重新开始

很久没有写了。生活里琐琐碎碎的大小事情太多了。觉得自己一天比一天懒惰。除了照顾孩子的饮食，载送孩子来回校园和补习班外，剩下的就是家务事，自己阅读和看电视的时间。时间过得很快，今天是我作为全职妈妈的一周年。是时候再提起笔了。

选择用中文作为我重新出发的点是因为近来看了很多中文部落格，深深地被感动了。再加上陪伴孩子读书这一年内，自己也比在职时有更多的时间看书，尤其是中文亲子教育书（小说类），那旷废已久的中文好像可以见人了。虽然自己的中文只有小六程度，但有赖于这六年小学的基础，再加上一直都有看中文书籍，相信我的中文还可以吧！

Improvement in final term results

It had been really really long since my last post. Didn't feel like writing as addicted to facebook and update everything in the FB instead of blog. ^_^

I was very proud of my girls especially of their improvement in final term results last year. It was a joint effort by them and their mother...me. Since I become a full time mother, I was able to spent much more time to study with them. My eldest girl ranked around 7th in her class of 50 students and 75th in her form of 350 students based on her mid term result. She improved significantly to 4th in her class and 30th in her form during final term. My second girl ranked 2nd in her class and won prize for her good academic performance. I found that my girls understanding of their studies improved as they can refer to me whenever in doubt. During those days when I was still working, they have to do homework without consulting me as it was not possible to wait for me to be back from work to complete their homework together at night. I was able to spend more revision time with them since I am available full day for them.

Also noted my girls are happier now as they see me more often and they feel great to have me to be around. Anyway, my mom still rambling about my decision to become a full time mother until now. She didn't see the benefits of being a full time mother. Hope she will understand one day.

Hong Kong & Macau 2010

Didn't update the blog for sometimes as life as full time mother to 3 girls is really busy (and crazy) without a maid. Or perhaps its just the problem of my time management skill?! Actually I was busy searching for info for my Hong Kong & Macau trip. First it was which hotel to stay, which I have read lots of review and comments. Then it was places of attraction, followed by good food to eat...haha. I spent day and nights, whenever I was able to online (hmm...I could only online for about 2 or 3 hours per day when the kids were napping), just to search for as many details as possible. I had so much fun and really enjoyed my HK trip. I chose the correct hotel, which I had zero complain (I initially booked a deluxe room @ The Cityview at the Kowloon District, but was happily upgraded to premier room at no extra charge, which should cost HKD1,880 per night). We visited the places of attraction that we liked, with the correct and proper public transport (no taxi). We had also enjoyed so much good food based on the review and food blog of others who have been to HK and Macau. We just wished we have more time to explore Hong Kong. We didn't manage to go Disneyland and the rest of attractions at Lantau Island (missed the shopping at Citygate too). I will visit these places in my next trip to Hong Kong together with the kids. Hope it will not be too long.

Here are some of the photos on food we took during the trip. None of these food disappointed us. Food prices are expensive in HK, but the portion are real big, except for Mak's noodle.

Egg custard from Australian Milk Company. We tried Yi Shun's steamed milk too, but preferred the Australian Milk Company version.

Dry Shrimp Noodle from Wong Chee Kei Noodle and Porridge House.

Prawn Wanton Mee from Mak's Noodle.

Beef Hor Fun


There are many other food we had that we didn't take picture. Hubby likes to take picture on scenery than food. :) Really liked the food in HK. There are no branches for these food in Malaysia. Missed these food and will definitely be back to HK for FOOD!

My new pana

As I have earlier posted here, our old hand phone and digital camera were due for replacement. We have finally purchased the HTC Wild Fire from Maxis at a discounted price by signing up a a data plan with them. We have no choice as the phone is out of stock everywhere! Wondering is it really that popular or the manufacturer failed to distribute enough stock to the market. :( So far, I am not very familiar with the various function of the phone yet. But the touch screen phone is very sensitive and when I was talking over the phone, my ear touched the screen and activated various functions. Sometimes it cause my conversation hang up. Anyway, yet to explore more about the Android phone.

