生活点滴

I am fine... really

2011-11-14T04:36:00.001-08:00

These few days, I really experience the warmest caring from my friends. I felt being loved and cared like a baby. Friends cook for me, Eric doing house chores for me and even cook for the boys. WOHOO, can I say I am lucky enough to have good people surround me?

Last Thursday afternoon, I did have a terrible blood discharging. Lots and lots of blood coming out and I felt terribly ill and had a big headache the next day. Luckily, I did not have severe pain. Having miscarriage is such a painful experience emotionally and physically.

Right now, I just have to take good care of my health so that I have enough energy to travel back to country for such a long time.

Yes, I am fine, really.... What I am focus right now is my loving family and of course my dearest friends.....

What a day.... mix feeling

2011-11-07T17:01:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, I have some blood discharged. Though it is not as heavy as the monthly period, I just felt not comfortable especially I am in the early stage of pregnancy.

Today, I went to the doctor office. After the ultrasound, I was confirmed that the baby is not fully developed and the blood signaled me that I lost the baby. So, officially, my baby is gone at week 7.

Mix feeling, is all I can say. Sad plus relief. I was a bit sad because I lost something precious which stay in my body for seven weeks. At the same time, I was a bit relief that everything will back to normal.

Eric gave me a big hug. The boys were showing not much feeling. They just know that the baby inside mommy's tummy is gone.

I believed everything is being planned in our life. It's yours, still be yours. If not, then, we just have to go on the normal life as usual.

Brazon Bend National Park

2011-11-02T18:44:00.000-07:00

On 11/1/2011, we had a field trip with a group of homeschooling families to Brazos Bend National Park. It is about 1/2 hour road trip from our house. We being to this park quite a few times, just tat this time we had a tour guide guiding us along the trail explaining all the things around the park.

First, we walked around the 40 acre lake for about 1 miles. Along the trail, the tour guide is showing us all different kinds of trees and plants.

The volunteer is explaining why it is important to have trees and tell us this tree fall during hurricane and now become a new habitat for some animals.

4 stories tall observatory tower where the kids can view three different ecosystem---marshland, swamp and wetlands.

Ethan took this picture at the top of the tower.

Alligator backbone

Compare and contrast between alligator and crododile.

Hummingbird nest and egg.

The boys are touching the 2 months old alligator.

They are having lots of fun inside the nature center.

The wetlands is covered by green duckweed. The dried up lotus can be seen all over the big pond.

Can you see the big alligator? There are many alligator in this park, but most time just laying lazily basking under the sun.

Waiting for a speaker ( an astronomer indeed) to give a talk about telescope.

The giant telescope. Too bad it is under repair, we cannot get chance to look at it.

Sharing the baby news with friends

2011-10-26T15:20:00.000-07:00

Today, I announced the baby news to some of my close friends through email. My yahoo mail is getting so busy after the news. Everyone is so happy and excited about the baby news.

Having baby is a great news among us at our 30s and 40s. It is the time everyone is talking about having baby, how many, boy or girl and exchange idea in parenting. Eric and I planned to have only two boys, that is way too much for us right now. Having the third one is really out of our plan. But since it happens, we just have to accept him or her happily. Able to conceive a baby is a blessing.. I truly believe it.

Telling big news to the boys

2011-10-24T15:19:00.001-07:00

After the doctor visit, I showed the boys the ultrasound picture of their future brother or sister. At first, they are not sure where to look on the picture. They were surprise to know that the little dot is the baby. Ethan said," Oh, that is the cell. Tiny one."

The boys started to ask me tons of questions.

"Are you sure you are going to have a baby?"

"Why you want another baby?"

"What are you going to name him? ( They suppose this baby will be a boy)"

" Let's think about name! Elephant, Ethan Jr., Eric Jr., Eugene, Ellista, Maria......."

"Do you know you have to buy a lot of stuff? Crib, diaper, milk, toys, clothes, blah blah blah?"

" So, your belly is getting bigger each day?"

" Where does the baby going to sleep? "

I am sure more questions will be popping out in the coming days. But, I truly hope that these two boys will be a good brother to the baby.

First doctor visit

2011-10-24T15:19:00.000-07:00

Without any referral, I look up the Chinese Yellow Book to look for OBGYN doctor in Sugarland. Found one near to our place, Doctor Lisa Tsai. She is a very straightfoward doctor with open mind.

I am 114Ibs now for 5 weeks pregnancy. The baby is expected to due by 6/23/2012. The doctor did the Pap Smear on me and ultrasound today.

