House of Wong

Gathering with my buddies in Jul 2010

2010-07-29T02:16:00.001-07:00

Had a gathering with lovely buddies for Ah hua & my birthday. We went to the Spanish restaurant for lunch but forgot to take pic there. After a satisfying meal, we proceeded to a cafe for coffee.

Riming's birthday Jul 2010

2010-07-29T02:07:00.000-07:00

Got a Bally casual belt for hubby. Took half-day leave to celebrate hubby's birthday at PS cafe. Great ambience. Guess who we met, Sun Yan Zi sitting across next table.

I prepared a home-made cheese cake for hubby too. Kids helped to decorate the cake with strawberries.

Birthday pressie

Nice Lunch

Home-made cheese cake

Ryan's concert - Book 2

2010-07-29T01:57:00.000-07:00

It's time again for Ryan's YJC concert, a test of book 2! This time round, teacher requested them to play solo.
Sarah missed the fun as she was not well.

June holidays at Genting

2010-07-29T01:50:00.000-07:00

We had a 3 days 2 nights at Genting with Ah gong & Ah ma. They took the opportunity to catch Fei Yu Qin's concert.

A good short getaway for the kids.

Sarah's new hairstyle in May 2010

2010-07-29T01:37:00.000-07:00

Sarah seems to have a messy look most of the time due to her curly hair. She does not like to tie up her hair so we decided to bring her for a hair cut. She said she wants to look like Dora. So here it goes....
Before

After

Ryan is 5 yrs old - 6 June

2010-07-29T01:20:00.000-07:00

Oops, mummy is back-dating the post again.
Hooray, Ryan has turned 5 yrs old. We celebrated his birthday in school before June holidays commenced.

Ordered cupcakes for his friends and also another 1kg cake so that he can share with his teachers and also Sarah's peers.

They had lots of fun!!!

On the actual day of his birthday, we brought him to Dan Ryans for a hearty dinner.

What do I get for this year's Valentine?

2010-02-22T23:31:00.000-08:00

Hmmmm, a bouquet of red roses, a Fendi cross sling bag and apple i-phone.
Thanks B for the lovely gifts, Muak.... Most importantly is your shower of LOVE.... to me and the kids, thanks!!!

What is my New Year Resolution?

2010-02-22T23:04:00.000-08:00

I need to be HEALTHY again. Yes, been healthy is a priceless asset, a belief I always have.

I haven't been healthy lately. Been falling sick almost once a month. Have been taking antibiotics these few months due to throat infection. Even when doctor sees me, he will ask ' What has happened to you?' 'Did you have enough rest lately?'

It started with the chain of pilot plant sessions. After my 2nd last pilot plant lab for the semester, I was down with throat infection. Before I could recover, the next session comes on.....

This semester is super hectic for me too. Lesson loading is heavy with minimal lesson preparation time. I have to use alot of my vocal and till today, I know that I am not using the right technique and thus resulted in repeated episodes of throat infection.

Stress level is nothing compared to what I was exposed in EM. However, I seem to be more weak now.

Is it age or is it my job? I suppose that this job has given me unknowingly mental stress??? The tasks are not difficult but there is just too many administrative work to do apart from routine teaching load.

Looking back, when I was so stressed and busy at EM, I do not recall myself falling sick as frequent like this. With the change of this job, I can have dinner on time, can go to bed at 10pm, so what is wrong? I even pick up jogging again....

Well, I need to stay mentally positive and maintain a healthy lifestyle.

大年初一，拍个全家福！！！

2010-02-22T22:04:00.000-08:00

虎年的初一不只是情人节也是我和日明注册八周年记念日。
新的一年当然得穿上新衣。今年我们选了红色为初一的主题。初二孩子们就穿粉红色。

Its Chinese Lunar New Year!!!

2010-02-22T21:41:00.001-08:00

Took leave on Feb 12 so as to be involved in kids celebration in school.

This will be Sarah's first time witnessing the performance in school. Dressed both of them in chinese traditional costume. The teachers have taught them a few chinese new year songs and both of them have been singing almost everyday at home. Its just so funny watching them sing with actions.

Riming and Ryan volunteered to perform the lion dance. Really enjoyed the celebration with the children.

I appreciate that with this job, I can take leave to be able to spend time with my children.

Sarah's First Day in School

2010-01-24T01:09:00.000-08:00

Jan 4 2010, Sarah's first day in CCK. Took half a day leave in the morning as I have a lecture from 3 to 5pm.

She is in N1 Joy class. At a glance, could tell that she is the youngest in class. She had this anxiety for sure though we have preframed her telling her that she will be joining her Gor Gor in the same school. Ryan started school on Jan 7 instead as the school wants to prepare and focus on the nursery level students first.

A night before Jan 4, Sarah was mumbling in her dream, saying, 'Teacher, I want to pass urine.' She even woke up too early around 5 plus am saying that she needs to go to school.

