Sitting and Waiting

Bryan woke up shortly before 0630hrs I reckon and came charging into our room. I guess I'd better not fall asleep again just in case I miss my 7am alarm. Too lazy to prepare breakfast so I just nuked some fried rice and had a cuppa. Poor Derrick couldn't sleep peacefully cos Bryan would launch into his crocodile wrestling mode in bed.
Well, the Church beckons. Who else is playing the keyboard at Mass today? After mass, picked up some pulut inti and some grub for lunch. Yum!
Since it's Sunday, the kids only have 1 thing on their minds... SWIMMING! Yesterday, short of swim teachers, so ganti lain hari. I would want to go swimming too but my blardy ulcer far too damn big and painful to even even kena water. So instead of paddling in the pool having fun, I am doing what kiasu moms do, setting pass year exam questions for Cait.
In case you were wondering why such a long winded entry, waiting for 2 hours to pass while keeping 1 eye on the kids at the pool. The gym here looks so empty too.. not too many gym buffs here... How I wish I could just nip in for a while...

Brekkie Central

Every morning, I wake up at 6.30am to fix brekkie, pack the kids' lunches, bags, make my own brekkie and if possible, eat it, before 7am. Because that's when the kitchen and dining area become chaos central. ABove is just the gist of the breakfast that I churn out every morning. Sometimes I want to pull my hair out too cos I don't want them to have the same breakfast everyday, so it's 6 different breakfasts per week... Sunday, by 8.15am, I berambus already to Church, so that one, Derrick kau teem. I no eye see.

Ice Ice Baby!

Look at his cheeky face!

I have a little freezer which I store ice cream and other treats in the kitchen. And the kids are used to raiding it once a day for dessert. Most often than now, they'd close the door properly and sometimes, they do fail to close it properly. So what happens leh? Ice ice everywhere lor. So last week, I decided to defrost the freezer after brekkie and Bryan had a great time playing with "snow". This is just one of the shavings scooped out.. there was a good 6-7 containers full of ice!

Bryan Cousteau

Bryan has always loved marine life, land and sea animals. At home, he'd pretend to be a diver and empty out my clothes peg holder and wear it over his head like the headgear and put the hook into his mouth like the mouth piece. So dangerous! You can actually see the hook just below his right arm. I don't know if you can see it at the following pic... He actually would put the entire hanger-hook into his mouth ... Everytime I see him, aiyo, I'd drop whatever I'm doing and get that thing off him.

LapTop's on The Fritz

Either my laptop's having an off day or something is seriously mingin today with the internet connection. Anyway, it's Caitlyn's turn to have a Pupil-Free day while Bryan had his yesterday, so we had a bit of a girly mini shopping trip at a nearby shopping center.

The kids are crazy over their version of "Baby-Cino"... I just whip up either iced-milo or iced-chocolate milk with some ice cubes and they love it!

Is It Possible to Be Addicted to Tea?

I think I have an addiction.. a tea addiction. MOrning, mid morning, lunch, after lunch, tea time, pre-dinner, dinner, post dinner, before bedtime... That's like 9 cups of Lipton tea a day. Black with 2 sugars. I should get a medal for a feat like that. I can't drink any other brands of tea cos I get more palpitations with the others.

Another vice also... snacking.. in between meals. I've been doing lots of that too... Desperately need help to gain weight! Any advice?

Blame it On The Weather

I have been eating 2 breakfasts, lunch as usual, dinner and now, supper. Eat so much and yet, still look like a half pair of chop sticks. Maybe I should consult a dietitian. Advice, anyone?

These Little Piggies Cried WeeWeeWee All The Way Down My Tummy

My favourite... which I call them Koong Chai Paeng back in Malaysia. But in Singapore, they're called Chue Chai Paeng.. because of their obvious shape. Angie bought these for my kids and guess who ended up eating them? Moi! Cos the kids don't like em. Nuke them for 30secs and amboi! Delish!

I miss the heong fah paeng too. Sigh.. Don't know when I will ever eat THOSE again! This is how the 2 piggies look like.. I wanted to take the whole lot but the other 2 look too phallic for public display.

Barely Even 6 Months

I always like to have hot water ready at home for my incessant beverage bingeing and I bought a hot water dispenser. Barely 6 months, the filter rusted and broke into a gazzillion pieces and the rim became rusty too and imagine the rusty water just trickling back into the pot... Yikes! First I thought were brown worms but then I looked closely, there were actually metal pieces! I packed it up, drove all the way to 5 mins short of the City and exchanged it with another hot water dispenser. Somehow Aussies don't really like having such a machine at home cos there was just the ONE on display which was on sale. No other brands, no other models. So I took the display set home in exchange for the rusty one.

And what happened to the "new" one? It wouldn't stop boiling. In the morning, my kitchen and living room was like a sauna, luckily it was a 6 liter pot, so it didn't dry up. But boy did it clear my nose that morning!

