Stephan's School Concert - BRMCK Ugly Bug Ball

I have 3 kids and have been to my fair share of kids plays and this was definitely the most INAPPROPRIATE children's play ever!!!

The story was about an ugly little bug that was rejected by all the other insect creatures because he was not good enough and so he went from one group of insects to the next and was turned away....... How depressing is that? Then he descended into the underworld to dwell with the evil cockroaches but it was too smelly and disgusting. Eventually a beautiful angel appeared to tell Ugly Bug that it was ok to be rejected because Jesus died on the cross for us. ??? eerrr, what??? Stephan asked me to explain the story to him and I did, but I hope sincerely that not many of the children really understood the story. What crazy adult would write a kids story like that?

To make it worse, it was so full of big words that even Nic & Mat were asking for explanations! "Avante Garde Fashionista", "mysticism", "credentials", "iniquities", "transient", "finding solace".... And they were making little 4 year olds recite these big complicated lines (in chinese and in english!) Those 4-5 yr olds were memorising words and had no clue what they meant!

The icing on the cake has to be the performance by principal Ms Leong. The whole show was basically put on by the principal to show-off her own singing and piano playing with no focus on the kids at all!! She was the only person that performed, the kids were merely her props! The children were decked-out in the most gorgeous costumes (that we parents paid highly for) and were merely prancing back and forth on stage. No thought was put into showcasing the talent of our little ones ..... Are we saying that no pupil in BRMCK could play the piano, or sing, or dance (and the wiggling they did on stage was NOT dancing). The only thing that played showed was that our children could memorise long sentences and big words that they must certainly did not understand!

Is this the kind of school Barker Road Church Kindergarten has become? We miss the old days with Ms Jean Tang.

Stephan was a very cute ant though and Mark was so amazing........... He recited a really difficult piece in Chinese.

Cakes Galore

I suddenly got into a cake-making frenzy 2 weeks ago ..........

Think it started off because the boys were going on about how great their Dad's Tiramisu was and I just know that mine is better! (We have the same recipe, but I have the special touch!) Since I hadn't made Tiramisu in ages, it took me 3 cakes before I got it to perfection. I forgot how bloody expensive Mascapone was though!!


ok, Nic's cake was not very beautiful........ I still need to work on presentation!

We are now in the ice-cream cake phase. Nic asked for Ice-cream cake for his bday and I have been trying to perfect this.... I think we had 4 cakes this week and I have created the best cake ever!!! THE BANANA MUD-PIE EXTRAVAGANZA. We're talking oreo cookies, chocolate, pound cake and vanilla ice-cream topped with banana and digestive crumble! How can that go wrong?

Unfortunately, my waist-line (and Nic's) is telling us it is time to stop! I think I am going to start cooking again though. I kindda stopped cooking (when we stopped eating meat) but I think there might be some new possibilities in the healthy food arena to explore .......

Yummy Mummy on the Run

Facebook Group : Deliciously sexy mummies, godmas and aunties that are cooler-than-cool and hipper-than-hip; hot mamas that love the feel of lycra and the smell of sweat; girls those little monsters can't keep up with and the kids won't be embarrased to take out..... getting together to run, bike, swim.... or just to have fun!!

I have been trying very hard to get a training program going but it is tough!

I am petrified of cycling and the 1st ride I went on was with the Joy Riders........ I got picked-up by Winnie the Sheperdess @ Bikehaus and was tricked into believing that they were a nice and easy group to ride with. Woke up at the most ungodly hour and went down to the LongHouse with my brand new Felt Bike and started what can only be considered a NIGHTMARE.... I was soooooooooo slow and sooooooo bad that I had to turn back. 1 1/2 hrs and 35km later, I decided that I had to re-think the cycle. Friends suggested getting a trainer at home to get my speed up and Desmond even helped me find a couple of 2nd hand deals, but something about it just doesn't seem right........ So, I am still trying to find a solution here!

