Palm Sunday!!!

Palm Sunday is a significant time of the Church calendar year and this year our church had an evangelistic prog for kids and the adults. For once the kids were v hyped up with the palm tree and donkey balloon. Very nicely done, don't you think so? So we must capture a shot and it was an enlightening sermonette done by Uncle David Leong and Ian raised his hand to indicate surrendering his life under the Lordship of Christ. Hope this is a significant milestone and spiritual birthdate for you to remember14 Apr 2019. Here we are celebrating with you.

The cousins had a shot together too celebrating the start of the Holy Week as we encounter the Jesus we need to know - the theme for the Passion Week for our church this year.

Ian got the Edusave Scholarship Award

For past years, Ian has been getting Education Merit Award which gives him vouchers but this year he gotten Edusave Scholarship Award and the diff is the latter one is given by MOE and its to reward kids in P5 onwards who gotten top 10% in their schools and its in real money whereas the other one is to kids in all levels for top 25% students and its in vouchers. So this boy is quite thrilled to get rewarded for his hard work in cash as he said he is also "earning" money as a student hahahaa as he also gotten his daddy's company study award which makes up quite a sum of money. Well will safe keep for his future (aka absorbed by mama hahaa)

But we are so glad he made it to top 10% something he worked really hard and it's his own sheer determination and hardwork that gotten him there and we are so proud of him. Keep it up Ian and thank God for the blessing in your life. Continue to give glory to Him. The actual print out of the photo was with the award back drop but this was captured with our own camera

Ian won the chinese compo award....again,

ZD sch has the annual writing competition for all levels (P1-2 is based on handwriting while P3-6 is based on compo) and since then Ian got consolation when he was P2 and a trophy meant a big deal then so he was elated when he got a silver trophy when he was in P3 for his compo and so P4 he geared himself to get a GOLD but he was disappointed when he din anything last year. We just encouraged him to do better and there were better entries perhaps.

The situation took a twist when he came home saying there was a score for every compo and he found out he scored better than the girl who won a prize in his class and being a very determined boy, he wanted to 'confront' the teacher hahaha he wanted his GOLD TROPHY....it went for days when he would come home and complain but of course he din confront his teacher and there came a point when his compo was zapped for every student to copy as hw. He then persuaded mummy to class dojo that Chinese teacher who taught him for the 2 years sigh....never thot mummy would need to do such 'confrontation' but to ease the boy's queries and even his classmates' asking why he din win a prize so mummy did.

Sigh but the answer was just coz Ian has won numerous prizes and ought to give others a chance. Well mummy just answered diplomatically to teacher that Ian has got other friends who won the prize the previous year but they won again last yr but appeased teacher that mummy would talk to Ian about it. Though we weren't pleased with the answer, we just encouraged Ian to press on not for the prize but for the practice.

This yr Ian was skeptical about the compo writing as he recalls last year's saga but he got his best shot and he got runner-up tho he wasn't sure who else got the other prizes but he was grouped with the HMT with P5 and 6 as the cohort wasn't too big so they grouped the 2 levels together. Well done our son, don't let an unhappy saga let you down and press on for the eternal prize which is far more important that this trophy and that we know would be judged fairly by GOD! (just had to record this down as a closure of the past unhappy saga)

A surprise getaway

A very unplanned but pleasant weekend getaway surprise as Ian had environmental quiz last last Sat and NE show coming up (what a hectic P5 life) so last weekend was just finally free so we had an unplanned JB nite stay as daddy called last min to swing by JB aft the kids' school and stay a nite to beat the jam on Sat morning and of course the kids were excited as they are always happy to go stay over at hotel. This time we stayed at Swiss Inn JB and it was abit off the city Square but we still walked to our fav banana cake stall and the meldrum street food where we dabao our fav dinner back to feast at the room and daddy was happy with the telecast of world cup at nite altho not sure if it was enough rest with the 2 matches he was catching with.

The kids had good time over tv, homework and food and so glad for such impromptu getaway and look at their goofy smiles which tell it all how much fun they had even tho it was just a nite stay but it beats staying home with their homework and plus mummy's (oooppss)

Ian got an award....no, 2 awards!!!