Cried the first 2 days when myself or Riming stepped out from her vision. However, once we are not around with her, she could cope well.

She settled down well on the 4th day although I only accompanied her during the first two days.

The teacher called me last friday telling me that Sarah is toilet trained. Thus, need to bring extra panties for her. Now and then, she still have a few accidents at home and when we are on the car. Other than that, she has been coping really well.

Well done Sarah, hope you will enjoy school just like your Gor Gor.

Jan 1 2010

2010-01-23T22:42:00.000-08:00

Brought the kids to Hay Dairy. Due to H1N1 precaution, feeding of goats is no longer allowed. The kids are disappointed. We could only look at the milking process. One of the lane is opened for viewing but could only see the baby goats from a distance.

We then headed to kids' favourite fish farm again. Ryan has improved since the last round. He could catch more fishes on his own.

Dec 30 2009 Outing to the ZOOooooo

2010-01-15T22:19:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Sue for helping me to get the zoo tickets via EM at such a great deal!!! NYP does have this benefit however it is always difficult to book and alot of administrative effort required such as planning leave and check from the system to ensure that the dates are available for collection and return etc. Thus, really have to thank Sue for letting me know this good deal offered by EM.

This round, I tried out something different. We brought our own lunch to the zoo. We even brought the kids to the water play. It was so FUN!!!

Water Play

Carousel ride and picnic

We ended our day with eating lots of Prata. Realized that the prata place owner and the NYP north canteen prata stall owmer is the same. No wonder the NYP north canteen prata is so yummy!!!

FUN December 2009

2010-01-15T20:48:00.000-08:00

Took a few days of leave in the midst of a 2 weeks term break to spend time with the kids.

1) We went to catch AM show at GV - Alvin & The Chipmunks 2. This is the first time Sarah went to a movie theatre. Thankfully, she could behave and is patient enough to remain on the seat till the movie ends.
I remember Ryan's first movie was at Suntec watching 'Meet the Robinsons' at the age of 18 months. He enjoyed the experience very much.

2) Celebrated Sarah's birthday on Christmas!!!

Sarah's close-up with Baby Jayden:

Gift exchange time!!!

3) Dec 26 2009 Sarah's birthday (Boxing Day)

Sarah is my christmas gift every year as she is born on the Boxing day. Unwrapping.... A handful girl!!! A Chatty one too.
We went to our favourite restaurant Chako, a place that bring back some memories...
Yummy yummy food and superb service.

4) Dinner at Riverwalk
Brought parents in-law for a sumptuous dinner at Riverwalk,another of our favourite restaurant, Jumbo. Love its Peking Duck and not all outlets serve this dish.
After a heavy meal, we took a stroll along the river.

Ryan took shots of me on the way home:

Shots taken with the X'mas tree at home:

Ryan's YJC class concert Dec 12 2009

2010-01-15T20:37:00.001-08:00

Bravo Ryan! Congratulations on the completion of book 1. Interest is the first key to sustain while good practice is required to play well. Hope that you can continue on this music journey.

Visit to Incineration Plant & RP (Solar)

2009-11-27T16:50:00.000-08:00

Baby Jayden, my nephew

2009-11-27T16:46:00.000-08:00

Air Pollution Practical Nov 6

2009-11-27T16:42:00.000-08:00

Look at this, we had so much FUN!!!

SCBA 09 S2

2009-11-27T16:37:00.001-08:00

My SCBA class with Yr 3 in 09 Semester 2. Another FUN session!

This semester is a craze for me, i am just too overwhelmed with the lessons, materials preparations plus alot of other CCAs.... Basically, we are short-handed thus am really overloaded.... Gosh, hope next sem will be better...

Sarah's JG Party II Nov 22

2009-11-27T16:25:00.000-08:00

Its term end again. Party Time!!!

Sarah bids farewell to playclub at JG. She will be joining Ryan next Jan in Canossian, N1 level while Ryan will be progressing to K1. I have been contemplating on deferring Sarah and let her start in mid year instead since she is born tail end of the year, meaning to say she is only 2 yrs old when she is in Nursery 1. I consulted the teachers and they told me to have trust in them. First week of Jan 2010 is definitely a challenge for us!!! Really hope she can adapt fast like Ryan....

Arts exhibition Nov 7

2009-11-27T16:15:00.000-08:00

Ryan is so proud of his art-work. The school held an art exhibition day on Nov 7, a bright and sunny Saturday inviting family and friends to view childrens' artwork.

Teachers told us that Ryan can draw very well and is very serious in his work. We are glad to hear that.

Have fun viewing!!!

Clean AIR Trail Nov 4

2009-11-27T15:47:00.000-08:00

One of the monitoring station at NEA building showing monitoring of particulates. The other showing monitoring of acid rain. Next pic Statelite monitoring at NUS. A panoramic view of a dream house.

