We have been longing to visit Hort Park since it was officially launched last month ..
The weather has been erratic ... either too hot or too wet. And we need Daddy the chauffuer to navigate the way. Today seem to be the perfect day when the weather is just nice and cool :)

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Go watch the show! It's hilarious!
Both adults and kids will sure to enjoy! :)

Go watch "Water Horse" and "Horton" ..
Highly recommended esp Water Horse - it is such a touching and beautiful movie .. haven't felt like that from a movie for a long time! I was quite the movie buff in my younger days. I could drive myself to Yishun Cineplex (the only Cineplex then) and could catch 3 movies in a row, marathon style, alone! That was my workaholic style of destressing!

We watched "Water Horse" at Cathay @ AMK hub after prawn catching at Lower Pierce Reservoior yesterday. Finally the sun came out ah ..
Check it out. Cathay has Mum & Tots promotion. Watch movie b4 2pm Mon - Fri, and the tot (below 7yo) gets in for Free! And I paid $7.50 for both of us coz it's weekday show b4 5pm! In addition, there's discount for flashing any student, senior citizen, DBS or UOB card and some other credit cards. This is what I consider good marketing and Great deal!
However, Golden Village at Vivo where we watched Horton hasn't any good deal. No holiday or special promotion, nothing, even kids have to pay full rate. Luckily the show is entertaining enough.

Tenny took a day's leave. We checked Chek Jawa but was advised against going from the staff who answered the phone! Apparently, due the recent wet weather and the flood in M'sia since last Dec, the tide is never low, and the seabed has been quite lifeless. The irony is that they still conduct guided tours @ $60 per tour (when they are booked right up to Jun!) coz groups/students insist on having them as they are sponsored. Hopefully, we can visit Chek Jawa soon when Mr Sun shows up more often and the seabed is restored to life again ..

So inorder not to waste a rare day of precious sunshine, we headed to Palawan Beach instead. Then it's 4pm movie, then dinner @ Earl's Swensons. We literally spent the whole day there .. now they are both snoring zzzz away ...
Ryan is also asking to watch Spiderwick ... of Goblins, and Orgres which are not exactly cute as Shrek but in fact, somewhat 'scary' .. I'm not so eager to catch it though ... any comments from those who have seen it?

Being a mum to a pre-schooler is :

Having the 'can-do' spirit to attempt to do craftwork together with your kid when the occasion (the school) calls for it!

Prior to timroy's post, Ryan also came back telling me that his kindy teacher has asked the class to bring some deco items to the school for CNY. Initially I was thinking of attempting to make a lantern out of ang pow packets. I was trying hard to recall how to make a simple one but he wanted a dragon! He really sees me very up leh! I googled but couldn't find anything nice & yet doable!

How timely and thanks to timroy for this link, we embarked on it and managed to make a decent one using ang pow packets. The tail is made of ribbon coz the ang pow paper is too stiff to curl to have that flowy effect.

Made a mistake for the body though - coz the flip side of the ang pow is white - so it didn't look nice - and I ended up spending some time covering up the whites. A lot of work using ang pows, coz gotta choose the design, gotta cut, paste, cut paste ah .. Ryan only helped in the beginning .. glueing, then he lose interest liao .. I was cursing away ... thinking I should have got the easy way out by just buying the deco instead. I think we started at 7pm and only finished by 10pm!! And yes, you really need to tone down that perfectionist side of you LOTS to keep your sanity.

But he's really one happy kid after seeing the completed dragon. That big grin on that kid's face as he hand-carried the dragon ..

like this all the way to school this morning - Priceless!

p/s : my dog was curious and she bit it early this morning . Siao liao! (I mean me panic and Ryan upset!) Luckily I managed to salvage it on time with lots of scotch-tape on the body ... and Ryan can't tell the diff *phew*

Ryan turned 5 yesterday on Christmas Day ... but guess what, he's nursing a fever and we were all stuck at home.

In fact, he's been having the fever since Saturday .. which was his birthday party at the Kidz Cafe at Jacob Ballas Children Garden.

