Children's christmas party

The committee organized a children christmas party at the hall next to the RC and I registered the girls for it. They were very generous in their presents for the children. Every child have a present. They even prepare little packets of milo and yogurt milk, Oreo and waffles and cheezels and lollipops (of course they did not get to eat that) for snacks. The girls enjoyed the magic performance and the games very much. Isabelle was a little reluctant to be near or even to look at the "santa claus" who gave out more sweets and tit bits to the kids. It was nice to be around friends and the children. A good effort by the committee once again.

Xmas performances @ the malls

From november, the malls have been advertising performances and showtimes at their malls and as usual, my mother will either bring or make me bring the girls for some of the shows. Here is the summary of their attendance this year. And perhaps a recap of what they saw in year 2008.
My mother brought joelle to catch the winx club performance at marina square when she was staying for a week over the holidays.
My sister brought issy to raffles city to catch the barbie performance with my mother but they went on barbie's off day. So they shop around and had a donut instead.
My mother brought the girls to catch the sesame street performance at compass point. No chance to take a good shot by the time they got to the mall. They had a good time still.
Daddy and mummy took the opportunity that mary is off to bring the girls out on our own. Brought them for a care bear performance at plaza singapura and ended with a pair of care bears for them. They were on sales at $10 a pair. After the show, we had a nice teppanyaki lunch, the girls first.

My mother wanted to take the girls to changi airport terminal 3 for the snow play. It was disappointing as the snow play is only in the bouncing castle and lasted like a minute or two in an interval of like 10 to 15 minutes. And the big red ball that was suppose to "bring cheer with the abundance of gifts and sweets" was a greater disappointment. Well they did have an abundance of sweets but only three packed towels and three gift balls drop out for a group of more than 10 kids! Most of the kids went off empty handed as their parents refused to let them have the sweets. Haha!
Took the girls to tampines mall one evening with my mother for some last minute shopping. When I collect the wrappers then I knew we qualify for an ice skating trial so I register joelle for it. We watch the ice skating performance before joelle hit the ice for a 30 minutes of lesson. She enjoyed it so much that I'm thinking of letting her skate more often or even to learn figure skating.

The last performance we caught before christmas was the looney toons at downtown east. I think the girls enjoyed another year of mall visiting this christmas season. I wonder will they bring in something new next year?

Camping in comfort

While daddy was in china, I brought out the tent for the girls to sleep in for the night. They were very excited and brought out their dolls and pillows and blankets. However when its time to sleep, our little isabelle whispered in my ear "I want to go back to my room" and so she brought all her little companions and pillow back to her room. She is one child who only sleeps on her own bed. She could not even sleep on my bed or in my room through the night. She must have her bed and maybe... her auntie mary. So joelle slept in the tent for the night while mummy lay sleepless on the sofa watching almost silent tv program till the wee hours of the morning. I miss my bed too.

The Chans wishes you...

Every year, mummy is tasked to take nice pictures of the girls for christmas cards to relatives and this year I'm very happy with the result! I will not deny that there are lots of coaxing, persuading and maybe even a little threatening but it works. Check out the previous years cards. 2008 and 2007 design. As usual, we want to thank God for the grace and blessings He has showered on us throughout the year. We have learn a lot from the mistakes made and the trials actually made us stronger as individuals and as a family. The girls have been healthy and growing well. The business is smooth and our marriage is still strong. These are all gifts from God and we are deeply appreciative of His blessings. We continue to pray for love and happiness in the coming year and peace to mankind and the earth.

DIY maki

It's simple and the girls like it! You can use anything actually. The girls chose carrot and cucumber sticks as vegie, hotdog and crabsticks as meat and egg strips too. We ever marinate chicken meat in teriyaki sauce and beef slices in bbq sauce. Japanese pickles, another favourite. Today, it's VERY simple but the girls still enjoyed themselves.

Char siew finally!

We tried making char siew for a while now. We also tried using many types of meat for it. Eventually I think this is the best choice of meat and the best look and taste. Next time we would slice it up a little thinner.

