Chinese New Year Preparation 2012

As we are still struggling with our work load even until a day before Chinese New Year Eve, this year we had a very abrupt and simple preparation. At first, I was thinking to bake 1 or 2 types of cookies (pineapple cookies and seaweed crackers) but I really couldn't afford the time. In addition, Li Syuen and Li Ning were taking turns of the fever, I'm totally worn out.

But, just to let them have fun in baking, I bought a box of ready-to-bake butter cookies, a pack of chocolate rice and a pack of chocolate chip. We had a very short and simple session of baking and of course, we had FUN! Hubby joined in the FUN too!

This is OUR cookies! Though we BURNED 2 trays out of 4 trays, we were satisfied with our homemade cookies. We are going to keep it to ourselves as it might taste awful for others..(laughing out loud)!!

Then, we had our Chinese New Year shopping at Jusco and Tesco. We managed to buy some drinks, some mandarin oranges, some cookies and a hamper for my girls' nanny. Letting Li Syuen to arrange the mandarin oranges.

This year we cut down on the lighting decoration. We hung a pair of BIG GOLDEN lantern only. The lanterns looked golden during the day and during the night, it shines like MILLIONS of STARS! We like the lanterns and enjoy admiring it :)

Though we had a very RUSHING preparation, we enjoy the moment doing all the stuff together; from spring cleaning to decorating our house, buying all the stuffs, giving away all the gifts etc.

Now, my next challenge is preparing DESSERT for our very BIG family on Chinese New Year Eve. It is gonna be around 17 adults and 10 children. Eewwww...hope that they will like the dessert that I planned to prepare :) Wish me all the best (laughing out loud again)!!

Chinese New Year Lighting

Kuala Kuang is a village with most of them are farmers. My hubby and I have been working in this area for almost 7 years! It is a small village yet there were lots of activity and events going on here. Simply amazed by the effort put on!

Every year during this time, my hubby will drive us around the village either by bike or by car; especially during night time. It is because most of the houses will be decorated with beautiful lightings. I managed to take a few snapshots of it despite of the rainy day these days.

Colourful lightings..

A moving heart-shaped on the window..creative!

Beautiful red lanterns with flowers and a pair of moving lanterns!

Hand-made big ribbons with some lightings.

Red and multi-colours lightings!

All RED lightings! Oopss...my hubby's third brother's house :)

Blue "rain drops" hanging on the main door.

Li Syuen said like stars in the sky..hehehehe...

Multi lantern decoration.

This is my favourite! It looks like meteor shower from the sky! Amazing!

A simple heart shape!

Can you imagine that most of the houses in Kuala Kuang are beautifully decorated with all the colourful lights? It is just another "Bintang Walk", I guess. :)

I still remember that last year my hubby and I hanging all the lights at our home. It is definitely NOT an easy job. We have to think of the design, the length, the colour, the amount etc. Other than that, the lighting could be kinda expensive too. The very basic lighting could cost from a few hundreds! Some residents didn't hang lights but they hung their HANDMADE ANGPOW LANTERN! There are all kinda pattern but too bad I didn't manage to take the snapshot, hopefully can get a few next year. Anyway, I just love the Chinese New Year air in Kuala Kuang.

Animal n' Dino Footprint

Straight to the activity. This is our material; poster colour (though it is not a very good choice), some animals and dinos. As you noticed here, I prepared some plates rather that colour platter. The plates are more spacious for the kids to dip the animals' and dinos' footprint.

In this activity, we used a very long piece of paper rather than a drawing board as I wanted the kids to print tracks rather than just footprints.

The kids are excited! Li Ning loves to print the baby animals.

Li Syuen loves the activity too!

Cleaning the feet!

Out of a sudden, Li Ning started to role-play! Mummy Dino carried Baby Dino.

Another Baby Dino climbed up Mummy Dino's back!

She loves role-play with the dinos!

Never thought that she did it! Li Ning can make the Mummy Dino to hold the Baby Dino STEADILY!

This is our very LONG TRACK ROAD!

Role Play as a Doctor

These past few weeks, Li Ning is always down with mild flu. We took her to the doctor twice but there is no sign of getting better. I think that perhaps she had inherited from both her faher and mother. She was once hospitalized when she was just one year old due to airway inflammation. Since then, she often gets mild flu. Visit to doctor seems nothing new to her.

