A Sunday Surprise

Our domestic helper has decided to take her off day today; instead of spending Sunday at mom's house, we decided to surprise the kids by letting them know we weren't planning to go to grandma's place. The children were unhappy and were grumpy when we left church. Little did they know that mom had hidden their passports in my already-heavy handbag!

Along the way, we shared that we were heading 'north'... Lydia lamented that we should have told them earlier so they could take her savings along. Throughout the next hour or so, we had the most well-behaved children in the car!

We drove through the educity portion of Iskandar region, and saw the plot of land where University of Newcastle will sit on. Further down, we noticed a very grand looking building - think it is Bukit Iskandar. This is likely to be the government office of sort. I was impressed that even before the area was developed, Bukit Iskandar was already one grand dame and the roads leading to it was very well paved.

Well... right after Bukit Iskandar, we felt that the route looked unfamiliar and retraced our route. Heading back to the highway, we were certain we would go back to Tebrau City where we are 'regulars'. However minutes later, we spotted 'Bukit Indah' and made a turn out of the highway. The next few hours were spent milling around the mall.

Dinner was again a treat for the kids - we decided to take them to the Hot Stone restaurant where they cooked their food on stone! We finished off our meal with an A&W float before heading home.

Thankfully the traffic at the customs was smooth - this enabled us to hit home within 1 hour. The girls were so proud about their good buys and were eager to share stories of their meals with our domestic helper. All in all, an enjoyable Sunday for the family.

'Painted Scenes'

Guess who we saw today??!! None other than our very own Mr & Mrs Prime Minister! This evening we decided to attend a concert "Painted Scenes" at the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music at NUS. Thought it would be great for the girls.

When we arrived, we noticed that there were two rows of reserved seats - naturally the choice seats in the house. Minutes before the concert started, there were some commotion and we could hear camera flash lights sounding behind us. Lo and behold! Our Prime Minister walked in with flanked by the other Reserved Seats members and his body guards. Naturally the girls were excited, but we had no opportunity to capture photo moments with our PM. The girls were dejected. Hopefully there could be another opportunity to meet PM in person again.

The concert was great, featuring students and staff from the Percussion & New Music Ensemble. Three pieces were prepared for the audience, and we were very impressed with the 'Pictures at an Exhibition' - not only just the technical fingerworks on the piano but also the accompaniment by all the percussionists! At one part, it reminded me of 1812.

What was a pleasant surprise was the encore when the musicians came out dawned with dark shades, looking real cool; and performed to the 'Mission Impossible' theme. Part way through, Thomas Hecht, pianist & lecturer pulled a bunny out with the theme from 'Pictures at an Exhibition'. You can tell the house loved it! The claps and laughter that came along with it ... such a 'cool' looking set yet with a 'serious' tune. Very quickly, the Pictures theme came and went, and we were back to Mission Impossible. Not only was the audience enjoying the music, the performers were swaying and moving to the beat - clear indication that they too, are having fun.

Certainly a very good way to spend the evening. Also I reckon such regular stage performance offers the students at the Conservatory multiple opportunities to horne their performance skills and also feel very comfortable playing in public. We are already marking our calendar for the next performance at the YST Conservatory.

Kite Flying Sunday

It's one of those rare Sundays when the family decided to eat out... by that I don't mean eating at some fanciful restaurants. It was more bringing finger food, canned sardines, bread, fruits to the park. The occasion this time was simply to fly kites at the nearby empty field in Sengkang. The early evening sky was peppered with kites of all patterns and sizes.

Very quickly the children pulled out their kites in the shapes of mermaid, zebra and spiderman and with the aid of the wind, could set the kites off very quickly.




The colours of the evening skies provided fantastic lighting to amateur photographers such as us. In fact I must say Lydia took some pretty great shots, considering that she is even more unfamiliar with the camera than I. What amazes me is how little it takes to satisfy the children - an empty field, simple kites, ground sheets, simple meal --and all these spelt FUN for them!

As adults, we were more concerned about whether the children have put on their mosquito patches, whether they are wearing proper footwear (didn't want mud on ground sheets!); whether there's water to wash their hands prior to them touching foot... geez... with more knowledge and awareness, we become great worriers!


I am glad that we were able to pull the entire extended family (22 of us) out to the field and have about 3 great hours of fun. Will have to do this more often...

