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.

Mummy's lunch #22

Onion fried eggs, an all time favourite of TheChans. Fish balls, tofu, tomatoes and minced meat balls boiled in a simple soup dish. Fried kai-lan with mushroom, isabelle's favourite. Looks like an elaborate lunch but it isn't really. Mummy's just yearning for some soup.

Two new teeth

Apparently the dentist told us that joelle already has two adult teeth at the back of her jaws. Big molars. So plus these two, she has four adult teeth. Wow! And she refused to let me remove the baby tooth that's blocking the adult tooth. Hopefully the teeth will re-adjust themselves when all's out.

Old tricycle. New look

Isabelle's tricycle (joelle's actually) is falling apart piece by piece so today I remove everything. It actually look good. Maybe we would give it a nice new paint sometime (if there are still leftover paint suitable for metal in the store room) or a license plate or some nice deco. It would be another nice art session for the girls. A makeover for an old trike.

It's my birthday and I'll cry if I want to...

I'm 37 and still as emotional as ever. Perhaps more resigned to certain emotional situation and immune to others, but I'm still terribly prone to feelings of love, kindness and sincerity. Over three days, I heard four birthday songs (one was over the phone with her kids!), cut three cakes, received more sms in one day than I would have in a month and read many well wishes on my facebook. It's been like this for the past 37 years but this year I got overwhelmed with emotions. I'm getting old I believe and age makes me realise how much more invaluable such moments can be.
9 nov 2009
To have busy friends popped in for a visit with a cake in tow was totally cool. I mean these youngsters, with their circle of pop cultured friends would made the effort to travel half the island to celebrate the birthday of a mummy ten years their senior is definitely worth blogging.
11 nov 2009
My brother and Keem came over after dinner just to sing me a birthday song and cut a cake and rush back home to prepare for next day's work.
10 nov 2009
My mum met us at jurong point where the girls decorated a cake for mummy. The place is called the icing room and it's a subsidiary of breadtalk. A 4" cake cost $11.80 and the set comes with tubes of coloured cream, chocolate fudge and jellied cream and a bag of colourful flower icing. The girls had so much fun messing up the cake (all by themselves) and I bet the shoppers had fun too watching them in action. It was the ugliest birthday cake I had in 37 years of my life but it was my favourite. I would remember this cake probably for the rest of my life. Yes, I'm THAT sentimental. But honestly it taste quite good (it's from breadtalk afterall) and looks cool too. Almost like an organised mess!

Mummy's lunch #21

Tempura prawn is another of the girls favourite and our home made wanton (made by mary) is getting better by the meal. Now they do not stick to each other much and our dearest joelle, who does not eat the wanton from her wanton noodles, is eating these in large numbers. So they must be nice. For these we add minced pork and chestnuts. Sometimes we add prawns but today I use the prawns for tempura frying.

Chans @ the beach

Another day at the beach... when it's still hot and sunny. It's been raining the past few days and the girls are entertaining themselves at home with painting and legos and games. I wonder how long can they stay indoor. "Oh mister sun, sun, mister golden sun, please shine down on us..."


Isabelle's sandcastle in the hands.
Joelle's pyramid.
Mummy's solid cake.
Mary's cone castle Ooppps!

Mummy's lunch #20

We are having more of these mixed meat as it's easy to make and easy to eat. One bite and you get meat and vegie together. For this we mixed minced pork with tofu and carrots. Sometimes we add spinach or fish paste or even the unusual button mushroom.

My Joelle

This is my firstborn. My little precious baby. She's now six and has graduated from preschool. Come 2010, she will start her formal education in primary one. Then it would be secondary and university and soon she will walk down the aisle and move out of the house. I dread even thinking about it and I'm sure her usually cool daddy might even tear should he walk down the aisle with his baby girl. Joelle has been a wonderful child, minus her lack of interest in academic pursuit. She is incredibly creative and artistically inclined. She is sweet and sensitive and is giving in nature. She has many fears and can be very jealous. She seeks too much attention and might misbehave for it. I still receive complaints from her teachers for talking too much and moving too much in class. She cannot sit still at a table, not even for her meals! She loses interest very fast and will shift her focus elsewhere (except in drawing). She can be rather manipulative and controlling. She's very emotional and affectionate. She's ever so loving and generous with her kisses and "I love you till I die" words. She will even say things like "I still love you so much even when you cane me or punish me". She's very sensible and I'm so blessed to have her as my daughter. I pray that the good Lord continues to shower her with his grace and blessings, to keep her in good health and nurture in her a good heart.

Mummy's lunch #19

Fried fish fillets, very nice. Simple fried egg and some vegetables to complement. This is the first time the fish fillet turned out so pretty. I'm very happy with it and I'm glad the girls enjoyed it too.

Our bak cho mee

Another fantastic lunch by mary, our fantastic helper. Wonderfully cooked noodles with minced pork, pork liver and vegetables. A good lunch. To think about it, mary's been with the family for three years now. We were preparing ourselves with mummy lunches and routines since last year for the pending departure of our "do-it-all manager" to find ourselves at the end of the contract again. Mary, as most of you probably knew, is waiting for her approval letter for employment in canada. She's been waiting for almost 18 months now. As her current (second renewal already actually) contract ends in nov 2009, she has requested that we keep her till D-day arrive. Having said that, we renewed her permit for another year. It's a win-win situation for all of us really. For daddy, he can still enjoy his peace (without mary, he would be bug to do the dishes). For mary, she could still wait for her letter from the embassy without any worry. Isabelle can still have her auntie with her for a while more and mummy can still sneak off for a facial, massage or some retail therapy. Joelle is the least effected. It's a "I help you, you help me" kind of thing. So it seems that mary will still be with our family for a while.

She's into jigsaw puzzles

and can sit quietly by herself in the room fixing them. She has better concentration power than her sister when it comes to jigsaw puzzles. Perhaps it's because she could sit still for longer period compared to joelle.

Trick or Treats

We never had the chance of a halloween party so we were pretty excited about the halloween walk and get-together (which did not happen due to the rain and schedules) planned by the playground group. We bought a packet of candies for the kids (I do not usually pack candies for young children but these are so cute with the mini bones, bats and skulls) and placed them in a basket awaiting the trick-or-treaters. We did not have the party in the end and no trick-or-treaters came but we pack the goodies into little bags and gave them out to the kids at the next play date. The kids and their mummies were amused, not so much with the candies but with the little bones and bats and skulls. We are hoping to organise a christmas party for the kids. Time for a PMC (Punggol Mummies Club) meeting.