ZY painted these two paintings by using the sponging & spraying method.
I saw some gift tags in my drawer with shapes like star, circle & square. So I pasted them temporary on the drawing paper and gave ZY a sponge to tap poster paint over them. I later took out the tags to show her the shapes that she had "painted", much to her surprise :)
ZY "brushed" a toothbrush against the comb to cause a spraying effect. First, I've covered the butterfly to let her sprayed blue paint on the paper to make the sky, then I covered the sky to let her paint the butterfly. The painting has a "dreamy" effect on it, doesn't it?
Today I went to Bras Basah complex intending to buy some more English story books for ZY from my usual bookshop. I found this bookshop situated at the 4th floor last year and has since bought lots of cheap & nice books from there. I am such a regular customer of that shop till I've befriended the shop assistant there. She will call me when there are new arrivals and reserved the books for me :)
Anyway, while I'm browsing at the books and chatting with her, she told me that Shanghai Bookstore which is situated at the ground floor is having closing down sale. Hence, after paying for the 3 books that I've chosen, being the kiasu Singaporean that I am, I quickly went down to have a look. To my surprise, the bookstore really looks like its going to close down (unlike many gimmicks whereby the so call closing down sale goes on & on for months...). There are many books lying everywhere, and many people are inside concentrating of finding good buys.
I've long wanted to buy some Chinese books for ZY, but I really don't know what to buy and which types of books are suitable for her age group. Out of all the books that I've bought for her so far, none of them are in Chinese language. I am hoping to get some Chinese books for her so that I can teach her the wonderful language...ok ok, that's all my excuses..I just can't let a good bargain passes by, can I?? 90% OFF leh..
So after looking high and low, left and right, I managed to grab all these books for ZY. 20 books for only $21!!!!!! Wow, this is what I mean a super duper bargain!!!! :D Hee hee, please pardon me for being so kiasu, grabbing 20 books at a go, but this is really good buy, I've never in my life seen a 90% discount on anything. Never!
All these Chinese books for ONLY $21 :D (Though some of the books are still way too early to introduce to ZY now, I can always keep them for future!)
I've bought these 3 books @ The Children Bookstore (4th floor)I bought the ladybird's playhouse books because ZY will be going to playgroup next year and I want to show her the things she can do in school. I bought the Valentine's Day book because the illustrations inside are so beautiful :)
(Part One) Finally Christmas Day is here! ZY woke up at around 8.15a.m and immediately seek permission to open the present under the Christmas Tree. Ever since I put up the Christmas Tree and gradually adding presents under it, ZY has been eagerly "eyeing" on them. I've explained to her that she can only open the present on Christmas Day which I told her is still a long way. Every time I added a new present, I'll tell her who bought it for her. Hence, she knew by heart who bought which present for all her 13 Christmas presents :)
After unwrapping all the presents, I told ZY to choose one that she wants to open and keep all the rest in the store room. I don't want her to play with them all at once as this will only shorten her interest on each present.
After a few seconds of careful consideration, ZY as I've expected, chose this box of Sesame Street First Library which consist of 12 mini board books. I knew she would love this the moment I saw it at Borders bookstore :)
(Part Two) It is our annual tradition to go to Sembawang Beach in the evening of Christmas Day. It was low tide when we reach there, hence we are able to walk on the sandy beach. ZY kept complaining that the sand had gotten into her sandal and demanded that we carry her at the beginning. However, after awhile, she finally got used to the feeling and became more at ease at the beach.
Anyway, these are some of the pictures that we have taken today.
ZY spotted the playground from a distance and keep reminding us to bring her there :)
Looking at these 3 pics of ZY taken in 2006,2007 & 2008 on Christmas Day @Sembawang Beach, I realise that times really fly..
I never like crowded places especially during Christmas Eve. Hence, instead of going to restaurant and paying exorbitant prices for our dinner, I decided to cook today. Plus the cool rainy weather, what's nicer than a warm home cooked food eaten in front of the TV right?:)
I have been a fan of Jamie Oliver and has bought quite a no. of his recipe books. I like to browse through his books and marvel at the delicious looking pictures. Most of his recipes are no fuss, simple to follow.
