Moral supporter

April's mid year exam will be here soon, in less than 2 weeks time. Other than revision, tuition and homework, April is also working on some past years exam papers. We believe that more hand on practices are beneficial than reading alone.

While April is working hard on the test papers, she wants me to accompany her to provide her some mental and moral support.

Whenever I went into April's study room to accompany her, my "kay poh chi" would be following too. However, she dared not go near her tigress jie jie, she would just stand  far far away to watch her jie jie doing work. She in fact a very good moral supporter. When I praised her jie jie, she would clap her hands . When I scolded her jie jie, she looked very concern.

Something about Yan

After reading something about Mommy to Chumsy, I want to do something about myself too.

Making : effort to be a better mummy, better wife, and better person.
Cooking : soup every weekend for my family.
Drinking : a lot of fluid to stay slim.
Reading : bedtime stories every night to my daughters.
Wanting : a baby, but having too many concerns.
Looking : forwards to weekends on weekdays.
Playing : the role as a full time working mother ain't easy.
Wishing : for good health for my loved ones and myself.
Enjoying : watching TVB dramas, and movies very much.
Waiting : is always tiring, so I am waiting for nothing.
Liking :  good looking and tall men like Leon Lai.
Wondering : how to get enough sleep.
Loving : my daughters and my husband very much.
Hoping : to lose 4 kg.
Marveling : at Kate Middleton, the princess life after the Royal Wedding on 29 April 2011.
Needing : to exercise more to shed fat I accumulated due to greediness.
Smelling : nice is so feminine.
Wearing : uniform to work every day, except Saturday.
Following : news, FB status and blogs that I like every day.
Noticing : my weight gained, when I have a hard time buckle my pants.
Learning : line dancing is so fun.
Thinking : of sleeping early every night, but always fail.
Bookmarking : my menses days.
Giggling : when hearing my two daughters' funny conversation with their father.
Feeling : sleepy and tired every day.
 
I hope by now, you should have known me better.

King again

Saturday evening, I went online to check my email as usual, at the same time read new comments on my blog. My little May and April were just clinging on me.

My little May happened to see the picture of 'king' in this entry. I waited to see her reaction.

As  per what I expected, she said immediately, "KING!".

I said, "May, I told you already, he is not king, why you always say he is king?"

She said, "是king 啦！I saw him holding the gate of the mansion........."

OMG! Tak boleh tahan. She still insists that he is king.

I wanted her to open her eyes as big as possible, as I really adored her big round eyes. Just for your information, her big round eyes are not inherited from my husband, nor me.

p/s: To answer Yvonne's question in the comment,

April asked, "Mummy, why mei mei said he is king?"

I said, "You ask her tonight during your pillow talk."

Old and new handbags

I am not a shoes lover, nor a bag lover. I am a clothes, especially pajamas lover actually. I don't own many bags and shoes. My Coach bag that I mentioned here, still doesn't have the chance to meet the sun and the moon. I seldom take bag with me when I go out alone, as I afraid of snatch thieves. I carry my bag only when we go for dining, as I need to bring water tumbler, tissue paper, hand sanitizer, and mosquitoes rebellion for my children.

My MIL is a bag lover. She would buy bags every time she went travelling to other places. Despite of owning many bag herself and she didn't want any for herself, she still bought bag. She bought bags for me and my daughters.

This is the bag she bought for me as souvenir from her Sabah trip, a few years ago. Though I have used it for many years, it is still in good condition.

This is the bag she bought for me from her most recent Hadyai trip this year.
She bought 1 bag for me and 2 sling bags for my girls from her China trip last year.
She bought 2 sling bags from her China trip the year before last year for my girls also.

Although the bags are only handcraft products, and they are not Gucci, LV, Prada or any other designer brands, I still like them very much. I am very thankful to my MIL. The bag always reminded me that she was thinking of us when she was out of home.

Under the mango tree

Malaysia mangoes are in season now. My family has taken more than a dozen of mangoes in the past one week. 

These may be the best one I have ever eaten in this year. The fruit vendor chastised me for squeezing a mango to test for ripeness, when I complained to him that the mangoes which I bought the day before were sour.  

Seeing so many mangoes in my refrigerator, I started to miss my favourite mangoes pudding. This time I wanted to make the pudding all by myself  without the mess help from my girls. They have too many activities outside, and  also I have limited time at home. So, when they were not around, I got all the ingredients back home, made the pudding and kept in the refrigerator.

While waiting for the pudding to turn chill, and there was still 1.5 hours to kill before the kids came back, I still could catch up  a movie of Andy Lau and Gong Li through PPS.  

Easy steps to make mangoes pudding.

