

My 1st 重庆火锅 & Mama Mia

Today I took ½ day leave for MY OWNSELF.

I had lunch appointment with my long time good friends cum Mahjong kakis (Madeline,LG, Linda and Warren). Our lunch venue was Chong Qing Hot Pot @Suntec Shopping mall. This is my 1st time trying Chong Qing hotpot and I must say the 鸳鸯锅 was a “killer” especially the “麻辣”. LG even joked with us if we wanted to “加辣“，luckily we didn't take his advice. It was an ala carte buffet steamboat, so we just ordered and eat and eat. I really had a good time at lunch.

Usually my meals are always with the children and they tend to distract me a lot especially Anders. So today, I eat with my whole heart and stomach, of course. It was a relaxing and enjoyable lunch and it's been such a long time since I had this kind of experience.

We chatted as we ate our lunch and catches up with each other happenings. I had known this group of friends since my SDS (social development service) days and I am really glad that our friendship lasted so long. Even though some of us are married with families, we still make an effort to meet as and when we can. Most importantly, the STRONG BOND that we had developed during our Mahjong Days just seem to be unbreakable...haha.

We headed for some shopping at Nike Bird shop after a good lunch. I bought for myself a shoe bag and a pair of Nike shoes for Anthea. This is her 1st pair of branded shoes. (Thanks’ god we had good discount from the price tag.) I didn't buy for Anders as can't get anything nice, will shop again when i meet up with Mag.

After shopping, the rest of them headed to Mag house for Mahjong. I drooled with envy but too bad, I can't join them... : P

Last night, I read from Lifestyle magazine that Mama Mia the Movie will be in cinemas on 18 September. I am very excited and likewise, I plan to apply ½ day leave to watch this movie. I had seen this musical 2 times (once in London & once in Singapore). I am totally IN LOVE with the Muscial simply because– I am an ABBA FAN... : )

How can I miss the movie even though the review is not so good, WHO CARES!! As long as i get to listen to all my favorite Songs...haha.


Just wondering if there are any ABBA FANS around ??

1st Month Review

So fast, it's exactly 1 month since Adrian departed on 02 August for his work attachment. It is time to do a review on how ACES Family is faring during this 1 month.

About Adrian – completed his courses and now waiting for his results and work. He is doing fine and has been keeping in touch with me on email daily. Also for the 1st time, he is reading our family blog diligently... : )

Adrian is also keeping fit by doing his routine jogging and popping in those supplement pills that he brought along. He had his haircut and it cost him about S$15. Now the summer vacation is over, so the hotel is less crowded and most of them managed to change to a bigger and better room.

Our weekly tele-conference is turning out well for the family, either via mobile or video. Only thing is daddy don't have a camera, so he can show us any photo. Hopefully, he can manage to “borrow” some from his group of tech-savvy colleagues.

About Anthea - I must give due CREDITS to my lovely daughter. She has been putting on her best behavior over the pass 1 month. Actually all these while, she has been a well behaved girl and I am always very appreciative of her.

She is also doing her best to be a role model sister to her younger brother. I know when 2 of them play together, there are bound to be squabbles. However, I know she is giving in to Anders. For this I say “thank you” to Anthea. Mommy will always remember this and Love you more & more each day.

About Anders – this emotional boy of mine is also slowly maturing as he knows that mommy is home alone with 2 of them. He tries his best to be a good boy but at still throw a bit of tantrums. I am taking it easy as I know if I get flared up easily; it will make things difficult for him and me. Likewise, I will always give him deserving praises and Hi-5 when he does well and listen to my instructions. So for he would tell me almost every day “mommy, I love you.” To this, I will say “darling, I love you too. “

About mommy – the daily routine is pretty much the same for me. The only thing I miss out is my weekend's joggings which I made up with my weekdays gym sessions. It is important for me to keep fit and healthy in order to keep up the pace with the children..haha. All these times, I have been quite an independent person, given any task as such; I will do my utmost to achieve the best results for all. I am glad that I am passing this test with a very good score.

We are now on the ½ way mark, in about another 30 days, daddy will be home for 2 weeks before flying off again. We will make full use of the time when he is back in Singapore.

三人行 的 第5 个星期天

温馨午餐：

My eldest brother called me yesterday and made lunch appointment with us for today.
As usual, how can I say “no” to free meal...haha. He brought us to 莆田 @ Kitchener road. I remembered I had eaten in the restaurant before the renovation. The whole place now looks so clean and spacious, compared to the one I remembered. The food presentations are also very nice and the taste was very good. Simple home cooked dished and yet taste was so defined. I really had a very good impression of the food especially – 卤面 and 面线。Till now, the taste still lingered in my mouth…yummy. Anthea even had 2 bowls of the noodles.

