How we celebrated Easter 2011

We went to Straits Quay on Easter Eve

Jie Jie with Mei Mei surrounded with lots of ferris wheel

Posing with Snoopy and Charlie Brown

Another pose... can you see what was Mei Mei holding? It's the Easter Egg hunt brochure, the girls were hooked onto that and wanted to find an egg soon

It took much pestering to get the kids to have their lunch first before we continued on with our Easter egg hunt. The lunch at Kaffa was certainly very satisfying, and the food was too good to tempt them anyway. 

After lunch, we took a long, long time scouring the plants, grass, flower pots, park-like areas, etc but still couldn't find any eggs. The kids (SY especially) refused to go home without one. In the end, Amah talked to the receptionist, but she told her she couldn't help. She hinted us where to look though - outdoor. We went outdoor (we've been searching outdoor all the while actually), but still couldn't find anything. Not long later, we saw her coming out and headed towards the side, discreetly passing me an egg wrapped in tissue! Thanking her, I passed that to SY, and we thought we could go home then.

We found an Easter egg!

But SJ said that was Jie Jie's one, and she still haven't found one! So off we went looking again, but of course we couldn't find any. Besides us, we saw other people had been looking for ages, and didn't seem to have much luck either. One of the receptionists asked Amah why we still haven't gone to redeem our prize yet, and Amah told her the small one didn't want to go home without finding an egg. Apparently they thought the egg was the prize.

But luckily, Daddy came out with a smart idea and managed to convince Mei Mei that it's our family egg. We found it as a family, not Jie Jie's only. SJ seemed to buy in that idea, thankfully! When we went to redeem the prize, the receptionist told us, since we have two kids, they will give us two prizes! Phew, she's such an angel!

So, now you can see what their prizes were - and how happy they were....

That night, we went to celebrate Easter Vigil in church. It's the kids' first time as well. When they saw everything was in dark, they kept asking me, why was it so dark? I didn't know how to answer them, so I told them Jesus has died. Everyone was very sad. Later, when Jesus rises again, there'll be light. I'm not even sure if my answer is correct.   

The blessing of the candle, and we renewed our baptism vow...

Everyone with their candles...

Sze Yi with hers

 It was too crowded and we can't all sit in the same row. Sze Yi had gone to join some other parishioners, and she could even mingled with them. 

Posing for Daddy

Mei Mei wanna posed for Daddy too

This photo was taken before Mass started, Mei Mei didn't want to wear her bonnet

And this one after Mass...

Daddy trying to get a shot with everybody in

After Mass, we went for supper at Mc Donalds with Ah Mah. It was indeed a very different experience and we were all very happy. I felt renewed and blessed that I got to celebrate this important occasion as a family.

Going to church with a little toddler

Yesterday was not like any other Sunday. And even though nothing went as plannned, it turned out great. Why? Because Sze Juin was behaving beyond my expectation when I took her to church with me yesterday. I was so proud of her, that I have to blog it here.

To begin with, my initial plan was to go to the 7am Mass because it's easier for me to sneak out when the kids were still in slumberland. But then since I was too tired, I changed my mind and decided to go to the 10am Mass instead. By then, both kids were fully awake. When Sze Yi heard that I would be going to church, she wanted to follow me. I told her ok, but she had to behave. So I changed her into a long sleeve blouse and long pants. As for Sze Juin, hubby decided to bring her to Amah's house, so I packed her porridge and dressed her in a short sleeve blouse with matching short pants.

Halfway on the way, Sze Yi changed her mind. She wanted to go to Amah's house instead. So I tried to place Sze Juin into the car seat (she came out just now because she wanted milk), but she didn't want to go back in. So in the end, I took her with me, despite her not dressed accordingly (as she's only in short pants).

When she reached the church, she was in awe of the atmosphere. That kept her occupied for quite awhile. She was still absorbing everything when they started the Liturgy of the Word. Would you believe me if I tell you that she was behaving so well that I got to concentrate and finished all the readings? Of course in the middle, she wanted to hold the liturgy book and flipped them at the same time, so I let her. But later, she allowed me to catch up with the readings again. Even during the homily, she was sitting quietly on my lap, and I didn't need to walk around at all throughout the whole Mass. At the beginning, she pointed to the door and wanted me to take her out, but I told her later. After that, she never bothered me again. Maybe luck was also at my side because we were sitted beside a nice lady with an 11-year old boy, so that kept her occupied too. When she got sleepy, she would rub her hands on my knuckles, but she never asked for milk. Maybe she knew that I couldn't breastfeed her there.

