A fresh look for 2011...

A new hairstyle to welcome 2011! Hehe.

Nana loves her fresh "Dora" look, which she claims to have, and we totally agree with her. She does look like Dora! Hehe.

Zac's new haircut was actually more of an accident. We had wanted to give it a trim, but as usual, our "can't-sit-still" son just have to move. So, there you go, a big hole in the middle of his head, leaving us with no choice but to cut the hair very, very short. Zac doesn't like his new hairstyle, and he blames dear for it. He also said something funny with regards to his new look. "Papa, I look so different. What if Ms Leann don't let me go in to class next week, because they think I'm a new student?" Haha. Kids... They always have funny thoughts like this!

The young chocolate lover

Nana, this is for you to look at when you are older.

A 100% supporter of chocolates, especially those from Godiva, you would always have a hard time deciding whether to share your chocolates with anyone or to enjoy every single bit of it all by yourself. This was the look that you gave me when I asked for a piece of chocolate from you. Well, you were holding on to two pieces, one on each hand, and all I wanted was JUST ONE piece from you. You immediately gave that famous frown, and tears began rolling down your cheeks...

Girls will be girls!

If you are a female reader, do you remember growing up with lots of sneaky chances to play with your mum's belongings like clothes, make-up set, accessories and best of all, her shoes?

Well, I did! Hehe. The fun that me and my younger sis, Faizah had when we dressed up together... All done secretly! Messing around with mum's stuffs would mean getting a good spanking! Haha. This definitely brings back sweet childhood memories! :)

Fast forward the time and you'll see history repeating itself! I caught Nana putting on my boots. With all the heels away since it's winter now, Nana seems to develop a new interest - a deep interest in the seasonal footwear, the BOOTS! She was even trying to tie the shoelace! Since she has never really tried tying one, all that she could do was twist and turn the shoelace till it looks like a ball!

A great week for us!

It was a great week! Dear was on leave since Monday, and on Wednesday, we went for a short road trip to San Diego & LA again. The 4 of us loves California, mainly because of the lovely beaches. Somehow, the seaside is always the preferred option each time we plan for a trip. The waves, and the smell of the ocean seems to be the perfect place for us to unwind. And for the kids, they are just contented to play with sand and having a BIG space to run around. Look out for the photos in my gallery yah... Will upload them once I'm done with all the editing...  

Anyway, we got back to boring Arizona last night. Haiz. Back to being the full-time housewife with loads of laundry to wash and the usual household chores that comes with it. :(

Today, we decided to just stay home and rest before dear goes back to work tomorrow. The kids will be having their 2 weeks winter break till New Year. Guess what they did at home today?

Dear and Zac played Wii, and most of the time, they were arguing! Haha.

And dear Nana had the lappy all to herself. She's so relieved that Zac has Wii to keep him occupied and not bugging her for a turn on the computer.

As for me... what else could I possibly do? With my laptop being conquered by my girl, I am left with just 2 options... To either laze around while watching them do their stuff, or get busy with the piling housework... So, of course I chose the first option... LAZE AROUND! Haha... It's a weekend after all! Which means my day OFF!

Being thankful!

My parents have always taught us to be grateful for what we have. Being the sole breadwinner in our family, ayah (which means dad in Malay) struggled to cultivate this good habit in us. As a kid, me and my siblings used to compare ourselves with the rest of our friends, whom we felt, could get everything they asked for.

Ayah knew it was never going to be easy to get this message across to all four of us. Watching news together became a method to inculcate a feeling of thankfulness. He would always highlight how lucky we are compared to the starving and poor kids in the other parts of the world. And I would gladly say that it did work, at least for me.

Emak (mum in Malay) supported him strongly. As a full-time housewife, she attended to all our needs 24-7. I can still remember the way she taught us the importance of not wasting food. Scaring us was her technique. She said that the food will cry and come back to scare us if it was thrown away, because it would feel that its life has been wasted and not appreciated. Being a little kid, I totally believed in that. And even up till today, I would try to finish up every single grain of rice and ensure that my plate is sparkling clean, except for the leftover bones which could never be eaten. Haha.

Now that I'm a mum myself, I try to pass this message down to my children, with the hope that they are thankful for what they already have, and most importantly, they must learn never to waste food. Kids nowadays are so fussy. With so many options given, they tend to eat only their favourite food, which are mostly junk food.

So, the smart me thought of using my mum's method on Zac & Nana. And guess what... Zac said something which I could never have thought of when I was a kid... He asked "Mama, how can the food come and scare us? The rubbish bin is so slippery. How to climb out and find us?" Me and dear broke into laugher. It's amazing how he could come up with that! How come I didn't think of it that way when I was younger? Haha.

Anyway, Nana was still a bit scared. She couldn't finish her lunch and insisted that dear help her finish up. Look at her face!!! She's so scared that the corn, carrots, and fish will come back to bother her at night. ;p

Raving Rabbits

When Zac claims that Nana is "gooder" than him at burping...

In the mood for Christmas!