During the PC Fair held in August in Ipoh, I bought a new Panasonic Lumix 3 camera. I was eyeing on DSLR camera (or DSLR quality camera) earlier, but gave up as I really don't know how to use a DSLR camera. It takes time to learn how to play with a DSLR camera and neither me and my hubby has that luxury time to do that. So, after reading some reviews, we finally decided to purchase this Panasonic Lumix 3. So far, we are satisfied with its quality. Below are some of the picture taken with our new camera.



The macro view is fantastic and the colour is sharp. The limitation is its telescope view (zooming). We already knew it via the review but decided to go for it due to its other functions. According to the salesman, its lens could be changed to capture higher zooming photo but we have yet to find out more.

Exam again

My eldest girl is having her final term exam starting this week. She just had her 3rd assessment exam in July. When my friend called for short gathering and heard that I am busy as the girl is having exam, her response is ...huh, exam again? Yeah...the year end school holiday will start only on 20th November but now my girl is already having the final term exam. So, she does not has to study for the remaining weeks after the exam? Wondering what will they do in school (and at home) for the 5 weeks after exam until the school holiday.

When I am busy doing revision with my eldest girl, I do not want any interruption from the other 2 girls and my hubby will try to entertain their needs most of the time. Both of them do not like the feeling of me being full time to jie jie only as I have no time to read or play with them when jie jie is around. My 6yo girl has been waiting for a chance to study together with mama. She was so excited when she received a memo informing that she will be having her final term exam too in end October! When she got the memo yesterday, she quickly showed to me and wanted to start the revision with me immediately. O_o

I hope her excitement to study will remain the same when she is in Primary 1 next year!

JE's 9th Birthday

My eldest girl's birthday is in September. She had been doing lots of preparation for her 9th birthday party months ago. Her friends were verbally invited a month before the party. Based on the idea from her best friend's birthday party last year, she prepared lots of present to give away to her friends during a game session. All friends who attended her birthday party had at least one present. Although it did not run smoothly as some of her friends complaint that my girl gave the bigger present to her best friend, kids are still kids as they played happily after that.

After reading about Chin Nee's preparation for her girl's birthday, I prepared the beads for the girls to make their own bracelets. I confirmed their attendance to JE's birthday a week before the party and bought the necessary beads especially the alphabet beads for their name. None of them had the experience in beading and they found that it was very tiring to bead. In the end, I have to help the girls to finish up their bracelets! Anyway they enjoyed the bracelet making session and satisfied with their own made bracelets. Here are some of the bracelets and beads.

Too bad that I didn't manage to snap the picture of bracelets made by each girl as I was too busy during the party.

The birthday party started at 5pm for game and beading session, then dinner at about 7.30pm as I only prepared the foods when the girls were playing (except for the orange juice and jelly as I like to serve food warm/hot). I was so tired by preparing all the foods and entertaining the girls at the same time since they had problem in the beading session. Below are the foods I prepared for the birthday party. The fried mee was contributed by my mom as she worried about my skill in frying mee/meehun. ^_^


The girls had fun and played until 9.30pm. My girl was happy too as she gets presents..but for me, I have lots of clean up to do after the party! Luckily my mom and hubby helped a lot in the clean up.

Book Fest Malaysia 2010

We went to KL for few days during the school holiday. The main reason of the KL trip was the Book Fest Malaysia 2010 held in KL Convention Centre. This is the second year I went there. Its a annual book fest event and it is super attractive for book fan like me. We spent the whole day there from 10am to 7pm and resulted to damage of no less than the maximum allowed deduction for tax purpose in our pocket. We have never spent so much for books in one day! And we parked our car at KLCC, which means another about RM30 for the parking fee! We have also never spent so much for parking in our life (excluding monthly parking).

We were so tired by carrying so many bags of books and 2 full backpacks. Me and hubby carried 3 bags of books and 1 backpack each whereas my 2 girls carried 1 lighter bag of books each. It was so crazy! This is a record and I don't think I will spend the same next year (a book fan like me will definitely be going to the Book Fest again next year). I had bought many books including some released in earlier years which I had long wanted to buy. Last year my major spending was in JE's extra practice books for primary 2, story books for the girls, Robin's books and I-Pen. This year lesser extra practice books for JE as the book fest was held in September which is very close to her final exam (end of Sept) as compared to last year book fest which was held much earlier (somewhere in June). My spending this year were in novels, health and cook books for myself, some novels and comics for JE and some story books for JY and JS. Bought a few games too (brain games for the elder girls and jigsaw puzzle for JS).

