First Day of Primary One

With much anticipation, Karyn is starting Primary One. For the first three days, parents are allowed to be in the school to watch their kids during recess. So I took the three afternoons off from work to visit Karyn.

On the very first day, Karyn was so excited that she woke up at 6 a.m. even though she's in the afternoon session and can sleep all the way till 11 a.m. I called her from work at 11 a.m. and she had already showered and put on her school uniform.

The grandfather whatsapped me this picture of Karyn waiting for her school bus. Apparently, she was so overwhelmed with excitement that she didn't eat much of breakfast nor lunch.

I spent the morning clearing emails at work and counted down the clock to 12.30 to knock off and head to Karyn's school. In fact, my mum and I reached the school even before Karyn did in her school bus. However, we had to walk a long way to the canteen as the security guard didn't allow us to take the shortcut through the car park as there were so many coaches and private school buses there.

By the time we reached the staircase next to the canteen that leads to the hall, almost all the children were no longer in sight. They have all gone up to the hall for assembly. We just hung around at the canteen area and the VP came to ask her who we were waiting for. We told her we are P1 parents and she said that they are all settled in already and asked us to leave. We headed to the sitting area outside the bookshop, away from her watchful eyes, and waited for recess.

When the VP was gone, we went to the canteen to get a drink. A cup of coffee and a packet of Pokka Blueberry Tea only cost us $1.10! And the coffee was good, said my mum. While we were having our drinks, we saw some staff cordoning off the areas next to the canteen. Must be getting ready to keep the parents away from the children during recess. And in no time, we were "chased out" from the canteen.
So, knowing that Karyn's class is on the right side of the canteen and guessing that she would come down from the staircase there, we quickly headed there to "chope" a place to stand in order to have a bird's eye view of the on-goings in the canteen.

Soon, the children came trooping down, hand in hand with their P2 buddies. And this mummy hurriedly took a picture of Karyn and her buddy but it turned out blur.

Once the children filled the canteen, it really was a challenge trying to spot my Karyn amidst the sea of green and white. Managed to catch a glimpse of her holding something like a stick and walking back to the 1E table. "Oh no," I thought, "don't tell me she bought snacks instead of proper food..."

A while later, saw her holding a bowl and chopsticks and walking with her buddy to return the crockery. Whew, it was a relief that she had eaten noodles. Kept waving at her to catch her attention and she waved back.Then I saw her going to queue up again. She's still hungry! And this time, I really spot her holding a pack of crackers and walking back to the table. Oh well, at least she had some proper food to eat already.

It was about 20 minutes into recess time and Karyn had finished her food. I waved to her to come to me so that I could take a photo of her.

Then she said that she had to go to the toilet quickly and rushed off with her buddy holding her water bottle for her. We waited for her outside the toilet and managed to take more photos...

With her buddy Aisha

She ran in and out of the toilet saying that it was very crowded. So she ran up the stairs with her buddy barely catching up behind her to go to the toilet upstairs. Within 15 seconds, they came down again saying that they cannot use that toilet. Popped in and out of the ground floor toilet again (still crowded) and finally rushed up to second floor toilet (bell was going to ring soon) to settle her business. Poor buddy was trying her best to catch up with Karyn. Makes me wonder who is the P1 here....

My mum and I went home after recess. At 6.30 p.m., I went downstairs to wait for Karyn's school bus. As she hopped out of it, she mumbled, "No lessons, not fun, teacher kept on talking... blah blah blah..." Sounds like she had an under-engaging day in school.

While Karyn was getting undressed for her shower, I checked her wallet and saw that she had 60 cents left. Well done! And I encouraged her to put the money into the new automated savings bank that her Daddy bought for her the previous week. It's quite a cool contraption - it actually detects the amount of coin inserted and indicates it on the lid!

After dinner, Karyn suddenly turned to me and said, "Mummy, no need to come tomorrow. I can do it on my own." I was just stunned. "But I already took 3 days' leave."

"Then you come lor, but don't take photos or I'll run out of time." Oh well, what can I say?

Getting ready for Primary One

The time has come... for us to prepare Karyn for her Primary One education.

It was with much anxiety and excitement that we managed to get into Bukit Panjang Primary. Considering all the moves (literally) we had to make - moving out of Yew Tee to Bukit Panjang, signing up for Parent Volunteer programme (despite staying within 1 km of the school), our efforts have finally paid off!