1. Mix 80g sugar, half can of evaporated cream milk and 1500ml water, stir well and bring to boil till sugar dissolves in water.
2. Off the fire, add in half pack of pudding and half pack of jelly powder , stir for 5 minutes. Keep aside.
3. Cut mango into cubes, and put mango cubes in a desired shape mould.
4. Pour the mixture into the mould.
5. Chill well and serve.

p/s: Do not remove pudding from mould, before you serve. This is to prevent pudding becomes too watery.

Mango is rich in amino acids, vitamin C and E, flavonoids, beta carotene, niacin, calcium, iron, magnesium and potassium.

Below are the Top Ten health and nutrition benefits of eating mangoes:

1.Anti cancer.
2.Eye health.
3.Helps in digestion.
4.Benefits to skin.
5.Helps in diabetes.
6.For better sex.
7.Beneficial for anemia.
8.Boost memory.
9.Avoid heat stroke.
10.Weight gain.

Mangoes can be eaten both raw and ripe. Mangoes are a good source of vitamins and minerals essential for the human body. Always have mangoes in your daily diet as this can benefit your health more than you usual non fiber diet.

Read more: http://www.lifemojo.com/lifestyle/top-10-health-benefits-of-mangoes-23759891#ixzz1KJhCdHc1
 
p/s: I like the first 9 benefits of mangoes, but I hate the number 10.

Supper snacks 2

My girls and also my husband favourite snack for supper can be get from Pasar Malam too,  in Hokkein, we called it ban chan kuih, in Mandarin is 曼煎糕, in Malay is called Apam Balik. I am not too sure what it called in English.

There are 2 stalls selling Ban Chan Kuih in Pasar Malam at our place. I like to go to the lady who makes the ban chan kuih with "pandan" batter, which has very thick peanut filling.

I tell ya! I had to queue up when buying these ban chan kuih. I would sometime pre-order  it earlier, and collected it before the pasar malam ended, so that I could get the fresh from pan supper for my girls.

April was trying to break her record. The ban chan kuih on her hand was the 3rd piece already. 

Little May is a smaller eater, she also took her 2nd piece of ban chan kuih already.

April wanted to go for the 4th piece, but she could only take 2 bites then she gave up already, as she was really too full. She told me her stomach was pain and she wanted to poo already.

I blogged about my kids other supper snacks here.

The King is here

Sunday, I went for hiking at Second Emperor Hill (二皇山) with my little May again. I mentioned about our first time there 2 weeks ago. On the previous visit, I have told my little May that this place called "二皇山". When we saw the heritage mansion on top of the hill, I also told her that this was the lodging for the King last time.

When we were on the way to hiking on Sunday, she said to me that she saw the King. I was puzzled, but not asking more information.

Second time there with my little May. While we held hands and walked slowly up the hill, my little May exclaimed suddenly, "Mummy, 我又看到King 了, 在那边。"  (Mummy, I saw the King again, there.)

When I looked at the direction that she pointed, I couldn't help chuckling to myself. I quickly took out my camera phone to snap this picture.

You must be wondering why she said this old Indian man is a king, right?

She saw this old man holding the gate on our previous visit, she thought that he was going into the mansion later. In addition, he always has someone escorted him by holding his hand while walking.

Actually, this old man held to the gate to ease him doing some leg exercises only. Kekekeke! My little May is so naive, and she made my day with this very cute joke on Sunday morning.

4 and half days

I will be temporary off from the manufacture work, and be a temporary home maker.

Start from this afternoon, I will leave my work station and return only on Wednesday.

This afternoon, I have a plan date with my husband for the movie -The Ghost must be crazy (鬼也笑) 2011, which Hayley had watched. It is time to hold hands again and rekindle that fire like what Eugene reminded.

MIL will go for a short trip with friends on Saturday, it is time for me spend more time with my children while taking care of them.

It has been quite some time that I didn't send my younger, 5 years old May to her kindergarten. It is time to catch up with her teacher on her progress in school. She is very happy to know that I am going to send her to her kindergarten on Monday. She said that her classmates are interested to know her mother.

I am quite worn out, since coming back from the holidays in Vietnam  and went back straight to work. It is time for me to catch up more shut eyes on the long weekend.

Folks, wish you have a wonderful weekend.

Supper snacks

When my girls came back from their enrichment classes or tuitions, they would ask for supper. They both are taking 1 feeding of milk before bedtime only. Nowadays a glass of milk isn't enough to quench their hunger anymore. They need more than that. So, I will either give them bread or biscuit to go with the milk. Some time I will cook them dry instant noodle too.

When it is a 'Pasar Malam' day, they can have more choices for supper.

