Happy Birthday Daddy

It looks like today is a whole-day celebration as the important man in our lives turns 43. First thing in the morning, we sent Evelyn for music lessons. Had to wake Ko-ko up and make sure that he is ready on time for us to pick her after lessons.

Then we headed to Chapel Street for lunch. We were so happy to get a parking slot right inside the shop, then it turned out to be full. It was a half an hour wait and Ko-ko was not game on waiting (he only had a glass of milk since he woke up). 

So we tried our luck at Kafka which was like a 5 minutes drive away. They had seats, but only tables for 2, so we split up and had our lunch there. While we were informed (by the bot) that it would be a 40 minute wait for the food, we were pleasantly surprised when the food arrived within 15-20 minutes. 

Only got this picture of my brunch

And my table-mate for brunch

Then we headed home for Evelyn to have her ballet while we sent Evan to guitar lessons. We had no place to go and did not want to have another cup of coffee. We finally ended up at Hillside and when we tried to sit at Ingolf's, we were told that they were already closed (it was only 2pm!!). Luck had it that we ended up in The Wine Shop. We had a beer and juice. And the seat that we picked was right next to this amazing Italian wine we had earlier this year when we went out to celebrate Ko-ko's birthday. So we obviously HAD to pick up.. TWO bottles of this wine *grin*

Dinner was.. The Wine Shop again. We were lucky to have gotten the low table which made it comfortable for Ah Ma, as compared to those high bar chairs. 

Our wine.. (this was the first bottle, which was a better pick than the second, more expensive bottle!)

Appetizer, which came later than our mains.. but it was delicious:

Our appetizers:

Yup, this obviously was Ko-ko's order

And the oldest and youngest in the family had this, with the mash exchanged for fries

Iberico Pork Collar

We went home to have cake.. which is a must. Weeks ahead I consulted the two of you and ended up with the passion fruit cake, while Mei-mei said she was happy not to have the cake, but when I picked up our cake today, I added a slice of strawberry cake so that she is not left out.

These were the card you received today:

Happy Birthday to our darling.. our hero.. the love of our lives.

Not Back to School

Tonight, I was busy chatting with one of the mother's from Mei-mei's year. She said that there is news of someone from school testing positive for Covid. I checked with Ko-ko as his homeroom teacher would usually update him. But no news. A few moments later, the mother confirmed with a school teacher.

And then the school sent out notification that SOMEONE had tested positive and so there would be no physical school on Monday and Tuesday. And since the both of you were in school last week, we decided to have the two of you tested. 

For Mei-mei, it's your first time and you had so much trouble trying to get enough saliva for the test. Haha.. after much encouragement, you finally managed to spit out enough to to fill to the minimum of the vial. Daddy then went downstairs to watch TV while we waited for the 15 minutes to be up. 

I told you to go to sleep first, but you looked worried and would not go to sleep. Once the time buzzed and it was a negative you were so happy and immediately went downstairs to tell daddy. Then you just popped into bed and instantly fell asleep.

As for Ko-ko, this is not your first time testing. You had done a test recently before you went over to your friend's house to play with other friends. 

Thankfully both are negative and we can now go to bed and have a good night's sleep.

Dried Scallops

A few weeks back when Ah Kong brought us out to buy lunch and milk, he suddenly asked while driving:

Ah Kong: Did you all buy dried scallops?

Mummy: What scallops?

Ah Kong: On the counter.

Me: No. Did mummy (Ah Ma) buy them?

Ah Kong: She said she didn't.

Me:... thinking..... Aiyo!!! They are not scallops! It's fudge!!!

*Laugh out loud!! (I think Ah Kong wasn't sure what we'd bought)

Here's the "scallops" we bought:

First Day in Physical School

Today the both of you return to physical school. The school had put a a lot of plans in preparation for the return of the students.

It was hard for you all to change back to this early morning schedule, waking up an extra hour earlier. In face, the both of you had problems going to bed a lot earlier than what you usually do for the past few months. 

