the kids’ centre had an xmas party, and i thought since it would be aniq’s final party there…

last chance to feed his friends in school with junk ha ha.

(for some reason i couldn’t find xmas stickers anywhere, so i slapped on some last-minute printed-out ones, though i don’t know why i obsessed over it in the first place, kids’ll just rip open the bag and only care for the contents. i had to resist the urge to add tinsel and glitter and tags. srsly.)

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aniq’s 6th birthday coincided with his uncle iswandi’s wedding, so we were pretty busy the whole day, and only managed to cut the cake at the end of it…

earlier that evening (looking somewhat fresher):

yamsengggg!

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… was what they proclaimed at the end of the first day in The Happiest Place On Earth (at least in this part of Asia).

well, that’s mummy’s birthday treat to you accomplished, then.

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a cousin held his lovely wedding reception at parkroyal hotel last weekend. the food was delicious (indian fare, a refreshing change), and we didn’t break a single drop of sweat (literally and figuratively). yes, his relatives are quite a spoilt lot. :p

while the bride & groom had a costume change, the little ones were quite busy themselves…

angels…

… demons?

here comes the bride…

… here come the little boy monsters.

(they were actually pinching their noses because they thought the fog from the dry-ice smelled like smoke, only here it looks like they were pinching their noses due to ‘gases’ emitting from under the gown. i could just PINCH their ears for spoiling this otherwise lovely scene of innocent flower girls carrying out the honourable duty of holding the princess bride’s wedding train!) (so sorry, bride.)

angels again, thankfully.

selamat pengantin baru, adib & hafiza…

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originally uploaded by izadd.

2 saturdays ago. a storytelling session of ‘We’re Going On A Bearhunt’, then everyone got to decorate a muffin, courtesy of Bookaburra, with cream cheese, candies and chocs.

it was yums. (i reckon she should start a Bakery-burra too…!)

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the much-anticipated K2 graduation concert happened some time last week. it was a modest affair – parents didn’t have to pay for attending; it was held in the K2 classroom itself, which they converted into a mini-stage, with props, backdrop, banners all done by the dedicated and resourceful teachers at the centre…

they performed a play adapted from Kevin Henkes’ picture book (yeah!), ‘Chrysanthemum’. it was supposed to be a surprise for parents, but aniq of course, had to spill the beans, especially when he kept blurting out his lines at random times. i’m forever amazed at pre-schoolers who can recite lines to perfection and perform to an audience, because i myself have a case of stage-fright, i kid you not!

after a chinese version of The Emperor’s New Clothes, which had a malay boy as the emperor (yes, impressively reciting lines in mandarin!), the whole class went into a rendition of MJ’s ‘we are the world’. no, i did not sing along to it.

and then this part, which was indeed a surprise – each kid’s name was announced and they went up to their parents in the audience to hand them a vcd with an ‘i love you’ message… well, that sorta teared me up, a bit. :p

it also came with their graduation certs and photos, so beautifully packaged, SUCH a HUGE leap from our time, some almost-30 years ago.

the people he’ll miss next year…

and some work they did after their visit to a primary school earlier. the teachers discussed with the kids on what to expect in primary school, practical things like what to do in case they lose things or fall sick, etc. it sure makes it a lot easier for us parents, who are at this stage even more nervous for them than they themselves are.

dear firstborn, here’s to an exciting and memorable journey ahead…. (TO PSLE! HA HA HA HA HAA)

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The Tiger Who Came To Tea is, well… absurd, lol.

a girl and her mother were about to have tea when a visitor in the form of a hungry tiger drops by, gets himself politely invited in, and proceeds to wipe out all the food and drinks in the house, even the water in the tap and, gasp, all of daddy’s beer! all this while the girl looks on with mild amusement, indulging the feline’s insatiable appetite (he is too genteel to devour humans, being english and all, of course). after he leaves, the father comes home to no supper, and instead of being in a huff, he comes up with a brilliant idea to bring the girl and her mother to a cafe for sausages and chips and ice-cream. ha ha hahaha.

ok, really, its not very funny or exciting, and i’m not nostalgic enough to appreciate the throwback to the late 60′s english household culture of tea and hospitality. speculations are fun, though – is the tiger actually mummy’s lover who comes round for an afternoon delight? did mummy get sick and tired of cooking for daddy and conspires with the girl to make up a story about the tiger? is daddy a little loopy or in denial that he’s been fooled or possibly cuckolded? what constitutes tiger food which the girl bought from the store in case the tiger comes back, hacked up human meat? did the tiger not come back because mummy’s food sucked? was he playing a trumpet at the end because he ran away with the circus? are they all on drugs? was the author on drugs? etc etc etc.

or…. it could just be about a tiger who came to tea.

i think bookaburra’s lovely for doing these storytelling sessions and activities. the kids made mini parfaits “for tea” out of cakes, syrups, candies, biscuits and cereals, all of which they provided out of goodwill, i.e. free, which is a rare thing to find in sg where everything comes with a price, doncha think? of course, if parents (like me) end up spending their money on their books, well then, that works out even. ;)

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they were supposed to come in March this year, but cancelled due to the tsunami in japan. but as they say, everything has a silver lining, and for me, this came in the form of front row seats at the esplanade when they made good their word and announced they were coming down in November.

