Surprise Party

The girls went to great lengths to plan and execute a surprise birthday party for me.

The venue they picked - the St. Regis Hotel - was simply spot on.

The evening was just the way I like it. Nothing over the top, yet always classy and meaningful. Hours of reminiscing and girly chats, accompanied by gorgeous food and wine and simply awesome company.... the 24 hours we spent together just couldn't be any better. The entire experience, especially the undivided attention and love from them was so good for my soul!

Z even made a surprise video that was actually a collection of clips featuring some of my close friends and family members. A real keeper!

We have come a long way, 18 years to be exact with Z & K and nearly 10 years with KL. And we know there will be many more 18 years to go.

That Kid in the Mall

A few months ago, E sent me this photo when he was out and about with Bun.

Did I recognise any of the kids in the photo? Nope.

At first, I thought it was weird of him to do so, because knowing him, he would not be interested in others' kids. Unlike me.

Upon closer examination, I realised the one in the middle wore a similar top that Bun had when she was smaller. It was more than that. There was also something else..... something that looked so familiar about that kid.

Then I realised what it was! That was my Bun when she was smaller! Wahaha...

I have not looked at her old photos for a long time, so I did not even recognise her at first. How did her photo ended up in the nursery of a mall?

According to E, more than a year ago, he allowed a staff of the store to snap a shot of them when they were at the nursery. He did not ask what that was for, nor did he ask for a copy. He forgot all about it until he chanced upon it again at the nursery. He was changing her nappy when he looked up and saw a younger version of her baby staring at her. Very funny.

After my initial amusement, I seriously considered returning to the store the next day to ask for that photo and make clear that my baby was done modelling for free, but I still have not done so.

 

 

When the boys saw the photo recently, I couldn't resist getting them to pose with it.

 

Now, that is a reunion. :>

 

 

 

Book List for 6 to 10 years old

Recently a girlfriend mentioned that her 9 months old has only one book and her husband has been nagging her to buy more. I remember when M was this age, we had only a handful too. In fact, his first two books - The Very Hungry Caterpillar and The Cat in the Hat - were given to us as a gift the day he was born, and we only accumulated the next 20 books over the next 18 months.

Funnily, that slow rate of acquisition changed by the time the second child came along. Now, a decade later, I think we must have over a thousand books in our home library, if I include the Chinese books. Mine you, this is excluding our adults' collections.

We are still buying books monthly and the boys are reading like there is no tomorrow. Recently, we have successfully influenced M to return to reading chapter books after his last two years of devouring mainly non-fiction, so E is on another buying frenzy.

Dolly has the luxury of so much more to choose from, compared to her brothers before and I find myself spoilt for choice too when it comes to our reading time. Though she has her "flavours of the month", I can quite easily escape the previous torture of reading the same book 200 times a week. Perhaps next time, I should invite her playmates over to read book, instead of heading out to play. Haha...

Anyway, I was thinking of book list and went through my 5000 bookmarks (yes, I know I am NUTS and E boldly told me so too) and found this list.

I have been meaning to post this list for the longest time, but procrastinated simply because I couldn't remember the source. I chanced upon this list one late night. (So yes, here's my excuse - I was too tired!) Instead of adding the URL as well, I forgot and just cut/pasted the content. (My apologies to the original writer!) But I have given up looking for it now and decided to post this anyway, so at least more people will benefit from it too. If any reader knows the source, please direct me to it. Thanks! 

We have not read all the books in the list, though we do have some of them. I don't think we will ever read all of them and there are simply too many lists out there, each recommending different books.