Here are a few pictures I managed to take of the two of you before we loaded into daddy's car and headed to school:

As for my rascal Ko-ko, he would not co-operate with me to get a nice picture of him all ready for school (as usual..):

Refused to look up

The drop off at school was very smooth. Many teachers (and prefects) were on hand to guide the parents on the drop off locations. 

Hope that you both have a good first day back to school. 

Macaroni, Macaroni, Mac and Cheese

That is the song which is stuck in Ko-ko and my mind when we think of Mac 'n Cheese. The song is from one of the Barney and Friends episodes.

Our lunch of Mac 'n Cheese today is proudly made by Ko-ko.

Topped with cheese and panko.. ready to be baked

Ta-da.. a little one.. and yet Mei-mei could not finish this up

Buurppp... lunch was yummy.

Literature and Language Carnival

Yesterday evening, I found out that there was option to dress up as a storybook character for the event. And OBVIOUSLY, I did not have anything for you. 

You even asked me if there is any shop opened which would be able to send it over to us. Sigh.. 

In the end, we peeked into Pinterest and got the idea for Little Red Riding Hood. We first considered your red jacket.. but it didn't look good.

Then I tried to search for a red shawl, but it was missing. In the end, I recalled that we had a small throw blanket which used to be kept downstairs. A quick search for it, sewed it up a little because it's too long, then added some ribbons to the blanket and voila.. a red hood.

You added your "gypsy skirt" and a white blouse to it and we've got our Little Red Riding Hood. Also borrowed a basket from the kitchen and added a towel to "carry the food for grandma".

If you're wondering what "food" we had packed for Grandma, it was this:

You even said that there was no Turkey (it's Thanksgiving next week), so you were planning to bring this roast Teddy Bear to Grandma.

Rock Climbing

You met up with your cousins yesterday for Ian's 12th birthday. As usual whenever you meet up, there never seems to be enough time to spend together. So Abby suggested that you all go for rock climbing. Turns out the place is right behind us.. along Yeap Chor Ee.

So this morning, Ah Ma dropped you at Abby's house (don't know why.. since the place is nearer than their house...).

Later in the day, Aunty Amy sent me a picture of you climbing:

*The late night before (we reached home pass 12.30 am) and early morning along with this exercise left you so tired.. which was probably why you slept while Mei-mei and I decorated our tree.

Little Christmas Elves

We finally had the time to put up the Christmas tree. A little later than our usual EARLY November, but still early enough.

Daddy had brought up the tree on Saturday but we were too busy, with late golf game, ballet, dropping Ko-ko at Abby's house and a quick run for groceries and dinner for Ah Kong and Ah Ma. 

So today, he got the tree base and stem all set up and left to quickly finish some work, while the two of you put up the branches. You both agreed to have the colors blue, silver and white for this year.

When that was done, the 3 of us started to open the branches/leaves. Then the next job was mine; putting up the lights. Mei-mei helped me unravel the lights as we walked round and round the tree to put the lights on. We turned on the lights to make sure that they were all working and then moved on to the ornaments. We had to go through the ornaments to determine which would be allowed on the tree this year. 

While Mei-mei and I were putting up and arranging the ornaments, the other little elf decided to supervise us from the comfort of the sofa.. in dreamland!!!

And finally daddy made an appearance. He fixed up the wire and extension cords and put on the tree runner and finally the angel at the top of the tree:

Ta-da.. our Christmas tree is up!

Diwali Celebration in School

We were not sure if it would be today, per what was written in the calendar. So for the first lesson today, you attended in your school uniform. Then you said that it was to be today, during Chapel.

So during the break time, you changed into your lehenga (I had just sewn the hook while you were attending the first lesson). And we quickly went downstairs to have some pictures taken.

And back you went to attend English lessons. There were only a handful of your friends who dressed up. But I'm glad you did and joined in the fun to dress up.

Puppet Show

While we were doing your ICT assignment on Monday, I came across a conversation on Chat with your English teacher. It turned out that you had signed up for the Literature and Language festival to do a puppet show. But you did NOTHING on that and gave an excuse that you had too much homework.

