I didn't remember we used to have a Racial Harmony Day but apparently yesterday 21 July was the day. Both the girls' schools had requested the kids to dress up in racial costumes.  So they wore their Chinese cheongsum to school. After school, both girls were suddenly inspired to draw the different people in Singapore and I suddenly recalled doing this together with them last year. 


http://bits-n-bites.livejournal.com/115451.html 


 
Andrea's drawing.


  

Anna's drawing. Her version of Merlion is rather er... "interesting. 



 And that's what our bo gei princess wore to school.  :P

We went to Hort Park on Saturday and what a pleasant surprise to discover such a lovely neat little park filled with pockets of nice creative gardens. There is also a nice little kids' playground, six greenhouses etc. It's just a great place for a pleasant stroll amidst the flowers and the greenery. It's amazing that there is always new discovery in this small island and I really like Singapore for that. There is also a nursery (a branch of Far East Flora) at the park and one can purchase their gardening needs there, how convenient!


The recycling garden is one interesting section, see the plant growing out of the used sanitary ware and broken suitcase.


Even used bathtub, potty and all the different types of crockery are used for gardening! :P


Pretty yellow boots made a nice pot.


There is also a section featuring a spice garden and the final spice products.


Oh, there is also this basement area that has on display terrariums of different shapes and sizes.


Charming wooden bicycle.


All the differnt figures you read about in the story, the Wizards of Oz.

Knowing that the Daddy will be home early tomorrow, the girls had drawn their welcome picture...



When I asked Andrea what's those round little stuff on the bottom right hand corner, she replied happily, "That's our presents from Daddy!"

So Daddy, you know what the girls are awaiting for now ya? "PPP

Just this afternoon, I brought the girls for ice-cream at our usual haunt nearby. It was a relaxing time as the cafe was relatively empty, Andrea was trying to figure out a wooden puzzle taken from the shelf at the cafe while Anna was looking through their story books. I had a chance to browse through a magazine. After having devoured the steak and mushroom pie and waffle with ice-cream, I decided to take the girls for a walk around the neighbourhood, an area that we had not really explored before today.

After walking for a while, we saw this quiet little playground and spent an entire hour there.
 

I got the girls together to make a terrarium after seeing one at their Art teacher's house.

First, we went to the plant nursery to get some small plants. I read that to make a terrarium, we need to find plants that do not need plenty of sunlight eg fitonia. We also got some little pebbles for the first layer and charcoal from the nursery.


First, I got the girls to put in the big pebbles at the botton of the jar. This helps to create drainage. After which we put in a layer of charcoal (can get the charcoal from nursery or aquarium shop). The charcoal is to keep the bottle smelling fresh if the environment becomes too moist. Then I cut up one pantyhose and line it above the charcoal. On top of it goes the soil and all the small plants. I get some small figurine from the kids' toy box to decorate and voila, we had a terrarium!

My niece also wanted to do one for her class prroject. Hence we did another one using cactus which require really little water.


Actually, I am not very sure if the cactus can thrive well in an enclosed environment like this, so will see how it grows in the next few weeks.


http://www.greenzonelife.com/gardening/gardening-projects/garden-in-a-bottle.html
http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/Activities/Crafts/Miniature-garden
http://www.wikihow.com/Grow-a-Garden-in-a-Bottle
http://www.gardeningwith.com/bottle_garden.html
http://www.artmakers.com/terrarium/questions.html

Argggh... I love the beautiful rendition of this song in SATC. The scene when this song was played was so poignant, I nearly teared. So, olimomok, pardon me but I am gonna grab this from you. ")



Carrie to Miranda: "You're Never Alone"

To save the hassle of cleaning up, I move the chalk board out of the house and let the girls doodle to their heart's content. For the past few days, around 6.30pm in the evening, Andrea will ask

A : "Is Daddy coming home for dinner today?"
Me: "Yes, why?"
A : "Oh, I am gonna give him a surprise!"

and the two sisters would busy themselves outside the house so that their daddy get to see their love notes the moment he steps out from the elevator.



Really melts the man's heart. Even requested me to take a picture of their drawings today for him to remember. "P

My neighbour came up to day and show me two pretty good websites.

www.56.com for shows and
www.5583.com for songs.

