Joe is 9!

My first born turned 9 this month. There was no party because he doesn't quite like being in the limelight.

 

In the days leading up to his birthday, I decided to make him some 'slugs' to decorate his 'cake'. We had a pizza 'cake' topped with pigs-in-blanket (bacon-wrapped pork sausages) and a piece of KFC...all his favourite food, decorated with his favourite slugs made out of felt. It was really a very painstaking labour of love. The slugs took me four days because I'm such a perfectionist and wanted to perfect every little detail. And the pigs-in-blanket...oh how I hate frying and smelling all greasy but I guess that's what mothers do out of love.

 

It was a simple celebration at home with 3 out of 4 grandparents (since Nana is still on the other side of the planet).

 

My big boy is a heavy boy! He weighs 33kg and stands at 135.5cm. That's like almost 70% of what I weigh!

 

The small boy is also fast catching up with Isabel. He has just turned 6 months weighing 8.7kg (70cm) while Isabel is about 12.7kg. But there's still no sleeping through the night.

 

And these are snapshots from last weekend....

We were at Avillion Port Dickson for a friend's wedding.

It ain't junk

My children use up plenty of 2B pencils for their homework and when the pencils get too short (about 3 inches long), it's no longer conducive for them to hold the pencils properly. But I can't bear to throw them away yet.

So I had been looking around the house and thinking of some way to lengthen the pencils without compromising too much on comfort and handwriting.

I finally found this.... a broken angry bird ballpoint pen. It's one of those things the kids get from party packs that don't last long.

But it's a perfect fit over the 2B pencil. It holds firm and snug and the pencils is long again! Walaa!!!

And the pencil can be used till it's less than 2 inches long.

Shopping with Tesco online

In our BC (before children) era, shopping was therapeutic. With one kid, it was fun. With two, it was manageable. Then with had three, it was challenging. Now that we have four, it's absolutely stressful and tiring!

It's quite a challenge to choose veggies while keeping two eyes on four kids who may not all stay in the same place at the same time. Gone are the easier days when they could ALL fit into one trolley.

 

So I gave Tesco online a try and I must say I am thus far very pleased with them.

 

The first time, I use a Livingsocial (don't you just love them!) voucher that gave me RM30 off a total purchase of RM150. Even with the service charge of RM10, I saved RM20!

 

I took my time (while feeding and rocking Isaac...thank God for my iPad!) to browse and bought household necessities like pasta, butter, cheese and dried food stuff that were on offer. It helps to know the prices of stuff you regularly buy so that you can spot a genuine offer.

 

The delivery came promptly at the selected time. In fact, they were early. Everything I ordered arrived in great shape. I inspected the goods before making payment.

 

A couple of weeks later, I received another voucher for RM10+free delivery off a minimum purchase of RM100. So again carefully selecting stuff that I need so that I don't simply purchase to make up the minimum amount, I placed another order. This time, I included fresh produce and ice cream.

 

The lemons and broccoli came looking better than the ones I've seen in store while the ice-cream was still nicely cold and frozen. Some cheese I ordered were out of stock and I declined the alternatives they brought. In the end my total payment was only RM73 for groceries worth RM83.

 

And I got another e-coupon for free delivery on my next order...

 

I would still shop in store when time permits but when I can't, I think Tesco online is a wonderful alternative. It saves my time, money on petrol and parking and there's no traffic jam stress. Plus they carry everything to my doorstep... it's likes having a personal shopper and porter! 

Cowboy Burger @ SS15

Another porky burger place - Cowboy Burger is a recently-opened porky place that we checked out last Sunday with livingsocial vouchers.

Who doesn't love a good deal and discounts? I sure do. With the vouchers, we pay half price for everything!

The place is simple and we felt quite at home because there were kids at every other table so I didn't have to feel bad for the noise my children were making. The staff were also very friendly and accommodating.

We tried a Wild Mushroom Soup (RM8.80) ...

The soup was flavourful enough and not too creamy. But considering the not-very-big-bowl, I feel it's a bit too highly priced if I were to pay full price.

