Celebrate: May babies

Decided to write something since Jon has left for work and Kaiden is still snuggling in the blanket. A rainy morning which is so good for sleep in.

This month marks almost the end of the first half year and in my family, there are two May babies. My sister who is now far away in US and my father-in-law. Could not celebrate for my sister, everyone in the family surprised her with a birthday card. Hope the card travels half the world to arrive at her place safely.

So where did we go for FIL’s birthday celebration? Our favorite restaurant, Wah Lok at Carlton Hotel for Dim Sum cum lunch. We were the first to arrive. The kiddos self entertained with games on the phone while waiting. Smartphones have literally took over our lives. They have became our time fillers. These time should be used more wisely right? I have already put on a ban to use ipad or smartphones on weekdays for the children. I am glad they are slowly living without them.

Love my Samsung EX2F. Though it may not take wonderful pictures like Jon’s Canon 7D, it is so fun taking selfie with the movable screen. It was a light-hearted lunch so Jon and I started taking selfies. The kids then wanted to join in. Kaiden is always teased by Jon being an extra cos he is so sticky to me. LOL. Even our newest member of the family, Ning, joined in the fun by photobombing one of the pics. It was hilarious. No pretty selfies in the end but these photos are the reflections of how much fun we had that day.

Love: Spending Quality Time with Son

Recently, I have been getting a lot of complaints about son’s behavior. These complaints came mostly from family members about him misbehaving and at times from his school bus auntie. When told not to do certain things, he will purposely do it. Maybe I should say that he is acting out. I know that something is wrong but is not able to pin-point the cause.

I started to reflect.

What caused the change in his behavior that everyone started to label him as naughty? Usually, I will send Kaiden to school. Especially recently, he has been clinging and whining to me whenever I sent him. Teacher has to pull him away from me or I have to sneak off. It was not longer a breeze sending him to school. 😦 I actually pin-pointed the problem to the school. Last week, I asked the teacher if anything had happened in school and was wondering why such behavior.

Teacher called me that very afternoon, told me that she has spoken to Kaiden, only to say that he did not want to go Speech and Drama. Teacher said he is a polite and well-behaved boy, gets on well with his friends and never gives her problems in class. I was even speculating that he could be bullied by his classmates cos he has been giving his toys away to his friends. I shared with her the different Kaiden at home, the naughty and hyper-active one which is a different person to her. Then she posed the question back to me…. Could it be that something happen at home recently? Or any privileges that were taken away that caused him to act out? I paused and could not answer cos most of the time, he is at my mil’s place. Asked him about things happened in mil place, he just brushed across saying nothing. It then dawned on me that I may not be spending enough time with him. My focus was on Kaitlyn. The whole afternoon, he was at my mil’s place as I used all my afternoons running workshops, creating and vetting worksheets.

No wonder, he wants me by his side on his bed to accompany him every night.

No wonder, he wants me to send him to school every morning.

No wonder, he would always ask if I have workshops, if I could pick him up from Granny’s place earlier.

Teacher told me to have a good chat with him hoping that we could find out the root of the problem and not just label him as naughty. No one likes to be labeled. 😦

Not accepting more workshops, I decided to spend a little more time with him. Working from home so that I could bring him home earlier. Probably to him, his language of love is quality time. 🙂

He enjoys his company with grandfather. Though grandfather spends very little time with him every weekend, he spends quality time. Really enjoying what he does with Kaiden and focusing on doing it only with him. Father would bring out different kinds of exercising gears to workout with him only. So funny when Father took out the dumbbells and followed through with Kaiden. Father was more excited and amazed than Kaiden when he could lift both the dumbbells.

Let’s get ready to exercise!

Tummy Tuck Time

Then swing our arms!

Lift your legs and touch your feet!

Twill our bellies…

and finally march on the spot.

That ends the exercise procedures. Kaiden was proud of himself and decided to show grandfather one last stunt…

Yea!!!!

So come to think of it… throughout the process, I don’t see son not being able to take instructions… or misbehaving. He was just enjoying the fun he had with grandfather. Clearly the time spent was deeply etched in his memory…. So happened when school required him to complete a work, he did this. Pictures of course done by me but is the thought that counts right. 🙂

So ya… A reminder to myself, I should try to listen to him more and spend quality time with him. Focus on him and look at him while talking instead on my phone. *Guilty*

Food: Brunch @ Food for Thought

Sunday brunch with family was so wonderful. As Kaitlyn did not have piano that week, we decided to have the whole Sunday to be filled with family fun and good food.