All in all, the KL trip was spending, spending and spending as what I did was shopping, shopping and shopping. We shopped at 1 Utama, Book Fest@KL Convention Centre, Sunway Pyramid (shopped from 11am till 9pm then only proceed to dinner) and Mid Valley. No major cash outflow yet since we used credit cards. I guess I better be prepared for the expecting high credit card bill.

Where have I been

Didn't update the blog for few weeks. Firstly kids were sick, one by one, all three of them were infected. Then its me who felt sick after more than 1 week of sleepless nights and virus infection from the kids. Luckily hubby came back from his oversea trip when I was sick, which lessen my burden.

After 2 weeks of fighting against illness, finally the girls recovered and back to school as usual for few days just before the school holiday started. During the school holiday, we spent 4 days in KL and back to Ipoh for JE's birthday party. Will update about the KL trip and birthday party later.

Crazy weekend

When you have 3 kids aged between 3 to 9 and without a maid, you will rather stay at home than going anywhere if you have to bring all 3 kids along and alone. I have been full time mother for less than 2 months. There has been no big challenge for this period until THIS weekend. Hubby is away for conference for few days, so I have to take care of 3 kids and doing all the house cores all by myself. It has been messy since Friday. My youngest girl was having fever since Thursday night. And my no. 2 also joined her sister and infected by the same illness since Saturday. It has been terrible for the past few days. I had to wake up every 2 to 3 hours at night just to ensure their fever is under controlled. Mothers should understand my pain when I said the kids are having fever.

Both the girls' body temperature sometime reached 39 or even 40. My youngest girl felt so uncomfortable and cried. I had to insert Voltaren (12.5mg) into her buttock to cool down her high fever, then I used a wet cloth to wet her whole body repeatedly for half an hour (same for no. 2). I have inserted 2 Voltaren to each girl's buttock, with gap of at least 12 hours, for the 4 days fever as their fever was so high. Both girls are taking antibiotics prescribed by doctor. While taking care of 2 sick girls, I still have to fetch my eldest girl from 1 enrichment class to another from morning till evening! If my hubby is at home, I can just leave the kids at home and I do the driver job. But he was not around, I just had to carry along my girls to everywhere that I go.

I have not finished my story yet. On Sunday morning, my eldest girl had a dance performance at a school. It was supposed to be no big issue if all the kids were fine, but not with 2 sick kids who were having fever and so weak..just imagine. Not only I had to bring my second girl to consult doctor, I also had to rush to the school to bring my eldest girl to meet up her dance members and get ready for the performance. My poor no. 2 even vomited when I feed her the medicine while watching the performance! How I wish I don't have to be there, just not everything in the same weekend. I was at the school for about 3 and a half hours. It was supposed to be a very short performance, but the earlier programme were overrun and the dance performance delayed by about 1 hour!

I am so exhausted today after having sleepless nights for 4 days continuously. My youngest girl looks like already recovered today as she did not has fever since yesterday evening, but not for my no. 2 as her illness only started on Saturday afternoon. Hope my no. 2 is getting better today and I can have a better sleep tonight. That's the end of my crazy weekend.

What to cook

I have plenty of materials in my fridge and I am thinking of what to cook for dinner tonight. When looking at recipes from blogger and found this garlic pork recipe from Ohbin. Looks very yummy. Will try that out tonight.

These are other dishes that I cooked recently which are presentable. LOL. Actually I cooked very often, but most of the time, I didn't take picture of the dishes as they are either not presentable or we are too hungry. ;-)

Fresh san yao chicken soup with red dates and wolf berries.


Fried big prawn with garlic...lots of garlic


Broccoli with fresh mushroom and carrot


Last but not least, the simple dish, steamed egg with minced pork.

Improvement

I am happy with my girl's exam results. Although most of the papers scored between 85 to 95 which were within her normal standard for the past examinations (ranged between 70 to 100), a slight improvement of average marks (increased of 3 marks) was achieved. That's not a significant improvement. However I was only full time with her in the same month that she had the exam! I felt great and satisfied. That's what a SAHM can do, by having more time with the kids to coach them. When I was working last time, I only had the night time of about 2 to 3 hours to coach her in her studies and homework. My friend said she does not need to coach them but just rely on the kids' tuition teacher to do that. I personally do not like the idea of sending the kids to tuition for all subjects and on weekdays. The kids are already having so much homework from school, and by having tuition on weekday, that means additional practices and exercises for them to complete. Being a student in a popular and very academic result oriented Chinese school, my girl has average of 6 homework every day since Primary 1. I pity her for the huge number of homework that she had to finish when she was just aged 7. Just imagine a small girl doing her homework until 12 midnight and yet still could not finish. Anyway she is in Primary 3 now and already got used to it. She normally finished her homework by 10.30pm nowadays.
Note: My girl is in afternoon session from noon to evening.

I am not that type of mother who is pushing very hard for our kids' academic results. In fact, a lot of freedom is given to the girls. I just want them to try their best in every exam that they have. At least you have tried, and at least you have done your best. My opinion is attitude is much more important (well, I didn't say my girl attitude is good, but all we as parents can do are just to encourage them to have the right attitude towards their studies and always emphasize that they are responsible for it). What is important nowadays is not really the academic results but more on ability to communicate well with others.

Affordable smart phone

Both my hubby's Sony Ericsson hand phone and our 2 years old Olympus waterproof digital camera are having some problems during the past week. We have to replace both these 2 toys as soon as possible. Normally I will read up some review and search in the web before making the decision to buy which model/brand. As hubby is so busy with his office work, as usual, his secretary (aka his wife) has to read up the phone and camera reviews and give him the comments and the relevant links. Is this also task of SAHM?

For the hand phone, we are now looking at smart phone below RM2k. I have shorlisted a few models and the top pick in the list is one of the latest HTC babies that was launched in July 2010 - HTC Wildfire (The low-cost version of HTC Desire. I love Desire, but it is too costly to us at the moment since we are upgrading few things in the same month).


Hubby is interested in the new Android and this device runs Android™ 2.1 with HTC Sense™, which matches with his requirement. This is an entry-level Android device with a generous 3.2 albeit low-resolution QVGA 320 x 240 screen, WiFi, Bluetooth and A-GPS support, as well as a 5MP camera with LED flash and auto focus. The processing power for the Wildfire comes in the form of 528Mhz Qualcomm MSM7225 processor with 384MB of RAM. The Wildfire has 512MB built-in memory and it supports expansion in Micro SD format up to 32GB. Details of specification could be found in the below website.
http://www.htc.com/sea/product/wildfire/specification.html

I have read through many of the reviews from CNET, Techradar, Phonearena and etc and the main negative point is the low resolution display screen whereas its main plus point is its cost as an inexpensive Android phone. We would like to find out more based on the actual phone but was surprised that the phone is out of stock for most of the hand phone dealers during our weekend shopping. So, we have to do some shopping again next week for the phone.

As for the camera, we have yet to decide which one to buy as there are still a lot of reviews and comments need to be read up since this is the first time that we are going to invest in a DSLR camera (or digital camera with SLR photo quality). Money, money and money again!!

Acceptance to Standard 1

Last week, we have received the long waiting letter of acceptance for my 2nd girl to standard 1 next year. I have registered her into this popular Chinese Primary school when she was 5. Finally she is accepted to this highly demanded school...BUT I am not sure whether its a good news or bad news coz my girl is quite weak in Chinese. All these while she did much better in English and Bahasa Malaysia than her Chinese. Anyway, hubby insists that she should be studying in a Chinese school. Well, I can only pray that she can cope with her studies in a Chinese school where all the subjects; Chinese, Moral, Science and maths are all in Chinese.

