~ Countdown 2010! ~

New Year's Eve: We went to Jimmy's house for a small gathering with Hubby's buddies. There's a nice pool at his condo and we drop by earlier to let the kids enjoy a good swim and water play. ^_^

Everyone is hungry after playing at the pool. We went ahead with our dinner! KFC and Pizzas!! There are so much food! Jo came by later and bring a lot of goodies for the children. Party hats, whistles, masks, snacks etc..

Derrick also brought very Yummy Eggtarts from Fancy Delight. They are so colourful and many flavours to choose! (E.g. Original, strawberry, green tea, kiwi etc). DELICIOUS!!!




Denver kept himself entertained playing with the PS3 and Gladys simply run around in the house drinking and eating. Meanwhile, Hubby had a good time chatting and me sneaking in between playing PS3, eating and watching over Gladys! Hahaha

Fireworks Display

Denver wanted to stay up to watch the Fireworks Display and Countdown. So after returning home from Jimmy's house, he kept awake by watching cartoons and playing PS3 with Daddy.

11:45pm - I took Denver down and got my camera ready. :D (I felt very privilege and fortunate to stay in this estate because there are always parties/events held so near my home and it really saves us a lot of hassles bringing joy to the community.)

Countdown Party is just across the road. :)
Denver standing by! There is Dragon Dance and Fire!

The final finale - FIREWORKS DISPLAY!

As the video file is too big, I have posted it on Youtube instead! It was SPECTACULAR! 6mins of Fireworks Display!! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8O22wlD_Xs). We are standing very close and seeing the fireworks blasting in front of you and high up in the dark sky is simply Fascinating!! Although it is not our first time seeing it (we had fireworks display for the past years), it was still GREAT! Denver enjoyed it a lot!

HELLO 2010!!! PARTY CONTINUES!

The party is not over after the Final Finale! Many still stay back to welcome the New Year! Even as I'm writing now (ALREADY 1am) I can hear the music, songs, fire from the sparklers, crowd cheering downstairs! Everyone is still PARTYING at this wee hours! Happy New Year EVERYONE! CHEERS!!

~ Goodbye 2009! ~

2009 has not been the most fantastic year for all of us. There are many ups and downs, happiness and sadness.. but most importantly, we went through it together as a family.

• Started picking up cooking since Feb.
• 2 minor car accidents (Feb & Oct)
• Dad fallen ill and got hospitalized (Mar - Apr)
• My first nephew (Ashton Lau) born on 22nd Apr
• Family Chalet at Downtown East (Jun).
• Hubby went on a series of business trip to Manila (Jun - Nov)
• Denver broke his left arm (Jun)
• Denver's Primary 1 and Gladys' Nursery Registration
• Our first Kite Flying experience (Jul),
• Mommy choke on fish bone and went A&E (Sept)
• Our first trip to Hortpark (Sept)
• Loan Shark poured paint at the wrong house (Sept)
• Gladys' Nursery and Denver's Primary 1 Orientation (Oct/Nov)
• Denver's K2 Graduation Ceremony (Nov)
• Mommy won Sakae Sushi blogger affairs award (Nov)
• Family trip to Manila, Cebu & Bohol (Nov-Dec)
• 1 Day Family trip to Muar (Dec)
• New bed and shelves (Dec)
• Puchase of a new Car - Vios (Dec)

To mark the end of 2009, Hubby & I made a sudden decision last night and purchase a new Toyota Vios due to an attractive promotion offer (This week only and ending today). So we'll be upgrading from our current Manual old model of Vios to the new Vios (auto). :p

With 2010 just hours away, we are looking forward to usher the New Year!! Denver and Gladys will be studying in their new schools, New car coming in Jan/Feb, Brother Owen's first baby will be born mid of the year etc....

May 2010 be filled with Peace, Happiness, Health and Prosperity!

GOODBYE 2009!!

~ Handicraft - Mosaic Paper Art ~

This is a very simple Art & Craft that children will enjoy. All you need is coloured papers, scissors and glue. I used the old magazines and cut out those unwanted paper from the children's old drawing so as to minimize the wastage of paper.

The children are quite familiar with using the scissors. (Especially Gladys) Since this is their first try, I gave them a small rectangular area to work on. All they need to do is to cut or even tear the paper into different shapes, sizes and glue the small pieces together (like a mosaic). It can be in any direction, any place! :) It is so simple that the children can do it themselves and at the same time learn how to handle the scissors and how to glue.

3 Simple Steps: Cut, Apply Glue, Stick

Once it's done, I frame it up using the old IKEA wooden frames that I bought years ago. They are very light frames and can easily sticked onto walls using Bluetacks. ^_^ Gladys' art is more irregular compared to Denver's more organised artwork. But both are unique on it's own and look really pretty.

It's FUN for the kids and they feel good seeing their artwork on the wall. Next time, I'll probably let them try making a picture (e.g. Fish, Heart, Ball) using Mosaic art. :)

~ Our Bed is Back! ~

We finally fix our King-size bed back after soooo long!! 5 years ago, Hubby & I decided to dismantle it for the sake of Denver and it continued on with Gladys. Now that they are older, we can finally have our space and bed back. :D Denver can now sleep by himself in his room and Gladys naps in the children's room during the day. She only needs to choose whom she wants to be with in the night (depending on her mood but usually she's with us :p).