The restaurant was not crowded even though it was a Sunday. I love the gigantic table in the restaurant that was able to house a family of eleven.

Children were really happy when they met each other. Kaiden had his favorite eggs and Kaitlyn, her pancakes. Jon and I shared the Full Works which left no space in our tummies.

There is a playground to entertain the children. So glad that it was not hazy, the children had some time to run around and play with the slides.

Children had a chance to learn things from Granny too. They were staring hard at something…. 🙂

Food For Thought is definitely a place where I would visit again. Love the ambience and space. We had a leisure brunch not worrying about long queues outside the cafe.

For the morning, children and adults both had chance to be with the greenery, away from the high-tech gadgets and bustling city, breathing in fresh air and embracing the wonders of nature at the Botanical Gardens after that.

I love family time… How about you?

Food For Thought

1 Cluny Road,
Tanglin Gate, #B1-00, S259569
F: +65 6479 1080

Opening Hours

Mon  –  Sun
8am to 9pm
(Last orders at 8.30pm)

Let’s Get Arty at Singapore Art Museum!!!

Have you visited the Art Garden? Actually, I was not even aware of a place like this. Kaiden saw the Art Garden exhibition advertisement and kept bugging me to bring him there. So there we were… on the way to the Singapore Art Museum with the three kiddos.

The children were very excited especially Kaiden who has been looking forward to this trip. The moment we reached there, he recognized the gigantic white  bunny lying in front of the museum. So now… let’s embark on our journey in the Art Garden.

The vibrant exhibition room in the first level attracted our attention the moment we registered to venture. The entrance is free to all Singapore Citizen. Kiddos took off their shoes and went on to explore The Enchanted Garden City on their own. Colorful murals on nursery rhymes and some of the famous twisted fairytales that children have read were on all the walls. The colors used were so enticing that children stayed in this room the longest.

A few activities were happening in this room. One of the activities, Mirror, Mirror on the Wall, which children drew, colored and designed  their own version of enchanted garden. Crayons and markers were provided for the children. Children gathered around a pond-like table to doodle while parents sat along the murals to watch. Eye power… quite easy. 🙂

The girls were so engrossed in the designing while Kaiden did his too. He drew the rainbow bridge that he saw and ran up and down umpteen times in the room.

The children submitted their artwork and the young helpers in the room scanned and tada…. their artwork was reflected on the screen. They were so elated to be able to see their artwork on display for about ten seconds for phototaking.

The duo, Kaitlyn and Kaiden, went on to complete other activities in the room. They searched for number of frogs that appeared around the room and gathered the titles of the nursery rhymes and famous twisted fairytales.

*By now, my camera just shut off. 😦 The result of not charging before a trip. Picture from here onwards were then taken with my Samsung S3.*

Next, we moved on to Level 2, another exhibition on Around the Day in Eighty Worlds. Transient to another world, the room was tastefully decorated with many beautifully colored and designed hot air balloons by children who had visited the place. As we walked further in, the room transformed into a monochrome of black and white. Children started playing with the games on the wall. Not forgetting looking through the kaleidoscope strategically located at different parts of the room.

Children went on spider hunting with some newly acquainted friends while I decided to do some craft with Karyn. Kaitlyn and Kaiden also donated $2 each to have a kaleidoscope arty pack which was easily created and beautified on the spot.

Karyn decorated the hot air balloon with the colored papers provided. A job well done!Next exhibition was the Stellar Cave II. The display was entirely created with screws and thread. Making use of the UV rays, I was in awe the moment I stepped into the dimly-lit room, a phenomena art piece awaited me.

Children had their fair share of creating similar works with screws and thread. Definitely they need some visualization skills and patience, taking care not to entangle the thread while making sure that each screw is wound with the thread.

Decided to rest our feet and calm the children down, we entered the film screenings room. Karyn was scared for the room was pitch dark and quiet. We watched a short clip for about ten minutes before moving to the next exhibit, Les rêves engloutis – Glossy Dreams in Depths.

This exhibit room showcased arts in 3-dimension. We put on the 3D specs before walking through the aisle. Children then popped by the activity corner again to create masks. Karyn handstamped her masks while the two designed with colors and markers.

This was also our last stop. Pretty much activity based and children love it. They even explored The Enchanted Garden City for the second time before leaving the place.

If you have not visited Art Garden, try making this the last excursion out with your children before the school holiday ends. It would be fun. 🙂

Find out more from Singapore Art Museum.

Mummy, are we taking the plane?

