Festive Seasons we celebrate

CHINESE NEW YEAR 2009

The one in pink (below pic) is my mum, a.k.a. por por. She is always proud to strike a pose with the kids for all occassions. My dad on the other hand is always camera shy. The 2nd pic belongs to Bernard's family. They have a really big family and every CNY, we will need to pack about 35 red packets for all the children there. I will go round with my sis-in-law to distribute ang pows so as to make sure we don't miss out any kids, or give double!!! Ha Ha! It really gets confusing sometimes. This is not all, they also have close relatives residing in Amsterdam and Canada. Usually if we go restuarants, we need at least 6 tables. But if those from overseas comes back, i think we easily need 10 tables. Amazing to have big families. Really got New Year 'QI FEN'.

FRIENDS REUNION

Check out the Kiwi in white (sleeveless)! He's Julian, my very good friend from Secondary school. The other two is Eddie and Lichun. We've all grown over the two decades, though going different paths, but still very much together in spirit. Let me tell you a little bit about Julian. He had migrated to New Zealand after Poly and is now a true blue Kiwi. He had just braved a stomach cancer surgery and had miraculously recovered well, Praise God for that! Julian and i used to hang out together alot, together with another neighbour called Stella. We would skateboard on our chest head down a steep slope and never once considered the consequences. When they had an overnight lentern vigil at our school, we would explore the whole school despite the many stories about the supernatural forces residing there. Julian taught me alot of things, from dancing to MTVs like Debbie Gibson's "Shake your love" to "Love in the first degree" by Bananarama. He is also the first one to expose me to playing tennis but most of the time he ended up going outside the court to pick my aimless balls. He being the more affluent one, eats lasagne and pizzas alot, basically western food, snacking at Waffle Town at Bukit Timah Plaza etc, he then unknowingly opened my eyes to the other side of the world .... My mum used to get so upset thinking that Julian was my boyfriend and that we would do something silly. Ha Ha.... But our friendship was more than that really ..... how i miss those days of reckless fun ...

NEW YEAR'S COUNTDOWN TO 2009
This year, we had our New Year's countdown at my brother's condo. And guess what, we won a hamper!! Oh well, it came in handy for CNY, hee hee. My brother also won 1st prize in the lucky draw - $288!!! My dad was happy that both our families won something, and as usual, after a glass of red wine or two, he began to speak louder and bolder, wishing everyone a good year ahead. Its the New Year cheer and atmosphere that sent everyone's spirit roaring high ...

X'MAS 2008

This is Anna's Xmas Log Cake which i make myself every year. Xmas is celebrated with a big bang both at both my sis - Terri's house as well as my in-law's. Basically we spend lots and lots of time buying Xmas pressies and loads and loads of money too! But all for the joy of the children, its the spirit of Xmas!

Just for laughs

David has a heart of gold. Above all, he has a heart for babies and the elderly. This little baby who looks like pooh bear has grown up to be a little responsible and sensitive boy who loves to take care of the people around him. We brought the kids to Ju Eng Home yesterday in the hope of bringing some CNY cheeer to the old folks there while instilling the values of sharing and caring for the less fortunate into our daughter Faith. As it turns out, Faith was very reserved and was quite afraid of the old folks there. To our greatest surprise, it was little David who really reached out to the old folks by deligently serving the pandan cake to each old folk there and also observing them and pointing out cute child-like behaviors in the elderly. There was a lady who was shouting out the same repetitive words and David found her really cute and funny. David also received a 'flying kiss' from an old friendly lady who was just so glad to have David blessing her with a slice of cake. Of course David offered her a flying kiss in return. This boy is a real gem, and we are sure that by God's grace, he will grow up to be a strong and selfless man, in time.

Bernard and i attended a parenting workshop called "Common Sense Parenting", it sure sounded like its tailored for those without it. Oh well, it was one of the most rewarding workshops we had ever attended, making it worth every effort we made putting aside our work and making child-care arrangements just to make it throught he 8 week programme. Well, after the parenting workshop, we agreed on using time-out as one of their negative consequences for any misbehavior. So what we usually would say is something like "Ok, you are throwing tentrums, later go home you sit 5 minutes". And the kids respect that and would carry out their 5 min or 10 min as requested, well most of the time at least, only on rare occassions when they feel crabby would they cry and whine while sitting on the chair facing the wall.

One fine day, Daddy reprimanded David for doing something not right, David felt upset and probably somewhat unjustified. And guess what he said to Daddy? "Next time i adult, i let you sit 5 minutes!". Ha Ha Ha ... he's sooooo funny. Well poor Daddy of course tried to keep a straight face, but couldn't wait to burst into laughter actually ...

I have a very good friend called Elien. She is 8 mth pregnant and is due to delivery anytime. A month a go, i took out Faith's baby clothes to pass to Elien. The kids were excitedly exclaiming how tiny and cute those baby clothes were! In the midst of the excitement, David picked out a pink jumper and exclaimed: " Mama, we can give this to A-Yi! A-Yi's stomach suurrrelllyyy got a baby!" And who do you think was Ah-Yi? Oh well, Ah-Yi is none other than my father-in-law, David's dear grandfather .... Oh dear, i almost flipped, he's so funny. Well, my father in law does have quite a beer belly, hmmm ... but not another human being inside for sure!

Another joke on poor Ah-Yi ... another time, David also mentioned to me jsut out of the blue, "Mama, A-yi got "pi-pi". And i went "What is pi-pi"? He then put his two palms at his breasts and i figured that breasts are callled 'pi-pi'. So i said "no lah, Ah yi where got pi pi?" And he insisted " Yyyyeeessss! Ah Yi got pi pi, SOOOOO BIIIIGGGG one" and he streatched his arms to signalled a big and huge ball while saying that! Oh this boy, their so lack of respect is sometimes viewed as innocence all thanks to their age ... amazing creatures God gave us ...

Kids can really make us roar with laughter ... I remember when Faith was about 2 plus, we had a stayover at my sister's house. Arnold (in the picture above) was having his bath with the door open and Faith happen to go to the bathroom and she saw something she was not supposed to! She ran to me immediately and frantically whispered to me "Mama, Arnold got a tail!". It was hilarious, she really thought that her cousin had turned into a monster and has a tail, in front!!! Well, soon she had a baby brother and realised that all boys has a 'bird bird', not 'tail'! Ha Ha ...