My Little Phonics Teacher

Tim has a fascination with alphabet, and his love for reading is evident in his every attempt to sound out every single letter he sees everywhere we go. Now that he is able to read, he's very "passionate" about teaching his little sister phonics and speaking properly.

The past few days, we've encountered several interesting yet comic relief moments which I wanted to put this down for record purpose -

Comic Relief 1 -

Little Missy: Daddy, I got...got...got...

Daddy: God is in heaven

Tim : No, no, daddy, mei mei meant goT not goD it's not the same.

Daddy: .............

Comic Relief 2 -

Little Missy: I have TRee (three) stickers...

Tim: Mei mei, say THree (demonstrating with his tongue in between his teeth), not TRees. TRees are out in the garden...

Comic Relief 3 -

Tim: Mei mei, when you are done let me know ok?

Little Missy: yah

Tim: No, don't say yah, say Yes!

Simply Homecooked - 3-Eggs Wonder

I can't remember when I had a taste of this dish at the Crystal Jade restaurant, what I do remember was I can't forget how delicious it was since the day I ate this dish :)

Although I don't really know absolutely what ingredients the chefs of the restaurant used, however, this was what I've observed. Other than the obvious spinach & 3 different types of eggs they've used, there was also dried prawns, and chicken stock to make this dish a little tastier :)

Here's how you can prepare this dish too -

Ingredients -

1x Regular egg (you may add more if you are planning not to use salted eggs or century eggs)

2x Salted eggs (one full salted egg, and one egg yolk)

1x Century egg (chopped; omit this if you don't fancy it)

1 pack spinach (bought from the super market)

2 tbsp dried prawns (washed and soaked)

1 pot Chicken Stock (boiled with chicken bones and 3 corn on cob; for convenience you might want to use 3-4tbsp of concentrated chicken stock in 2l of water)

Method of preparation -

1) Boil the chicken stock for over 2hrs (on stove, after bringing the soup to a boil, continue to simmer under low fire)

2) Remove all the chicken bones and corn on cob after the soup is boiled.

3) Add all the eggs into the soup and dried prawns, bring it to a boil.

4) Add the spinach, once the vegetable is cooked, just cease fire

5) Serve (no seasoning is required as the salted egg and dried prawns would have given the soup base some taste).

Enjoy this 3-eggs wonder! *smile*

Time Out!

I've been really missing those times when I could bring the kids out on a regular basis to everywhere and anywhere... allowing them the space and time to run and play and experience the outdoor life.

Since they started school, and I started working at home, I haven't had much opportunity of bringing them out. Hubs have been really busy the past 2 months that he didn't have time to bring us out during the weekends... the kids were running amok in the house and I think they desperately needed some time out since they have been confined to the four walls of school the entire week...

It was really great to have a friend to play with during our time out, so was truly grateful that Rachel was willing to bring K out to join us!

Kids were just born to love water I feel. Judging from how happy the children were when we step into the Marina Barrage.
We like the Marina barrage because there was water aplenty and the vast amount of space for the kids to run around in. They could indeed play here the entire day! Loved how the kids laughed, ran and played with the water that day!
This weekend, we took the kids to the National Museum as it was the Children's Season and during this period there were various interesting programs lined up for the kids. We thought it might be good to expose the kids with more activities within the museum to get them interested in this area of learning.
This felt wall installation was great! Though the kids were only interested in it for just a little bit (10mins)...
Little Missy was really thrilled to be dressed up as a flower fairy... great dramatic play for kids of her age...sparked the imagination and creativity of the child.
The kids exploring some of the elements from the felt wall.
They didn't feel quite comfy in those costumes although the mommies were very tickled by them... *smile*
Tried to engage them with some reading activities, yet it was short lived, in less than 2 mins they were off to doing something else... guess they were just too distracted by the hustle and bustle around the place that day...

The only activity that kept them interested beyond 10mins was drawing/writing.
Tim being absolutely proud about his ability to draw better now. He's showing off his drawing of our family here.
K was busy scribbling away... :)
Still, nothing beats being outdoors. The kids just couldn't have enough of outdoor play, so a short 10mins at the playground after lunch, was still their choice activity of the day.

So more activities lined up for the following Saturdays to come, I feel like a full time working mom now that I could only bring them out during weekends... hmmm... not a bad thing though at least we still get some fresh air and sunshine during the week *wink*

Home-Learning Made Easy

I am thrilled to announce the launch of the new website; myplayschool.net!

If you are parent of a 18 month – 6 years old child, myplayschool.net is THE resource to go to home-learning. You will find a chockful of activities and ideas to teach your toddler or preschooler at home. With myplayschool.net, you really don't need to be an educator to be able to teach your child at home.

Find our site is useful? Please join our Facebook like page.

Little Explorers

We were out and about at the Bukit Batok Nature Park...

The little explorers went bird watching...
and monkey watching...

Great place for a nice family outing, if you are looking for some activities for the kids to be occupied with... nature, as always, the best teaching ground! :)

Weddings...

It was my forever friend, Mary's, wedding and looking back we have been friends for over 15 years now... it's amazing how far and how deep our friendship has been all these years... we literally watch each other mature spiritually, emotionally and mentally.

Funny as it seemed, we have a lot of similarities and one of them was our choice of wedding day *smile*

In year 2005, May 7th I got married

In year 2010, May 8th Mary got married

I am grateful God has made our paths cross and am also very happy that she's been such a wonderful friend for so long. Here's to wish Mary a blissful marriage and may our friendship grow as old as we are alive :)

Corridor Play - Bubbles Fun

Activities after dinner can range from simply watching a movie on a DVD, playing at the playground, working on some home learning activities or just plain fun by our corridor...

The past 2 evenings, the kids volunteered to unplug from their favourite TV time to simply games by our corridor.

We had water play on the first evening and last evening they (their bubble guns) were blowing bubbles and had over an hour of fun...

I guess activities such as these are million times better than watching TV all the time *wink*...

In case you were wondering where did we get those bubble guns from, they were from Daiso... only $2 each... wonderful yeah? Economical and fun! *smile*

Simply One Pot - Stew Chicken

One dish that I've always wanted to cook... simple, nutritious and superbly yummy!!!

Stew chicken in a pot, perfect for a busy, lazy mom like me... everything to be dumped into one pot and let it just stew for as long as it takes... ;)
This was served together with steamed rice and some stir-fry vege to the kids, and they simply loved it... oooh the gravy was filled with all the essence of the ingredients that simply was too flavourful not to lap the plates clean...

Here's how you can make it too...

Ingredients -

1kg chicken winglets (or you may use a whole chicken cut into 4-6 pieces)

1 large white onion

2-3 carrots (cut into chunks)

4 potatoes (cut into chunks)

Celery (optional - I didn't add it into this pot though)

2 large tomatoes (cut into wedges)

2-3 corn on cob (cut into chunks)

4-6 cups of chicken stock (I stirred 3-4tbsp of concentrated chicken stock into 4-6 cups water)

2 tbsp cooking oil

Salt to taste.

Method of preparation -

1) Heat oil in a frying pan and fry the vegetables (onions, carrots, celery) for a min or two, set it aside.

2) Add the chicken stock into the pot (you may use crock pot) and all the ingredients except salt.

3) If you are using the stove to cook, bring it to a boil and simmer for about an hour+. If you are using crock pot, you'll have to cook it for over 3hrs.

4) Add salt to taste. Serve!

Bon Appetit!!! :)