As the auspicious time to 安床 is between 4am to 7am, we woke up at 5am to carry all the wooden pieces (which have been in the storeroom for years). Took us about 1 hour odd to quietly, gently fix everything back to how it was. Thanks to Hubby for doing most of the hard work!!

~ Christmas 2009 ~

It's Christmas! The first thing Denver wanted to do when he wakes up is open the presents. I ask him to wait for his sister so that they can do this together.

They got quite a fair bit of stuff already and this is only Part 1! The children started off having fun with the small remote car. Zoom... Bang... Vrooom...

It's a Sunny Christmas Morning! As planned, Hubby drove us down to Pasir Ris Park for some morning exercise. Visit http://bpdgtravels.blogspot.com/2009/12/christmas-2009_5797.html for more details.

We popped by IKEA to grab some items, had lunch at Kovan area and went to my brother's house. The kiddos got presents from their 舅舅 and 舅母. Another round of tearing the wrappers. Stationary and Colouring sets for them! Very sweet and thoughtful. ^_^

3rd round - The presents came from Eileen's & JunLong's parents. Denver always judge the value of the presents by it's size. Believing the Bigger the Better! So he was like "Huh? My one so small?" "Why Meimei got toys?" -_- I have to teach some sense into him to appreciate the things he got.

Final round - The last Christmas presents for this year. Again, the children are looking at the size and checking out what presents each is getting. Gladys got a jewerly set and Denver loves his remote Helicopter toy from their 小叔 and 婶婶.

Apart from all the fun and presents.... Gladys has been making me mad today. She has not been listening.. not napping well and has been extremely stubborn insisting on the things she wanted. My blood pressure increased as I scolded her leaving her crying. -___- Of course I am NOT going to give in and let her has her way. Hopefully she'll be more discipline when she starts school.

Other than that, it seems to be a rather eventful day. Children are so blessed nowadays. I don't have that luxury during my childhood days as money is hard-earned. Toys are also very minimal. I hope that as the children grow, they will learn and understand that besides getting so many gifts during every Christmas, they should not take things for granted and will learn how to share and give too.

~ Silent Night ~

In the past, we will be having Christmas party at Hubby's friend's house. Since there isn't any planned for this year, we had a rather quiet and peaceful Christmas Eve. The kids received lesser presents too even though there are still some yet to be collected from their Uncles. :) Denver can't wait to open his presents tomorrow and if the weather is good, we'll be going cycling at Pasir Ris. ^_^

The Heng family now signing off Wishing All A Merry Christmas! Ho Ho Ho!!

~ Hollywood Dinos & Ah Yat Seafood ~

It has been raining lately and we are hoping the weather be kind today as all of us are going to see the Hollywood Dinos @ Jurong Bird Park before the school re-opens.

It's a long drive down from SengKang to Jurong but we reached at 10:10am. Unfortunately, we were told to wait for another 10-20mins as there are some technical issues with the Dinos.. (The dinos can't move -_-). By the time everything is fixed its around 10:30am...we did not continue our queue for the guided tour and went for Free & Easy.

Photoshots while queuing.

There are about 4 dinos displayed outside and the rest are mostly in the cave.









Gladys had to be carried throughout the journey even though she said it was fake before we enter. Hubby and I tried to convince her but seeing the Big Dinos moving with the sound effects doesn't makes it any better. :p Denver on the other hand enjoyed the most out of it.









The cave is dimly lighted and the bridge we were crossing tilt from left to right. Denver finds it so exciting walking on a moving bridge. Poor Gladys was scared even with the 'protection' from Daddy and Mommy. She had her ears shut and snuggled tightly onto us to be safe. At least she managed to overcome her fear to quickly touch a dino. :p

It wasn't a very big cave and it probably only took us half hour to walk through 1 round. As requested by Denver, we went for a 2nd round. Imagine how SHOCK Gladys was to go through this all over again. :p Only this time, it's Mommy's turn to carry. Hahaha.. But she did Great!

The children busy maneuvering the control and pushing the button to make the Dino moves.

Description of the Dinos exhibited

Before we exit, they get to play with the sand for awhile.. - digging out bones. :) The entire dino exhibits area is kinda small, since it only took us half hour to complete. I was like.. "Huh? Thats it??" It would have been a better option by taking the guided tour instead (~45mins). Still, I was hoping there will be more Dinos and excitement to see. Ah well, at least the children had some fun. :)

Say Bye Bye to the Dinosaurs!

11:30pm. Just nice for LUNCH! Hubby saw there is a 50% off on the DimSum and Seafood menu

at Ah Yat Seafood Resturant... So here we are!

We ordered mostly Dimsum (e.g. siewmai, bao, jiaozi, changfen, carrotcake etc) and 1 small Chilli Crab since its one of the favourite dish which the whole family enjoys! (Including Denver & Gladys). Especially Denver.. He loves the Chilli Crab my mil made and always enjoy having crabs. Our Lunch Bill ~ $60SGD.

Next, it's shopping at Jurong Point before heading back home for a short nap. ^_^