We only saw a little tiny dot on the screen and I got one ultrasound picture from the doctor. Two more weeks I will come and see the doctor again.

Mad and angry

2011-10-18T15:18:00.001-07:00

I tried not to get mad with the boys especially having the third baby. I know getting angry will more or less affect the baby and my emotion. Today, I was so mad until I throw the books on the floor to express my anger towards the boys.

Evan was sobbing sadly after seeing mom getting mad crazily. I know he is so afraid and I am regret that I acted that way. Sometimes, I just feel that I put too much pressure on them and on me especially during the school time.

No more angry, no more mad. Promise.....

WOW...

2011-10-18T15:18:00.000-07:00

I cannot bear to hide this good news and tell Winnie about it. She looked surprise but happy for us. In fact, she just told Kar this morning how much we love to have a baby girl and we might consider to adopt one if we stop having any baby. Now, I am going have another baby. Of course, I want a girl so much. But if the baby is a boy again, I got to accept him happily and the reality that I will have no girl in my life. No matter boy or girl, having a baby is a blessing and I should be very happy.

Tennis

2011-10-14T15:17:00.000-07:00

The idea of playing tennis at first week of pregnancy really scare me. Eric confirmed me that it is ok since I being playing tennis for such a long time.

We have not announce our pregnancy news to other yet so I have not reason to tell my tennis partners to stop playing. So, during the game, I run a bit slower than before and do not dare to jump up to hit the ball as usual.

Well, I still have three more weeks to play before going back to Malaysia. So, I just keep playing till November.

A day trip to Dewberry farm

2011-10-09T13:09:00.000-07:00

A day trip to a nearby farm is a fun thing to do during weekend. We went there after purchasing a coupon through Groupon.com. The original price is 12 bucks for kids 3+ up to adult. It is kind of pricey. We got the coupon buy one get one free deal, so, off we go!

A very surprise new

2011-10-06T15:16:00.000-07:00

I missed my period for few days. I did not feel well about it and could not sleep well for few days. As normal, my dear hubby just comfort me if we are lucky, we will have baby. If not, just let it be. Don't worry, be happy.

Still, I have a weird feeling this time. So, I went to the Walgreen to buy a pregnancy test. Back to home, I tore off the plastic and went to the bathroom right away. The ticking clock on the pregnancy test really make me nervous. 5,4,3,2,1....................PREGNANT!

What a big news for us. It was a mix feeling of fear and happy. FEAR-- We have to start over again the whole baby process. Happy---- We got additional family member in The Teohs family.

Well, this is an accident pregnancy without any planning. Well, we just have to accept this baby with all our heart and love. Welcome to the world, my third baby!

Pansacola Trip

2011-09-29T16:45:00.000-07:00

On September 17th,2011 we went for a road trip to the Pensacola beach at Florida. We van pool with Kim and Mickey's family. It was a 9-10 hours driving trip from Houston to Pensacola. We stopped by Baton Rough, Louisiana for lunch and brought The Ting's family to visit our lovely LSU campus.

The boys were trying to take a sneak peak on the sleeping tiger inside the cage.

We were all very excited after getting into the condo with great ocean view.

9/18/2011
The view inside the condo. We rented a two bedroom condo with kitchen and washer dryer.

The pool view from our condo. The boys spent quite some time there after coming back from the beach.

Dug a hole and bury somebody.

Ethan was putting the sunscreen lotion on Evan.

The view taken from our condo.

Our three night four day condo.

The boys were resting on the top of the bunk bed. Watching TV and playing DS.

9/19/2011

A morning walk at the beach, we saw some cleaning staffs are busy cleaning the beach. They are still picking up the tar ball from the last year's BP oil spill.

Relaxing by the beach.

The boys definitely have a marvelous time there at the beac

Eating lunch at the Crab Restaurant.

Two little monkeys jumping at the beach! The oldest one just stand there.

9/20/2011

Homeschool day at Houston Fine Art Museum

2011-09-28T07:41:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday was the homeschool day at Houston Art Museum. The event was free and open up for all homeschool families from 1-4pm. Going to the musuem is one of our favorite activities. Fine Art Museum really open up our eyes into art world.

Putting up the puzzle.

One of the event was sketching with the museum artist. We got some sketching papers, pencils and stools from the artist and began to sketch. Ethan chose one piece of art and started sketching. Evan and I just follow along. Below are the final products:

Mommy's drawing

Evan's drawing

Ethan's drawing.