Maybe because of it, she loves to role play as a doctor. I focused on her and I found that her sequence of action is the same as the doctor. She will ask her patient's condition (her elephant) then, she will take the stetescope to listen.

After that, she will measure the blood pressure, give injection and medicine.

We, as her parents had nothing to ask from her except for her health. We are taking more precaution so that her condition could get better. We changed our bedsheet regularly, basked the mattress and soft-toys under the hot sun once a week, cleaning our home; both indoor and outdoor to almost 99% dust-free. Hopefully, all our efforts worthwhile.

Candy Christmas Tree

Every year during this time, we walk down the Orchard Road, Singapore admiring the lights and feel the Christmas air. Li Syuen and Li Ning always feeling so excited with all the lights and beautiful decoration. But, this year, due to the backlogs, we had no choice but to cancel our annual Singapore trip. The girls are disappointed including me.

Every time when Li Syuen saw Christmas decoration, she will start telling story about her experience to Singapore's Orchard Road. I guess that she really miss Singapore so much. In order to make her feel the happiness celebrating Christmas, my hubby and I decided to buy her a christmas tree.

Though we are not Christian, I think that no harm celebrating it! So, we bought a tiny little red-coloured christmas tree for both gals. They are overjoyed! As we had a very tight budget this month, we handmade the christmas ornaments. I still remember that the very first year that I brought Li Syuen to Singapore, she was barely 2 years old. And they used "candy" as their theme. So, I decided to use the candy theme too.

The tiny little christmas tree which we bought from S n M, Jusco costs RM8.90. Then, I bought 24 sweets and 4 lollipops cost RM1.60. So, our Candy Christmas Tree costs RM10.50!

They girls started to decorate it!

This is our very first CANDY CHRISTMAS TREE! We will decorate a different christmas tree next year!

Saliva dripping christmas tree...their big big mouth..hahahaha...

Long-awaited Kite Flying

The unpredicted weather made our promises to our two girls broke again and again. Finally the day has come with no RAIN, we are overjoyed. We quickly grabbed our kites and off we went. When reaching the field, we climbed up the cubes.

Oh great, no rain but no WIND too. Li Syuen shouted "big wind blow, big wind blow".

Li Syuen helped her daddy to fly the kite.

The happy girl ran here and there with her kite.

Again and again Li Syuen tried to fly her kite but failed. Li Syuen didn't give up, she tried again and again meanwhile, Li Ning was waiting for her turn to fly the kite. I personally admired Li Syuen's persistence.

Li Ning waited patiently.

Li Ning didn't complain but waited patiently until she laid down without much thought of the dirt around.

In order not to disappoint Li Syuen and Li Ning, hubby decided to make the kite fly by RUNNING. What a devoted father!

Finally, hubby succeed to fly the kite in the air.

To watch the kite soared in the sky made me feel "FREEDOM".

Two little insects happened to mating on Li Syuen's kite. This is a very good opportunity for us to show our two girls how insects mating. I guess that we were rewarded with such a time spent together happily. And of course, I'm sure both girls learned the required skill in kite flying and PERSISTENCE.

Rainy Season is Over

Since we bought the new bike for Li Syuen, we hardly had the opportunity to ride it as it is always rained in the evening. Every day, Li Syuen will pray that it won't rain in the evening. She was so glad that the sun is shining brightly in the afternoon. Then, she will tell me that "Mum, look! The sun is shining brightly. We can ride the bike this evening."

Words were spoken too soon. Out of the sudden the blue sky turned into stormy day, with thick dark clouds, with wind hollowing and Li Syuen became moody. Rain started to pour and Li Syuen knew that she couldn't ride her bike again!

So, whenever we had the opportunity to ride the bike, we will for sure go for it. Dinner was served late these days as we really grabbed the opportunity to ride the bike. Even though it was just a 5 to 15 minutes of ride, I can see that Li Syuen and Li Ning enjoyed the ride so much and so do we! We are happy to see that they are happy.

Li Ning is now riding the other tricycle. This tricycle used to cycled by Li Syuen, carrying Li Ning. Now, Li Ning cycled it, carrying her favourite doggie.

Making sure that her doggie doesn't fell off.

Pushing a lil' harder...

She still need some practising..so far, she is using her feet to push, not cycle..hehehehe...