Goodbye 2004.. Welcome 2005

Time really passed like rocket! Before we realise, another new year pushing its way through again. I have not been doing a proper new year resolution since couple of years back. This year is special, thanks to Hsiu Chin who deliberately made everyone to write down our 2005 resolution in details, yes very detailed indeed. And it's good cos by setting such requirement, it gives us a quiet moment to really sit down, ponder and pray over what we really want to do in 2005 instead of just getting on with life without proper goals. Tada!! Here's my goals for 2005 ... AREA NO.1 Personal & Close walk with God GOAL * Spend quality quiet time with God * Read the Bible * Worship God with songs PLANS * Afternoon during Jamie’s nap * Tues & Thurs before bedtime (45mins) * Mon afternoon before Jamie’s nap AREA NO.2 Building on stronger marital relationship with Chunquan GOAL Maintain daily communication & at least once a month outing without Jamie PLANS Phone calls, emails, SMS, chats during dinner or bedtime. Scroll at neighborhood after dinner or go for a movie or dinner or shopping. AREA NO.3 Bring up Jamie in a loving, secured and God’s centered family with happy memories of her childhood. GOALS * Not to raise voice over her. * Giving her lots of love and assurance. * Worship God together with Jamie * Have quality time spend with Jamie PLANS * Control temper and explain to her the way she should behalf and how we feel. * Never leave her without explaining where we are going. * Mon afternoon before Jamie’s nap.* Play/read a story book with her. Bring her out at least once a week for a simple outing. AREA NO.4 Loved Ones GOALS * Spending quality time * Share the Gospel thru own testimonies * Invitation to Church service or church wide events like TGIF etc PLANS (Parents, Godmum, In-laws, and immediate extended relatives) * Parents - Once a week visitation/outing * Godmum - Once a month visitation/outing * In-laws – At least twice a week on quality communication. * Sisters – Once a month phone calls or emails update. Monthly activities with our kids. * Brother – Chat with him when visiting parents. *Create opportunity for personal sharing and to have more in-depth personal conversation. Offer to pray for them. * Actively send invites, give them a personal calls or visitation to invite them over. AREA NO.5 Spiritual family (cell group) GOALS * Bonding (Karen) * Bonding (cell) PLAN Karen: Weekly updates either via phone calls or email. Once a month meetup either to each other place or outing. Cell : * Catch up via phone calls, SMS or email. * Cell meeting esp girls’ nite * Youth service & dinner * Hi tea/ makan * Small groups outing * House visiting

Surprise Visitors

While I thought we will spend the entire day at home, Virn Ping SMSed me around 2pm telling me that he and my godmum will be coming over this evening apparently to pass a Christmas present to Jamie. Was very happy to anticipate their arrival since the last time when they were here was some 2mths ago. I'm so glad to be able to spend some time this evening with them, at least not another usual night at Ah Po's house. Jamie not only receive a Christmas present but also an inflatable basketball car that comes with many colorful plastic balls! I'm sure she will have lotsa fun playing with it, thanks Bro! After about half an hour here, instead of them going home just like that, I suggested to Virn Ping that maybe we can go out for dinner since it's not easy for us to meet up regularly as they all are residing in the furthest East while we are in the furthest West :( So he drove us to Buona Vista for duck porridge. Actually I don't fancy duck meat but then was thinking don't mind try a bit la.. but surprisingly I ate quite a lot. Simply irresistible! Yummy! Yummy! Thanks Virn Ping for coming all the way to pass the present & the toy to your niece and at the same time giving us the opportunity once again to be able to mingle and chit chat with you all! Tonight I shall go to bed with a grin :D Taken at the coffeeshop after dinner My godmum & Jamies' granny Cousin Cheryl lovingly holding onto Jamie's hand

Cool Weather

Initially planning to go Daiso @ IMM to buy some containers for storing some brads, eyelets & snaps for my scrapbook. But perhaps the weather is too comforting that I din even manage to step out of the house :D Spent the whole afternoon doing these (see below) paper stencils for Chelsea Sprayart. I bought it for her Christmas present but realised all the 18 stencils are not ready to play. So I volunteered to bring home some to help her. Only managed to complete 3 stencils during Jamie's 2hrs afternoon nap. See the one without holes ? Suppose to poke the paper thru'

I'm so tired!

Went to my parents' house this afternoon (Tues). Infact it was a unplanned trip cos initially I wanted to go to Growing Fun @ Raffles Place to see if there's any good buy since its 20% storewide sales ending soon by this Friday. But since its so near to my parents' place, might as well. And just now evening, we made a 2nd unplanned trip ... to Lisa's new condo at Kovan. Jamie had a good time playing there and by the time we reached home, its already passed 1030pm! So we were out the whole day! Very exhausted indeed. And when I thought I'm going to sleep soon...haiz... Chunquan's just came out and passed me some CD labels to help him to paste onto the CDs. Gotta push back my bedtime till maybe 3am? Er gosh! .. and I haven't bath yet, yucks!

