TAG : FOUR ...

I was tag by Idy of IT family on this tag.

Four jobs I have had in my life:

- Inbound Travel Executive ( Love this job as i get to know many local Chinese tour guides and they were really a very fun bunch.)

- Airline Reservation Sales Agent (1st time travelled to the USA)

- Vacation Consultant with a Timeshare exchange company (Get to know more about resorts exchange for timesharing and vacationing on such perks)

- Training Coordinator ( related to airline industry - 1st time traveled on Business Class to Switzerland for meeting)

Four places I have lived:

- Sembawang "Chong Pang" - Landed property "rental a unit for household of 6 people".

- Ang Mo Kio 3-room flat - Parents place

- Ang Mo Kio 5-room flat - My elder brother place, with my parents

- Ang Mo Kio 4-room flat - My own Home Sweet Home

(It says 4 places so not neccessary must be overseas...hee : )

Four Countries I have been to on vacation:

- USA ( LA, Las Vegas, San Francisco and Michigan - 1st time seeing the Niagara Falls)

- Europe ( London, Paris and Switzerland)

- Hong Kong

- Australia (Perth & Melbourne)

Four of my favorite foods:

- Dad's Hainanese Chicken rice

- Dad's home-made chicken pie

- Dad's home cooked oxtails stews

- Dad's roasted Beef

Four places I would rather be right now:

- Farm stay in Perth with the family and letting the children experience the magical of star watching at night and milking the cow or feeding the Kangaroos

- Shopping in Hong Kong, the last trip i went in March 2007 was catered specially for Anthea, so there was no shopping on my agenda...pity hor.

- Al-fresco dining along the Street of Paris. In Singapore, it's just impossible to dine outside as it is 90% Hot & Humid, so won't enjoy. We drank kopi while we were in Paris along the street, it was simply relaxing and enjoyable.

- Honestly, there is no other places that i will like to be in, other than the comfort of my own HOME Sweet Home...as what Kit Chan sang in the NDP theme song :

This is Home, truly
Where I know I must be
Where my dreams wait for me
Where that river always flows
This is home, surely
As my senses tell me
This is where I won't be alone
For this is where I know it's home

(so patriotics...haha...anyway, National Day is just round the corner, can't help it.)

Ps: Wishing all a Happy National Day.

Remember The Apache will Salute the Nation... : )

Splendid Weekends @ Swissotel The Stamford

Saturday afternoon, parents in law came by and picked the children & myself up to go to the Swissotel for our weekends stay.

We arrived around noon time and Mother in law managed to get 2 rooms. One with the Harbour View that can see the NDP Fireworks and the other is city view for the Aces Family to spend a night. The 2 rooms were on the 54th Floor. This is another 1st time for the Aces Family - staying at Swissotel the Stamford and room on such high floor with PRIVATE Balcony.

We checked in to the city view room as the other room was not ready yet. I was impressed with the room size. It was BIG and i think it can put in another set of Queen sized bed. Good thing with big space, Anthea and Anders can run around the room and enjoy the room.

After lunch, i had wanted Ander to have a power nap but i think he was just too excited and happy with the hotel stay that he could not sleep. He kept going on the bed and off the bed.

At 5.15pm, Anders and myself got ready for the NDP Preview, we walked over from the hotel to the Marina Platform. Most of the people were dressed in RED, so were WE...hee : )

There were FUNPACKS given out and we had 2. The show started at 6pm, Anders was ever-ready to see the helicopters & F16 flypass. He enjoyed the show. I felt the the Preview audiences were not as spontaneous as the crowd we had during the Combined Full Dress Rehearsal. I didn't felt so warm like before. Anyway, after the 1st hour of the show, we returned back to the comfort of the hotel to watch the Fireworks.

Around 8.15pm, the fireworks started. It was nice but a little disappointed because at one point, it became too smoky and we can't see the fireworks as it was behind the smoke. Anyway, the important part is Anthea and Anders had a Great Time watching the Fireworks and enjoying the hotel stay.

On Sunday, we had a good buffet breakfast at the Kopi Tiam, then we returned to the room for Rest & relax before going for a dip at the pool.

After lunch we checked out around 2pm and headed for Home Sweet home. We had another relaxing weekends and we are now looking forward to our holidays in mid August. Also the very 1st time that Aces Family will be travelling on our very own.

Masseur’s In-Training

These few days, it had been raining and the weather had turned quite cool. So last evening after dinner, while I was resting and reading my papers. Adrian was reading his notes beside the sofa.
Then I heard Anthea asked: “Papa, I massage you, ok? “

“Ok.” Adrian replied her and father and daughter got the settings ready, as if like a real massage parlor. Daddy brought out his mattress and Anthea help to get his pillow.

Then the session started –

Step 1: stand on daddy’s buttock and do her balancing act

Step 2: used her hand and slap his legs muscles and pat it as it she is playing a drum

Step 3: stand on daddy’s back and walk up & down - massage his back up to his neck area

Meanwhile Anders was busied following what Anthea was doing.

Throughout the session, I keep hearing daddy saying: “harder a bit…yeah, correct.” “Wow…so shiok, later sure can sleep very well. “…ha-ha. He sound like he had a good massage session. Meanwhile I was busy clicking away and thinking to myself – next time I must also try a session.

Today is Siti’s wedding; we called her last night and had a quick chat with her. Happy to hear that things are fine with her & her family in Indonesia.

Both Anthea and Anders kept asking: “Siti jie jie, you married already? “ “When you coming back to Singapore? “ “Is your baby boy or girl, you pregnant already? “etcs.

Children are just so innocent.

Twist of Luck - We GOT IT...

On Friday evening, when the TV programme flashed some of this year NDP show, Anders was very interested in the helicopter displays and he said : "mommy, i want to see National Day Parade leh. "

I told him that he has to asked papa for the tickets. Anyway, we had seen the full dress rehearsal and to me, that is quite an achievement for a family who has no interest in NDP....hee

: P

This year i tried E-balloting for the Preview show but was unsuccessful. Anyway, as consolation, my In-Laws had booked Swissotel the Stamford for this Saturday to see the fireworks display on the NDP Preview. We are all ready for another fun weekends stay at the hotel.