The girls did a gameboard during their recent Art lesson which I thought was rather interesting.

From their Teacher:
This collage activity allowed the children to create their versions of "Snakes and Ladders". Coloured paper, magazine pages, label stickers and handpainted materials were used for the collaged game boards. Pieces of foam were added behind some of the features of the game board to create a 3D effect.



Andrea did one with hotair balloon and ladder for going up and shooting stars for sliding down.


Anna did one with alligator and submarines.

We spent 3 days and 3 nights in Phuket together with Tata and Nainai.



( Read more... )

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http://www.imeem.com/rinkito/music/Wj2f6hOL/joi_chua_qing_xing_you_ni_ai_wo/


失去和拥有刹那的感动
人生有时候像一场梦
醒着的时候睁开了双眸
不如意的很多

朋友和情人来的来走的走
反反复复寻寻觅觅为了什麽
要多少时间才能够了解
其实有你就足够

握着你的手走过快乐和难过
黑夜白昼我们都曾经拥有
人生是没有定律的一种节奏
不如用心去感受

快乐的一刻胜过永恒的难过
黑夜过后就有日出和日落
两个人走不会寂寞
每一刻都会珍惜都会把握
庆幸有你爱我

失去和拥有泪水和笑容
人生有时候像一场梦
累了的时候闭上了双眸
谁在回忆上游

多少的朋友来的来走的走
聚散从来都不给任何的理由
转过身以后才忽然感受
你一直都在背后

握着你的手走过快乐和难过
黑夜白昼每个人都会拥有
人生是没有定律的一种节奏
不如用心去感受

快乐的一刻胜过永恒的难过
黑夜过后就有日出和日落
两个人走不会寂寞
每一刻都会珍惜都会把握
庆幸有你爱我

Unlike most Sunday morning where we simply laze around at home, we decided to get our bum out of the house today while it's still bright and early and ended up cycling at East Coast Park. I rented a 2 wheel bicycle for Andrea to try. It was her first attempt on a 2-wheel and she was really eager and determined to learn. While daddy followed Anna, I helped Andrea by holding on to her bike while she balanced herself. The start was tricky since she couldn't quite figure out how to keep her 2 feet on the pedal while holding on to the bicycle at the same time.  A few times, she was holding on to me instead of the bars to prevent herself from falling.  After a while, I decided to just let her tried on her own while I sat with Seong by the cafe and watched others on the cable ski. It took her like 20 minutes and suddenly we just saw her whizzing by, both feet on the pedal! :D

I didn't quite expect her to master the skill in such a short time and we were really proud of her! ** braggy braggy ** :P I was happy that she just kept on trying even when we left her on her own and didn't get frustrated by the initial failed attempts. It was heartening to see that "I did it!" smile on her face and that really made our day!


While the girls cycle...



 
We just sat by the park and watched the activity around us ....

  
Andrea trying and trying on her own...

 
"Mummy, I did it!  Did you see I can ride already!"

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Prince: Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair

Thought this craft that the girls did during one of their Art lesson was quite cute.

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Humpty Dumpty sat on the wall.



Humpty Dumpty has a great fall!


They used different fabric and glue them to a cupboard to make the figure they wanted. A string was attached to the back of the figure and the other end to a paper box.

Joting down some of the websites recommended by Andrea's school

Chinese Classroom Educational Website
http://www1.moe.edu.sg/dir/cl/

Chinese Culture
http://www1.moe.edu.sg/culturebridge

Happy Town
http://www1.moe.edu.sg/happytown/

Edulearn
http://primary.asknlearn.com

More websites
http://www3.moe.edu.sg/edumall/tl/other_sites.htm



Is there anymore that you know?

The girls did this over 3 lessons at Teacher's Bernice place. They were asked to draw a busy town with houses, cars and people during the first lesson. The second lesson involved them tracing their first picture by the window. The objective is to create a slightly different scene from the first picture but retaining the same background, a bit like a comic strip I think.


Kids at work "P



The last lesson is to add is the colours and ta-daa, their final picture...


Andrea's drawing - Scene 1 followed by Scene 2



Anna's drawing - Scene 1 followed by Scene 2