So, I had to drive aaaaaaaaaaaaalllllllllllllllllllllllll the way back and got my money back. THinking that usually Asians would prefer stuff like that, I went to an Asian shop.. and was told that shops like these are not licensed to carry electrical products.

SO, what to do? Phil offered to get one for me ......... all the way from Singapore.

Look What I Found!

Look what I found lurking in my thumb drive.... We took this photo a year back. It's been a year and I feel as though I've aged..... A LOT... I think one of these days, I want to take a Chuen Kah Fook.

Out of The Mouths of Babes

We were watching ABC Kids today and Bryan was watching the Science program very intently. Today's topic was about the role of parts of the body... When BRyan saw the skeleton on TV, without missing a beat, he called me to the TV and said "look mummy, a man fossil"!

Nipped in the nose

Poor Bryan was nipped on the nose by a Jack Russel yesterday. He didn't cry, just clamped his mouth and nose with both his hands. So brave. Only when he removed his hands, did I see blood streaming from his nose and another scratch on his right cheek. Good la.. now he knows NEVER to kiss a biyatch. WHo nose? Maybe he'll sport a macho scar like Gordon Ramsey's.

My fearless Bryan

Bryan stumbled upon this wooden Croc rocker or... Crocker.. hehe.... and tried talking to it.... .. when he didn't get any response, he tried to find out what caught the croc's tongue.... he even tried to wrestle his way to get the croc to talk...

then the croc got mad and well, the rest is history...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DENZEL!

HAPPY 6TH BIRTHDAY, DENZEL! Celebrated his 6th birthday at Hungry Jack's Riverton. Mom's over at Singapore/Luxembourg so I hope she logs on to read this entry. THe kids had fun although the playground was closed cos there were some broken bits from an earlier party. Poor Bryan had no where to go play. Anyway, cake followed dinner and the Miss Maud's fresh fruit cake was scrumptious. Well.. time to go unwind and watch some TV with hubby now. Later, folks!

Out of The Mouths of Babes

Bryan's learnt a lot of "This is a ......" at school. So after dinner, he patted his tummy and declared...."mummy, I'm a full" which sounded a lot like "mummy, I'm a fool".

Bitten by a Dinosaur.. literally!

Poor Derrick was bitten on the ear by a dinosaur... really!He was securing Bryan into his booster seat and while he leaned over to fasten the seatbelt, Bryan open the T-Rex' mouth and conveniently used it to "bite" daddy's ear. Look, all red-eared. If my mother in law sees this, she'll probably think that I twisted her son's ear!

I wonder if cavemen drew stuff like these

Kids usually draw smiley faces... or stickmen.. Does my son draw smiley faces? On very rare occasions he will. His favourite? Drawing T-Rex' skeleton. The picture above was drawn by him... I don't know if you can make out the teeth, the front short arms, the long legs and bunch of dots at the top which I don't know what they are. Actually I drew the skull for him and he filled in the rest the ribs, teeth, and a bunch of squiggly lines... Ah... a paleontologist in the making? I hope so.

Swimming Again!

Finally, Bryan gets to swim. This is his first day of swimming in Term 3. There was a teacher shortage situation going on at his swimming center at the start of the Term. This is him cutting into Caitlyn's lane. As you can see, they have 1-to-1 teaching at this center which is great for them, especially for Bryan who has turn-taking issues.

THis is how the center looks like:

Friday already?

Attended Bryan's Induvidual Education Plan meeting today with his teachers. He's only been in Education support for less than a term and he's improved so much. I brought him back to St. Emilie's to wait for CAitlyn to finish class and he met up with his ex-kindy teachers and they were so thrilled that he's talking so much now and able to interact with them. I'm very thankful for the ESC at Canning Vale Primary School. The teachers and education assistants there are really, truly amazing.

After the meeting, instead of driving into the garage, I parked outside and let him run loose a bit in the garage but he managed to pull out his ATV and tried his best to ride in that confined space! He really could heave and pull it everytime it hits the millions of boxes in the garage. That's him trying to perform some tricks on his ATV.

I managed to snap a picture of him with his spikey do which he is very proud of... and no, he is not naturally squinty, I just caught him off guard..

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NATEY!

It's my nephew, Nate's birthday today and of course with the time difference, he's still in bed. So I'd like to wish him HAPPY BIRTHDAY NATEY LOVEY! WITH LOTS OF HUGS, KISSES FROM GODMA/YEE YEE, CAITLYN AND BRYAN! And save some of that for Papa too for his birthday too!

Sleepy already? It's only 7pm!

I'm feeling kinda run down lately. Only 6pm and I feel sleepy already. Now I'm just waiting for Bryan to finish up his Milo, then help him wash up and get him into bed. May just turn in early tonight.

Caitlyn's so happy to show off her "Star Student" certificate. I've got it on the fridge. I asked her how she got chosen to receive it... to which she promptly replied "maybe it was because I opened doors for others". Sigh... and I thought it was because she excelled at some work...