Yesterday, to my surprised, i received an sms from Adrian "I have 2 tickets for the Preview". My first thought was : Wow...Anders wishes has come TRUE. I am very happy but in a bit of dilemma. 2 ticke mean only admit 2 person and ticket stated clearly that :

- CHILDREN, Including infants, require separate tickets.

So this mean that i can only bring either Anthea or Anders. So after some discussion with Anthea, she seem ok not to go to the NDP, instead she will stay with my in-laws at the hotel and enjoy the facilities. Hopefully she will not change her mind on this Saturday.

Now, I am looking forward to another fun filled weekends ahead. I know this working week will pass really fast....hee.

I had collected my Dinner & Dance Lucky Draw prize - a Mini Blender. ( Sure hope that i had won shopping vouchers instead)

Haircut - DIY

Currently Adrian is involves in the NDP 2007, so keeping short hair is a must for the army personnel. His sideburns tend to grow very fast, so in order to solve the problem or rather save monies in long term, we bought a Hair Clipper. This will allow Adrian to trim his sideburns.

Anders hair is also now quite long and he tends to sweat a lot. When he sweats, he will scratch himself. (We are always amazed at the way he scratch himself, his action is just like a monkey which coincidentally is the year that he was born in 2004.. : P )

So on Sunday, we decided to give Anders a quick haircut using the new toy. It was very effective. All these while, I will bring Anders to the Barber for his cut, and each cut is $6.00.

The overall cut is ok except for the back left side corner – Adrian cut a small “LOBANG” there. It looks funny but since he is a small boy and we are amateur “hairstylist”, we left it as it is…probably people may take it as a new fashion cut. (Self-consolation)

After we finished cutting his hair, Anders said “mommy, I wanna go uncle and cut hair. Don’t want mommy & papa to cut. OK?”

He must have been “terrified” by us. Hopefully next time we can do a better job, if Anders still permits us to touch his hair.

Anthea’s Green Bean Plant

Anthea did her 1st Science project in April 2007. Very proud to announce that her little green bean grows very well and it is now a big Plant. The one person who has diligently watering the plant is Daddy, so biggest credit goes to him. I am hoping that the plant will grow more green beans so next time I can cook green beans soup.

Missing My TV Programme
After reading Eve’s blog on real life or reel life, I realized that I misses TV Programme a lot, be it Korea Drama or Local Drama or Varities shows.

Now that I no longer has a domestic helper, my evenings hours from 6 – 9 pm are occupied with chores like warming up the tingkat- dinner,hand washing children’s uniform, ironing their uniforms, washing the dishes after dinner, packing their school bags for the next day. By the time I finished all the chores and sit down to rest, it is almost 9 – 9.30 pm. I can only watch a bit of the 9 pm local drama.

When I had my helper with me, my rest & relax hours starts from 7pm after dinner. Now i don't have such luxury.

Well, since I chose this path myself, I should not be complaining, just pity myself sometimes.

Gone are those good old days.

Family Events - Happy Birthday Andrew & Off to Shanghai

This weekends is a weekends of Family Events.

On Saturday, it was the birthday celebration of Andrew (he is one of Adrian cousins from my mother-in-law side of the family). The celebration was held at one of his friend's house - Mandarin Gardens's Clubhouse. I was really impressed with the sized of the clubhouse and it's swimming pool. Very spacious clubhouse with Alfresco Dining area as well. Swimming pool with LAPS pool. I can only DREAM to stay in a Condominium... : P

All the families were there at the function. Both Anthea and Anders had a great time running around the open area with their uncle Kiat. They even had chance to play with the kind of balloon where you blow from a small stick. These were my childhood "toys"...haha.

The buffet dinner spread were sumptous with add on like Soon Kuehs, Home made Sushi and Lemonade.

Our Family contributed 3 cakes from choc a bloc , they were Durian, Banana and a Classic choc cakes. I think the cakes were well liked by the guests as they were almost all gone at the end of the party.

Nice Birthday celebration and important thing is always - a good time to catch up with all the uncles, aunties and cousins.

On Sunday, my side of the family - Dage,Lao pa & Lao ma left for Shanghai for their 1 week holiday. Dage actually invited the Aces family to go along but i have so many considerations for travelling to China, so i kindly rejected his invitation. Now we are looking forward to our own Family trip in August to Kuala Lumpur & Sunway Lagoon.

At breakfast, i was telling adrian that Uncle Han Thong and families are always travelling, they just came back from Perth. It is always fun to travel in big group with families. Adrain said "don't worry, our time will come soon, when the children are independent". I asked "huh?? Independent means 20 years times?"...hee

Dinner was at Tony Romas and food was Great. After dinner, we brought Anthea and Anders to Toy R Us at Forum. They just enjoyed walking around the toy shop and emerged in their world of imaginations. We left the place about 10 minutes before the closing time of 9pm, all happy & satisfied.

Masquerade Ball

The most anticipated Friday, the 13th finally arrived.

We were all very excited and looked forward to the Dinner & Dance. We went off early, mainly to get ourselves "DOLLED UP" for the party.

I went to my usual salon and the stylist did my hair and makeup. When Anthea came home from school and saw me all dressed up, she said "mommy, you looked like Queen Rowena."..hee : P

Queen Rowena is the "BAD" Queen in the story of Barbie in the 12th Dancing Princesses. Actually i was happy to hear her comment because that was what i planned to be in my costumes. As i had Princesses with me as well.

Adrain fetched me and the children to the hotel. While i attended the dinner, he brought the children for dinner and walk around Toy R Us.

The event started at 6pm, when i arrived at the hotel, i was so happy to see so many people dressed up in their costumes. Needless to say, there were so much fun & laughter outside the Ballroom waiting area. Cameras were flashing all over the place.

At 8 pm, the dinner started officially with all the VIPS arriving in GRAND STYLE. The entertainment show went along when dinner was served. There were 3 segments of show -

1. The Disguise of Suzie Wong - a lady singer who is very versatile entertained the audiences with her 4 different languages songs.

2. Serenade of the Grand Harpist - this segment is a bit slow & boring.

3. Kumar - Lady in Waiting - the famous Drag-Queen Kumar performed his usual talk show, with a lot of X-rated jokes and also very obvious that he is not a PxP supporters...hee : )

Then there were games and Best Costumes / Masks competition. It was really fun to watch our colleagues going on stage and put up their best performance.

