this is not kkk...

just a knight wannabe in his homemade costume. 

Last day @ Daddy's office in Frankfurt. Daddy was busy packing, Mommy talking, Kristin sleeping, while Bryan was engrossed in taping up his costume. 

thank you, McKenna!

Just three days before we left Frankfurt, we managed to get the kids' teacher at the preschool to do a photo session with us. We haven't received our photo CD yet, but McKenna knows just how anxious we are to look at the pics. So she did a preview for us on her blog. 

The shots are brilliant! Now I can't wait for the CD to arrive! 

Here are some shots of the kids... 

So these photos can be used for casting purposes?? What do you think? 

one last time on Feldberg...

Just half an hour drive out of Frankfurt city, one can scale some height of a 1000 m in the Taunus area. This green reserve is often a lure to people who like to hike in the summer or sled/ski in the winter. In our very last year, we found ourselves up on Feldberg pretty often, in fact all four seasons: Spring time with the surprise snowfall during Easter, to fly a kite in summer, to enjoy the warm sun in autumn and just one last chance to sled during the second last weekend of November. 

By the way, according to my past experience (after all, I've lived on and off for about 10 years in Germany), a winter is only good i.e. shiok with plenty of snowfall, when there's snow by the 2nd half of November, which was the case before we left Germany, and is the situation right now. Bet our friends there must be enjoying the snowy days. As I type this entry, it's minus 10 centigrade now with light snowfall in Frankfurt. Comparatively, chances of snowfall in Frankfurt are already much lower than where I used to study since Frankfurt in situated by the river Main and is much lower in altitude compared with Kassel. Quite unfortunately, we didn't manage to sled much the past couple of years when winter was very much an extension of autumn/spring. 

Anyhow, here are a couple of pics of us in the fluffy snow on Feldberg, just the situation I was saving our sleds and snow boots for. But I did forget something, hadn't I? Just stare at the picture below closely! 

on two types of English...

I was lamenting about how quickly Bryan lost all his American-ness in his speech. Just a week ago, on his first day of school in fact, we were out having lunch at a kopi-tiam nearby. The fishball noodle lady was surprised by how much English both Bryan and Kristin spoke. Actually, the surprise is on us. We're amazed at how much Chinese the rest of the kids in Singapore speak. We're lagging so far behind! Anyway, the lady thought that we weren't Singaporeans - terrible Sg mom here who doesn't speak Chinese with her own kids. Well, I begged the lady for a chance... we'll buck up and learn Chinese, can?! Ok, I'm not bragging to say that my kids speak well... please don't get me wrong. But the fishball noodle lady noticed something different about the kids' English. Yep, definitely not the slang or accent. Just the complete sentences I think.

BUT all these complete sentences were COMPLETELY gone by the end of the week, when Bryan was talking "need lah, wan lah, no lah, yes lah, oso can lah, so farnee lah" to his Daddy. 

Two nights ago, he even told me to "e-Lase" his word. 

Excuse me, what did you just say? 

Oh Mom, I prrrretending to speak Indian! I meant "erase". 

Yesterday, we were out at NTUC for groceries. And there he went again, my flavoulite! 

Huh, what? Sorry, I don't understand what you want. 

Now Mommy, this is what happens. I speak two types of English. I have forgotten what the actual word is now. The only type of English I can remember is the type of English I heard when I was still in your tummy. You don't understand it, Mommy. So when my brain can't remember the real English word, it goes back to the other type of English. 

So it's not Indian anymore? Another type of English.... yes indeed. 

Yep, just admit it. My son speaks Singlish alright in just a week of kindergarten. You can tell that we're settling in well. 

who needs Lego...

when there are clothes pegs! 

Mom, this is a fighter jet! Oooh... look at the canon shooters at the sides! 

Guess being a part-time SAHM in Singapore is opening up new perspectives. Kids are innovative by nature, in whatever culture they are placed in. Even clothes pegs can be toys. Back in Germany, we had no opportunities to play with clothes pegs coz clothes were either tumble dried or left on a drying rack. This is a new laundry culture that the kids welcome. 

Bryan's first day of school...

Tear-free, but lots of stress. Bryan just couldn't wait to get to kindy. He asked every other second while we were in the bus when we were arriving in the kindergarten. Today's an exception, being the first day of school plus school bus ride, I was allowed to ride with them. Yep, being the first few to board the school bus, the usual journey of 10 min was stretched to 45! So we were barely in time at 8.45 am. Immediately he ran off to his classroom. I couldn't keep up with him since I had to drop off Kristin at her classroom in another block. By the time I went to check on him, he came up and told me to leave. "Why are you still here, Mommy? You can go now. See you later!" 

I think Bryan hasn't cried since the 10 days he spent crying when I placed him in a pre-pre-nursery class at 23 months. Just go, Mom. School's fun. Yep, I think those 10 days are probably valid for the next 10 years of first day of school. :) Therefore, contrary to what most parents think, crying on the first day or first few days of school is common and not a traumatic experience to the children at all. And it will only do more harm than good to the crying children, if the parents choose to linger. Just go, Moms and Dads. School IS fun! Hee... just soothing my guilt for leaving a crying Kristin on Day 1. 

Can you find Bryan? 

Kristin's first day of school...

 

She cried... she was reluctant to go to school. Aiyoh... painful and I think we were the only parents who deposited our kid and left straight away. For many, this was truly the first day of school ever. But for Kristin, she should know the drill. She's been through 2 first day of school already. Her actual first day of school was totally free of tear. She was one of the two who didn't scream for mom and dad. The other boy too had a sister in the same school. 

