Evan's Birthday Dinner

You didn't really make a fuss about not being able to go out for a birthday dinner. The initial plan was to have dinner in Tong Hoi when we went back to Ipoh for Cheng Beng. But the MCO threw a spanner into the works. And then the extension of the MCO didn't help the situation!

So daddy and I quietly planned to have a special dinner for you. Earlier in the week, I had already booked a birthday cake (and some extras for the house). We had a backup plan which was to have Spaghetti Marinara. On Friday, daddy headed to Mercato to see if he could pick up a good piece of beef. And he did! He managed to get a 2.5kg piece of beef. So he proceeded to buy all the extras we needed for the BBQ dinner. 

On Saturday, Ah Ma went to the market and they had LARGE tiger prawns. So a feast it was, for your birthday. 

Steaks on the super hot grill 

Prawns 

Our dinner spread 

Soup (lobster bisque)with garlic bread

The steaks.. they were cooked to perfection 

Grilled prawns 

Our dinner: Steaks, prawns and vegetables

Enjoying the feast 

Posing with her soup 

The Noisette cake from Mon Delice 

Ko-ko asked Evelyn to stand with him as we sang him the song 

Close up of the birthday boy 

Cutting the cake. Did you make a wish? 

A family photo

We all enjoyed the cake a long with a little fruit tart each.
Mei-mei was very happy today too as she's been wearing t-shirt and shorts for the whole week. And when I told her to pick a pretty dress, she picked this sparkly dress to wear to the "party".

As we couldn't go out to get any presents, she made him a card:

Happy Birthday, Our Precious Evan

Happy birthday to our precious first born. 

Time sure flies.. and you are now 14 years old. Our wish for you is that you always be blessed with the best things life can give you.

Loads of love from Mei-mei, Daddy and Mummy. 

Google 3D

Was browsing Facebook when I saw a parent sharing about using the Google search engine to view 3D animals.
So we had some fun with the animals we could find:

Evelyn with her pug (nope.. she's not allergic to this doggy) 

Ooo... a Giant Panda 

Awww.. a hedgehog which doesn't poke 

Aiiiiii... hedgehog! 

Can you guess what this is? A bear's bum bum!!

Craft Time

One of the books you had picked for reading on LitPro had instructions on making a "rain stick". So 

after "work" and a quick workout session for mummy, we both spent some time together to make our "rain stick".

We gathered our materials. Today we used recycled items: toilet paper roll and old magazine. 

These are our materials

It was a quick craft. We picked the page which had Mulan for our rain stick, cut the needed pieces of paper and sealed one side. Before closing it up, we filled it with some rice and bits of rolled up aluminium foil.
And ta-da.. here are our Mulan themed rain sticks.

Day 8: Last Mummy School day for the week

We started with BM. Miss Daranee had provided us with the PowerPoint slides on the topic "Pola Ayat". It was filled with examples and another link which had more examples. Took me some time to get it in order to explain it to you. It's not something easy, as you barely use BM other than during classes. I think we really need to do more on this language.

Then we moved on to some homework for BM. As it was still quite early, we completed LitPro for the day before break time. 

Next came the slides from Miss Wong for Geography. She had even prepared several versions of the slides, including explanations for the teacher/parents. 

The lesson for the day was on our 5 senses. And Geography lesson finished off with you classifying items into the 5 senses.

As it was the end of the week and we still had 1 last item pending. It was to prepare a book review for Miss Beatrice. This was to be a video recording. In preparation, I wrote down the things you needed to say about the book.
It was a quick/fun session. And school's out for the week! 

Day 7: Home School

We started the day with ICT. Mr. John had provided a rather long list of links which mainly had videos explaining ICT stuff from computer parts to Microsoft applications. Unfortunately, it was rather difficult for you to understand. We did not manage to complete the very long list. I did try to explain some of the Excel usages. But I'm not sure how much you got from that. 

Then we continued with LitPro before having a break for the day. Ko-ko had no morning classes. Only one at 12.30. 

In the afternoon, we went through Adjectives for English. The teachers have really put in a lot of effort to make the classes interesting, with videos, animations and sounds. 

 Here is your first work for the day:

Describing the monster with the provided adjectives

Then we moved on to the next work:

Using the sheet provided by the teacher to roll the dice and create a monster. 

Mr. John updated the work for the day with something light where you were given a link to do some coloring online.
And then the day is done. 

Day 6: Mummy School

The morning session for the day started with Mathematics. After a quick review of the last lesson on length, we moved on to Mass. 

After the work was done, it was submitted to Miss Kavetha for marking. 