Back to the acceptance letter, parents are required to bring the letter to school for confirmation during the month of August. I have done mine 2 days ago. I was given the notice about the orientation day, schedule to buy standard 1 books in December and forms to fill up and to be passed back to teacher during orientation day in end Dec. The process is the same as per my eldest girl 3 year back. How time flies.

Next year, my 2 girls will be studying in the same school, but it does not help in my life as a driver as the eldest will be in morning session whereas my 2nd girl will be in afternoon session!

Exam over!

Finally my girl's exam is over. Finished on Tuesday, so, she get to enjoy her playtime now (in fact she didn't touch her books other than homework since Tuesday evening). I will let her play and enjoy her own sweet time to the max until the preparation for the next exam in September...gosh...the honeymoon period is so short (considering about 3 weeks preparation prior to the final term exam)! Anyway mommy is finally free to do own things now! (glad to gain back my normal life..haha)

For the past 2 weeks, other than cooking, fetching the girls as usual, the rest of my time were mainly studying with her. Hope she is doing better than the earlier exam. Books were all over the places in my house during exam time, especially dining table and living room. This picture was taken during exam time. These books and dictionary (except for the BM Dictionary) on the dining table were only for 1 subject...Chinese Essay!

Sunday

Had pancake again this morning specially made for my hubby as he hardly has the chance to eat my pancake. What to do...he is at work when I prepared lunch for kids during school days. I prepared double portion and ended up could not finish the batter. All my kids and hubby like the pancake. Did not take any photo on the pancake since I have posted the photos and steps on how to make pancake in my earlier post, except that I used a new Tefal non-stick cookware today.

The new Tefal non-stick cookware was bought on yesterday to replace my old Tefal non-stick frying pan which I have used for about 10 years! I like Tefal mainly due to its non-stick coating. I have other stainless steel frying pan as well as wok bought from Buffalo (which I have used for more than 10 years without any wear and tear!). I used the Tefal frying pan most of the time as the other stainless steel cookware stick! Although they are very long lasting, but I have to use more oil to cook. Even that, it still stick. I hate to fry mee hoon or mee (even fried rice) with my stainless steel wok.

Here is my new toy, Tefal Preference non-stick stir fry pan. It can be used on induction cooker.



And a comparison with my stainless steel pan.


I prefer stir fry pan which is much deeper than the frying pan as I use it to cook everything from pancake, fried egg to vegetable or meat (avoid crab for non-stick pan). The non-stick coating is safe to use, according to Tefal.


Actually before buying the Tefal, I was eying on Green pan which is more expensive and 'green' (eco-friendly). But I finally decided on Tefal when I read about the user review on Green Pan after using for few months.

Exam in July

There is an exam for my 9 years old girl in July. We knew about this scheduled exam long ago as the exam schedule was given in January when the school started, but we didn't start to prepare for it until somewhere around mid July. We should have prepared earlier, say in early July. But as usual, drag until close to exam time. Now, we have to rush on the revision to cover all the area to be tested in this exam. As of today, we have revised English, Maths, Science, Bahasa Malaysia and Chinese text books. Moral being the last subject to be tested, has yet to be revised. Gosh... she has yet to do some practice for these subjects especially Chinese and Bahasa Malaysia. :(

My girl is not those type of students that take initiative to study as she only study PROVIDED THAT her mommy accompanying her (except for homework which she will do on her own and only ask us when she is in doubt). Haiz... Today is Friday and the exam begins next Tuesday. Well, will try to cover as many as possible within these few days, then...wish her luck.

J.En's art works

I seldom take picture of my kids art and craft works as I always forget to do so when they showed me their master pieces! Few days ago J.En showed me some of her drawings marked by her school teacher which normally scored A or A-. She was not happy as her latest craft work only got 'B' and she could not understand why she only scored 'B' for that piece of craft work. I just told her that her arts were nice, but there are always room for improvement for her and there are other nicer arts/crafts by her friends and schoolmates. Hope she understand that. To make her happy, I took picture of all her arts and crafts in school (my the other 2 girls were also happy when I took picture of their drawings or craft works..I guess this is important to the kids). Here are some of her art papers.

