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At the pinnacle of Hannah’s preschool journey, we have the school concert.  Unlike any regular preschool concert, her school prides itself in producing spectacular performances which is one-of-a-kind, in a edu-theater style and is a whole play in itself.  From the writing of the script, to choreography and to the beautiful costumes, I am always left in awe when I watch her preschool concerts.

This year was even more special than last year’s, because it was her final year in preschool, and Hannah had been eagerly waiting for the concert day.

Now, unlike the past years where the concert was produced in either tri-lingual or bi-lingual, this year the kids put up 2 separate stories which were loved by all: The Pied Piper of Hamelin (in Chinese) & Treasure Island (in English).  I found the story line more enjoyable when the concert is done in a single language for separate stories, like this year.

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From the beginning of the school year, Hannah had been eagerly awaiting the concert.  From the inception of the play to the casting of the parts, to the selection of costumes, and rehearsing, she had been excitedly updating me in bits and pieces…so as not to reveal the entire story altogether.

For a bunch of 6-year-olds, performing this school play was no mean feat, given that there were many costume changes involved and everything had to be done in super-quick time.

Here are a few random shots from her concert performance.  Hannah played several parts in the concert:

  • One of the mice in the Pied Piper of Hamelin
  • One of the citizens in the village of Hamelin
  • Tattoo Charlie in Treasure Island
  • Queen Benjamina Gunn in Treasure Island (The original story casted this as Benjamin Gunn, the marooned crewman on a remote island, but in Hannah’s concert, the script was rewritten to replace Ben Gunn with Queen Benjamina Gunn)

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We have every reason possible to be beaming with pride for our little girl.  She performed every single role with such passion and commitment, and she was full of confidence on stage.  I could hardly believe she was just a wee little baby not too long ago.

She told me later that she enjoyed performing so much, she wished there would be another concert soon!

Well done, my little snowflake!

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Note: We respect your privacy, so if you see a picture of your child in this post and would prefer for me to blot out his/her face, please email me at joyce.cheah (at) gmail.com and I will do the needful.  Thank you.

 

Last Saturday, our initial plans of going swimming were dashed when the unhealthy haze still loomed in the air.  So we made a spur of the moment decision and decided to see if we could get tickets to watch a movie instead!

Oh yes.  It had been ages since we had watched a movie in the cinema, and it would be Emma’s very first time! After all, we would be going for Hannah’s school concert in a dark hall soon, so I decided to treat this movie outing as a trial run.

The only movie available and suitable was Inside Out.  Ethan had already learnt that the movie was all about “voices and things in our head”.

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Emma was all excited when we walked together to the cinema.  Of course she had no inkling on what to expect.

This was taken right before the show started.  Apologies for the grainy picture because lighting was bad and errrr….. it was almost time to put away our phones anyway…

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We had the usual popcorn and water for snacks and Ethan offered to share his seat with Emma.  The show was, on the whole, very entertaining and the cinema was nearly a full house.

Get this: Emma SAT THROUGH the entire movie without getting out from her seat!  No crying, no whining and not even once asked for milk!

I am truly, simply amazed!!

After the show, we asked if she had enjoyed the movie and she gives us her usual, wide-eyed, knowing nod.  She said, “I watched the BIG TV!”

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This is one of the activities that keeps Emma occupied these days.  I noticed she was very amused by the Junior Boggle alphabet blocks and kept asking for “blocks”, so I dug out these gorgeous (and well-used) wooden blocks from way back when. Remember the first time I showed you these blocks on my blog?  My, how time has flown!!

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Anyway, these are super sturdy and fit into her hands so well.  I’ve taught her how to stack too, as well as how to say “stack”.

It’s stack and crash over and over again now!

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Hey peeps!!  Have you seen Hannah and Emma on television yet?  They are featured on two different videos as part of the Disney Junior Birthday Book for the month of March.

Last year, they didn’t get featured so this year, I made it a point to submit their pictures really early.  These are videos taken from the feature in the Disney Junior Asia Birthday Book site online.

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Hannah

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Hannah had a birthday celebration with her friends at AdventureZone yesterday, which is a day before her birthday proper.  AdventureZone always makes the kids eager, excited and brings out the energy and adrenalin in everyone.

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SOoooooo much easier to take pictures of the wee babes because the older ones were zipping past me so fast!!

Hannah conquered her fear of going down the blue slide and now confidently slides down it like a pro.

Next time, she says she’s gonna go down the “scary” red slide!