After lunch, Anthea insisted that she want to “enjoy life” and as usual the 大舅 would fulfill her wish. We were treated to Bens & Jerry ice-cream at United Square. We took walk around Toy R US but did not buy anything, just window shopping. Then my brother fetched us home. We reached home around 3.30pm.

What Goes Round, Comes Around

At lunch time my youngest BIL, Terence, called me and asked if he could borrow our car to run some errands. Both Cherry and him are now busy shopping for the renovation items.

I agreed to his request. I remembered during those days when we were car-less, we also borrowed our families’ cars to run errands. It's especially useful when you need to go a few places, like they do now. The least I can do is to let them has the convenience, otherwise, their deadlines will be tighter as Cherry will be leaving soon for her work assignment to London.

I always think we had benefitted much when we needed the helps from the extended families, so now it's time for us to return the favors.

Hope that they can accomplish their shopping list... : )

简单晚餐

Both Anthea and Anders had late nap as we came back late from lunch. So I thought that it would be better to eat dinner at home, then to rush out for dinner again.

I prepared simple dishes – black bean soup with chicken feet, steam Golden Pomfret and minced pork.

We had a relaxing time at dinner and we even played some guessing games at dinner table. Both Anthea and Anders enjoyed the soup so much. And looking them eating so happily, I felt the joy within my heart.

After dinner, we played the cards game that my FIL bought for them last evening. It has been another wonderful Sunday for us and spending such quality time with the children is really fulfilling for me. 就算累也是累得开心。

Tomorrow the children childcare is closed due to Teacher's Day and luckily my mom had agreed to help me “babysit” 2 of them. I had wanted to take leave but there are some meetings cum training session, so it would not be nice to take a day off. Probably I may take ½ day, if permitted... : ) (谢谢你，老妈！)

新目标 – 2。4 公里跑步

I read on Angie's blog that she recently completed the 10KM Army Marathon organized by SAFRA. Her original goal was 6KM. With Clement encouragement and her strong will & determination, she DID IT. I always admired people who does marathon because it is not easy task to run and run for such a long time. It takes a lot of discipline.

After reading her accomplishment, the “athlete” in me is starting to want to come out underneath the lazy bones. I am contemplating to try it next year, perhaps.

I enjoy running and used to represent inter-school 4x100m relay during my primary school days. For secondary school, I slacken and joined uniform group instead.

Now that I am back to my gym routine, I am very interested to try to do at least a 5km run.

Before Adrian left for his oversea trip, he transferred his SAFRA Gym membership to me for use during his absence. So this means that I am now a gym member of 2 clubs and I should have more motivation to train for the 5KM target.

Probably I should start with the 2.4km 1st and then slowly progressed to a longer distance. Wish me good luck with this new target in my next phase of life. My gym routine is keeping me going strong and active. This indirectly makes my day happier and i have more energy with the children.

Last evening, we went to NTUC to buy a string water bottle for Anthea, the previous one I just bought “spoiled” after 2 weeks of usage....sigh!! 中看不中用.

At the same time, I tried to look for a pair of cover shoes for Anders but was not successful as he prefer a pair with “light” *faint*. Boy also wants to look nice.

After buying the bottle, we went home and the children had ice-cream cone – their way of enjoying life. I bought these 2 tubs of Wall's kid’s ice cream @ $3.00. They chosen chocolate and durian flavors. It was very nice and I had a cone too...simple enjoyment in life.

三人行 的 第 4 个星期 天

“SWEET SURPRISE “– last Saturday I arranged to meet up with a family friend, Eileen, to pass her 2 small moon cakes. Eileen' brother (W) work in the same company as Adrian and he is going for the same work detachment. He is going with the 2nd batch that departed on 22 August. W had kindly agreed to help us hand carried the moon cakes to pass to Adrian, along with the moon cakes, we sent Adrian a small “gam ba deh” card and Anthea's drawing.

Yesterday evening, Adrian SMS me to inform that he had received the sweet surprise with the card. He felt very happy and wrote me an email –“Thanks for reminding me that it is moonquake festival and you know how much I love moon cakes. Really can't believe how a simple moon cake can mean the whole world to me. Now I know.”

I know how it felt when we are away from our family and all these little gift from home will mean so much to the Love ones. (ps: my FIL even commented that adrian is eating mooncakes earlier than us here in SG..haha)

It rained the whole day on Saturday and today morning, it feels kind of chilly, like in winter season. Very nice weather but hope the Sun will come out because of the laundry.. : P

In the morning, I brought Anthea and Anders for some outdoor game while there was a bit of sun. We played Volleyball and also went to the playground.