Yuen di's Birthday Oct 19

2009-11-27T15:41:00.001-08:00

A short day trip with the kids

2009-11-27T15:29:00.000-08:00

I took leave on Oct 1, Children's Day. Brought both kids on my own taking MRT to Causeway Point. What a challenge ;o)
We had a great Jap lunch. The kids ate well and were very disciplined. We then went to the Library as I need to apply library cards for them. They hanged around the children's section for awhile. Happened that day, there was an event at the 1st level, kids were attracted by the balloons there so I brought them in. The personnel said they are too young to register but they can still contribute their drawings on the big board. Both did. We had a great day!!!
During the late afternoon, Auntie Pearl brought her 3 little ones over to our place. It was a good catch-up. A pity that I forgot to take pics of them, must do it next round.

Funny and Cheeky shots of Sarah

2009-11-27T15:27:00.001-08:00

Ryan's 1st ever sports day in school

2009-10-30T17:46:00.000-07:00

Ryan had been practicing in school and he told to cheer for him and his friends. Thought he did well on the obstacle crossing in the gym session. Well done Ryan baobei!

A weekend trip Sept 09

2009-10-30T16:46:00.000-07:00

Our first weekend trip without the kids after so long..... Thanks to Jing Marn's wedding invitation, it also helps to create an opportunity for me and Riming to get a quick short weekend getaway in KL.

My sis-in-law and bro-in-law gave us a ride to Boon Lay Shopping centre early in the morning as we need to take the coach from there. We enjoyed the ride very much, it was a comfortable one with big leg room, could even catched 2 movies on the personal screen on our way there. Ride was smooth and fast!

We also managed to catch up with Riming's uncle who is staying at KL.

Jing Marn is such a beautiful bride, I had a good catch-up with my old friends in EM too.

Fish Fish Fish Sept 09

2009-10-30T16:34:00.001-07:00

Wow, another outing in September.

Outing to East Coast Park in Sept 09

2009-10-30T16:22:00.000-07:00

Took child care leave during term break bringing the kids to East Coast Park. We had FUN!!!

Sarah's Julia Gabriel Party

2009-10-30T15:55:00.000-07:00

When Ryan was 18 months old, I signed him for Julia Gabriel bilingual program, I recalled having to call months inadvance to put him on the wait list. We really enjoyed the program then with myself and Riming taking turns to keep him accompanied. The same thing I am doing for Sarah, she started the program few months ago.
This round, I do not quite like the class size. They actually combine 2 classes into 1 with 4 teachers (2 English and 2 Chinese teachers) compared to previous structure, 8 students in one class. Oh yeah, I even met my colleague's wife and child this round; we are in the same class. Both of us fed back to the teachers as we find the new structure has issues on classroom management as the group is just too big for the young age group. Alot of children have problem settling down and now I am into term 2, I realized when the kids settled, there are new ones coming and status went back like before.
The management thinks that the new structure is still better for the children. They said the weekend bilingual class is a 'taster' program.
Honestly, we definitely like the curriculum covered (same as before) and find it as interesting and fruitful for the child. Most importantly, we find that the teachers are still as great! Since myself and Riming have decided to move Sarah on to pre-nursery at the church kindergarten next year, we just need to continue with one more term till this end Nov.

My Birthday in July 09

2009-10-30T15:17:00.000-07:00

Backdating my post again as I am too occupied these days. My Birthday in July this year was indeed a memorable one.
My youngest brother had a very bad sorethroat with high fever for one week and he quarantined himself in the room.
Then, Ryan started coughing with no fever and other symptoms. Doctor told us to monitor him closely saying that his case appeared to be suspected H1N1. He even told us that once fever and breathlessness developed typically during the 7th day, Ryan would then have to take tami. True enough, his fever developed with shortness of breath.
I was having sore throat at the same time and doctor said my sign of sore throat with slight white batches appeared sign of H1N1 too. As I had no fever, I was not prescribed with tami, was told to monitor for shortness of breath and fever. Thus, I was quarantined at home with Ryan.
Ryan however was prescribed with tami and the fever subsided after one dose and he was not breathless after the dose, really effective.
We did not take any special precautions for Sarah as the doctor said the virus could have already spread so we just had to monitor her closely.
Little did we expect, my youngest brother Gareth who just recovered from a bad one week sore throat started to have shortness of breath when I was on medical leave with Ryan at home. His face turned pale and bluish and was weak. I immediately called the clinic to make an appointment for him. Luckily I did, the doctor said his pulse was very weak and if he came later, he would have to be hospitalized. He too was prescribed with tami. For his case, it took him a longer time to recover somehow. He kept complaining about the effects after taking tami.

This year's birthday indeed the hardest to pass. I would also like to thank my friends for their encouraging regards sent to me during that period.

