The kids enjoyed sitting by the lake…

Ashley was pretty amused at how similar the both of us were  - i.e. in track pants and sneakers. She gets a kick when we dress alike.

I kinda like the Doremon kite. You can’t see it in the picture but it had lights on both ends of its hands. Pretty neat stuff.

The kids had a chance to burn out the energy they had in them - which they had loads!

I enjoy these moments with the kids. Not sure how many more years they’d want to do this with me. Before I know it, they’d be all grown up and want to do their own stuff on their own. Gotta cherish all these moments now

1. A broadband connection so that I can connect to my company’s VPN to work
2. I have a reliable laptop

Our laptop usually gets refreshed every 3 years with a brand new one.

Recently, our IT dept has come up with a policy that employees with laptops that’s  3yo and above will be put in a queue for the employee’s PC refresh program.

if you’re lucky, you get your laptop just right after your 3 year laptop warranty expires. If you’re not, like me, you got to wait it out until you get THE email from IT stating that you can now get your laptop replaced with a new one. I waited for about 3-4 months after the 3 year mark before I got a new one. At that time, I couldn’t bear how slow my old laptop was then. It was practically crawling.

Today, I have a brand new one which is more powerful. It makes working much easier and because it is powerful, I am more efficient and productive

 This is me!

Our home is small and there isn’t much space for everything.

The kids have  alot of stuff accumulated since they were conceived!

Just the other day, I was looking through the kids’ old clothing which comprised of cardigan sweaters, onesies, dresses, shirts, skirts, pants and what not for both Ashley and Aidan. It’s such a waste that they outgrow them so quickly. Thanfully, I’ve a nephew and niece to pass them to

It’s been a month since our new helper, Kakak Siti has been with us.

So far, she’s ok. When you have a maid like Tini (my previous maid), it’s hard to NOT compare Siti with Tini.

With Tini, we never had a maid before. So our expectations were sub-zero. And I must admit, during the past 2 years that she had been with us, she did a fine job.

With Siti, I couldn’t help but compare her with Tini and in the end, get disappointed over minor stuff.

*slaps own face*

Nevertheless, Siti is a good housekeeper. She’s trustworthy. 39. Very clean and does the housechores very well. My mom’s coming over to stay with us soon so that’d be a good thing cause Siti can then learn how to cook the dishes that we like from my mom, the expert!

The kids are ok with Siti. Not so coco-jumbo with her yet but i guess it takes time.

Nevertheless, I am thankful that we got a good maid like Siti.

I guess everyone is different. We just need to adjust to each other.

Have a blessed weekend!

My dad is fine and dandy.

Angiogram was done on wed.

Doctor said nothing major. Medication is sufficient to treat whatever he is having now. (I don’t know the details :))

What a relief!

Have a great weekend!

Bliss.

Don’t take this the wrong way. Don’t assume that I can’t wait to get rid of them. Well, I don’t deny that I am glad that they sleep early only so that I can do my own thing, watch tv - in peace and without having to…

….respond to 101 questions…

….play referee for the kids…

because I do this the whole day, every day of the week! (since I am a WAHM).

When they doze off, I feel liberated. 

Kids when you read this, don’t judge me ok? Wait till you have your own kids and you will know what I mean.

Know that I love you all!

1 Mar 2010 - My dad - with his cucus

….he’s scheduled to go for an Angiogram next week to diagnose if he has any blockages in any arteries in his heart since he’s been having some pain along his left arm. (You can read more about Angiogram here.) And although he has the Blue Advantage, like any other procedures, there are risks with the procecure. We’re also scared what the doctors may find when he does the Angiogram. But we gotta do what we gotta do right? Anyway, what’s spooking me out is that my dad is already preparing himself as though he is gonna ‘go’. He is preparing for the worst.

(Don’t get me wrong. He is fit as a fiddle. He’s just getting his heart checked out)

He has updated his memoirs on his notebook.

He has updated his will.

