New Kid On The Blog

22-Feb-2011:

There's a new member in the family (officially) since Nov last year. My little brother finally tied the knot after much pestering from family members last year. It was a small affair. The ROM was done much earlier and we had a small dinner in Ipoh with family members only. We went to the same restaurant that we always go twice a year for grandma's birthday and CNY.

Dom had his school concert just a week ago and for this wedding dinner, I dressed him up in his concert costume. He looked so handsome and adorable! As for Em, she looked just like a little bride with her white dress.

After the event, now that I looked at the photos I realized I haven't got a one taken with the bride and groom! The camera man was so lousy! Admittedly, the camera man was my husband.

# posted by Skye @ 1:32 am 0 comments

17-FEB-2011:

Dom's first ever school concert was on 23-Oct-2010. It was a long time ago, I know, but I've uploaded the videos a while back. I can still remember. We were told to send our children to school by 9:00am, which was really early considering that it was a Saturday. The note said to do up his hair in a "spiky" style and to put make up on my child's face. I did neither, because the concert was scheduled to start at 10am and I thought I could do his hair after we got there, and I never intended to put make up on his face. He's pretty enough already. :-)

When we got there, I realized all the other kids were in their school uniforms. Dom wasn't because it was not stated that he had to be in his uniform - that was the excuse. The main reason was, he has 4 sets of uniforms (for Monday to Thursday) and on Fridays he wears his sports T-shirt. Therefore, there wasn't an extra set for a Saturday. Although I wash everyday but I don't iron everyday. :p

Anyway, we got there and I was carrying Emily. She was terrified and didn't want to be put down. So I asked Saimun to do Dom's hair instead. I said there was a bottle of hair gel in the bag. Saimun went, "What? Spiky? Not nice. If they want it, they should do it themselves." And that was it.

When we dropped Dom off, his hair was like this. By the way, he wasn't wearing that costume when we dropped him off. He was in t-shirt and shorts (I think).

And then, when it was his turn to go on stage for his dance, it took me a long time to recognize my own son! It was because he had different hair and he looked so different! Like this:

He did two dances, which I've uploaded in the videos section:

http://sukye.multiply.com/video/item/96/Doms_Concert_-_Reflections

http://sukye.multiply.com/video/item/95

I prefer the 2nd one.

He also went on stage to get his "award". A few students were selected for Best Conduct, Best Helper, Best Improvement and Best Reader. And Dom was selected for Best Improvement. He was very proud of it. Admittedly, he did improve a lot since going to school. Before this, in the UK, he had been playing and having fun everyday. After a year, he was able to read, write, speak in Chinese (write in Chinese as well) and understands some Malay words.

Generally, I enjoyed the concert, even though when it wasn't my kid performing. The school got the 6-year-olds to give speeches - one in Chinese, one in English and one in Malay and they were really good! With actions and all. It was much better than a lengthy speech by the principal or whoever, which I dreaded but didn't happen. Unfortunately, I think Saimun didn't get to watch much as Em was fast asleep in his arms most of the time.

After that we went for pizza lunch. :-)

# posted by Skye @ 2:44 am 0 comments

14-FEB-2011:

Dom's 5th birthday was in late December, just before Christmas and here is what happened. The menu was set by Saimun. He wanted everyone to have a sit down dinner rather than a party buffet style. He requested for Jamie Oliver roast chicken, mashed potatoes and salad, which I made. This time, he didn't buy something to top up the menu. I made two types of roast. And because I thought maybe some of the guests, especially MIL, may not like the strong rosemary, thyme and basil smell, I threw in asian style chicken wings as well. Plus some french fries and pasta for the kids.

There should've been enough food. There was leftover after all. The problem was, there wasn't enough of the Jamie Oliver roast whereas nobody liked the Asian chicken wings and the pasta. Hmm ... It's hard to please everyone. Sometimes it is better to leave them with no choice. Haha!

This time there was less work. Everything was done by the oven. Problem was I wished I had more than one oven so that I could do them all at the same time rather than one after another. This time, my brother and family came along too and they came again the weekend after (which was Christmas) because they wanted to taste the roast again. :-) The second time was even better. It is now my signature dish, which I served again few weeks later when my ex-colleagues came over.

So the first I did was the standard red eggs.

And thanks to a tip from Yvonne, I made the eggs into a salad (nobody ate the eggs during Em's birthday). This time, all the eggs were gone. :-)

Then, Dom's birthday cake, which he requested for a "chocolate mud cake". When I asked him what he meant by "mud cake", he said it has to be sticky and gluey. Okay, I found this recipe from the Internet and I had no idea how it will turn out to be, except that it was called "chocolate mud cake". I could only wish it would turn out the way he wanted. When I took it out of the oven, it was sticky or gluey at all. So to make it sticky, I made a chocolate ganache and poured it over the cake. I made sure I did not put the cake into the fridge so that the ganache remained melted and gluey. He liked it, but the rest of the people thought it was too sweet.

Rest of the food:

And here are his birthday presents. Since it was 1 week before Christmas, we stashed all the presents under the Christmas tree.

# posted by Skye @ 1:58 am 0 comments

7-FEB-2011:

Last December, we took off to Genting Highlands during the year-end school holidays. It was Dom's idea. During a car trip back home, he just all out of a sudden asked if the car can bang into another car and what would happen. Ultimately, the conversation included "bumper cars". He hadn't seen a bumper before but he liked what I described, and I told him there were bumper cars up in Genting Highlands. He had been bugging us to take him there ever since.

We went on a week day but it was packed. Think we spent more time queueing up for the rides than enjoying the rides itself. The weather was nice and cool at first but soon became chilly towards the evening. Nevertheless, Dom enjoyed himself. Em was simply tagging along and had no idea what was going on, I think. :p

# posted by Skye @ 2:59 am 0 comments

1-Feb-2011:

Here's my last post before CNY and it's about our trip to Port Dickson during the school holidays in Nov/Dec last year. Actually, there's nothing much to talk about except the kids had fun at the beach and in the pools. On the 2nd day, Emily's stomach wasn't feeling that well and she did a poo (runny one) while we were seated by the pool side (without her nappy on). It was fortunate that we weren't in the pool and she was seated on my lap. It was better that I got shit all over me instead of all over the pool. :-) Actually, I just wanted to show you some of the photos we took there.

Here's a photo of Em walking on the beach. I think it was her first time at a beach (except for the Sunway Lagoon one). She reacted very differently from Dom. You can see in this photo that she totally enjoyed walking bare footed on the sand. As for Dom, he was about 8 months old when we took him to the Brighton Beach in the UK and a few months later to another beach at Portsmouth. Both times, he refused to even sit on the sand/stones (Brighton was full of stones and pebbles, not sand).

# posted by Skye @ 12:59 am 0 comments