All about Hannah
Just over a week ago, Hannah and I were selected and invited to attend a MasterChef Junior Cooking Workshop inspired by the recent MasterChef Junior series on television. Those of you who saw my Instagram picture might have thought that this was a competition, but on the contrary, it was just a cooking workshop, held mainly to encourage and foster a special bonding time between parent and child.
The cooking workshop was held at the Cooking School in Tropical Spice Garden, and that morning, since Emma decided to sleep in, Hannah and I drove to the venue first; and Daddy took Ethan and Emma a little bit later on.
Hannah, of course, was very excited about the whole thing, and was even more pleased when she was given her very own MasterChef apron to wear! Mommy got a matching apron too…yay me! 😀
Together, Hannah and I made 3 simple dishes: Apple Crumble, Baked Chicken Leg and Coleslaw. Hannah did most of the cooking except for using the knife and the stove. The recipes were fairly simple but quite tasty. I would make them again.
We had a lovely time that day, and we hope to be a part of more cooking workshops to come! 🙂
Just for fun now…here’s a shot of Ethan in front of the lunch buffet spread we had. This photo was taken while waiting for Hannah and Mommy to finish our cooking workshop:
Two nights ago, we crossed an important threshold in Hannah’s childhood: She finally moved out of our room into her very own room. We can’t say for sure now if this will work out to be a totally permanent situation, but it has been two nights now, and she’s doing really well.
We’ve moved into our new home here for close to 6 months now, and although we’ve already had her (pink and girly) room set up for her, complete with a queen-sized bed (decked in pink bed linens chosen by her), and a desk and chair, Hannah has been bunking in our room on a mattress adjacent to our bed. She has been telling me that she will move to her room when she is ready and I have trusted her.
Two days ago, she confidently told me that she’s ready and would like to sleep in her own room now. I figured maybe she was just saying it for fun…’cos sometimes she says things and bail out at the last minute. However this time, she kept repeating it consistently, so I prepared her bed for her that night. I told her I would stay with her in bed till she slept and then I would creep out. I left the bathroom light on for her in case she needed to use it at night (she can’t reach the light switch yet).
She brought along 2 of her doggie soft toy friends: Sunshine and Cliffer, and they kept her company through the night.
I had half-expected her to show up in our room in the middle of the night, but that never happened. I was awakened only by Emma, and Hannah independently slept in her own room the whole night through.
The following night, she asked to take her shower and brush her teeth in her own ensuite bathroom. So I moved everything there for her: towel, shower gel, shampoo, toothbrush, toothpaste, and even her little step stool.
She’s done it two nights in a row now, and I’m so proud of my little girl. Not entirely sure what really prompted this to happen: it could be due to the fact that she’s just gained some confidence or that I recently told her about a dear friend’s daughter who recently moved into her own room too. 🙂
Thing is….I’m missing her now. 🙁
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…
We had fun on bicycles built for two:
While Ethan’s legs were long enough to pedal on the bikes, Hannah had to leave her legs up, and let Daddy do the pedalling:
There were traditional games, like this one..I think it’s called Flying Feather…
… and vainpot activities like Face Painting:
Fun with sidewalk chalk! This was the boys’ creative contribution:
…and this was the selfie we took for Ethan and Hannah as part of the task list for the Treasure Hunt competition:
Coincidentally we won a prize for that competition! 🙂
It was a fun-filled day, albeit a scorchingly hot one, but definitely a great day to spend Sunday morning! 🙂
Yes, yes…I do know I am more than a week late in doing this, but trust me, it has been one hectic day after another. But that’s another story now, ain’t it?
Here’s a handmade picture frame Hannah made in school:
My 2 older kids surprised me with handmade cards in the a.m. on Mother’s Day. I was so touched..and still am. All entirely their own ideas.
The card Ethan made during Catechism class:
Hannah gave me a card she had been working on for a week. Here’s the front of the card:
The inside of the card (She even included a lovely blue glitter fan and a word search activity!):
And the back of the card:
The following day, Hannah made me another card, “just because” 🙂
I am blessed beyond words, aren’t I? ♥
It is an absolute JOY to witness a child embarking on a wonderful journey filled with imagination beyond boundaries. When a child starts putting thoughts and ideas into words and takes pen to paper, so to say, the possibilities are endless.
Where it happened pretty quickly with Ethan, so much so that I could not keep up, with Hannah, it has been a gradual process. She first learned her phonics and sounds and then blending those sounds together to form words. Her confidence in sounding out words as she attempts to read them has increased in leaps and bounds, and I cannot begin to say how proud I am of my little snowflake.
We read a story or two every night as a “nightcap” before we call it a day, and I am pleased that Hannah has been volunteering to read most of the words by herself!
Here’s a short descriptive sentence she wrote all by herself, complete with graphical illustration. She came up with the words on her own and even spelled the words on her own by blending the sounds of the letters.
Awesome job, my dear! Soon you’ll be writing pages and pages about big and fun ships! 🙂
Hannah’s school gives out recognition medals to kids each month based on merit and behaviour. These awards, called the Star Kid award, are given out during the monthly assemblies, and since the beginning of the year, Hannah has been trying her best to get the award.
She told me she had been helping out in class with the cleaning up and had been extra attentive in class. She thought she would get the Star Kid award for sure in March but she was a little disappointed when she didn’t.
So it was with utter joy and happiness when she came back home last Wednesday displaying her Star Kid medal! Actually she was feeling a little under the weather that day, but she knew it was Assembly day and she wanted to go and see if they would call her name.
Such was her determination. And paid off it did. 🙂
Well done, Hannah! *hugs*
Would you just look at how Hannah lovingly takes care of her little baby sister, by offering her a drink?
This certainly brings back memories…see? This was what Ethan did to Hannah some years back when she was just starting to learn how to drink from a straw.
Simply, amazingly PRECIOUS!
After a hiatus of about 3 months, Ethan’s soccer training finally resumed at a new location, nearer to where we live. Ethan was thrilled of course, and was looking forward to the commencement of the session. However Hannah also expressed an interest to participate in the training. The facilitator said she could come and try to see if she likes it, so yesterday was the first session.
Daddy was hesitant too, about Hannah’s participation…Hannah being a “princess” and all, but we decided to let her have a go at it, at least for the first time.
She seemed to enjoy the session yesterday because there weren’t many kids then. She “scored” a few goals herself too, and the senior coach commented that she was rather good.
We’ll see how it goes this Friday. There’s another session coming up and she says she wants to go again. 😀
(Sorry about the blurred photo – I took them using my phone from quite a distance away)
Two days before her actual birthday on March 2nd, we had a little birthday celebration for Hannah in school with her classmates. As was always the case pre-birthday, Hannah was rather undecided on what kind of cake she’d wanted. I would say she changed her mind almost every month leading to her birthday, so when she told me she finally decided, I had to ask her a few times to really confirm it.
Here’s my birthday girl with her Sofia the First inspired dress and tiara cake. She chose the design herself after looking through tons of ideas on Pinterest.
The entire cake is edible, even the fondant and gumpaste tiara, but I had to make some last minute modifications because errr….. there was a slight cake decoration mishap. But my little girl was happy nonetheless… 🙂 I had tremendous fun baking and decorating this cake too, the highlights being the tiara and the floral designs on the skirt. Not bad an effort for my first two-tier cake 🙂
I even painted an airbrush glimmer sheen on the tiara to make it sparkle!