This evening, Little May had her most favourite Nyonya Kueh, 2 pieces of Seseme Rice ball (煎堆), 2 pieces of 'Putu Mayong' with coconut floss and brown sugar.

Whereas, April had one piece of 9 layer kueh (九层糕, Kuih Lapis), one piece of Seseme Rice ball (煎堆) and 2 pieces of 'putu mayong'. One Malaysia supper for my kids. lol!

Although my kids used to be hungry coming back from activities, taking supper and going to bed straight, they didn't seem to gain a lot of weight. I wonder why.

Do your children take supper? What do they normally eat for supper?

I could have danced

I picked up line dancing since November last year. Since then, I develop strong interest in this activity. Other than line dancing, I also join Yoga and Aerobics classes, but I find that I have the greatest passion in line dancing.

While I dance, I enjoy the song at the same time. So far, I have learned more then 15 songs. The songs included Chinese oldies songs, English oldies songs, Chinese pop songs and English pop songs. I tend to skip the Yoga and Aerobics lessons, but I never want to miss any Line Dance lesson. If I didn't go for 1 week, I felt so tough for me to pick up the dance.

These are my line dance members. I get to know many new friends from all walk of life through this activity. Some of them are teachers, some of them are house wives, some of them are business women and some of them are working mothers like me too.

I look forwards to my line dance class, as I am excited to learn new dance every week. I am now learning to sway as graceful as possible, and enjoy the song like nobody is watching me (as nobody wants to watch a 'kayu' dancing).

Music for Little Mozarts Level 1

It has been a while that I last updated about my 5 years old, Little May. These pictures were taken on the 6th lesson of Music for Little Mozarts Level 1.

1. Lesson started with Hello Song. Students need to bring along  their two music friends toys, Mozart Mouse and Beethoven Bear while singing this song. There are actually 4 in the class, but 2 were absent on that day.

 2. Flip to open the lesson book and get ready to practise some songs, which they have learned in previous lessons.

 3. Practise walking on the black keys with right hand.

4. Follow by walking with left hand.

 5. Teacher did some fun action songs in between the lesson. They were doing Mexican Hat dance.

 6. The students were doing the Finger song.

 7. The 6th lesson, Little May has started to use both hands on key board.

 8. Teacher praised May for curving her hands nicely.

 9. The lesson was ended with Good Bye song.

 10. Back home. Little May would do the Music lesson homework immediately. The homework is mostly to colour the musical notes and keys.

Since the lesson needs parent to sit next to the kid, I was there with her for 6 x 60 minutes already. I am a person who actually know nothing about music, now forced to learn some simple notes, keys and names of some musical instruments. Guess, I am not too old to acquire new knowledge, and excel together with my Little May.

April's 7th Birthday Celebration

Exactly at 12 am on 10 April 2011, I wished April a Happy Birthday, and followed by her sister, May.

April was also greeted by her Papa through phone.

Their conversation is like as below,

April,"Papa, do you know what is the date now?"

Papa (acted blurr), "10 April. Why?"

April, "10 April, you don't know what day!"

Papa, "Hehehe! I know la! Happy Birthday to you, Big Sister."

April was happy.

Before we went to bed, she managed to read  Mummy Moon  and Uncle Pete's birthday wishes to her.

April was happy.

April had to go to tuition on Sunday morning, and papa wasn't available in the evening. So, we went for a very humble lunch at Hotel Panorama to celebrate our sweet heart's 7th Birthday. She got her present, a toy piano from us one day earlier. April was happy

Coming back from the celebration, she read Aunty Anggie, Aunty HL and Hayley's birthday wishes to her.
April was happy.

Today, I am going to show all Aunties and Uncles' birthday wishes to her. April will be happy again.

Thanks everyone for your birhtday wishes to my Princess April.

Princess April is 7 years old today

Today is Princess April's 7 years old Birthday, and of course I want to write something about her.

My girls have started to sleep in their own bedroom since 2 years ago, but they are allowed to come and stay with us in our bedroom on Saturday night only. Recently, my Little May refuses to sleep on the extra mattress on the floor in our bedroom. She prefers to sleep on her own bed. My husband and I have no choice, but to split on Saturday. He is sleeping with my Little May in the children's bedroom, and I sleep with April in the master bedroom.

I enjoy the one to one time with my precious first born on all the Saturday nights. When my husband and Little May went back to their bed, April would offer me a full body massage. She acted as if she was a pro. She asked me to relax myself on the bed and dimmed the light. She covered my lower part body with the blanket. Then, she started massaging my head and my hands. When reaching my tummy, she rubbed her both palms with some black color Chinese medicated ointment (Minyak Angin),  and only rubbed her palms on my belly. She would do the same for my back. After she has done with the massage, she pressed my tube of cocoa butter body lotion out and apply on my foot, then hands. Before she turned off her side table lamp, she reminded  me to stay in bed and sleep. She didn't allow me to stand up and walk some more. Even when I felt like going to pee, I have to wait until she has fallen asleep, then only tipped  my toes to the toilet.

