BFF (Best Friends Forever)

Up till now, Kimi still thinks that Enzo is only 'vacationing' at Brother Charlie's place.  And he still insists that Enzo is our dog. Kimi misses Enzo very much and everytime after visiting Enzo, he will want to bring him home.  Kimi will ask me persistently why we aren't bringing Enzo home.

I'm so sorry Darling, you will understand in a few years time.  It tears my heart too but this is the best for all of us.  After today's visit, I had a serious eye allergy which became an infection and I needed to see a doctor the next day.

But I am heartened to say that Enzo is doing so wonderful in their hands and he is so loved and fabulously taken care of.  All I can say is, "All Glory to Jesus!".  When we put our trust and life in His Mighty Hands, we can be sure He will make the path smooth and straight.  He made the way for us to find such a nice family for Enzo.  We are even more Blessed cos both families are close friends now and we can visit Enzo anytime.  Isn't that wonderful.  Thank you, Lord!

 BFF

 Kimi starting his antics again! :)

Sweet, tender moments - Precious!

Amongst Friends ....

Kimi's current favourites ....

Superheroes balloon sculptures from Church

 Knights and more ....

Knights!  :)

Morning @ The Gardens

We decided to bring Kimi for a morning walk in the Gardens and to play at Children's Garden today.  We only remembered when we arrived that it is a Monday and Children's Garden is closed every Monday.  What a bummer!

Nevertheless, Kimi had fun running, scooting, feeding the swans, chasing pigeons and playing with 2 labs! :)

 Kimi wanted to catch the pigeons despite my repeated 'no' - he just loves animals

 Scoooooooot!

 I love this pix of him running!

 Yup, again! I'm always taking pix of Kimi running cos that's the essence of Kimi - always on the move! :)

 A nice lady shared her bread with Kimi so he was enthusiastically feeding the pigeons

 And of cos not forgetting the swans.  Frankly, Kimi is so brave to let the swan eat from his hand cos these fellas can sometimes peck a little too hard.

 Kimi stepped on some wet mud and wanted us to clean him up - here he is showing off his dirty foot! Heez!

 Lovely Bamboo cluster in the background

 Ahhh.. Kimi's favourite!  He played with these 2 labs till the dogs were a little worn.  Kimi still insisting that this lab do more retrieving. Look how he is literally shovering the tennis ball into the dog's mouth?

 A boy and 2 dogs

 Lovely blooms - my fave!

 An owl perched on a tree?  When Kimi saw this way up high on a tree, he shouted to me excitedly to look at the owl up there.  I think momentarily he had forgotten owl are nocturnal. Hee hee!  I, too on first glance thought it was an owl but..... on closer look.... it actually was  .....

A bunch of dried leaves!  Haha!  Kudos to Kimi's sharp observation for something that was so high up and a vivid imagination!

Bento #65 - Mushroom Boys

Corn, bread onigiri and gummy

I first saw these cute mushroom boys in Amy's blog.  They looked so cute that I told myself I must make these for Kimi.  This bento was made for Kimi's snack time in Church.

However, he was very upset and told me that 2 girls snatched and ate his mushrooms!  Really, I am not sure to believe him or not cos Kimi CAN and WILL tell tall stories!  He has a VERY imaginative mind.  Well, I prefer to give him the benefit of the doubt.  So, I told him to let his teachers know in future when something like this happens.

Blessed Children's Day

Kimi with his early Children's Day presents from Grandma (Transformer) and Aunty Charmaine (Noah's Ark T-shirt).  Look how happy he is! :)

Racing Into F1

We were so blessed when our neighbour and hb's colleague gave us 2 VIP tickets to the F1.  Although it was not the actual race night, both father & son had a great time bonding.  I had the luxury of going for a quiet, un-rushed dinner and a little shopping.

But, frankly, I didn't even noticed that I did not slow down and continued to wolf down my food and walked quickly instead of a leisurely stroll in the shopping centre.  I only realised when I was on the phone with Karen who asked me where I was rushing to and why I sounded hurried.  It was only then it hit me that I had been too accustomed to being in a rush that I had forgotten to slow down.

What's more, with a few hours on hand, I felt so lost that I didn't know what to do or where to go.  I felt so lousy walking aimlessly.  I was so happy when hb called to ask me to pick them.  After 3 hours on my own, I wanted to go home, really. :)

 All decked up and ready for action!

