Birthday CelebrationS

Evan was complaining that I had so many rounds of celebration this year.

On the eve, daddy and I decided to have a bottle of wine.. while he was away at tuition. The usual shop was full, so we headed home for our chilled white wine:

On Saturday morning, daddy didn't play golf and everyone woke up earlier (wow, Evan!) and we had dim sum for brunch:

We also picked up a cake which I ordered. Then we went to Two Frenchies for dinner. We were almost disappointed to find out that the tomahawk was a pre-order, contrary to what was written on their website. But then pleasantly surprised that there was an order hence some spare tomahawk. So yessss.. the plans are back on. 

We started with appetizers:

While waiting we had our wine. 

We waited a while before the tomahawk was finally served:

Daddy cleaning up the bone

We finished everything!

We went home to have cake:

And on Sunday, we had another round at home with everyone in BM:

Nanna and grampy cooked their yummy "birthday noodles". We finished off with another cake too!

And that is this year's celebration all done *grin*

Mr. Wil..

.. the yellow crane..

My phone is full of pictures of cranes. Everytime we pass the same crane after tuition, you'd ask me to take a picture of it. 

We saw another crane and I also had to take a picture:

Today we got stuck at the traffic light and again, another picture!

 

School Excursion

Waaay before your EYE, you brought back a form, for permission to join the school excursion. For the last 2 years you all did not get to have an excursion due to Covid. This year, it was a trip to Taiping Zoo and Perak Museum. Well, as I wanted you to bring back your books from the locker, I had to tell you to bring them back OR ELSE, you would not get to go on the excursion.

 And at long last, you came back with your books (took you a few days!) and you got your permission slip signed. 

On the morning of your excursion you woke up early and we also left home a little earlier as you had asked to arrive in school earlier. You had breakfast at home and again in school before hopping onto the bus for the drive to Taiping Zoo. It was raining here in Penang, and you later told me it rained occasionally in the zoo also. Luckily I had given you an umbrella on top of the cap you brought along. So you knew to use the cap if it was sunny (you initially planned to use the umbrella to shade yourself from the sun) and the umbrella only if it rains. 

I received some pictures and updates from parents as some of your friends had their phones with them. Lunch was packed fried rice which you all ate at the zoo. 

Well when you got back, I discovered that you had spent RM18 of the RM20 that you were given. But even more surprised that you had thought of getting ME a gift too. I'm proud of you for not spending all the money and having thoughts of others too. This is what I got:

Oh and by the way, it seemed that you had fun petting "Mr. Wil"... although you didn't get a chance to feed the giraffe. And you told me the only monkey you saw was an orang utan. 

And the highlight (most memorable event) of the day.. seeing the elephant.... doing a poo poo! Oh dear... 

Worst Bed-mate!

Daddy was running a fever, having runny nose as well as coughing since last Thursday. So we had to evacuate and sleep in your room, while he slept in the room himself. And since it's just the two of us, we're sleeping on the bed. Up till today, I have yet to have a good night's sleep. Why? Obviously because I got myself a bed-mate from hell! Look at where you are sleeping!

On top of that you will karate kick me, steal my bolster, decide to kick away the (shared) blanket... I need to abandon you and go back to my own bed!

Dumpling Night

Eating the store bought dumplings a couple of weeks ago obviously didn't cut it. Firstly, it was so little, secondly ours tasted better.. or maybe it was just more to our liking. 

So tonight, we're having dumplings. It's a Sunday but since you were both off for a week and we would not need to plan for your packed lunch, we opted for this day (Saturdays are too rushed with the both of you having activities).

The dumpling factory started operations from 3.30pm with all the cutting required and another nearly 2 hours of wrapping. Then we finally finished off with our 2 fry masters frying up fresh batches of dumplings. We had them in 2 rounds so that we could enjoy eating them warm.

Quarantined

This time, it's Ko-ko's turn to be quarantined. Just because you decided to hang out with your friends after school on Friday while waiting for Evelyn... sigh.. and you are having exams still!

Halfway through exercising you received news that your friend (who I later found out to be a social butterfly.. resulting in many more friends being close contacts) was confirmed as positive. You informed us and daddy immediately told you to stay in your room. Happily you asked "Does that mean I get room service?"

Well you seemed happy to be in the room for the first 1.5 days, but yesterday evening you told me that you were bored! Haha... a few more days of quarantine. If all is ok, you will be out by Tuesday evening. 

Mei-mei was ever so willing to be your waitress, as usual. She would bring up the tray, put it in front of your door, knock and quickly run away!