Philanthrophist - the Art and Heart of Giving

While Rachel was having her piano lessons, I had an hour to browse through whatever magazines and periodicals I could get hold of. What caught my eye this time was an article on Philanthrophy and women philanthrophists in particular.

Mrs Rohini Nilekani, the wife of tech-giant Infosys Technologies' cofounder Nandan Nilekani has been generous in donating to multiple causes for the betterment of her people in India. Mrs Nilekani is touted to have donated more than $40 mil over the years. The project mentioned in the Forbes Mar 2010 article wrote about how one of her charities - Arghyam ('offering' in Sanskrit) had helped a group of villagers to build toilets... something that most of us take for granted to be part of our homes!

I also liked the comment "We were so middle class to the core, and we had the typical denial attitude towards money". However, she was also able to realise that there is something of a different scale that can be achieved with money. I must say this is money in the right perspective.

My aim in bringing up the kids is that even with the little (pocket money) they have, they will learn the art of charity. I have noticed that whenever Lunar New Year comes along, St Luke's Hospital will issue hong-baos for the children to think of the less fortunate and to share their hong-bao collection with the hospital. While the quantum from the kids are insignificant in comparison to the expenses involved in running a hospital, the act of caring for people will help them to be more appreciative of the blessings they have.

*****

DIY accessories

I have to return to keeping a regular blog... Didn't realise it's been almost 3 months since I last wrote! What happened in between?

As Lydia wanted to save some money for my birthday, she has decided she will embark on what she does best -- her crystal pendant projects. On Friday, she returned and proudly announced that she has orders from her classmates. 2 'angel' pendants, 1 bracelet and 2 pairs of earrings. Quietly she worked on her project, so that she could deliver her goods on Monday.

I am proud that Lydia takes the initiative to find capital to get me a birthday present. For us with limited creative juices, we will search the web and explore ideas. One fantastic site we chanced upon is Jewelry Supply as they have projects that we can explore, and as the instructions are so clear, we can never get our steps wrong. I think I shall encourage Lydia to embark on this new project - on earrings, once her final exams are over.

It's a matter of endurance

Bath time is usually the best time of the day to bond with Nathan... I get his undivided attention. Today marks the day when he turns 37 months and lately I sense the terrible 3 setting in on him. True enough, this is the day that he wanted to exert his right.

After a full day of playing, Nathan was beginning to smell stale, and I decided to give him a good scrub. But just as I was about to plonk him into the bath tub, he made it known to me in no uncertain terms that he does not want to bathe!

I tried to reason with this 3-year old on why he should have a good shower, and what activities he would engage in right after the shower. It didn't work. Instead, Nathan decided to put both hands firmly on the tap so as to prevent me from turning it on.

Mommy, being mom, was somewhat smarter than him. It has to be right? Lo and behold, I got hold of a little basin and filled it with water; and before he knew it, I emptied the contents of the basin on him.

Sure enough he was screaming away... but hey, Mom is only making a point! Smelly little boys must take a bath; and it's a matter of whether this young man is able to take instructions from his mother, or to exert his own. When the time is right, I will surely pass the decision reigns to him; but for now, it's OBEDIENCE that matters more.

"Children obey your parents in the Lord for this is right"

Home made Remedy for Bruisers

A life of a child is marked with bruises and scars.

Having loads of energy that is waiting to be displaced, the kids are always on the lookout for activities that can push them a notch further... One such activity is to try to be acrobatic, even though they have not been trained to be one!

Whenever we drop by grandma's place, the girls will always want to go to the playground where they can experiment and 'perfect' their acrobatic stunts. One such stunt is to attempt to be a bat. In the process of swinging their legs up and down the bar, the shin is one of the most delicate part of the body to ill-treated... and so, one day, someone came back with a bruised ... a badly bruised shin! ouch!

Being the mommy I was stunned to see such a bruise, the size of a 50-cents coin! How should I treat this purplish bump?? One very good remedy i picked from friends was to play chemist at home by combining some body lotion with essential oil. This concoction not only gives out a good scent, it also promotes mother-daughter bonding time as we recount the 'arrival' of the bruise.

Formula for the concoction:
1. any handcream or body lotion
2. add in 3-5 drops of lemongrass essential oil
3. apply gently onto the bruise with lots of TLC

Try it... it is a great time to catch up ... and wince with them... and bond with them...