Ear piercing at b*dazzle at Wisma atria

We all pierced our ears today. RaeAnne was the one who kept asking us to bring her. So we went all the way from Tampines to Bdazzled at Wisma Atria as recommended by my friends because it is 100% sterile since they use disposable cartridges sealed in packs. They also have two staff so both ears can be pierced at the same time. Better for kids.

But after RA chose the pure gold pink crystal earrings ($178), she chickened out n refused to sit on the chair. Kept trying to cover her ears. Grr.... So someone had to be the brave one n show her the way. Can't be Daddy so it was only Mummy. I have never pierced my ears b4 so it was hard for me to submit my virgin ear lobes to the nice ladies. They were trying to convince it to get the diamond earrings that were $500+. But it was out of my budget. Plus I already have a pair of tiny diamond earrings from my 四点金。So I chose a pure gold light blue crystal earrings to match RA's.

First, they wipe my ears with antiseptic solution then they dotted each ear lobes with a marker. Checking that they are balanced. Then they sprayed numbing spray on both ear lobes. The actual piercing was v fast n not v painful. Less painful than an injection I felt.

Both ear lobes were done together as they had 2 staff. Good for kids cos at least they cannot chicken out after piercing just one ear. If we had gone to parkway branch, each ear lobe must be done separately cos there is only one staff there.

After I have pierced my ears, it was RA's turn. She was still trying to shirk away but I got her to sit on my lap cos she was still afraid. But at least she didn't cry. RL saw both our earrings n decided she wanted to do it too. She chose the pink earrings too. She was brave n did not try to cover her ears but once the piercing was done. She cried loudly. The ladies had to pacify her with sweets. After taking 2 sweets, she was a sunny gal again. :p

Total damage : $556 including 2 bottles of ear care solution.

PS. The antiseptic solution smarts when I was cleaning the ear lobes. More painful than actual piercing itself. The gals screamed n i got to do it for the gals twice a day. Zzz....

Raelynn's girly dreams

I was clearing out the gals' school bags last night. Guess what I found in Raelynn's bag. Can't help but laugh. All the drawings she drew were the same. I asked her today why she keeps drawing the same thing - long haired gal. She said 因为很美嘛。 This gal definitely has the makings of a bimbo.... Haha.

River Safari, finally...

I think we are one of the most suaku family with two young kids below 6 years old who have not been to see Jia Jia and Kai Kai before. The two pandas have already celebrated their 1 year anniversaries here. At first, we were waiting for the crowds to go off b4 visiting then wanted to go to River Safari on Raelynn's 4th birthday on 2 Dec since admission is free. But I was sick and RaeAnne was sick so in the end, we went to see the doctor and gave it a miss.

Two days ago, I asked the gals to choose where she wants to go on New Year's Day. Multiple choice question actually. 1) River Safari 2) Gardens by the Bay 3) Picnic. Initally, RA chose RS and RL chose GBTB. But in the end, both decided to visit the pandas.

We set off from home around 10am. Not very early haha. It's a public holiday after all and I stayed up late for SBS drama awards show and countdown last night. Did not go to the Punggol fireworks countdown party in the end since it was a rainy night.

When we reached around 1045am, we were informed that the complimentary 15 mins boat ride is already full. River Safari opens at 9am, imagine the crowds that were here before us. 1 hour 45 mins and they are already full for the day? They are definitely not ready for full steam capacity, or maybe because the boat ride is complimentary and not chargeable yet.

Anyway, I am not really disappointed since the Amazonia boat ride has a minimum height limit of 106cm. RL wouldn't qualify and RA as usual is not keen. She is basically apprehensive about all adventure rides especially one that promises to get her wet. So, we walked towards the Panda reserve passing by numerous fish tanks along the way. For a moment, we thought we were at SEA aquarium at Resorts World. Lol.

The queue to see the Pandas was so super duper long (all the way to the fish tanks) that I gave up immediately and decided to bring the gals for early lunch, brunch for me. There is only 1 eatery inside RS, Mama Panda café so needless to say, the queue stretched outside the entrance. I waited 45 mins in all before we could all sit down and eat and with people hovering over us waiting to take our table once we finished. The panda buns were over rated. The new flavour, chocolate custard filling tasted not bad but it is too watery so RL got it all over her dress and I got it all over my fingers. Grr...

After lunch, around 1pm, we went to the Panda Enclosure again. This time, we were lucky. The queue was so much shorter. It started just slightly off the wooden platform. We queued for just 10-15 mins and got to see the pandas.

Kai Kai was fast asleep and it twitches and chews while asleep. So cute. Jia Jia who was supposed to be the more shy panda was in good mood today. She walked around and around and even ate quite a few stalks of bamboo shoots in front of us. We are quite lucky. If Kai Kai is asleep and Jia Jia is hiding in the cave, we would have really come to RS in vain. Haha.

