CNY08 Day 1 – YuSheng Extreme

Clié and Cleo CNY Day 1 Outfits

Its the first day of CNY and the girls are all decked out in their new outfits. NICE! I think my wife is a real good shopper. I’ve seen many parents put their kids into China Doll outfits and i think that style can be quite tacky.

Grandparent’s Place

First stop was my parent’s place in Katong area. We had the traditional long life noodles and stayed around abit, then it was off to my in law’s place at West Coast. We had nice red dates longan dessert and just chilled out at my in law’s place. We both feel asleep. Yawn… the sofa i tell you… it has mystical powers… when ever i sit on it, i feel like sleeping. lol…

YuSheng

Then off to my wife’s granny place in Bukit Panjang. We had snacks, watched abit of cable TV, then its off again to our next stop which was my wife’s uncle place in Yishun. We had steamboat and everyone ate alot.

Every year without fail, we will also Lo Hei, this year its super extreme. The YuSheng was laid out directly on the table and it formed a huge “Fu” (Prosperity in Mandarin) shape with Abalone at the peak of the mounds.

YuSheng in Fu Shape

It is quite an amazing sight.

Floor Protection

It will surely get messy, so the floors had to be protected.

Weapons distribution

As everyone came into the kitchen, weapons were distributed. Here you can see my bro-in-law passing a pair of chopsticks to my father in law.

All in Position to Lau YuSheng

Everyone was poised and with a loud “Huat Ah” (Prosper in Hokkien), the chopsticks tossed the colourful dish in the air.

ATTACK the YuSheng

I’ll try to put the 30sec video up when i’ve got time.

Cleo with Playing Cards

And without fail CNY will always have playing cards. Here you can see Cleo trying out her knowledge with numbers.

Thats basically how the first day went.

Monster House

Cleo fighting for my attention
^ Cleo the superhero

There will be no one taking care of my girls in the day till we get another helper. Pearl just took 2 weeks leave and her mega project just started and she was the main coordinator. I had to be the one and i’m glad my understanding boss allowed me to work from home during this difficult period.

Cleo fighting for my attention
^ Cleo fighting for my attention

I’m still quite new to this and am trying to get things into a routine.

The Routine

6:30am – get kids ready for school
7:10am – bring kids down to catch the school bus
7:20am – start the computer and work starts
7:50am – kiss wife as she leave home for work
9:00am – have a simple breakfast at the computer
11:50am – wait for kids return from school
12:15pm – prepare lunch for kids
12:30pm – Lunch and FEED!!! (hardest task ever)
1:00pm – clean up the mess
1:15pm – shower and change the kids
1:45pm – give kids their milk bottles
2:00pm – make them sleep
2:15pm – back to work
5:00pm – kids get up , give them snacks
5:15pm – keep sane and reply multiple work MSN
7:00pm – Dinner and FEED!!! (argghh)
8:00pm – washup everything
9:00pm – wife returns / family time
10:00pm – wife get kids to bed
10:00pm – I wash, laundry, sweep, mop, tidy
11:30pm – shower / time out
12:00am – prepare next day’s work
2:00am – sleep

Cleo with her toys
^ Cleo with her toys

My kids love to see me at home as i’m usually at work and at weekends, i’m sometimes just too tiered to do anything. Its been 1 week. I’m damn tired.

I’m glad we have confirmed another helper already and I pray hard that she will be a good helper. Most likely I’ve got to keep to this routine for about another week more, then my wife can take over for a few days and train our new helper.

Its time for me to taste what its like to be a single parent. Its been just a week and i have LOADS of respect already for single parents. May my kids have mercy on me…

Silver Bright

Our helper

Silver to most is a precious metal, but to my family, Silver was a precious part of our family for the past 2 years. She will be dearly missed.

She came to our family in late 2005 and she is our third domestic helper… the best we’ve had by far and the best i’ve seen.

As her 2 years contract with us ends end 2007, we wanted to extend her for another 2 years. She hesitated at first as she have an Aunt who is unwell back home that she need to take care of. Silver and her Aunt are pretty close as both Silver’s parents have passed away already and i believe family is dear to her. However, after some consideration she agreed to extend her contract with us for another 2 years.

As she have been in Singapore for 2 years already without going home, we were keen for her to take 2 weeks leave to go home and visit her family. We also got her a few gifts to bring back to her relatives as she did express to us that she would like to bring back a kettle, sandwich maker, etc… We also passed her a few family photos so that she could show people back home who she was living with and the kids she took care of for the past 2 years.

2 weeks went quickly with Pearl running the house and we all anticipated for Silver’s return. She came back chirpy and with alot of gifts, with the most amazing one being our family photo printed on porcelain of sorts and it was well framed up with a distinctive Myanmar flavor. She even got real pearl necklaces for both my daughters. She did not have to, but she did.

On the 6th day of her return which was a saturday, she received a call from home and found out that her Aunt’s condition was critical. Apparently she had a fall and the bump on her head ended her up in the hospital and she had to have tubes running all over her. Silver’s Aunt wanted to see her… Silver had to go back… She had to go back immediately…

The earliest flight we could get for her was on the following Monday and she agreed immediately. However we had to get her a one way ticket as she was unsure if she would return. Everything happened so fast, we did not knew what to do, our much trusted helper at home was leaving… any may by leaving for good…

We were both stressed out as her return would have been disruptive to our daily lives as both of us are working and we relied on her to take care of our kids when we’re at work. But after much thought, we worked with what was certain. She had to go back and for good reasons, she is filial and we wanted to give her all our support. So come Monday, i brought her to the airport, she told us she would let us know if she would return or not after assessing the situation back home personally. She wanted to come back if she could, in our minds we hoped very much that she will return, but we had to plan as if she was not returning.

She emailed us the next day… she apologized and informed us her Aunt’s situation is quite serious, hence she had to to be around to take care of her.

We were all saddened and at the same time happy to have had such a wonderful helper for the past 2 years.

Thank you Silver Say Rah Bright, may you have a good life and may the lord’s favour be upon you always.

Jacob Ballas Children’s Garden

Jacob Ballas Childrens Garden

We’ve heard alot about Jacob Ballas Children’s Garden near Botanic Garden’s and this time being our first time there, i have to say we did enjoy ourselves.

Plants

Of cause there were plants.

Playground

There were several playgrounds too.

Waterfall

There was even a waterfall that allowed you to walk under it.

Waterfall

water play

And to complete the experience, the kids even got wet at the water play area.

water play

How i wish i was a kid again. So carefree and every corner is a new discovery.

water play

Family Christmas Night

Presents for Kids

This year’s Christmas instead of having it at my Parent’s, we invited everyone over. As you can see everyone got the kids presents and they really stacked up like a mountain.

Presents for Kids

The happy kids.

Presents for Kids

The wild opening ceremony.

This year’s is quite different with previous years. The family vibes is very different… everyone seems relaxed, everyones older… i feel i want to love everyone more… :) and i do…