I was so very disappointed. You had the whole week off and spent most of that time watching TV as we had cleared out most of the homework. 

When asked, you confirmed my suspicion that you did not plan to submit anymore since it was overdue. Which was why you did not mention a word to me. I was so disappointed in the lying.

So that very night, you had to sleep late as you had to prepare the puppets and props for the puppet show. We decided to use one of the stories you wrote for English with some tweaks. 

While you had classes yesterday, I painted the background so that it looked more colorful. 

We tried several rounds of recording and finally came up with quite a decent performance. I had to trim and combine some of the scenes and submit the video to your teacher. 

I hope this serves as a lesson to you for lying. 

Holiday Chef

Today is a public holiday (Deepavali). So our junior home chef decided that he would cook. Better yet, both Mei-mei and I would get to eat your cooking.

Ta-da.. Spaghetti Carbonara (whispers: and we get to use the new plates)

The day before, you had also cooked (YOUR OWN) lunch:

Lamb

Daddy and I had gone to Cold Storage and picked up a piece of chilled lamb. So you cooked that for yourself. Evelyn and daddy got to "taste test" your lamb. 

 

2021 Halloween

This year waaay before Halloween, you came up with the idea of making a "Spider" cake for Halloween. So I had enough time to buy all the ingredients we needed to make the spider.

In the afternoon, we made the brownie. While the brownie was baking, you made the eyes (only 6 as we ran out of melted white chocolate) and you joined the 2 Pocky sticks to make the legs. Put them on a baking sheet and on a tray then into the fridge to chill before the spider was to be served.

Putting on the legs

And now the eyes

Ta-da.. here is your Halloween Spider:

Cut up Spidey is served!

Visiting BM

We finally made a trip back to BM. The last time we went was in May just before the movement control came into effect. 

Nanna kept her promise and got you the clogs:

This trip, daddy was the chef for dinner. Grampy kept asking whether we needed his help to prepare dinner. He must have been wondering why we haven't started cooking when it was already 5.30pm!

When Ee-ee and Teo-teo arrived, we started the preparation... the appetizers. Daddy also cooked up the meat while I prepared the appetizers.

After eating the appetizers, we left the rest at the dinner table, while we prepared the main course: Spaghetti Carbonara. Oops.. I'd forgotten to take pictures. The only other picture I have is this; the other bottle of wine *grin

Children's Day Celebration

The school had notified us that there would be a virtual Children's Day celebration. As it was virtual, we were asked to focus on the upper body. So we planned in advance what you wanted to wear. You said that you wanted to be an air stewardess. 

We bought a scarf and a beret. Then you were going to wear Ko-ko's white shirt and vest. You did not seem to be really happy with the fact that the scare and beret were red but the vest was not red. 

For the past 2 days you had your hair in a pony tail with many little braids. Last night, Ko-ko suggested that you be Medusa.. I said that could be done. Although, deep in my heart I wondered if that was allowed. But you wanted to be painted green and it was too late to get green face paint. So we dropped that idea and decided to proceed with the air stewardess as planned.

This morning, I offered to have your hair made into a spider, which you agreed. So we quickly scrambled in search of black pipe cleaners (or else you'll have a spider with colourful legs). We found 7 black pipe cleaners.. so one leg had to be blue. It was hidden at the back of the head.

Tried searching for my roll up bun maker so that your bun would be bigger, but I must have (finally) thrown it away. Too bad. The normal bun maker would have to do. I rolled it up a bit looser so that it looks more puffy. And bent the pipe cleaners, and poked them into your bun (maybe made a few holes on your head too).

Ta-da...

Just on time before your first lesson (missing the eyes)

While you had lessons, I put the googly eyes on while paper to make the eyes bigger.

Stuck them on a black piece of cardboard and the cardboard on a hair clip.

And here is our little cutie spider

Daddy and I went out to Queensbay to buy lunch. We picked up Texas Chicken for the rest of us, while the child celebrating Children's Day had McDonald's which you enjoyed with the rest of your class. 

We set up the island all for you, turned on the air-con and had the iPad all ready for your lunch:

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.