Riming bought a nice birthday cake, in a way, it helped us to liven up the atmosphere.

Family pic

Ryan scribbled something for me and he said its flowers and diamond. My pressie from Riming.

Hmmm, I just can't help thinking about my friend, Lilian who is still in ICU. Please help to pray for her recovery and safety.

Wedding of Danny & Chermaine

2009-07-17T15:31:00.000-07:00

4th of July 2009 marked a siginificant event on our calendar with Danny & Chermaine announcing as Husband & Wife.

Gladly, both Ryan and Sarah could wake up very early in the morning, preparing for their mission. Ryan's first mission was to open the bridal car door for the Groom. He did well.

At the church, Ryan, Sarah and my niece, Ni had another important mission. Ryan was the ringbearer. Sarah and my niece Ni were the flower girls.

Prior to the actual ceremony, we went to the church twice for the rehearsal and that was helpful!!! I must really say that Ryan was calm and cool. He was the first one to march in and could pace himself quite well, carrying the pillow with a pair of wedding bands smartly. It was then followed by Sarah and my pretty niece Ni. Fortunately, Sarah did not create trouble. She held her steps for 2 to 3 secs, looking for familar faces I think. Then with my niece's help, she went on. Phew....
From the photo, you can also see the Gorgeous bride and my father-in-law, a very touching scene.

It was a memorable event witnessing the Bride & Groom taking their marriage vows. Oh yes, there were swordbearers too. It was indeed an eye-opening experience for all of us.

More photos:

Wedding Dinner:

>

More photos:

Joseph's 1st birthday in April

2009-06-21T02:56:00.000-07:00

Sorry to backdate my posting again. Trying to catch up with blogging during this short term-break.

It was a fun celebration and a good get-together with my friends!!!

June 6 Happy Birthday Ryan !!!

2009-06-21T00:42:00.001-07:00

June 6, Saturday, we had a mini celebration at home with the family. Most of the food are prepared DIY instead of catering since we have a small group only this time.

My aunt pre-ordered a chocolate fudge cake from Vivo city for Ryan. She told me over phone that the design is very cute and nice and Ryan will surely love it.

True enough, Ryan was overwhelmed with the hand-crafted footballers figurine.

The kids and toddlers had a great time too!!!

Party food

Birthday cake

Cheeky Me

Energetic Sarah

Family shot

With Grandparents and Jiu Jiu

BFF

More nice pics

Ryan's birthday celebration in school

2009-06-21T00:39:00.000-07:00

Ryan had an early celebration in school on May 29, friday, last day of term 1. He chose the power ranger design for his birthday cake.

On that day, there was also parents-teachers meet-up session. Teachers gave Ryan good review, saying that he is very caring towards his peers and behaves like a student-teacher in class, helping the teachers to get the class in order. Quite impressive ;o)

Sports Carnival

2009-06-07T01:43:00.000-07:00

On May 23, brought Sarah down to NYP to support my mentees in the bench ball game. I know that they practiced hard for it and thus I wanted to lend my support by cheering them on! When I reached there, I saw my first yr CGT students participating too. Very happy to see familar faces. The winning student team will get to play with the lecturers team. I joined in the fun playing the game and I must say that I need to work more on my stamina ha ha.
Ryan has phonics class every Saturday thus he could not tag along, else he will surely love it. He came after his lessons with Riming to fetch me and Sarah. He cried saying that he wanted to tour my school and so I brought him to the playground.

CP0902

CG0901

Good playing by CP0902 and CG0901

Lecturers in action!!!

Sarah with Gor Gor David

Sarah with Jie Jie

Mentor

2009-06-07T01:08:00.001-07:00

My mentees CP0902, a nice bunch! This is my first time being a mentor for 21 students. I have always hear my colleagues sharing with me how challenging it will be taking on this role. In NYP, all leturers will get a chance to mentor a class for 3 years, in fact till they graduated.
What is a mentor? A friend, a counsellor, a teacher, a mother hen.... In primary and secondary school context, its like a form teacher but definitely more than that.
Taking on this task for almost 2 months, I must say its indeed a challenging one! Originally, I have a class of 22 students, 1 withdrew, 1 transferred, 1 transferred in and then back again to another school so down with 21 now. At the moment, am also having one case to work on.
This class is an interesting one and I have received good feedback from other lecturers so far. I really hope the fire in them will continue and they can excel well in NYP and move on to new challenges in life!
The pictures below were taken in early April during the orientation. We played this game ' The Song Must Go On' (Dun Forget The Lyrics) with all the first year freshies. It was a fun game! Somehow for my team, I have to represent my mentees by singing on the stage and I was not prepared for it at all; pretty embarrasing for me! Guess what, our team won.

NEWater Plant on May 20 2009

2009-06-07T01:04:00.000-07:00

This is our first experiential learning field trip with the first batch of Chemical & Green Technology students.

