20 Feb 2013 - What's so funny!

Tracy and I were talking in our car while on our way home.  I cannot remember what exactly we were talking about when we both started to laugh......and guess what, Javier from behind me suddenly popped out a question:"What's so funny!"   We were all STUNNED!  :-)

17 Feb 2013 - Fell asleep during Lion Dance!

Every year, my brother-in-law will invite a lion dance group to his house.  This year, it is today.  We went to his place after Jerlene's ballet mock exam.  It started at around 7pm and those neighbours with small kids all join in.

The amazing thing is, despite the loud sound, Javier and one of my nephew actually fell asleep during the lion dance.  Unbelievable..........

17 Feb 2013 - Ballet Mock Exam

Jerlene had her first ballet mock exam this afternoon.  Parents were allowed to attend the session so that we know how the actual exam is going to be conducted.  The teacher also highlighted a few do's and don'ts to us for the exam.  For eg, the kids should wear high cut panty under their tights so that there is no visible lines around the hips.  If not, totally don't wear any panty, which is what most professional ballerina do.  As for the hair bun, all the kids did not meet the basic requirement.  The teacher provided us a youtube video on how to tie a proper hair bun for the ballet exam.  There were a few pointers for the little ballerina during exam such as always stay still, maintain a smile, don't communicate to anyone except the examiner etc.

After that, the mock exam started.  Out of the 4 girls in this class, I think Jerlene danced the most beautifully. And throughout the exam, she was really following the teacher's instructions very closely. Based on her performance today, I think she should not have a problem passing the exam in about 3 weeks time.  Superb job, Jerlene!

17 Feb 2013 - 狗 (Dog)？谁怕谁 (I'm not afraid)！

Dogs?  Big or Small?
"We are not afraid!"
That's what my angels demonstrated to me today.  The dog is so much bigger than both Jerlene and Javier.  Yet, they kept trying to pat and hug it.  Brave.......or is it ignorant?!  :-P

17 Feb 2013 - One handsome, One pretty!

Today is the 8th day of Chinese New Year and we went for more relative visiting.  Let's take a look at my handsome and pretty angels!

15 Feb 2013 - Family outing to the Zoo

Today is my birthday and I decided to take annual leave to bring my whole family to the zoo.  Many colleagues and friends questioned me:"You are going to bring your family out on your birthday"?  I said yes....why not because to me as long as my family is happy, I will be happy as well.  I managed to ballot for a corporate friends of the zoo card from my company so we all got free entry into the zoo.  We reached the zoo at about 10am and to my surprise, it's pretty empty.

We managed to catch the Sea Lion show but Jerlene and Javier did not seem to enjoy it.  As such, we decided to skip the other shows.

Jerlene took over the map and found a picture of a water playground.  She kept asking me how to go there and from then on, that's the only thing on her mind.  Since she did not show much interest in viewing animals at that point, we decided to go straight to where she had wanted to go to.

We have prepared their swimming costumes for this trip as I knew that they will definitely enjoy the water playground the most.  True enough, they spent almost 2 hours simply running, sliding, splashing water in the playground.  We had a hard time asking them to leave the playground after that.

By the time they took a quick shower and got changed, it's almost 1pm.  So we decided to have our lunch at the KFC just next to the playground.  When we were about to finish lunch, Jerlene told me that she had a surprise for me and went away with her mommy.  I roughly knew what's going to happen.  They brought back a plate of ice cream waffle from Ben and Jerry's and started to sing birthday song for me.  However, my two angels were the ones who enjoyed the ice cream waffle the most.  As I've said earlier, as long as they are happy, I'll be happy.

