Little Miracles

I Am So Blessed…

September 15, 2014 in Emma, Ethan, Growing Up, Hannah, Parenting | No comments

blessed

I am so blessed because…

I have three precious wonderful little human beings to dote after; three little ones who think the world of me and love me unconditionally.
Ethan, my eldest, is doing good in school. Despite my initial reservations about having him start regular school when he had been homeschooled for eight months prior, I really enjoy listening to his stories and anecdotes about what happened in school. Minor issues do occur, like leaving stuff in school and classmates who are rather “naughty”, but I suppose I will have to let go eventually, let him fight his own battles and watch from the sidelines as he gains independence and courage.
Hannah, my second one, is slowly but surely becoming more confident in her abilities. She is very sociable and I can tell she has many friends in school. She picks up languages really fast, especially Chinese and BM, and she does not hesitate to practise at home. She is more or less a “mini me”, so to say, determined and stubborn, and she pushes herself to her limits. She’s also very creative and loves spending time creating works of art: drawing, painting, coloring.
Emma, my littlest one, although rather timid, is getting very used to having her siblings around her. She relies on me totally and she is slowly starting to explore outside of her boundaries. I can see a combination of Ethan and Hannah in her. It’s magical.
My kids are spending time enjoying music, and not doing academic stuff all the time. Ethan is enjoying his ukulele classes (though he seldom practises!), and Hannah is also loving her weekly piano lessons. Emma too, loves to shake and move to music when we do play it. 🙂
I hardly have time to blog because my day is filled with the need to ferry the kids everywhere and anywhere. School, music classes, playdates….
Although my kids don’t necessarily LOVE everything I cook, they still eat their meals and are growing up healthily. I try to keep meals nutritious and healthy but I’m thankful sometimes for takeouts and fast food too. Don’t judge me, I’m just a mom. 😛
I get to tuck them in at night, say our prayers together and give each one of my little miracles a hug and a kiss goodnight.
I get to see them grow up to be a responsible, caring individuals and I am there to mould and guide them as best as I can.
We all learn new things together every day and we all know that although we each are allowed to make mistakes, it is these mistakes that give us the opportunity to be a better person.
God blessed me with these miracles and they are truly my world and my all. I love them so, so deeply.

The Sunflower Growing Competition

September 9, 2014 in Emma, Ethan, Growing Up, Hannah, Parenting | No comments

Here’s an interesting and fun activity that we can all do with our family (regardless of age).

When September came around, we decided to have this little interesting competition of our own. Since I had just gotten hold of some sunflower seeds from my aunt, I suggested we each plant a sunflower and see whose will bloom first.

The planter I used could fit five sunflower plants just right, so we labelled the spots accordingly and each selected two sunflower seeds. Two for insurance… Just in case one didn’t sprout.

And then we waited. And waited (and watered daily) …..and waited some more.

One week later… And this is what we have currently:

sunflowers

As you can see, only the kids’ seeds have sprouted. Ethan’s sprouted first (after 5 days), followed by Emma’s and then Hannah’s.

I just hope mine won’t be the last one to sprout. Okay, I just hope mine will eventually sprout … and bloom.

Watch this space for more updates in time to come! 🙂

Emma’s Baptism

August 7, 2014 in Christianity, Emma, Ethan, Growing Up, Hannah, Parenting | No comments

After procrastinating for so many months, what with the move and settling down and all, we finally managed to arrange for Emma’s baptism last Sunday. We figured we had better do it now so that she would still “qualify” as an “infant”…after all, it’s called “infant baptism” for a reason, no?

A few close relatives turned up to witness the short and simple ceremony. This time round, the baptism was held at a different church, one that is closer to our new home. It lasted about half an hour and thereafter we proceeded to have lunch.

Photo-taking before the baptism commenced:

During the ceremony, Emma was busy blabbering away… It was definitely an all-new experience for her, and certainly very educational for Ethan and Hannah too. Ethan had been too young to remember what exactly happened when Hannah was baptised last time, so this time both Ethan and Hannah got to witness everything.

Towards the end of the baptism ceremony, it began to rain very heavily. However, that did not dampen the ceremony. It was a very special and meaningful one for us.

May the Almighty God bless us and keep us in his loving arms now and forevermore.

Sunday Morning at Sports Day 2014

July 29, 2014 in Emma, Ethan, Exercise, Growing Up, Hannah, Milestones | No comments

Hannah’s school had their annual Sports Day just over a week ago. She had been practising very hard for her team event and naturally, she was very excited about the whole thing. She was very concerned about getting to school on time that morning, so I had to reassure her that we will leave early so we will definitely be on time.

At the start of the Sports Day, the classes had the march past. Hannah was supposed to hold the sign for her class, but she says the boy in front snatched it from her.

Then the kids provided some entertainment via warm-up exercises:

Doing the class cheer, in English and Mandarin:

“Teacher asked me to hold the sign again…”

Smallest member of Hannah’s cheering squad:

Video-taking responsibilities were delegated to our videographer-in-training:

Hannah’s class event…..see Hannah in action 🙂

She did really well, and we’re all so very proud of her!

The Piper

July 16, 2014 in Entertainment, Ethan, Hannah | No comments

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:

Literature Night 2014

July 7, 2014 in Entertainment, Ethan, Growing Up, Hannah | No comments

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.

A Walk Along The Heritage Trail

June 29, 2014 in Emma, Entertainment, Ethan, Exercise, Hannah, Parenting | 1 comment

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.

Khoo Kongsi

Obligatory Street Art Photos

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“I’m Geronimo Stilton Today!”

June 11, 2014 in Entertainment, Ethan, Growing Up, Parenting | No comments

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.

We Are Ready for The Greatest Show on Earth…Are You?

June 10, 2014 in Entertainment, Ethan, Exercise, Hannah | No comments

Family Fun Day 2014

May 28, 2014 in Celebrations, Emma, Entertainment, Ethan, Hannah | No comments

Hannah’s school’s Family Fun Day is an annual affair celebrating Mother’s, Father’s and Teacher’s Day, and this year was no different. So last Sunday we got up bright and early and made our way to Occupy at Beach Street, an area which is cordoned off from motor vehicles every Sunday morning as part of Penang’s Smoke-free campaign. Believe it or not, it was our first time there, and it was also the venue for the Family Fun Day.

We all had on identical t-shirts, with the exception of Emma of course. We parked a little ways off the site of the event, so we had to walk together with a bicycle and a scooter too…not to mention a baby in a stroller! We then quickly registered, grabbed our Subway breakfasts, and dove right into the hustle and bustle of all the activities.

We did trishaw rides…