[holidays and lazy days]

Please excuse the non-updates on both FB and my blog.... the reason? The main subject of both outlets have gone on holiday! Yup.. this time around, my very brave parents brought BOTH girls back to my grandparents hometown for a visit. It was four whole days of returning back to our lives sans the girls. No constant refrain of "hurry up" and "don't be rude", no waking up at 6+am every morning to get the girls ready for school, no need for schedules. Luckily for us, work was also at a lull period (by our own choice!) and there were no pressing presentations to prepare or meetings to rush around to. It might just be a few days, but it was certainly a good few days to remember what it was like before the kids overtook our lives! Time was spent just wandering about rather aimlessly, having dinner that stretched over half an hour... making time for cultural visits to the museum, catching some late night movies.... i definitely do miss the girls, but these past few days were really great to catch up on just being us (thanks to mummy and papa!) And the silence! oooo the silence!
Here's some pics from our What's App (brilliant app!) diary of the past few days - mostly pictures sent between us and the girls :

G and K were each given a budget of RM50 for the trip. G was so good with her mathematics that she wow-ed all the relatives back home by knowing exactly how much she could spend, on what she wanted to spend her precious 'budget' on, and which things are more 'worth it' than others.
The fantastic exhibition by Cai Guo Qiang is on now at the National Museum. Seeing 99 life-size wolves charging towards a glass wall in an energetic spiral leaves one feeling awestruck at the work, no matter how much you go into the underlying concept of the piece.
A pic of me in my new dress, to which G replied - Silly Dress, i love you mummy, From : Grace
V at the museum
Visited S at the hospital with her brand new baby - K ... *sidenote : this is the 3rd newborn i'm welcoming in just 1 week! and nope, it's not making me clucky!
G with her other purchase, her almost lifesize dolly which she has christened - Polly. Apparently Polly is my 3rd daughter!!
K with her treasured splurge - a minnie mouse bag. According to G, she didn't take any notice of the 'budget' at all! luckily for K, most of the other items she bought were within the budget. heh.
Our yummy japanese dinner.... we had japanese on both nights out!!These were taken just before the trip, we went to a nearby playground.... just looking at these pics of the 2 of them make me smile.

[Videos - girls singing]

Just some videos taken recently of the girls singing the chinese songs learnt from school.






G has been attending berries for about 3 terms now, and i think it has helped in understanding the chinese language a little bit better. At least now she doesn't sound like a "potato" when she speaks it! :)

[the weekend again!]

Time really flies by! It's the weekend again and we went to the nearby parks to explore a garden (the ecogarden) which we have not visited in quite awhile. It was brilliant weather to be walking in the park, the sort of fresh, after the rain sort of fern-y smells. The dry and cool breeze, not at all humid even though we were walking in the rainforest. The colours! Soooo nice and soothing. It was a great experience for the girls too, they loved the green-ness and richness of the whole scenery.
V and the girls at the start of the walk.
Strutting along, they have their own accessories, G with her cap, bracelets and necklace, K with her own little bag.
Making silly faces at each other
A good shot, can't believe how much G has grown!! She's almost 1.2m now!
Me and the girls...
The colours are textures were so lovely! This is moss and lichen on a rock.
The prehistoric landscape - 450million years ago!
Doesn't this look like brocolli?
Some parsley looking fern.I love these shots in front of the mossey greens.... :) This is about halfway through our 45min walk, the girls really were quite good at lasting, although K kept complaining about being tired.
Us again.
V took these textures....
Green green ferns
Grey black rocks
SUPER tired girls! We stopped for a much needed break with crackers and water.
So proud of them! We will try to do this more often, nothing like a good morning walk to set the weekend out right! :)

Lately, we have seen G trying to invent stories on her own. Usually it's with sketches and drawings, but with the latest Charlie and Lola magazine, there was a blank book for filling up with your own stories (btw, G LOVES C&L mags, they keep her entertained for quite long and are very age-appropriate with all the crafts and interesting games) Her very first attempt!
Once upon a time there was a big SCARY .... underwear She was feemaLe and she was very patrry i Like her She has Lots of frinds Her frind is the monster He Lives In the fortese I like him He's stupid.....
the Monster's frind was the bull i Like him He's handsome His Girlfrind is the underwear...
They watch TV ewryday The End.