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The kids all enjoyed themselves and even continued playing at the slide area after they were done with their food and cake.

However, an unfortunate accident happened when we got home. 🙁

Hannah tripped and fell and knocked her head on the open grille door in our house.  She had an open wound on her forehead and after I cleaned her up and gave her a quick shower, we took her to the doctor.  Thankfully, the doctor said the wound was a shallow one, and she only used 3 steristrips to hold it close.  Then she covered the wound with a sheet of waterproof plaster.  We will be going back to the medical center to have it removed 4-5 days later.

Despite the unfortunate incident, our little big girl Hannah, ever so courageous, remained cheerful and happy.  She came back home and asked to open her presents!

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Happy Birthday dearest Hannah!

May your days be filled with happiness and rainbows now and forevermore!

A minute of stardom, a wealth of experience…

That’s how it must have felt for Hannah and her classmates, because for them, as K1 students, although they only played a supporting role in the school concert, with only a short dance sequence, the exposure to the world of performing arts was definitely something to be cherished.

We attended her school concert last Sunday.  Ethan was also excited because for the first time, he would be sitting in the audience.  The title of the concert was “Humpty Dumpty Stood on the Wall”, a playful take on a story of the little egg character and two adjacent lands: Nursery Rhyme Land and Chinese Folklore Land.  Hannah was one of the kid dancers in the Chinese folklore scene where Si Ma Guang rescued a child who had fallen into a big pottery vase/tank.

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Can you spot Hannah?  Check out the adorable pigtail hairdo!

Prior to the concert, I had no clue as to what she was going to be doing in the concert, except that she was going to be dancing.  The only thing she told me was, “Mommy, there are two groups in my dance.  The skipping group and the running group.  I am the leader of the skipping group.”

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Later after the concert, she told me, “Mommy, I was quite nervous before the concert, because there is a big audience watching.”

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Awww….you did an awesome job, sweetheart!  We are so proud of you!

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Pssst….and little Emma was rather well-behaved too, and was able to sit through the entire concert.

Ethan’s school recently had a simple 45-minute school play called The Piper, based on the popular story The Pied Piper of Hamelin.  In the simplicity of it all, I actually found myself enjoying the play.

Ethan was casted as a member of the choir and he had been singing the songs over and over again at home, so much so that Hannah also knew the lyrics to them!  Can you spot him in the photo above?

Although in the process of rehearsals and preparations, the original pair of pants I sent in for Ethan to wear as part of his costume got misplaced, it was still wonderful to see all the kids enjoying themselves during the performance.

Looking forward to similar performances in future 🙂

Hannah also wanted in on getting onstage:

 

We attended Literature Night at Hannah’s school just last week.  It was an event organized solely for the K1 kids in honor of literary and performing arts.  It was a very informal event, but full of rather interesting performances.  The family members of the K1 kids were also invited to perform if they so desire.

Hannah’s class started the ball rolling with an entertaining Chinese choral speaking poem recital, followed by an English sign language poem and rounding it off with a Chinese song.  She had a great time onstage and was brimming with confidence.  We are so very proud of her.

Ethan contributed a 2-song ukulele performance, playing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Little Brown Jug.  Good job, Ethan!  Too bad the pictures Daddy took were a little blurry…

A couple of days later, I’d asked Hannah to repeat her English sign language poem at home:

Here are the words to the poem:

Thank you, Mom.
Thank you, Dad.
Three small words.
So much to add.
For all your love
and your support
a million words
would be too short.
The words, “I love you”
seem too few
to express the love
I have for you.

 

Several weeks ago, a old friend of ours paid us a visit.  We had not seen each other for yonks, so we had a good time catching up on what’s going on with each other.  We also took this golden opportunity to visit the Heritage Trail in Georgetown together with our friend and his family.  Although we have been living in Penang for so long, it was Pete’s second visit and the kids’ and my first visit.  It was slightly cloudy that day but we managed to cover quite a few key places.

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Obligatory Street Art Photos

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No need for uniforms in school today because as part of Book Week this week, all the kids are invited to dress up as their favorite book character.  Naturally, Ethan chose Geronimo Stilton…

It was very hard to find a GREEN suit just like Geronimo Stilton’s, so Ethan is going as Geronimo Stilton on vacation (in green t-shirt and shorts).  I painted and crafted the mouse ears for him yesterday and fixed it onto a hairband, and Ethan had fun making his glasses out of pipe cleaners yesterday afternoon.  Some eyebrow and eye liner on the nose completed the look together with the red tie Stilton wears.

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