The afternoon session was a fun project for Art. It was "food art". After reviewing the instructions and examples provided by Miss Shirley, we went down to search for your "art materials" from the fridge. 

Looking at the yummy examples

Posing with the materials 

Working on her artwork

"Cleaning up" after art lessons

The lesson was completed after we had made a video and answering some of the questions prepared in the slides and submitting them via Class Dojo.
Finally we finished up with the LitPro and we were done for the day.

Card Games

We had 3 sets of these old-time card games: Old Maid, Happy Family and Snap. We had brought back 2 sets to Ipoh during Chinese New Year and left them there for your cousins to play with.
Luckily we still have Snap. So some nights (you have been banned from devices after 8pm) we play with this cards. We even improvised and played, matching games (covering them and flipping 2 cards to make a pair) and Happy Family (getting all 4 cards in a set).
Looks like when this Movement Control Order is over we will need to hop over to Popular to buy a few sets of these games. 

Day 5: Home School

Today Ko-ko has 2 lessons, one in the morning and another in the afternoon (BM and Maths). Looks like he's done for today again. Not sure if he's all caught up on his homework.
Mei-mei had these for today:
1. Mandarin: Mr Lim provided the work yesterday. He had scanned and provided the explanations along with the sound file for the YCT books. Fortunately, he also scanned the homework from the YCT workbook. Your books was not brought home, probably because you did not go to school on Tuesday before MCO.

2. History: Miss Janice provided a PowerPoint presentation today. Today's lesson is on Portraits. Before the lesson started, we had a little fun task which was to make a drawing based on the description given. Then we finished off with the work in the Workbook.

Evelyn laughing at the dancing bear at the start of the slideshow

3. LitPro: Miss Beatrice had provided quite a lot of books for you to pick from. Some are longer and some shorter. Today you picked 1 about Panda and another about Getting Help. 

We're done for today, but there are some additional work which we need to complete. Hopefully we will be able to finish the day earlier tomorrow so that we can catch up on the work. We probably need to start "Mummy School" earlier at 9am.

Day 4: Home Studies

The day started earlier for Ko-ko. He had to be up to eat breakfast and shower before his Science lesson started. It was only for an hour, but he has other homework to complete too. He's all caught up for the day.
As for Mei-mei, today we had:
1. Science: All about the sun and the moon and Earth. Miss Janice had prepared the slides and also provided a link to learn and visualize the linkage between the Earth, Moon and Sun and how they rotate.
2. Music: Miss Gloria also provided us with slides on the lesson for the day. It was on the body percussion followed by some YouTube videos on how to make sounds with our body. The last part of Music lesson was on Music Hand Sign. We had to learn all the signs for Do till Ti and then follow one of the videos with the correct hand signs. Homework to submit was a video of you following the music with the hand signs. Phew... this took MANY rounds before we finally made it.

3. LitPro: This is a daily requirement. To read at least 2 books. Well so far your reading has not exceeded 2 books. You also need to submit a reading journal to Miss Beatrice. She created an online form to submit all the information.
At last.. lessons are done for today. And it's only the first day of the school week *sweating*

#Poop

The image says it all! Imagine this 7 year-old also knows how to use "Hashtag"!!

Pancake for Brunch

This was our Sunday brunch. I made 3x portion and yet it was all gone in a jiffy. Took Evan and I longer to prepare and fry than for it to be eaten.
But I'm glad everyone enjoyed it. Something different for the day. We had loads of fruits to go with our pancake. 

Day 3: Home Studies

As with the past 2 days I tried to make it consistent that you start "Mummy's School" at 9.30am. While waiting for "school to start, you played Snap with your toys:

Then, it was time to start school. Today we started with Bahasa Melayu. Miss Daranee had prepared slides on Tanda Baca. As the homework was just a little bit, I found some additional practice for you online.

Lunch/afternoon break starts from the time you finish the session for the first subject.
After lunch, at 1pm, we started the second subject for the day. For today it is Geography. It was a continuation from the lessons you had on Monday. So all you needed was a piece of paper and to make a brochure. You picked Japan and explained why you love to visit Japan and why your friends should also visit Japan during Sakura season.
Phew! We're done for this week. 

Day 2: Home Studies

Mei-mei's teachers had given the homework the day before on Class Dojo. For English, your teacher had put the lesson on a Power Point slide and you had fun reading and understanding rhyming words.
Then we downloaded the PDF exercise and after completing it, we posted it back on your student's account on Class Dojo.
The afternoon session was spent doing the 2 reading for LitPro and followed by ICT where your task after watching a video instruction was to insert and resize a logo into a brochure.
"Mummy's School" ended at 3pm.
Ko-ko on the other hand spent some time reading (I'm not too sure for how long) and then he was mooching around his room, being a slug. 

