What's Up Weekend?

Just like everybody else, I look forward to every weekend. Not that I always have special arrangements but I just love the slower pace, sleep in a little bit and most importantly spending family quality time. I have been missing most of these for at least 5-6 weeks now, working through weekends. I started to feel exhausted, stressed out and to a certain extend feeling lost. But, good thing that we had something came up last weekend and I decided to pull myself away and step back from work for a few days.

It all started on Friday morning, it was Charlotte's school's Sport's Day. Initially we didn't sign up because parents are required to present as the games need to be participated together with the child. Both Pat and I decided that we should take part so that Charlotte wouldn't miss out either. It was just a half a day event anyway.

The event started with a very grand opening, with "Negaraku", "Pulau Pinang" and lastly the school anthem of course. Games started shortly after the warm up and cheer practise.

It was quite a warm day and the sun was bright. Some kids started to get tired, some asked to be carried, as for Charlotte? She had a strong shoulder to rely on...

and the orange team was the winner!!! (Quick update, short summary because I have a lot to write...)

That concludes what we did on first half of Friday. We had to quickly head home and rest because we had plan for second half of the day...

Yes, the Pisces Cruise! This started from a show & tell that daddy started when we passed by Port Swettenham one evening and the Cruise was there. Charlotte immediately demanded to go aboard without knowing that we had to purchase a ticket. Daddy promised that he would take her to the ship one day.

Since we already took Friday first half off from work, we thought let's hit two birds with one stone. Charlotte was very excited and she expected a lot from the Cruise. But it was really just a one night cruise to nowhere, mostly for gambling on board. Anyway, it was just an experience since daddy had promised the little girl.

True enough, there wasn't many places to wonder for long. Very soon we ran out of idea of what to do, plus we were with Pat's parents and a child, gambling was the only game that would last for hours and only Pat was interested in it. We spent some time at sunset launch, which there was a stage game going on. We were daring Charlotte to participate in the game and she said no, which was very predictable. What we didn't know was, secretly she was preparing herself for it. She observed the first round of the game and probably thought she was able to handle it and she requested to go up to the stage and participate! We were all very doubtful of it but Pat accompanied her anyway. It was a simple game, but required quick response. Charlotte was the youngest participant among all, and obviously everybody was paying attention to her. Every time she answered, the floor cheered for her, and she answered correctly, didn't disappoint her supporters. She actually out beat some adults and won the game!!

I have to say that was the only highlight for the cruise experience. Charlotte enjoyed the game, and the TV in the room the most (LOL).

I wanted to take some sun rise pictures but when I gotten the permission from Charlotte to get out to the deck the next morning it was already too late :(

The ship docked the next morning. It was difficult to make the little girl understand that the cruise experience had ended. To her, it was ended as soon as she woke up from her sleep! I'm sorry dear, we'll see if we can make another cruise experience next time, a better and longer one :)

Our weekend marathon continued. Charlotte was invited to 2 birthday parties. One was on Saturday night, she cousin Kim turned 15 and another one was on Sunday morning, her friend Ching Ern turned 4!

Ching Ern's mommy is one of those that I think has the best planning skill. She planned her son Sean's birthday back in Feb this year was a total thrilled and set high expectations of how-to-have-a-great-toddler-birthday-party standard. Those who got invited could not expect but only to be surprised!

It was a "Princess Party" theme and it was a fail proof theme for the girls (actually only girls were invited, sorry to the princes and kings). We went to the party with A present but came home with a BAG of goodies!

Host first made a "Royal Briefing" and then the Princess Party was officially started! 

And the girls were magically transformed to princesses!

I tell ya, the "satisfaction" on their face and the wowing were non stop as Wooi Sin pulled out her plan one after another. They had princesses dress up, find the Cinderella's lost slipper, the royal treasure hunt, princesses bubble popping and etc...You'll be so envy if you don't have a daughter (sorry, no offence) 

The girls had so much fun that they thought it was their respective birthday. They sang the birthday song together, cut the birthday cake together and open the presents together (well most of them opened up the present for Ching Ern)!

This was up till Sunday noon. What we did on the second half? Actually I was already in the wind down mood, thinking of the beginning of a working week come next day. However, Pat on the other hand had slept for almost all day after the world cup final. He was all charged and ready to go and he excited Charlotte by telling her about going to park!

Nothing extraordinary to blog about but both Charlotte and myself were having fun exploring the jumping fun and I was surprised to see how high she could jump these days!

