New camera

"Upgraded" my camera recently. Hope I can capture sharper & beautiful photos of my family :)

The Baby Proms (Syd Opera house)

Kayla's first pre-school excursion to The Baby Proms at the Sydney Opera House. The show and the orchestra was amazing !

The children had their morning tea on the steps of the Opera House, before going into the auditorium. After the show, we went to the Botanic Gardens for lunch (picnic). It was beautiful experience for the kids.

Outside the Opera House


Botanic Gardens


Kayla's best friend, Gabriella.

Swimming - Term 2

Term 1 was a real struggle for the kids & for me (emotionally) - zero confidence; constant whinning & begging to stay away from the water! Their good friend, Melanie, has stopped learning because her mummy feels she is not ready. I was so afraid they would give up too. But I still went ahead with the payment for term 2 ... and pray for the best.

I am so pleasantly surprised with their change of attitude & confidence level at the pool today! Compare to the other kids (same age or younger!) in the earlier session, they are behind the program but thats fine.. I am already very proud of what they have achieved so far ! Keep it up !!

New wetsuits to keep them warm in the water


Blowing bubbles


Fully submerged in the water for the first time !


Swimming with the "noodle"

Twinkle twinkle little stars...

1st Singapore gathering

New term has started. Kayla had a good 2 weeks term break and yesterday she was back to pre-school. Mandarin & swimming classes will resume this week too. Today was also Kayla's 1st ballet lesson - her greatest love.

Last Sat. we attended our 1st One people-One nation-One Singapore gathering ! Ha ha ha !!! It was held at Bray Bay Reserve (park) just across the road from where we are staying. The company was great; the weather was beautiful and the kids enjoyed themselves. It was good fun!



Serious discussion on the economy ?


Picnic @ the park


My princess eating bird's food (bread)!


Very important people !

1st swimming lesson

Kids had their 1st swimming lesson in a private club (no, we are not members but the club conducts swimming lessons for small groups at reasonable rates.. hehe).

Throughout the 3omins lesson, I was so worried for them. I was surprised my timid little Kayla performed better than her brother. I could tell Kieran was feeling uptight/uneasy & wanted to get out of the pool twice... had to keep praising & encouraging him.



Totally irrelevant - simply love the curls!


3 aquaducks with their coach.

(Click to enlarge photo)

Dinosaurs

Lately, my kids are fascinated about dinosaurs because their friend, Owen, is a big fan of them. To me, they are simply giantic lizards - ugly, scary & uninteresting at all !! But still, yesterday we brought the kids to the Dinosuars exhibition at the Australian Museum.



Daddy loved playmobil when he was a kid. I only know its a beautiful quality toy with a high price tag ! When we saw this dinosaur set at the museum shop, we knew it would be a perfect gift for Kieran's birthday:

Hello Mr Spinosaurus !

Presents from nai nai

Next Monday is Kieran's 3rd birthday. Nai nai's parcel arrived just in time - 2 story books, a birthday card & a big ang pow.



Kieran is able to colour within the lines now - colouring his birthday card:


A gift for Kayla too - Dora porcelain tea set !

Last Gymbaroo lesson

The kids attended their last Gymbaroo lesson with the theme - Helicopter. They enjoyed all the 9 lessons; the teachers were great and the different themes provided many opportunities for learning.

After class, I brought the kids Yum Cha. Kieran loves char siew pau & soya bean curd.. Kayla loves their fried dumplings, sticky rice & fried noodles. Mummy me will eat whatever they cant finish !!

Later, we met up with a Singaporean friend & her daughter. We took the kids to the soft play area and we watched them from a bench with the other moms. About 20mins into play, I heard a thud & immediately I had a bad feeling it was from Kieran. I saw him covering his mouth with his hands and 2 secs later, blood was oozing out from his lower lip ! Quickly carried him out & frantically looking for tissues. Fortunately, a waitress from the opposite cafe saw what happened and brought me some ices & paper napkins to stop the bleeding.

I learnt from another mom that Kieran was trying to walk up a slide, then slipped and fell on his face.


Red pouty lip.

Photos update

Kayla at 50mths:


Kieran at 35mths:

"Please dont laugh at my cutie curls"

Lets get wiggly

We want to make Kieran's 3rd birthday (in Oct.) special because the past 2 birthdays were simple family affairs, no big exciting parties.

Since my son is a BIG fan of The Wiggles, we will hold a birthday party for him at The Wiggly Play Centre ! Today, we went down to check out the place & made some enquiries. We chose "Captain Feathersword's room" as the party room for him to celebrate with his little friends.


(Click to enlarge photo)

Jiejie was very distracted:

Enjoying every moment in class

Today was their 5th Gymbaroo lesson & the theme was Boat. Previous weeks were car, plane, train & bus and they learn directionality such as up & down, sideways, forwards & backwards etc.

After class, we had sushi - their all time favourite food - for lunch.

and not forgetting their favourite apple/strawberry juice.

Just want to have some fun

Kayla will be going to pre-school, twice weekly, next year.. and Kieran will most likely go to the childcare/preschool near our place, twice weekly also, mainly to socialise with other children. I know in Singapore kids of their age are already attending some playschools & majority of them probably knew how to spell aeroplane or elephant.

I used to worry alot.. I worried I am not doing enough for them or they are behind the "standards".

Now, I just want them to have fun... to learn & live for themselves so that they will always have the passion to continue to explore. I am happy I have this opportunity to live & experience a totally different parenting style over here.

Tell me and I will forget,
show me and I might remember,
involve me and I will understand.

Their 1st lesson at Gymbaroo:


Goofing around after class:

Little Artists

Mummy helped Kayla with her Paint & Make Your Own Fairy chestbox so that she can (in her exact words) keep her expensive jewelleries !




Until mummy finds an appropriate smock.. Kieran will have to make do with jie jie's: