A1 turns 6

Few months ago when I asked A1 what he would like as his birthday party theme, he told me without hesitation that it would be Mickey Mouse. So, on saturday he had a Mickey Mouse birthday party with his friends.

I made Mickey Mouse birthday invitation cards and slipped the invitation paper into the pockets for ten children. I would like to keep the party small with 6 guests and A1 obliged by giving me just six names though he had many friends whom he played with in school. Seeing him carefully choosing the names of the six children, I relented and told him to just name who he wanted to have at his party. In the end 9 children turned up. 

 As I had left over black felt fabric from last year's party where I made pirate hats, I bought red felt and sewed 11 Mickey Mouse goodie bags. In the goodie bags, there was Mickey Mouse pencils (my brother gave me a few dozen last year), Mickey foldable fans or Mickey purses which I bought from Daiso in Singapore and sweets and bouncy ball and Mickey chocolates that I bought from our recent trip at Disneyland Paris.

This time round, I made a Mickey pinata from cardboard. Compared with the Green Globlin pinata, this pinata took less time to make. The kids were surprised to see plastic plates serving as Mickey's ears.

The night before, I made Mickey and Minnie sugar cookies. They turned out better and tasted better than the Mickey birthday cake I made.  

 On the day itself, my friend lent me her girl's Mickey and Minnie. I put the pair on the garden chairs to watch over the bowls of sweets and cherry tomates and cookies.

 For games, it was Seb who organised. We had team games and the children enjoyed themselves. With the good weather, they had fun just running around the garden.

  And again, my pinata was unbreakable though it was made of thin cardboard. We had a hard time breaking it. The children were happy with the sweets and goodies in it.

A1 received many presents as usual. When mothers asked me what A1 would like as presents, I checked with him. He replied 'I let you decide.' That is so A1. He is contented with any present. So I told the mothers to give him a surprise.

He got a small car, a Planes toy, a Captain America toy, a set of Sports UNO (waterproof), a LEGO camping car set which took him an hour to build by himself, a mini NERF gun, a cross bow etc. As we do not buy toy guns for our boys, A2 was excited with the NERF gun. A1 being a kind big brother offered the NERF gun to A2 while he played with the cross bow. We gave strict instructions to never point the weapons at people and animals. Handsome had already swallowed two out of the three NERF foam darts.  We had to buy a few more.

At the last thirty minutes, I took out balloons and twisted swords for the children to play. We also blew bubbles. One boy was chasing the bubbles that he run into the hedge and suffered a cut just below his eye. He was crying and covering his eye. It took a few minutes for the bleeding to stop. That was the stress of having so many children in the house.

After all the children left, while having dinner, A1 thanked me for the party. A2 added that I was the best of all mothers. I was delighted that the boys had a good day and appreciated our efforts. I shall gladly do this while it lasts. My colleague's daughter who was turning 18 asked her parents to leave her the house alone for her birthday party. My colleague had to plan an evening and night out with her husband to leave the house. That would be in a dozen year's time for me.

Happy Easter Sunday

It's Easter Sunday today. It is funny to watch my two boys looking for eggs while the older cousins watched and helped. The cousins were the one who hid the eggs. Only a few years back, it was the adults hiding the eggs for the children. Kids do grow up fast. 

We were blessed with lovely weather. The sky was blue.

Among the chocolate eggs were a few beautifully crafted chocolates. Of course, they were table center pieces and not hidden for the boys to find. Such a delight to the eyes that I do not bare to eat it.

There were about a hundred chocolates in total. As usual, the harvest was shared among the four boys. Here is the basket full of chocolates for A1 and A2. To be taken with moderation, of course.

Our driveway

Recently, we got rid of the gravels covering our driveway and replaced them with nicely laid setts.

Seb and I could not stand the gravels though it is common to have gravels covered driveway due to the low cost. When coming home, it was easy to pick up the gravels into the house with our shoes. Also, we often had to tell the boys to stop playing or throwing or kicking the gravels around. 

After much discussion and getting quotations from different contractors, we decided to pave our driveway with setts. Another option was having asphalt concrete like the road but in red colour. Seb felt that setts made the driveway looked more classy and it would last longer.

So the works begun with a compact excavator digging up the gravels and the soil. Then, a big truck came to remove them.

After that, the dump truck came with a mountain of fine gravels which was flattened.

Once the preparation works were done, came the moment to pave the setts. The contractor laid the sett one at a time on our 100m² driveway. It was a tough job. The setts were heavy.

When that was done, cement was poured over as the joints between the setts. We waited a few days for the cement to harden and the finished product was one beautiful driveway.

All these in a total of 13 working days. Two and a half week. We are very happy with the result. The boys can now cycle from the garden to the driveway. Round and round the house. Seb and I do not miss the gravels at all. The above photo was taken when the setts were wet. When dried, the setts were lighter in colors and more lovely.

There are still a few things to do to improve the house. We can cross out the driveway on our list. So far, we had done major works to our garage, changed the front and back doors with better thermal isolation. Not to mention fix broken down fixtures. With spring here, it is time to take care of the garden.

Batam

We spent 4 days 3 nights in Batam just before Chinese New Year. It was a big family gathering with my family in Singapore and my brother's parents-in-law. In total, there were 11 of us. My brother and my sister-in-law (SIL) helped to organise the whole trip. We stayed at Harris Waterfront. My Singaporean friends asked why we stayed so long at Batam and why we chose the hotel which was secluded.

Singaporeans usually would stay for 2 days one night at the center of Batam to enjoy massage, shopping and cheap food. We prefered a quiet place with a big pool. Harris Waterfront suited us well. It was a distance from the center (30mins drive). And 4 days 3 nights was just right for us to chill and relax. 

The older folks in the group headed to the center everyday to enjoy the above three activities I mentioned. Our boys stayed in the pool the whole day. They enjoyed themselves a lot in the water. 

We hired a mini-bus with a driver for two days to bring us to places. On one evening, we had a seafood dinner at another end of Batam. The boys helped to pick fresh scallops. We had crabs, flower crabs, seashells, fish, scallops etc. It was a feast yet we only paid SG$130 in total. That was really cheap.

In the bus, A1 and A2 were happily counting the many motobikes in Batam. We were amazed to see whole family on a motobike. The boys were alarmed to see that some did not wear a helmet. I could not understand how the adults would wear a helmet while their children were unprotected.  

While Seb took care of the boys at the pool, I did go out with the folks for massages. I paid 20€ for 90mins of massage. Recently, I went with a friend for a massage in France. I paid 100€ for 50mins. I do miss the cheap and good massage in Batam.

We had a good time in Batam. Two years ago, we visited Bali. We couldn't compare the two places of course. But seriously, Batam is good enough for us. The boys were just happy to be at the pool. Seb however would prefer a place with a nice beach. Maybe the next time would be Bintan.

We really enjoyed this family gathering. My boys got closer to my family during this trip. As for me, I am thankful that my SIL planned everything for us. I did not have to take care of logistics which made the stay even more relaxing.

I would recommend this hotel. There was not a big crowd maybe because of its location. My 2 boys had the big pool to themselves on one afternoon. This place is affordable and though it might be run down in certain areas, the friendly staff makes the stay really pleasant. They even performed welcome dance and breakfast dance. It lives up to its motto. Simple, Unique, Friendly.

Homesitters

During our recent Singapore trip, our concerned friends asked what we did to our pets. I explained to them that we got housesitters to take care of our house and pets. Most were amazed by this unexpected answer. Further discussion led most to conclude that this arrangement was not for them.

At first, this was what Seb thought too. He was not comfortable with the idea of having strangers staying in our house while we were away. But I had a colleague who had had his house looked after while he was away and things turned out fine. Putting Handsome in a pet hotel during winter was harsh and he would be miserable. Bao Bei too would not be happy away from home. While on Facebook, I saw an ad from TrustedHouseSitters. I clicked on it and read more about the service. Everything was listed clearly on the website and it had good comments from reliable references.

I took up a month's membership, put up a posting description our house, our pets and the dates we were away. Right away, I had almost ten requests. Mostly retired couples who wanted to see the world while helping out to take care of the house and animals. There were children books author, retired researcher, professor and teachers among these candidates. Most were from USA and Canada. As this TrustedHouseSitters is an UK website, most members are english speaking.

