Apr 8, 2016: Sign that your little girl has the father wrapped around her little finger.
"Oh look, her (grubby/sticky) handprint on the (newly painted) wall. So cute! I don't want to wipe this off!"
July 17, 2016: So the boys had their iPad privileges withdrawn yesterday afer exceeding their time limit. Today they pleaded for clemency, so I told them to submit their plea.
Quite different styles they hv, I hv to say ... but guess both were effective.
Sept 7, 2016: When you need an Intro-to-Latest-Game-Craze 101 and want to throw in a writing exercise at the same time ... #parentinghacks
July 16, 2017: When you are tired of playing referee ...
We started the day without much planned. But it seemed a bit of a waste to while a festive holiday away. So on a spur of a moment, we went out in our Malaysian dress to celebrate Hari Raya.
We went to two starkly different venues.
Firstly, we visited some friends in a low-cost housing neighbourhood. The splash of colour with bright Baju Melayus was a contrast to the otherwise dim and dank corridors. The food and merriment in the living rooms was warm and welcoming. We sat on the floor and traded greetings and stories over rendang and sirap, and the kids were each given some duit raya to mark the occasion.
Boys in batik sharing sweets
After returning home from the round of visitation, Mummy suddenly had the bright idea of joining the Hari Raya Open House at the palace. After all ... it is the palace. What more exotic place to celebrate ... with the King, no less?
The line outside the palace was long but moved relatively fast.
It's been a while since we paid a visit to Kidzania (Mummy needed a looonnnggg break after a few early visits). But with Girl #2 turning 2, we decided it would be fun to bring her there ... never too early to start exploring career options.
Not quite tall enough for over the counter transactions
A knee-up from a friendly Kidzania staff
Best activity ever ... despite being under the height limit, she was allowed in with her older siblings and dressed in the cutest oversized lab coat ... and who ever says no to Vitagen!
Brick-laying is a very handy skill
The older kiddos got to do their own thing too
And little one wanted to join in some of their action ... say "Cheese!"
So the eldest turned 12 and wanted a Paris-themed tea party.
As part of the decor, decided to make Eiffel tower standees for the table. Have never tried something like this before, and it was surprisingly not too difficult.
Thought I'd share the process here, in case anyone else would like to give it a go.
Step 1: Googled an image of the tower and recoloured it according to theme. I needed 2 towers for each standee.
Step 2: Got the image printed on A3 sticker paper and stuck on foam board.
Since we didn't have any big holiday activity planned, we decided to make a day trip down south.
It was a relatively economical, yet activity-packed, much-needed break.
Sand, Sun & Surf
The kiddos wanted some beach time, so we left early in the morning to Port Dickson.
It's been a long while since we've been to a Port Dickson beach. In fact, I don't think the kiddos have ever been.
Based on a friend's recommendation, we packed some buns/pastries and made our way to a stretch of public beach at Tanjung Kemang.
It was a public beach, but we were pleasantly surprised at how clean it was.
We bought some (overpriced) beach toys from the nearby stalls as our own had become too brittle as they were left out in our sandpit.
We got to make use of yet another new picnic mat Mummy bought (Mummy loves picnic mats!), and it was so comfy to lie down and chill as the kiddos played in the sand and sea.
Proud of boy who overcame nerves and language challenges to finish top 10 in his Chinese storytelling competition :-) Think mummy was more nervous, actually ... video ended up all over the place.
For the past year or so, the 2 older kids have earned some pocket money for themselves through voice-over jobs.
It all started with some Facebook casting calls. Didn't think much about it, but thought of trying the kiddos out for fun.
So Girl and Boy went for castings with two different recording studios.
Girl had her first job in February 2015 for some Disney Princess TV ad. It was an exciting experience. She managed to get parts in 5 different scripts. The director was very patient in guiding her line by line, with the proper inflections and diction.
We only managed to catch one of the 5 ads she did, though. And that entailed sitting in front of the TV for a while, with camera ready to shoot.
"If I were a Princess ..."
Boy had two V/O jobs in end-2015 and early-2106. One was a TV ad for a Baby toiletry brand, which we managed to find a recording for many months later.
Another was a CNY radio ad ... we were sitting in a dentist waiting room when we heard it come on the speakers. Mummy acted like a sua-ku dungu when I dropped everything and raised my phone up to the ceiling to try to record the ad.
Where all the discussions and directing go on
Second job was with a female partner and required more coordinating
Then the two of them had a recording for an educational programme — reading words and phrases to teach kids English.
So the recording experiences have been quite varied.
And there have been jobs that they have tried for but didn't get.
And while they won't get rich through it, they've been enjoying the ride.
Hopefully there will be more such opportunities to come.