 Cool!

 This must be Kimi's highlight cos he likes all things POLICE! Haha!

 When I picked them at Raffles Hotel, Kimi asked hb to take a pix of him with the Ferrari - Kimi loves fast cars!

Lantern Festival

Kimi is so excited over Lantern Festival this year as he loves playing with sparkles!  He chose this Batman lantern as he is really into all these Marvel Comics Superheroes at the moment.  His favourite being Ironman, Batman and Incredible Hulk.

 Posing with his favourite lantern

When I asked if he could just relax his eyes and not let them go into slits when he smiles, he gave me this forced 'open eyes' expression! Lol!

And then quickly changed into this 'monkey face'.  I bet Kimi will grow up to be a joker!  He can be really funny at times and try to pull silly stunts to make us laugh. Sweet!

Croc Farm Visit

Wow! I know this is terribly overdue but better late than never I guess. :)

During the September school holidays, 1 of the activities we did was to visit the Crocodile Farm.  Kimi has been bugging me to bring him to see the crocs for sometime now - ever since I let out that there was one nearby.  So I roped in Karen and her daughter for a morning of croc fun!

Frankly I didn't place alot of hope in seeing many crocs here as I know this farm since I was small.  This farm has been around for at least 30 to 40 years.  And the facade hasn't changed a bit since.  Hence, I thought there would only be a miserly few crocs.  But hey, I was wrong!  There were sufficient crocs to pique the little ones' interest that we spent an hour plus there!

The kiddos at the entrance

Besides crocs, there's this turtle that was rather frisky

Kimi's fave spot - an abandoned fountain turned crocs display

There were quite a few species at the farm

This is the oldest and largest croc there - the uncle working there told us that this croc was already there when he started working at the farm about 30 over years ago.  Scary! I won't even want to be near its enclosure (see video below for croc feeding)

Info galore! Kimi touching a real stuffed croc's teeth! You can purchase study/activity kits of various age groups at a very reasonable price.  It's a must get as there are useful croc info

The uncle stringing up the chicken necks for feeding as Karen and Kylie looks on...

Waving an unwilling good-bye

We were also so blessed to experience the process of croc feeding - scary is the word.  Nevertheless, the kids and moms had fun and learnt a fair bit here and I am sure we are going to be back soon.  As we made our way out, Kimi asked to visit again. :)

Singapore Crocodile Farm

790 Upper Serangoon Road Singapore 534660

Tel +65 6288 9385

http://www.singaporecrocfarm.com/index.html

Pls excuse my video-taking skills as I had to carry Kimi in 1 hand and made sure he don't get too close and my camera from now falling off my hands - phew, not an easy feat at all!

Momotaro - The Peach Boy and Friends

I just realised that I've missed out posting sooooo many plays that I've brought Kimi to.  I'd better catch up on that else Kimi would thought that all he did when he was small was stay at home while his little friends, Estelle and Enbi were out enjoying every play and concert available!

We went for this play which Kimi likes very much (he even made me buy the story book much later after watching the play) with his usual 'kakis' (read : friends).  But the parking at LaSalle almost gave me a heart attack so no more parking at this place next play!

Kimi and Enbi. I love how Enbi looks in this pix, she seems all grown up like a young lady! Sweet!

 Kimi posing with the animal friends

Blessed With A Castle

Hb came home this morning with this HUGE present for Kimi.  Actually, Kimi has been eyeing this Playmobil castle for the longest time and hb decided to get it for him during this trip to the US.  So he ordered it to be delivered to our sil, Julie's place in the US.

We were stunned when they wanted to pay for it and bless Kimi with the castle! :)

Thank you so much Uncle Peter and Aunty Julie for the castle, Kimi loves it and plays with it EVERYDAY!  This is the largest castle in Playmobil and we are amazed by its detailings, etc. Awesome toy!

 Kimi who just woke and can't wait to show his thankfulness to Uncle Peter and Aunty Julie for the toy

 Unpacking the huge box

 Halfway through assembling

 Almost done! See how big that even Kimi can sit inside!

Awesome toy!