Since all of them have reports on police check and experience in taking care of animals, it was hard for us to decide who to accept. Based on first come first serve basis, Seb and I had a Skype conversation with Chris and Eve since they were among the first to write to us and were quick to reply which time I posed questions. They wanted to escape the cold snowy winter in Canada and France was an ideal place for them.

We decided on them and as planned, they arrived on a monday, stayed at a hotel for the night and came over to our place on tuesday afternoon. We brought them around the town to show them the essential stuff and the forest walk with Handsome. We had raclette for dinner and they enjoyed this chessy meal.

The next day, we flew to Singapore. During our stay in Singapore, our housesitters took great care of our animals. They were homely people and visited Paris only once. They visited Orleans, Chartres and Rambouillet and enjoyed my quiet village. I knew these because we communicated regularly by email.

When we returned, Chris and Eve continued their vacation visiting friends in Scotland before heading home. Pior to coming here, they had spent a week in England taking care of a pet lizard. All these for free. I provided free lodging for them and in return, they took care of my pets and my house. This is a win win situation.

We are blessed to have such ideal housesitters. I heard from my neighbours that the couple walked Handsome very often.

I do not mind using TrustedHouseSitters again in future if we have to be away for a long time. For the moment, pet hotel is ideal for that few days of getaway. 

Chinese New Year in Singapore

This year's Chinese New Year was during the boys' winter school holiday so we took the opportunity to spend it in Singapore. This is a first for the boys and they enjoyed themselves.

Thanks to The Wacky Duo, I found a few places featuring lion dance and brought the boys to watch them. They totally loved it. I was surprised to catch a dragon dance at Suntec. As it was a monday, the crowd was small. The boys got to sit right in front of the show.

We visited Chinatown to get into the mood of Chinese New Year. It was hot and soon the boys were bored. I did managed to get some souvenirs for friends back in France. We stopped at a coffee shop for drinks and that four cold drinks cost us $17.80. No fresh fruit juice, no beer, just lime juice and soda. Boy, that was a rip off.

We could see sheep and goats everywhere as it is the year of the ram.

On the first day of Chinese New Year, my mother gave the boys each an ang bao (red envelope with money in it). The boys opened the packets immediately in front of her. I had to explain to the boys that it was not christmas where we opened the presents right away. I told them to put ang bao they received in my bag and I would help them keep them. At the end, we could go shop for a present each. The boys did just as told when we visited relatives and friends. I also had friends over at my mother's place. My boys were impressed. They told me “Maman, you have many friends.”

I am happy that they get to celebrate chinese new year in Singapore at this age. Though the trip in Singapore was short as we spent a few days in Batam, the boys had a taste of how Singapore celebrates Chinese New Year. A2 even wanted to wear a chinese costume. He would love to wear it to school but it is too cold here. 

La Chandeleur

Today is la Chandeleur and crepes day in  France. Yesterday, I heated up ready-to-eat crepes which I bought from the supermarket for the boys' afternoon snack. Then a friend asked us over for crepes. Her girl, A1's classmate was helping to make batter. We went over at 4.30pm and had crepes again. When we got home at 7pm, my neighbour next door gave us some. The boys finished them as breakfast this morning.

A2 told me he loved crepes. That would mean that he wants to eat it everyday. Still, first dinner option would be pizza. King's cake is down to third position. Speaking of pizza, each evening when he stepped into the house, A2's question would be 'Are we having pizza for dinner?' These days, I would buy fresh pizza crust and when Seb is making dinner, he would make a really tasty pizza for the boys.

I think I would start to make real crepes for the boys soon.