After about 15 mins at the enclosure, we walked back towards the entrance, looping the other way. All in all, besides the pandas, only the catfishes, dugong, crocodile and squirrel monkeys really caught the gals' attention. Compared to the Zoo, RS's exhibits seem quite static cos there are no feeding times, petting area, waterplay or animal shows etc. Food choices was very limited. So, I don't think we will be back in a while unless the gals miss JJ and KK, of course.

I forgot to bring along a camera but the professional 'blue screen' ones were exp. $25 per photo or $50 package price. Not worth it since RL refused to smile at the photographer so I used the app to create my own instead. The magic of smart phone technology. Haha.

Yamaha's Graduation Concerts

RaeAnne graduated from the Junior Music Class and Raelynn from the Music Wonderland course today. It was a logistic nightmare trying to attend both their concerts cos RA's class is 12-1pm and RL is 1215 - 1pm. Luckily, RL's teacher held a last minute 20 min rehearsal so we could watch most of RA's concert before hopping over to RL's.

RA is able to play tunes with both hands though her notes reading is still very poor as Yamaha emphasized a lot on listening and solfege. RL can't play anything yet since MW is more for her to learn music, movement and rhythm.

We have started private music lessons for RA in Nov and will be continuing with it since RA's class is not progressing onto next year. Most of her classmates are going to Primary One next year so most parents opt for private lessons to free up the weekends.

As for RL, we tried out 1 month of pte music lessons for her in Nov but her attention span is too short. Plus she only knows C, D, E. Not able to recognise all her alphabets yet. So I will take a break from music classes for now until she is ready for private lessons. Or if Mummy changes her mind and musters up enough courage next year to sit through another 2 years of JMC with her. Haha.

Video of RA playing Falling Leaves

Raelynn performing "Won't you like to come out and play?"

Raelynn performing "Do re mi fa man"

Hello Kitty Star Cruise 8 - 11 Dec 2013

Happy 9th ROM anniversary!

长长久久,九九常常! ;)

Raelynn is 4 years old!!!

RL is finally 4 years old. She is 98cm tall and finally hit 15kg. She has been waiting for this day for months because she wants her birthday party goody bags. Haha. That's the difference about getting older. Last year, she was still a bit blur about her birthday.

This year, Mummy decided to do a bigger celebration since they will be graduating from ELFA soon. Next year is RA's last year and RL will be the year after.

The theme is Marie Cat since she likes cats and I got a customised Marie Cat cake from a home baker and hired a balloonist for 1 hr. All in, costs about $300. Luckily, I got the goody bag items cheap when we went to BKK in September. ;)We wanted to go out after celebrating her birthday at CC today. But it was raining and both RA and I are coughing so we went to see the doctor instead. Bought a skate scooter for RL during the March Isetan Private Sale so brought her down to skate scoot for a while. :)

Hari Raya Haji - SEA Aquarium

I had 2 adult tickets to SEA aquarium after signing up for RWS Invites earlier this year and I thought I had 1 more Adult and 1 more child tickets from Friso promotion too and they were expiring on 27 Oct so decided to bring MIL there with the gals since it was PH today.

It was a rainy morning, thunderstorm since early morning so by the time we reached USS it was already 1030am. Had some snacks at the Fish and crab shack while the gals enjoyed watching the Zheng Ho show again and again. RL was frightened by the roaring Pixiu dragon head initially though. haha.

As we walked in, RL was fascinated by the henna tattoo so she had a beautiful motif done on her left hand. That costs $8 but strangely RA didn't want one. The crowd was building up by the time she finished. Glad I had the RWS invites card to jump queue. But due to my booboo, the friso tickets had already been used on 16 June, hubby and RA had to go buy the tickets again before we can enter the aquarium.

It was our third time to SEA aquarium so the gals aren't exactly thrilled but they enjoyed looking at the big round column of circling fish, sea jellies, dolphins and touching the sea stars (not star fish as the staff corrected us sagely. "You don't call turtles turtle fish, do you?" Err.... turtles have 4 legs or flippers so of course they don't look like fish right?), and of course 'picnic' in front of the oceanarium pool.

RL was tired of walking rather early cos both she and RA insisted on wearing heels. Ended up carrying her very often at SEA aquarium. Note to self: must insist they wear comfortable walking shoes next time. We wanted to have high tea buffet at Starz restaurant but for some strange reason, it was not available. Only lunch buffet which ends at 2.30pm. It was already 2.10pm by then so it was pointless. Went to Coca restaurant instead since I had RWS invites rebates dollars to redeem.