Tidal Wave Death Toll Rises to 23,000

Was catching 10pm TV news at mil's place earlier on and was daunted by the reports on Tsunami's tidal wave that hit South Asia after a massive earthquate that dubbed the worst natural disaster in recent history. I was particularly disturbed by the short video clips showing the various islands & countries on how the huge tidal wave that came in so suddenly which caught everyone by surprised! Death bodies lying everywhere especially young children and scene of mothers' hugging their death child wailing ... What a sad round up for 2004. Now I'm hoping for more hands to come in to asssist these affects countries to tide over the sudden short of resources for the victims.

Monday Blues = Lifeless Mama??

I'm not sure if its the results of the overwhelming holidays programmes or if its just another Monday blues. This morning I woke up at 1030am, feeling so lifeless. And I refused to do anything except eating & surfing the web. Yes, I mean it. And I seldom spend so much time idling around in the house. And I somehow don't feel like taking a nap though my body ain't giving me the energy to stay lively. I just managed cooking Jamie's porridge. That's usually the most happiest moment of the day cos being a lousy cook myself, I really need to crack my brain to cook nutritious porridge and yet stay tasty to her taste bud. Jamie is still taking her afternoon nap since 4:30pm. I suddenly thought of the Christmas present that Chunquan still owing me... what I want?? Think I better go to my sofa and dream about it first......

Quick! Snap it!

Nowadays taking photos with her becomes a challenge for us!!

Good Afternoon!

It's almost noon and Jamie is still sleeping... very unusual as she normally wakes up around 10am. Perhaps its due to the late nights that she had over the past few days?? Shall submit this short blog and probably have a quick breakfast before she starts kicking and throwing her bear out of her bed.

Boxing Day

She's so doted!! present no.10 ... and where's the present from papa & mama ? Haha... we actually missed out Jamie's present though there's something else we can give her.

Christmas @ Fort Canning Park

I'm glad I brought Jamie to Fort Canning Park. The entire park was nicely decorated with balloons and at the foot of the park, there's a huge stage with 2 projectors, each one on the left and right side of the stage. And the crowd was huge too! Thousands and thousands of people all sitting among their groups, enjoying the breeze and fun. Yup, its Teen Lodi (the opposite of "Idol") competition though we came in late (almost 8pm) and its like the end of the competition :( And we all had a wonderful time worshipping and singing Christmas carols, some holding the glittering light bar (pix below showed Jamie playing it) and waving it in the dark pasture! The party was also filled with artificial snow whereby some were crazy chasing and spraying at each other's body while others plainly sprayed into the sky. It was such a magnificant scene! How we came home?? Karen & family offer us a lift! Yea at least we don't have to frek to get home. Thanks Karen! :) this little light of mine... I'm gonna let it shine

Family Photo

Yes it's so difficult to take just one decent family photo! Believe me, this is the best shot though Jamie aint photogenic and it was taken with the help of the tripod stand. 1,2,3 cheers!

Look!!

Found this pair of shorts handmade by Jamie's Ah Po (granny). This shorts is older than me, infact its already more than 36 years old!! Used to be worn by Jamie's "Peh Teh" (Chunquan's brother) wow my "new" shorts

Ho! Ho! Ho! Merry Christmas

Soon left house early in the wee hour, 6:15am, for a whole day wedding shoot. So this evening I will be bringing Jamie to the Fort Canning Park for a picnic with cell group organised by our church ,YouthNet. I'm a little hesitant to bring her along becos, first of all, I'm not familiar with the location since I last ROMed in 1998 & we are going there by ourselves. Secondly, the whole event expected to end around 10pm. Am thinking... how to come home?? Unless someone offer us a lift. Anyway, I'm bringing some 40 otahs for the picnic so I must go unless I eat it all :o

Christmas Eve - Part 2

Finally everybody left around 10pm leaving our house in total mess. Yes, this year no maid to clear up the leftover food and dirty dishes. So I took almost an hour or so to clean the house before I took my bathe just in time before midnight when we both greeted each other "Merry Christmas" Sherie's daughter, Nicole was having bouts of vommiting throughout the night. Apparently she took some spicy noodle which caused her tummy to be upset. And for the rest of the day, she kept asking for water and after drinking, she vomitted. Without much hesitation, I asked Sherie to bring Nicole to Westpoint Family Hospital (adjacent to my block) hopefully to treat her constant vomitting blues. Back home, the house was in a messier state! And our dinning table was still left with food. After giving out Christmas presents, the kids happily waved goodbye except for Nicole. And this year, no Christmas present from Chunquan, as expected since he's so busy lately & I really can't think of anything that I like to have although he kept asking me to tell him. However I did gave him one, A Photography book I bought online. So now what ? Am I suppose to ask for a Christmas present from him? What do I want???

