Monday, June 30, 2008

National Museum of Singapore - Mozart: A Child Prodigy

This is a long overdue post about one of the latest exhibitions at the National Museum of Singapore.

mozart

Currently, there is an award winning exhibition at the Singapore Museum which encourages children to live out the times of young Mozart.

It was certainly a very innovative exhibition and we brought the children to visit the exhibits.

The good thing is that for senior citizens and children under 6, admission is free!

Daddy and Mummy had to pay $16 each for admission (It was not surprising that we found many unaccompanied children in the museum- I think their 'kiasu' Singaporean Parents probably left them there the whole day to save money and to have free babysitting!)

Anyway, the kids loved the big open spaces where they could run, and we had fun dressing up the kids.

Nicole had fun dressing up in the costumes, she even had a nice fake mole to add to her wardrobe.

wigs

DSC_0068

Fun mozart

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The kids had a fun day, exploring the exhibits and just basically fooling around. Would really recommend the trip to the museum. The whole exhibition will end on July 6, so there is still some time to catch it!

Friday, June 27, 2008

Dengue Fever and the Aedes Mosquito

Remember all my back aches and pains?!? And how I had to go for the traditional Chinese Massage?

Now I know why!

My blood test report just came out yesterday, and I am down with dengue fever.

dengue

I guess, it explains why I have been getting this fever, that goes on and off, and why it keeps on coming back night after night.

I thought that I could just sleep it off, but it did not seem to work.

When the doctor announced the news to me, I was really quite shocked!

I thought that all dengue patients had this excessively high fever and they are usually bedridden and pale. This did not sound like ME!

As most of the time I would be well, but sometimes, in the middle of the day, I would suddenly feel very weak and in the last few days, I would feel a bit tipsy....

Anyway, I have been grounded and asked to stay in Singapore, so I don't think I will be flying off to Taiwan for the youth camps.

mosquito

The virus also spreads via the "Aedes mosquito", meaning that if the same mosquito that bites me, bites somebody else, the virus will spread. There is no known cure, but the body is supposed to be able to beat the virus over a period of time.

I also have to go for a daily blood test to make sure my blood platelets do not suddenly drop - so my arms are riddled with needle marks at the moment.

Currently, we are trying to keep the children safe from any mosquito bites, so please pray for us. Hopefully, the doctor will pass me off as fit very soon!

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

3 Year Old Birthday Celebrations (Part 4)

The long awaited birthday party was a huge success!

This was the one and only party that we intended to hold for Nicole. Little did we know it would escalate into a 4-fold celebration! (Read about Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3)

Well, I felt this party was the best one yet, albeit it's highest cost! Nicole and her friends enjoyed themselves thoroughly, and Mummy and Daddy had a great time with our friends too!

We want to thank everyone for all their wishes. Special mention goes to Belinda "Che Che Bear", Delphine "Aunty Del", Jer Blinn "Aunty Jerb", Garvin and Ravi for helping out at the party. And for those who came for the party, THANK YOU for making it such a memorable one for Nicole!

We'll let the pictures speak for themselves...

Gym Party

Free Play

games

Puppet Show

My Friends

Happy Birthday

More presents

Monday, June 23, 2008

Bloggy Award

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Hurray!!!....I just got featured on another Bloggy Award Website.

bloggy award

Bloggy Award is another American website that features about blogs on the blogsphere.

The writers not just feature your site, but they also give some useful comments about your site. Read the article here!

Please leave your comments on their site after reading the article. As I am aiming for the Gold or Silver Bloggy Award, which they award at the end of the each month as well.

Thanks for all your help and support!

Saturday, June 21, 2008

Fathers Day - Honoring our Dads

Last weekend was Father's Day, and many of us took some time off to honor our dads.

Being Asian, many of us really get tongue tied when it comes to expressing our love to our Dads. It was relatively easier when it came to writing love letters to our mums, but as our Dads are usually more conservative and known to be people of fewer words - expressing our love seemed a even more daunting task.

fathers day collage

To help our youths honor our dads, we decided to get them to make personalized trophies to their dads. It was a project where each dad would get a trophy with the words "TO THE BEST DADDY IN THE WORLD", coupled with a personalized inscription for each dad.

Some of the youths really profited big time from the exercise!

  • 2 youths got an immediate increase in their allowance
  • 1 youth got an increase in allowance and extra money to buy a guitar as well
  • 1 youth saw the change in his father's heart and got him to come to church, on the same weekend.
  • 1 youth who got saved for less than 6 months, saw the favor of God upon her life - She immediately plucked up her courage to tell her parents that she was now a Christian, and she even got permission for herself to get water baptized this coming July. PTL!

For myself - I gave my trophy to my dad as well. He smiled and said Thank You!

Not too much of a response - but it was a big breakthrough for a Chinese man in his 70s.

