Vaccine #2

Today is time for your second dose. This time it was at the Spice Arena. Again, daddy dropped us at the nearest point possible. 

It was a quick walk to clear the police at the entrance and then quickly fill up a form, wait for the officer to check the form and then we walked in to get a jab. It was a very quick one and we didn't even need to wait for the 15 minutes cooling period. 

Waiting for your jab

And we are done. This time around, you even humored me with TWO pictures.. ahaha... 

All in this second dose took us less than 30 minutes to complete the whole process. (Whispers.. I checked my My Sejahtera check in and out timing *grin*)

Update: you seemed quite tired and slept early. Had slight fever on Tuesday (which luckily was a public holiday) and took an afternoon nap. On Wednesday you complained of aching arms, but otherwise you seem to be fine.

Our Little Garden

We have been adding more and more vegetables. Sometimes, it fails to grow.. like the chilly plant.. only "growing" ants.. and sometimes we have harvests.. like the pak choy which we harvested 3-4 times before removing the whole plant. We also did well with the ladies finger and finally we managed to grow the baby bitter gourd. Look at them:

On Friday (compared to Mei-mei's hand) 

Today.. again compared to Mei-mei's hand

And then there is our cherry tomato plant.. which after a year has given us a grand total of 3 tomatoes!

#2 on Friday.. a little orangey now..

#3 on Friday... a little mutated with a pointy bottom

#2 and 3 today.. looks like it's about time to harvest #2

We ran out of Pak Choy seed, so yesterday we planted (ahem.. threw into the pots) some Kailan seeds. I have been putting some organic fertilizers into the old soil: banana peel, baked eggshells and egg and coffee mixtures. Hopefully the soil is now rich in nutrients to grow our new seeds. 

Gifts to School Custodians

Not sure how, but you were somehow in charge on getting the items for the "Appreciation Gift" to the school custodians. The original plan was to have the purchases sent to your teacher's house, but in the end, we went one step further - to have them nicely packed into "care packages" and we (read: MUMMY) also topped up some sachet drinks and biscuit. 

We finally received all the ordered and packed them all up. Even Mei-mei had a hand in helping"

Arranging all the items to be packed

Packing the items into the paper bags

Close up of the items to be put into the bag

The items were then sent to your class teacher's house which was just a short drive away. Hope that the custodians liked the small token.

Stinky Soup

The old batch of alphabet pasta had grown bugs. So I bought a new pack, which were larger sized alphabets.

So this was what you had today for lunch:

Your reaction was hilarious:

Vaccine #1

Today is finally your turn to be vaccinated. We arrived at the Spice Convention Center a little earlier, but it was SO CROWDED. In the end daddy, turned into the carpark and we walked to find HCO D where your appointment was to be. 

It was a breeze for us. We cleared the police, sat a while and had our My Sejahtera check in validated. Then we went to have you details checked and signed and next for the medical questions (which was completed in less than 5 minutes). 

Walked to the injection station and then the deed was done:

Waiting to be poked!

We then waited for the 15 minutes observation. Just as we walked to get the appointment card, one child collapsed and there was a bit of brouhaha. 

And then we were done.

Walked out and quickly asked you to take a picture (which you grudgingly agreed to):

Alamak! This one said completed 2 doses

Quickly moved to the next booth, which you allowed only 1 picture.

We walked out and waited a while for daddy. All in, it took just a little over 1 hour for us from home, to the center and back home. 

Update: You had a slight fever and a headache on Wednesday, missing the first lesson on Wednesday. Other than that, you were fine!

Japanese Themes Party

You had initially asked to have barbecue. But since we had that for Ah Kong's birthday you asked to have a Japanese themed dinner. 

Daddy and I picked up some stuff from our favourite Japanese grocery store. Ah Ma went to the market early today to pick up the salmon. 

My cheeky assistant dishing out the Tsukudani

Our dinner spread: Raw and grilled salmon, unagi and some condiments

Ko-ko who assisted daddy with the sashimi made this pretty arrangement

Our dinner

We waited a bit after the very filling dinner to sing the birthday song and have the cake. This year we ordered from my friend. She had this beautiful rose cake which was white so she customised it to a light pink (as requested by you). No decorations were needed as we had ordered our own.

And you are, decorating your own cake:

Ta-da.. here's the end result:

We found a candle for you which you gleefully told Ko-ko he could not blow out.. only to be told back that you also cannot blow out the candle!

Dessert was this delightfully light cake with Japanese (obviously) ice-cream mochi. Yumm...

Ans so ends what seems like a month-long birthday celebration. 

Happy Birthday, Evelyn

Since the last celebration was too close (Ah Kong's birthday), we decided to celebrate the weekend after your actual birthday. 

Nevertheless, we still had something special on today, the actual birthday. 

Otto Pizza for lunch:

Before we left to pick up lunch, we also left all the wrapped presents on the dining table. Somehow you had a break while we were away so you spotted the presents and Ah Kong says you were VERY excited about them.