On Sunday, we had lunch "together". 

Cooked instant ramen noodles with some add-ons

We had a video call "lunch" together

For dinner, Ah Ma cooked fried rice and we'd brought what we thought would be enough for you, but ended up having to add more still.

As for dessert, there was a choice of fruits (no need to guess which one you picked... ) and also some yogurt.

This morning, you did a self test, had breakfast in the room, daddy tested your temperature and you all packed into daddy's car to head to school.. all of you with the mask on. 

I later went to pick you up after you had completed the exam. You only had 1 paper in the morning, so I picked you up, we bought McDonald's for breakfast and now you have inhaled your SECOND breakfast and await your Nando's lunch.

Update 29-June: You are all cleared. Thank goodness. Finally out of jail!

Swimming Lessons

It rained heavily today and we thought that the lesson would need to be cancelled. But at around 4pm, it started to get sunny, so we went ahead with the plans for your first lesson.

We'd dropped daddy off at Auto Bavaria before heading to the Sports Club. Got ourselves registered then headed to get ready for the pool. 

As Uncle Adrian wasn't there yet, you played in the kiddy pool until he came. First lesson was about breathing underwater. Uncle Adrian explained to you about breathing underwater. 

His comment: She's so afraid of the water... even worst than her Ko-ko

He'd teach you and then left you for a while as he coached another 2 children. While he was away, the 3 of us (Ah Kong, Ko-ko and I) tried to help you overcome the fear. 

After a while you had more confidence to put your nose into the water. And this was what you were doing before lessons ended for the day:

Good job, kiddo!!

As for Ko-ko he swam a little, but also got tired. Haven't swam for too long!

We had to round by a coffee shop to pick up dinner before heading home. Mei-mei was hungry and luckily there was a stall selling friend chicken skin which you both ate on the way home. 

2022 Father's Day

Tonight's dinner menu is a simple one. But of course, the man of the day still needs to slave in the kitchen with his assistant. 

We had cold soba with some store bought dumplings. And because we only had 2 bags of dumplings at home, we had to go out to Jaya Grocer to pick up more. 

Came back to cook the hot soup (Ah Ma doesn't like the cold soup.. although I think she's not too keen on the hot one either). Then I cooked the noodles so that they can be chilled enough by dinnertime while daddy took a snooze. 

Next, our two gentlemen very efficiently fried up 2 batches each of gyoza and dinner was served. Forgot to take picture of our dinner. But we all enjoyed it. 

Mei-mei made 2 cards for daddy, 1 at school during Girl's Brigade and another using Canva just before daddy arrived home from golf.

You chose very sweet wordings for this care

I had to help hide this card 

As for Ko-ko... you didn't remember that it was Father's Day (no surprise there) until I reminded you. I guess daddy's "present" would be your helping to fry to dumplings.. and helping to finish them up *grin*

Student Councillor

Pardon my shaky photo (grin)

You decided to take on another position in school. This time as a Student Councillor. My only advice to you is to ensure that all these positions do not take up too much of your time from studying and having fun. But still.. I'm glad to see you are interested in such positions.

On a side note, I asked a (not too intelligent) question: Is this like "student leaders" or "to help students with problems"? 

To which you exclaimed that you would not be so helpful to be a listening ear. 

And now as I type this, I realised I was a "sotong". Because that would be a Student Counsellor. Wrong spelling... luckily you didn't catch my mistake too! Bwahahaha... 

Our 18th Wedding Anniversary

This year, after much thought and discussion we finally decided to have the celebration at home. That way Ah Ma and Ah Kong will be able to join us too.

Due to the limited food Ah Ma is able to (and willing to) eat, we opted for a simple dish with appetizer and something to cook for her (and Evelyn). 

It was also made easier for us to go grocery shopping since Mei-mei did not have ballet lessons. So we headed off to pick up Ko-ko from guitar lessons then went to Village Grocer to pick up the ingredients we needed to cook. There was no mussels, but we managed to buy the other type of shellfish. 

Next stop was Jaya Grocer to try our luck with the mussels, but no such luck. So.. daddy added more of the shellfish and also another piece of salmon. 

And here is our dinner:

Appetizer of buffalo mozzarella on tomato and basil and smoked salmon on crackers 

For our seafood pot, we added linguini and also toasted French loaf

Mei-mei also made us "anniversary" gifts. You learnt a nifty trick to make tassels. So daddy and I got one each. You told me that each on has the other's colors. 