The gals whined and fussed when we walked past the Hard Rock pool cos they wanted to play in the pool. Had to pacify them that we will come again. I have already booked Equarius hotel for end Nov for 3d2n staycation so that we can go to USS again before RL turns 4 years old. Admission is free for kids below 4 years old. Haha.

Legoland for the third time

It was a busy weekend for us. Last Sat afternoon after our PV duties, we joined our neighbours to go to LEGOLAND again. Glad to go again since we already signed up for the annual pass. As long as we go there twice, it will be worth it. It was all clear at Sg customs but JB's side we had to wait about 1 hour. Luckily, we had already fixed our car air con ($1500 flew away) so at least it was a cool n comfortable wait. RL ko before we reached SG customs so she had a nice 1 hr nap until we reached LEGOLAND.

This time, we went straight to Lego city as we didn't cover the last time we went. The gals tried the Junior Driving school car drive meant for 3-5 years old. They were quite bad cos they don't know how to straighten their wheels so they kept going around in circles. I think even the instructor gave up as they kept banging onto the curbs and getting stuck. Haha.

Then we went to watch the magic show before going for the big train ride. All 3 kids sit in 1 carriage so the adults got to relax and enjoy the ride. haha. RL really wanted to go to the slides at the Shipyard playground so I brought her there while Daddy accompanied RA and followed Lijia's family to the Fire engine station. After that, we queued up for the boat ride. RA was equally bad at steering the boat so we kept bumping onto the barricades as well. We even got sprayed with water by one of the 'ambush' spray jets. Daddy and RL gloated away cos they were in front of us and thus safe and dry. So mean. :/

After that, hubby tried his hands at the basketball game again but failed to win the blue, square angry bird that RA wanted. Think they set the standards higher since we last went in Dec 12 when he won 2 birds. We took a few rounds at the dizzying aeroplane ride cos RL really liked it.

Went for the 4d Chima show and joined Lijia's family there. Got sprayed by water again. Geesh... I should start wearing a poncho to LEGOLAND. But luckily the gals enjoyed it though RL's 3d goggles kept slipping off. We went to the Duplo playground again and the kids took the mini train ride themselves. RL sat in one carriage all by herself while RA shared one with Lijia cos all 3 kids only wanted the red carriages and there were only two red ones in the whole train.

Walked past the mini city, then a short stop at the gift shop before we went for dinner at Secret Recipe. The lamb shank was cold inside so I had to ask them to reheat. But other than that food was good. It was already 1015pm when we left and we were the last 4 cars remaining. Luckily, there were 2 security guards there but I wonder if we were making them work OT if they can only knock off after all cars leave. :P

Got Lijia's Daddy help to update our Garmin GPS so hopefully next time we can try going to LEGOLAND on our own and maybe we can visit the new LEGOLAND water park soon. ;)

PV duties at Poi Ching School

I just realised that I never blogged about this before. But I was accepted to be Poi Ching school's PV and started duties somewhere in August. I never thought I had to be PV but this year's Phase 2C was too competitive. 25 people were balloted out and they were all Singapore citizens staying within 1 km.

For the past years, SCs within 1 km had always been safe from balloting. Even the P told me that last year when I was still doing contract teaching at Poi Ching. Since I don't have a plan B (hb's alumni school Ngee Ann Pri was too far away), it was really important for me to be a PV to increase my chances. Luckily I had sent in my application early last year plus I was an ex staff.

We need to clock 60 hours. Most school require only 40 hrs so that is 50% more. But I heard St Hilda's require 80 hours and they also interview their PVs and select only a handful. So I am glad I am given the chance to be PV. My neighbour who realised too late how competitive this year's P1 registration would be, was not even accepted as PV cos the school said registration was already closed.

At first, I thought it would have been easy since I was a SAHM. What I didn't realise that I would take on a temp part time job in end July and this temp job is now converted to a contract position. So, I had to keep taking no pay leave to do my PV duties. But
I always thought PV duties are things like traffic marshall duties, clerical duties or even bringing kids on excursions. But surprisingly, the PV duties I encountered at the school were none of the above.

To those who are curious about what PVs do. Here's what I did so far:
1) Accompany P4 kids with their form teachers to pick rubbish from nearby park
2) Teacher's day celebration (lead the P1 kids in games in their classrooms) so that teachers can have their buffet lunch
3) Lantern Festival (help to sell tickets and school bears)
4) Monthly birthday celebration partie just last Sat (Games I/c)

Together, with hubby, we only clocked about 30 hours so far. Just hit our halfway milestone. Most of the 2008 PVs we spoke to already almost graduated cos they started way earlier. Stressed. Hope I can clock the 60 hrs soon so that I can qualify for phase 2B registration next year.