“i wish that i believed in fate, i wish i didn’t sleep so late…”

FRONT ROW! they were practically VIP, guest-of-honour-type seats! and right from the beginning (they started promptly at 8.10pm, bless them serious musicians) through to the end, I had this look on my face –> 8-D. ecstatic did not even begin to describe it.

being my first time at the esplanade concert hall (and my first time with front row tickets!), i was naïve enough to believe we would be sitting demurely at our designated seats, tapping our toes politely, for two hours.

needless to say, i was wrong. the moment the lights dimmed, the entire row (and everyone else behind us) surged forth towards the stage, a fellow fan beside us excitedly beckoning to join her, and wow, WHAT AN EXPERIENCE. 8-D

we were practically under matt’s beard! bits of his saliva flew over our heads a few times. did we care? HELL TO THE NO. a few times i restrained from molesting aaron/bryce while they wielded their guitars merely a few cm away. did i outrage their modesty? of course not, i am after all a person of culture. HA HA.

“i was afraid, i’d eat your brains…”

(these taped-down setlists became a hot commodity at the end of the show)

“showered and blue-blazered, fill yourself with quarters…”

things went fever pitch when, in the midst of Terrible Love, matt decided to jump down from the stage, SQUASHING MY TOES in the process (yes he was THAT close, i almost wouldn’t let go of his coat), and started wading through the crowd, climbing over seats, the audience parting like the Red Sea, helping him and his mike wire manoeuvre their way to the back of the hall, all the while singing in that beautiful baritone of his. (a little drunk, no doubt, but still.)

8-D 8-D 8-DDDD

“it’s a terrible love that i’m walking with spiders…”

as further evidence that we were right in front of the stage (you believe me by now, right?!), let’s play ‘where’s izadnhana?’. heh. (AND, in true front-row tradition, we got to shake hands with a band member. yes, that scruffy-bearded man in the suit who sings depressing songs. i <3.) #jakunTTM

(photo courtesy of Kristina Cortez on Flickr)

“all the very best of us, string ourselves up for love…”

THANK YOU, The National, for truly making my year.

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turned seven. i don’t see him as often as i did when he was a baby and i’d drive to mum’s all the way from work during lunchtime just to play with him (those being pre-aniq days). these days, i can’t seem to elicit as much response from him as i did then.

what i do know is, i’d borrowed his Diary of A Wimpy Kid, and haven’t returned it. aunty will, i promise!

how about i get your NOISY cousins to sing for you again in the meantime?

(dies in embarrassment.)

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i first heard this through a storytelling session, and only realised how much of a perennial hit it is with pre-schoolers when i brought the book home and aniq instantly recognised it because his teacher had read it to his class.

a father and his children and their dog go on an impromptu adventure to hunt for a bear, overcoming obstacles of nature in the form of swishy grass, sploshy river, squelchy mud, stumbly forest, and swirly snowstorm (gotta love alliterations!). they find that they can’t go over or under these obstacles – rather, they have to go through them, battling their discomforts and fear, all in the name of thrill and adventure. they end up in a cave by the sea, where they do eventually come face to face with… well, a bear. which makes them all helter-skelter trace their route home (and here’s where the kids put their memory skills to use), the bear close on their heels. and they resolve, all huddled together under the bed covers, never to go on a bear hunt again, however exhilarating the experience was.

i like how naturally playful the children are portrayed, and the subtle ways they look out for one another; the older siblings taking turns to carry the baby, the older sister helping her younger sister put on her muddy shoes, the baby reaching out his hand to his older brother and dog as they cross the river.

and i know the bear’s made the villain in the story, having chased the family all the way home and seemingly trying to paw his way through their front door. but i prefer to interpret the bear, shoulders slumped, trudging back to his gloomy cave all alone, as somewhat… despondent. sad, because all he wanted was to be part of the family.

BUT THAT’S JUST ME BEING EMO.

as for auni, well, the repetition of these catchy, sing-song lines won her over, obviously.

and hey whaddaya know, a stage adaptation of this book is coming to town in jan/feb next year, and if you have funds to spare, sistic is selling the tickets. (though, as what i mentioned on twitter, it’ll probably cost me less to go on an actual bear hunt than buying tickets for the family to go to the thea-tuh, sigh.)

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i used to be quite terrible at chemistry. my class did pure chem and i possibly failed almost every chem test in sec 3 and 4. pipettes, precipitation, periodic tables… it was all very perplexing, to say the least. then, during one “study session” at the airport (back when the airport was THE place for students to bring their textbooks and feign industriousness over a scenic view of airplanes), i met (got picked up by? i can’t remember) a JC boy…. who turned out to be nice enough to offer to tutor me in chemistry. like, for real (and for free). and for his efforts, i miraculously scraped through with a credit in chem for my O’s. #truestory

i did not end up dating the said JC boy. you could say… there was no chemistry.
(or maybe he thought i was too dumb HA HA.)

anyway.

i had that flashback of dreaded chem labs and dull moments of dripping liquids into beakers, when the twin nephews had their 10th birthday party the other day. if only science was as fun (and full of candy!) as this then…

so cute, they invited their classmates over to the party, the boys came first, and when the girls arrived, THEY ALL SCREAMED AND RAN TO THE KITCHEN AND CLOSED THE DOOR.

seriously, can you understand boys?!

i guess 10 isn’t the magic age then.

maybe… 17. think JC BOYS. mmm.

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had enough of raya yet, troopers?

let’s give it one more weekend…

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mummy, auni & aniq, originally uploaded by izadd.

aniq & auni, originally uploaded by izadd.

as you can see, they’re like my accessories. :p

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