Inter School Robotic Competition

A few months ago TJ took part in his school robotic competition. This round, he finally got the chance to represent his school in the inter school competition (Selangor State)! Being a robotic fan, it was a great challenge and wonderful opportunity for him.

A few days before the UPSR exam, my son was still spending many hours in school preparing for the robotic competition. My hubby and I both felt that even though UPSR is important, being able to represent school in the robotic competition would be equally significant to him. After all, life is not only about academic achievement!

Even though luck was not really on their side as their PC hang twice during the programming stage, they still tried their very best and managed to bring home a consolation prize. Son, mommy is proud of you!

I Have A Date With Spring 我和春天有个约会, etc

I watched "I Have A Date With Spring" （我和春天有个约会）on last Sat. It's a  very wonderful performance by our local talents.  I enjoy those oldies very much and can't wait to bring mom and dad for the performance on next sunday. (The last day of the performance!)

My updated list:

1) Phantom of the Opera (New York) -  the first broadway I've ever watched 

2) Les Miserables (New York) - somehow i was pretty tired on that day and can't really remember much

3) The Cats (New York) - i was mesmerized by "Memory" 

4) Blue Men Show (New York) ... Off Broadway, very interesting indeed 

5) Moulin Rouge (Paris) ...those dancers have fantastic dancing skills...and figure 

6) Madam Butterfly (Sunway, KL) ... I enjoyed the poetic lyrics 

7) River Dance (Bukit Jalil Stadium) ...should have brought a binocular, my seat was too far from stage. The acoustic was bad. 

8) Tosca (KL) 

9) The Sound of Music (KL) 

10) My Fair Lady (KL) 

11) Mama Mia (KL) - great but regretted to watch the movie before the stage performance 

12) Puteri Gunung Ledang (KL) -  impressed by our local production! 

13) 文成公主(KL) ﹣somehow I can't really appreciate those songs. 

14) Emily of the Emerald Hill by Pearly Chua (KL) - impressed by our local production! 

15)蔡琴演唱會 (KL & Genting). She's my favorite singer 

16)A stand up comedy in Actor Studio. 2 comedians poking jokes on our politicians, keeping audience in stitches   

17) Prince Siddartha at Istana Budaya. I like the stage prop. 

18） "I Have A Date With Spring" 我和春天有个约会 (KLPAC) - impressed by our local production! 
** 19) Something unique : Water Puppet show in Vietnam 

With my kids, I've watched: 

1) Barney & Friends (my kids have outgrown that purple dinosaur) 

2) Disney on Ice (a few times...) 

3) 哎呀呀大任务 (The Actor Studio, KL) ...very interesting show for kids - impressed by our local production! 

4) Mad Science (The Actor Studio, KL) ... learning science the fun (or weird) way?

With Juin when he's young... 

We attended a few performances in KLCC Philharmonic Hall (a year of Family Fun Day Concert Package) . My favourites are the ochestra performance accompanying "Snow Man" and "Charlie Chaplin" films. 

Being a fan of stage performance, my list is definitely growing... I wish to watch 杜蘭朵by張藝謀 but I wonder whether it'll ever come to Malaysia.

Sweet memories

I started writing blogs in 2006 (the previous Yahoo 360) but it closed down a few months ago. I managed to save my data before it's all gone. Those are precious memories and I'll soon print out a set of hardcopy (about 500 pages).

My kids love to read my old blog. It's a special "digital time machine" for them to go back to the early years of their childhood.

The following are some of my favourite pictures with the captions I wrote at that time.

Is it fun to have three pairs of twins? Tian Juin names them the "Evil Twins"...no fun for the mom. (2006)

The mischievous Tian Zi (2006)

Tian Huey drawing a portrait of her little sister. (2006)

Having a good time "camping" inside Juin's room. (2006)

How is it like to be the only boy around? (2006)

Tian Huey's lantern was selected by her teacher to participate in the competition. We're going to attend the mooncake festival cum the competition result announcement (tomorrow evening). (2006)

Tian Zi the SUPER cooperative MODEL!! (2007)

My girls are smiling at each other after receiving their prizes (TH won the consolation prize and Tian Zi's the Second runner-up). Thanks to their Xiao Gu for giving them the beautiful Korean dress.(2007)

I asked TZ who she "wished to" to pass it to.

"Ko Ko," she replied.(She chose her brother as victim. Didn't dare to offend her sister? Man is more forgiving?) (2007) (note: she passed the virus to both! How fair!!)