For tonight, I decided to cook his "Crispy & Sticky Chicken Thighs with squashed new Potatoes & Tomatoes". This is a simple tray-baked dish as everything cooks in one tray, hence less wash up later :D
Anyway, for those who is interested, the recipe is as follows:
Serves 4 800g new potatoes sea salt & freshly ground pepper 12 boned chicken thighs, skinned on olive oil 600g cherry tomatoes (I only managed to get yellow cherry tomatoes, red will be better for colour contrast) a bunch of fresh oregano leaves (I've used dried oregano flakes) extra virgin olive oil red wine vinegar (I've used sushi rice vinegar)
(Method) -Cooked potatoes in salted boiling water till cooked -preheat oven 200 degree -cut thigh into 3 strips, rub salt, pepper & olive oil all over meat -heat large frying pan and put chicken into the pan, skin side down. Toss and fry for 10 mins until almost cooked. Remove fr pan. - Peeled tomatoes (optional). -Mix olive oil, pinch of salt, pepper, oregano and red wine vinegar in a bowl -Add meat, potatoes and tomatoes and toss together with mixture above. -Put in roasting tray and bake for 40 mins till golden brown.
Here is a picture of our dinner tonight. I served it with salad and some chardonnay. MW cleans up his plates in minutes! Yummy :D
We have been busy bringing ZY to see the Christmas lighting all over town this year. As ZY is already 34-months old, she is more keen on the Christmas thingy this year as compared to last year. From being afraid of the Christmas Tree to now eagerly running towards any Christmas Tree that she sees and touching the ornaments, my little girl has really grown up :)
Here are some highlights of our pre-Christmas day photos taken so far..
ZY has got the "cutting craze" recently. She enjoys using the small scissor that I've bought for her at Daiso. Before allowing her to use the scissor, I've set a few rules for her to follow. First, she may only use the scissor when mommy is around, Second, she has to ask mommy for paper to cut, Third, scissor is for cutting, she cannot play with it.
I read a book in the library which gives parents tip on how to teach a child to hold a scissor, it has also a few cutting exercises listed in it. One of it is to cut a long strip and draw vertical lines on it. Ask the child to cut along the line hence making little square.
ZY has done well on this and hence making a pile of little squares in the process. Not wanting to throw away ZY's hardwork, I decided to let ZY paste these little squares onto a pre-drawn rectangle shape. With a little decoration, it ended as a christmas present that ZY has made (mostly) by herself :)
It is my annual tradition to bake some cookies for my friends' and neighbours' kids during the Christmas season. As we are not Christian, Christmas to us is just an excuse to give present to those we love & cherish. My cookies do not cost much but it's a small gift from my heart and I'm happy to see the kids happily munching them :)
Today is Dong Zhi but since we have had our dinner at my mum place yesterday and my mil do not celebrate this day, we will be at home making our own tang yuan :)
This is the first time that ZY makes her own tang yuan but I'm proud to say that she has lots of practices making dough into balls :)
She especially enjoys rolling the paste into long strips. However, she simply refuses to eat any of the tang yuan :(
Today, we went to the Raffles Hotel's Bar & Billard Room to have an early Christmas celebration. Just like my birthday celebration, I've intend to go only with MW while ZY will stay at my parent's house. However, after some discussion with MW, we decided to bring ZY along as we want to let her be exposed to other type of eating environment instead of the usual family-friendly (aka noisy) places, plus we can also teach her some eating etiquette. We have told ZY about eating at the restaurant a few days ago. We told her that she has to behave herself and not talk loudly while we are there. She has to wait till both mummy and daddy has finished their dinner before we can leave the restaurant. She promised that she will behave herself so that she can accompany us there.
Even though she was super cranky when she woke up today, I am happy to say ZY did behave extremely well during our dinner. She even got herself a small log cake and we sang Merry Christmas to the tune of Happy Birthday song! What a sweet ending to a fabulous dinner experience :)
Since ZY has already taken her dinner at my parent's house, she is sampling some of her fav food such as french beans, broccoli, watermelon, jackfruit..
Admiring her little log cake & Santa figurine (How about an after dinner game of billard?)
