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arghhh… i really do wish for more time to blog! and for more time to do everything else, for that matter.
it’s monday and i’m beat from last night’s night cycle. rode from tampines to changi village and back to tampines in 1.5 hrs with a short break in between. burnt around 481 calories. it was a very very late ride. reached tampines at 12.30am!! there was one particular slope that was a killer. i peddled like a crazy dog :P but i really like the sensation of cruising down the slopes. hope to do the next ride soon tho’ i suspect that cycling is not exactly the best thing for my knees 
i bought a car rack for my bike and i tell you; putting it up is as good a warm up. it takes about 15 mins to mount the rack and the bike on it. hopefully, it will take shorter time once i get more familiar with it.
anywayz, i went to sunday school for a very short visit yesterday. i went to church very early, to pass them the projector. so, i took the opportunity to visit the children at sunday school. i went to the pre-school class. my camera phone amused them and they were very eager to pose for me. timi (short for timothy?) was exceptionally funny. he kept wanting to make funny and monkey faces for me…. 
reminds me of the time when i was teaching in sunday school back in bartley. reminds me that i once said (when i was much much younger) that my preferred ministries would be the sunday school and worship….
and i thought this was realli funny!!
i was jammed packed this peak season (at work) and could only take time to take the children out on new year’s day.
i decided to let them pick their own christmas present instead of attempting to buy them gifts. have i ever shared that i think buying presents for children is really tough. u look at all the toys selection and you wonder if they already have them. it did happened once when i bought zee a birthday present and he told me he already has it arghhhh… . then the other questions you have is whether that toy is fun etc. sometimes i see the parents in church giving presents to children and i thought, u must definitely be a parent to know what toy is “in” and what’s not.
i did ask jul for some tips of what’s a “cool” toy… but still i think it is not a bad idea to let the children pick up something they like.
i decided to take them to vivo city (again). you can do everything there. eat lunch, play outdoors and pick up christmas presents. it was arranged quite last minute after my return from taiwan and i’m glad they were available – it was just the day before school re-opens.
hazel joined us for the 1st time and zoe ying, though sick, still wanted to come along. she was dismayed to learn that i was going to bring them out when she was sick again. the last time, i brought them to junction 8 for “kungfu panda”, she had to stay in because she was sick.
as zoe was sick, shang and zee decided that they will not play at the outdoor playground but not at the pool. i decided that they should all not play outdoor at all as zoe was really not very well. and debbie and hazel were a ‘lil disappointed that they were not going to the pool (they were told to bring extra clothes and towel). debbie soon forgot about it but hazel was really quite hopeful about being able to play at the outdoor pool. she doesn’t seem to like the air-con as she told me.
when we reached vivo, i told them what we were going to do that day. and it includes them picking up their christmas presents. but i told them that aunty joyce has a budget and that she can’t spend like $100 on each. shang said “of course”, he understands. so, i asked them what should the budget for each be. shang shot me an answer $20. ghee… that’s quite way below what i had in mind. he went on to say that zoe can have $30 budget as she was not able to join us the last time round. how sweet and thoughtful is that!!
we went to “build a bear” to mend the bear that debbie brought. her bear is named garbiella and it was her christmas present bought on 24 dec 08. the gals decided that they would pick up something from that shop as their christmas present. they ended up getting the same dress for their teddies.
hazel also built her own bear. she named it lari. she picked up a nice winter coat for her but decided that she prefers to get her bear a pair of shoes instead of a bottom.
we had sushi tei for lunch (no need to ask them what they like; for we all love jap food). it’s interesting that we were seaten at the same table a year ago when i last brought them to vivo on 24 Dec 08. the bill didn’t come up to be as high as the other time. zee couldn’t eat as much as he did before. zoe was sick, so her appetite was not great too. and i was not hungry either. shang offered to subsidize for lunch with the money jul gave them or to buy me something that i like i told shang it’s not necessary and that he can bring aunty joyce out for lunch when he starts to work and receives his own pay check.
after lunch, we went to toys r us so that the boys can pick up their presents. i did suspect if zee was a ‘lil excited about going to get his presents and thus not being able to concentrate on finishing his lunch
the boys took a while to decide upon getting 3 star wars figurines. after cashing out, i realised there were some discount given and there were enough balance left to get a 4th one. (i did up the budget from $20 to $30 each and for Zoe & Hazel to $40/$50).
shang thanked me many times for taking them out, for buying them lunch and for buying them presents. he is such a well mannered boy. 真的很有家教。
this is an old photo which i thought i should try to preserve. it’s at least 7 years old.