My SCBA class in second semester

2009-06-06T21:45:00.001-07:00

Celebrating Po po's birthday in May

2009-06-06T21:31:00.000-07:00

Mother's Day

2009-06-06T21:26:00.000-07:00

This is the first time I received a handicraft made by Ryan, taught by his teachers in school. A very beautiful red flower!

He also drew a painting of me and I pinned that up in my office.

Thanks Ryan, Ma ma loves you and ya ya always! (ya ya is Sarah)

Cataract Surgery

2009-06-06T21:12:00.000-07:00

Riming had his second cataract eye surgery on Mar this year. Alot of people are surprised that he got it at this age, isn't it supposed to be for old folks only? What's the cause? No one could explain.
In fact, the nurses told us that the youngest patient they had was in early twenties, a young chap who loves playing computer games; exposure to radiation??? Long exposure to sun is also one of the cause.
So, do take good care of our health, need to start this from young. Many a times, we just like to take this asset for granted.

To be continued....

2009-06-06T09:46:00.000-07:00

Yawn, its 12.46am. I need my beauty rest. Will continue with the rest of the updates tomorrow. Promised my students to post some of the photos on facebook, need to do that tomorrow.

Sarah can finally walk!

2009-06-06T09:41:00.000-07:00

May 11 09, Sarah achieved her first milestone in ...... Walking. She has finally taken her first step on her own. Ryan could walk steadily when he was 13 month, pretty average. However, I must say that Sarah's progession in learning of speech is much better compared to her brother. She loves to parrot us. I always love to get her saying 'Mama, I love you' in both English and Mandarin and she could say it very well.

Farm girl

2009-06-06T09:38:00.000-07:00

Farm girl Sarah, photos taken in early May:

Siblings Love

2009-06-06T09:25:00.000-07:00

Sarah looks more like Ryan nowadays. See how happy they were, posing infront of the camera. She could pose 'cheese' but with 3 fingers haha!

Photos in Mid April.

I can catch a fish!

2009-06-06T09:16:00.000-07:00

Can you see what's inside my fist???

Photos taken during mid April.

We are like Spanish kids

2009-06-06T09:10:00.000-07:00

Supper, yes, Ryan and Sarah love supper. Their favourite snacks is Gerber apple stars, bread or any biscuits. These shots were taken in early April.

Ah Ma's Birthday

2009-06-06T09:03:00.000-07:00

Time flies..... It's another year of celebration for Ah Ma's Birthday. We pre-ordered a strawberry cake in March as my mum said she would like to have a strawberry cake this time.

Sarah as usual, always has a strong affinity for food. Cake is nonetheless irresistable! My youngest brother always say that she is a gold fish, meaning she will forget that she has eaten kekeke....

A trip to Marina Barrage

2009-06-06T08:54:00.000-07:00

On March this year, I signed up for the Marina Barrage trip organized by NYP Staff Association. I find that this trip is very educational and informative. It's definitely a good place to bring the students for next round of experiential learning field trip next semester.

Below are some of the nice shots I took with my colleagues, need to transfer some other photos from office:
Pics with my colleagues

Playing together

2009-06-06T08:47:00.000-07:00

These photos were taken in February 09.
Both Ryan and Sarah can play together and fight together in a way. Sarah is more aggressive than her brother. They do have common interest; drawing, building blocks, playing cars.... Oops, yes, Sarah loves cars.

They have another thing in common, messing up the house with their toys.

Ryan loves to draw

2009-06-06T08:29:00.000-07:00

Ryan loves drawing and he is attending art lesson every Monday after his 3 hrs N2 programme. Each week, he will really bring his masterpiece back to surprise us. This photo was taken in Feb before he started his arts enrichment. Will update his drawings again.

Back in Action

2009-06-06T08:24:00.000-07:00

Hmmm, it has been an amazing 4 mths since I last blogged. There is just so much that happened. I will try to catch up as much as I can.

Happy Birthday Ryan!!! Stay healthy and happy forever!!! We are all proud of you!!!

My year 2 students

2009-02-28T06:22:00.000-08:00

Last semester (Sep 08 - End Jan 09), I taught this yr 2 module, Semester project 3 (SP3). This module is about designing a plant using knowledge acquired from their previous modules such as chemical engineering principles, reactor engineering, heat & mass transfer, engineering drawing ....

When I first looked at this module, I was really scratching my head, thinking of how to teach. This module is just like a small scale degree level design project with the exception of using simulation software. In this module, students need to do optimization and economics on top of plant design. They also have to submit their weekly excel spreadsheet and a final report.

The big day came where the students need to present their business proposal to me,their client. I was so impressed that they made an effort to dress professionally. From their delivery, I could also tell that most of them put in effort for this project as a team.

At the end of the presentation, a debrief was done with the class. The feedback I got from them was that SP3 is the most difficult SPs but its one that they find they learnt the most!