Fort Bend Museum

2011-09-27T14:49:00.000-07:00

This is our first time joining with other Connection Academy students for a field trip. This time, we went to the Fort Bend Museum which located in a very small town. The boys were having fun time there exploring the museum with lots of colonial time history.

Cotton gin

Residence of John Moore Jr. The boys said it looks like a white house.

A big big baby shower party

2011-09-24T18:58:00.001-07:00

Wow, this is the biggest baby shower party I ever attend so far. We are celebrating ChingChong and Kristi's first new baby who dues this coming November. Everyone is bringing good food and present for the party. This time, we reserved a clubhouse to accommodate 50+ adults and children.

All mommies taking picture together with new mama-to-be Kristi.

Guessing the dirty diaper game.

New papa-to-be ChingChong is trying to use his mouth to get the pacifier out of the water.

New parents-to-be are trying to figure out how to wear this "high tech" thingy.

Master Ken is making something yummy....
Mommy BoonHong is at the craft table with the kids.
Three ladies are busy preparing and setting up the food tray.
Cute diaper cake from dear Kim.

Volcano erupted

2011-09-14T13:11:00.000-07:00

I have two boys. They are behaving well sometimes, but they do have the moments where you just cannot stand nearby them. Yesterday, they nearly hit to my nerve and I just shout at them to make them stop the whining. Phew, I sure was angry. But I felt a little bad by acting like that after a while. I told the boys I am sorry and I should not shout at them. I told them sometimes, mommy needs a quiet moment. When they are naughty and not listening to me, I will be angry and BOOM, I will erupt just like a volcano. I do hope the volcano will not erupt too often.

" Then, we are just like lava boiling under the volcano, right?", Ethan asked me after hearing my volcano theory.

Haha, that is true. They are just like lava causing the volcano to erupt anytime and any day. Raising up two boys really teach me how to be patient and calm. I have to make sure I have enough reasons to tell them not to do this, do that. I have to show them the right way to deal with daily life. This is a lifelong process. I will still be nagging on them for many years to come.

Have a good time...

2011-09-01T08:57:00.000-07:00

Ethan and Evan are having fun dancing and playing piano. I am having fun watching them too. I hope they will remember the sweet moment growing up together.

Taekwondo testing day

2011-08-18T07:16:00.000-07:00

The boys were having the Taekwondo class for the whole summer. Yesterday was a day to promote them up to yellow belt. They were having fun in the class and the teacher awarded them with medals and certificate.

Evan tried to break two boards but failed...So, the Master let him tried one board and he managed to break it the first time...Everyone was cheering for him!!

Good learning sites

2011-08-11T11:40:00.000-07:00

Evan's learning style is far different from Ethan. Ethan is quick learner but at the same time he is a very rushing type person. As for Evan, he takes his time to learn and finish his work slowly and steady.

Evan still in the stage of learning how to read and write and count. He is slow reader compare to his brother but at least he is showing some progress during this whole year. Of course, with homeschooling, we do not have much resource like what the kids have in the school. Therefore, I have to search online for all sort of learning materials. Thanks to the power of internet, I manage to find a lot of good site to download free good resources to teach him in reading, math and science.

Learn to read:

www.wordway.us.com

www.starfall.com

www.wordway.us.com

( These are the good site to download free worksheets/lessons for kids from preschool to elementary)

Learning Math:

http://www.ixl.com/?gclid=CJ7F1t20yqoCFRMj7AodaGdo0Q ( membership required but you can let the kids do first twenty questions free as a warm up exercise).

http://www.mathmammoth.com/worksheets/free.php

Besides, I found a lot of valuable information online through homeschool websites. There are many reviews about which curriculum is best or worse, what kinds of methods we should use in teaching our kids and lots more.

Greedy + Do not do research= Scam victim

2011-08-05T21:16:00.000-07:00

Yes, I am a scam victim. Yes, I want to let the whole world know about this cashier check scam that happened on me today. Yes, I admit I am so excited when I know I will get US200 in payment by doing a mystery shopping assignment. Yes, I cannot sleep when I know that I being scammed for US 1850 just in one day period. What a bummer, what a shame but I know I should let the people know.

First, I got an email from a so-called mystery shopping company on July 29,2011 stating that they have a vacant shopper position. I used to do a lot of mystery shopping in the past few years and I have no doubt about this one. The email is as below:

Dear Prospective Team Member,

We currently have a job opportunity for you that will provide a fun and rewarding experience without affecting your present employment. We have positions available as described below.
We have mystery shopping assignments available immediately in your area and invite you to participate. Customer Perspective Inc® is accepting applications for qualified individuals to become mystery shoppers. It's fun and rewarding, and you choose when and where you want to shop. You are never obligated to accept an assignment. There is no charge to become a shopper and you do not need previous experience. After you sign up, you will have access to training materials via e-mail...

