When I grow up, a doctor I will be

Joy-Anne first encountered a toy stethescope at our cell leader's house. She seemed to know what it was for. Putting it to her ear, she would say, "I'm a doctor" even at about 19-20 months old.

Back home, she would find some paper or string and pretend it's a stethescope. So since Ah Chor gave me money and told me to me to get her a christmas present, I bought a Doctor Playset for her. She was so happy. Here she is giving Matthew a check-up.

She will talk to Matthew, tell him to "say ahh..." and pretend to put a supp up Matthew's butt.


Joseph was even more happy. The 2 of them will check each other, playing doctor and nurse.







Last night my conversation with Joe went something like this :


J : Mama, what can money do?

M : Buy things. (I was driving...had to concentrate. So short answers.)

J : What else can money do?

M : Buy food.

J : And what else can money do? Buy toys?

M : Yes, can buy toys.

J : How do you get money?

M : You work. (Then I explained to him various jobs, and how you get paid for work done.)

J : So when I grow up, what can I do?

M : I don't know now. We'll see what you like to do when you grow up. That's why you have to go to school now, study hard so that when you grow up you can get a good job.

J : I know....I can be a gardener!

M : Hmm..... err... Joe.... different jobs require different skills and you get different amount of money. Some jobs like gardener and road sweeper don't get earn a lot of money.

J : Ok mama...I change my mind. I want to be a doctor.

M : We'll see....

Happy Belated Birthday Yee Yee! (12 Dec)

Happy Birthday Yee Yee! Here's your request. Sorry it's late coz we were busy and out all weekend.

TwoPixels Photography Anniversary Giveaway!

I'm always a sucker for anything that's free!

And I love taking photos of my cute cheeky kids. Put that together and I absolutely couldn't resisit this photo session giveaway!

TwoPixels Photography is giving away a free photo session to 3 lucky bloggers, each worth RM450!

Sue & Jasmine at TwoPixel Photography are moms themselves so they sure know how to get great shots of kids, having experimented on their own. I particularly like their work with newborns, which they so cutely term as Pixel Out Of The Oven.

Sure makes me almost wanted to have another baby just to have a Pixel Out Of The Oven photoshoot.

Anyway, it's been almost a year since our last photo session and I've got good reasons to want another one.

Firstly, Joy-Anne is no longer bald. And she loves taking photos in pretty dresses!

I like my hair better now.

The kids smile more cheekily now.

I forgot to give both daalin and Joe haircuts before the last photo session hence they looked messy.

So the bottom line is that we all have better-looking hair and smiles now and it'll be a great time to have another photo session.

I sure hope I'm one of the 3 lucky ones!

Father and Son time

Daalin took Joe out today for their father-and-son weekly date. Joe decided that he wanted to go to Megamall instead of Ikea.

I've no idea what they did there because Joe wouldn't let me go along. He said, "You are not a son nor a father". That's why I can't go out for father-and-son-time. But Joe came home a very happy kid.

He fed himself a whole bowl of yummy porridge.

This is at I Love Yoo on the LG floor of The Gardens. Only RM2.90 per bowl.

Looking at how he finished it, I think he likes it a lot.

Yup....I certainly think so.

Father-and-son has this 'secret' thing they do that mama and nana are not supposed to know about because according to Joe, we'll be cross.

He likes getting wet at this fountain between The Gardens and Midvalley Megamall.

December Thoughts

It's that time of the year again. Advent - the 6 weeks preceeding Christmas is absolutely the most lovely time of the year. The malls are so pretty and the music so jolly!

I feel so nostalgic thinking of the year that is almost past.

There's so much to be thankful for in 2009.

1. Reuben got married to a wonderful girl! Joseph and Joy-Anne love their kim kim. In fact, Joe says that when he grows up, he wants to marry a girl like kim kim - pretty on the outside, beautiful on the inside; has a good heart and loves Jesus.

2. Joseph completed his first year of formal education.

I've lost count of the number of times he came home not in his uniform because he threw up in school, either because he cried or because he was not too well.

But I'm certainly proud of my student of the year!

3. We had a lovely 8-week-vacation in Melbourne. God's providence was so evident!

4. I started serving in church again after a hiatus of about 5 years. DUMC started a toddler ministry called Little Lambs (select July-August 2009 issue, page 8) and Pastor Nancy got me on board. After being in the backseat for a few years, it's nice to feel needed and useful again. Even though Edwin and I miss serving in Worship/Music Ministry and I miss the dance, we agree that Children's Ministry is the place to be right now. It's convenient for us and beneficial to our kids.

Floodgates May-June 2009 issue, page 13

5. We took our first step towards becoming official members of DUMC. All this while our membership is still with Seremban Wesley even though we worship there not more than twice a year. This year, we sat for and passed the Basic Doctrine test that qualifies us to attend Baptism and Membership Weekend (BMEW) which is a requirement to membership.

6. We got through the year in fairly good health! I'm so thankful that we have healthy parents and happy families. Good health is beyond priceless!

I feel so blessed to never be in want. So the bottom of our Christmas tree may be bare, but we're full of the joy of the Lord. I couldn't think of anything I would want for Christmas..... well maybe except that Joy-Anne ditches her diapers. That would be a wonderful end to a wonderful year!