I am of the view that while some may be classics which you will find them on almost every list of highly recommended books, others may not be interesting to both boys and girls. There are also many others which we own, such as books by Enid Blyton, Roald Dahl, Rick Riordan, JK Rowling and CS Lewis that are not on this list.

~~~~~~~

For 6 to 7 year olds

    * Winnie the Pooh series  by A.A. Milne.  

    * Peter Rabbit and other stories by Beatrix Potter 

    * Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

    * Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

    * James Herriot’s Treasury for Children

    * Babe: The Gallant Pig by Dick King-Smith

    * Little Pear and Little Pear and His Friends by Eleanor Frances Lattimore

    * The Owl Who Was Afraid of the Dark and other books by Jill Tomlinson

    * The Littles series by John Peterson

    * Mr Popper’s Penguins by Richard and Florence Atwater

For 7 to 8 year olds

    * Nicholas series by René Goscinny 

    * Paddington Bear by Michael Bond

   * Frindle and other books by Andrew Clements

    * Follow My Leader by James Garfield

    * The Moffats, Ginger Pye and other books by Eleanor Estes

    * The Saturdays and the other books in the series by Elizabeth Enright

    * Charlotte’s Web and Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White 

    * Books by Thornton Burgess (books personifying animals written by a naturalist)
* Anything by Bill Peet.  (Bill Peet was a Disney animator and his books are wonderfully illustrated)

    * Viking Adventure by Clyde Robert Bulla

    * The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum

    * Moomin series by Tove Jansson

    * Toothpaste Millionaire by Jean Merrill

    * Lost on a Mountain in Maine by Donn Fendler

    * Doctor Doolittle by Hugh Lofting

    * The Door in the Wall by Marguerite De Angeli

    * Henry Huggins and other books by Beverly clearly

    * Gooney Bird Greene by Lois Lowry

For 8 to 9 year olds

    * Encyclopedia Brown series by Donald J. Sobol

    * The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall

    * Zorgamazoo (an entire book written in rhyme) by Robert Paul Weston and Victor Rivas

    * Shadow of a Bull by Maia Wojciechowska

    * Mrs Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O’Brien 

    * Twenty-One Balloons by William Pene Dubois

    * From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsburg

    * Old Yeller by Fred Gipson

    * Stone Fox by John Reynolds Gardiner

For 9 to 10 year olds

    * How to Train Your Dragon series by Cressida Cowell.  

    * The Mysterious Benedict’s Society series by Trenton Lee Stewart.  

    * Silverwing and Airborn and other books by Kenneth Oppel

    * Lost in the Barrens by Farley Mowat

    * The Dangerous Book for boys 

    * 100 Cupboards series by N.D. Wilson

    * Detectives in Togas by Henry Winterfeld

    * Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

    * Rascal by Sterling North

I am less inclined to look for them in the library these days because of our huge collection and I can't see how the kids would have time to read more. But I have been so curious of many which I have never even heard of before, so I should really just check them out to satisfy my own curiosity.

Dad is Sad

Whenever we got to this page, she would ask why was the dad so sad.

And no matter what I said and how I tried to explain, she would still look a little upset because she did not want that daddy to be sad.

Perhaps because there are three little ones in the facing page, which is a reminder of her siblings and her, hence sometimes she would refer to the tallest one as M and the one of medium height as N. So I guess, when she looked at the dad in the picture, she was really thinking of her own dad. Awww...

That little sweetheart!

Glimpses of Innocence

 

He may be nearly 8, but he still retains much of his innocence and kiddy traits.

 

He still has a mega soft spot for pigs and all things related to them. He still enjoys many of the toys he used to love since he was a toddler. He certainly does not behave as grown-up as his older brother was at this age.

He still "oinks" and makes his piggy gestures and expressions. Perhaps, he feels the need to retain his "cuteness" to remain our "little pig".

When I look at him, there is nothing that suggests he is nearly 8. In fact, besides the fact that he has grown taller, he seems to have remained the same since the day Olivia was born.

Just like that, nearly 3 years have passed. It was as if I just blinked and I have missed 3 years of his childhood years. Did I do enough as a mum for him? Did I enjoy him enough during these years?

The First "Proposal"

 

Boy (on knees): Marry me!!

Girl remained quiet.

 

 

 

Along came the big brothers and the boy ran away.......

 

 

At Botanic Gardens.