Went to be a parent volunteer at Tong's school event. Erm...supposed to cheer for the parents' running team
Luckily I had Da Biao Gu with me, if not, I would be utterly bored to tears.
We did not do much except chit chat while watching the events and making a feeble attempt to cheer for the parents' running team, which got third place (I think)
With the other parent volunteers and the runners. Da Biao Gu said she did this event before and they were better organized then. Someone printed the cheers and got them to practise...Hmmm not as organised this year. ha
I had wanted to take a photo with them but Tong was already nearing the bus stop and wanted to go for lunch with his friends. Got him to walk back as Jie wanted a photo together and he grumbled that Jie was such a pain.
Well, he must have his signature grumpy old troll look.
Ah...the two big kids were already taller than Mama. Tong was losing his baby fat so his chin was getting sharper. He did not eat as much as he used to and was growing taller and stretching like a strand of noodle. Er Yi said he was growing more and more handsome. Well, Papa would say of course, coz Tong inherited his good genes from him.
Had a National Day celebration at TLL. Decorated cupcakes. Mine was the one below the crab. It was supposed to look like Merlion.
Wore a whole month of red dresses. HA. Mama had finally jumped on the bandwagon of taking Meitu XiuXiu photos. They were definitely more flattering - flawless skin and big doll-like eyes. Ha, but here is one taken without any filter on the iPhone!
National Day celebration at the Linear. We had been talking about moving to Suncottages for awhile now. Papa and I did not think we would be moving coz The Linear had fulfilled what we needed all this while. The MRT, bus interchange, supermarket, library, malls...distance to Waipo's house and the schools...
Kids as usual, just bingeing on online games
Ya, we were adamant that we would not move even when Bei Gor Po asked us in Dec 2024 when we were in Australia together and saw beautiful houses... However things changed this year. Papa harboured this dream of having a big house to host friends and families and to have a big enough room for each child so that they could come over for stayovers like what we were doing at Marzuki!
So Papa and I had been taking night walks to clock steps, spend time talking and to check out Suncottages. Pastor said if we could see it, we could get it...I guess, manifesting by writing our wish down in the "Three wishes" book and walking over to proclaim "oh we are reaching home" when we neared the cluster houses.
Ah, the big and small ones...Papa and I decided that we would get Mei a line by the end of the year as she could read now and she dearly wished to participate in our group chat. LOL. I bet she would be texting Papa all the time, probably spamming him with lovey stickers.
Bliss to be with family
Looking good in the photo..Wel, Da Biao Gu took it. Papa was not too good a photographer, he always made me look ghastly in his photos
But Da Biao Gu made him look really slim in these photos ha
Ha I could not find a crop top for the longest time...Oh guess where it was hiding at? Mei's closet. Jie the laundry sorter put my top into Mei's cupboard and she insisted on wearing it.
Saw this and thought of Jie. She always claimed that she would "lock it in" but ended up doomscrolling, indulging in some weird book or dreamy anime book, all snuggled up lazy in bed.
Papa's birthday. Went to have lunch with him after my belly dance class.
Found a nice char siew place as Papa loved char siew the most.
Simple celebration at home .. surrounded by his darling kids and precious Mama
Happy 44th! I made a joke that he had left his prime (43 is a prime number, get it?)
I know...this photo looks scary. Ha Mama lost quite a bit of weight over the years. Yay, the laser treatments really work. And..as the Chinese saying goes, there is not a ugly woman, but a lazy one. So...beauty comes at a great cost and effort
Went for a meal with my RV friends
Scrumptious food and scintillating company
I must say we were aging like fine wine, the older, the more fragrant
Waigong's birthday! Ah, heaven on earth.
Compiling the different years...ah...the big ones looked so different.
The cute little unicorn...
Went to Wildlife Reserves with Er Yi's family
Life was always more interesting with cousins around
Sad moments
Mama's close ex-colleague suddenly passed away... dug up old photos...
Life is a really precious thing. I pray for God's wisdom, favour and protection on us all the days of our lives...
Memories - the cute Xun and her frothy dance
Mama did not like taking photos very much in recent years coz I did not look good in photos. I did not know why. Hmmm I used to look nice in photos when I was in my 20s. Perhaps the mummy fat (water retention and bloatedness and fatigue) made me look bad...ha but now I am taking more photos again, coz I could use meitu xiu xiu. And also, coz now I wore colours that flattered me!
Did this at my Teachers' Day event. SUN COTTAGES!
Mei said hello to Papa
She found new chocolates to try
I had fun with a math colleague who used her Chinese phone to take these stunning photos of us
rather fake..but who cares?
My friend used the xiaohongshu recording app. Wow, porcelain fair skin.
The kids had a rowdy splashing fun time at the pool. They tried really hard to do a uno-stacko tower. They were able to get three in a row...
The closest they could get to having all 4 in a row. Mum had to set the timer and then go and prop mei up onto Ge's shoulder. This was the closest they could get to getting the tower. It was impossible for Mei to sit on Jun's shoulder. We tried several times but it was just not doable.
Ha, almost could not see Mei up there.. oh well... LOL
Took a ton of silly photos...this being one of our favourites
Mei had become a brave water baby too. Considering how scared of water I was, I wondered why none of the kids inherited this gene
Unsure why Jie took this photo of Tong. Perhaps the bird nest hairstyle?
Mei got this sticker from Coach Kate. She said that Coach Kate always asked her why she was not joining the competitive gym classes.
Had Swensen's with the vouchers from Uncle Jams and Huimin
Another day of fun at River Safari. It was raining so they could not take the boat ride but they were content with admiring the animals in the exhibits and enjoying the cool air-conditioning
Thought this was a rather cool photo. Well, Papa happened to be on leave that day (coz he made Mama mad) and we went to pick Jie up from the library (and Mama realised that she was out with a boy). Papa and Jie had an interesting exchange of words, coz she went to Papa and said that Mama looked really pissed and Papa comforted her by saying Mama was pissed with the both of them so they were both 'cooked'. Well...God works in intriguing ways...He always makes things unfold in such a way that we learn and grow from the encounters...so...yeah, I told Jie that lying fragments her identity and I did not want her to be denied the pleasure of walking in the full blast of light and truth by lying...
with old friends..ah..since we were 13 and at 44...gosh....
Papa's triumphant feat of somehow pumping almost 71 litres of oil into his stallion in JB...it became his boasting right to his other guy friends who often went into JB to pump oil too
The silly goose slept everywhere
Discovered this pack of stickers recently. Papa was Dudu and Mama was Bubu...strangely though, there were more stickers for Dudu than for Bubu
Tong had subway for lunch in school! The parent volunteers were really active and often came up with such activities.
Papa donated $200 so he said the food was sponsored by him.
Went to a posh macaron bakery with Uncle Xingshun. Erm...one review said they tasted like heaven but I thought the person was being too dramatic. They were nice (and super costly at $4 per piece but the 4 pieces came in a nice pink tin) but definitely overrated.
Typing this on 22nd Sep 2025, the start of my 45th year, having lived 44 glorious years on earth...a little under the weather, but no big deal, very very grateful it was an ordinary day of doing chores, mundane routines, taking care of the kids...and ending with dinner at Genki Sushi, our favourite restaurant whenever we ate out.
This was bliss. Simple, down-to-earth, real and glorious.
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