A few weeks ago, I did a post on my early bird excursion with family to Singapore Flyer. The ticket package actually includes a ride on the Singapore Flyer and some food vouchers at the Singapore Food Trail. We did not go for these as FIL was working and we wanted him to join in for the ride on the capsule.

We met at about 5.30pm for dinner at the Singapore Food Trail then a stroll by the coast of the river before boarding the flyer for the night scenic view.

Taking the kiddos for toilet breaks after a full dinner is a must. The ride plus waiting time may take up to an hour or more. The children were anxious while the adults were excited.

Suddenly, it dawned on me that Singapore is actually verybeautiful. Too bad my camera can’t capture really nice night scenes due to the reflection of the glasses. One day, I must try the sky dinning. It must be a whole lot of experience. 🙂

Needless to say, we enjoyed ourselves. Family fun is always enjoyable.

This time round, I decided to let the pictures and captions do the talking. :0)  Time consuming but totally loves the effect of the pictures. Totally worth the effort, isn’t it?

Claypot Fun + Online Reviews

I was glad to receive my sis and bro-in-laws’, Jamie and Victor’s, help in loading one child off me. They took Kaitlyn to watch Disney on Ice. Vic and Sis picked Kaitlyn up at 2pm. At the same time, we agreed to meet for dinner at Claypot Fun at the ECP Big Splash Playground.

I heard from Kaitlyn that GuGu bought donut for her and she has really enjoyed herself. Sis also told me that Kaitlyn was really good as well. She didn’t make them buy any toys for her. That’s because before she left, I reminded her not to bug Sis to buy anything… if not… we will not take her there again.

Kaitlyn was really excited about the trip. She picked her clothes the day before and even packed her own bag. I don’t know what she has put in her bag until I saw these pictures. Of course the pictures were provided by Sis.

In the evening, we met up at ECP’s Claypot Fun together with Gerald, Xueli and my parents-in-laws. The moment Kaiden saw Victor, he was really excited and gave him a big kiss and a big hug.

We were given a seat outside the walkway. It was breezy therefore we did not really mind about it. We ordered a few stuff. But for the kids, they could only have frog leg claypot as Kaitlyn cannot take most of the stuff on the menu due to her eczema.

The utensils used were so much like the olden days. The food is not bad I would say. Instead of the normal black sauce, Claypot Fun uses their special mixed sauce for the claypot rice. The pork liver and the fermented vegetables were also very nice.

Kaiden loved the rice that he ate three bowls all by himself. I felt so relieved that I did not have to feed him and Kaitlyn was very cooperative though she was grouchy after her nap.

See the difference in her? Happy on the way to the show, Disney on Ice, on the right and grouchy from her nap on the left. She did not even want to face the camera. 🙂

Sis and Vic, really nice of them to take Kaitlyn out. I like the picture which Kaiden and Sis took. Kaiden is so demure looking. Cannot see any devilish in him. LOL

and compared to the one I took with him ….LOL

Oh my, the gals are in ES clothings except me… Shame on me. 😦

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What I wore

As seen from above, I wore a very simple outfit, white spag top and skinny. However, the look was changed by pairing with a military style jacket. The jacket was bought from BKK during one of my purchasing trip for ES. The sleeves are a bit long. Should have altered it. I am not really a jacket person, so took the opportunity of the cooling weather on that day to put it on.

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Online Reviews

Agneselle is not a blogshop I would usually shop. This maybe due to the sizing of their clothes. The model, Pei Ling, is really skinny, about UK 6 and they actually made the clothes according to her sizing.  The Grecian top comes in the dress version as well which I have it in lovely blue. The zipper is not really smooth and person with bigger ribcage may have difficult wearing it. It does squeeze a little of armpit fats. 😦 However, nothing could stop me from getting it. Highly raved for and so pretty.Just a note, their clothes are also usually sold out with 2 minutes. One of the highly sought blogshops with all self manufactured pieces.

Another piece from Bonitochico. I am basically a BC fan. Love their clothes as the model has the same sizing as me. Love this top very much. The flutter sleeves and oversized covered all my flaws. 😉 The only draw back is the sheernees of the top. Maybe that is why an inner is provided. The top also comes with a belt; however, I do not really like the belt and used my own belt instead.

A top from Hollyhoque. The top does not really gave me a ‘wow’ feel as compared to the BC oversized top. I must admit that the model, Joyce, carried the top very well and thus tempted me to buy it. It’s a square neck top and colour definitely is not purple as stated in the website. It should be kind of maroon or liver red. A very comfortable piece and great for casual wear.