You will be required to interact with bank tellers and store clerks.
You will be required to submit a detailed report of your shopping experience
You may conduct the mystery shopping alone or as a couple or family.
The compensation is $200.00 per assignment
Assignment: We have been contracted to investigate customer service quality at certain Western Union and Wal-mart® locations to evaluate the services they render and we will assign you to visit these locations as our Mystery Evaluator to send funds and make other transactions in your area. We will send your payment in form of Check to carry out this assignment.
Please note the following instructions:
You will be sent Check which you will take to your bank for cashing before proceeding to your assigned location where you will carry out the specific instructions we will be sending to you via email. Immediately following your assignment you will be required to file a detailed report via email of your shopping experience.

Please complete the application form below and we will contact you promptly with your first assignment:

PERSONAL INFORMATION:
Full Name:
Street Address (No Po Box Acceptable) :
City, State, Zip Code:
Cell Phone Number/Home Phone Number:
Age:
Current Occupation:
Email Address:

This is a very exciting and rewarding opportunity being offered. We look forward to welcoming you as a member of our team, Please confirm that you understand and accept this opportunity so that we may quickly approve your application and issue your payment so that you may begin your exciting new assignment immediately.

Awaiting your response,
Mr Anderson

Human Resources Director
Corporate Head Office
Customer Perspective Inc
213 West River Road
Hooksett, New Hampshire 03106-2628

It was so tempted to see I will get paid by doing the mystery shops and earn 200 bucks. So I reply to him with my information.

On 8/5/2011, I got a FedEx package with a cashier check of US2100 with an email instruction on how to conduct my assignment.

Hello Shopper,

This email is to let you know that the funds you will be needing to carry out your first assignment has been sent to your address today via Fedex, it will be delivered to your address today 08/05/2011 via Fedex Before 10am, check your front door, side door, and under the mat, and in your mail box.

As soon as you confirm the delivery of package containing check worth $2100,take the check to your BANK and get it cash and follow Intructions Below..
=================================================================================
Here Is The Final Update & Instructions On How To Complete Your First Assignment
=================================================================================

Note**You are to carry out a survey on Wal-Mart & Western Union
Below is the breakdown of how the payment will be spent and you are to take note of the following activities

1. You are to deduct $200 in total for your commission from the total payment received,Use $50 to Evaluate Walmart and wire remaining cash into agent info below to carry out Transfer Evaluation.($2100-$200-$50=$1850)

2. You are to make a purchase of any electronic item worth $50 from any Wal-Mart location in your area and is now your duty to take note of the following activities at the walmart location

I) How long it took you to complete the shopping and report on service, quality of product
ii) Name of the agent / his or her attitude towards customers.
iii)Poor working skills and customer relation
iv) Slow services and cleanliness of the establishment.

Remember: Any item you purchased from the Wal-Mart store should be kept by you for your personal use since we are only interested in the accurate information from your survey.
========================================================================================
3. You are required to proceed to any nearest Western Union location in your area with the remaining balance ( $1850) to perform your second survey which is a transfer assignment.

All this should be kept unknown from the cashier.
You will be sending the funds to our other mystery shopper .
Make transaction via MONEY IN MINUTE transfer at western union..
Make Western Union transaction via (Money In Minute)..
Note that there would be charges for sending western union,and this would be deducted from the balance.

The information is as follows:

Name : Mary Stamm
City : Barboursville
State : WV
Zip code : 25504
Country : U.S.A

As soon as you have done this, You are to e-mail me the following information below:

1,The name and address of the sender.
2,The MTCN of the transaction(10 digit)
3,The amounts to be received after western union charges for each transaction
==========================================================================================
You are advice to take note of the following

1. How fast and Efficient is the Western Union Money Transfer Service?
2. How long does it take you to have the funds wired?
3. How Close is the Western Union Money Transfer Location to your area?
4. Is the Senders Request Form too short or Long? Kindly Advise
5. Is the neighboring environment safe for handling Western Union Money Transfer Service.
6. What is the name of the Local Western Union Money Transfer Agent where you have the funds wired?
7. General Comment ....

Get back to me with the required information as soon as you successfully carry out the assignment Today...

Welcome to our team!

Mr Anderson
Human Resources Director

Corporate Head Office
Customer Perspective Inc
Hooksett,
New Hampshire 03106
http://www.customerperspectives.com/for-businesses/what-our-clients-say/

PS;Please comfirm you receive this email and i will await your quick response.....