lol..... :)

[A-Maze at Safra]

Last weekend, the kids were invited to a birthday party at Jurong Safra's newly opened Kids' Amaze playspace. We didn't go, but have been told again and again by the girls that it was totally amazing and we really HAD to go again this weekend. Almost everyday they reminded us that we had to go again! So being the indulgent parents that we are, and also because it sounded really cool, we made a trip up there again this weekend. The 3 storey structure is indeed quite a cool play space! We bought a family ticket (2 adults 2 kids = $37 incl locker) and spent the next few hours working out by squeezing and contorting our bodies after our more agile tots. They really should have made the openings bigger! I can't imagine how the 'bigger' parents do it!
The girls loved going round and round the same slides and climb structures. A more foolhardy me decided that we should experience something slightly different so took K down the 2 storey spiral slide (even I know that i shouldn't attempt the 3 storey one!) I thought she wouldn't like it but she LOVED it! It really took my breath away, but we went on it once more before I told her she could do it herself when she's bigger. Little did I know that the slide also took a whole patch of skin away on my elbows *ouch*!
Little girls are best for dressing up! 5 yrs into having a girl, we (actually more V than I) never tire of dressing them up. :) G has shot up sooo much that we almost have to get her a brand new wardrobe! I swear she grows at least 5cm each week!
This is probably the most complicated hairstyle she has allowed me to do for her. Brings back memories of when I was little and had to sit for ages waiting for my waist long hair to be tied up in really elaborate (my helper was a closet hairdresser!) hairdos every weekend.
V and the girls. K is at this super chubby stage of her life too, I remember G went through that phase when she was about 2.5-3, rolls and rolls of baby fat! She's all skin and bones now.... i miss those rolls.
A very happy girl running towards the playspace
The terrifying 3 storey sprial slide, you can just about see the more modest 2 storey one behind this which me and K attempted.
The main play space, impressive right!
Verdict - Success! For a morning worth of running about, being silly, chasing each other through impossibly small tunnels. I think it will get even better as the girls get older. The tickets are slightly pricey for younger kids as they only lasts a couple of hours tops. As they are per entry, the older ones get the most out of the ticket charge - the best thing is that the centre is open pretty long hours (till 9pm!) and there are lots of amenities nearby - hawker centres, library etc, so i can imagine one can literally be at jurong the whole day, popping in and out of the playspace with the pass.
Remember this sketch that G did not too long ago? Well, she was beyond thrilled to discover that she has won a prize for it in the post! :) I'm so proud of her, she did really well in the sketch and it is always nice to receive a prize!

Lately, we have been to the library quite often and here are some good books which I've read and highly recommend:
The Help by Kathryn Stockett - a great book that had me lol at many passages, a must read for anybody that has been brought up by full time help, or have full time help looking after their kids.

Daughters of Fortune by Tara Hyland - a good saga type book with all the trappings of rich and famous lives. Plus it's all about women.... what more could we want from a good book!

Yoga for Weight Loss - after the excesses of too much caffeine and late nights, we decided that we should live a healthier lifestyle and have borrowed out this book which had a 28-day detox meals and lifestyle program. We have followed the diet and mindset of this book quite religiously (okay, we had a few lapses due to family occasions, but still ate healthily) for 14days now and it really has worked! Feeling much better and healthier, and much lighter too. Best of all, we've managed to stay off caffeine for more than 2 weeks now and I do feel significantly more energetic. Although i don't think i'm going to stay off caffeine for life, that will be tooo drastic!

[More monograms]

Some monograms made over the week for friends and friends of friends :)
It's a great housewarming / baby shower pressie and so far, I've been getting lots of support! Thanks!!





We had some lovely weather over the weekend too and brought the girls out to the park for a walk, followed by a short dip in the pool. Unfortunately, it was tooooo windy to stay in the water for too long, so they just had a VERY short dip!



* sorry for the quality of the photos, most of them were taken on the phone as I can't find my DSLR battery charger!! Arrrrgh.....