Carnival Time!

Last Sunday was the annual Standard Chartered Marathon. Papa Ben and Uncle Sean took part in the 21-km run and completed it in 2hr 45 min and 2 hrs respectively. Three cheers to both middle aged papas!

The kids and the mamas went all out to support the papas in their runs. We went to the post-run carnival at the Padang. The padang was bustling with life and activity. There were game stalls, colouring booths, inflated castles set up for the children to have fun. Face painters and balloon sculptors were walking around entertaining everyone, the children in particular.

Rae and Shyan had loads of fun running around and taking pictures. Jen and Julian, the two babies, were looking on wondering why were there so many people and so much noise.

It was a fun filled carnival. Three cheers to all runners who participated. It definitely takes lots of perserverance and strength to complete a run like this.

Kum-Sa-A-Mida!

In Singapore, whenever we think of meeting up with friends, we think of going somewhere for a meal.

So when Auntie Venetia suggested a meet up, we eventually decided to go for dinner on a Tuesday evening. The place to go was a korean bbq restaurant in western Singapore.

The adults had a good time catching up since it has been months since we last met. The food was good too. We had delicious barbequed meats, vegetables, chicken ginseng soup, bimbibab (korean claypot rice) and some delicious egg cum seafood pancakes.

The children had their fair share of fun too. There was a ball pool and play area inside the restaurant. So after they have barely polished off their dinners, the 4 girls were sent off to the play area so that the adults could relax!

Shin Rae was initially rather shy as she has not met Kiera and Rachel for a while. She refused to talk or play with them.

But kids will be kids. Very soon, they were all playing happily alongside one another. Kiera, the big jie jie looked out for the younger ones, especially Shin Jen the baby.

When it was time to go home, the children were a little upset. They were having too much fun to want to go to sleep. Kiera even cried as her friends left.

We promised to meet up again so that the children could continue with their fun and laughter.

Funny how her little brain works

Shin Rae is extremely "shrewd" for a 3-year old. She loves to be carried by her Papa and would try to find ways to get her papa to do that. We try to encourage her to walk on her own by insisting that papa will only carry her when crossing the roads. This worked for a while. Then recently, Shin Rae changed the rules and told us that she will walk when crossing roads. As there are usually fewer roads than pedestrain walkways wherever we go, she gets to be carried most of the time as a result! How clever! And how so very cunning : )

三个女人一个墟

The chinese proverb that is the title of this post means "when three women come together, there is great chaos".

The usual gang of parents and toddlers met up for lunch at suntec city on Sunday. The mothers had their usual gossip session, the kids had fun running to and fro the fountain of wealth and the restaurant and the fathers were kept busy making sure the kids don't get themselves drenched from the fountain.

After lunch, the kids had a FREE (had to emphasize that cos free things don't come easy in singapore) lantern making session and FREE popcorn and candy floss at the kidz section of the mall.

As there was time to spare before the lantern making, the mothers checked out some outlets nearby. That was when they decided to let Rui, Shyan and Tessa try on the same outfit. The result is a lovely photo where the 3 young ladies showed off their same outfit though topped with different accessories (Rui and Shyan with hairbands and Tessa with pearls!).

At the end, all 3 young ladies got the same dress. The mothers promised one another that they will not be caught wearing the same dress when they meet up (a fashion no-no).

female bonding

I just learnt about this new feature on blogspot during a course that I attended. In the past I can't upload videos directly onto blogspot. I need to go through youtube. Now I can directly upload. So here's a try out.

This video clip(a silent one, silly me and ben bought the digital cam last min at the airport cos our old one sort of broke down on our way to australia and we didn't investigate the features thoroughly) shows how much rui adores her little sis. yan was sitting on high chair and rui was playing peek-a-boo with her. And yan reciprocated by blabbering "nah nah nah nah nah"(but of course you can't hear that cos this is a silent clip. urgh...). It was heartwarming watching the elder sis trying to entertain the younger sis. It would have been more fascinating to watch had there been audio with the clip!

Racial Harmony Day

It was Racial Harmony Day on 21 July and all the children were asked to wear their ethnic costumes to school on 20 July. Rui wore her pink cheongsam that mummy bought for her 2 years ago. And it still fits! (Look at the photos to see how rui looks in the cheongsam yesterday and 2 years ago). In fact, it is still a little loose cos rui hasn't grown much fatter. And she looked so pretty with her hair tied up in 2 buns. Mummy's little girl looked all grown up!