It was what Ryan wanted, to have outdoor play, esp the water play, with his friends at the Childrens Garden. The party was to start from 9.30am to 12 pm and the plan was to get the usual party stuff - the games, food and cake cutting over and done with and then let the kids go into the Garden to have free and easy outdoor play.
He was bright and cheerful and full of anticipation when we made our way to the Garden pretty early in the morning. On the way, we also picked up his kindy classmate (his buddy buddy classmate) who's staying nearby coz his parents couldn't accompany him. Both of them were so excited and chatting non-stop ... And the weather was perfect to have outdoor play. In the beginning, he was still feeling ok, doing tattoo, playing balloons, monkeying around ... But shortly after the party started, even before all his guests have arrived, he started pronouncing he's really tired and wanting just to sit and lie down. We thought it was lack of sleep coz we had a BBQ the night before and he played and stayed up late due to excitement. My poor baby! Could see he was still trying his very best to 'tong' through the party when he did not participate in the games whatsoever ...



and barely survived cake-cutting ... We even had to lug back the goodies filled pinata. No choice, the rest of the party still have to go on ... So while the rest of his friends (about 16 - 18 of them) played in the Garden without him, he was resting in the car :(



Sigh .. how unfortunate can that be? We probably prayed too hard for fine weather but forgot about the most important thing :(

How disappointing ... well, at least he has all his presents to keep him happy and occupied at home. We still have Christmas Eve and his actual birthday on Christmas Day .. so we thought ... ( Read more... )

Lifted this from a flyer in the mailbox. Too bad Ryan is not a fan of Thomas.

Catch Thomas & Friends @ Ang Mo Kio Hub

Thomas Musical Meet & Greet
Dates : 7 - 16 Dec 07
Time : 1pm & 7pm (Tue - Fri)
Extra 4pm show on 14 Dec (Fri)
1pm , 4pm & 7pm (Sat & Sun)
Venue : B1, Exhibtion Hall (admission on 1st come 1st served basis. Limited seats per session)

Thomas Ride-On-Mini-Train *
Dates : 7 - 16 Dec 07
Spend $50** or more and enjoy an exciting joyride onboard Thomas himself!
Time : 1.30 pm - 8.30pm
Venue : Level 3

Thomas & Friends Fair
Dates : 1 - 16 Dec 2007
Toys, accessories, treats & more .. Spend $20** at the Fair and enjoy a train ride onboard Thomas.
Venue : B1, Exhibtion Hall

** Limited to 1st 250 paxs per day, max 2 paxs per redemption. Train schedule is subject to change/cancellation without prior notice. Other terms and conditions apply.
Check with B1, Information Counter for more information.

Row row row your boat
Gently down the shore
Merrily merrily ... life is ... (oops! forgot ... what is it?)

Guess where we were?




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Use the first letter of your name to answer each of the following. They have to be real places, names, and things. You CAN'T use your name for the boy/girl name. Nothing made up!

Your name: Rachel
Four words: Real, Relate, Revitalise, Remember
State/country: Russia
Boy Name: Raine
Girl Name: Renee
Occupation: Rabbi
Something you can wear: Ring
Something found in a kitchen: Rag
Something you shout: RYAN!
Something you do at school: Read
Name of an animal: Rabbit
Name of a drink: Ribena
Name a holiday: Rocky Mountain Canada
Name a body part: Rib

First try, 3 different single photos of us were submiited and it says looks more like Mummy .. Not surprising that's what most people say. Of all things, Ryan inherited my single eye-lid small eyes and flat nose .. *sigh*

Then on second try,


It says it looks like Daddy woh! Ha .. apparently, it depends on the photo submitted. The 2nd try is one single family photo where 3 of us were in it.
I'm hoping he will grow to look more like Daddy lor .. at least I think his Daddy has better features than me (higher nose bridge and slightly bigger eyes than mine and most importantly, near perfect vision!) Can hope or not?

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Well, as long as the kid enjoys ... I was telling Tenny, one more year of 'freedom' before being sucked into the mayhem of planning our holidays around the peak school holiday period .. *shudders*

Ryan contracted HFMD today (as assessed by the doctor). The thing is, we have to cancel our trip to Hong Kong scheduled to leave this Sunday (5 - 11 Aug)!
Our CX tix are already paid for and collected, the hotels are already booked! ( Read more... )

Ryan has been whining and crying as the ulcers in his throat is apparently causing him a lot of pain whenever he swallows, any advice?

I've recently gone for my annual mammography check-up on 12 June. Followed by Dr's consultation on the result last week (28 June) at the National Cancer Centre (NCC). ( Read more... )

Wah .. haven't been updating for a long time. I'm just plain plain lazy ... zzzZZZZZZ ....