After lunch, we continue to view the animals.  We came to an enclosure and Jerlene suddenly said:"Hey it's a Jaguar.  It can swim and jump up to a tree one......".  Both Tracy and I were quite surprised that she knew that's a jaguar.  We were even more surprised when we saw a board in the enclosure saying "Jaguar is a good swimmer and great climber".  Wow......how do she know that?  She then said:"Diego also have a jaguar, but a baby one.....".  So she had actually learned all this from Dora the Explorer video.  We went to the next enclosure and saw a cheetah.  Jerlene immediately said:"Cheetah can run very fast!"  I think it's worthwhile to invest in more educational videos.  :-)

We then went into an enclosed Aviary where small animals roam freely right in front of you.  There were animals such as reindeer, ducks, bats and ring-tail lemur, which was again pointed out by Jerlene.  There were some kids feeding the lemurs and both my angels quickly joined in.

It was a great family outing and we left the zoo at about 4:30pm.  We were very fortunate because throughout the trip, the sky was cloudy which led to a cool weather.  And minutes after we left, it started pouring........

10 Feb 2013 - Happy Lunar New Year

It's the first day of Chinese New Year today.  As usual, our visiting starts in the evening.  We started preparing the kids at about 4pm.  Jerlene looks so pretty in that dress (chosen by me in our Perth trip last year).  Of course, Javier also looks handsome in that shirt and pant which we bought from KSL Johor Bahru.

We first went to Aloha Loyang Bungalow then followed by Lorong Ah Soo.  By the time we reached home, it was pretty late and both my angels were so sleepy.  Anyway, 祝大家，新年快乐，身体健康！

8 Feb 2013 - Chinese New Year celebration in Childcare

Jerlene and Javier had a Chinese New Year celebration in childcare today, where all the children were to wear home clothes (traditionally chinese costume if possible) and bring two oranges to exchange with each other.  They were looking forward to going to childcare today.  How I wish they can be like that everyday!  :-)

3 Feb 2013 - Favourite drink: MILO

Every time when we had meals at a coffee shop, Jerlene and Javier will request for their favourite drink, Milo, especially with ice.  In fact, every morning, they will drink one cup before going to childcare.  Milo seems to make them happy!  :-)

1 Feb 2013 - Spelling list is out

Jerlene had her first 听写 last month.  Since then I had been wondering, when is her spelling test coming.  This question is finally answered today.  Jerlene brought back a spelling list for the month of February.  I tried to test her on those words and to my surprise, she already knew some of them.  Great job, my girl!

31 Jan 2013 - Great Grandma's Birthday

We had a birthday celebration for my grandmother, who is Jerlene and Javier's great grandmother, at Leisure Park Kallang KBox KTV room.  All her great grand children (below) were there.  At her age, she still looks pretty healthy which is great!  Happy Birthday, 外婆！

25 Jan 2013 - Little celebration at home

As Tracy did not participate in the birthday celebration in Jerlene's childcare, she bought an ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins.  Though the cake may looks small, it costs as much as the one that I brought to the childcare earlier in the day.

 This is the third time that we sang birthday songs for Jerlene this year.  The BR ice cream cake was delicious and much better than Swenson's.  After having the cake, Jerlene and Javier had some fun time playing with vapour arising from the dry ice.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JERLENE!

25 Jan 2013 - Birthday celebration in childcare

Jerlene is turning 6 today!  I've bought a birthday cake and specially took half day leave to celebrate for her in the childcare centre.  The moment I entered the centre, all the kids just rushed out and climbed all over me.  I am serious, some of them really climbed on me like koala.  The teacher helped to clear the table while I took out the cake.  In the meantime, one of the teachers brought Javier over to celebrate for his sister.

It felt good to be so well liked by all the kids.  So I took the opportunity to take a photo with all the kids.  We then sang the birthday songs and cut the cake.  The children loved the cake and quite a few of them asked for a second servings.  Within minutes, there was nothing left.

Next, it's time for Jerlene to distribute the goodies bags to all her classmates.  She actually packed all the goodies bags herself because she said some of her classmates got special "orders" and only she knew.  That's the end of the celebration and I brought Jerlene and Javier home after that.