Christmas Eve - Part 1

As usual, every year my parents, siblings & family will come to our house for a sumptuous Christmas dinner and I always look forward for this day! However this year, Lisa, who is so busy with their house moving (shifting out on 25 Dec) and over her job that she won't be able to join us. And during this period, her helper who has been busy cleaning packing & unpacking in their new house, so she will not be able to contribute any home cooked food tonight. Sigh, I gotta buy those ready made dishes elsewhere (have not finalise what to buy arrggghhhh!!!) And on top of that, my brother will not be able to join us as he has to work later at 9pm :( Nevertheless, I do hope that tonight will be a time of fun for the children and also for the grown up to mingle around with one another. In the mist of all this, I also want to be reminded of the meaning of Christmas and how much the Heavenly Father loves us! Merry Christmas in advance!

Soon@work

This photo was taken by a professional photographer during one of Chunquan's corporate event assignment. gotcha!

Dong Jie a.k.a Tang Yuan Jie

Din realised today is the day for Tang Yuan!! Mil was telling me that fil couldn't handle all those cooking & offering of food for ancestors so my sil and family came down late morning today to help out on the cooking part. It was a great day for Jamie cos her 2 cousins were here to play with her although they messed up all her toys. Of course Jamie wouldn't mind (or does she mind?) , in fact she was so happy to see her Jie Jie again. She just love to play among the children vs playing alone with the adults. Perhaps that's make a whole lot of different for her. But I must say I really missed those days when I was still living with my parents before I got married and my mom used to cook Tang Yuan for the family. But now I'm glad that I'm able to enjoy this traditions here with my in-laws who are staying just next door to us. It's such heart warming to be able to eat, chat and watch TV together while the children playing happily with one another.

Jamie New Found Toy

row row row your boat gently down the stream...

Blog it NOW!

After reading some of the wonderful blogs by fellow bloggers... I think I should also pen down some of my personal thoughts and also life happening around me and my family so that my family & friends can read it anytime anywhere. And I also think its a good idea to blog my diary here simply becos, we never know what happen to us tomorrow, am I right? Eg like today, I was flipping the newspaper and saw this person's face appearing in the front page. After reading I realised that she just passed away 2 weeks ago and she also blog her diary just like any one of us here.. the only difference is, she blogged her last 11days before she died. Horrifying ? Then read it yourself http://www.dyingis.blogspot.com/

Snip Snip

Cutting Jamie's hair is one of the biggest challenge for me for now. It will usually take me a couple of days to complete the "master art".. but this time, I just couldn't keep up my usual standard and her hair ain't looking good from behind. And I refused to bring her to the salon as I see this a waste of money. However the masterpiece was finally completed by someone else.. my mil's regular hairdresser at few blocks away.. a homebased hairdresser for a mere four bucks courtesy from my mil :D

Christmas Tree @ Home

Finally the Christmas tree is up on time for Christmas !! This is unusual late for us. Every year without fail, I will decorate the Christmas tree & put up our mistletoe at least 1month before Christmas. One particular year, it was already up during Deepavali!! Why so late? Perhaps its just a mental blocked for me. As Jamie now moves around the house FREELY, somehow putting up the Christmas tree early doesn't seems a good idea. Buy anyway, its UP! We also wanted to give Jamie a surprise since she has never seen a such a "huge" Christmas tree in the house. Yup, she did was pleasantly surprised to see one sitting in a corner this morning! And it's so huge that she wouldn't even dare to walk near it! Hahaha its real hilarious to see her expression! Good thing I have captured it all down in a short video clip! :) I particularly like the angel sitting on top of our Christmas tree, its ever changing colorful wings lights up the entire tree, beautify the whole tree as well.

Bon Voyage!!

Tonight we had a wonderful farewell dinner at Fish & Co at Centrepoint as our dear friend, Siew Nge will be leaving us to Shanghai for a year teaching at a international school. And it was also a great time for us to catch up with one another and of course not forgetting some photo taking cum "parade" session along the nicely decorated Orchard Road. Jamie was so captivated by the entire glittering lights & swaying and dancing Christmas trees that for once, she couldn't stop saying "Wow, Wow" ! And its so difficult to take a group photo without people walking in & out of the camera range! Phew! This was finally taken! Good Job!

Finally its completed!!!

After reading yang-one blogspot, I have finally and successfully created my own blogspot! Yippee!!! ...will be staying up late for the next few late nights to be familiarise and hopefully to be able to design my first and only Keepsaker's blog but for now I will also be posting up some past events to jazz up my blog!

Funny Expression

This picture was taken by Jamie's dad while dining at Han's newly opened restaurant situated near church, Bukit Merah Central. I particularly like this expression... it shows the mischevious side of our little angel, Jamie. Papa, let me out of this highchair !