But today, she was just being clingy. She did cry, for 15 min. And then she went on to play. By the end of the day, Mrs Wong assured us that she was all smiles again. 

new year's eve @ esplanade

This will be the last night that we're sleeping in a hotel room. We had been living out of our suitcases in a hotel room since November 12th. Life will be returning back to normal soon, though there still will be lots of unpacking and fixing to be done in our "new" home. Well, "new" coz officially this has been our address for almost 7 years, though Alan and I have hardly lived in it, much less the kids. So we're back from Germany, back in Singapore for a fresh start. 

And nope, I'm not gonna start a new blog. This will continue to be back in Germany as a blog address, while we'll be back from Germany, for now. 

And here's to a wonderful 2009, Happy New Year everyone! 

our house has arrived!

We weren't exactly given a chance to catch a breath. Our container arrived at the foot of our building at 9.30 am! 

This will be unleashing the 195 boxes from our home in Frankfurt for unpacking. In addition, we brought back another 16 pieces of luggage when we flew back on Christmas Eve. I'm not looking forward to my next few weeks. What did they say this day was again? Boxing Day? Yeah, right! 

Christmas is in the air

Our calculated move to sacrifice part of Christmas and fly back to Singapore in a relatively empty long haul flight backfired! 

Who would have thought that the earlier flight from NYC to Frankfurt and then to Sg would end up having technical troubles and then cancelled? Who on that flight would have thought that he would miss Christmas in Perth/Sydney? Who would have thought that our flight would become part of the replacement to get the passengers home as soon as possible? 

I was told that there were no bookings for 1st class that night, while the business class and economy had 12 and 80 booked passengers respectively. So really, we could have had one row each to ourselves to sleep! BUT... sigh, no luck lah! 

In any case, our kids were really angels! They ate, watched videos, and slept. We made the wrong move of placing Alan between the kids during the 1st 8 hours of the flight, while I sat a row behind them with a mom and a son. Though I don't understand much Italian, the woman was scolding her son the whole time to keep still, while in actual fact, I didn't even hear the son make a single squeak. I think my kids were much louder than him. And then, she continued to apologise for scolding her son. I was, huh? Much later, she told me that she was afraid of flying. So that was the reason why she was so uptight that even each breath her son took would irritate her. In the end, I couldn't get a single wink in the first 8 hours until I switched place with Alan. And it was fantastic. The kids and I managed to contort ourselves into some positions which allowed all of us to lie down for a while. Actually, I was the one choreographing the moves, while the kids slept through. Alan was happy to get his aisle seat to stretch his legs. 

Comparing with our other single trip out of Sg three years ago, this flight went like a breeze. Then, I was travelling with my parents, Bryan at 27 months and Kristin at 12 weeks. A toddler who wanted to go up and down the aisle and a baby that I had to carry out of the bassinet once the seat-belt-sign was on. And this time round, we just slept... all slept even it was a couple of hours for me... it really is getting easier and easier each time we fly. Guess what? They don't even need their milk anymore when we travel. 

Krisworld never fails to captivate the kids' attention. Yes, Singapore Airlines is a great way to fly, indeed! 

last fruits...

These were the last batch of chilli I harvested from our balcony before we moved out of the apartment. They were all freshest of green in November. 

A month later, they all turned beautifully red. Alas, no more opportunities to cook. 

Bye bye my last fruits! 

bye bye my garden! 

sushi chef

Ever since Bryan made a new friend from Korea in his kindergarten this year, he's been into seaweeds and maki's. It wasn't difficult to get him excited about dinner one night when I said we were going to make maki's. He was very ready to help indeed. 

"I can make sushi's, Mom. It's very easy," he boasted. 

Thus came the challenge after having observed me for a few rounds. 

Yes, you're up, Bryan! 

Not too bad for a 5 yo and a first-timer. 

If only Kristin was into eating maki's too... 

smuggled aqua

Nowadays, I'm usually dehydrated whenever we fly. It isn't so much due to the dryness inflight, rather the security regulations intact to make sure nobody brings bottled water through the security area. And searching for a bottle of water at the duty free area's can sometimes be as difficult as looking for water in a desert! 

Bearing all those security regulations in mind, we had a water parade just before entering the checks. And this was the only one we forgot. It was still in our bag. A few days later, as I was unpacking I discovered this little bottle of aqua. Apparently, the Spanish checks at Barcelona had missed it. Tzzk tzzk tzzk! So much for safety regulations! 

bryan the daddy

During the Christmas concert last Friday, Bryan was playing Daddy to three boys and a baby. This was Bryan, the Daddy Pilot with his lovely wife, Daria! 

It's pretty obvious that he'd like to have children too, right? 

Wait till he discovers expired warranty!!! :D

it's too late now, isn't it?

Daddy, if you're reading this, you should know that our son here has the utmost sympathy with you. He told me, "Poor Daddy. He's back in Singapore working. Must be very boring and tiring." 

And me here? How come I never seem tired enough to the kids? I have been doing nothing other than shuttling them around between school and play dates and then fussing about their meal times, bedtime routine and sleep... and then my night duties to do dishes and laundry begin. 

In my very nasty mood and total exhaustion, I asked Bryan and Kristin a rhetorical question: Why didn't I keep a hobby instead? Yep, instead of... What a bad mom I am! 

Bryan was quick to catch my exasperation and replied, "But it's too late now, isn't it? You shouldn't have ordered us from God." 

Yes, certainly my own fault! 

He went on, "And you can't give us back to God now."

"So will you want to have children when you grow up?"

"Ermm, no thanks Ma. I can't. I want to be an astronaut. Astronauts can't have kids. Err... wait, I think I can't make an astronaut. I probably have to wear glasses. So errm... I can be a rocket scientist instead." 

Hey, rocket scientists or astronauts can still procreate. Besides, won't you wanna know what Bryan's kids might think about (not) having kids in the future?