We did all of these in one weekend, unbelieveable isn't it? Not all were planned but it all turned out well. We had so much fun together.   

She's A Great Kid!

While most parents had some sort of getaway with their children during the 2 weeks school holiday, Charlotte was with my parents, and at home at all time. I was very busy at work and practically did not see daylight (except during lunch), and Pat was on business travel. Everyday, Charlotte woke up without me, and she waited for me to come home to tell me what she did and what happened during the day. Sometimes I was way too tired and fell asleep while she was telling the story and she would tell me "妈妈, 昨天你已经睡了可是我还没有说完" then she continued "没关系, 因为我知道你累了". That made me feel even worse and I promised that I will listen until she finishes the story that day but then I fell asleep again without me knowing it.

I felt very sorry and the guilt kicks in everyday. However, I was glad that she was very well taken care of, she ate well, learnt many things that I was not expecting her to know or pick up, and most importantly she was happy when I got home every night.

She is a great kid and I am very proud of her. She carries good manners, show respect to people, thoughtful and very kind hearted. One night, when she was telling the story, she asked me if I noticed grandma's hand. I said no and asked why? She said grandma burnt her hand when she was cooking and she asked me to buy cream for grandma tomorrow.

Last Wednesday night, I told her that the next day will be grandma's birthday and I asked her what she want to prepare for that occasion. She suggested that we give grandma a surprise, and get her a cake! Well, to me that's very easy to do. I got the cake after work (I left office early that day) and when I was home my mom showed me the birthday card that Charlotte made for her, from scratch! My mom said she asked for a piece of white paper and color pencils in the morning and my mom had no idea what she was up to. Charlotte drew a wonderful picture, and she wrote "I LUV U AMA", "I GIF U PRASEN", "HAPPY BUFDAY AMA". My mom had no idea what she wrote but I was laughing with my tears running in my eyes when I read it (forgot to take a picture of that card). It was a very colorful card and she even made an colorful envelope to put the card inside! She told my mom to put the card under the Christmas tree, I think she got confused with Christmas somehow *LOL* My mom was very happy with a small celebration we had at home, and a small gift that I bought for her but I couldn't take her out for a treat because I had to attend a night conference call.

I can see how sensitive and thoughtful Charlotte is, and I am very proud of her for having good manners, gentle and very understanding. I want to encourage her good behaviour and also to keep her happy while I am trying to get my busy work schedule worked out.

Yup, we took her for her 3rd movie! We know Charlotte could relate Toy Story Part 3 very well as she watched part 1 and part 2 since 2 years old, and still watching! I personally like part 3 more than the 2 episodes before because it has a very good story line and moral value too. I also got her...

A talking Jessie! you should see her big grin when I bring the box home today. She was thrilled!!

It is tough to be a working mom, isn't it? Trying to keep everybody happy, both at work and at home. My turn? Soon! ;)

It's Water Time!

We initially thought of utilizing the 2 hours free redemption at the Lil Rock Kids Club the 3rd day, but as I said earlier we usually take the "let's see what happens..." approach and it turned out that we had something else, something that was rather exciting!

This picture was taken at breakfast, the table we had was over looking the swimming pool. It was spectacular!

After breakfast, we headed to the photo shooting service room to claim our free shot at the Hard Rock Hotel trade mark and this time, thank God that Charlotte was cooperative enough and we have a nice family picture :)

We then went to the tourists information service at the hotel to find out interesting places that fits us. We were told about several but we chose the Turtle Island since we could also try some water activities while we were there.

So we were set towards the water but the water was rough, strong wind, see it on the back ground of this picture.

I pictured the Turtle Island as something real, open, and free but I was kind of disappointed when I saw it has an entrance, and things are "compartmentalized" but still, Charlotte enjoyed it and had a great time.  

The tour around the Turtle Island was probably only took us like ~30min. On our way back, Pat decided to go for a little snorkeling although we've been warned that the weather was not too good, it was high tide and probably see nothing. True enough, the boat we were in was had glass bottom so that Charlotte and I can stay on the boat and view the corals while Pat went for snorkeling. Unfortunately, nothing was to be seen and Charlotte was quite disappointed.

The boatman was kind enough that he went under water and brought up a surprise for Charlotte...

A huge star fish!!!

I was just very grateful to him that he just helped me to sustain a happy kid while was daddy still looking for mermaids in the water...