Day 1: Home Studies

Today marks the first day of studying at home. Mei-mei's class teachers had already allocated the work based on the subjects provided by Madam Julia. 

We started the day at around 9.30 am. I bought up the little writing table into our room so that I can teach and guide you while you did your homework

Today's subjects are:

1. Maths: Good thing our printer is now hooked up to the new internet and so I could print the worksheet. There was also work to do from your school workbook.

2. Art: Your teacher had even provided a PowerPoint slide on insects and given very clear instructions on what needs to be done. It took you a while to gather your stuff and finally coming up with a ladybug.

3. Reading: Your English teacher said that you'll need to read 2 books from LitPro daily and send a summary report to her. So you picked the two books and the day is finally done. 

Your Maths teacher also shared a YouTube link on the 4 times table song.

Phew.. one day down, so many more days to go!!

Ko-ko on the other hand would only start lessons from next week onwards. But after MANY reminders, he finally sat down to finish up his homework from this week's lessons. His school email account has been set up and soon he will need to install Microsoft Teams too. 

School Runner

You have been training hard, staying back 3-4 times a week after school to train with your friends. And finally, "The Day" arrived. Last week, you participated in the MSSPP 1,500 meter run. It was supposed to start at 4.55 and I had arrived after 5, but turned out it was delayed, so I got to watch you run. It wasn't easy, but you did well as you even managed to overtake one of the runners, even though you ended up third last. But hey.. the other runners sure had long legs. 

This week, you took part in the 4 x 100m with your friends on Tuesday morning and even managed to get into the finals. You boys had to head back to the stadium in the afternoon to run again. Yesterday, you took part in the 4 x 400m. We had arrived a little late and just missed you boys running this event.
We're proud of you for taking part in these event. Great job, Evan.

Ballet Exams are Coming (PID)

As with last year, the parents were given an opportunity to view our little ballerinas practice for the upcoming exams. While the teacher had mentioned that you may not be able to take the exams this year, you finally put in more effort and was allowed to take the exams.
You did well. Just being cheeky as usual when you were waiting at the side for your turn.

Good luck in your exam, sweetie.

Report Card Day

It is report card day again. I had to see teachers by myself as daddy was busy. He dropped me off at school and went park in a shady area to continue working while waiting for me.

I first went to the Multi-Purpose Hall to collect Mei-mei's report card. I got to take the exam papers and got my number. Turned out that there were 3 more people ahead of me. So I decided to head over the the Chapel to see the situation with the secondary side. I got to collect your results and then had to pick a time to see the teacher. Turned out that parents spent more than 5 minutes and I wasn't too sure who is the person before me. So I gave up and headed back to the MPH.

There I found out that there was still 2 ahead of me and they were taking a L-O-N-G time speaking to Miss Beatrice. I wandered around and spoke to your Mandarin teacher. He was a nice man and I managed to find out more on how he teaches you kids while also incorporating ICT into the lessons. I had no time to speak to your BM teacher (seeing your atrocious results). She was a new teacher as the previous teacher had already left. Then it was my turn to speak to Miss Beatrice... finally! 

She said that you did ok. Very helpful, just that you take a long time to settle down for lessons. Um.. ok. As expected. But overall feedback was ok for you.

Then I headed back to the Chapel again. Mr. Lew was still busy so I spoke to the Geography teacher to understand how you could not do well as I was well aware that you had studied hard and could remember a lot of the contents of the text book. I also spoke to the ICT teacher and she gave me some information and why you may have not done well and also how you seem to prefer hands-on work. I finally got to speak to Mr. Lew and seems that you will need to read more and be more adventurous in your essays. 

Phew.. all is done and daddy had just finish up too. 

So we needed to de-stress (yeah yeah.. any excuse will do). We ended up in the Wine Shop.. to mark the end of the week. 

Happy Birthday, Grampy

It's Grampy's birthday. So we headed back to BM to have dinner together and of course to have cake. We picked up the cake from our new to-go shop nearby, Jasmine Cake House. Mei-mei helped to pick the flavour.

The two oldies 

Helping to cut the cake as Riley looks and drools 

Grandkids with Nanna and Grampy

 Of course, my very artistic kids made personalized birthday cards for Grampy. They look amazing!

 Mei-mei learned how to fold this card from YouTube.

Happy Birthday, Grampy.