He has written an email to all of us and he has instructed me to forward that email should anything happen to him during the Angiogram.

Scary huh?

Anyways, if you can spare a moment during your prayers, pray for my dad will ya?

..thanks to all that have commented.

As of now, I have registered Ashley to attend Chinese primary school when she turns 7 i.e. in 2 years time. I question myself everyday on the decision that we made. In her kindy, she seems to be enjoying picking up Mandarin although I don’t know what she is singing or saying to me half the time (More reason why I should let the kids pick up Mandarin right? Look at me? A banana. tsk tsk tsk! )However since her books are equiped with hanyu pinyin, I know she is reading or saying the right thing….

That said, let’s see how it goes…

I’m praying hard…

Praying that at the end of the day, she will get a wholesome education without comprimising on having kiddy fun.

Someone asked me if I could go back to primary school again, which would I prefer?  Tough question.  if i knew that answer, I wouldn’t be in the dilemma.

have a great Wednesday night or day, wherever you are folks!

Remember, we only live once.

Life is short.

Live NOW without any regrets!

Ashley is 5 this year and we’ve already signed her up to attend a Chinese school when she goes to Primary 1. However, I still question our decisions whether it is a right one or not.

See, in Malaysia, if you can’t afford to send your kids to international or independant schools or commonly known as  private schools, you are left with the Kebangsaan schools (in Bahasa Malaysia medium) and Chinese schools (chinese medium).

They say that the Kebangsaan schools have a lower standard (How true this is, I really don’t know but this is what I hear especially from parents who have their kids in both the kebangsaan and Chinese schools). They give less homework to the students and hence the students get a better school-life balance - which is good right???

In Chinese schools, the teachers are more strict. They practice using the cane. They demoralise you. Make you feel puny when you’ve done something wrong. They hope that by making you feel humiliatied, you will learn not to make such mistakes again. They give the kids tonnes of homework to the point of crazyness. The kids generally have no time to breathe except for weekends and that is provided they don’t have any extra curricular activities during the weekend. And the thing is, both Hubs and I don’t read nor converse in Mandarin. We can speak very little Mandarin. Hence how are we supposed to guide her when she comes home and asks us for guidance? This means we need to send her off for tuition after or before school depending on what time her school starts. At 7yo, they will be subjected to schooling hours that of an adult working hours.

They say China is the next big thing.

They say that our  kids, especially whom are chinese should know how to converse, read and write in Chinese - or to be more specific, Mandarin.

But do I really want to subject Ashley to be subjected to  ALL that in a Chinese school? I could just send her to a Kebangsaan school and then learn Chinese as an extra language subject?

Some say that kids are resilient. They should learn how to rough it out.

For us, I don’t know. I studied in Singapore from Pri 1 - 6 and had a great education there.

I studied in a private school from Form 1 - 5. I believe that I received a wholesome education from Pri 1- Form 5. (We shan’t talk about college and university although I did have a BLAST during those years)

I believe a student will get more attention from the teachers in a private school as opposed to be one of the 50 odd students in a kebangsaan or Chinese school.

So how?

For me, I want the kids to enjoy learning.

I want the kids to learn in other ways instead of from the books.

I want the kids to think out of the box. Be innovative.

I also want the kids to have a school-life balance.

decisions…decisions…decisions…

2 May 2010 - This picture was taken when we stopped over at Cherating beach. What’s in the bag Aidan was carrying? His toy cars! - Never leaves home without them!

Aidan’s facination with cars never cease to amaze us.

Only yesterday, while Hubs was driving, he asked his dad, “Daddy, drive fast can bang (the) car ok?” (He actually wanted his dad to bang the car in front of us)

When we pass a car workshop or drive past a trailer transporting cars, he’d exclaimed,”Carrrr!”

When I drive faster than usual, he loves the adrenalin and go, “Wooo wooo wooo“

Looks like this boy of mine is going to collect fast cars as a hobby when he grows up. When the time comes, I’m sure he’d be looking through carinsurancelist.com.