Free & Easy

We hardly have a trip itinerary for a vacation like this. This is simply because we do not want to stress out because of itinerary that we need to complete or spots that we need to cover. We just go with the flow and take it easy. It is especially so when we bring Charlotte along. The "flow" is usually determined by our princess.

The first thing we did the next morning was to swim and spend some time at the very beautiful and huge swimming pool at the hotel. It has a man made, white sand "island" in the middle of the pool which we saw families with young children playing beach set there, and later a group of folks setting up for volley ball game. I'm not sure if calling it a "pool" is appropriate because the area the water covers is huge! Anyway, we spent a long time in the pool ourselves and Charlotte was complaining of muscle ache the next day, but she enjoyed it!  

  

Then it was more photo time and I was intended to take a few nice shots of the Hard Rock signature guitar but my princess wasn't very cooperative. So, here it the best shot I have with Charlotte, couldn't even make it to the signature signboard. 

I saw the horse drawn carriage lining up by the road site as we were approaching the hotel the evening before. I told Pat that Charlotte would be thrilled to have a ride but we didn't tell it to her as we were not sure if the service will be there around the clock or if it is too expensive. We headed out from the hotel after the photo shooting and looked for the carriage. I think we made her Cinderella dream came true (but of course the carriage was not as exclusive as the one in the movie la).

And then daddy scheduled a massage session and I sent Charlotte to the Lil Rock Kids Club. I wasn't very sure if Charlotte was willing to join in without me so I didn't plan to have a massage like Pat. But Charlotte was very happy when she found out that they were going to have "Kids Kitchen" and they were making pizza! She happily waved goodbye to me and I had a short while to go for a shopping spree! I walked around, up and under, but nothing attracted my attention. Seriously, what is there to buy in Bali? I came back to the hotel with a bottle of mineral water, so pathetic *slap forehead*

The beach was unbelievably crowded, the wave was high and obviously there was many surfers riding the wave. We hang around for a little bit and then we left for dinner.  

It was a very beautiful day and we had it free and easy, just the way we wanted.

Bali Getaway!

Five years ago, Pat and I went to Bali for the first time and I was about 6 weeks pregnant with Charlotte. I didn't enjoy that trip although I didn't suffer from morning sickness but I was feeling dizzy all the time. We didn't cover many famous tourism spots either. My memory of Bali was just the Hilton Hotel and taxi.

We took Charlotte along this trip and we were explaining to Charlotte that she was in my tummy when we were here  five years ago. Somehow, she's always quite happy when I told her she was once in my tummy :) This time we stayed at the Hard Rock Hotel. We touched down on Thursday night and we quickly checked ourselves in at the hotel and also had dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe since it was rather late already. Then of course, it's picture time! Here are a few shots of the pool view at night.

 

Charlotte was getting tired shortly after, so we decided to head back to the room and call it a night. However, as we were passing by the live rock performance at the Centerstage and Charlotte was attracted to the performance (so did we) and we decided to hang around since it wasn't too pack on a week night. 

Charlotte requested to take the seat at the bar counter as she saw a few other children were there. Pat and I choose to sit at a table further to the back in order to get a better view of the rock band performance. I was amused to see her moved, clapped, cheered for the rock band and also made friends with other children. Initially, four of them were seated at the bar with just one popcorn serving. We saw Charlotte making small talks with the rest and they shared the popcorn with her (I guess she must be asking for the popcorn from them). After awhile, they took out another 3 popcorn servings so each of them had one to themselves. See how much the children enjoying the party...

By the way, we went back to the Centerstage on Saturday night and it was so packed that we couldn't even find a seat! Also, it was too smoky and noisy for Charlotte to hang around. So good thing that we had some nice time earlier. The band was really good!

One bonus service that we were quite happy to find out was that they have the Lil Rock Kids Club at the hotel, that we were able to spend some time on our own like having Spa or some outdoor activities while someone to look after the kids and they could still have fun. We get to redeem for 2 hours service at Lil Rock Kids Clud or it is charged at 25,000Rp/hour (RM10).

Our Bali getaway hence started...

Food

I blogged about how picky Charlotte was as a young eater, it took a lot of creativity and patience to make her eat and drink (milk). Good food, healthy food, junk food, snacks, deserts almost nothing attracted her back then. I know many parents have to stop or restrain their kids when comes to the famous McD french fries, but Charlotte would just stop after couple of bites. Same goes for ice-cream, what do you think when you talk about vege, protein and bla bla bla...?