The final part that eveyone was waiting for the night was the top 20th Lucky Draws...sad to say, my numbers were not in there. Anyway, i saw my number being flashed on the screen for some prize, will go back office on Monday to check again.

Overall, it was a very fun night and all of us have a Great Time and most important, the bond between colleagues get better.

"Word-less"

Today after work, i went to fetch Anthea and Anders from school.

As we were walking back home, we met one of Anthea's old childcare friend's grandmother. We chatted a bit on the children & the old childcare.

When i asked her how was S progressing, she gave me a very sad & disappointing look. She told me on one little incident that happened recently during a Father's Day Celebration. S is a single-mother child, i understand that his dad passed aways in an accident or some illness when he was a baby. Very sad case, lucky his grandmother is very doting on him. His mum suffered from depression in the early stage.

Back to the schoool celebration, the teacher said to S : "You cannot celebrate Father's Day. YOU HAVE NO FATHER."

The grandma told me : how can a teacher said such a thing to a child of 4 years old. All these while, the mother & grandma has been telling S that he has a Father and he is now in Heaven.
By saying this, she put all of them in a spot.

I was totally speechless....and really LOST IN MY THOUGHTS.

A childcare teacher making such a statement....what is becoming of our Education System, i wonder?

S grandma said she had waitlisted S for a place in Anthea's current childcare centre and i hope that S will be able to join them soon.

I am glad that i made the decision to change childcare for Anthea, otherwise, i am not sure what will comes up next.

TAG: My 7 Vanity Sense Facts

You Are 27% Vain

Okay, so you're slightly vain from time to time, but you're not superficial at all.
You are realistic. You know that looks matter. You just try to make them matter less.

How Vain Are You?

I was tagged by LZmommy and i find this to be an interesting tag. Well, did my result surprises me...hmm...not at all.

Since having children, i find myself becoming more & more "ah-soh". If not because of my beautiful Sister In-law aka Eve and Sensual future Sister In-law aka Cherry, i think i would have scored a clean 0%.

Well, when we go out on our usual weekends dinners, i would try my best to keep up with the family image. Even my Mother in Law dresses better and uses more expensive cosemetic than me ...... : P

Okay, here goes 7 facts on me:

1. I used make-up everyday as i goes to work. Basic powder with SPF, lipstick and a bit of blusher.

2. I love to shop for clothings, however, my clothings are those cheap stuff from HDB market or shops, no big names or branded stuff. Like what people says: You are what you wear. (Chinese says: "吃不到葡萄说葡萄酸"...hee)

3. I used to do facial every 2 - 3 months, sad to say, the last time i visited my beautician was "i can't even remember"...geez...my face must be full of God knows what...).

4. I would like to use skin care products but till today i am just using Hazelin snow cream. 哪个女人不爱美 but 1 small bottle of those good skin care product cost almost $100. I know i can put this $100 to better uses...hee : ) I will stick to my affordable skincare product.

5. I have been going to the same hair salon for almost a decade. I try to make it an effort to visit the salon every 3 months because my hair is really thick and it grow really fast. Now my salon even provide 2 way transfers, so if i am at work and need a quick fix, i can just give them a call. There is no excuse of not going to the hair salon.

6. I have gained some GOOD weights since childbirth. After exercising for a year, i mananged to return to some GOOD shapes, not ideal yet. Now that the gym near my workplace is closed, i am doing swimming once a week. I really hope to strike a BIG lottery ticket/toto/4D whatever and the 1st thing on my list is - LIPOSUCTION. I want to wear M or L size clothings again. Now i am always looking at XL/XXL...which is so depressing.

7. I love swimming but being conservative or rather "oversized/overweight", my swimming costume is one of those old-fashioned swimsuit. If point 6 comes true, then i will be able to shop for Bikinis...haha. Who am i kidding, "ah-soh" wears bi-ki-nis. For my next "bonus", i want to invest in a nice swim wear but NOT bikinis lah.

Who should i tag...another BIG challenge:

1. Idy

2. Eve

3. Happypig

Aces Arcade

Another wonderful & funfilled weekends.


On Saturday, we had dinner at Crystal Jade Palace in Paragon. It was our first time to the resturant and i simply love the ambience and of course, FOOD. As we were being seated in a private room area, service was Excellent. We had about 3 - 4 waitresses waiting around our table. It was a very relaxing and enjoyable dinner as both Anthea & Anders behaved well during dinner.

After dinner, we brought the children to TOY R US...but it was closed. It was 9pm ans the shop closed at 9 PM. Anders was very disappointed. The main reason for his good behaviour is because we promised to bring him to see toys after dinner. Luckily for us, Metro Paragon is still opened, so we headed to the toy area to satisfied his needs.

We were walking and looking at all the toys. Then there was a TV Arcade game. Anthea tried the game and she loves it. It had many different kind of games. So we bought the game for the children. It was late when we reached home so they did not played with it.

On Sunday morning, the first thing they asked for is the arcade game. So adrian plugged it on for them, the 2 of them had a good time.

Mother-in-law left for Kuala Lumpur for her 3 days conference in KLCC. My brother and parents will be leaving for a week of holiday in China next Sunday.

Dinner was da-bao food and we ate at Louis & Eve's place- Louis bought Uncle Leong's crab, Terence and Cherry bought Pork ribs and vegetables for Hong Kong Man from Casurina Road, Aces Family bought satays and Ice Cream chef Nutella Delight.

Another nice spread of food and good time of chilling out.

After dinner, the children were anxious to go home to play with their new toy.

Note: On Friday, the D&D Commitee brought in some costumes for the HODs to try out and my GM gamely tried one of them. (btw, this is my inspiration for going to work...hee : P )

我的感激

This week Adrian has been spending time with Anders. After dinner, he will bring him to the park and let him play sand. His real intention is to spend time to “talk” to Anders. Adrian knows that I am under tremendous stress from handling Anders, so he is now trying to help me see the “LIGHT” of the problem.

Last night during dinner, we had a short discussion and he acknowledged that Anders is not the norm and he is hoping to find the root to the problems. Is it hyperactive or Terrible 3, this we are still learning as we go along.