I could still remember... Years ago, when I used to teach in the local Singapore preschool, there wasn't really much focus on Christmas. Maybe because over there, the month of December is the children's school holiday, and for those in childcare, it means non-academic programmes for them... more art and craft activities, music and movement, and free-play time. We do put up Christmas decor and expose children to the songs, but it wasn't much elaborated on as compared to Chinese New Year.

Over here in the US, things are similar to those times when I work in the international school. With Christmas being the main festival celebrated, you can imagine how much effort was put in when Christmas was around the corner. Students did craft work, which served as a gift for their parents and there were lots of singing practises before the parents actually came for the mini Christmas concert held in school.

With my two kids attending the local preschool here, I could really feel the Christmas spirit going around. They have been singing jingles, and they get all excited when familiar Christmas songs go on air on 99.9KEZ. Nana has also been dancing to it!

Anyway, they came back from school with these beautiful Christmas crafts... I love the ornaments the best. Nana could even describe how it was done, firstly by dipping her cute little hand on a plate of white paint, and then holding on tight to the ornament so that her hand print will be left on it. I find the quote attached to it very meaningful... It goes like this:

"This is my hand, my hand will do

a 1000 loving things for you.

Years will go by, but don't be sad

Know in my heart I love you mom & dad."

You'll always be my baby princess!

To my dearest Nana, this is for you to read in future. Mama suddenly recalled all the funny things you said and do, and before all these precious memories are forgotten, I shall jot it down so that you know how much you have brightened my days! 

- Papa left you with me at the shoe store. Mama was busy looking for a nice pair of footwear, and I was totally engrossed, looking at every single shoes on display. The background giggling somehow "woke" me up. I turned my head and guess what... Your shoes were on the floor and you were getting ready to slip your tiny feet into 2 different high heeled shoes, both probably about 2.5 inch high. Haha. You really made me laugh... and a little embarassed! :) By the way, the ladies who were watching you all the while commented on how cute you were...

- Mama decided to take you along with me to shop for bags while Papa shop for his stuff with Zac.  While I got lost in my world, you came up to me with 2 bags. Identical design and colour (hot pink to be exact!) but different in size, one slightly smaller than the other. You mentioned how nice the bags were and told me to choose one! I do love pink bags, but I remembered Papa saying that he doesn't really like it on me, so I told you what he said. You were upset and said that you will scold Papa for saying that. And indeed, you scolded him once we left the store. I'm beginning to enjoy shopping with you...

- I was feeling rather bloated and my tummy was buldging. I looked like a pregnant woman. While I was using my lappy, you came and stood next to me, stared at my tummy and asked why it looked big! I jokingly said that there's a baby inside and that you'll be a jie-jie or kakak soon. You gave that famous frown, and suddenly pressed hard on my tummy, while saying "Go in! Go in!" A while later, you broke down in tears. "I wanna be your baby! Not jie-jie or kakak! I don't want you to have another baby!" I was almost in tears when you said that...

Looking at how much you have grown really makes me happy. Please remember that a few years down the road, even when you are much older, in my eyes, you will always be my baby princess!

My photo gallery...

If you are observant enough, you would have noticed a slight change in my blog. Just below my blog header, there's this word "Memories captured..." Once you click on it, you'll be directed to another page which has a URL link. The link leads to another blog which serves as my photo gallery.

I have created the gallery only recently, so the photos are actually the "outdated" photos from our previous roadtrips. There'll be more to come, once I find the time to upload the old ones, and new ones, if we go travelling again. Hehe. I have searched online for an application or widget for a photo gallery or album, but just couldn't find one. So, my last resort was to publish the photos like a post / blog entry.

This is for our families, relatives or friends without a Facebook account, and thus unable to see how we are doing. Hope this helps ease the pain of missing us! Enjoy the photos...

Thanksgiving 2010

I almost went crazy during Thanksgiving. Everything was sooooo freaking cheap. The urge to just grab everything off the shelves was there. My hand felt super itchy. Hehe. Luckily, at that point of time, mentally, I was able to stay on track and kept reminding myself to distinguish between a "WANT" and a "NEED". Although at certain points, it just got harder. It's as though the sales were calling me... "Yana, come... come... grab... grab..." Haha.

Anyway, we did buy quite a number of things, and most of it are household items like cutlery set, dinnerware, bedsheets, photo frames and the best grab was the recliner on the right. It's so comfy that even I, the "seldom-take-a-nap" kind of person kept dozing off each time I sit on it. It must be the rocking motion, and the cooling weather made it just perfect for a short nap. Other than that, we also managed to get a few bags for me (Thank you dear for keeping an eye on both kids while I got distracted by the bags!) and clothings for the kids. With the crazy crowd, it was almost impossible to choose, as we had to each hold on to 1 child, in case they walk off, especially Zac, who has the tendency to do that.   

As for now, I'm pleased with what I have... Wouldn't want to give my dear hubby a hard time clearing his credit card debts... So dear, with the bonus coming up, please bring us for another road trip to reward us for being good! :)