As for the swimming, I thought I kindda found a solution here as I was bartering massages for swim tips from Jong and supplementing with classes with David from Yellowfish. Well, Jong decided that he had better things to do (which is very understandable) and those Yellowfish classes kept eluding me! 1st I was supposed to wait for a new term, then I was gonna start with the Thurs group, but then that got too crowded, so it was the Fri group, then classes were cancelled cos of rain, then it was cancelled cos they were off to Desaru........... Anyway back & forth we went until I eventually came to the conclusion that those classes were probably just not meant to happen. So there, swimming training is still a big question mark.

Now Running. This should be a no-brainer right? Well, it would be except that I suck at running. As Peng & Paul said last night, "Got no talent!". I honestly don't know why it is so hard. I started off with 2km runs and after months, can only get to 7km! Suli did 6 1/2km on her virgin run and I hear Ruth did the half marathon with zero training! What is wrong with me? Anyway, I decided to sign up for the 1/2 @ StanChart. I have no idea how to get from 7km to 21km but hey, I've got nearly 4months to figure it out..........

This long tale is to supposed to tell you about how I got around to forming the facebook group "Yummy Mummies on the Run". I figured I needed some motivation from other sources.... (or maybe I just wanted some buddies to go shopping for new running shoes with?)

Nicolas' 11th bday pig-out fiesta

Gosh, I can't believe my little baby is 11!! Soon he'll be off to college.......

Guess what darling Nic wanted for his birthday? Pig-outs!!!

The 1st request was for an ice-cream cake. So, good stay-home mum that I am, I made him a cake for his bday (even did the icing.....) and invited the family over for tea on THE day.......... The cake wasn't too good. "Not enough ice-cream and too much cake" according to the boys, so we re-did a different ice-cream cake the next day.

Nic invited his best friend Tzen Wei and god parents BL & Eng Guan over for dinner on Fri and requested for Teppanyaki / steam-boat and ice-cream cake........ which I kindly obliged. We had a huge delicious pig-out!!!

The final highlight pig-out was on Sunday at the Line (Shang Hotel buffet brunch). We all ran 6km in the morning @ the Safra bay run so as not to feel too guilty......... Still felt ill after the meal though.

Now that bday is over.......... we're back to the strict diet!!! :)

SAFRA Bay Run

Boys and I did the 6km Safra Bay run with the Wongs today. It was a nice stroll in the park and even the boys want to take on a longer distance next time...... Should have signed-up for the 10km instead! haha. It's the 1st time either Mat or Nic has done more than 4km so i was amazed at how well they did.

Mat and Shaun took off in front of the pack but kids being kids, they ran out of steam after 2km. Nic did a good job and walked/ran the whole distance in less than 50mins (with no asthma attack!) . Mat calculated that we did about 40mins which is really pretty good for me (I am such a turtle).

Can't wait for the next run...... It's so fun!! I believe there were about 70,000 people running the various distances today and there is special buzz in the air that is quite indescribable. Must be something to do with the energy and sweaty hot bodies rubbing up against each other.

Stephan really wants a baby sister

We weren't allowed to bring Sophie home so Steph had to make do with Catie-Cat instead!!!

Steph feeding Cate

Kids in Action - ID Band

We had all the kids out on a photo-shoot for the brochure of ID Band. What a nightmare...... Nobody would listen to any instructions and it was a mad-house. Beautiful kids, all dressed-up but did not want to be photographed!!! Goodthing there were a couple of natural talents (Shannon & Mathieu) AND God-Pa Craig is super-talented so he still managed to put together a portfolio of photos that we could work with. :)

The Family Reunion from across 3 continents

Mum organised a KONG family reunion (My mother's father's side of the family) and we met relatives that we never even knew existed.............. The boys were so tickled by the idea that we had thousands of relatives out there that we don't know!!!

We are quite the multi-racial family! Predominently chinese, but with English, Malay, Swiss, "Dubi-ans" (What are people from Dubai called?).

Hope we don't have to wait another 30yrs to meet up again!

Baby Sophie

Yes, sister Peng has popped and I am now a proud Mamu to baby Sophie. Little Sophie was 1 week late, a huge 3.5kg and very very cute.

The boys want to share baby with the Chews..... we borrow ya?