For the last few evenings, I have more time to myself when they are out. I did my routine house chores and after that, I simply rested. It was a very good feeling to NOT to have to run / shout after Anders.

After the few night outings, has Anders change? I don’t think so but I am keeping my hopes open. I need to be POSITIVE. Now that Adrian is still around to help me with discipline him but come year end or earlier 2008, he may be send for another oversea attachment, I will need to face Anders alone. So it is time to build up my confidence level with him and learn to LOVE him again.

Read from the website on these 2 sentences and I find them very useful:

＊父亲看问题的角度与母亲不同。母亲有时整天缠身于孩子之中，常常被弄得晕头转向；而父亲从单位回 到家，却能看出问题的关键所在，并找到解决问题的方法。

＊爸爸有时善于管教孩子。父亲得学会坚决有力，既不严厉也不放纵。只要他们相信自己能掌握好火候， 管教起孩子来就十分自然和容易。这就使妈妈感到放松，因为她们知道丈夫会支持自己，不需要与难以管教的 孩子孤军奋战。如果父亲逃避管教，甚至站在孩子一边，就会对妻子有所损害，使她感到孤立无援。做父亲的 应该支持自己的妻子，并且应该去做对孩子要求更严格的人。

I know Adrian’s works are also very demanding of him, physically and mentally. Thus I am really grateful of him to have taken his time to share this difficult moment with me.

I really pray hard that Anders can comes out of this stage fast and happily.

Anthea 1st Swimming Lesson

This week since Anthea and Anders had been grounded for some wrongdoings for last week. Something came out positive of this grounding – since we are home for most of the evenings, I had more chances to encourage Anthea to go for her swimming lesson. Somehow, she is now more open to the idea.

“Mommy, I only go this Sunday? If I don’t like it, next week I go with Nai nai to Safra or CPE?”

“Yes, if you don’t like the lesson, next week you can just follow nai nai for your swim.” I assured her.

In the morning, Anthea woke up around 9.30am as she slept late last night. So after her milk, we left for the swimming pool. Adrian brought Anders for water play.

When we reached the pool, the instructor - Edwin Yap was there already. There were only 2 children in her slot which I thought was good because she will get more attention….hee : )

For the ½ hour, he asked her to swim on her own in the children pool, and then he started to teach her a bit of the strokes. Hmm…I thought it was quite fast because I always think the instructor will start will breathing technique first.

Anyway, 2nd half hour was spending at the adult pool and I saw him leading her while she swam. When she was resting by the side, I signaled to her if she was ok, she signaled back to me with her THUMP UP!!! I was so happy.

After the lesson ended, I asked her: “so how was the lesson? Do you like it? “

“Mommy, I want to learn with the teacher, you pay money. Ok? “

This sentence made my day and I was on cloud nine for the whole day… hee : P

After her lesson, we went to Junction 8 for lunch, the children enjoyed their lunch and we went to BHG to shop for the children. Anthea chose for herself a dress which has Ariel – the Mermaid. I bought for Ander a new swimsuit.

After lunch, Anthea went to my MIL house for her usual weekend session and Anders went home for his power nap.

In the evening, we had dinner at Bliss Restaurant with the extended families for Adrian belated Birthday celebration. Food was ok and ambience is nice. After dinner, we took a stroll in the Park and we had a nice time catching up with the family.

Aces Family 1st National Day Parade

This year NDP is going to be held at the Marina Waterfront. I tried to ballot for the NDP Preview tickets but was unsuccessful.

On Thursday, i received this in the letter box. It is the tickets for NDP Combined Rehearsal, 30 June 2007.

Since April, Adrian had been busied with the NDP trainings and many Saturdays he worked till late in the evenings, missing out all the family dinners & Gatherings.

I guess for this sacrifice, the NDP organising committee is rewarding the family members for those sacrifices.

This evening, i brought Anthea and Anders to their 1st National Day Parade viewing. As it is a Full Dress Rehearsal, we were treated to a very good show minus the VIPS & Fireworks.

We reached the parade place around 5.30pm and got ourselved seated. Then the 2 of them started to enjoyed the tidbits from the party pack that was given by the organisers.

Then at around 6.30pm, the show started. Started with the parachuters flying in, then the march-in. Then follow by all the special Helicopters and the F16 flypass.

Anthea and Anders love the 1st part of the parade with all the 3D and special effect show. When it comes to the Mass Dance Display, they got a bit bored, i think they can't really see much from the platform.

After the performance, Adrian met up with us and we had dinner at McDonald at Marina Square. After that we headed home, very tired but happy.

Overall, it was a good show and i am happy that Anthea and Anders has the 1st chance to watch it and our next opportunity to watch it will be at Stamford The Plaza for the NDP PREVIEW.

Happy Birthday to Papa....

Today is Adrian birthday. As he is busy with the NDP rehearsal, so we didn't plan for anything today. Celebration will be tomorrow evening with the extended family.



So this morning, when i was at the market buying breakfast, i bought a small piece of cake for him to blow. The chinese always belief that a person must not celebrates his/her birthday late, otherwise...not sure what will happen...: P



So at home, Anthea and Anders sang the birthday song for daddy and Adrian made his birthday wish. After that we had a good breakfast with the cake.

"Dear, Wishing you a very Happy Birthday and many Happy, Happy moments..."

Anders 1st Charge – 跪地请罪

Yesterday when I was at the childcare to fetch Anthea and Anders. Teacher Jessie approached me and told me of an incident. She said Anders was displaying some kind of “kung fu” strokes and teacher Jessie stopped him. Then when she was not watching him, he suddenly hit one of his classmates – a little girl and she got a small cut on her upper lip. Lucky thing is the cut is not too deep, so there was no bleeding.

I was so shocked upon hearing teacher Jessie description and my heart sank to the bottom. I do not know how to answer to her. She told me that he has been punished for his act. The punishment was he could not go for the outdoor play session.

I told Adrian of the incident on our way home as he was with us. When we reached home, I told Anders that he will not longer be allowed to watch the Ultraman & Power Rangers VCDs. I think his act of fighting may be due to all these vcds. I even told him if he hit a friend again, I am going to throw away all this toys.

He listens and agreed that he will not hit his friend in school. I hope this promise will come true.