All these were very unlike the previous experience when I took her to church with me sometime back - just the two of us. She wanted to go out most of the time, if not walking around the place. When she asked me for milk, she would tug at my blouse and pulled it up. So I went out to breastfeed her (I managed to find a suitable place), but she didn't want to drink there! She wanted to drink in the church. Well, that past experience made me vowed that I wouldn't bring her to church with me again next time, but thank God it was so different this time.

Indeed, I had never once thought that it's possible to sit still in the church all the time when we brought a child with us. I've seen some couples with behaving children though, and I always marvelled at how they managed to train them. Not my Sze Yi though. So far, when I brought her along, I could never sit still all the time, she would have lots of excuse to go out, like wee wee, etc. If not going out, I wouldn't be able to focus too, since she had lots of questions to ask. I still remembered when she sang Twinkle Twinkle Little Stars so loudly when they were singing the hymns. I told her it's a different song, but she didn't want to quiet down because she didn't know how to sing that hymns :) Luckily with Sze Juin this time, I could concentrate throughout the whole Mass, without needing to walk around at all! Isn't that amazing? I even had time to finish reading the bulletins during the announcement session. Of couse, at times, she would insist to sit on the top of the pew in front of us, and didn't want me to hold her. I warned her that it's dangerous, she would fall down. And she willingly let me hold her. Wasn't she so understanding? She enjoyed sitting on the pew, swaying her body to the tempo of the hymns, as if enjoying the music. At times, she tried to touch the nice lady's hand beside me, but then she quickly pulled her hand away before the lady looked.

All in all, I honestly think that this was another milestone worth recording. Praise the Lord!

Palm Sunday

I followed Mommy to church on Palm Sunday. I was given a little palm and I enjoyed playing with it for sometime. But suddenly I heard some whipping sound (they were having some sketch about Jesus being whipped) and I got scared. It reminded me of the thina (cane in Hokkien). I asked Daddy to carry me out, and to Amah's house which was just nearby.


Well, when I was naughty, Amah and Chik Chik would show me the thina and make the whipping sound. That normally would do the trick, because I would quickly do as said. Since then, whenever I was out of control, just a mention of thina would turn me into a good girl in no time. So, now even Daddy and Mommy would use this technique because Amah said I was more unmanageable whenever they were around.

After Mass, Daddy and Mommy came to Amah's house to fetch me. We had lunch at the KFC in Batu Lanchang. I was thrilled when I saw this...

Indeed, I spent longer time here than at the table eating my mashed potato and bits of chicken.

In the evening, Daddy and Mommy took me to Borders. I enjoyed walking around and picking up books, but not the reading part, much to Mommy's and Daddy's dismay.

Hey, but I did spend sometime trying to understand what that book was about, even though it's upside down :)

After that, I asked for Kok Kok Beh. We spent some time there. When it's time to leave, Mommy tried to distract me by bringing me to this Elmo toy. I would instinctly pulled out the pacifier for him. But then, I grew curious and see what I did?

Hehe, it certainly didn't taste as nice as mine :)

We then went to have dinner. Initially Daddy wanted to try the Toilet Bowl restaurant, but on the way there, we passed Sakae Sushi. I immediately requested to have dinner there instead.

I loved the edamame beans and also the mochi. I refused to let Mommy or Daddy touched the mochi, even though there were 3 in total.

What a hectic day today, I certainly enjoyed my weekend with Daddy and Mommy.

Christmas in Ipoh

Scrap Credits: Holiday Card Templates by Shabby Princess

Christmas Sampler by Shabby Princess

It was the longest time I spent in Ipoh with Gong Gong and Poh Poh so far. And since we had not gone back for quite a while already (maybe 2 months?), I was still quite reserved when they tried to carry me. What have I been up to?

With Mommy and Chiu Chiu...

We went to church on Sunday evening, Mommy said I've been a good girl. There's this rule in the church (St. Michael's Church), where babies and toddlers would need to go to the Cry Room during Mass so as not to disturb the rest of the parishioners. Mommy took me there, and I'd been very co-operative and stayed in there till Mass finished. Well, maybe there're other toddlers to keep me occupied.

The next day, they took me to have some rides when Gong Gong and Poh Poh went to get me my Christmas presents.