But, she is a much much better eater now. Her school serves vegetarian food everyday, and she is eating like a pro but of course she still tells me "I don't want vege" at home sometimes. Well, I think that's normal for kids. Her school is campaigning vegetarian month for the month of May. The idea is to educate people about "no meat, no slaughtering". They are having various program teaching the students about vegetarian food, bringing to them to the wet market, show & tell, and offering food packs. We were told to feel free to order dinner packs for our family for the entire month of May, and it is FOC! They are also offering lunch packs for weekends. This is the extra miles they go to encourage people to believe in no meat, no slaughtering.

I order 2 dinner packs for weekdays (I don't have to cook dinner for the entire month, yay!). It has been 2+ weeks and I have to say the dinner packs are very good. Everyone in the family loves it!

Without us realizing it, we have been doing something quite routinely lately. When Pat is home early and I don't have night meeting we usually head out to Baskin Robbins for some sweet treats. Last night we did it again. Charlotte and I usually share a 2-scoop sundae and Pat has one to himself. Last night, Charlotte chose Orange Sherbet and I chose Manga Tango. She told me "Mommy, you eat yours and I eat mine". I didn't quite understand what she was trying to say and so she went on "you cannot eat mine la!" *LOL*

母亲节

几个星期前, 在回家的途中听车里见收音机播放的一首歌心里忽然有一种莫名的感触. 那首歌叫"太委屈", 描述的是谈恋爱的种种心情. 可是我的感触却和恋爱无关.

不晓得从什么开始, 己经不再要求别人的嘘寒问暖, 反儿负起了"照顾"这个责任; 也不晓得什么开始, 从一个对厨房, 家务事一窍不通的我变成了家里的总经理, 包办了家里大大小小, 上上下下所有的事务. 从父母的千金到为人 妻, 为人母, 加上身为职业女性, 肩膀上的负担和精神上的压力不时都把我压得喘不过气. 自己有时也觉得很无助, 很委屈. 丈夫虽然也有他的付出, 但男女还是不平等的. 彼此的责任毕竟还是有差. 以前是"男主外,女主内", 现在, 女生大都"内外双兼".

很多时候 我都沉不住气向妈妈诉苦, 有时是无意, 有时是无奈, 但是诉苦后看见妈妈的心疼我更是后悔了. 常常就和几个要好的朋友透气, 埋怨, 发泄, 同时也互相聆听, 心中的不平衡也幸好有她们才没有变得极端. 大家也觉得现代的女性特别的难做, 可是我们也因此变特别的坚强, 能干. 最重要的是我们也更爱我们的妈妈, 更体谅妈妈, 更清楚何谓"世上只有妈妈好". 也从中彼此鼓励, 以走得更长远. 我常常心里在想, 如果没有了妈妈, 没有了朋友, 那就更委屈了.

一日为母, 终生劳碌. 无论是家里琐琐碎碎的实务还是上上下下的起居饮食妈妈没有一天放轻松. 就算儿女长大, 成家立业, 到后来多半还是奶奶或婆婆来帮忙带小孩. 妈妈对儿女的爱是没有条件和没有止境的, 但儿女对妈妈(父母)的爱却很容易被取代. 有没有人想过为甚么当我们带一个刚学着走路的小孩是满满的爱心与鼓励, 但当手扶这一个年老, 走起路来不方便的人却是个负担? 为甚么我们教导小孩都讲究技巧和心理学, 但为甚么面对年老, 脑力衰退的却是满肚子的牢骚?



母亲节的意义是否每一个做孩子的都明白? 我也是当上了妈妈才真正的了解做母亲的牺牲和付出. 不要应为庆祝而庆祝, 总要存感恩, 要知道"树欲静而风不止, 子欲养而亲不在"的道理.

祝天下的妈妈们 "母亲节" 快乐!

Good Workout

We spent a very long and good time at the park last weekend and Charlotte surprised me by how much she has grown and so much more adventures then I knew. 

After the exercise with her scooter and bicycle, as usual we moved on to the playground. She used to be very conscious, she needed help on the slide, and swing. But this round all she interested was the climbing and we were surprised to see how strong her upper body is as she showed us the moves.

She must had a very good workout that evening, she ate quite a big portion at dinner! 

Amazing!

A couple of weeks back, while I was busy doing ironing and laundry Charlotte found "new" treasures in her "old" toy storage boxes and she was actually quite fascinated with some of those (make mental note: to save money, maybe I should just dig out the old toys once in awhile).

I didn't really pay attention to what she was doing but I knew she was playing on this learning board and it was actually very noisy initially but the noise went unnoticed as I tried to get the laundry done. When I was finally sat down at night, she brought out the learning board and said "mommy, listen..."



This is a replay that I took yesterday. WOW! How amazing was that! I never taught her to play like this before and to be honest I had never touch my piano myself for ages! I also did not teach her the "Do Re Mi" and I have no idea how she could play that all by her "trial & error" in such a short time. She then sang the tune with the Do Re Mi too.

Another treasure she found was the harmonica. It was the one from attending the Kindermusik earlier. She insisted to bring it along when we went out for dinner over the weekend. I thought it was a bad idea because it was going to be very noisy and probably disturbing other guests at the restaurant. But I was wrong!! The harmonica has only 1 octive and as we were at the restaurant I taught her the same song just to avoid her making other people feeling annoyed. This is the result...



This is also a replay, she was trying to be funny when I told her that I want to capture that in a video. I never thought she could figure out the blow & suck sequence of a harmonica over a meal!

Whether it was just a coincidence or she has that little bit more than just interest, I am signing her up at Yamaha officially. Hopefully this goes a long way.

A Promise Is To Keep

It has been a long and busy 2.5 weeks. Actually, I was only away from home for 1 week but it takes longer than I expected it to be to clear the work backlogs.

While I was away, daddy made a promise to Charlotte that he would take her to horse riding one day. I don't know where and how this idea came about until one night Charlotte was reading her bedtime story book. There it was!

The same evening I touched down the airport, we headed to the north side of the island and daddy kept his promise!

However, come next Monday I had trouble getting Charlotte to school. She felt like she didn't have enough time with me and that separation anxiety kicked in again. It was a difficult week, every morning I had to deal with a crying pre-schooler. I tried to distract her with treats and play after school but it just didn't go very far.

One night, it was just me and her as daddy was still busy at work. I had a very close heart to heart talk with her. I told her that she made me very sad that every morning I had to leave her crying and drag myself to work. She didn't understand why initially but I pointed out to her with some examples and she finally agrees that she would feel the same way too if it is mommy that cries. I then told her that I kept all my promises to her, she asked for early picked up and I did, she asked for Crayola Finger Paint Book and I got her one from my trip, she asked for a new princess crown (I broke the previous one) and I bought her a very nice from from my trip too, plus many extras but I told her that she didn't keep her only promise to me. She kept quiet.

The next morning, she whined but not as much and I thought oh well, all that talk last night didn't work out. As I was dropping her off in front of the school, she said "mommy, I don't want to cry but please come pick me up at 4pm!". I thought that was an improvement alright. I wasn't plan to pick her up at 4pm because she asks for that everyday anyway. But then I considered it again, maybe I should because we talked about promises the night before and she was trying to keep her promise! So I took 2nd half off from work and went to pick her up at 4pm. When she saw me coming, she was really really happy. I pointed at the clock to her and told that I am keeping my promise again. I also told her that there will not be any more 4pm pick up after today and she has to keep her promise and do her part.

So far, the "promise" episode works out well. Let's hope for it to go far as I will have a very busy work schedule starting end Apr :(

On The Move, Again

This is my 3rd time leaving home for a business trip since Dec last year and I got very very worried that Charlotte might have a tough time to accept it. I planned very carefully of how and when to break the news to her. Thankfully she accepted the fact, although with some tough negotiations and treats.

Last Sunday, while putting her to afternoon nap I asked her if she wanted to go visit 外婆 (maternal grandma). She asked me why, and I said because 外婆 is my mother and I missed her since it has been almost 2 weeks since I last visited her. Immediately she broke down in tears and I knew I had said something wrong, or rather sensitive. I pretended that I didn't understand what has caused her to cry and she said "because when you go to China I will miss you too mommy!"

Lotte Oh Lotte!

Cool Weekend

Back dated post.

The weather has been at a constant high of 37oC, sometimes higher for more than a month now. Air conds in the house are all turned on the moment we got home, everyday. Sometimes I showered more than 3 times in a day just to feel nice and cool.

A couple of weeks back, we made an impromptu decision for a weekend get away, a get away from the busy schedule and a get away from the heat too. We decided to go to Cameron Highlands for a nice and cool 3D/2N stay. I happened to discuss this plan with Ann and casually invited her to join us as I was sure Charlotte and Chloe would be thrilled to go on a trip together. Things happened very quickly and off we go! 2 families, 4 adults plus 2 children.

We did not plan any specific agenda, no schedules to follow or places that we need or must cover. It was a very relax, free and easy. The kids enjoyed it very much and the adults too had very good catch up.

Arrived at EQ Cameron Highlands

Exploring cactus
Tea plantations

The girls were making funny faces every time we wanted to take a picture
Can you tell how much fun they were having?

Strawberries!! All of us!

We were supposed to head home after the trip but we detoured to KL for another great celebration!

What Was Mummy Up To When You Were Sleeping?

I've gotten myself into the wall sticker heat since Dec last year but all I did was just browsing the catalogs online, admiring the beautiful creations some folks put up on their walls, didn't have the courage to do it on mine as I know I'm not much of an artistic person.

A while back, I happened to bump into a small kiosk at one of the malls here in Penang. I spent almost 45min at that store browsing, asking questions, and choosing...I didn't know what I want or what I need, but I want to try one. So I finally bought a roll from that store.

That roll of wall sticker had been sitting in my drawer for many weeks now and although I always remember that I have to put it up I couldn't find the time to do it. Last night, I sneaked out from the bedroom around 10pm, leaving my sleeping princess and I went on with my little project.

I carefully took out the wall stickers, and I worked on it. In between, Charlotte woke up, I went back to the bedroom and came downstairs again to continue. Pat came home while I was maybe just 40% done but I continued. I knew that I had to get it done once I have started it because I don't want pieces of work lying around on the floor and I don't like half done work...

After 2.5 hours...

It looked simple, but it was kind of challenging to put it together...it could be easier if I have some helping hands.

Charlotte woke up the next morning, thrilled to see it and Pat also gave a satisfying smile. Charlotte is now ordering me to put more nice designs here and there.

Self Entertained...

I was very busy with work related stuff this evening and I did not have time to keep Charlotte companied. So I gave her a piece of paper and she started to "work" on it. It was a rather long and quiet moment. When I finally finished with my work I walked over to her desk and saw this...




She did the spelling on her own, I corrected her on "abang" which she wrote "BANG". I recognize the flowers that she drew but I asked her what is that little mountain thingy, she said those are crowns, and the 2 objects right on top of her name are "birds" (LOL)!

The LEE!

Such sweet and wonderful blessing we have!

Have A Tiggerific New Year!

I had forgotten how I used to celebrate Chinese new year after I gave birth to Charlotte. I felt each new year celebration was so stressful and tiring because of taking care of a baby. It was too many people in the house, too warm, too noisy, too sleepy...while everybody was getting the bit of reunion, I was in the room feeding, milk pumping or putting the baby to bed. But this year I have enjoyed the new year celebration, reunion to every bit of it, and Charlotte is able to mix with her cousins and played too.

Charlotte's school gave out a task to all the children and have them to complete during CNY. Everyone of them is taking back a 福慧娃娃, it is a handmade donation paper box that the children are asked to collect donation from their relatives while they are receiving the "ang pow". The donation is for the Haiti victims and the kid has to explain to the adults of what is the purpose of that box. They are also asked to sing a song after people had donated. The lyric says:

福慧娃娃来到门前
合十感恩祝福连连
有钱出钱有力出力
善念齐聚送爱到海地

Charlotte took this task very seriously and she began her responsibility on the new year's eve. She brought the paper box to her grandparents' house and everybody she met she didn't forget to ask for the donation.

We think this is a very effective way to collect donation, we only hope that the authority will truly hand over the total collected amount to the victim and don't disappoint the children whom put in so much effort in carry out their responsibility.

I was surprised to know how daring Charlotte was when it was time for fireworks. As usual, Pat and his other brothers and sisters bought some for the kids to play. Charlotte enjoyed the "pop pop" and also the sparklers this year and she even dare to light it herself!

Trust me, there were so many pairs of eyes watching her when she was doing all these.


Not only that, Charlotte started "something" new this year...Guess what?

Her bedtime was stretched from 9.30pm to 1.30am over the past few days! I gotta put her back on the routine now, otherwise I will have big problem when school starts next week.

Happy Chinese New Year Everyone! Gong Xi Gong Xi!