Here is an extrait from Wikipedia:  Read the last sentence. I would so wanna try it. But I have no gold coin to begin with.
In culture[edit]

In France, crêpes are traditionally served on Candlemas (La Chandeleur), February 2. This day was originally Virgin Mary's Blessing Day, but became known in France as "Le Jour des Crêpes" (literally translated "The Day of the Crêpes", but sometimes given colloquially as "Avec Crêpe Day" or "National Crêpe Day"), referring to the tradition of offering crêpes. The belief was that if you could catch the crêpe with a frying pan after tossing it in the air with your right hand and holding a gold coin in your left hand, you would become rich that year.^[11][12]

Happy new year and Jeff Koons

Happy new year 2015. In France, we have until the end of January to wish everyone a happy new year. So let me take this 31 January 2015 to wish you readers a good year ahead. A month is almost over and I hope you are already enjoying this new year.

Over here, things are good. My boys are coughing but not too sick to miss school. A1 told me half his class were not in last friday. A2's class was no better. There were many people down with stomach flu and the common cold. 

The highlight of this month was Epiphany. A2 loves King's cake so much that we had it every weekend (Saturday and Sunday) and I even made it twice. The whole family had the chance to be King or Queen. That just goes to show how many King's cakes we had. 

Another highlight was my company's annual dinner. Before dinner, we attended an organised tour of the exhibition of Jeff Koons at the museum of Centre Pompidou. With the guide's explaination, it helped us to understand better this modern artist and businessman. 

Below, he used stainless steel to make these statues. They were so real that I would love to touch the inflated rabbit to make sure it was hard as steel.

 This hanging heart below weighed a ton though it looked empty and light.

 

 This balloon dog was really lovely to look at. His orange counterpart fetched his master a record of US$58.4 million.

 This float was covered in aluminium and then repainted to make it look like a plastic float. Well, Jeff Koon has 100 artists working for him. I am sure it is easy for him to get his workers to execute his genius ideas.

I do like some of his works and his ideas. However, knowing that he has workers executing his art pieces, I find him more of a businessman than an art master.

If you are interested to read more about his works, I found this post talking about Jeff Koon's art show in New York. The one at Centre Pompidou was similar.click here to see the site.

Kapla

For Christmas, A1 received a box of Kapla. Though the boys had Duplo bricks and wooden construction blocks, Kapla took structure building to a whole new level. 

A1 had already played with Kapla in school so he was really happy to own a set. Kapla is a set of identical small wooden planks. With imagination, one can build complicated stuff with these stable planks. 

The box came with a book showing different creations. While A2 was building a simple garage for his car, A1 and I tried to recreate what we saw in the book. Here is one of our simple construction. I would recommend this for boys and girls of all ages as a toy. 

Many years ago, I watched on TV, a program about the creator of Kapla. When he first invented Kapla, he had a hard time convincing the market that these boring looking planks would be a great educational tool for children. He finally found success when he introduced Kapla to school teachers for recreational usage. Parents asked the school about the wooden planks their children were enjoying in school and that was how Kapla became so popular. I knew then I would have to have this if I ever had kids. And yes, it has been fulfilled.

Je suis Charlie

I could not believe it but this is real. France had been attacked at its core, the freedom of expression. It seemed like a dream, a nightmare but it was not. Every word in this song was so true that I teared.

I live in France for 11 years. I came to understand that the freedom of expression is very strong in France and that the French makes joke out of any situation. Really any situation, even in bad bad situations. This is the unique french humour.

If you can't accept, look away. No need to get all violent.

I leave you with the video and the english translation. 

English Translation
I'm not scared of you the extremist
You who kills our journalists
Do you believe you're a crusader
When you kill our policemen (guardians of peace)
Do you think you really have balls
When you kill your own brother
When on the ground he begged for mercy
It's enough I had enough

(chorus)
If you ask where is Charlie
He will be forever in our minds
A bullet shot for a pencil strike
You are dishonoring your religion

Go to Syria for Djihad
And come back for killing
Is that your carrier plan?
Do you think about the families behind?
Did you feel threatened by a pencil strike?
Satires in a newspaper?
Was it worth the death sentence?
(chorus)
You come coldly from Reims
armed and ready like a prince
Shouting the name of your God
Who wont even want you once dead
Respect of differences
Is what makes the beauty of France
This morning you ruined everything
It is hate that you have spread
(chorus)
I don't care where you pray
Don't attack the press
Because when war rages there
You're happy that there are cameras
Don't talk of religion
This excuse is simply bogus
I don't think there's a book
Asking you to shoot others
(chorus)
Even if I want to make a call of arms
I don't put everyone in the same basket
It is starting with an amalgam
That we create swastikas
I'm not scared, I am French
And it is standing that you will find me
Against you I draw my pen
Because I am also Charlie Hebdo
(chorus)
Trampling our freedom of speech
It means to attack our whole nation
We're 66 million and we tell you
Me too I am Charlie