Before dinner, Anders started his nonsense again and this time, Adrian was the one who does the lecturing and punishing. He made Anders knelt on the floor and think of his action. This is the 1st time Anders experienced this kind of corporal punishment. He was made to kneel for almost 15 minutes and he was crying throughout. I believed it must have been a very painful experience but I think Adrian has his reason for making him kneel.

Anders has not been an easy kid to discipline and many times, I asked myself “is it worth it to be angry” or “can I send him to some kind of boarding school from Mondays to Fridays” etcs. I am trying my best but it seem like my best is never good enough?

切记：子不教，父之过 ：子女是否能够成才、还是会走歪门邪道，很大程度上取决于家长的管束和教育。

儿子，爸爸 要你跪地请罪是希望你能自我反省。虽然你年纪还小，我们还是要你学习正确的处事待人。

Mystique Mask

Our Company dinner is scheduled to take place on Friday, 13 July 2007.

The theme of the dinner is Masquerade Ball and the organising committee has requested that the staff to come in Victorian Costumes.

My colleagues and myself are very keen to DRESS UP for the dinner & dance. So today at lunch time, we went costumes shopping.

The organising committe has given us a list of names on shops that does event costumes rental. We shortlisted one - Costumes And Mascots. When we reached the shop, we were so excited to see all so many faciful dresses and also accessories.

So we started trying all the Victorian Dresses that matches the theme and it was simply so fun.

So much laughter and share of opinions when we saw each other in the different dresses. It is like we are taking our Bridal shoots or attending the Proms Night ... : )

Finally each one of us managed to get a Dress that fit and we immediately put down our deposit. After that, we had Hainanese Chicken Rice at one of the many chicken rice stalls along Purvis Street. After lunch, we had TCC coffee and desserts. What an excursion it was.

Now i am looking forward to the actual day for the Dinner & Dance in about 2 weeks time. I guess these kind of events/activities "spices" up the routine and it adds excitement to the daily mundane work. Hopefully i can win a Nice LUCKY DRAW Prize...祝我好运 !!

Superb Sun(daes)

Recently via a BB Forumn, i discovered a new brand of ice cream called Ice Cream Chef. Highly recommended by some forumn mommies, so i want to give it a go - i ordered 6 pints of different flavors ice cream - Durian, Mangoes, Oreo & Cream, Nutella Delight, Chocolate & hershey and Nutty Peanut Butter. It was delivered in the morning and Anthea and Anders simply love them. They had them after lunch and dinner. Adrain was home to look after the 2 A's.

I had a lunch appointment at New York, New York cafe in AMK Mall with my group of cousins. As one of my cousin, Herng, is back in Singapore for her summer break from Scotland, so we had to meet up while she is in town. So 5 of us met up for lunch and we had a very good time chatting and catching up with one another happening.

During lunch, we saw from the dinning place that Mediacorp was filming some program at the mall. I saw one of my IDOL - Bryan Wong. I simply adored his hosting skills and find him to be very talented. So i went to "star search" and my younger cousins were all laughing at me... : P

(photo is a bit blurred but that the closest i can get to him)

After lunch, we adjourned to Mac Cafe for drinks and continued to yak & yak away. Although our age difference is quite BIG but i am really glad that there is no generation gap between me & my cousins. We can literally talk about anything under the sky. Time passed so fast while you are enjoying it.

At 5.15pm, i had to go back home to prepare dinner. Adrian had decided to ground both Anthea and Anders for this week due to some incident that happened yesterday at the Sheraton hotel. So we had dinner at home. Simple home cooked food - Chicken feet with Black bean soup, fried batang fish and vegetable. I bought 1/2 a duck on my way home.

After dinner, dessert was none other than my Ice Cream chef ice cream ...it was YUMMY!!!

This is another nice and relaxing Superb Sunday for me.

Dad's Birthday Celebration

Today the children's childcare is closed for teacher's curriculum planning event. So i took a day off to be with them. Adrian is also off because of his NDP parade tomorrow.

So in the morning, after breakfast, i brought the children over to one of Anthea's classmate house. They had fun playing with the friend and his house is full of toys.

After playing, we went home and guess what we had for lunch...: )

Maggi noodles cooked with Yong tau foo ingredients and also grilled Cheese sausages. Both Anthea and Anders love noodle and they both finished up their bowls of noodles and also the sausages. I was joking with Adrian that the 2 A's are so easy to maintained - Maggi noodles with sausages and they can readily finsihed their meals...hee : )

Well, this is just a day of simple meal because mommy is too lazy to cook more nutritional food.

After lunch,they took their afternoon nap before heading for Sheraton Tower. My BIL & SIL had booked a room at Sheraton because of some Starwood perks, so the Aces family had been invited to enjoy the hotel's facilities.

Once the children woke up, they were very excited and kept chasing us to "papa, mama, hurry up, let's go swimming". So off we went for the Sheraton Tower. It is a very nice hotel and the room is pretty comfortable.

When we reached the hotel lobby, we saw mom & dad. Mom was pushing Faith as she was napping and Dad just finished his gym session. We went to the room and the children changed into their swim wear. We had a fun time at the pool as it was not crowed. Just simply relaxing and enjoying the waterplay with Anthea and Anders.

After the swimming session, we went back to the room to shower and changed for dinner.

Tonight dinner is in celebration of Dad's birthday. His actual day is tomorrow but as Adrian is busy with NDP and Terence also having his own appointment, so we decided to celebrate it a day earlier.

Dinner was at Prima Revolving Tower. As usual, we order very sumptous dishes. I was telling Adrian, it seem like Peking Duck has become our normal dish to order... : )

Another enjoyable 2 hours dinner, with good news all spread around dinner table. Our little niece will be taking her "Virgin" flight real soon. After dinner, we had a cake cutting ceremony and we all sang a birthday song for dad.

Aces Family wishes Dad " Happy Birthday and many happy returns "

We left for home, all feeling tired but very happy.

Anders PTC, Wednesday, 20 June 2007

This is Anders very 1st time attending a childcare, so this PTC is quite important for me to get feedback from the Teachers on his performance in school.

So at the appointed time of 5.30pm, I met with his English and Chinese teachers.

