Replying and Responding Using Songs

The girls recently love using songs to reply to a question or respond to a situation. A couple I could remember.

We were talking about swimming, and how they were progressing. Zara told me that Zaria's BFF Ee Mang (who happens to have the same swim coach as Zara) could swim 6 laps without resting, but for her, she needed to rest in between.
I told her to push herself, and increase her stamina, when she things that she cannot go on anymore, just tell herself that she can do it, push herself a little more and don't give up.
She sang, "I won't give up on us, even if the skies get rough...."
(I Won't Give Up by Jason Mraz) o.O"


On another occasion, we were talking about ambition, and we talked about what they wanted to be when they grow up.
Zaria said she wanted to be a florist still but worried she won't get much money because she thought only dead people get flowers.
I told her she can be anything she wanted to be, just as long as she set her heart to it.
She started singing, "You can be a King Kong, banging on your chest."
(Hall Of Fame by The Script) o.O"

When I brought the girls ice skating last week, I was contemplating if I should join the girl or I should just sit at the bench and watch them. They encouraged me to join them, and they told me they would teach me. Recalling how impatient I was with Zara the last time I brought them there because she was so afraid to walk with her skates, I asked Zara, "You won't raise your voice at me?"
She started singing, "What goes around, comes back around..... What goes around, comes back around.." followed by an evil laugh, and then told me, "I'll be patient ok, ma?"
(Best Thing I Never Had by Beyoncé) o.O"

Little Paper Crate

We got ourselves our 1st box of Little Paper Crate craft, and it's the Get Into The Wild set.

The craft arrived at our door step in a, well, little paper crate.



The girls were really excited to open and check out what came in the box (actually, me too).


This was the content of the box, all laid out. Oh wow, this is something that will keep the girls occupied (usefully and creatively) for a couple of hours.

Little Paper Crate is created especially for children to explore the world of arts and crafts at a convenience, this allows the children to manage the project themselves, with minimum help from the parents.

The simple instruction booklet has easy to follow steps.






The girls decided to split the responsibility. Zaria will make the alligator and colour the back drop for the puppet stage. While Zara will work on the snake, and all the puppets.



Instructions are so simple, Zaria who's just Standard 1 is able to read and follow the step by step instructions. With minimal help, she managed to get her Alligator Chomper done!


She then went on to work on the back drop for the Puppet Stage.


With both of them working on different projects, the stage, the puppets, the snakes were all ready in an hour.


Time for a Get Into The Wild Puppet Show. In Zaria's case, she got excited with having the alligator chomping up the animals in the wild.


Here is one happy girl who managed to create her own props for her puppet show!

How do you buy or order your Little Paper Crate?
You actually subscribe to it (3 months, 6 months, and 1 year subscriptions are available).
Each month, a new box will arrive at your doorstep, and in the box will be a new project theme, along with the materials and step-by-step guides towards completing the individual projects.
So children can configure projects on their own, and parents do not need figure out what crafts to work with their children and to go around hunting for arts and crafts material.

Wonderful isn't it?

My Mom Is Bossy - By The Girls

The girls don't have to go to school this week from Monday to Thursday because of UPSR, so I drew a schedule for them to follow. Basically for the whole day, I'd planned out that for 3.5hrs they need to do some worksheets and journal writing and for the rest of the time it is free and play time.



I had a clause that states if they played with Bubbles, our dog, during the time allocated for work, I'll minus points for each offence, and if a total of 10 points were accumulated, I won't bring them ice skating.

They were not happy when they first saw it.
Zara : 你的字那么的丑，我都不会读. (Your writing is so ugly, I can't even read.)
(I sat them down and made them read through, and understand the clause)
Zaria : You are so bossy you know.
Zara : (annoyed) 遵守什么? 什么都要遵守, 不然就扣分!? Haiyoh! (Follow the rules, everything also must follow the rules, or else minus points.)

So for the day's writing, they did a comic strip about me.

Zara's.


Zaria's.

Bubbles, Our New Dog

For the longest time, the girls have been asking us for a dog. Last weekend, we succumbed to their request.

Bubbles, a 2 year old West Highland Terrier, was adopted, and moved in with us on Sunday.




I'll let the girls tell you about him.

From Zaria.




From Zara.

Day Trip To Kuala Selangor and Sekinchan, Dining at Bar Beach Grill

During the Raya break, we didn't go for any holidays except for day trips out of town. The 1st one we took was to Kuala Selangor and Sekinchan.

The girls upon knowing we're going to Kuala Selangor, requested the hubs to stock up on peanuts so we could feed the monkeys. We fed some Silvered Leaf Monkey at the entrance of Kuala Selangor Nature Park sometime last year, and the girls wanted to go to the same spot to find the monkeys.

None were found in the afternoon heat. The girls' spirit were deflated just for a moment... As we exited the Nature Park, we saw some of them at the foot of Bukit Melawati.

Unlike the common Macaques that we see in KL, Silvered Leaf Monkeys or Silvery Lutong are friendlier and have a more gentle nature. We could almost pat it when we gave them food, and they never grab, only picking the food from our hands.





The baby Silvered Leaf Monkey have golden fur babies, we spotted a couple of them. When they grow older, their fur then becomes silverish grey like their parents.


4 pack of peanuts later, we headed to Sekinchan. Seems that the planting season has just begun.


Some farmers are lucky, such a tranquil place to live in.


We heard of this paddy processing factory, PLS Marketing, that sells pearl grain rice. It's a big factory which is opened to public, and they have a section which sells the vacuum packed pearl grain rice which is produced in Sekinchan, and also other local Sekinchan produced (vegetable, yam etc). A good place to visit, and to stock up on locally produced rice.

The factory has machinery running which hulled and polished rice, good for the children to see how the rice they eat become that state from a grain. There are lots of stacked bags of rice, which I think make a nice backdrop for photography.


After visiting the factory, we brought the girls to a husk hill, which is formed by all the disposed husk from the factory. From a far, it looked like a sand dune.


The girls had so much fun making 'husk angels', rolling on the husks etc.

(Beware! After we're done here, we were all itchy. Zaria even had an allergy reaction on one of her eye. Both Zaria and I have rashes on our legs which I think was probably caused by some mites on the husks).

(PLS Marketing (M) Sdn Bhd, Lot 9990, Jalan Tali Air 5, Ban 2,, 45400 Kampong Sekinchang, Selangor, Malaysia. Tel : 016-205 6558. A map on how to get there can be found here.)

We then moved on to Redang Beach. A tiny stretch of beach in Sekinchan. It's of course not as nice as the Redang Beach in Teregganu, but a beach is still a beach, and it drew quite a big crowd during this holiday season.








We wanted to dine at one of the seafood restaurants in Sekinchan, but there's a new set up at the beach which attracted us. Bar Beach Grill, which is opened by a group of like-minded youngsters who grew up together in Sekinchan.


The place provides you a BBQ stove (with red hot charcoal), table and chairs, and you just have to order the food from them to BBQ. As Sekinchan is a fishing village, our plates of prawns, squid, skates, and clams (lala) were really fresh and nice. No seasoning required, just taste from the sea.


One of the owner and her boy friend entertained us with some songs, and the girls decided to join in too. Zara did her Adele, acoustic version.


And the girls were quite thrilled to be able to cook for us too (fuchuk or bean curd skin being BBQed can be so tasty).






Having dinner at the beach has its advantage. The girls had a chance to explore and pick up some shells at the tide pool nearby while I cooked dinner.






(Bar Beach Grill is located at Redang Beach Sekinchan. Contact : Darren 014-9305724, Jack 016-3443330. Opened during weekends and eve of holidays)