Chinatown Shopping

27 January 2013 (Sun):

Counting down... 13 days to CNY, in fact 12 days to the eve of CNY. :) We went to Chinatown as usual, for some shopping & just to soak in the atmosphere .

There was a Lion Dance Competition that nite but we could only looked from a distance; it was so crowded. Then there was also the usual stage performance. Lots of stalls giving out free titbits; Taiwan jello, bak kwa, peanuts (various types), even gua zi (sunflower seeds).

We bought some goodies, mainly for our own consumption...haha. Daddy was jokingly telling me a piece of bak kwa has 390 calories, so please can i stop eating? No way! I am only eating them once a year though u can get them anytime of the year. :P

Just some of the evergreen new year goodies u see every year. Lots more..

Decorations.

Street decor & lightings. Just look at the crowd.

More goodies.

Fluffy Cotton Ball

25 Jan 2013 (Fri): 

Fluffy cotton ball... nope, I'm not talking about a rabbit here but a full grown cotton plant who has its 1st burst of fluffy snowy cotton ball.

Notice the 2 cotton buds?... There's a 3rd one somewhere, hidden by the leaves. And the other cotton ball peeping out?

A clearer view - cotton buds indicated by the pink arrows & the little fluffy one by the blue arrow.

These are the cotton buds; not ready to burst open yet.

The fluffy snowy one..

I am hoping the neighbours' kids dun try & pull out the cotton buds for their school project, or even the adults, thinking they need a cotton or two to remove their nail polish, else there goes.

CSTD Pre Ballet Results

20 Jan 2013 (Sun):

Rachel took her CSTD Pre Ballet Exam last year, dated 09 Nov 2012 & she got her results today. I'm pleased to share that she did well.

Knee Bends ~ Posture, Technique & Timing: Very Good

Pointing ~ Feet & legs well extended and correctly placed: Very Good

Balance ~ Secure posture and correct placement shown: Very Good

Arms ~ Presented with soft flowing arm lines, well poised head line: Very Good

Walking In A Circle ~ Strong leg and feet extension shown with good balance and control, timing well maintained: Very Good

Step Hops: (Not Applicable)

Rhythm Ladder ~ Correctly executed with strong sense of musicality and correct technique: Good

Dance & Overall Comment: Well Done, you tried really hard today. Take care to ensure your feet are always stretched in walks. Sweet smile.

Curtesy or Bow: Nicely presented.

Results: Highly Commended. ( a score range of 80-84/100)

This is the certificate presented to Rachel. :)

She was slighly disappinted when she saw that her marks were not 100/100 but I told her it is okay, so long she did her best.

Xi'An (China)

13 Jan 2013 (Sun):

This is just a little joke to share for the night. We were on our way home after dinner this evening & Daddy was saying we should plan our overseas trip to China for either March or Sep this year when the weather would be cooling.

Daddy suggested An'Xi & all of a sudden, I was wondering where the heck An'Xi is??? So i ask Daddy what's there to see in An'Xi? He told me An'Xi is the place to see the Terracotta Warriors...

I feel like hitting Daddy on the head. I told Daddy: " For goodness, that is Xi'An... NOT An'Xi... " *faint*

I cant help lauging away...

Spelling for K2 & P2

12 Jan 2013 (Sat):

Rachel had her 1st Chinese spelling last Wed, 10 Jan & I'm happy she got it all right. Although they are only expected to be tested on those underlined words, I got her to learn the whole sentence itself. She will be having English spelling every Thursday & Chinese spelling every Mon.

Lionel's English spelling list was only given out yesterday & his 1st spelling will be given on the 23 Jan(Wed). Nothing for Chinese yet. And as usual, they will also be tested on those underlined words only. And as usual, I want him to learn the full sentence.

Rachel's Chinese Spelling list for Term 1.

English Spelling List for Term 1.

Lionel's English Spelling list from 23 Jan (week 3) ~ 13 Mar (week 10)

A New Schedule Proposed...

09 Jan 2013 (Wed):

2nd week of school since school reopened on the 02 Jan 2013.

Since Fri, 04 Jan, Daddy has been ferrying Lionel to school every morning. We would have to leave the house at 7.30am (if possible) since Lionel has to be in school by 7.45am. But we would usually leave home later than 7.30am... :P

Rachel & myself would follow along & we would have breakfast together after dropping off Lionel at his school. Not to worry, the kids would have their breakfast at home already.  Rachel would just pinch bits & pieces from Daddy & Mummy on whatever we were having. :)

Mummy here woke up at 630am ( sometimes getting a shut eye for another 10mins..opps) & prepared their breakfast. Woke them up & while they were having their breakfast, Mummy would shower & changed. And since i do not start work till 10am, i have some spare time after our breakfast for a little bonding time with Rachel at my ils' shop.

This would be our new daily schedule unless Daddy has something on, then Mummy would then be the one to send Lionel to school. Some of you may be wondering why Rachel needs to wake up this early as well since she's in the PM session for K2. Well, we like to get her into the habit of waking up early as she will be in P1 next year & that will be the AM session.

So far, no given homework & no spelling list yet. Lessons schedule has been given out & again, each subject would be for a min of 2 periods & would stretch to 4 periods on certain days. And yes, Daddy has increase Lionel's pocket allowance to $10/week as Lionel needs to have lunch in school on every Mon & Tues. Lessons will only end at 230pm on these 2 days.

For last week, since its only 3 days of school, Daddy gave Lionel $6 & he managed to save $2.50. The other $3.50 were used for ordering the name tags. He did not buy food during recess as he requested to have bread packed for his recess.

Let's see how much can Lionel save every week with $10 allowance given.

1st day of school - Primary 2

02 January 2013 (Wed):

Woke up at 645am this morning & it was difficult. Lionel wanted bread with kaya, butter & cheese for breakfast so we went to get those last night.

I prepared the bread & milk & woke Lionel up, who sat up for awhile before falling back down, asleep again. LOL. He wanted another piece of bread for his recess break.

We left the house at 730am & both Daddy & Lionel proposed to walk. Yikes... its already 730am & they still wanna walk?!?! Lionel's supposed to be in school by 745am. Okay. We reached the school just in time. However, parents are not allowed to walk their kids up to the hall. A teacher was at the foot of the stairs to maintain order. This year, the P1s & P2s were gathered at different parts of the school.

I picked Lionel up at 130pm & he told me he's appointed group leader. His FT is the same as last year. :) Lionel told me he need to bring some of the other textbooks back to school tomorrow for his teacher will be collecting them, including 2B textbooks + 2A workbooks, part 2.

Nothing much for 1st day of school.