Teacher Jessie’s observations:

- Anders is matured for his age and he can take instruction well during her lessons
- He is able to effectively communicate himself to her
- He can eat his meals on his own and also socialized well with his classmates. He has a small group of good friends in his class.

Only area of concern – he likes to rub his eyes whenever he’s in doubts/worries or whatever reason.

张老师 的观察 ：

- 勇学 是个 乖巧的孩子。他能够 转心的听老师讲故事。
- 他的华语程度还得 进一步的练习，有时他还不大了解老师的讲解。

大致上他的进展还算不错。


Well, based on the 2 teachers, I am very happy with Anders progress in school, although I am quite sure at home, he is displaying another set of behavior.

Anyway, when the teachers asked me if I have any concerns to raised; I told them no because important thing to me is they come home a Happy Kid and I see many times – role playing of school events, I know that he is enjoying himself.

Teachers were quite surprised that I have no issues, probably the other parents may have raised issues with them before.

To me, most important thing is they grow up being Happy and morally correct. The “stress” part will comes in naturally when they start formal Primary Education. Meanwhile, we will take it easy.

吃软不吃硬！！

Anders character is quite strong and he has trait of an Aries - STUBORN. Usually when he wanted something and if I said “no”, he will cry and whine. This will make me feel very frustrated. There are times he will take “no” for an answer but it would make up less than 10% of the overall situation. When he starts to whine & cry, I will feel very embarrassed, especially when we are outside. It makes me feel like I am a very lousy mother, cannot even discipline my own son.

Just last Saturday, when we dined at Jack’s place, Father in law even threatened to “beat him” if he continued to misbehaved. I know my FIL’s characters, he’s not one in favor of corporal punishment, and it must have been so bad that he felt that Anders needs some formal discipline. So I knew it was time to get him out of everyone sight before I lost my temper.

Yesterday, it was equally bad when he don’t listen to my instructions. I told him to wear shoes to get ready for school; he refused and just lay on the floor. Then at night, when I told him he can’t have apple as he already ate too much, he started whining. So finally, I GAVE UP totally.

I gave him the apple. I even told him there are oranges in the fridge; he can eat them if he wants to. Also there are biscuits, chocolates and sweets etcs. He started telling me: “mommy, I don’t want to eat. I want to rest my stomach.”

So now I know, I will not hit myself against STONE. I will let him have whatever he wants. Then he can decide for himself on what is best for him.

这种吃软不吃硬的性格将来会对他不利，不过以目前的情况，只能用这种方式来 应付他。希望它能够学习如何接受 “不”为答案。

我的容忍已经到了极限，真的希望这一 却 能过快快成为成长中的过去。。。。

Integrity & Words of Wisdom

This is another eventful weekends. For Saturday morning while Adrian brought the Anthea and Anders to the playgroup to rid them of their ‘adrenalin pump’, I did my house chores in peace. After that I prepared their lunches. As each of them has different likings, so I need to prepared 2 set of lunches.

1. Anthea – mashed potatoes with hotdogs
2. Anders – lean pork meat with dried scallop porridge

Verdict – both of them enjoyed their lunches…thanks goodness.

After lunch, both of them played a while at the neighbour’s house and then have their afternoon nap. Dinner was with the extended families at Jack’s Place. Think its must be the Father’s Day celebration, the place was so crowded. Service was so lagging and I have to ask for the sour cream and beacon bits 2 times before they brought it to our table. Didn’t enjoyed the dinner much as Anders was giving me some “problems”, so after dinner, I brought him home.

On Sunday, we went to view a 5 room flat. This unit is in the same block as my in-laws. The Aces family is considering upgrading our home to a bigger unit. However I think it is the wrong timing. Now it’s the PROPERTY BOOM time, just like 7 years ago when we bought our current home.

We met dad on the ground floor when he came back from his usual Sunday badminton session. He was giving us his advice on the unit that we saw. He was saying, “It’s good to consider upgrading, as the children will be growing big”. We knew dad always belief: In life, you must always upgrade yourself, and then you will
become a better person.

Back to the house, we viewed and liked the house but the asking price is way above our budget, so we have just have to wait till the next chance. When I called the agent to check with her regarding the flat, the agent was telling me that the owner had now changed her/his mind. They are now asking for more monies to sell their flat. We were shocked because the agent mentioned that someone did already match the owner asking price, so now GREED has got into the owner.

So now I am asking this question: when you are talking about MONIES, people lost their integrity and their Belief. We saw that there were religion signs places all over the house and in front on the door. Sigh…what more can we say.

For dinner, we went to Metropole Herbal restaurant, another wonderful dinning experience. Good meals and a lot of information being shared. Looking forward to this Friday outing… :)

Thank's God it's Fridays & Happy Father's Day!!

Our Prata Date.

Anthea has been requesting to go fro prata breakfast this week, so i told her on on Friday, we can wake up earlier and go fro prata breakfast.

Surprisingly Anthea woke up at about 7am in the morning and told me, "mummy, let's go for prata." I told her we will have to wait for Anders to wake up as well. So she had her milk and watched Disney channel as she waited for her little brother to wake up. Normal days, she usually wakes up about 8am.

At about 7.45am, i woke Anders up and he brought his milk along to the coffee shop, so he can have prata and drink his milk. We order 1 egg and 2 plain pratas and the children really enjoyed it. Anthea ate her plain prata with Sugar and Anders had his with mixture of curry & sugar.

After the pratas, they went to school, feeling happy & satified. I also had a wonderful Breafast DATE with my 2 A's.

Both Anthea and Anders came home with their Father's Day Handmade craft. A Shirt from Anders and a Car from Anthea.

Dinner was Western at Lao ma's place as my da-ge requested for Steak. So it was another feast for the Aces Family.

Friday is always the day that i look forward to as we are free to choose whatever we want to eat and we can enjoyed relaxed meal.

Anthea - PTC, Monday, 11 June 2007

On Monday, i was scheduled to meet with Anthea's English and Chinese teacher for her 1st Parent-Teacher-Conference. It is semi-yearly affairs, June & November.

It's been a long while since i attended such event because Anthea's previous childcare does not facilitate such meeting. For her progress, i only get a Progress Book from her teacher. Based on her assessment and written comments, i get to know how Anthea is faring in school. No interaction at all.

Well, with this new childcare, they are very pro-parents communication. So far, i have seen many articles and events that encourage parents to feedback to teacher/the centre if they have any concerns.

At 5pm, Adrian and myself arrived at the centre. Our appointment was 5.30pm but since we were early, we requested to have it at 5pm. The teachers were very accommodating and we sat through a 10 minutes chit-chat session with the teachers.

English teacher - advised us on the things that she had thought the children. She is quite new to this centre, so she did not feedback much on Anthea's progress. She is leaving end of the month.

Chinese Teacher (罗 老师) - she said that Anthea is very attentive during lesson and can answer her questions. Also she can socialised well with her classmates. There are times she will assert her rights when playing with them.

I am happy to hear of the teachers feedback on her performance in school. So far from her interest in going to this childcare and her change of mannerism, i know she is enjoying herself very much.

After the PTC, i brought Anthea for her long overdue haircut. She likes to go to this particular salon near the market place. Tried persuading her to go to a nearer one to the childcare, she refused. Anyway, finally we got her haircut. I think her hair is too dried and now new assignment is to get her a conditioner.

We BOUGHT it - Digital Camera

Since it was a Sunday and Adrian not playing badminton, I decided to go and buy the digital camera.

I planned to buy a Canon since they have some freebies and also for UOB Card holders, they have addition Free Battery for Ixus 75. So with all these in mind, we headed for Harbour Front to Canon Digi-lab. I was telling Adrian we might as well go there since the collection of free gift is at the Digi-lab.

We were informed by Canon that the Digi-lab does not do sale of Canon Cameras, we can go to 2 shops in Harbour Front. We ended up in BIG Mega store. When I enquired about the Canon and Panasonic cameras at the counter, the sale person “sold” me all the advantages of Panasonic compared to a Canon.

I found it to be so amusing because before coming to Harbour Front, I was still sms-ing Eve and she asked if I was confirmed buying a Canon. I replied her that I was ok with Canon unless someone sells me Panasonic...true enough; this sales person is doing it.

Finally I was convinced and bought the Panasonic Lumix DMC – FX 12, it comes with Free 2 GB SD Card, a Tripod stand and a LCD Screen protector. I bought an additional battery. With this purchase, the store even gave me a Sizzler meal voucher and a Complimentary Spa voucher. What a Treat…:)

After buying the camera, we had lunch at the Food Junction. It was not crowded, so we had a good lunch.

Then we left the place and headed home, as we exit the Vivo City car park, I saw a LONG Car Q’s. Vivo City is packed almost on all weekends. Lucky that we managed to avoided the crowd.

We brought Anders home for his afternoon nap. I was busied with the laundry.

The new camera is resting for the moment while I charged up it battery. I was advised to charge it for 8 hours.

Dinner was at Teochew City Seafood restaurant at Centre point. As usual, mother in law has some dining vouchers. So we had another big feast. After dinner, we window shopped around in Robinson, they did a major change - Children section is now on Level 6 and it takes up the whole floor and extend into the new wing of the building. Anders was so happy, seeing all the toys but we told him firmly that he can only see and not buy. Luckily he was agreeable to it. As for Anthea, she was busied shopping for clothes for Faith at Mothercare. I can tell both Anthea and Anders will dote on Faith as they grow together.

Another fruitful Sunday for us and looking forward to clicking away photos with the new camera.

家的温暖

After reading wokking mum recipe on 海南鸡饭, I had sudden craving to eat it. The funny thing is I don’t like to eat chicken rice at hawkers or food court. I only love my lao pa Home Cooked Hainanese Chicken Rice. So on Thursday, when lao ma called me and asked me to go back娘家 for dinner on Friday evening, I was so happy and when she asked me: “要吃什么？”, I said “鸡饭”… : )

So Friday night dinner was home cooked hainanese chicken rice... Yummy!! After dinner, I had special home brewed 泡参炖 黑鸡汤. I had requested for this tonic because lately, I feel very lethargic, so need to “补气”.

I am really glad that my parent’s home is just a few bus stops or traffic lights away, whenever I need some warmth, I know Home is the Best Place. Adrian went for his usual Friday badminton session and he fetched us after his game.

After a satisfying meal, I went home feeling recharged and very satisfied.

For Saturday, I am stucked with Anders at home. So I went about with my usual house chores routine. For lunch, I managed to cook a soup and steamed a fish.

Dinner was at my in-laws house with nice home cooked Kobe beef, vegetable and soup. Father in law went to packed Curry Fish head and Terence bought back otahs. What a spread we had. Dessert was Haagen Dazs ice cream with home baked Cherries crumble by Eve.

For the last 2 weeks, I was absence from such family dinner due to my illness. So when my father in law fetched Anders and me from home, he asked “are you better now? “. He said “you used to be the strongest, when all at home felt ill, you are ok, this time you are sick for so long.” I was so touched by his comment. Simple sentences yet it meant so much.

“Thank you, papa & all at home” for their concerns over the last 2 weeks when I was down. Simple gestures & smses and I know they will always be there for me when I need them. I hope that this closely knitted tie will be passed on to the next generations for Anthea and Anders with their cousin, Faith.

My little niece, Faith, is growing well and happy. Each weekend when we see her, she is always different. On Saturday, I managed to feed her milk and ‘talk’ to her. She is a very responsive little baby and she love to smile when people talk to her. This is one of the positive traits she inherited from her daddy & mommy, who are always smiling.

Such family gathering always make me feel that Aces Family is very lucky. We are so blessed.

"You'll Never Walk Alone"...

Since the days I was introduced to Football by my brothers at home. Liverpool is the team that we will always root for in any matches – EPL, European Cup and what ever matches there are.

Well, lucky for me, when I got to know Adrian, he is also a Liverpool supporter and so is Terence.

Needless to say, when Terence was in England for his business trip in February 2007, he visited Liverpool and managed to watch a Live Match between Liverpool and forgot the other team name…hee : P

He bought back souvenirs from Anfield; he bought a set of Liverpool soccer shirt & pants for Anders and a Goalkeeper jersey for Adrian.

As this set of shirt and pants are so precious, I seldom let Anders wear them.


Silly me….. : P Should let him wear more often since we are Liverpool supporters and this is the REAL Thing and not from those Pasar Malams.