After lunch, you were allowed to open one present, so you picked the present from Ko-ko. It was a mouse to go with your new computer. 

After that, you opened the present from Ah Ma (I wasn't around to take pictures). We suggested that you waited till the day of the party to open the rest, but that didn't go as planned. But hey, it's right to open on the party day. After all if it's early, you get to open the presents early, so if it's late you will need to wait till the party. *grin*

Present from Ee-ee

Present from Nanna

We hope that you had a wonderful birthday, our precious little girl.

You will always be our little baby girl, who has brought so much joy into our lives. 

New Guitar

You seem to be very keen and excited to learn your guitar. And you asked to buy an acoustic guitar, offering to pay for it on your own. You have accumulated quite a bit of savings since you continue to get your allowance and have nowhere to spend it. 

So I finally ordered a guitar for you. It's a Takamini brand which you found and researched on your own. The seller suggested to get a hard case (top up from the free soft case). While you weren't too keen on it, in the end daddy offered to buy you the hard case so that the guitar would be shipped to us in it and be safer.

Also being forward thinking that you may want to bring it with you when you go overseas to study. So the case would be used to ship your guitar without damaging it. 

Today is D-day. It finally arrived. Here you are unboxing the guitar:

Trying out the guitar:

I hope you enjoy this guitar. We wouldn't know, since you refuse to play us a song.. even an incomplete song!

Ballet Exams today

Today is your ballet exams. You will be examined for Grade 1. 

I had to buy gel so that we can hold up your (not too long, and not too short) fringe. In fact halfway through the exam your fringe started to fall off. I had to quickly comb in more gel to hold it back up. 

Just before the exam you decided to mention that teacher also said we can put a ribbon in your hair. Thanks for the last minute message! Luckily I had a container full of ribbons. Found one the closest to the color of your leotard. 

Listening to the briefing

One smile for the camera

Update: 30-Sep -- I received a message that you had passed the exam. You got 79% which was a Distinction. Great job, little one!

Ah Kong's Birthday

Ah Kong requested for a barbecue dinner (with Ko-kor's prompting!!) to celebrate his birthday.

So here is the dinner spread:

Starting with appetizers: Sliced smoked Iberico shoulder and smoked salmon on crackers. And Mozarella cheese on tomato with sweet basil.

And this is our dinner which daddy had barbecued:

Main course: Tomahawk, squid, corn, prawns and bakes potatoes

Our two gentleman.. enjoying the bone.. like barbarians *laugh*

The highlight of the day for Mei-mei is to barbecue her marshmallows. She was initially so afraid of the flames. Look at how far she is standing (she is holding a very long skewer as it is!!)

We ended of course with a yummilicious cake from Mon Delice:

The both of you getting ready to blow out the candle

We also got a family picture taken tonight

Happy birthday, Ah Kong❤

Early Birthday Present for Evelyn

We had ordered the present for you in hopes that it would arrive on time before your school starts. But it was half a day late. You attended lessons today using the iPad.

In the morning, I received a SMS saying that my courier will be arriving today. At around 2pm, the delivery man called and said he would be on the way. He came in the rain and dropped off the 2 parcels. 

We quickly had it wrapped.. sorta.. since the only piece of wrapping paper we had at home was too small, we just covered the front and back which had the computer brand on it. 

Then we asked you if you'd like to have your present earlier. You hesitated and finally agreed to it. This was what daddy gave you:

Well.. despite it being just a bag (and a black one too!) you were all smiles. 

Then, daddy brought out the "real" present". 

Daddy had to help you open.. just in case you dropped the box!

And of course, we got an even bigger smile from you:

We're so happy the laptop arrived just in time for your new school year. 

Back to School

Today is the first day of the new school year. I did not have time to take pictures of you both, but managed to take of you while you ate your lunch. 

Yup, you are both still attending online lessons at home. And this year the school has mandated the wearing of uniform while attending classes as the camera is to be turned on all the time. 

Of course, I have the ever willing Mei-mei's picture:

.. and El Groucho's pictures (interrupted his lunch!)...

Imagine, my babies are now in Year 4 and Year 10. 

Origami Fun

My workplace had a "Health at Work Week" last week. And one of the topics shared was on folding origami. Kids were also invited, so we both spent the time in the green room last Friday trying to follow the instructions from the Master origami teacher. 

Following the instructions to fold the curry puff

"Eating" her curry puff

Ta-da.. our curry puff and rabbit with a heart

Bedside Table

 

You decided that you also needed a bedside table. So you took my shoebox and made it your bedside table. Then after getting the bites, we decided to sun your bed toppers. Instead we took the other spare mattress and put it on top of the existing mattress. Now you have a "Princess and the Pea" bed which is too high for your bedside table. 

So you propped the table up higher with some books you found and ta-da.. a bedside table which matches to your new bed height. 

Love your creativity and ability to think outside the box.