Countdown to Joash's 6th Birthday

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Countdown to Jayna's 5th Birthday

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Countdown to Jaide's Birthday

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Countdown to Joram's Birthday

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Monday, November 24, 2014

Preparing for Advent

I've been wanting to do an Advent (the season preceding Christmas) curriculum with my children for many years but I've spent the past year-ends either pregnant or busy with Christmas outreach. I'm finally available this year to design a program to help the kids to understand Christmas better. Yay!

In preparation, we put up the Christmas tree to hold the ornaments we'll make. Each ornament will teach the true meaning behind a certain Christmas symbol. Since the older two are mature enough, they were the ones who decorated the tree with a little help from me. *beam*

Diligently spacing out the decorations

Admiring their handiwork

All done!

And of course, to enhance the Christmas atmosphere, I put up other decorations elsewhere in the home too.





Finally some use for the foil balloon given by a classmate.

I've seen some people make a thanksgiving jar but I fear the younger ones breaking it accidentally. Thus, I make do with a thanksgiving board instead. 

The board is so glossy
that it looks like a mirror!

Check out the glow-in-the-dark stars!

There will be 13 lessons leading up to Christmas. We are examining how the birth of Christ fulfils the Old Testament prophecies, using the verses from this WEBSITE. To drive home the point for each lesson, we will be making ornaments, relevant to the lesson, to hang on the Christmas tree. 

I pray that the children will enjoy the program and may it deepen their understanding of our Lord Jesus Christ!

Sunday, November 16, 2014

Jaide is Three!


When I asked Jaide how she wanted to celebrate her birthday, she gave me a blank look. I tried giving her suggestions but she didn't respond at all. That was really strange considering how strong-willed she is and how she normally has very clear opinions about things. In the end, she looked relieved after I said that I'll plan it for her. 

So off we went to the airport to celebrate her 3rd natal day. I heard that there was a new FOC indoor playground at Terminal One so that was where we went. Jaide thoroughly enjoyed the place as you can see her obvious delight in the video below.

6 Pairs of Shoes!!!

Jaide: "I love this place!"


There seemed to have been a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse theme going on at the airport. God surprised us with people giving us their receipts so that we could clock enough to redeem a Minnie Mouse soft toy, let Joash and Jayna have a go at the bouncy castle and lots of tickets for the T3 Slide! Thank God for his wonderful birthday gift!

Minnie for the birthday gal

Birthday cupcake
(She chose the flavour herself)

The two whose height
qualified for the castle

Napping with Minnie

The thing that I was hoping for Jaide to be able to do was to try the T3 slide. She was too afraid previously. Thankfully, she was willing to give it a shot when I told her I would accompany her. After two trips down, she was okay to do it on her own, albeit with Minnie for company. You go, girl!

My brave little girl

Going down....

Kids Pose!

We ended the day with dinner at Pizza Hut. Jaide absolutely adores her Minnie Mouse. I'm just so glad to have been able to get it for her as a birthday gift. Praise be to the Lord!

Joram in Wonderland


We began the year-end holidays with a visit to the Westgate Wonderland again! This was the first time Joram could join in the fun. Here are some pictures of his exploits with his siblings:

Spinning the big wheel

His favourite activity board

Going for a spin
with his big bro

All aboard!!!

Friday, November 7, 2014

Day of Salvation

I'm a princess of God now!

Ever since she came back from infant care after the two months it took for me to deliver Joram and complete my confinement, Jaide was not the same angelic girl anymore. Sending her there was my greatest regret as a mother. Having experienced terrible bullying at the centre, she became highly aggressive and rebellious. Even after a year and a half, the trauma of her ordeal back then did not seem to diminish. If nothing else, her anger seemed to build up even more. It was as though she didn't know how to forgive and let go of the past.

This one and a half years had been really trying for me. Being a more experienced mother than before, I had a lot of discipline methods and ways to show love under my belt. However, nothing seemed to work. Ultimately, I had to turn back to God for answers. 

A few months ago, I was suddenly inspired by the Holy Spirit to tell Jaide that she was the cutest when she obeyed. It appeared that she valued being cute above all else and that phrase helped her curb her desire to disobey pretty well for a while. However, it soon became apparent that although she was finally motivated to obey, she had no power of her own to do so. Eventually, the tantrums increased in frequency and intensity. 

Two days ago, after a very draining session of toddler meltdown and a lengthy prep talk from me, I almost casually asked Jaide if she wanted to accept Jesus as her Lord and Savior so that He can give her the strength to obey. I was shocked when she quietly said yes. You must understand that this was the girl who screamed whenever I tried praying for her aloud and told me to keep quiet at times when I sang worship songs. This was the very same child who yelled that she didn't love me and couldn't care less about God.

To be sure, I asked her again yesterday and this morning. Her answer remained the same. Thus, I set out to share the good news with her, much like what I did two years ago with her older siblings. (You can read about that HERE.) 

It was an extremely surreal experience sharing with her because she went ahead of me, flipped the pages and told me the gospel in her own words. I merely had to agree with her and correct some of her expressions. The only part where she needed my help in explaining was the portion where the picture described our 2 possible positions in relation to Jesus. She seemed quite amazed that Jesus can actually be in her life and not just some higher power somewhere out there. In fact, after she prayed to receive Christ, I needed to reinforce to her a couple of times before she came to terms with the fact that she has Jesus in her heart now. 

I am so glad she took the first step of faith to become a true believer and follower of Jesus. All the bible studies, church sunday school and hearing us discuss about our faith have given her much knowledge, but I pray that, with the help of the Holy Spirit, Jaide can learn to internalise all that over time. The old is gone and the new has come. Praise be to God!

Cover of her commitment card

On the inside

This portion had the greatest impact on Jaide

Celebrating with
ice-blended chocolate,
just as it was so with
her older brother and sister.

Wednesday, November 5, 2014

Gungho Boy




My baby has gradually developed a very gungho attitude. Look at him go at the playground! (Watch the video above) The way he runs down a slope at full speed with his still wobbly steps makes my heart leap to my throat. He is taking more initiative at playing games too. He'll grab my hand to go places he wants to explore and even indicate to me things he wants me to do. (Watch the video below) 

His personality is emerging and I'm glad he is no pushover. He will express his displeasure with this absolutely adorable pout and he'll make sounds as if he is scolding the offending person. LOL The time has indeed come to start teaching him appropriate ways of dealing with things that don't go his way...

(In case you're wondering, he is asking
me to take "æ‹¿" the cup and put it to
my mouth like the way he did. LOL)

Saturday, November 1, 2014

Bento Reprise


When my vocalist teammates saw my blog post about the BENTO PICNIC I made for my kids, they casually mentioned that they would love to have such cute bentos too. I thought to myself: Why not? So I woke up earlier on rehearsal morning and made two sets for the two youthful members of our team. I decided on doing an Angry Bird themed and a Blossoms themed bento. 

The aeroplane and heart-shaped omelette look much better but it tasted quite dry. I really need better control of the cooking time... :P It would have been nice for the mini sausage octopuses to have eyes but I didn't want to buy a bottle of black sesame seeds when I only needed to use just that little bit. I'm glad that I managed to use the cute piggy and elephant containers this time round for the chilli sauce to go with the sausage and eggs. *beam*


Here are the other bentos that I've made: