Homeschooling….Letter H..hhhhhh

Holidays had been play for most time. Abel had great fun with his train set and always finding innovative ways to involve his toys. Now his train can transport a ball and next it can transform to a plane. Otherwise, he changes his track to a rollercoaster by using one of the carriages to raise one end of the track.

We had stopped for some time with our alphabet and we were back to H.

Some songs we sang:

Hairy Hat man whispers "hhh",
whispers "hhh", whispers "hhh"
Hairy Hat man whispers "hhh"
He never talks too loud

With Christ in the vessel we can smile at the storm
Smile at the storm, smile at the storm,
With Christ in the vessel we can smile at the storm
As we go sailing HOME
Sailing, Sailing, HOME (x2)
With Christ in the vessel we can smile at the storm
As we go sailing HOME

Simple craft collage to make different type of homes…house and a flat…

 Keziah's piece...

 Abel's piece...

We also explored some memory games with our old flashcards and surprise our boy can remember a sequence of 5 animals and Keziah can do 7 quite easily. We also tried to find out where some of these animals stayed.

Finding our heart and punching holes and threading…our little Keziah wrote her little love note..

 

For Keziah we did this count in 5s catepillar to help her with counting in fives as a prelude to her learning to read the analogue clock beyond the hour and half hour.

Cooking for a week

Cooking is never easy when you want minimal preparation time but best output. This holidays was the most cooked food time when we had almost 4 days of homecooked meals.

Monday: Just simple marconi chicken soup.

Tuesday: Mommy tried some instant sauces such as Japanese Curry. Yes, it's mild enough for the kids. Sauces all prepared and all we had to do was to fry some mince meat and mixed vegetable to add in more nutrients to the meal. Easy to go together with rice.


Wednesday: Little more elaborate with Shepherd's pie. Though it's just 1 dish to bake but the preparation time was more challenging than expected. It took Mommy almost 2 hours with all the cutting, frying and mashing of potatoes to get this dish. We tried a mix of red, purple and yellow potatoes and the kids seemed to like the purple potatoes quite a bit.


Thursday: Clearing stock from the fridge with pork rib and vegetable soup and a dish of sweetpeas fried with mushroom.

Conclusion: Mommy's too ambitious with trying to cook meals. Cooking is definitely more tiring when you have to do the cleaning up after and playing with 2 little ones! We might just have to have tingkat when no. 3 arrives if Mommy were to have sanity of mind to spend time with 3 kids.

Rock Climbing

The holidays had been busier than ever for Mommy with the kids. It's packed with activities and this was really the finale of the week. Thanks to Aunt Nat's invitation, we joined their regular group of friends for the kids to rock climb. The kids were all harnessed and really to start their climb.

 Of course not without a proper briefing by the trainers.

 Abel was having his own fun time roaming around and getting his hands exposed to some tactile simulation.

 All the kids were excited to give a try and they all did really well.

Keziah had her turn too but she was just a little sticky and whiney for the day. Not sure if it's the fear of trying new things or fear of heights or simply just because she didn't get a proper night. Mommy was really at her wits trying to get her to attempt the wall on one hand and trying to capture pictures of her first experience coz otherwise there will be no records of her first attempt. It was nice that Uncle Chris came to give some hand in encouraging her and a few little ones like Cheryl and Zinnia. After all, everyone else was focussing on their own kids and friends' kids.

 Next the kids had the chance of bouldering. There were some games to lighten things up.

 Definitely Keziah and Abel enjoyed this part more. Without the restraint of ropes!

 The happy faces of all the little ones...

 We stopped by City Square Mall for a meal and caught sight of candy making.

Durians...

The kids loved it! Little of what we expect as previously they would just take a bite and run off.

Ear rings...

Keziah had been bugging Mommy to have her ear pierced as she wanted to have ear rings on. We weren't expecting it as she was afraid of the pain that we had once told her previously. However, this time she was adamant she had hers. Nonetheless, as sure as said, she felt the pain! Must say she was a brave girl and stopped after a few sobs.

GingerbreadMan

This was one fairy tale that we had been reading for some time. The kids were really excited as we headed off for an early show!

The kids were so caught up by the catchy rhyme and the characters…Even Abel was so glued to his seat throughout the entire 1 hour show.
"Run, run, as fast as you can,
You cannot catch me, I am the gingerbreadman!"

Bottletree Park

We met up with a few churchmates today for the kids to have some fishing experience together. The kids were early and they were happily skipping on the rocks on the pond while waiting for the rest to arrive.

It was definitely not easy to be as fast as the fish but all of them were ready to get their hands on one.

Keziah caught a few of her own and became quite an expert after awhile. Mommy forgot to take a picture of the catch. In total we had 9 fish that we brought home from this trip. Sadly, they all didn't survive for more than a day.

Disney on Ice!

Yes, it's back but we're not going for the show. However, we did take opportunity of free encounters with the characters at Square 2.

First came McQueen….Abel's favourite!

Then came Mickey and Minnie. We just happen to chance upon them and the opportunity to have a free photography session!

Churchmates from of old...

It's been ages since Daddy caught up with his pals from his youth days…..

ABel's craft from kindi

I like this!

More drawings...

Keziah did this at her kindi and we thought it was really lovely.

 The latest drawing of hers. Hmm…not sure where she learnt to draw her elephants but notice now there are 5 members?

Our new friends...

Haven't had the time to introduce these new fellows. We got them just before Chinese New Year as there were only 3 resident fish left from when we first started our tank. The kids just loved them!

A simple birthday...

Card from dear Keziah and my favourite durian cake!
Dear Daddy actually got me something…heehee…see anything new on me?
Though I'm still waiting for a good meal, guess it will be till the bug is rid in the family.

Chingay

Chingay floats were coming into the heartland and we decided to bring the kids to have a look.

Central was bustling with activities. There's a concert but seriously not for kids. We were down at about 8 pm but the floats didn't turn up till close to 9ish.

Meanwhile we watched the lion dance and the dragon dance with fiery fire shows. We were just round the barricade so the kids got a real good view.

Chingay Dragon dance from Joan on Vimeo.

However, our little man didn't quite have much courage to face the loud sounds.

Not to mention what happened when the highlight of the concert appeared - the longest firecracker dragon. Though Abel was wailing away, Keziah was surprisingly calm and enjoyed every bit of it. However, the firecrackers were really explosive with dust and smoke clouding the place that we had to move her out.


Chingay Firecracker dragon from Joan on Vimeo.


The long wait for the floats finally was rewarded with the arrival. The kids' first encounters with floats!

My 3 valentines!

Daddy really gave a surprise! One from each of my darlings!

Praying each day is such...

Some days Mommy just felt so tired and just pray the kids would quiet on their own. This day, Daddy was late and Mommy just wanted to catch a shower to freshen up. Surprisingly, guess what they were caught doing?

 

Keziah was enjoying her drawing. She's really starting to draw! A family of giraffes..

 

A family of rabbits!

Our boy was not running all over the place or playing with his trains but doing his puzzles. It's just so interesting to watch how he fits his puzzles now. Picking a piece and try and if not, try another! Less whiney...

Wish everyday could be like that!

Zoo in Festive Moods

The zoo brought in new rabbits to join us celebrate the new year! The rabbits were really huge! These Giant Flemish flew in from USA just for CNY but they are staying and of course, there were others.

We caught sight of many interesting things..one of which was the sloth and her baby. These creatures are the slowest in the world but they co-exist with these fruit bats competing for fruits.

 Nothing much for dinner on 2nd day of Chinese New so it's home delivery!

CNY

It's the time of the year again! The kids were just so happy in their new clothes..

 Abel and his little cousin…Oh so sweet...

 More play while we wait for others to come along...

 Funny faces!

CNY craft from school...

Simple yet lovely...