The usual lunch

I cooked noodle for the girls as lunch today. As for me, I like rice noodle. Here are the noodles I used today; vegetable rice noodle made from carrot, rice, corn starch and multigrain Ramen made from organic multigrain powder and unbleached flour.


I always ensure I have enough various kinds of noodles at home as my 3 girls like noodle. I seldom buy the famous local brand instant noodle nowadays (I used to eat a lot especially when I need something fast to fill my stomach) except for Korean spicy mushroom noodle (so so delicious and yummy!). My kitchen cabinet is full with noodles that I bought from organic shop, such as pumpkin noodle, enzyme noodle, kombu noodle, spinach rice noodle and full grains slim noodle (mee sua). I have to ensure the variety of the noodles so that my girls (and my big 'boss') won't get bored, right? ;p

I use chicken broth and add fresh mushroom, cabbage and carrot into the soup. Healthy meals for the kids (and myself). This is for the girls.


And this is for myself.


For their snack in school, I prepared sandwich with Tuna spread and fresh tomato slices. Both my girls started to eat the sandwich when I sent them to school..can't even wait until their snack time!

Homemade pancake

Once in a week, I made pancake for my girls as lunch and snack to school. The girls like my pancake so much that they always request me to made for them. As I prefer to prepare different meals for them every day, I only fulfil their request no more than once in a week. The making of the homemade pancake is very simple and not much preparation work required (5 minutes for the preparation of batter and another 10 minutes to made 10 pieces of pancake at low heat). Since I already added sugar into the batter, the pancake can be eaten without any topping. Anyway, my kids and I love to eat the pancake with honey (small amount as the pancake itself tastes sweet). So yummy and delicious! You can serve it with any topping you like, say banana? I will try that one day since everyone in the family love banana!



The ingredients I used are simple:

1 1/2 cup of unbleached flour
1 1/2 cup of low fat milk
2 eggs
2 teaspoon sugar (optional)
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
Butter

Note: I like my pancake in full of milk flavour. If you don't, you may substitute the 1/2 cup of milk with 1/2 cup of water. The ingredients above should be able to make 10 pieces pancake.

And so are the steps:

1. Sift the flour into a mixing bowl.
2. Add milk slowly into the mixing bowl. Stir well.
3. Add eggs, sugar and salt into the batter and mix well. Set aside for 20 minutes.

4. Heat up the non-stick frying pan with small amount of butter. Set at low heat.
5. Pour a ladle of batter into the pan and move the pan clockwise so that the batter occupies the whole flat area of the pan.
6. When bubbles start to appear on the surface and the edges turn golden brown (the edges are normally crispy), flip it over. When done, remove to a serving plate.

7. Continue steps 4 to 6 for another piece of pancake until all batter used up.
8. Serve with honey or kiwi jam, or any of your favourite topping.

Give it a try if you like pancake too!

I don't want my sisters

The kids are squabbling everyday. I had few days so called quiet moments when my second girl went to stay with my parents for weekend. When she came back on Monday, they started to squabble again. Feeling very tired to entertain them when the girls shouted and then came to me to complaint each other. The last minute they were playing happily from living room to guest room then study room, but in the next minute, they started to quarrel and fight. Here is the conversation after their fight:

J.En: *sob*sob*I don't like you. You beat me. (This 9yo girl is my No.1 crybaby. I could not recall any single day that she didn't cry. She cried even I went out to work without waking her up and said bye to her. And of course she cried when I scolded her.)
J.Shan: I don't like you too. You beat me. (This 3yo girl seldom cry. But I always raise white flag when facing with her stubbornness.)
J.En: You started it first!
J.Shan: No. You started it first!
J.En: I am not happy *sob*sob*(talking to me). Why must I have 2 'mei mei' (younger sisters)? I wish I am the single child. I like to be alone. I don't like both of them. Always fighting and noisy. I can't do my work quietly.*sob*sob*
Me: You have no choice. They are your sisters. Without them, who play with you?
J.En: I can play with my friends!
Me: But they are not staying with you and play with you all the times.
J.En: I can go to their house to play with them. I don't want my sisters.
Me:....speechless....(don't know what else to say, anyway, I am sure next moment everything will be as usual again, as if nothing happened.) LOL