Caitlyn's drawings

Caitlyn loves to draw. She drew Bryan as one of the Chipmunks and now the picture is on the fridge... something like "Drawing of the week" in our home. Caitlyn has a knack for drawing almost anything she sees. Bryan too.... on the floor, walls etc.... Whenever her "BFF" falls sick, the first thing she'd do would be getting her ka-chang out to make a "get well soon" card. Just earlier, I made a 7.30pm delivery to her dear friend Denise who's not feeling 100%.

Just came home from Choir prac and I am so tired. Extra Mass this Friday because of Feast of Assumption of the BVM. HAve to hurry Derrick home cos Mass starts at 6pm.

Spoilt Rotten

Bryan's Godma Patricia sent him a box goodies... Look at those pressies! Bryan kept saying "WOW!" at every book, every picture of dinos came popping up from the box. He loves the RC car too, by the way, although I think it took quite a knocking during transit. I didn't put the sling bag in the picture but I'm using it now! There's a "TaoShu" chinese DVD in there, which the kids absolutely love, so Bryan has added singing a Mandarin song into his repertoire. It's really funny hearing him sing Chinese or Japanese Songs (Thanks for Mirmo). Anyway, Godma, if you are reading this, you are spoiling him rotten. And if Godpa is reading too... when is your turn? HEHEHE....

Bryan's Ben 10 Face

I bought an Omnitrix for Bryan to play with recently. Caitlyn's got the dearer Omnitrix which has sounds, games and a rotating dial just like the McCoy. Well, Bryan calls this his "Ben 10 face" pose. Hey Godpa! Look how big Bryan has grown!

Happy Birthday Philina!

Today is Phil's birthday. We surprised her at dinner at the Emporium at Burswood. Here we are, all Empat Sekawan, from Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. That's the birthday girl 2nd from the right.

Dome didn't have any whole cakes, so Michael made a birthday "sushi" cake... Here's the birthday girl with her Sushi cake.

Candid shots

This is Bry all smiles in front of the camera. Usually when it's time to click leh, he'll either blink or open his mouth wide or do something ala Calvin from Calvin & Hobbs.

The next one was requested by Bryan himself.. while shopping.. I didn't know what his inspiration was.. but he gave me his "Derek Zoolander" pose. I didn't have my camera with me then, so I snapped it with my LGU990..... Yes, I caved... finally I bought an LG after being a loyal Nokia fan. I still have my Nokia 6280.... was allowed to get another new phone after my contract expired and I thought.... I've had flip phones, slider phones, brick phones..... why not one that resembled a PDA. In all honestly, I find this LG phone a little too "blur" not really as smart as a Nokia... but that's just my opinion. Anyway, the jewel cases breaks easily too... so I'm NOT a happy camper.

Spike Liew

Bryan loves his new hairdo. Derrick refuses to cut his hair because it's too cold for his noggin, so boh pian, I got a can of mousse and voila! he loves his new look. Here he is... but picture taken from a bit too far away... can't really see much.

Caitlyn's Bak Chang

Caitlyn enjoying her first Bak Chang. She's not eaten it before and now she loves it. Of course, she'll just eat the glutinous rice part and leave the inti for me. She has increased her food repertoire but doesn't seem to be putting on heaps of weight nor getting any fatter, only taller. I'd like her to have a bit more Bak. If only I can donate some to her. Don't get me wrong, I am in shape...... pear.

This is her enjoying Philomena's Chicken rice. It's a yat wok sook. Dear friend cooked it for us on our moving day so I didn't have to worry about meals. Fried rice, chicken rice, Hainanese Chicken rice, Nasi lemak... she'd wallop but when it comes to plain white rice with side dishes leh... takes forever to finish her food.

Bryceratops

This is Bryan pretending to be Triceratops. He's trying to show me 2 horns at the sides of his head.

THis is Bryan playing with my stethoscope, pretending to be Dr.Bryan. Like real hor. Prayers work, so I'll continue to pray for him to panai took shue.

I Am A Robot ... I Am A Robot...

Sometimes, my son will have sparks of creativity... much to my delight... this one, he put the clothes hamper over the head and repeatedly said in a monotonous voice "I am a robot"... until it was too painful to continue cos the hamper's a little too heavy for his noggin.

Here he is doing his "talking exercises". It's called Barrier games where he's encouraged to talk his way through, giving me instructions on where to put items on the board. The idea is to make him construct sentences to give instructions, describe etc.... He's getting the hang of it.. although a bit hazy on the "between .... and ....." and "above the". He's a pro with "near the", "below the" and "under the". See how sian he looks? When ask him to do homework leh... he'll yawn and yawn.

I'll upload some more from my phone later. Going to friends house to play piano for him to sing his Panis Angelicus....

Weather today damn cold http://uk.weather.com/weather/today-Perth-ASXX0089

Fuel prices around Canning Vale area tomorrow: http://www.fuelwatch.wa.gov.au/fuelWatchRSS.cfm?Product=1&Suburb=Canning%20Vale&Surrounding=tomorrow