Sometimes, our dads might not say or do much, but we must understand that they come from a more traditional background, and they do not know how to respond to our acts of love.

Just as we have problems saying "I love you" to them, they face the same difficulties expressing the same 3 words to us!

However, that does not change the fact that they are still very important people to us, and how we must always honor them. Things will change, as we keep on expressing our love to them!

Friday, June 20, 2008

3 Year Old Birthday Celebrations (Part 3)

Today is D-day... it's Nicole's 3rd birthday! (And Daddy's too!)

We had another celebration for her in school. Yes, this is the third time (read about the first and second time)!!

This was a last minute one, as our initial plans were to do away with any party in school. One main reason was the school does only child minding now, with no lessons taught, since it's the June Holidays. As such, many of the kids don't come.

But her teacher asked about it, and she kinda looked disappointed when we told her we won't be celebrating in school. So we decided to do a mini one. Just bring in the cake and sing the song. BUT, during the preparations, we realised the kids are expecting a goodie bag. And we do have to provide some form of snack or food. In the end, we bought a cake, got some sandwiches and sweet pastries AND goodie bags for each child. So there goes the budget too!

princess party

Well, it was worth it! Nicole loved it, and so did her classmates! It was a good turn out. I think for Nicole, it's an element of showing off to her friends that she's a princess!

goodie    Yummy

So now that's 3 parties down, and just one final party on Sunday to make the princess really very happy!

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

3 Year Old Birthday Celebrations (Part 2)

Today, Nicole had a surprise when she got home from school. There was a surprise party put together by Popo, Gong-Gong and Ee-Ee!

THE CAKE

Check out the lovely cake that Ee-Ee bought! It's a classic Ben & Jerry's ice-cream cake! Nicole was so excited, that she suddenly turned a little shy when the cake was presented to her.

Bday Cake

After singing the traditional birthday song and cutting the cake, it was presents time! Ohh! I must add this was the most exciting time for her, and the happiest moment!

THE GIFTS

As she opened each present, we got the person giving the gift to sit beside her and present her the gift. We figured this would help her associate who gave what, as we were sure the gift would get her all carried away and in turn forget her thank-yous. So with each gift, she has to hug the giver, say thank you, and then open the gift together with the giver. It was really exciting as all of us gave oohs and aahs at appropriate intervals. Check out the presents!

Thank you for the lovely gifts!

1. Barbie doll & one trendy set of clothes for Barbie (from Popo)

2. Barbie track shoes (from Gong-Gong)

3. Disney Princess Storybook Pillow (her favourite! From Ee-Ee & Ee-Jiong)

4. Leap Frog Phonics Learner (mummy's favourite! From Ee-Ee & Ee-Jiong)

5. Dora Pack & Go set (from daddy & mummy)

presents galore

THANK YOU!

We really want to thank Gong-Gong, Popo and Ee-Ee for making today's celebration such a memorable one for her. She was really very happy!

Oh yes, just to show you how yummy the cake was...

Yummy cake

So there ends Part 2 of Nicole's Birthday Celebrations. (Read about Part 1 here) It looks like it's going to get better and better. And hopefully, she's happier and happier!

Sunday, June 15, 2008

What is a Cell Group or Small Group

As new people come to church, many of them ask the inevitable question, "What is a CG or Cell Group?"

For Camp Phenomena, we decided to tackle this question and produce a video based on our experiences in a CG. Many thanks to Shing: for her sleepless nights working on this project.

We interviewed our youths and basically this is a 4-min presentation on what a CG means to us!

It is a family - Enjoy the video.

Saturday, June 14, 2008

Traditional Chinese Massage - Not for Faint-hearted

Edmund's down with a very bad back and stiff neck.

It started with a stiff neck over last weekend. He was convinced it was his pillow (which we have not changed since we got married). So I accompanied him to get a state-of-the-art pillow. Sorry, no Tempur--too pricey. We got a Dentons Contour Low Profile pillow, Health-Fresh treated to provide you with a long-lasting fresh & healthy sleep surface. As it was the Great Singapore Sale, we got it at $95, a good 25% discount.

Well, so much for long lasting ... by the time Camp Phenomena ended, his whole back was aching. And today, he woke up with his back as stiff as a board. Couldn't turn, couldn't bend!

So he called his brother, who goes for regular treatment massage for help. That brought us to Rick - a freelance masseuse who's trained in Chinese tui-na, acupuncture and foot reflexology.

We asked for the first available slot and reached his place at 11 a.m.

At first look, Rick said Edmund's problem was due to long hours at the computer, bad sitting posture and accumulated strain. (Ed has been experiencing a strain on his back for the last 3-4 years) It was nothing to do with the pillow! sigh... so much for that expensive investment!

