SPI School Bag At Last!

Someone has finally gotten her SPI school bag!!!

SPI bags are ergonomically designed and supposedly good for the backbone with its even weight distribution, though a little pricey..... and I have been seeing so many of her classmates and schoolmates carrying these bags in school. All these while, I have been wondering where to buy them until one of my ex-colleague, Yvonne, told me where to get it!

I excitedly called the company to find out where their outlets are.... typical eager & kiasu mum.... haha.... So with the start of the school hols, I brought Amanda with me so that she can personally choose the design and colour she likes. It was really a joy watching her choosing and carrying the different styles and colours and finally making her choice (see 1st picture above)...... *smiles* Oh yes, I bought her a matching coin pouch which looks like a mini school bag, as I found it too cute and irresistible not to buy..... (look at the last picture, it's cute, isn't it?) She is now eagerly waiting for school to re-open so that she can carry it to school.... but it will be another 4 weeks babe..... :)

Night Outing to the National Library

An impromptu trip to the National Library tonight turned out to be so fun for Amanda.... Amanda headed straight to the Childrens' Corner and started browsing through the books on the shelves.... she was allowed to borrow 8 books using her student pass. However, she got so excited and started choosing more and more books and ended up with 12 books! So I ended up borrowing 4 books for her in my name. I was so pleased that Amanda was able to follow the instructions and borrow all 12 books on her own using the automated borrowing machine...

the 12 books which amanda borrowed....

Update on Amanda's Art Class

This is her 5th art lesson. Amanda has progressed quite a fair bit since her 1st lesson and I can tell she enjoys all her art lessons though it is a little rush for her during school days where she has to rush through her dinner to make it on time or even 15 minutes late for class. As this Friday was the start of her school holidays, she was able to make it on time for her class; in fact 15 minutes earlier..... There was even time for me to take a picture of Amanda and Rae, her primary school classmate who happens to be her art lesson classmate too......... aren't the 2 girls sweet?......

art pieces from 4th & 5th lessons......

Fun with Darren at Kong Kong's & Ma Ma's House

Today I brought Amanda to Kong Kong's & Ma Ma's house to play with her cousin Darren. It has been some time since the kids had so much fun together.... they were practically screaming at the top of their voices and running around the whole house and it seems as if the whole house is gonna come down.... but we let them be, since they were having so much fun.... We adults had much fun too, as my sister, my parents and myself were chatting away happily as we savoured Mum's special "BAK KUT TEH".... Soon it was time to go home as Amanda has got Art Class whilst Darren has got Maths Enrichment Class in the evening. The kids are certainly looking forward to their next meeting.....

World of Abacus

As mentioned in my earlier blogs, I wanted to make up to my precious babe for having neglected her during her developmental growth stage, over WORK.... Now, I have decided to get her exposed to the World of ABACUS!

LEFT : amanda's new abacus vs the abacus left behind by daddy's late father......

The first lesson was very stressful and the teacher invited all parents to sit in for the lesson. Parents even had a brief session with the teacher as she taught all parents how to use the abacus; whislt the kids were feeling very excited (though a little stressed) with their new "toy". The kids will be having a test during the next lesson.....

amanda getting ready for the class after school - it was very rush &

she didn't even have time to change out of her uniform (left) and

amanda trying her hands at the abacus for the very 1st time (right)

Amanda enjoyed the lesson very much and she is eagerly looking forward to the next lesson... I am just hoping her interest in this will last as she has a tendency to lose it very quickly......

Amanda's Little "PRIDE"

Last Friday, Amanda collected her Monitor Tie from the school Principal. In the past, all monitors just needed to wear the Monitor badge.... but the school has decided that all monitors will be required to wear a TIE on days when they were wearing Full Uniform, and the MONITOR BADGE on days when they were wearing their PE Attire.... Amanda was elated when she heard the news. She was so excited that she would be wearing a TIE to school.... little does she know that it is gonna be so hot wearing it especially since she's got to button up her blouse right to the top.... I'm gonna get her a bigger blouse when school re-opens so that even when she buttons right to the top, she will not feel as if she's choking......

Babe's Version of CJ7

Amanda just loves drawing.....

Last night, we were watching CJ7 movie on Channel U and immediately after the show, Amanda started drawing the cute little thingy.... Look at what she has drawn below....

funny looking, but I thought it looks quite cute... *smiles*

by the way, she took only a few minutes to draw this close to midnite....

Amanda's Weekend....