Daalin, myself and Joseph each had a pork burger. I can't quite remember now which photo is which but Daalin had the Black Pepper Piggy Burger, I had the Cowboy Aloha Piggy Burger and Joe had the Cowboy Cheese Piggy Burger.

They were all good - very thick juicy patties!

I think this is the Aloha one

We also liked the thick-cut fries. It's got a herb-y taste and Daalin rates this no.1, better than Chicago Rib's beer battered fries.

I find the burgers very reasonably priced and certainly a great value for money with the vouchers. 

nachos with cheese and meat sauce and tomato salsa.
 

In fact, we loved our meal so much that we came home and promptly bought another 6 vouchers! Gonna make another visit to try the bacon ice cream and signature burger. Yum! Yum! Yum!



Hello April, Goodbye March!

It's April already and Isaac is nearing the 6-month mark! Yay!!! I've always said I don't mind pregnancy and labour but the first 6 months of sleepless nights and lots of crying drives me nuts!

 

Isaac turned 5 months old in March hitting the 8kg mark in weight - a whole kg more than his brother. This is my meatiest baby. Still not super chubby compared to some babies I know.

 Weight gain was much less last month because he has been very busy and active. Only 5 months and he's up on all 4s trying to crawl.

 

I'm quite happy to say goodbye to March. It was a super hot and smelly hazy month.

There was one Friday when it was so bad and because I didn't want to bring the babies out when I had to go fetch the older 2, I let them skip school.

homeschooling

babysitting

Craft for March was felt donuts. Next up I'm thinking of a felt pizza.

I've often told my husband that I need to make something tangible to feel accomplished. Cooking and cleaning just doesn't cut it because all you see thereafter is poo and pee.

 

We did a photoshoot during the school holidays with stories.my and I'm still waiting for the pictures. It was by far the most stressful and chaotic photoshoot ever. Two adults and 4 kids! Isabel kept wanting to run away and Isaac wasn't too smiley while busy checking out the new surroundings.

mani-pedi before the photoshoot

In the kitchen...I still don't like cooking but it's something I have to do. Joseph loves chicken/fish nuggets but I refuse to buy those frozen ready-to-cook ones so I have to make my own breaded chicken/fish cutlets. With some help from google and Kentucky flour, he gave me 2 thumbs up! I so hate frying though....so it's limited to once a fortnight.

 

Other times, it's simple one-pot meals to minimise washing and ensure he eats his veges.

fried rice with foochow fish balls and lapcheong and a side of salmon omelette with cheese

Plus I'm always on the look out for good groupon and livingsocial deals for those times when I'm just too lazy to cook.

 

Now that it's April....I'm looking forward to Joseph's and Ah Mah's birthday and a friend's beach wedding when Joy will be one of the flower girls.

Old Siam @ 1 Utama and free toothbrushes

I'm always on the look out for a good deals so Groupon and LivingSocial are 2 of my favourite sites especially for dining vouchers. When looking for these, I always read the fine print and go for those that do not require prior reservation and have little restrictions.

 

We dined at Old Siam Kitchen @ 1 Utama (LG new wing) yesterday. It was a last minute decision the day before. I needed to bring Joy into clinic to put in a filling for her tooth and while I had initially thought I would go alone with Joy, Daaling suggested we all go and then pop over to 1 Utama to kai kai.

 

So I quickly browsed for vouchers and we decided to try Old Siam. It was a good decision. We bought four pieces of RM20 vouchers for RM9 each. The place is clean and simple with reasonably-priced delicious food.

Belacan Fried Rice - love the presentation.

coconut milkshake

Thai Laksa with Fish curry.

It's a non-halal place. I believe the vouchers are still available for purchase for a few days. We're going back for another round to try more of the pork dishes.

 

After dinner, we headed to Aeon to get some groceries. As we passed the center court (old wing), Colgate was promoting their new sugar-neutralizing toothpaste by giving out FREE COTTON CANDY! I went up to the promoter and asked, "Why is Colgate giving out cotton candy????" and they explained about their new product.

 

So the idea is that you brush your teeth with their sugar-neutralizing toothpaste after eating sugary stuff and you have no worries about cavities. Yippee!

 

I allowed the kids to have their rare sugar fix...