Charlie Hebdo, a satirical news journal with not a big following had been attacked on 07 Jan 2015. Two gunmen went into the office and killed several people. The gunmen initally entered the wrong building and shot dead the receptionist. When they were leaving the office, they shot dead two policemen. A total of 12 victims.

Another zipped tote bag

I made myself a zipped tote bag. I fell in love with this print when I was at the fabric shop looking for zippers. 

It has this Japanese feel to it. For the lining, I used a checker yellow and white fabric. I have like 5m of this cloth and somehow could never use it up. I bought it at the market when I first received my sewing machine. That was like two years ago. 

 I shall use this bag in Singapore. It looks out of place in this season of winter coats and scarves.

Pony lesson

The boys had pony lesson for the first time today. In the area where we stay, there are many pony and horse riding clubs around. A few weeks ago, I saw a pamplet promoting pony lessons during the christmas school vacation. I decided to sign up the boys for a 3 hours lesson.

Usually, riding clubs accept at least a trimester lessons if not more. So this was a good occasion for the boys to just try one lesson. 

Today is a very cold, wet and windy day. I made the boys wear two pairs of socks and few layers of clothes. Seb and I stayed in the beginning and when A2 was comfortable with the instructor, we left and had a coffee in the uptown. We came back to the pony club at 11am and watched the kids. They were doing great handling the ponies and carrying out the instructions given. I was so cold standing in the open that my feet were numbed. 

They prepared and dressed their ponies, mounted the ponies by themselves with the help of some plastic stools, rode and even trotted. 

At noon, the lesson was over. They took their ponies back to the box and patted them good bye.

We then headed to MacDonald for a quick lunch. The boys enjoyed this experience. We might try a lesson or two again when the days are warmer.

Dino soft toy

I received a sewing book two birthdays ago and had wanted to start a project from the book. I finally decided to take a break from sewing bags and to make a soft toy for my friend's daughter as a christmas present.
Here is the finished project. A fuschia dino softie.  I washed the fabrics first after cutting them. So there is no worries on chewing the softie.
I sent it over to my friend in Germany and she told me her girl liked it. This is an easy project. Too bad my boys have too many soft toys and are too old to receive new ones.
Next up, a zipped tote bag for myself.

A card holder

I have been silent on my blog for nearly a month. Well, that's because I have been busy with my blessed routine as a work from home mother.

Once the boys are in bed between 8.30pm and 9pm, I would get some chores finished like clearing up the kitchen, or starting the washing machine/dryer or ironing. When I have time for myself, it would be piano practise, reading or sewing. I was surfing online for Christmas presents as well. That easily ends a day and the next morning, the routine starts again...

For our 12th anniversary in Nov, I made a card holder for Seb. It was not as brillant as I like it to be. I followed this site and it was not at all difficult. However, my card holder is slighly smaller than the cards. I would have to make my seams at 0.5cm instead of 1cm for the next one.

I do like the inner fabric a lot. I am starting to have a huge stash of fabrics. Still, I succumbed to temptation and bought two fabrics recently.  I intend to make zipped bags out of it. Stay tune to see pictures of that.

The pop up Jungle book

 I ordered this book from Amazon as I read good reviews about it. I was so excited when I received it. I would like to give it as a Christmas present to my nephew who is taking English in his high school. However, Seb told me that he would be too old to be interested in such books. Maybe I will just keep it for my boys though I felt they are still young and might easily destroy this exquisite and delicate book.

This pop-up Jungle book is AMAZING. I love the engineering of this pop up book. I have no idea paper can be so 3D.

Just look at these pages. They are full of details. I love this book.

We still have a few weeks to Christmas. Maybe I will just change my mind and present it to the boys on Christmas. I am sharing about this book because it is an ideal Christmas present for children.