As I was packing my stuff to leave the lab, the class asked me to stay for a class photo. This is the lovely shot below

Gathering at Huifang's place

2009-02-28T05:48:00.001-08:00

Huifang has moved to her new place and invited us over

Gathering at Lifang's place

2009-02-08T16:59:00.000-08:00

It was a good catch up with my old friends namely Eng Kiat, Aik and family, Sue and family and our newly wed Lifang and Hong Liang during this Niu year!

Sue was our honourable photographer, a hobby that she picked up during her second maternity leave. The pics below are all taken by her, looks professional right?

The kids had great fun with Wii. Aik's kids really grown up alot. His daughter even helped to babysit Sarah and played with her, displaying her motherly nature already at such a young age ;o)Eng Kiat and myself was telling Aik that his son's look has changed alot, he is really an observer like what his father described.

The first slideshow gives us a glimpse of Lifang and Hong Liang love nest, very nicely done up, simple and warm. Both of them even prepared some dishes to host us; most work done by Hong Liang oops hee. Have to thank them for the delicious meal and for hosting us.

This slideshow is showing pics of Joshua playing Wii. He has a very sweet smile like his mother. There is only one pic of Joseph as Sue is too caught up with taking pics of us ke ke. Talking about Joseph, his built is almost the same as Sarah and he is a chubby and bubbly baby. Lifang said he is a MICHELIN baby ;o)

From this slideshow, you will be able to see how messy Sarah's hair was then but as usual ;o). Ryan was playing Wii happily with his good friend, Joshua.

Ryan's Chinese New Year Party in School

2009-01-29T02:27:00.000-08:00

I am really giving thumbs up on the good performance staged by the teachers! They are really full of energy and have made the party so vibrant. We, parents could even sensed the excitement and happiness there. First, all levels of students assembled on the hall as usual for their morning prayers followed by greetings to the teachers and principal.

The party started with the chinese new year songs and dance with participation from the students taking turns to play simple percussion. There was even 舞狮 and 舞龙 which created alot of cheers and lastly, a special guest appearance by 财神 who gave away lots of gold coins. A fun and memorable party indeed!

From this party's observation, I also confirmed that Ryan behaves like an introvert when he is outside and is very shy compared to other children. I hope that he will open up more as he grows.

初三迋春到河畔

2009-01-29T01:28:00.000-08:00

以经好多年没有迋春到河畔了。小的时侯，父亲每一年都会带我们全家到春到河畔去。今年，我们旧地从游，还带着三个小瓜乘搭地鉄去。这可是个很大的挑战!!!不过，我们过了一个很愉快的夜晚。

Sarah learning to talk

2009-01-29T01:19:00.000-08:00

This chinese new year, Sarah picked up a new word. She could say 'THANK YOU' rather clearly.

Her favourite verb during this festive season is 'mum mum'. Everywhere she goes, once she sees the tidbits and food laying on the table, she will just shout 'mum mum' non stop, meaning she wants to eat. She can really eat...

Some evidence showing here:

牛年快乐！！！

2009-01-29T00:44:00.000-08:00

大年初一，拍个全家福:

还有许多有趣的照片：

Sarah my girl

2009-01-29T00:17:00.000-08:00

Ryan's new school

2009-01-29T00:12:00.000-08:00

This post is backdated as I am too lazy to transfer photos from my hp to the labtop. Finally, done so during this festive break.

What Sarah chose???

2009-01-10T23:32:00.001-08:00

Sarah has just turned 1, taking her first step to a new milestone of life. As part of a chinese custom, a child will be given items like pen/pencil, book, candy (food), abacus to choose from. Each item symbolises the career the child will take when he/she grows up.

I remembered that Ryan chose a pen followed by a book.

Like her brother, Sarah picked a pen as her first choice. Her second choice is a candy ;o)Her chinese horoscope is a pig, perhaps that explains.

Christmas Celebration with Family

2009-01-10T23:15:00.000-08:00

We invited Ah Gong, Ah Ma, Jiu Ma and cousin Javier over to our place for gifts exchange. The 3 kids were really overwhelmed with the presents. We ended the night off with a yummy log cake....

Bye Bye Breastfeeding

2009-01-08T14:18:00.000-08:00

Am so happy to announce that I can finally say "Bye Bye" to breastfeeding. Yes, finally, after persisting for 1 year. Mission completed!!! Hooray! Need not lug a pump and take time out to express milk anymore ke ke ke.

Christmas Dinner

2009-01-08T14:16:00.001-08:00

During our Chirstmas break, we brought the kids to Orchard with their grandparents for a dinner and also to watch Christmas Lightings. It was a pity that the camera was not charged with backup battery as Riming did not do his homework. Luckily, my hp is able to serve its function like a camera. Have created a slideshow with these photos.