And right there and then they brushed their teeth with the free toothbrushes that Colgate gave for us to try with their new toothpaste.

 

So we came home with 5 new toothbrushes....hee hee!

Bling bling organizer

If you have a girly girl like my girl, chances are you have lots of hair bands, hair clips, necklaces, bracelets and earrings stuffed into containers, drawers, bags and hanging here and there.

I had been thinking of how to keep everything organized in an easy-to-see and easily accessible manner. How do you keep all those necklaces so that you don't have to spend 10 minutes untangling the whole bunch each time you want one? What about the many many hair bands? And earrings... How do you keep the neatly in pairs?

After googling for ideas, I finally came up with this....Ta daa!!!

 

I dare guarrantee there's nothing like it in the shops. Finally....something that will fit ALL the stuff my daughter has.

I used an Ikea picture frame without the plastic layer (because it served no purpose and would only add extra weight to the whole thing). Looking around the house and thinking of what to use for hooks, I found an old bathroom rail. It had suction cups at both ends but they were useless as the rail kept falling off the wall (and annoying me!!) so I pulled out the end pieces and had a hollow rod with hooks. I added a few more hooks (from Ikea too) that somehow was a perfect fit, then strung a ribbon through the rod and tied it to the wooden frame.

Then I wrapped the cardboard with a pink wrapper (reuse wrapping from gifts. Did I mention I hardly throw away stuff because they come in useful later?) and tied a ribbon around it in a grid-like fashion.  It's one long piece. I didn't cut it at the back.

I twisted one of those wire thingy that's for filing papers into what you see below for dangling earrings...

For her rings, I cut a portion of an egg carton, poked 2 holes and used a pipe cleaner to secure it to the ribbon grid.

Princess is thrilled!!!

Gong Xi Gong Xi 2014

Chinese New Year has come and gone. This year is Isaac's first CNY and our first with 4 kids. I must say I was a bit pai seh to collect so many ang pows.

 

We had a most blessed time with the Tan family in Seremban for 5 days.

The children had good cousin-bonding time playing golf, badminton, ipad as well as in at the playground and in the swimming pool.

reunion dinner on CNY eve - steamboat at home

Isaac meets his kor kors.

I slept in that teeny weeny space in between no.2 and no.4

We didn't do many mall visitations except for The Curve and Sunway Pyramid. It's getting more and more difficult to get a good picture. They don't smile at the same time.

This picture was taken on 02.02.2014...

I realized it's exactly 4 years from the day God gave us the promise of Psalm 84:3 and I'm so overwhelmed with thankfulness for all that He has done for us in the past 4 years....our new home (now not so new), more children, new car (now with scratches), new job (and a most fantastic, generous boss!), Daaling's promotion and the children doing great in school (nearby!).

Hope you had a blessed Chinese New Year!

Joy's 6th Birthday in kindy

We celebrated Joy's birthday in kindy yesterday. It's like a must-do kind of thing.

 

Because everything naik, I came up with a more thrifty and practical option -  a DIY (Decorate-It-Yourself) cake. So I bought 2 banana cakes from Berry Cake House SS2, stacked them up to make the cake look taller, tied a ribbon to conceal the gap between the cakes and poked in my own decorations. No cream, no mess - teacher happy!! Less sugar, more healthy.

I also packed more healthy party packs - a pack of milo, a pack of biscuits, 2 jellies and....a toothbrush! On the outside of the brown paper bag Joy pasted a print out of this poem I wrote...

 

Joy-Anne is six. Yes, six!
Oh finally, I've been so excited for weeks.

Six is special, six is sweet.
No longer a baby,
I'm now a little lady.

Six is when baby teeth fall out
And new ones grow in
But during the in between, 
I've got a cute toothless grin.

So while cake is yummy
And goodies fill your tummy
Brush your teeth morning and night
To keep your teeth clean and pearly white.

Joe couldn't join us because he was in school. Isaac slept through the entire time and Isabel kept blowing out the candles.

Blessed 6th Birthday Joy... you are a very mature, intelligent and beautiful girl. We pray that God will grant us wisdom to bring you up in His ways and that you will grow to know Jesus, love Jesus, serve Jesus and walk with Him faithfully all the days of your life.