Spot the similarities!

Many people have commented that yan yan looks very different from rui rui and from me! Yan is very chubby : P and very fair whereas rui and I are both dark and skinny. My maid loves to bring yan out and whenever people ask if yan resembles the mummy, she will say "no, my m'am very skinny". Jaws drop when they see me looking vastly different from yan. It's quite funny really and it has happened quite a lot of times already. Here are 2 pictures of rui and yan in the same outfit taken when they were a couple of months old. Spot any similarities between the 2? I think they are both cute and adorable in their own way. And I know both of them are going to grow up to be interesting characters, with personalities of their own.

Rae's day out with Mummy

Shin Rae had a good time hanging out with Mummy yesterday. It was Mummy's day off from work and she brought Rae out. First, we went to check out the MINT toy museum. As we were not real toy-fanatics, the tour was so-so only. After that it was a ride on the cable car to Mt Faber! The view was good. Rae could see the cars and boats and the trees from high up in the air. It was the first time Rae went on cable car and she enjoyed it.

After that it was lunch at Vivo city. Rae was so excited with what she had seen and experienced so far that she couldn't sleep during nap time. So it was off for swim class before we headed home for dinner. Rae crashed into bed straight after dinner. It has been an exhausting but enjoyable day.

Here's to more day out with Mummy.

Teething time

Yan Yan started teething at 5+ months 3 weeks ago! Pretty early for teething and we were caught surprised cos Rui teethed at only 8 months. yan did not show any symptoms of distress so we took it that it didn't hurt much.

We also started feeding her semi solids recently. Started her on rice cereal as it is the least allergenic of all foods. At first she didn't like it. Screwed up her face and spit it out. After a few tries, she seems ok with it. She doesn't look as unhappy though she still spits it out.

Friends who bathe together, stay together

Recently, whenever Dylan (one of Rui's close pals) comes over, Rui and Dylan will try to take the chance to take a bath together. We took some pictures the last time and it was hilarious. The two were blowing bubbles in the water and laughing at each other's silliness. But when they grow up and see these pictures they are going to flip!

psss....i like you very much

just the other day, all of us were packed into our small colt. rui and yan were sitting in their car seats side by side, me right next to rui, ben was driving and our helper narti was sitting in front passenger seat. we were on our way to a friend's place to celebrate her son's first month. rui leaned over to yan and whispered into her ear " I tell you a secret. I like you very much". It wasn't really a whisper cos we all heard it! Ben and I were pleasantly surprised and very tickled by rui's show of affection towards her little sister.

Dancing Queen

these days rui loves to dance. she dances while watching her fave hi-5, she takes ballet class in school. poor rui suffered from a bout of tomach flu two weeks ago and she lost 300g. now she looks skinny and dark. but still v v adorable!

Water babies

Yan's first swim at Bishan pool. She loved it! She's a water baby.

Xiao Fei Mei

It's time for yan's second vaccination at 4 months. The nurse at the clinic called yan xiao3 fei2 mei4 because of her impossibly chubby cheeks and thighs! In fact I think the fats provided good insulation such that yan didn't even cry when the needle went in!

cable ski

went cable ski with ben on tue. we tried knee board (the easiest of the lot). i managed half a round. ben managed 3 full rounds. its tough trying to hang on, make turns and at the same time trying not to crash into those fixtures meant for stunts! we ended up having muscle aches all over (legs, arms, stomach, neck ???) but it was a good experience. going to try it again next week. those interested can check out http://www.ski360degree.com

good friends

rui loves her little sister very much. every morning after she wakes up, she will ask for milk first, followed by the question "where's yan yan?". yan is jen's chinese name. and then she will rush to yan's room, lie down next to her and kiss her, all the while saying "i like you yan yan". i love to see that. but i also know sibling rivalry will set in when yan is old enough to fight for toys with rui! but for now, these 2 girls are buddies : )

hey! it's a start!

my first try at blogging...sorry la...been too busy and too techno-phobic to try.

ok here's a picture of my 2 precious, shin rae and shin jen. shin rae is 2 and half and shin jen is only 3 months old.