Sunday evening - Air Itam Dam and Queensbay Mall

In the evening, we took a drive to Air Itam Dam just to show Joe a reservoir.
Guess what he wanted to do again.... yup! Take photos!

He made us squat down because he said Kong Kong and Papa are too tall.

Then we went to Queensbay Mall to meet Tairven and Wee Lyn for dinner and he wanted to take more photos...

We had dinner at Paddington House of Pancakes. This is my first experience with pancakes for dinner.

Joe seemed to enjoy himself.

Joy also enjoyed smearing her face with ice cream. She wasn't too messy this time.

After dinner, the Rachel and Joseph managed to con their fathers into bringing them to the Jusco play area and pay RM2 per kid for entry into this mini play gym.

There was a big trampoline, a ball pool and lots of climbing stuff...

Good thing Joy didn't ask to go in because I didn't feel like climbing...

Samuel was a very good boy...he napped while his mummy had dinner in peace and then had his milk fix when mummy was done eating.

Think I look good with 3 kids?

Sunday morning in Penang

..we went to Penang Wesley for the 9am service. It was quite a morning! We woke the kids up at about 8.20am and managed to get out the door by 8.45am. In that short time, both drank water, had a bottle of milk each, did their big business and got changed.

After service, we had char koay teow during the fellowship hour. Joe took photos again...

Then I got the kids to take a photo with Ah Chor...

Before heading home, we stopped by an automatic car wash. Joe loves this. We obliged his request since it costs only RM3 to make him happy and get a clean car at the same time.

But Joy cried when the huge brushes came down on the car....she cried while saying, "Not scared! I'm not scared!!!" It was quite funny really.

time in Penang

I realized on Thursday night that this is actually our first trip back to Penang this year! Our last trip back was almost exactly a year ago.

After the fun morning at the Adventure Zone, the kids napped and then we went to Tesco to buy some stuff afterwhich we went to pick up this highly-recommended trifle cheesecake. No occasion...oh well, maybe Yee Yee's birthday.
My grandma approved of it and the kids loved the jelly part. So we'll most likely order this for the surprise party next month.

On Saturday morning, I went to visit an ex-classmate who just gave birth. Jou Ching came to pick me up and we went to Ai Ling's place.

Joy-Anne found a new boyfriend. Jayden is 10 months older than her.

In the evening, we went to G Hotel for another ex-classmate's wedding.


It was a very lovely dinner. The couple put a lot of thought into making their guests feel appreciated. I loved the photo booth at the cocktail area where the pro-photographer took your photo and then instantly printed it out and put it into a nice custom-made frame inscribed with the date and venue.


Joseph found a new hobby - photography!

Joy happily smiled for her brother

He went around taking photos of everything and everyone!

The kids were very happy. I love this candid shot.

Even at 11pm, they were all happily running around on the dance floor.

It's been great. I think the kids like Penang.

Fun at the Adventure Zone in Penang

We came back to Penang on Thursday night. The kids slept so well in the car that they were still awake at midnight in Penang!

On Friday morning, we went to check out the Adventure Zone that Adeline told me about. She and Yvonne brought their kids the last time they were back and had a blast! Entrance fee is RM20+ per kid on weekdays and RM30+ on weekends. (There's a 5% govt tax) Adults get in for free.

Socks are required for everyone (you can purchase new ones at RM10 per pair if you forget to bring) and long sleeves are required for the huge slides.
Joseph was so excited. I had shown him photos on the website earlier and he was all eager to go!

Joy-Anne was kinda timid at first but soon warmed up and roamed freely by herself.

She even crossed this hanging bridge all by herself, very slowly, step by step.

Joe pretended he was Tarzan on this 'vine'...

...but mummy had to go with him.

Pretending he's going through a sugar-cane-juice machine...

It's really quite a cool place... huge and very safe because everything is nicely padded.

Joy liked this tunnel slide which was pretty mild, even though it was long.

And both kids loved the ball pool.

And Joe liked the ball blower...
But the highlight of the place was surely the giant terrifying slides!

Not this kiddy slide...

They call this the Astra Slide. You sit on a mat like a sleigh and zoom down.

Joe first went down with me. It certainly reminded me of the rides at DisneyWorld. I thought Joe would be afraid and cry. But as soon as we got down there, he jumped up and said, "Alright! Let's do it again!!!"

He must have gone on it like a dozen times! Towards the end, we let Joy try. She looked like she was gonna scream her lungs out...

But she actually said, "Again..." and so they went racing down again and again!

I absolutely like that eager excited look on Joe's face while Nana screamed at the top of her lungs!

We left even before the 2-hour playtime duration was up. Joe wanted to climb this watch tower that was just outside the Adventure Zone.

It was certainly a cool morning! The kids napped for almost 3 hours in the afternoon to recharge their batteries.

And here are the videos...

First mama went with Joseph ..............

Then papa went with Joseph ....

And then ..... Nana went !!!!!!!!!!!

Then papa went on the steeper one ......

And finally papa went on the super steep one !!! This is a 24ft near-vertical drop!