A blast from the past.

C & I have been under the weather for a couple of days. She with stomach flu and me with a throat infection. I hope we both get better, tonight we have a dinner with dh and his colleagues at Bottle Tree Park. I went there for a recce a couple of days back, and it's a lovely place. Hope the food's good!

I realised I haven't been uploading any pics to my blog recently. But here's a blast from the past. Last year at this time, we had just about ended our Canberra/Gold Coast trip. Here's a pic from the 4 kiddos at play at Brisbane airport.It's been only a year but they seem to have grown! Although A & R still wear the same clothes, E's hair is longer, and C has most certainly outgrown those clothes. heh! On other fronts, between now & then, TVC was born, and it's taken me to places and people I never thought I'd go and meet. What an experience it's been!

Serendipity

One of the definitions of "serendipity" is "good fortune; luck" as defined by dictionary.com. I love this word, mostly because it sounds cute and lively (if you know what I mean)

I experienced some serendipity in my life recently! Following up from my school bus post, the bus uncle informed me that he'd be chartering a new bus for the 4 kiddos and 2 more from the same area, which means, travel time is almost halved for them! Cheers to Uncle Lim!

Musings About A Day Out

This morning, dh and I brought the kids to Sentosa. We hadn't been there for a while, so it would be fun, especially when the new Sentosa Express has just started service.

We set off bright and early and reached Sentosa at about 9 am. It was blazing hot, as usual! We started the day with a ride on the ridiculously expensive (to me) Carlsberg Sky Tower , then had a break at The Coffee Bean and Subway, before embarking on the Luge ride. It was very fun, although the sky chair ride back up was really really hot! Anyway, we arrived back on mainland at about 11.30. Some pictures from our day out:


I think it's important sometimes to sacrifice our own interests for that of the kids. I would have much preferred to spend the day at a shopping mall, but the kids much prefer spending their day at such places! It was good that dh came along, I think after the year he spent Down Under, ironically I think the kids and him are closer.

Anyway, we'll be chatting with Kah-Mei at 10 pm on The Scrappers' Loft. I think it'll be fun!

School Bus

I made the decision to put the kids on the school bus for the journey back! I'd been deliberating for the longest time, as the journey is quite long (about 40 minutes). Then DH said something that struck me, which was: "I don't want my kids to grow up in cotton wool." Which is true!

This shuttling routine is quite tiring and tedious for me, as I reach work about 9, but have to leave about 10.55 again to fetch L's maid then the kids, drop them at home, buy lunch, and reach back to the office at about 12. It's disruptive to say the least, although I always appreciate the opportunity to catch up with the kids' teachers.

Anyway, with C going to P1 next year, this fetching routine (no pun intended) will only get worse. So why not start now? With 4 of them in the same bus, at least there'll be company in 'misery'. I think they will enjoy it though, once they get over the initial adjustments.

D-day is 2 April. I think I'm as nervous as them! LOL

A quick & easy LO!

I find I hardly have the stamina/creative juices to do an LO that requires layering, or tons of embellishments. I do love such LOs but I just *can't* do it. Here's a shot of an LO I did in about 20 minutes. Sorry for the bad lighting, but the Hambly overlay just caught the reflections of the ceiling lights from any angle! Grrrr.....
By the way, the Cyan ink on my printer is low, hence the reddish temperature of the picture! But it's ok, I like that it brings out the florescence (is there such a word?) of the light sticks.To quote a source of inspiration of mine, "It is ok" .

Should I?

...go swimming or not? The kids have swimming lessons at 4 pm today. I know they always enjoy me going into the water with them, but I dread the initial cold, and subsequent dry & fibrous hair, and of course, my lack of sunblock. I should have brought my camera so I could get some good shots of them to scrap about, but I didnt. I should have brought my book along too, but I didn't. I still have a couple of hours to mull over it. Hmmm. Life is full of trivial decisions like these, isn't it?

Something else on my mind. Should I get these JCrew pants? I got a couple when I went to Anaheim and love them to bits. I think I could do with one in each colour. LOL. What do you think?

Nice things

Hands up, those who love nice things! A couple of nice things to blog about today. Firstly, a big thanks to I, who made me & my sis these lovely felt boxes. I think they are too nice to use!
Next up. Another love of mine. Iso Peas. Have you heard of them? I loved eating them as a kid, and recently re-discovered them. I had about 15 mins to spare on my parking coupon today after going to the bank, so I dropped by NTUC to pick up some groceries and my iso peas. I also picked up some more dark chocolate with almond to try. But really, nothing beats Ritter Sport Dark Chocolate with Whole Hazelnuts for me. Here's a picture of the iso peas. It's a bit sweet, a bit salty, and crunchy and nutty all at once. Try it next time!

This is a Mario Story

This is a story written by Chelsea today. All grammar, paragraphing, spelling etc. is 'as-is'. Enjoy!

"This is Mario.
Mario is doing -
racing, and after -
that Mario go to school
and after that-
mario go to sleep
on pillow."
I'm so proud of my 5.5 year old girl! I think it's quite a commendable effort at a story! heehee perhaps she has inherited Mummy's literary inclinations :) She even folded it into a book-like structure with a cover and title!

ETA: Chelsea told me that Ryan told the story and she just helped to write it down! :)