During the Primary One Orientation Day on 17 Nov, Karyn met her Form Teachers and classmates. I introduced her to Joy (whose mum I got to know through a Facebook Friend whom I got to know via the Parent Volunteer programme) who's in the same class as her, 1E.

Karyn's class



We didn't buy textbooks nor uniforms in school as we wanted to avoid the crowd. So it was good that the textbooks supplier offers online orders and delivery to home (with delivery charge of $9.80). So we made full use of that. As for uniforms, we brought Karyn to the Yang Tze Kiang supplier shop at Teck Whye to buy.

Trying on uniform



Trying on PE attire

What followed was some shopping for the essential stuff like school bag, water bottle, pencil case, lunch box, wallet, etc. And not surprisingly, Karyn chose everything PINK!

Starting the new school year in PINK!

We didn't plan on buying this Deuter bag for Karyn. Just that we were shopping in Lot 1 one day and I happened to see a green Deuter on the display window of a shop. So went in to check it out. Turned out that it was too small for primary school. Hence, the shop assistant recommended this pink one to us. Upon handling it, I thought it was an ergonomic bag which was quite highly recommended by some parents on the forums that I had been reading. I checked with the shop assistant but being PRC, she didn't understand the word "ergonomic" and I didn't know how to say it in Mandarin. Anyhow, she said its usual price is $99 and now going for $69. So we bought it thinking it was a good deal. Only to find out some weeks later that other places are also selling it at $69, without offer. Anyway, it does look pretty and has some air cushioning at the bag and feels nice to carry.

The only item left to buy was the school shoes. We went to the Sports Link at West Mall to check out their selections. Apparently there was a "Back to School sale" and school shoes were going at bargain prices at "2 for $XX". I saw that Cambridge brand shoes were going for 2 at $49.90 and Nike ones were 2 for $79.90. Had an urge to buy the Nike ones but decided that Karyn should try them on first before deciding which brand to get.

Turned out that Karyn found the Nike ones more comfortable. And I also found their design nicer looking than the Cambridge one. When we were going to pay for the shoes, the cashier suggested that we take one pair in a bigger size to keep. That made a lot of sense. So we followed his advice.

And so, the total damage of preparing for Primary One came up to close to $500!



Karyn's graduation concert

Karyn is graduating from MMI this year and that makes the concert that much more special as she will be wearing the graduation gown and mortar board. However, the concert was 9 a.m. on a Saturday morning and she had to be there at 8.15 a.m. to get ready. Hence, the whole family had to wake up at 6 plus. Luckily, Kayla didn't fuss too much when she was woken up.

Karyn was so excited the night before that she took a while to fall asleep. And the next morning, she was the first one to wake up. After I took a shower, Karyn was already fully dressed in her dance costume and waiting for me to put on make up for her.

My pretty first born all decked out in the bling bling costume

As per the tradition, both sets of grandparents attended the concert. I was beaming with pride as Karyn walked down the steps towards the stage in her graduation gown. Shall post pictures after I get them from the school.

When it was time for her turn to perform, I didn't have to crane my neck to look out for her as she's always the star/leader of the show and standing right in the centre and front of the stage.

Seconds into the dance, both Karyn and another leading girl slipped and fell on the stage, much to our astonishment. I think the ballet shoes are too slippery! Luckily both girls were able to get up quickly and back to the groove.

I had my eyes on Karyn all the time throughout the dance as she was just so mesmerising; she has such good sense of rhythm and looks so pretty! I think there'll be no shortage of boys going after her as she grows up. Towards the end of the dance, much to my horror, she fell once more. But she managed to pick herself up quickly and finished the dance.

How time flies. Next year this time will be Kayla's turn to perform for she will be in N1. Hope that she'll get the chance to dance. There might not be as this year, the N1s didn't perform, not sure why.

The two sisters after the concert

My 3 precious darlings

The two sisters

The husband was on business trip over the weekend and so Mum and I brought the girls out for lunch at Yew Tee Point Long John Silver's and for me to have my manicure and pedicure done.

Some pictures I really like from lunch...

Kayla, look here!



Snuggle up



Nicest shot

Our baking adventures

It has been a reaaaally long time since I baked anything. The last time was at our old place in Yew Tee when Karyn was 3+ years old, year 2009 I think.

Recently, I don't know how it started but Karyn is absolutely obsessed with watching baking videos on Youtube. She'll be watching Betty Crocker tutorial videos and some other random videos everyday after school. And she has been bugging me and her Ma Ma to do some baking of our own at home. After some pesky pestering, we finally relented and went to buy baking products from the supermarket.