After the morning workouts, we went to the hawker center to pack lunch as I was a bit lazy to cook.

Children had their usual afternoon nap after a good morning exercises.

Dinner was at my parent's home. Simple home cooked lotus root soup, dou si fish and baked chicken. All my favorite food and I had a good time catching up with my Lao pa and Lao ma. My eldest brother is in Bangkok for work purpose and will be back next week.

We went home to rest after a nice and hearty dinner. It's such a wet day and I think it's going to be another cold, cold night.

2 in A Day...

Anthea used to do her MPM Math on Thursday evening and Saturday afternoon. Then when my MIL announced her retirement plan, we took the opportunity to sign Anthea for a weekday Chinese lesson at Tien Hsia. So far, the routine was manageable with my MIL logistic support.

Recently, my MIL decided to return to the workforce when her previous employer approached her with a reasonable attractive package. I am all supportive of her returning to work because I know my MIL has great passion for her job and she also enjoy working with her colleagues.

With this change, I need to reschedule Anthea's classes in order to match our family routine. Now that Adrian is oversea, Anders will need to tag along whenever Anthea has her lessons. So I am trying my best to maximize her lesson time, so that it will not be so tiring for all of us.

The best fit schedule now is MPM Math on Friday and she will be doing 2 books instead of the original 1 book. The teacher has commented that she is progressing well and handling 2 books should not be a problem to her.

Her Tien Hsian Term 4 starts Sep to Nov and I have arranged for her to take the Saturday afternoon lesson from 4.30 pm to 6pm. This means that I will try to make the children nap early on Saturday so that we can go for her lessons. There are limited slots for weekend's session as most of the classes are fully booked

Today is her second last lesson at Tien Hsia for Term 3. I decided not to disrupt it and took ½ day off to bring her for the lesson.

After work, I went to her childcare to fetch her and when we reached Tien Hsia, I made the payment for her next Term lessons. Judging by the number of waitlists on my preferred timing, the coordinator mentioned that chances are very slim.

While Anthea was doing her lesson, I run my errands. I managed to go to the Library to returned and borrowed new books for them. Thanks to Vivien and Levine's comments in my previous blog. I managed to collect the free gift and a token, plus the reading card. Now we are motivated to read more books...haha.

After the library, I went for a quick bite and then did some shopping for grocery at NTUC. I stocked up on our weekend breakfast and lunch ingredients...: P

Then it was just in time for me to fetch Anthea from her class. I saw many mommies/grannies and even daddies waiting for their child at the centre. This makes my dream of becoming a PTSAHM stronger!!

We went home and Anthea had her power nap. In the evening, Anthea and Anders had Happy Meals for dinner before Anthea went for her MPM Lesson.

At the end of the day, she was still pretty enthusiastic and came home to do her homework...phew... I was still worried she might be overwhelmed with 2 lessons in a day.

At night, we had chance to talk to daddy and he updated me on his course. So far, things are going well and he had been tasked to do some important assignments and I know this will be to his advantage.

Another quality day in Aces routine.

三人行 的 第 3 个星期 天

Today is a super fun packed Sunday for us.

Trial Bento - today morning I prepared breakfast for Anthea and Anders. Last evening I bought the heart shaped cutter for Daiso and decided to use it on the sandwich. Anthea was very happy when she saw the sandwich and said: “mommy, it's very nice.” She said next time she can bring it to school for her tea break. She even chose her 1st bento box from NTUC Xtra when we saw it. Now I am even more committed into Bento..haha.

Volley Ball session – ever since we watched the Channel 8 Drama series “babes,beach,ball.” Anthea seem to fall in love with this sport. Every day she will come home and tell me that she plays volleyball in school. Last evening, we bought a ball from Daiso and she was very happy with the new toy. This morning, we went to the open ground downstairs and played volleyball. Our neighbor gor gor also joined us for the game session. Both Anthea and Anders had a wonderful time and were perspiring so much... : P

I prepared a simple lunch for the children and they happily finished up their lunch.

Teacher Badaria wedding – Teacher Baida was Anthea ex-childcare teacher. Ever since Anthea change childcare, I still keep in touch with her. She is a very good childcare teacher. Today is her wedding and she had invited us for the wedding lunch. So I brought Anthea and Anders along, her wedding venue is just walking distance from our house.

We had a good time at the lunch and managed to catch up with some of the parents. The only regret is we did not get to see teacher Baida at the wedding. We missed her as we went quite late. Still we want to wish the Very Best in her marriage.

The children had their nap late, so we did dinner on our own instead of the original plan of eating at my In-laws house. At the same time, I am following the Olympic Woman Table Tennis GOLD medal contest and Singapore had won its SILVER medal... : )