Daddy's blue has a little pink

My pink has a little blue

Ah Ma is discharged

Unfortunately when Ah Ma told us yesterday that she was to be discharged, daddy was very sad. He had other plans with his golfers. I told him to go ahead with his plans. And we're lucky to have Ko-ko step up and help us a lot. 

The plan was for us to get Ah Ma after the doctor has visited and given the green light for her discharge then go home for lunch. But at 12pm, the doctor had not yet visited so we all opted to eat at home (instant noodles), and then head over to the hospital since Ah Ma had no lunch. 

We ended up sitting in the hospital (Evan and Ah Kong in the room.. Ah Ma managed to get exception for 2 to go up, while I waited downstairs) for nearly 3 hours. After Ah Ma was finally cleared, we had to go to the pharmacy to check on the billing and collect medication. 

While I waited for medication, Ko-ko and Ah Kong went to get the car. Turned out you both got lost in the carpark, as you'd forgotten which floor you were parked on!

Ah Ma and I went to the Specialist Complex and waited a while before you both finally arrived. 

When we reached home, Ah Kong backed the car in so that Ah Ma would be as close to the staircase as possible and then we slowly made the way up. We are lucky to have Evan.. he helped by lifting her leg one at a time from the back all the way up the staircase. (Ah Kong stood to her side while I stood behind her to catch her in case she loses her footing). 

Last 3 steps to make it to her "room" for the next few months

At last Ah Ma is home.. you two kiddies must have missed her a lot since you both could not visit at the hospital. 

After she had her shower, Mei-mei had fun being her hairdresser, blowing her washed hair all dry. 

Ah Ma's Knee Surgery

Two weeks ago, Ah Ma went to hospital to have her double knee surgery. Sadly the both of you could not go visit her. It was very troublesome to visit as only 1 visitor is allowed in the room at each time. Ah Kong did not get himself registered as a caregiver, so he would have to go down every time there is someone visiting. On top of that, children below 12 were not allowed in at all.

In the end, when daddy and I visited, only daddy went up while I sat downstairs. Towards the last few days, we found out that Ah Ma had cancelled the meals provided by the hospital (Ah Ma never liked vegetarian food.. Adventist Hospital only serves vegetarian food!!). On Thursday, we stopped by to buy dishes for dinner and also bought a piece of fish for Ah Ma. She must have been very happy to eat her favourite food. 

Since it's Saturday, we decided to cook something special and have Ah Kong bring it over to her (and eat with her too). We planned to have grilled salmon, but could not find any in both Village Grocer and Jaya Grocer. So in the end we settled for trout, but it tasted just as good. 

This is Ah Ma's portion. Ah Kong had a lot more and also ate some of hers

This is ours at home

Greedy Ko-ko said "Would have been better if it was salmon".. BUT he ate TWO pieces of the fish! I guess if it were to be salmon he would have eaten THREE pieces.

Daddy's Money

Since the school canteen started to sell things, we decided that I'll start giving you some spending money on top of your monthly allowance. So I told you that I'd give you RM5 a week and you can budget your spending accordingly. This what what I had practiced with Ko-ko when he was in Kwang Hwa too.

This morning, you told me that the minimum for everything is RM2. So I agreed to give increase to RM6 and that I'd top up RM1 for you. But in our rush, I'd forgotten to give you the extra ringgit. This is our conversation as you rushed to the car:

Evelyn    : Mummy, you forgot to give me RM1!

Mummy  : Oh, get it from daddy.

Evelyn    : Then you will return the RM1 to daddy? It's his money.

Mummy  : Oi!! Daddy's money is also my money!

Wah.. you don't hesitate to take money from me, but you worry about RM1 which you will take from daddy?

This was what daddy said transpired in the car later on.

Evelyn    : Daddy, do you have RM1?

Daddy    : Oh, I'm not sure. Let me check.

Evelyn    : No need then. 

Daddy    : I never said I don't have. Let me check.

Evelyn    : No need.

.. a while later..

Evelyn    : Daddy, where is the RM1?

Evan        : Oi! You said no need what??!!

Confirmation for Positions

Congratulations, Evan. You came back with these 2 confirmations: Head Monitor for the Board of Monitors and also on the school Editorial Board.

Looks like you have to spend a little more time in the mornings to pin these two badges on your uniform. But I guess you don't mind the badges over wearing a necktie. 

I'm glad that you have decided to take on some responsibilities in school. Hope that you enjoy your Year 10 experience on top of the jobs for these positions. 