We usually make green curry as all of us like it so this is the first time we try yellow curry. Not bad too. We like it and joelle also tried some (accompanied by water). Should we try red curry next time?

Drawing on the board-walk?

We got ourselves a new dining table and with it came a huge carton box. The girls get very excited to see carton boxes as they naturally would become houses, cars or some form of art for them. This round, we decided to lay it out on the corridor and draw on it. They were given a choice of paints, markers, crayons or colour pencils and they chose markers.

Bless our Home

We just had our house blessing today. Seven years late... but better late than never. As to why we did not bless the house when we first moved in, is a rather long story. In short, we were waiting for the best time without realizing that the best time is anytime. So now that we just renovated the house a little, we grabbed this opportunity to bless our newly renovated old house. We gathered our families and our "family priest" (Fr. Richards taught me Catechism as a child and grace my marriage and that of my brother's and cousin's) to grace this joyous occasion. Having the house blessed is almost as exciting and inspiring as having the girls baptized. I was inspired to teach my daughter well when I baptized her in dec 2003 and was further inspired to live a God-worthy life when I baptize my younger girl in feb 2007. Now in dec 2009, our house is blessed. The only prayer left unanswered is the calling of my husband. I'm leaving that in the hands of my dear Lord. I believe He has a reason for everything and an answer to everything. With that I thank God for His blessing and grace. Indeed He has kept me in good hands. Praise the Lord!

Mummy's lunch #26

Another simple meal. Blanched the vegetables and fly the meat mixture. It's the usual carrots, tofu and minced meat.

Things we do indoor

It's been raining the past many days and the girls usually entertain themselves pretty well with puzzles, toys, games, legos and painting. These are some of the things we do when it's too wet for their evening outdoor fun.

Mummy's lunch #25

Daiso opened a branch at rivervale mall and got some japanese rice molds and some other stuff on their opening day. Met my husband and his team who were filming there too. The brown piece of meat behind is actually beef patty which would look and taste much nicer with some herbs or condiments as seasoning. Anyway it'll get better.

Our ritz.

For those who forgot my dog, here's ritz. He'll be nine years old in Feb 2010. Time flies and he's such a sweet dog still. Greedy as usual, frighten of the thunder and bullies the "weak" but enjoys the company of the girls (they tire him out most of the time). I think he's got cataract in one eye but he still sees fine. He is less active now though he can still run and jump and play. One thing is still the same. He obeys dave (very much) and will ignore my commands. But he will come to me for pampering and plays rough with dave.

Mummy's lunch #24

French beans, mushrooms and carrots make one nice dish. Fish balls are another all time favourite of the girls.

Pizza day

Today is pizza day. As usual we make our own pizza according to our wishes. Joelle's pizza has many mushrooms but no crab sticks. Issy's pizza has many mushrooms too but just as many crab sticks. Mummy's pizza has lots and lots of cheese while daddy's got lots of everything. It's a great way to spend sunday lunch.

Isabelle's 1st haircut

For the first time in three years, mummy decides to trim isabelle's hair. It took me a few days of coaxing and many assurance that it would be "just a little" (bit of hair) before she totally agree to the cut. She was cooperative but fidgety and that made it really difficult to start but as there was not much to cut anyway, I just trim a little off the fringe and a little off the back.


Now her hair is much neater and she is less irritated by the loose long fringe. Perhaps it would be another three years before the next cut.

Mummy's lunch #23

Nowadays we make our own yong tau foo with fish paste bought from the wet market. Lady fingers, capsicum, tofu, brinjal, tomatoes and chilli. it's "cleaner" and cheaper too.

The younger photographer

Isabelle is starting to ask for a chance to take a picture FOR us. This is her first attempt. I'm still not comfortable with her handling my canon ixus. Guess I'll have to coax joelle into sharing her fujifilm camera. Perhaps by getting her to teach issy.

Getting creative with playdoh

Joelle as you know by now is very creative. Check out her play-doh creation.