So the other day when he wore it, I was so proud and tell myself, I must remember to pen it down. So next time Anders will know that his family and uncles are all LIVERPOOL Supporters. This will naturally make him one as well, once he is old enough to learn about football.

I always tell Adrian in this lifetime we must make a trip to Liverpool to see a Live Match. That will make us a True Blue Supporter and then we can sing along :

When you walk through a storm
Hold your head up high
And don't be afraid of the dark
At the end of the storm
Is a golden sky
And the sweet silver song of a lark

Walk on through the wind
Walk on through the rain
Tho' your dreams be tossed and blown
Walk on, walk on
With hope in your heart
And you'll never walk alone
You'll never walk alone

Anthea is still very into her Disney Princess thing. So the other day at NTUC when I saw this Disney watch, I can’t resist not buying it for her. Also recently, I changed her wardrobe of panties – she now has 2 sets of panties – Disney Princess and Winx Club. She will wear the Princess in the morning and change into the Winx club after her bath in school. Now already so fussy about “internal beauty”, cannot imagine when she starts Primary School.

Sleeping Habits

When Siti was still with us, Anders will sleep in a room with her while Anthea sleeps with me and Adrian in the other room. Most of the time, we have no problems in sleeping.

Now with our new sleeping arrangement, it seems like almost every night, either Adrian or I will need to ‘lecture’ the children before they finally fall asleep.

I believe the main problem is when they are together; they want to play/talk etcs instead of sleeping.

Usually, I will have to sleep in-between them to make sure that they sleep.

It’s a challenge but in order to train them to sleep on their own, it seem like this is the only way. Sometimes, Anders or Anthea will ‘volunteer’ himself / herself to room in with Adrian.

I am still hoping that both of them can sleep alone on their own in a room. Judging from the current situation, I think this will still take a long while to come true…

Lights out is at 10pm but by the time that they really ZZzzzz…usually it is almost 11 pm….!!

Survivial Skills

This morning the Straits Time headlines ‘hit’ me very hard…..

Six-year-old girl drowns in Sentosa hotel pool
http://www.straitstimes.com/Free/Story/STIStory_125664.html

It was supposed to be happy outing but it ended in a tragedy. My heart goes out to the family. It happened so fast and with so many people around as well. So many question marks…sigh …. : (

Now I really understand why Adrian always said: Both Anthea and Anders must learn the 2 basic survival skills – Swimming & Cycling. He said the other enrichment programs are secondary; these 2 skills are a must.

All these while I agreed with him whole heartedly. This is the reason why I always insist on Anthea taking proper swimming lessons. Children are always very active and especially when they are near swimming pools, they do not know the depth of it and will just plunge down.

With basic swimming skills, regardless how deep the pool may be, they can swim themselves back to safety.

I am hoping for the day that Anthea will tell me “mommy, I want to learn swimming”.

As for Anders, I will enroll him once he reach the minimum age, especially for boy, it is crucial for their National Service.

Simple Weekends

On Sunday, Adrian forego his badminton session to be home with Anders, as i requested him to do so. I told him of my situation and need him to care after Anders.

So in the morning, he took Anders out for a walk while i does my household chores. I find it a bit more relaxed without Anders bugging me all the time.

For lunch, we met up with Da-ge,lao ma & Lao pa. Da-ge brought us to this Metropole Herbal Restaurant at Clarke Quay. They are supposed to be the original Metropole Herbal which shifted out of Metropole hotel. This left me to wonder what about the Imperial Herbal at Vivo City? Anyway, we had a nice lunch of Peking Duck, Braised Cod Fish, Silver Fish Fritter, Egg White with Scallop (one of Anthea's favourite) and Seafood Ee Fu noodles. I find the ambience of this restaurant much better than the one at Vivo City. It's quite similar to the old place at the Metropole hotel.

After lunch, we walked around the area and ended up at Harvey Norman in the Central. I am now considering buying a Digital Camera. The 2 models that i had shortlisted are Canon Ixus and Panasonic Lumix. So now need to do a bit more window shopping to find out more about these 2 models. The additional plus point for Canon is that purchase made with UOB Credit Card will entitile me to The UOB Exclusive FREE GIFTS.

Currently we had a Digital camera that is borrowed from dage. It is quite an old model and works on AA batteries. I noticed that each time after charging the batteries, it went low very fast. Also, since the Aces family is planning for some trips , both local and oversea, it would be good and handy to have a good digital camera to take all the photos for memory. Also, Civil Servant is getting 0.5 month of bonus, so that is a good excuse for shopping... : )

Dinner was home for Anders and myself. As i am recovering from a slight flu, i have being eating hom with Anders on Saturday and Sunday. Hopefully, next weekends, i will be recharged and can join the extended family for a good dinner.

My FRUSTRATIONS...

Anders is in a very critical stage of his growth – at 3 years old, he is literally CRYING & WHINING to get what he wants.

Initially, I gave in to him, thinking he was on medication since he had Hand, Food & Mouth during the week of 21 – 25 April 2007. Now that he has recovered, he seems to get a ‘hang’ of the crying thingy.

I am much stressed and my patience is really running very low. I cannot stand it and sometimes, besides shouting at him, I used the cane.

Last night, when he was home with me, he was playing with his toy and books. Everything was ok, and then suddenly he stops playing and start throwing his tantrums. He played with the SCV Digital box and I told him to stop, he refused. So I switched off the main, then he started crying and kicking.

I shouted to him to stop crying and brought him to take a shower. After showering, he was alright. Then I went to change and when I came back to his room, he was crying and one of my small cabinets of hankies was all GONE….

I looked around and there were no signs of anyone of them, I looked out of the windows and there they were, by the ledge. He threw them all out of the windows. He has been throwing things out – socks, his water bottle and now hankies. Adrian and I had scolded him and tell him the consequences but it falls on deaf ears.

So unable to hold back my anger, I caned him. He cried.

I really felt so helpless and frustrated with Anders, I am not sure what he is going to do next…: (

Looking back at Anthea at 3 years old, she was never like this. Of course, 1 child is different from another, but he is just too way out of track.

I think I need to go and do research to find out more on toddle’s behaviors, otherwise, I think I may fall into Depression being so stressed.