We would some time chat for a while before she dozed off completely. She would tell me things that happened in her day or in the school. She would talk and talk until she forget the time, and I need to remind her to sleep.

Kids being kids, there was time April was misbehaved, and get punished as well. She was reprimanded by her beloved father to mop the floor after her bath, as she playfully splashed a lot of soup water out from the bath room and caused the kitchen nearly flooded.

Princess April is a vain pot too. She would ask me to tie her a bun or a pleat, whenever she was out for activities or tuitions.

Most of the time, she is a darling to me, and I am blessed for having her as my precious baby.

I want to wish my Princess April a Happy 7th Birthday. 
May you stay healthy, happy, pretty and sweet always and forever. I am always love you.

p/s: April brought this home from her most recent Art class. 大宝贝，妈妈超爱你的作品，你要继续努力。

Handmade Mother's Day Card

As promise, I am going to share with you April's handmade Mother's Day card. After making the first Teacher's Day card, both April and me were really motivated in the second card. I decided to do the pop up flower card. I printed 2 pictures on card stocks from this website. Then, I helped April cut and paste the pop up flower on the card.

April wrote short greetings on stick on notes, which later she pasted on the card.

April decorated the Mother's Day card with craft papers.

Ta da....Seriously, I don't know whether this is a carnation or lotus flower.

Last step, April wrote the Mother's Day greetings again inside the card. 

This was cover of the Mother's Day card. April drew a portrait of me. So cute looking mummy *blush*.

In case you find the curtain roof of the card familiar. It was actually the blouse that April wore in this picture.

I found the blouse was too small for April, and thought of dumping it. Thank Goodness I didn't. I cut out the plated part from the collar and used it as part of the decoration at the cover.

After doing these two cards, I have a few tips that I think is useful for your handmade card.

• Don't tear off the present papers next time you unwrap your presents, the used present paper can be recycled for making beautiful decoration.
• Before you dump your kids old pajamas and old clothes, remember to cut out the buttons, ribbons and plated parts, they can also be a good decoration in your cards.

Now, please tell me, which one is nicer, Teacher Day's card or Mother's Day card?

Handmade Teacher's Day Card

Let me share with you some remarks that my 7 years old, April ever made on me a few months ago. Her school was organizing a CNY songs singing contest. April who could sing My Astro/My FM CNY songs very well, didn't sign up for the contest. When I asked her why she didn't join? She said, "I am scared that you have no time to help me practising the song. You are so busy every time....".

Deep in my heart, I felt rather guilty. My girl has no trust on me in sparing her the time for practising the song. I assured her, "Whatever activity you want to take part, mummy will sure allocate time for me. I can take leaves from my work too, if necessary. "

Last week, April came back and told me that she wanted to take part in creating Teacher's Day card and Mother's day card. She also told me that her teacher was allowing them to source out from Internet for more  ideas.

Deep in my heart, I know I have got no talent in Art or Craft, but I am good in surfing net. lol! Then, I started to google for simpler and more creative handmade card design for April. Once, I got the idea, I gathered all the necessities ready.

Saturday, we have completed the Teacher's Day card, and Tuesday, we have completed the Mother's Day card.

April did most of the cut and paste work herself, and I was there to assist her only 

Things that I got for her were, ribbon, buttons, present paper, card stocks and some cute stick on notes.

The back of the Teacher Day's card.

The cover of the Teacher's Day card. Long champ design with Channel logo. Very expensive design. Kiahahaha!

The content of the Teacher Day's card.

I stole the idea from here. This was our first attempt in creating cards, I am sure we can do much better next time.

Coming up next is Handmade Mother's Day card.

Baby vegetables

I am glad that both my girls love fruits and vegetables. However, they are not eating every type of fruits, nor vegetables. They favourite only certain types.

I saw there were a lot of fresh cherry tomatoes and baby cucumbers at the vegetables stall on Friday Pasar Malam. I spent about RM7 on both of these vegetables, and my two princesses and me had a feast for 3 days.

Little May prefers baby cucumbers than cherry tomatoes. She claimed that cherry tomatoes are too sour for her liking.

April likes both of the vegetables. They took these for supper after coming back from the UCMas lessons.

They took these again on the next day after lunch.

Now I think of it, I should let them take more vegetables or fruits with empty stomach in the morning, so that their bodies can absorb most of the vitamins.
I must remember to stock up more of these baby vegetables in my fridge, since my princesses like them so much.