The first attempt we did was to bake Nutella cupcakes. I had done some search online and came across Nigella's recipe. Funny, can't locate it now.

Anyway, here are the pictures of our baking adventure.

Sifting the flour

Creaming in the softened butter

Kayla using eye power

Waiting for the cup cakes to bake

While the time by listening to iPod. Kayla complaining about the Jie Jie

Our proud masterpieces

Should have just used the muffin pan without the cups cos the cups were too high and the recipe was too little to fill the cups. But they were yummy nevertheless!



This batch is baked using Betty Crocker Chocolate Chip Cookie mix, two weeks later



Karyn's 6th birthday in school

Time really flies. In the wink of an eye, Karyn has spent 4 years in MMI. This is her 4th and last time celebrating her birthday in MMI as she will graduate from kindergarten this year.

Perhaps it's so special to her that she actually asked to wear her white flower girl dress for the celebration. It was a little snug when we tried to zip it up but she said it was ok.

So the Daddy, Ma Ma, Mei Mei and I trooped down to her school for the final celebration with cake and presents in tow. In fact, the presents for the classmates had been bought months ago during a closing down sale at the educational toys shop at Bukit Panjang Plaza and been stored in the storeroom. They were actually some sort of art and craft activity pack that requires the children to paste the soft spongy adhesive coloured pieces together to form a picture.

Anyway, so we got to school and the first thing that caught my eye was the projector-like apparatus mounted at the side of the classroom. Wow, seems like MMI has turned so high tech since the last time we went - a year ago.

A pic of the two sisters

Group pic with all the girls

Group pic with all the boys

Group pic with her best friends (the cake had been eaten)

While we were there, both Teacher Devi and Teacher Shanti were so bemused by Kayla. Both went to talk to her, touch her and ask her questions. But being the cool girl that she is, she totally ignored their advances and continued to eat her cake without batting an eyelid. Both teachers were also eager to have Kayla join the school.

Ready for school

Ever since the helper was sent home last December, I've been pondering exactly when to send Kayla to school. It would be a very heavy financial commitment with 2 kids in MMI, coming up to more than $1500 monthly, including the bus fares. Hence, after some discussion with the husband and my mum, we decided that Kayla should continue to stay home and go to school only in October or November.

However, Kayla has recently taken a strong interest in Karyn's school bag and always wants to play with it. So we also like to ask her, "Do you want to go to school?" And of course, her reply will always be a resounding "YES!"

Then the grandma will psycho her and say that when she's in school, she's gotta sit on the school bus with Jie Jie, Ma Ma will not be with her. And she's got to feed herself breakfast, lunch and tea break. And she cannot cry when she's in school. She has to go to sleep on her own during nap time, Ma Ma won't be there to pat her, etc etc. And she seems to just nod her head to everything. Hmmm... wonder how she will adapt to school when the time comes.

Demure? Hardly...

This little girl of mine, don't be fooled by her pictures. She is hardly demure like this. Very rare to see such pictures where she poses so sweetly.

The top she's wearing was bought from Korea. Actually it was meant for Karyn but after washing, somehow it shrunk so much that it became too tight for her. So Kayla got to wear it, but also not for long since it's so fitting now.

The two sisters

This is one of my favourite photos of the girls, taken at Antoinette, Mandarin Gallery. Love the new hair clips, make them look so sweet. Pity Kayla didn't look at the camera when the shot was taken.

Holiday children's shows around town

It's the holidays again! And what does the Mummy and her two little girls do? Watch the free children's shows at the various shopping malls! And the first one we went to - Thomas and Friends at Jurong Point!

Karyn posing for the camera



 Kayla was sleepy but "woke up" at the sound of the music playing

 Happily clapping along to the music

 Check out that demure expression

 We managed to get a posed picture with Thomas and the conductor

The next show we went to was Barney and Friends at Marina Square where we queued for almost an hour to get a spot in front of the stage!

Karyn excited about the show and Kayla looks clueless

Restless Kayla moving around while waiting for the show to start

 Karyn snacking while waiting for the show to start

 Started clapping at the sound of the music

 Engrossed

The mesmerising cast of Barney and Friends

My mum says we are like teenagers who chase idols, staking out their performances but instead of the teeny bopper idols, we are chasing kiddish characters... Haha!