there was a period of time where i couldn’t find time to do any scrapbook layouts. i was either really packed with alot of things to do or that i was trying to finish off some scrapbook projects which i started at the scrapbook classes & also for zhiming & korene’s wedding guestbook.
though my schedule is not getting any better (in fact, it is worst), i’m glad i still found some energy to scrapbook 2 layouts recently – stretched over a week or two to complete (each). though very tired after reaching home and having clocked in long hours, i find it energises me… it’s like a therapy
it’s zees’ 6th birthday and this is the 1st time i thought of “inviting” myself to join his family to celebrate his birthday.
his dad couldn’t make it because of a leaders’ meeting and so, it was just the rest of us. we met at swensons in parkway parade.
he picked his cake… and then we played the “making faces” game. think it is an idea juliana had that they played at home. it was really funny and fun, i must say
a player will be the banker/judge. he/she will call out a description such as “happy” and the rest around the table will have to make a face that best shows it.
ray kit was really good. for a young child, i’m very amused he could make a “tortured” face.
anyway, it was quite hilarious as it was obvious that zee was biased towards shang as the latter always win when zee is the judge.
i went shopping for zee’s present before i met them. i must say, it’s no easy task whenever it comes to playing a present for zee. there was a year that i bought him a toy which he already has. i’m not a parent and so, i guess it’s natural that i’m not updated about the ‘in’ toys and what’s fun for what age etc. i cracked my head and ended up making a purchase for a Transformers toy.
i got it wrapped up and didn’t give it to zee initially. but he noticed it and asked who was it for. i said it was for someone else. after a while, he was still curious about the present and asked me again. it was quite fun teasing him and seeing his curiosity around it. anyway, he likes the gift and i’m all pleased
juliana asked me if i could take zee and the children out on 30 aug as tiak and her are going for the india mission trip. i couldn’t because of whampoa cg. i offered to “baby-sit” them on sunday instead. i had to bring them to sunday school too on 31 aug morning. i drove to their new house and after having been to a new condos, i must say the security at their place is quite “on-the-ball”. i wonder if it’s because it’s a new property. they took down my vehicle no, took my driving licence, gave me a “V” pass (to put on), gave me a “V” display to place in my car’s dashboard….. and at the end of the evening; commented that i “visited” so long. hahaaa…. ok, the last one was said in a friendly and joking way… and i replied them … yah… actually, i drove a different car out.
i drove their mpv that day. it took me a while to get used to it. i drove their mpv before but that’s at least a couple of years back. it took me about a minute to figure out the gear stick, brake release… (and i did call tiak 2 days before for a “mental refresher”) but am glad, shang knows well enough to “guide” me what to do.
it’s really about familiarity and adaptation. not easy driving a big vehicle especially when own and drive a smaller car. the adaptation took longer; compared to when i drove their mpv years back (when i didn’t own a car yet). it’s quite “scary” when u have to park. i even had to “get used” to the mirrors – which just seems differnt. but driving a mpv has the advantage of havng cars give way to u on the road! though i was not very confident and probably moving very slowly, all the cars around me seemed to be keeping the distance.
anyway, i took the children to the RSAF Open House at Paya Lebar Airbase.
it was threatening to pour by the time i was ready to leave. i asked the children “how” and if there was anything they wanted to do. i’m glad they are quite decisive. shang suggested that we go as planned to the rsaf open house. and so we did. 10 minutes after we went pass the entrance, it started raining but it was a very short pour – thanks be to God!
there were long ques everywhere – from flight simulation experience to photo-taking opportunities in the various air crafts. we settled on the fastest moving que we could get to.
we later ajourn to the fun-fair section where there are 2 big air balloon scrupltures and games stations. we spent quite a lot of time there – the children were trying their wits and pitching their skills at the various game stations and winning prizes. it was a good way to end the day at the rsaf open house.
i took them to dinner at parkway parade. no prize for guessing what their preference is when i asked what they would like to eat. JAPANESE!
came across some random old pics recently. one of such is the one i’ve used to scrap the below LO.
journal reads:
layout completed 21 june ’08. photo was probably taken in 2003 when we had our alpha programme in malaysia. DEBBIE & ZOE were about 2-3 years old then. they were wearing matching shirts i bought for them they are 8 years old now. it’s cute to be reminded how they were then
** i’ve seen (21 jun) found out that the photo was taken on 11 april 2003. i’m very bad with dates/years… but when u scrap, dates are good for creating keepsakes…. **