Amanda's weekends are usually filled with activities and enrichment classes which she thoroughly enjoys...

Amanda doing Art & Craft at Home... (see above)

Cute cow which Amanda made during her Chinese Enrichment Class (though I don't see the logic for doing this during Chinese lesson.... haha!)

Amanda also begged us to bring her to the Science Centre again..... Errmmmm..... young & budding scientist?! She was very excited to try out the various activities and to watch the show, and she even volunteered Daddy to participate in one of the activity!!!

and last but not least..... she ended her outing with......

YUMMY CHICKEN WINGS!!!

Babe's Upcoming School Vacation Activities

The school holidays are just round the corner here! YES! Now that I am less busy and able to chauffeur my Babe around, I have decided that I am going to make it up to her! How?...........

By signing up for several Holiday Programmes for her so that she can enjoy herself during the entire month of June instead of cooping up at home watching television.... I had long wanted to do this for her, but because of extremely busy work commitments, I have not been able to do so till now..... but it's better late than never.... :)

I have registered her for a series of activities starting from 1st June 2009 (Mon)..... oh yeah.... BABE is going to have lots of fun this vacation.... I'm so excited for her!

Will update her holiday activities in my blog.....

Bedtime Reading

Amanda has recently cultivated Bedtime Reading habit of reading a book before she goes to bed. I am extremely pleased with her progress.... One year ago, she was not able to read any books, and I was so worried as I started doing my last minute "coaching" to Amanda... and in 3 months' time by July 2008, she was able to read Enid Blyton books...

and now......

she's rushing with me to read MY BOOK.... *smiles*

An Afternoon at Singapore Science Centre

It was a last minute decision to visit the Singapore Science Centre and it turned out to be an extremely enjoyable one for Amanda.....

Amanda tried out various activities there. One of the main reason why she tried out so many activities was because she wanted to get lots of bookmarks and prizes that the student volunteers were giving out today. She even volunteered herself on stage in front of a crowd of almost 300 people.... what a brave girl!

amanda enjoying all the activities at science centre....

Amanda enjoyed herself so much and when she reached home, she asked for 2 pieces of bread with Nutella.... and then all of a sudden, it was super quiet..... We went over to take a peek. Guess what???..... my babe has dozed off whilst lying on the sofa and watching television.......... sweet dreams...... zzzzzzzzzzzz.......

Amanda's Art Work

Amanda has displayed great improvement after 2 art lessons. Today, she attended her 3rd art class. Daddy and I were surprisingly pleased with her results tonight.... not to mention Amanda herself feeling so proud of her work! What a good way to de-stress especially after her final paper for SA1 this afternoon.....

Oh dear.... I feel really bad for not sending her for art classes earlier when she asked me for it a few years ago..... I'm a bad mummy....

don't you think she has improved so much compared to her 1st artwork below?

Happy Mother's Day

To all the Mothers out there..... a very HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY..... and to my dearest MUM.... Happy Mummy's Day.... I LOVE YOU!!!.... and to myself.... Happy Mommy's Day!!! yeah.....

I am so HAPPY and TOUCHED!

On Friday, my Babe bought me a lovely PINK ROSE (though the colour in the picture below looks a little off) from her school bookshop for Mother's Day! This is the 1st time she is using her own pocket money to buy me a gift all on her own.... how sweet and thoughtful of her.....

Besides the Pink Rose that she bought, Amanda also made all these for me.....

and Daddy bought the PowerTap for me as a Mother's Day gift to relieve my aching shoulders.... how sweet.... incidentally, my sister and i also got one of this for our Mum as a Mother's Day gift too....

I am just so HAPPY today!

THANK YOU BABE AND THANK YOU DADDY.

I LOVE YOU ALL SOO MUCH!!!

Bedtime Yoga

Good morning! As promised, we got Amanda to do some Yoga poses just before bedtime last night; and we took some pictures of her doing it.... Amanda being a "little nightbird" (just like us) was of course delighted to perform and entertain us than to get her to sleep early!

Front and side view of the PIGEON POSE. Look at how serious she looks in this pose... it's just so lovely...... you may notice why is she doing yoga without the mat? Errr... well, the mats are downstairs, and we were to lazy to go downstairs to get it, hence she's doing it without the mat (though it was quite slippery).....

the TREE POSE

the WARRIOR POSE

the DANCING WARRIOR

the TRIANGLE POSE

amanda attempting to do the TABLE TOP POSE