BFF

2008-12-21T00:33:00.000-08:00

What is BFF??? It stands for Best Friends Forever. They look so cheeky.

Its party time!!!

2008-12-20T21:47:00.000-08:00

We had an advanced birthday celebration for Sarah yesterday. Happy to have with us our family and a few friends. Wishing Sarah Happy 1st Birthday!!!

This is the birthday cake we chose for Sarah, its 'Strawberry Shortcake'. Auntie Sue ordered a Barney Jelly for Sarah as a gift. Everyone said its tasty, yummy and special!

Enjoy the Family Pics below:

Enjoy the pics with our friends:

More nice pics

2008-12-20T21:42:00.000-08:00

House of Wong

2008-12-20T21:39:00.000-08:00

Candid shots

2008-12-20T21:32:00.003-08:00

Love these shots, thanks to Nee Nee our dedicated photographer for the day!

Together again

2008-12-20T21:25:00.000-08:00

Preparing for Sarah's party.... All dressed up to go....

Together

2008-12-20T15:48:00.001-08:00

Together, together, we are always together, love each other, hug one another, together we share , lovely brother and sweet little sister.....

Ryan with his work again

2008-12-20T15:33:00.001-08:00

Ryan insisted on taking a pic with his homework ;o)

Photographer Ryan

2008-12-07T23:02:00.000-08:00

All these pics are snapped by Ryan himself. Enjoy!

Ryan's artwork

2008-12-07T22:55:00.001-08:00

Both Ryan and Sarah attended their first rightbrain training class on Sunday. Daddy accompanied Sarah while Mummy accompanied Ryan. Ryan brought back with him homework to do. They enjoyed the 1 hour session very much and I hope both of them will benefit from the program.

Ryan's LEGO plane

2008-12-07T22:52:00.000-08:00

Ryan put his creativity to test and did up a plane ;o)

ZOOoooooo

2008-12-07T22:34:00.000-08:00

It was a nice Wednesday morning. We took the kids out for breakfast at the coffeeshop, eating our favourite toast bread, handmade 'yong tau fu' and drinking traditional kopi and teh. We then adjourned to Ryan's new hilltop kindergarten to pay fees and bought his uniforms. Once the adminstration was completed, we headed to the Mandai Zoo.

As Singaporeans, we are realy proud that our Zoo is clean, well maintained and is a famous tourist attraction all this while. It never fails to excite the children.

We even associated the animals with the Madagascar movie characters which Ryan is able to identify with. Lovely!

Gor Gor hug Mei Mei

2008-12-07T22:30:00.000-08:00

A trip to Science Centre

2008-11-23T01:35:00.000-08:00

Hmm, the last I remembered visiting Science Centre was during my dating days with hubby. We brought our niece and nephews together with my sis-in laws to let the kids explore the Dinosaurs then. Yesterday's trip was interesting, just that I find that a more suitable age for the kids will probably be K2 or Pri 1.

A wedding dinner

2008-11-23T01:05:00.000-08:00

This is Sarah's second time attending a function. This time was a hotel wedding banquet dinner, celebrating Daddy's cousin big day.
Our happy family shot again ;o)
The 3 Muskiteers

Er gu za carrying Sarah

SCBA class

2008-11-23T00:55:00.000-08:00

One of the safety practical session is to teach students how to 'don' SCBA. Each of them is given a chance to practice. It was a fun session and I am sure they had fun too!!

An outing to Jacob Ballas

2008-11-23T00:44:00.000-08:00

This a nice outing as its a good catch up for Sue and myself and of course, the boys too. Finally, the 2 boys (Josh and Ryan)can play together, this has always been our wish so that we can sit at the cafe and chit chat.

I am a super boy!

2008-11-23T00:30:00.000-08:00

Imaginative Ryan used a piece of a toy map and pretended that he is a superboy.

What's in and What's Out???

2008-11-02T05:10:00.000-08:00

What is in for Ryan currently? Its high school musical! Can you imagine a 3 yr old fancy high school musical? It all started with channel 5 showing High school musical 2 on one of the Sunday and he is interested since then. We thus bought him the series 1 VCD and he really enjoyed it. Actually, I enjoyed the show too, lovely music.

He was at one moment 'smitten' by the weekly Hannah Montana show on Kids central. One thing that has not changed so far is his passion for the endless Power Rangers Mystic Force! Boys....

How's teaching?

2008-10-25T21:16:00.000-07:00

It has been 2 weeks since I started teaching. Am teaching 2 yr 3 modules and 1 yr 2 modules. In yr 3, one of the module is process operations and optimizations (POO) and students call it poo!. The other yr 3 module is Industrial safety and loss prevention (ISLP). Lastly, Semester project 3 (SP3)for my year 2 students.