Ian was just back from his P5 camp which was 27-29 Jun (Wed to Fri) and then we had to send him to the National Environmental Quiz on 30 Jun (Sat) to N an Hua High School where he represented his school to take part in the quiz, was teasing him if he would be kept awake thru the whole session which was 8am to 1pm but he was all geared up for it with his other 2 friends. We requested to pick him up from NHS as it would be easier than to go back ZD to pick him. We saw a lot of school kids there and some were with trophies but we couldn't spot any familiar uniform and finally we saw them coming down with trophies too. They won the team prize 5th placing and we felt it was a HUGE achievement as there were many schools participating.

So requested a shot with his form teacher Mrs Joyce Tan who seemed a lot happier than the 3 boys hahaha guess who won a bigger trophy. Anyway the boys were told to bring back the trophy to school on Tue (as mon was youth day) and could see Ian beaming with joy...what a SURPRISE to us and to him too as the questions were not easy but well done, our son!!!

Expected prize giving to be on Tue but it din and it was on Wed and his Chinese teacher came by to tell him to get ready to go stage and Ian was puzzled as he was wondering how on earth his Chinese teacher knew and who knows he was going up to collect another prize...it was for some yue du Chinese that he had won for his class and yes what a day to remember as his dear sister was going up stage to get the prize too!!!

What a happy occasion for both and addition to his certificate collection...continue the good work!!!

Ian's 3rd visit to Perth

 We went Perth when Ian was 2yo and again when he was 4yo (mama was expecting Joann then) but this boy still looked fwd to going to Perth as he is older now and probably be able to appreciate things more....he was hoping to do well for his SA so he could go for hols (tho Japan was his top choice as he wanted a cold hols) but after going Perth he felt this was too cold for him (tho its summer in Perth) but the down under we went proved to be under 10 degrees at some time and we were all wrapped up most of the time before we hit the town. This is the jump shot Ian tried to do at the nature park haha

 The weather was so good that the kids both enjoyed just playing ard and doing funny shots for us to take and this is probably the most breath taking shot we got so close to the ocean and my, the wind was super cold for us haha

 We went to the nature parks and it wasn't crowded at all so we could do all the timed shots we want and could get some family shots and it was really cool to be there (we thoroughly enjoyed trekking in such weather and we brought picnic lunch along so we could eat along the way, we made sushi to eat at this Torndirrup National Park near Albany)

 We went to bunbury Wildlife Park and the kids were thrilled with the kangaroos and we could choose which one to feed as there was a group of them. we even had lunch with peacock as we were lunching at the bench there and the peacock was coming by to pick up any food we had dropped but it was really lunching with the animals

 Yup we did quite a fair share of BBQ at the places we stayed as the weather was too good for the BBQ and their pits are electric so was good to start fire and kids kept asking for more BBQs , wish we have such luxury back home and see the smiles on their faces tell us all how much they loved the food and there were so many cows there that we had so much beef that Ian could say he gotta abstain from beef for some time hahaha and we were loads of milk as it is so cheap there so putting on weight with the diary products there

 Yes diary includes all the ice cream treatssss we had yes so many ice cream treats as the kids brought their own $$ and they were taking turns to treat us with Ian treating most as it was also the ice cream is really affordable there as compared back home and Ian was asking if we could bring home the ice cream hhaaa but we could only bring back more chocs

 This boy loved decorating the food we prep every day and this was a dinner he even wrote our names on our individual plates...the kids have grown up so much and it was really enjoyable to travel ard with them

 And this was the heated pool. we loved most coz Joann was asking to swim everyday we were at the resort and the normal pool is super cold even though it is indoor and she was asking to go outdoor pool which is sure to be very cold (which later she did explore with daddy brrrrr...)

This boy is grown up but he was still enjoying every playground we went and it was so like him when we last went the trips with him years ago, hitting every playground except this time he could swing on his own. Cheers to more trips in future

USS for the 3rd time

 Some months back, daddy told us abt his company's family day coming up at USS...this is his company's 3rd visit to USS and each time we see how the kids grow to different stages and how each time they up their level of enjoying the ride... we rem how Ian enjoyed his 1st roller coaster at this place and then Joann was really a baby coz we rem having to bring her stroller along and 2nd time was better coz we could roam the park till really late...this time we were glad to invite ah baa and ah mu's family along coz we could split the group as the girls weren't into the super duper rides while the boys hmm went on and on and on...

 It was a rainy evening to start but glad we roamed some rides together which were opened earlier than expected....got the whole grp into the Transformer ride hhaha before the girls screamed they had enough of such rides hhahaa but it was a super good ride, very well stimulated ride even tho the 'car' wasn't quite going the wrong way...turned out to be the boys' best ride but was too long queue so they din ask to take again so glad we took it before the crowd really came in....

