Caitlyn's Reconciliation Journey

Caitlyn will go through her Act of Reconciliation this year, June 27th, to be more accurate. It's a big step for her journey into the Catholic faith. Her school, St. Emilie's a Catholic school, so she gets her Catholic education during school instead of having to attend Catechism after school like the kids from public schools. This is one big do she will remember because she was baptised when she was hardly 3 months old back in Singapore.

I attended a meeting with her at school and we had so much fun. Her homework? Make a bumper sticker and something out of playdough. She is supposed to complete the sentence "God is like a ..........". I bought the cream of tartar yesterday.. got to get the playdough cooking soon. Anyway, today, is the start of her NAPLAN (nation wide exams), so praying that she does well. Aussie kids, especially in Lower and middle schools don't get many exams here, compared to Malaysia and Singapore. Despite the exams, nothing stops for them. She still will have her recorder, guitar and swimming lessons, library period, play, play and more play. I tell you, she's one cool cucumber. Only the mother is the one nervous like anything. Can't help it.... mother's a worry wart.

Fruits of My Labour

I have a grape.... er... tree? Grapevines? Whatever, finally, they ripen and once I may have said I grew green grapes, I was wrong... they were purple! And I was very surprised cos they were green like... forever.. and only just before harvesting, they'd turn purple. The picture above shows our second harvest. Our first harvest was when mom was here. And you know what the strange thing was? they taste more like pomogranate than grapes.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY TO ALL!

Happy Mother's Day!

Mother's day started bright.... no, make that dark and early... at 4am, exactly. I was awaken by Bryan's shuffling feet... and a bloody nose. Sigh. It's one of those mornings. Then after 15 mins of I'm -trying -my -darnest -not -to- fall -asleep- nose -pinching, the bleeding stopped and I let him continue to sleep in the middle of the bed.... Mistake no.1. He spun like rotors. He flailed like an octupus. Aiyo... I could hardly fall asleep from then on. Drifting in and out of REM 2 sleep, I finally gave up.. and woke up at 6am.

Anyway, blood and gore aside, I brought Caitlyn to Church, and came home to a few presents the kids made me. Oh by the way, I wore a beaded necklace Bryan made me for Mother's day from Ed Support. Very nice... I wouldn't have worn it if it was made of pasta... the dye will sure stain my neck and I'd probably break out in hives. The beads are beautiful, very earthy. Here's a picture of me with the necklace on, and my presents on the table around me. I'll show you close shots of Bryan's little book. Very entertaining.

See how long my hair has grown? I have a hair appointment next to chop my locks off. I'm leaving my hair on the hands of this Malaysian fellow who's going to slice and dice my hair. I haven't any idea what style to choose yet.

My mom is 3 years old ??? The teacher left out the 8 after it

No wonder he thinks I like them nuggets and sausage rolls... those are his favourite and who else makes them for him?

I'm kicking my feet up today.... I'm going to take a beauty nap. I didn't cook lunch... Derrick told me not to........... did you think he'd whip something up in the kitchen specially for me? If you thought he did, you obviously don't know him at all... he got us.. KFC! I admit, I do like KFC.. I mean, who wouldn't, apart from vegetarians and vegans? So it's after lunch now, I'm blogging just before taking my beauty nap. See ya'll later! Enjoy Bryan's Book about Mom!

Jumped the Gun!

Er.... Guess who again?
I know, I know, I did say earlier.. like months ago... I was baaaaaack! But sadly no, it has been a whirlwind 5 months I tell you.... A few days after Derrick's mom went back, my mom came to stay for 3 months, till the last day of April. And 9 days later... I'm back! For real.

I hardly had the time to sit by the computer let alone blog. Anyway, here's a little update... I'm back to standing on my own 2 feet, after both MIL and mom's help, post surgery. I feel 100%, on medication, although there are times the ol' ticker plays up on me.

I'm back ferrying my 2 kids with 100 schedules weekly. Caitlyn's started guitar lessons as well as swimming at a private college. Bryan's still getting therapy at home as well as at school and he's doing very well.

Our house is "getting there"... it reached lock-up 2 weeks ago, so I hope we get our keys say in 8 weeks time. Let's see if I can upload the photos....

Kitchen island bench

Cooktop (facing the island bench) - they'll put in the stove and oven later

His and hers sinks in our ensuite - still wrapped in protective plastic

Guess Who?

GUESS WHO'S BACK!

You won't believe who's baaaaack! I was awoken by some noises from outside at 3.30am and just couldn't fall asleep anymore. So I thought either I just tossed and turned in bed or go surf the net.... Well, the rest is history and here I am, after spending more than an hour getting lots of music sheets online.

I've been MIA since ... gee.... Dec last year. After my MIL left, my mom arrived and I hardly had time to sit down to put my thoughts onto virtual paper. I have lots of photos ready though. My BIL Francis just went back yesterday noon after a 4 day visit. It was so much fun catching up. He, my sis Audrey and the boys will be coming here for a holiday in August... Winter? No problems for them... it's like summer in Manchester. I bet you while I'm all clad in thermals and woollens, the boys will be in singlets and shorts.

Last Friday was "harmony Day' and a few Malaysian and Singaporean friends from Canning Vale Primary School decided to put up a "parent performance" singing the Mandarin version of "Tomorrow will be better" while I played the piano. All we had were about 3 practices within the 2 weeks and boy did we pull it off... We made teachers cry... no, not with the singing... apparently the song was "very emotional", "very touching" ...Honestly, I didn't mean for THAT to happen! I promise, next years' performance "will be better". Seriously, it was good, the moms and dads sang very well. Oh BTW, if you see a sea of orange.. yes, that's the colour code for Harmony Day.

Where was I? Can see?
The picture's a bit blur. Amateur photographer lah. I wore orange ribbons in my hair, orange beaded necklace, orange earrings... man I looked like a walking butternut squash. It was a lot of fun. Bryan watched from the 2nd row. After the performance, I walked up to him and gave him my orange tulip which I was given earlier and I noticed his Education Assistant, Mrs. Hills wiping her teary eyes! It was fantastic!