I have conducted tutorials, practical and lab sessions except lecture. I enjoy teaching the year 3 students as they are quite a nice bunch; more mature and sensible. Year 3 modules are very applications based and thus closest to my heart being so relative to my previous work experiences. As for the year 2 students, they generally emit higher background noise level ;o) and need me to remind them not to be too overwhelm. Having said that, they are still considered nice students.

One of the learning I have is that teaching can be a very draining activity as one not only has to talk almost non-stop for 1 to 2 hrs, need to also engage the students and be on your toes during the show time. Not just that, the work and effort behind each lesson which we call it lesson preparation is definitely time consuming too for a first-timer like me.

As mentioned, this being the first 2 weeks of the semester, students are also trying to know me better. I have been getting a few questions and remarks like
'Miss Tan, how old are you?'
'Teacher, you really have 2 kids har?'
'Wow, this teacher quite fierce hor'

Yes, students address me Miss Tan, Mdm or Teacher and to be honest, I am still not used to it.

I hope the rest of the weeks will be smooth sailing and fun!

Family dinner

2008-10-25T20:32:00.000-07:00

This is a memorable dinner as its a celebration for great grandmother. She is 80 yrs old this year. With the hectic and stressful life in today's modern society, its really a blessing to live to this age being healthy and strong.

Sarah's new look

2008-10-25T20:28:00.000-07:00

Daddy and Jiu Jiu has helped Sarah with a new make-over. The theme is 'little astrogirl'!!! Don't you find the hairstyle very familar (astroboy i mean) heee....

Family shot

2008-10-25T20:19:00.000-07:00

Finally, another opportunity to get together to take a family pic.

Celebrating Jiu Jiu's birthday

2008-10-25T19:53:00.000-07:00

An early celebration at Ah ma's house for Jiu Jiu's hatch day. Ryan chose a chocolate cake for his Jiu Jiu not because Jiu Jiu likes chocolate cake but its more for his own liking. As usual, Ryan can't wait to blow the candle for Jiu Jiu and he has also helped in the cake distribution for the family. Happy Birthday Gareth!!!

Hello, hello

2008-09-30T21:37:00.000-07:00

'Ring' 'Ring', business coming......
My youngest brother (children's jiu jiu) enjoys teasing Sarah, he kept asking Sarah if her name is Sam or Sarah as she looks like a boy ha ha!

Drawing is fun!!!

2008-09-30T21:21:00.000-07:00

Sarah loves to scribbles, just like her brother....

Sarah's first swim

2008-09-30T21:14:00.000-07:00

This is the first time we brought both the kids to a swim together.
The little girl really enjoyed the dip in the small pool very much. We feel that she still looks boyish eventhough we don her up in a pink swim wear ha ha.
Ryan was enjoying the swim alot too and he was imitating the coach of my niece and nephews in the other pool on how to swim, so funny....

More Sept pics

2008-09-21T00:12:00.000-07:00

Introvert Ryan

2008-09-20T23:53:00.000-07:00

Ryan has always give people an impression that he is very rough and outdoor. Surprisingly, we discovered that he is quite an introvert as he grows older.
When we brought him to the playground with sand pit, he actually said, 'I dun like sand'. And he wants to be out. Riming was trying hard to get him to remove his sandals and sweat under the sun.
He dare not even climb up and down on some of the obstacles. After some warm-up, he finally gave some activities a try. Looks like we need to bring him out more often to let him put his motor skills to some practice ;o)

Our outing to West Coast Park

2008-09-20T23:36:00.000-07:00

Sarah saying 'cheese'.

Ryan joining in...

Mummy coming too...

She looks so relax... and cool....

Fine chocolates making

2008-09-20T23:20:00.000-07:00

I attended a lunchtime workshop at NYP about learning to make fine chocolates. This is my first attempt. It does looks like pralines fortunately ;o) There is orange filling, green tea, almond and also the plain types. Riming rated it 10/10 ha ha. Yuen di said it tastes good, not so sweet. I am going to get the raw materials and try it out at home again one of this weekends.

Siblings pose again

2008-09-20T23:11:00.000-07:00

I realized that its has been awhile since I took pics of both

little ones. If you will to take a closer look, you will see this

cute little bear behind them. There is a sentimental value behind
this bear. It is a gift from my Belgium friends, Jan and his family;

many years back when I was in Exxon. I named this bear Fraser.

I used to put 'him' in my cubicle at Exxon. This bear has became

Ryan and Sarah's all time favourite.

Playing with lanterns

2008-09-20T23:03:00.001-07:00

Both of them are enjoying the paper lanterns alot. We find them more interesting than the battery operated ones. Its a pity that I did not take pics of them playing with the lanterns at night. Ryan loves the sparkler and he was really carazy over it.

Sarah the engineer???

2008-08-23T21:49:00.001-07:00

Somehow, Sarah loves playing 'guyish' toys.
One of which is this toolset.
'm quite worried that she will be a tomboy ha ha.