Happy 5th Birthday, D!

Lately, when my elder boy turned 5, I stopped receiving monthly email updates from Baby Centre.  It suddenly dawns on me that he is no longer a toddler and soon, he will no longer be called a pre-schooler too.

I like this Baby Centre website which I look at for information and use some of their tools frequently from the first day I knew I was pregnant.

It has a due date calculator, a pregnancy week by week, baby week by week, toddler month by month.

Heaps of information that educated me as a first-time preggie to a first-time mother and then when I have my number 2 too.  It's always the case of I never ever feel I am well prepared, well informed.

So what should my 5 year-old be doing now?  According to Baby Centre, he may be doing the following:

• separating from you comfortably, maybe even eagerly, especially if she's going to play at a friend's house
• feeling more secure when she's away from you
• learning the value of friends
• being more willing to help around the house, doing chores like setting the table - Yes, yes!  He does!

http://www.babycentre.co.uk/s1023675/your-five-year-old

Happy Birthday, my dear son.

Staycation at Conrad Centennial Singapore

We had an awesome staycation over the weekend in early April.  There are reasons why some families prefer a staycation to traveling abroad - it totally feels like we were on holiday, just in familiar settings, minus the hassle of remembering the passports and packing enough.

What makes a staycation different from simply staying at home and having the aircon on throughout I used to wonder.

• Without the availability of one's gadgets like the laptop, computer, game console, TV, cable TV, the time spent together as a couple or family is so much more.  
• For families like us with small children, we will be in the same room, we have to watch the same TV program… proximity makes interaction more often, communication more frequent.
• We feel like we are on holiday!  And that makes us happy (no housework to think of, no mess to clear up)!

The happy boy with his Monkey luggage!

Conrad Centennial Singapore is an award-winning hotel.  Located at the Marina area, people usually associate Conrad as a business hotel.  There are indeed many business travelers staying there, prominently seen during weekdays.  However, they are quite family friendly I would say, thus my second stay with them!

These beds make me not want to leave the room although they can be a tad too high for some kids.  The boys love the plush bed though.

Cots are available (subject to availability) upon request for the young ones.

Like a boss!  Conrad provides in-room slippers for the little ones!

If you have not read about it, each time you stay in Conrad, you will find a country specific Conrad bear and rubber duckie.  E loves the baby Conrad bear, one that he holds dearly to sleep every night.

Can you spot the soon-to-be-worn-out baby bear?

Who doesn't like bath tubs?  What's more with bubbles compliments of Mummy dearest.  LOL

Will I stay in Conrad again?  Why not?!

Where did all the time go?!

The weeks and months flew by!!!

Some changes in life and routine lately led to some ups and downs.  Whatever changes, we should not neglect our families right?

The good!  Having more time to cook for the family…. Simple meals - to cook and serve dinner within 45 minutes on weekdays.

Do you love Chinese New Year?

I love!  2 days of public holidays... lots of food and tidbits… new clothes and shoes…

The only thing I dislike is the spring cleaning before that!

If only it was that easy!

Christmas

What does Christmas mean to you?  How did you celebrate your Christmas?  Do you have any traditions to follow?

To the kids, it meant Christmas tree will be out!  Santas Claus!  Christmas Presents!  Gatherings!

We bought a small Christmas tree when E turned 1 as we were initially scared of the wires for the lightings and what he will do with the tree (maybe pull the needles and eat them :P).  Since then, we have it up every year 2-4 weeks before the actual day and it comes down a week or 2 after that.

This Christmas, we had my parents-in-law, brother-in-law and his girlfriend over for a simple dinner cooked by me.

Roast Chicken with Roast Vegetables (Recipe at the end of the post)

Linguine Carborana

Crabmeat Bake

Tiramisu

My Christmas wish is for the family to stay close and happy together forever and ever…...

Do you know why the kids love Christmas?

The very happy boys

Recipe for Roast Chicken
Adapted from Noob Cook

Ingredients:

• 1 whole chicken innards and neck removed
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• salt to taste
• freshly cracked black pepper to taste
• 1 tbsp garlic powder optional (I did not put this)
• mixed herbs (eg. McCormick Perfect Pinch, mix herbs for roast chicken etc.)