Bento #64 - Not Exactly Green Frogs

Broccoli mixed with rice and shaped into balls for frogs, turkey ham & nori for facial cut-outs, steamed egg with minced pork, baby corn and steamed fish with soya sauce

I really miss my hob.  You'd only realise how much you rely on using fire to cook when you lose it.  So, it is still simple meals.  Guess, it is healthier? Cos everything is steamed. :)

As I was making a simple dinner tonight, I thought I could spare some time to make a froggy themed bento for Kimi.  This is relatively quick and easy to do.  Just shape rice and attach cut-outs, arrange and we are done.  Kimi was very happy to see the froggies as he is currently into frogs.

I had wanted to use the green Furikake to tint the rice but realised that I didn't have any left.  So, I snip off the green florets of the broccoli and mixed it with hot rice.  It's surprisingly tasty and I think it's another good way to hide vegetables if your kids don't like broccoli.

These days I enjoy buying live fish from Sheng Siong supermarket as it is so cheap.  Imagine S$7.90 for a live seabass?  We love having steamed fish and I will make steamed fish every time hb is home.  Kimi is just like papa and loves fish, especially steamed whole fish.  He can eat 1 whole side of a fish on his own. :)

Oops, just realised that my placemat is so crumpled! Haha! Must iron next time *blush* !

Bento #63 - Caveboys!

 Hearty Beef Stew, coloured cubed rice decorated with fish floss for the hair, nori for facial features, ham and nori for their animal skin clothes, cocktail sausage for their clubs, broccoli and corn

I've not done any bentos for the past week cos I was too busy and too tired.  Since I had a little time today, I made 2 little caveboys that was inpired by the Bento Book which Lia gave to me.

Last week we had the gas-man to check on my cooking hob and he confirmed it was leaking so they disconnected it and I am without any cooking gadget till we buy another replacement.  So, I'm left with making 1 pot meals using either the steamer, rice-cooker, slow cooker or oven.  It's not too bad now that I'm getting used to it. :)

Our 1 pot-meal for dinner today is Beef Stew with rice instead of potatoes.  It's a little cool tonight as it was raining in the afternoon till early evening so it is so wonderful to tuck into steaming hot rice and Beef Stew, yums!

I used tomato ketchup to tint 1 of the caveboys red/orangey and tumeric dissolved in water for the other yellow caveboy.  However, the ketchup didn't make the boy look orangey enough.  Maybe colouring would be better.  Well, next time. :)

Kimi Speaks .... I want a pet

These days, Kimi has been asking for a pet.  He also has been parroting me all the time - action and speech.  I tell you, it can be rather irritating.  The other day when Kimi asked for a pet again, this was what I told him.

Kimi : Mama, can I have a pet?
Me : Pet? We already have a pet.
Kimi : (excitedly) Huh? Where?
Me : Kimi, you go and stand in front of that mirror there. Go. (the large mirror in our hall). 

Kimi stood there and asked me where is the pet.

Me : You! My parrot. Our pet.
Me, hb & Kimi : *Burst out laughing!*

After 10mins and in our bedroom, Kimi came up to me and said.

Kimi : Mama, you have 2 parrots, me and papa!

Me : Lol!

More Bento Pressies

I've been getting pressies after pressies these few weeks and I really feel so loved and blessed!  Thank you all, my dear friends and family!

Julie gave me a bagful of Bath & Bodyworks products - hand sanitisers of all sorts and handcream! Wow!  And my neighbour Karen, bought these for me during her recent trip home to Ipoh.

Round cutters and super cute and small Thomas Snack box - I love it! Great for 2 small sealed sammies? :)

Bento tools that Karen Hoh helped me to buy

What a SURPRISE!!

The Cover

So many tips and steps and cute bentos too!

Firstly, I just want to say "THANK YOU, Lia for blessing me with this wonderful book!"

I was screaming with joy literally when a good friend and bento-mama sms me and told me I had won the  book which Lia had organised.  I was shocked for a while and couldn't remember what it was.  Then it hit me! I couldn't believe it!! Me? Winning the book? I've never had such 'luck' with draws and what nots.

I could only say it was, "All Glory to Jesus!".  Cos I remembered as I entered in the give-away, I told Jesus that I really liked that book.  I had never expected that I would be Blessed.  How loving our Abba Father is?  He not only blesses us with big things but listens to our hearts and can't wait to show His love to us.  What a Loving and Mighty God we serve!

We have been looking at the book from cover to cover and Kimi has been telling me he wants this and that.  Really, the designs are so intricate, I'm not sure iff I can replicate it! 

Once again, Thank you Lia for this wonderful book!