And here's my Christmas present from Gong Gong & Poh Poh :)

Yes, a Minnie bolster! I've also got a recoder (another musical instrument) but there's no picture to share. Other than that, I'd been busy with so many activities at Gong Gong & Poh Poh's house.
The pictures didn't turn out so well, Mommy's h/p fault again :) Ya, running on the treadmill, playing with the piano, watching fish with Gong Gong, etc...

Ta Yi Ma (big Auntie) came back in the afternoon. So, only Xiao Yi (small Auntie) didn't come back because she's still in Russia studying. We went to the Christmas Eve Mass, partly because I would only sleep at ~2am and also Poh Poh was supposed to sing in the choir that night. This time, I was not behaving very nicely. You see, we were there early because Poh Poh had to practise with her choir group first. So, when they started singing, I would insist that Mommy stood up as well (the rest of the parishioners were sitting down). We were in the Cry Room, but we could see the choir from there. I wouldn't let Mommy sit down until they finished their song. After that, during Mass, when I saw a toddler had his 'nen nen', I asked Mommy to make for me as well. But I insisted to pour the milk powder in on my own, which ended up spilled on the bench and Mommy had to clean it. After that, when I saw two brothers fighting (one slapping the other on the face), I did that to Mommy too! And this time, I kept walking around, distracting Mommy's concentration. I also wanted Mommy to take me out, but she managed to distract me with other things, one of which was her crystal bracelet that I kept wanting to play with.

After Mass, I was excited to see all the lightings and decorations outside. It was really pretty, and I wanted to take photo with the Christmas tree. We took a few family photos (too bad it was in Gong Gong's camera and we didn't have the softcopy here). Initially everyone was smiling, except me. Mommy showed me the photo, telling me that I was the only one with a sour face. So from then on, I'd been smiling away. Here are some of the photos, but most are blurry because they were taken with Mommy's handphone (our camera was still under repair).

The next day, which was Christmas day itself, Daddy arrived. I was so excited to see Daddy. So Mommy was relieved for the day, as I clinged to Daddy from then on. We had lunch in Ming Chung restaurant. We forgot to take photos of the dishes until we're nearly done :P
We went back to Penang that evening since Daddy and Mommy had to work the next day.

Birthday, And More Birthdays!

Today is Jan 1st, 2007 - New Year Day. It's also my chinese birthday, 13th day of the 12th lunar month. And guess what? It's also my little cousin, Sarah's birthday!

We started our day by going to Church - for a great new start in 2007. Mommy dressed me in my new blouse from Disney (Mommy & Daddy bought me some Disney clothes from Rome last October) and off we went to Church.

In Church, I was behaving quite well but when I started to grow restless, Daddy took me out for a change of environment.

After Mass, we went home. Amah had prepared mee suah for me, which was supposed to symbolise long life. She gave me an ang pow (for good luck) and fed me the mee suah, with hard-boiled egg and meat inside. Then, Mommy fed me chicken drumstick and gave me ang pow too. Mmm.... it's so delicious! All these are part of a traditional chinese custom when a baby turns 1 year old (or actually 2 in chinese calendar, since they counted the day that the child is born to be 1 year old).
Next, Amah placed an abacus, a ruler, a book and a pen in front of me. Each of these items were supposed to represent a career and the first object that I chose was supposed to signify my inclination. Here's what I took - in sequence:
Abacus - does this mean I'm gonna be an accountant next time? :)
Suspense... what would I choose next?
Oh, it's a pen! Hmm....what does it mean? A writer?
Followed by ruler - according to Amah, this means an architect.
And finally a book... Oh dear. Will I ever gao thak chek (good in reading) next time?

Then, Amah wanted me to pai pai and pay my respect to the Goddess of Mercy, Kwan Yin.


When we're done with all the rituals, we went to Cousin Sarah's first birthday party!

We had a great time there, and I enjoyed playing with her. But I was more interested in the balloons. Sarah and her Mommy, or Koh Koh, as I called her. Oops, we missed the birthday cake's photo! Sorry, Mommy didn't get to snap any photos after that. After the party was over, I went back to have my nap.

In the evening, Daddy, Mommy and Amah took me to the swimming pool for a dip in the pool. We're supposed to meet Cousin Sarah there, but she overslept so we went ahead. I had a great time splashing away.
So, that's a day of birthdays. Isn't it nice if everyday can be like this?