Then he asked, "Can you take pain?"

"NO!!"

"Ok, I'll use moderate strength."

Alas, moderate strength still proved too much for Ed. His back was so badly strained that a slight pressure would cause great pain. Nonetheless, he endured the pain, went through "sucking out water and wind" treatment and moderate massage.

The end result? He could turn his back and neck after the massage. And he has to be back for follow-up treatment on Monday. I'm so proud of him for going through this in Male Silent Strength!

It's really painful ... check out the marks on his back!

massage

Friday, June 13, 2008

Camp Phenomena - Aftermath

We had a great camp!

I want to thank all the leaders and helpers who made this camp a success! Thank you for putting in hours to plan. Thank you for sacrificing your sleep and meals. Thank you for being so available. And a special thank you to those who are working-thank you for taking precious leave to help out.

Check out the video:

P.S - Do leave your comments by clicking on the comments link, as tag box comments disappear after a while. That way, we can remember all the moments :)

Monday, June 9, 2008

Toilet Training a 16-month old toddler

Nathan is one step closer to getting toilet trained! Yeah!

Today, he was playing with his toys in the room. Suddenly, he kicked up a big fuss. I looked up and saw Weng carrying him and dashing into the bathroom.

It was quite a sight! A 12kg struggling toddler in the arms of a petite woman sprinting.

Well, it seems while Nathan was playing, he suddenly showed signs of wanting to poo--contorted face turning red. So Weng carried him and ran to the toilet. She put him on the toilet seat, so he could poo directly into the toilet bowl.

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Shortly after, we heard a few plops and splashes.

09062008

Well, my boy succeeded! Next step is to get him to indicate in advance when he wants to poo. Then we don't have to sprint across the hallway!

Thursday, June 5, 2008

3 Year Old Birthday Celebrations (Part 1)

Nicole's turning 3 this year! And since May 1 (after attending one of her friend's party), she's been hyped up about it, declaring that the following, in no particular order:

"My birthday is June 19"

"I'm going to have a party, right?"

"Is tomorrow my birthday?"

So you can imagine the entire household is in a birthday mode due to her constant reminders!

Well, she had her FIRST birthday celebration last Saturday. It was a combined party for all the June 2005 birthday toddlers. She became friends with them through one of the forums that mummy was participating in.

Check out the Piñata! The kids loved it!!

pinata hi

And of course there was the Happy Birthday segment, which most of the kids didn't understand. Why?

1. There were so many birthday kids. Not just one!

2. There was not ONE large birthday cake. Rather, many little cupcakes!

3. There were no candles to blow, cos it would be way too dangerous with so many toddlers around.

Their confusion didn't last long, as they began to enjoy the really sweet and deliciously decorated cupcakes!

cupcake

But at the end, everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves. It was a great time of fun, fellowship, play and food!

For our family, we brought Nathan along. And he was very happy waddling along, climbing, running and of course eating!

 IMG_1221

Well, after the party, we had to convince our little birthday girl, this is just part one, there'll be more birthday celebrations coming up. And of course, the familiar refrain started:

"My birthday is June 19"

"I'm going to have a party, right?"

"Is tomorrow my birthday?"

Youth Camp 2008

Can you believe it?

It's four days to Camp Phenomena!

The buzz is in the air, and everyone is getting pumped up for the camp.

 

Are you going????

 

Check out the latest promo video below and find out more here

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Family Portraits

The photos from Mother's Day family booth is out!

On Mother's day this year, City Harvest Church gave out free family portraits to family and friends.

It was really a great bargain, as the booth is equipped with studio lights and studio backgrounds. Our family loved the previous experience, and so this time, the extended family was called down for the free shots!

Here are the shots!

my family This is my family

tay family

The Tay family

lu family

The Lu Family

extended family-crop 1

The extended family

 

The best part of the whole day was that my dad responded to the altar call and got saved! PTL!

He even came back last weekend!

Guess I am going to see more of him in church!

Btw, it is 5 more days before Camp Phenomena, so start asking your friends today!

CAMP PHENOMENA

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Sunday, June 1, 2008

Our New Tent & Camping

Grandpa just bought Nicole & Nathan a tent from Carrefour!

The famous mega-mart at Carrefour had a sale, and its tents were just going at only $5!

The children were excited as one of my guys-David, brought the tent into the house.

Immediately, we dismantled the packaging and we started setting up the tent. Nicole was really excited!

tent making process

Many thanks to Lucas, Joe Peck, Garvin and the guys for helping me set up the tent. It was really much bigger than I expected and it took up nearly the whole living room!

in the tent

Look at little Nathan!

He is really so adorable especially when he walks around the tent with his teddy bear!

I will definitely spend a night in the tent with the kids, when they are older.

It is one of those things, that the kids will like doing with their Daddy!

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