An Extra Day off

Today is a replacement public holiday. As daddy did not have any golf plans, we planned to have brunch in one of our favourite cafes. Our first priority was Chapel Street cafe. And as luck would have it, when I tried calling the second time, they picked up the call and even accepted my reservation. Yay!

We ended up arriving a little earlier which was a good thing as it was packed and lunch was quite slow. Ko-ko had plans to meet up with his friends at 1pm. It started to rain just as we were served our food.

As we had ample time, we took a slow lunch and daddy had a second cup of coffee while Mei-mei had some ice-cream. 

Here you are showing off your "brown" tongue:

We then dropped Ko-ko at Penang Bowl and since you still wanted to go kai-kai, we tried our luck with Gurney Plaza.

The queue to the carpark (as expected) was sooooooooo long. But luckily the carpark in G Hotel (which is under renovation) was still open to parking. So we managed to easily get a slot to park in there.

We bought you a new swimsuit (so that you can start learning swimming soon). We also picked up some groceries then headed home.

It was such a long day, that I'd forgotten that it was Monday and you had tuition. So I had to call you Madam Heah and apologize for having to cancel (yet again). 

Daddy and I had to go out again later to pick up Ko-ko and his friend. What a long, long day. 

Double Jabs

Based on your appointment, you were due for the IMOJEV booster. But when we went in today, you were informed that you needed two jabs: IMOJEV and Flu shot. 

So again, you got two jabs, one on each arm.

We even laughed that you were so "lucky" to be given a cute plaster to cover your jab!

Happy Birthday Nanna

Due to "popular" request, Grampy and Nanna cooked "seh jit mee" aka "birthday noodles" for this year's celebration. 

Grampy cooked the soup and we brought over the fried eggs which both Ko-ko and daddy fried. Then while daddy and I were busy fixing the rails in the bathrooms, I set the two of you to help cut up stuff. Mei-mei cut the eggs (really THICK strips) while Ko-ko cut the pork (and his finger too!). 

After daddy finally fixed the rails in all 3 bathrooms and had his shower, it was dinnertime. Wow! It feels like it has been a long time since we all enjoyed the seh jit mee. 

After washing up, we had some fruits before it was time for the birthday cake. We had a rude surprise when Ee-ee opened up the cake box. All the mangoes on top of the cake and slid off into the box. Some of the ladies fingers had also broken! Ko-ko helped to heap them back on the cake, and rotate the "Happy Birthday" sign so that we get a nice shot of the unbroken ladies fingers.
First on the sofa was Riley! She knew what was coming.  

Family picture

Nanna with Grampy and Riley

Teacher's Day 2022

Today is Teacher's Day. For many days leading to this day, you had planned on the gifts for the teachers. This is what we made. Home decorated plant pots with the spider plants, which had babies (a couple of months back).

While waiting to be repotted, I had left the babies with the main plant, but it seemed to be lacking nutrients, so I had to cut them and place them in water to root. 

Painting the pots. You later added your name to the pot

Spraying a top coat to protect the acrylic paint

All drying out 

You made the labels and clipped them to be given to the teachers

Dressed as a teacher, complete with a General Knowledge book. You said you'll wear this floral dress, just like Miss Rathna your BM teacher. 

And of course, of all days, it just had to rain HEAVILY today just before school drop off! Daddy said the coastal highway was flooded. Daddy planned to help you take down the 11 pots of plants, but in the end Mr. Wil said he'd help you bring it to class. But since Mr. Wil was busy you later told me that you went down to take the second bag, ended up having to run an errand before bringing up the second bag of pots. 

Miss Anna also sent me a picture of you in classes. I think it's during German Language CCA. 

Painful finger

 
Hurt my finger today. While I was struggling to put on my jeans to get ready to work, my nails decided to bend backwards. It started bleeding and daddy had to put on gauze with tape to stop the bleeding.

When I got back from the gym today, my little precious asked if it still hurt and even gave my finger a kiss to make it better. 

Mother's Day

Today I decided to cook Japchae since you all like it so much. Evan came to wish me while I was cooking, he also got to taste test the noodles for doneness.

As for Mei-mei, you decided to wish me as I was washing up. You even tried to give me your handmade heart. I asked you to put it with the Japchae recipe since my hands were wet.

Later on, I realised that you put it on the dining table with the Japchae instead of with my recipe. You told me that you could not find the recipe, so you put it with the noodles. *lol*

You even told me that you wanted to make a heart with a message, but thought that one of that design would most likely be too complicated, so you folded the origami heart which you already know how to do, cut it into half and stuck on the message. Creative.. 

Thank you both for making me a mummy. Love you loads.