(A) Butter Paste (mix well in a small bowl until a paste is form)

• 30 grams butter cubed
• 1 tbsp chopped parsley
• zest of 1 lemon

(B) Stuffing 

• 2-3 sprigs thyme for best results, submerge in hot water for 30 seconds (I did not put this)
• 2-3 sprigs rosemary for best results, submerge in hot water for 30 seconds (I did not put this)
• 15 garlic cloves slightly bruised
• 2 bay leaves (I did not put this)
• 1 lemon halved
• a few sprigs of parsley

Directions:

1. Place chicken on a flat chopping board, breast side up. For aesthetics, tuck the wings under the chicken and tie the thighs together using kitchen twine. (I did not have twine, thus I left them as they are)
2. Carefully pull the top chicken skin and slowly stuff (A) under the chicken skin. Be careful not to tear the chicken skin while doing so.
3. Stuff the cavity of the chicken with (B). If you have leftover herbs, sprinkle them around the pan or on the chicken.
4. Brush the chicken skin all over with olive oil using a pastry brush. Season chicken with salt, black pepper and garlic powder mixed herbs.
5. Rest the chicken, breast side up, on a wire rack sitting on a bigger roasting tray to collect the chicken juices. Bake chicken in preheated oven at 200°C (392°F) for about 40 minutes. Take the tray out of the oven and brush the chicken with the juices that are collected in the drip pan. If there are not enough juices, use olive oil.
6. Return tray to oven and bake for another 30 minutes, increasing the oven heat to 220°C (428°F) during the last 10 minutes. The roasting time may differ with your oven, but basically you should roast until the chicken is nicely golden brown.

Note: if you think the skin is getting overly brown but the chicken is still undercooked, please cover chicken with a foil tent.

Happy Teacher's Day!

“I never teach my pupils, I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn.” 
- Albert Einstein

I always believe in 'Once a Teacher, always a teacher'.

It's no easy feat being a teacher.  To be able to create a learning environment conducive for the students, to care, discipline, understand and lastly to be able to 'deal' with parents - the overly chin chye and don't care to the extremely demanding ones....

 

Each teacher at each different schooling stage face different kind of challenges and I admire them for taking those challenges in their stride.

As teachers of pre-schoolers, they have to create a conducive environment, be strict and at the same time caring to nurture the younglings, to let them grow up knowing what is right and/or wrong.  And with the current emphasis on learning through play, these teachers need to be creative in their ways of teachings.

 

Every Teacher's Day during my time, we give either handmade cards, roses, sweets or chocolates. 

 

This year with the 2 boys, we decided to make some handmade macarons and a small cake. 

 

 

To remind the boys that teaching is no easy task and it takes a lot of hardwork. Just like making chocolate ganache for the macarons filling which one needs to constantly stir it and ensure it does not burn. And to store it in the fridge and wait patiently for it to harden before it can be used. 

 

Kids are the same.... They have to be constantly cared for, at times to encourage or discipline but never letting them walk down the wrong path. Each and every day, every year until they grow up to be useful persons. 

I'm no pro-baker as you can see... :)

 

To each and every teacher out there, Happy Teacher's Day.  To each and every parent out there, Happy Teacher's Day too as we, as parents, are our children's first teachers.

What to do with Duplo Bricks

We started the boys with Lego Duplo when they were young (read: put things in the mouth), for them to explore and create what they like with those tiny hands and fingers.  These Duplo bricks were big, colorful and fit perfectly in their small hands.

As they grow older, they started to play with the regular Lego bricks.  So here I have with some excess Duplo bricks which I have used them for some fantastic "projects" which a friend once showed me.

Thanks to Lisa on her blog which I got the idea, I came up with my own set of Duplo bricks for English.

I printed alphabets on paper and pasted them on all 4 sides of the bricks, with the vowels (a, e, i, o, u) on blue bricks.  The alphabets were pasted using craft glue so that should one day they are no longer in use, the papers can be removed easily and not leave any marks.

With the alphabet bricks, we could form words, rhyming words, sight words and even short sentences.  I use it with my younger boy on recognition of alphabets - he is not one who will sit still and listen to teachings, thus this makes a great tool in incorporating learning while playing :)

Words that rhyme