Daddy is always there to support his little girl. (2007)

My girls and their cousins Jing Ya & Jing Xuan decorated the tree happily. To add to the excitement, I let them draw lots to see who could be the one to LIGHT UP the tree.(2007)

I saw a lovely shadow on the wall this morning when I was looking up the staircase. It's Tian Zi with her bolster. (2007)

Tian Zi's grandma is giving her a haircut...(2008)

Few days ago I woke up early and spotted my hubby sewing my daughter's belt at 6:30 in the morning. How wonderful to marry a man who loves his family so much :-) ----- (2008)

TZ agreed to cut her hair short after we found lice in her hair, just like her elder sister Tian Huey. (2008)

My daughters used their secret weapons - the shower caps and head lice shampoo to exterminate those blood sucking invaders. (2008)

Mom gave TJ an angpao & a note for his 11 years old birthday on the 25th of October.

“恬駿， 生日快樂心想事成。外婆很高興你又年長多一歲了！ 明年你將考你的六年級了。你的成績很好，外婆不擔心。不過還是必需再努力，加油喔，因為求學如「逆水行舟，不進則退」，希望你是兩個妹妹的好榜樣，好哥哥。
愛你的外婆” (2008)

Yesterday my hubby spotted a big dried leaf near the club house swimming pool and my kids instantly remembered they came across it in Lat's "Kampung Boy". (2008)

Last week, I "recycled" my son's short pants that he'd outgrown & turned it into :
PAJAMA for TZ Barney,
a PAIR OF PANTS for TJ's Tokemon that he owned since 5 years old

a MINI SKIRT & RIBBON for TH's CJ7. (2008)

The Needy Children

Two years ago my family joined our Christian neighbor's Cell Group to visit a Shelter Home for abused children. My kids saw with their own eyes and realized how fortunate they are as compared to those children without parental love.

Recently I've been following a few blogs of western couples adopting special needs children from China. I'm truly touched by their stories and feel that all of us should do something to help the needy children in whatever way we can.

My hubby & I are sponsoring a boy in China on his education needs through Sin Chew Jit Poh 星洲日報愛心助養計划

(I once read the letter written by that boy to my kids and reminded them not to waste unnecessarily as the money they save can help on others education needs).

A few months ago we also gave a donation for a Buddhist temple to build an orphanage. This is truly a very small act act as compared to what others have done. (My brother & sis-in-law help out in a Soup Kitchen program on their sundays. I respect them for their noble act)

I come across the following touching poem from another blog...

Every call has a beginning

A quiet moment when God

whispers a promise to a mother's heart

A holy place where a father bows and faithfully accepts

the journey set before him.

A miraculous morning that unexpectedly dawns.....

Casting its first light on a chosen threshold.

A gentle knock... a closed door opens.

A sacred invitation sent by the Father..

Leads to the other side of the world.

Where lonely hearts stare out orphanage windows.

Praying for someone to care...

and then one morning,

On an ordinary day

An orphan's life is changed...

God sends them a second chance.... Through you...

Author Unknown

Toilet Paper Roll Halloween Craft

My kids and I had a great saturday afternoon making halloween craft from toilet paper roll.

TZ is flexing her creative muscle.

TH puts a "magic spell" on the toilet rolls and transformed them into "adorable" villains.

Frankenstein in making...

The birth of a new monster.

TH's vampire and mummy. My daughter is truly creative & imaginative.

My impromptu art...crumpled a piece of yellow paper for rough texture effect, wrapped around the toilet paper roll, added eyes plus some paper "fingers" & leafs to it.

Halloween is not only about villain and monster. It's time to add a princess to the team.

A group photo

A photo with my Nefretiti Statue from Louvre Musuem

The monster with many eyes is my son's creation. (the bag of eyes I bought from Petaling Street comes in handy)

The mummy on the left is my creation.

Halloween 2008

Halloween is coming soon. Our family is very excited about it. Last year we had the first halloween in our neighborhood, with kids coming home with lots of sweets from trick 'r treating. Should have asked for sponsorship from our dentist!

I fell in love with Halloween the time I was staying in USA many years ago. I was simply fascinated with those creative deco & costumes. Even though Halloween is not that popular here, I wish to make it a yearly event as it's one of the best time to unleash the creativity and "devil" within! (none of my kids want to be princess or hero but prefer to be devil and monster instead... including myself)

Tian Zi the little ghost.

Mooncake Festival 中秋節

The kids love to play with fire more than lanterns.

Beautiful couples

We still prefer the traditional paper lantern

After having dinner & carrying lanterns, it's time to play Taboo with my 2 brothers' families.

Guess the best thing for the kids is that it's not a taboo to play with fire on that special night :-)