Sibling Influence

I surprised Mommy with this not long after I heard Jie Jie recited this....



Of course, there were some incorrect pronunciations, but what would you expect from a 3++ year old? Even Mommy claimed she's not as good!

Welcoming Easter 2012

Just as last year, this year we also attended the Easter Vigil Mass. In the Roman Catholic Church, the Easter Vigil is the most important service of public worship and Mass of the liturgical year. Historically, it is during this service that people are baptized and that adult catechumens are received into full communion with the Church. 

At first, it was all dark. Can you see those flickers of candles? The girls got restless and scared, but excited at the same time. SJ kept asking me when Jesus is going to rise up.

When the lights started to light up, SJ told me she can't see Jesus woke up. How am I going to explain to her?

Random pictures taken by Hubby...

Top: The girls were busy with their candles

Bottom: Mommy and SJ (SY dozed off on Daddy's lap!)

The Mass lasted up to 3 hours I think. We left after 2.5 hours (after I received the Communion), as the girls (and also Hubby) got restless. We went to Mc D to celebrate (just like last year).  

On Easter Sunday, the girls wanted to go for Easter egg hunt, but unfortunately, there's none at Straits Quay. We didn't go searching at other places though, and lazy Mommy didn't feel like organizing one ;D

This year, I got myself and the girls new dresses. It's after all the most important occasion of the year, but not many observed it. The girls posing in their new dresses. Ah yes, Jie Jie got a new hairstyle too!

Have a blessed Easter!

The much needed haircut

I've been looking forward so much to this day, more than her, because I wanted to end the hair tying task as soon as possible. However, the little girl was not happy. 

Took awhile to convince her to go, and only succeeded after the hairdresser offered her a sweet. 

Kids will always be kids....

 Still refused to smile. Made me feel so guilty for making her cut her hair

 So much hair has been cut off! This was the first time SY grew her hair so long

  A smile finally...

Catechism

SY started Catechism this year. Attendance was strictly monitored, and the children were only permitted to be absent for a maximum of 6 times per year. Luckily school replacements didn't count. However, these were more applicable to those who wanted to receive the sacraments later.

It's a good exposure to the faith besides strengthening their good values. It's a 1.5 hour session per week, and the activities included singing, Para Liturgy on the Stations of the Cross, feet washing between them and their partners on the week prior to Palm Sunday, etc. That's what I gathered from my girl. They were loaned a library book each for their references, which outlined the syllabus of the lessons.

One good thing that I noticed was that classes in average was only ~3 times per week. At some month, only twice due to school holidays or in conjunction to any feast days.  So, it's more easy-going for us :)

Here are some pictures I took during their Para Liturgy session.

   Top: Veronica and the Daughters of Jerusalem

Bottom: Sze Yi's role as Veronica who wipes the face of Jesus

Interesting fact about Logo Design

When I took SJ shopping with me, she'll point out to things that we've bought last time, or places that we've been before. I was amazed at her ability to recognise a place, or the route that I was using. Not only that, when there are a few brands to select from, she'll automatically chose the same brand that we've been using and placed it in my shopping cart.

This led me to wonder, what particular image or sign that triggered her memory? Could it be the logo of the particular brand?

When she saw the 'M' sign, she would automatically ask for fries :)

When she saw the Disney logo, she got excited all over. 

          Yes, that's how we ended up with this....

Did you see the Mickey Mouse logo at the screen on the right? 

As for Jie Jie, the only sign she watched out for when we're dining outside was none-other than the 100-plus logo.


No doubt, the people behind the logo creation process had certainly put much thought into how to attract the public's attention, not just adults, but also kids. They just knew what colours or characters to put just to attract a particular audience. Hmmm... since SY loves to draw, I wonder if I should start exposing her to Logo Design Works too. Too bad most art lessons do not include this in their syllabus. Well, not until when they are in secondary school, I think.

On a separate note, I've been thinking of revamping this website with a nicer outlook, but kept putting it off. Maybe it's time to start engaging the logo creation team soon....

It's the Day!

 I'm number 3!

In-line with my team members, we're going in soon! Wish us luck!

Picnic by the beach

Last weekend, Daddy promised to bring me for a picnic because I was feeling down over something. So we invited cousin Sarah and her family too.

We finally found a suitable beach

And what a blast of fun we had! See for yourself....

We arrived first, so we started digging right away

Our picnic spot - kudos to Amah for preparing most of the stuffs

Mei Mei enjoyed playing with the sand... 

(Mommy noticed  that she loved to play with the sand from the parent-toddler programme that she attended before she was 3. According to the facilitator, sandplay therapy is a very good emotion release tool, especially for children to express the "inexpressible")

If you noticed, at first we're squatting, now we're sitting right on top of the sand!

I was happily building my castles...

Ta-da! The finished product :)

At first it was one....

And then it became two! Oops, wrong sequence! :)

Amah was having fun too, she's trying to draw something as well...

Ok, now for some exercise and water play!

Just then, Sarah and her family arrived, so we had more fun!

The adults enjoyed the food while the kids spent more time playing...
Do notice the bigger kids and smaller kids automatically clicked to their own age category

I found this

and copied it! (Erm, can you guess who's Johe?)

We're waiting for the waves to roll in... Mei Mei with her bucket ready while I'm trying to throw a stone into the waves

Plop! Can you see where my stone hit?

The water babies... looks like Sarah and Mei Mei loves the water!

Sarah and Mei Mei having some water therapy? No thanks, don't count me in!

o O - the storm's coming!

In no time, it suddenly rained and we quickly packed our stuffs. We hardly had time to really clean ourselves and changed into comfy clothes, we just made do with a quick one and ran to our cars for shelter in a jiffy. 

It was such a nice family get-together, and we sure plan to have this again one day!

Ushering in the Dragon

 Me and Jojo - Can you see Mei Mei up on the sofa? She's scared of Jojo!

We attended a pre-CNY celebration at downtown

I had a new experience while Mei Mei was dozing off on Mommy's shoulder

Our Reunion Dinner on the Eve

The First Lunar Day - We took some photos before going to pai nien

This year we got to celebrate with Cousins Sarah & Samantha!

Enjoying dragon & lion dance performances at Amah's house

In Ipoh - with Xiao Yi Yi, Jiu Jiu and En En

We dropped by at the Japanese Garden on the way back. 

Yes, Sarah & Samantha came to visit us in Ipoh!

The Jie Jies playing with fireworks while Mei Meis playing with pop pop

Happy Chap Goh Meh!

Other misc happenings (from top right, counter clock-wise). 

CNY party at school

Colouring activity with Cousin Nicholas

Sing and Dance session with Cousin Sarah & Samantha

Dog watching at Ah Pek's house

The 'magic' spectacles

One day, we got our eyes checked in school. I couldn't see what they're asking us to read, and I cried. Many of my friends cried too. The person who checked us consoled us, saying that it's ok. We'll be able to see again after Mommy got us a pair of nice spectacles. I brought home a note with my prescription power that day.

After I got my pink spectacles, I was amazed. "Wow, Mommy, the white board is so much clearer now!". It's like magic! 

Mommy said I look like an old maid... bad Mommy

Oh, luckily I didn't need to wear it for long. Read here if you're interested to find out more!

Primary 1

Not even 1 month after I turned 6, I started Primary 1.

Did you noticed my hairstyle? We have to tie it that way if we want to keep our hair long. Mommy is still learning to make it nicer & neater

During orientation

We're on the Star! Can you spot me?