Not me! My mummy!
Mummy speaking from now on : I was feeling rather nostalgic when I was commenting to mengchoo's & angeliatay's posts about how we started off in LJ and the friends we made through it, and also because of Mother's Day .. Was ploughing through soOoo many photos in cold storage that I have the impulse to want to post those old photos while they were babies. But I realise I am so 'backdated' in my updates and my photos are in a mess I tell you ... So gonna just use recent photos to lead me coz dun know where to start ... ( Read more... )

As some of you know, I am now with Mindchamps as a Licensed Education Advisor. How I've decided to join them, I'll share in another post ...

Basically, Mindchamps is a learning institute that specialises in equiping students with the right tools, powerful techniques and strategies to be applied in their learning/education journey into the 21st century and beyond. The concept is simple : Don't just tell your child what to learn (which is what school, academia, content, curriculum = information overload is all about) but teach him/her HOW to learn, and the desire to WANT to learn.

So together with world renowned neuro (brain) scientist Professor Allan Snyder (who pioneered the application of Fibre Optics to communication and IT), Mindchamps developed programmes (as in class lessons to be attended by your child) from Pre school (just launched last week!! See below) and Pr 1 to Tertiary levels that are scientifically researched to help your child with long term outcomes. In short, we have the science behind all our programmes (as in the lessons).

More about our NEW Pre-school program just launched - My Little Genius.
Briefly, it is a Parent-Toddler programme of 30 weeks, weekly session 2 hrs each.
They have both weekend (working parent) and weekday (SAHM) sessions.
Classes are available for 3-4 yo (N class), 5 yo (K1) and 6 yo (K2) .
The beauty of this programme is definitely the opportunity for the parent to attend the classes together with your child and learn the techniques and also bond with your child. To top that, we have a 3 hrs x 2 sessions of Parenting Strategies Workshops just for the parents.

We are having a complimentary preview (by invitation) for My Little Genius this Friday evening :
Date : 9 Mar (Fri)
Time : 7.30 pm
Venue : HDB Hub, East Wing, 17th Floor, 480 Toa Payoh Lor 6.

If you are interested to attend or any questions at all (or your friends, collegues, or relatives are interested - not just Little Genius, but programmes for other levels or other dates available), please feel free to contact me Rachel at 9739 7216. or email me at rachelw@mindchamps.org
I am quite excited about this, I'll be enrolling Ryan definitely ...

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My wisdom tooth is protesting big time ... no choice have to do something about it *URGH*! And it was like just 6 months ago I did a root canal and crown on my posterior molar!!
So I am supposed to be very lucky to get a scheduled appointment within a week ... Going thru the tedious procedure of polyclinic dental consultation and referal, then to Alexandra Hospital for another consultation and x-ray the next day, to finally a scheduled surgery in Alexandra Hospital this coming Fri morning. (this way I can claim from Medisave). Can't wait to get it over and done with! Then I'll have to live with swollen gums and some pain for a week i suppose? (cos if working, one would be given 5 days MC to recuperate). Which means missing yet another weekend's mega presentation at Mindchamps cos I never invite people to go mah ...Times like this, how I wish I am back on full-time employment and payroll.

Prudential Children First by Act 3 International
Mar 7 to 17, 2007
http://www.childrenfirst.com.sg:80/eb/eb.htm

... Anny, this is so cute!
I email it immediately to his daddy!

"http://www.elfyourself.com/?userid=cba57b52657db2a68dad9a1G06122200"

Here's wishing everybody "Have yourself a Merry Christmas and a Fabulous 2007!"

Festive cheers from the Laus : Ryan, Rachel, Tenny, Rocky, Tootie and Junior :)

Public Announcement

Calling all Vitakids fans!

Vitakids products can now be found at Watsons in Compass Point Sengkang!
Their shelf space is located near where Watsons in-house pharmacy is.
If you are Vitakids member and produce your membership card, you can get the same discounts too!
They may not have the full range of products there though .. It's a trial thingy to place their products there ..
so hopefully they have enough demand there to make it permanent.
So go tell your friends and spread the word around.

Inspired by Angeline's longlongbus and Carine's comments about our boys spotting new haircuts, here's the new hairstyle that Ryan has. Cool or not?

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Then it's off to Jubilee Hall for the Hungry Caterpillar show. Gals, it was great meeting all of you again - it's been a long time .. Very soon, most will be joining the ranks of mother of 2, or 3 club! Yay!