4-eyed family

As of this year, we are a 4-eyed family.

Aaron had complained that he couldn't see well at the beginning of the year. Brought him to the optician, but optician suggested for him to ask to be seated in the 1st row in class, to hopefully help him see better, so that he didn't have to start wearing spectacles at such a young age.

But sitting in front didn't help him. So we decided to get him specs. And somehow, after wearing specs, his interest in Chinese picked up a little. Daddy's theory, Chinese is already such a difficult subject. When he couldn't see and couldn't understand his teacher, all the more he switched off. Now that he could see, he's a little more interested.

I certainly hope Daddy's theory is right and Aaron's Chinese will start to improve from now onwards!

Nadine is 10!

This year is Nadine's turn to have a birthday party. But her parties are always stressful to organise because it's so early in the year, and just after school holidays, Christmas and New Year. It's always a big rush to get everything sorted.

After much consideration, she decided to have a small party at home, with a few of her closest classmates. I knew that would be somewhat challenging since we couldn't outsource any part except the food. I certainly underestimated the challenge!

"To save money" Nadine baked her own birthday cake the night before. And she decorated it with fresh cream and fondant flowers - her first time making fondant!

She put in a lot of effort and worked past her bedtime to try and make the cake look as good as possible. Was impressed by her determination!

And the end result was really not too bad for a 10-year-old decorating her cake and making fondant flowers for the 1st time!

The Day - Daddy and I went to school to pick the girls after school. Told their parents to let them bring clothes to shower and change. Since Nadine and Aaron are speedy gonzales when it comes to showering, I just assumed that all kids at that age would shower fast too. I was so wrong!

We ended up only having lunch at past 3pm. But the girls enjoyed their pizzas.

After lunch, Nadine distributed the notebooks and color pens that we bought for the girls, and they started to personalize the notebooks.

Thereafter was my grand idea of teaching them to make a bag out of a t-shirt. I think by then, the girls had exhausted their attention span for a group activity. It was chaotic and only my helper and I ended up having to finish up most of their bags!

After singing the birthday song and cutting the cake (which all the girls said were delicious), I was so done. Left the girls to play (and scream) on their own.

It was probably one of the most exhausting birthday parties we'd organise for the kids. But Nadine was so happy, it made it worth the effort.

Happy birthday, my princess! 

Bible reading

Post-Christmas, on Boxing Night, we started a great ritual - reading the bible together (almost) every night.

Daddy bought Aaron a Children Picture Bible, a story-based bible, which Aaron really enjoyed reading. He read a few stories every night, and then kept asking us how many stories we'd read. Very competitive boy!

We started with each person reading our own bible separately, then ... can't remember how, started to take turns reading the stories in Aaron's Children Picture Bible.

Really proud that the children are finally enjoying reading the bible. And even prouder that Aaron could read so well at his age!

We pray that both of them will continue to enjoy digging into God's words all the days of their lives!

New school year 2019

1st day of school for 2019 - Nadine in P4 and Aaron in P2.

This year, Nadine will have to wear her pinafore every day ... "for modesty", she was told in school. Aaron will no longer be the youngest in school.

How fast time flies and how quickly these 2 grow!

Christmas 2018

We came back from Taiwan to a very thirsty and tired-looking Christmas tree. Poor tree had no water for 2 weeks, and we assume had to endure hot sun on some days. Maybe we should get t fake Christmas tree next year.

The highlight for Christmas is our PMS dinner on Christmas eve - a tradition we started about 20 years ago. Over the years, we've seen how each of us grew and evolved. Then add on the children. What a blessing to have friends to grow old together with!

For the kids, of course it's the play time and also presents! How privileged our kids are. I really hope we can drill into them what blessed lives they're living, compared to many others .... and not just thinking that we're being naggy!