Lego Building Blocks

Daddy and Amanda have always enjoyed building Lego together...

This afternoon, we were too lazy to get out of the house shopping.... so Daddy and Amanda decided to stay home and build a HOUSE!

With the limited number of Lego pieces that we have.... Daddy and Amanda built a lovely house.... and this house, Daddy said, will represent our "Family LOVEHOUSE"..... haha.... Daddy's so sweet......

Now Daddy is looking to buy a very large LEGO set to build a more proper family LOVEHOUSE for the SIM family, instead of using the current "hand me downs" limited pieces.....

Babe's Graduation Concert

I am so proud of my babe....

As usual, she has been selected to be the Master of Ceremony (MC) for her school's graduation concert. She was MC during Nursery and K1 year end concert, when she was with her old Kindergarten... and now in this new school, again she has been assigned this task!

Getting ready... at home

Ready for the concert....

Certificate Presentation.... look at her photo on the projector

Photo taken with my Secondary School Classmate, Wendy's daughter... was so surprised to see her daughter in the same kindergarten as Amanda....

Photo with good friend Karen

Photo with good friend Sheena

HOME SWEET HOME.........

Friends Over To Play

Amanda has friends over at our house to play..... the kids were delighted to have each other's company on a Saturday afternoon. They rode on bicycle, scooterbike, played with WIN, had lunch, drank Yakult, did drawing etc.....

The 3 ACEs.... Andrea, Andrew and Amanda

Babe Learning to Swim

I have decided to enrol Amanda for swimming lessons.... WHY?..... because she looked so pathetic when she attended a birthday party when all the kids subsequently proceeded to the pool to swim and play.... and my poor babe, here had to be accompanied by Mummy....

YES, I have decided!.... So I got her a new set of swimwear, a pair of goggles, a swimming cap and a board.... and she's all ready...

Swimming Coach, Uncle Jordan teaching Amanda to swim....

Amanda's New Play Pool

Amanda has a new toy! A PLAY POOL which we bought for her from Toys R Us... She was excited when we were trying to inflate the pool, and even more excited when we filled the pool with water.... though it's quite a sin to be wasting water, as gallons and gallons of water were needed to fill the pool. Daddy also played in the pool with Amanda (but photos not uploaded.... censored.... HAHA!!!)

look at the smile on her face!

Reflections

Today marks the last day of my "stay home mum" lifestyle (or tai tai lifestyle) after almost 6 months' break.....

The decision to resign was sparked off firstly because I wanted to spend more time with my babe to prepare her for Primary 1 next year, and also because I had to take time off to do parent volunteer work for her, and last but not least, I needed a break! Hence, I tendered my resignation in late September 2007 and after serving slightly more than 3 months' notice, I was a "free" person!

The past 6 months was indeed very fulfiling and meaningful. It was a time for family bonding, nurturing and cultivating my babe. I managed to fulfill all that needs to be done (except 1 - haha this is a secret, so cannot reveal at this moment)... and most importantly, my babe got into the school of our choice and also, she has improved from not being able to read any books, to being able to read Enid Blyton books now... what an accomplishment for both Amanda and me?!!! At the same time, I also managed to undergo Lasik surgery for both my eyes at The Lasik Surgery Clinic performed by Dr Marc Tay....

Some of the books Amanda is reading now...

So with my mission almost all accomplished, I decided to take on the offer when the headhunter approached me..... everything was kinda rush and it happened all too quickly... I met with my future employer/owner and the interview went on very well. Job presented during interview seemed exceptionally exciting with all the regional work... and within few hours I was offered the job which required me to start work a week after that!!! It was quite unbelievable for a senior role, which usually takes about 4 or 5 rounds of interviews.... nonetheless I still accepted the offer!!!

So here I am, back to the workforce again......

Special Moments of Mother & Daughter....

I've always enjoyed spending special moments between Mother and Daughter.... Hence, during those days when she was in Kindergarten and when I was looking after her full time, I would seize at every opportunity to take her out for Tea, Snacks, Meal etc. immediately after I fetch her from school... this is usually followed by shopping and some fun play....

Lunch at FISH & CO (above) Teabreak at FISH & CO wheelock place (below)

Tea time at the newly refurbished COFFEE CLUB..... Amanda is looking sooo extremely pleased and satisfied with the food.



High Tea at Inter-Continental Hotel... Look at how happy Amanda is eating her chicken wings away...

Winter Holiday in Perth, June 2008

We have decided to bring Dad & Mum to Perth for a holiday. I have been to Perth 5 times, Lawrence went to Perth once 19 years ago, Dad and Mum a few times to Perth too.....

So why PERTH? Because Perth is one of the most relaxed place to drive around especially more so since all of us have been to Perth several times and are pretty FAMILIAR with the place.... and one of the MAIN REASON was also because the season in Perth now is WINTER.... a weather which all of us love..... :)

This is going to be one of our most relaxed holidays as we drive around "doing nothing" without a fixed itinerary and no time constraint...

Sooo we were ready for our trip! We departed for Perth just 5 days after we returned from our Beijing trip. WOW!!! This month is really a month of holidays for us.....

Dad and Mum had earlier anticipated that it was going to be very cold, especially since Perth is known for its very strong wind... but upon arrival, we were a little disappointed even temperature ranged from 8 deg to 20 deg as the sun was extremely strong in Perth, thus making the afternoons HOT on most of the days.....

We rented our car from Hertz Car Rental from Perth International Airport. After all the paperwork was done, we proceeded to collect the car and get ready to drive off for our Winter Adventure!

Throughout the entire trip, Lawrence was the Main Driver, me the Co-Driver and Chief Navigator whilst Dad, the Deputy Chief Navigator. We covered many places this trip; and that included driving within Perth City, ferrying Dad & Mum to Burswood Casino several times, down South to Rockingham, Mandurah, Bunbury and Margaret River.

The fun thing about self-drive trip is that you get to stop over anywhere and anytime you wish. We had so much fun especially on our drive to Margaret River. We stopped over whenever we saw something nice or interesting; visiting wineries, fruit orchards, organic farms, Harvey's Juicy Orange, Scenic Spots etc etc...

Amanda enjoyed herself sooo much during this trip as this is the first time she got so close to kangaroos and joeys.... she was practically hugging them! Look at the pictures taken at Sunshine Animal Farm at Margaret River...

Another thing which Amanda enjoyed was the swan feeding at Lake Monger. All the black swans charged at Amanda the moment she approached with her bag of bread.... and the swans really got her jumping up and down.... wheeee.... that was really fun! This trip the swans bit Lawrence's fingers as he was trying to feed them. I recalled 19 years ago, they bit his BUTT when he refused to give them the bread he was holding!!! HAHAHA!!!

Throughout the entire journey, Lawrence remained a very calm and patient driver despite there were so many navigators in the car giving different instructions at the same time.... and there were also times when we gave wrong instructions and leading the wrong turns...

This was truely a memorable trip and we spent quality time with Dad & Mum and for Amanda, she got to sleep and cuddle with Kong Kong & Ma Ma almost every night.

Home Sweet Home......... zzzzzzzzzzzz

Oh yes, my precious babe did not vomit at all while in the plane to and from Perth.... Trick : let her sleep the moment she boards the plane :)