 The boys really enjoyed this puss in boots ride coz we took like endless times even had encore when we were going to leave the park last ride and they even knew where the camera is hidden

 We managed to catch the Madagascar photo taking as it was the only meet and greet photo taking we managed to get for the evening and we chose the penguins family, at least Joann not scared of such mascots this time unlike our last visit when we saw Shrek and Fiona

 Another of the boys' fav was the canopy flyer so u can guess who ride with them to capture these happy shots before taking the ride and they enjoyed taking the backward way although we felt it was scarier...hmm but we sat the right way and heard them screaming their lungs out hahaha but they enjoyed the ride v much altho Ian was scared his shoes might drop as it was totally exposed at the bottom

So glad we had such good fun throughout the park even the fireworks eating at Mel's drive in,..so much we are contemplating to get the annual pass but seems like the kids are all so enjoying the park

Ian got an award!!!

Some wks ago we received this letter for Ian to attend an award giving ceremony and were pretty surprised as we thot the award giving was already over and we never attended 1 by our GRC and Ian din like going such shaking hands ceremony hahaha and was very reluctant to go since it was a wkday nite (its past their usual zz time) but mama bugged him to go since it was a rare chance. Saw almost the whole neighbourhood there and not joking coz it was all sorts of school uniforms there as they were asked to wear sch uniform there and there we saw a number of Ian's kindy friends. We were seated at tables with numbers so we could go up with the flow to take pic with our MP - Indranee and had crafts for kids and food so we could eat at the allocated tables. But its past our dinner time and couldn't wait to take pic and go home haha saw our immediate neighbor too and like us abit puzzled how they got into this ceremony too tho Indranee did say its good grades hhmm and telling the kids to have good grades with skills too (hinting to parents too huh)

 Had photo booths ard to take pic and print on the spot and liked the tiong bahru background

 And here is a pic with Indranee after a handshake and she was telling Joann next time ur turn hhaa a lot of siblings went together to collect the awards too

 Here we are seated in front of the stage and made ian take a pic with his new cert tho very unwilling again hhaha

 Here is Ian's kindy friend, Javier and coincidentally we were seated at the same table and saw a few of his current classmates too

This is the original shot the guy took with our hp camera and with photo shop they added the background...the boy went home richer than before hhahaa tho its only popular voucher but he is grinning ear to ear already...good work, son and continue to work hard coz it was totally unexpected that he got this Education Merit Award

Going home on his own after school

Just a random pic of the boy who has been going home on his own only when he stays back in school...1st started when he had his SA oral exam and it is hard to tell his oral timing and he used to use public phone to call mama to pick him but realized it takes time for mama to walk and he then told mama he is ready to walk home for such days and it has been good coz told him to take a safer and longer way and to look out for traffic. So he has been walking home on days he stays back for math Olympiad, creative writing, his recent Nafa test and guess more to come with his stay backs and its a bit grown up feeling as he could walk home and chat with his friend till tb plaza and its a short way home and he feels happy abt it and was teasing him next yr he could walk home with mei2 since we do spot a lot of siblings walking home together but just wonder with mei2 whether they will wander off for some ice cream breaks as the mei2 is the sweet tooth gal haha

Ian's 1st table tennis tournament

Last yr Ian started his CCA and we still rem the time when he had trouble deciding which CCA to choose and he was worried he wont get into his choice CCA. He was ill for the 1st session and was v apprehensive when he went the following wk. Some mths later, he told us he is into the sch team which totally caught us by surprise but we didn't fuss coz we were glad he could stay back for more practices to hone his skills. Beginning of this yr, he told us he is going to participate in the tournament which made our jaws dropped coz we knew his standard haha but guess they had limited people in the so called sch team and so they were asked to take part in the tournament. It is very different from our time but it was good exposure for him. Last Tue was his 1st session and he had to skip some lessons coz of the tournament but it was just missing PE and MT so seems quite fine. Tho their sch seems to be the weaker sch, he had a good time really challenging the other kids as they were in junior team but coz his sch has very few P5 kids so the P4s were challenging against P5s from other schs. Hopefully he will gain experience  and hone his skills this yr and come up a stronger player for next yr. But his sch has several good P3s kids who weren't allowed to play this yr so we wonder why. But for the time being, he is keen to stay on this CCA for another 2 yrs as they get to change again next yr....more practices hopefully make him a stronger opponent. But in the meantime, hope he doesn't lose hope after this tournament!