Immediately, I follow the instructions. First, I went to the bank to cash $2100 from that cashier check. I finished the two shops as stated in the email and submitted the report. With 200 bucks in my pocket, I thought happily that it is an easy money for me. I even thank Mr.Anderson for giving me such an opportunity and hopefully I will have another mystery shopping job in the future.

Then, the reality struck. My dear husband went home from tennis game and being told by his friends that may be this is a scam. We immediately check online and found out that I being scammed just like other people. Read ScamWarners for more information. I got the exact same email for those being scammed by a same person. Now, because of 200 bucks, I lost US1850. I am very sorry because I lost my husband hard earn money. I just have to tell myself I lost the babysitting fee for babysit my friend's son for this whole summer. May be I should tell myself I pay US1850 to buy me a lesson not to believe others easily and got to do more research.

After tossing around and around on the bed, I think about the red flags for this whole scamming.
1.The " bad guy" use three different generic email accounts without company name to lure me:
Customerrep@info.org- saying that they got vacant shopper position
martin.p@bigpond.net.au-telling me I being accepted into their team to do the mystery shopping
emmap1@blumail.org-email me all the instruction how to conduct the shops.

2. This mystery shopping assignment is very different from the one I did before. The instructions are very vague and do not require much details. They did not ask for exact time to conduct the shop. They required me to do the wire transfer immediately once I got the cashier check.

3. We search online and read more about cashier check scam. "The first red flag that comes up here is the amount of the pay. Some mystery shops pay pretty well, but not $300 for something as simple as wiring funds and answering a couple of questions. A more typical fee for a simple shop might be in the range of $10 to $30. " ( from Ask Dave Taylor.com) My heart sink to the bottom when I read about this piece of information. Immediately, I know I being scammed.

Well, things happened and I learned it hard this time. I do not do much research before I do the wire transfer. I trust people easily without knowing I am falling into their trap. Most of all, I am too greedy. Now, I know how is the feeling of those being cheated and losing lots of money. Again, I am writing this to let everyone know what happens to me and hopefully no one will fall into this scam again.

Basketball game

2011-08-01T15:16:00.001-07:00

Ethan favorite sport is to play basketball. He plays basketball with his school mate everyday during school day but not this summer holiday. Daddy has to play with him and he enjoys it so much. We always said he inherit his grandpa gene in playing basketball.

Though he is small, he managed to shoot the ball into the hoop several times.
Little Evan is trying to play too.

Bubble fun

2011-07-31T08:45:00.000-07:00

The boys are having fun blowing the bubbles.They are making a bubble tower.

Virtual School

2011-07-31T08:05:00.001-07:00

This coming fall, Ethan will not go to the regular public school. I enroll him in online virtual public school which is a very new concept for us. It is kind of like combination of homeschool and regular school. He will have his lesson conducted at home but there will be a teacher monitor his progress online.

K12 and Connection Academy are two free online public school offered in Texas. I enroll him in Connection Academy. The school provide anything from computer to the art supplies. Last Friday, I got two shipments from the school.Textbook, art supplies, science kit, Math kit and headphone.
The computer is loaned to us. We have to return it once we withdraw from school.
This coming fall,

You got your bucket ready?

2011-07-29T10:20:00.000-07:00

The cloud is darkening, thunder is approaching.. rain is coming.. better rain big, we need water here in Houston. Ethan hears the thunder and he asks me," Have you got your bucket ready? Rain is coming." Yes, my dear. I already put out five buckets outside the house to catch those rain for my vege garden.

At first, they are not understand why I acted so excitedly whenever it rains. I will take out a lot of bucket and even my trash can to store those rain water for future use. I explained to them it is the way to save water. Rain water are free from sky and we can reuse it to water the vege and flowers.

The concept of saving water is very important to instill in their young mind. Kids here in U.S are not aware how precious water is compared to those from unfortunate country. Turning on the tap, they got clean water to bath, to drink and to wash. Ethan used to let the water run off while scrubbing his body with soap. He did not turn off the tap when he put on the shampoo or body soap. I showed him how much water he could have save by putting a bucket under the running water. Now, he will turn the tap off when the water is not used. He will no longer let the water run when brushing the teeth. Though this is just a simple act, but we make sure the boys know their small act will affect the whole world.

Together, we all must save water no matter what!!

An evening stroll with the boys..

2011-07-26T06:36:00.000-07:00

Monday evening, as usual, I played tennis with my girlfriend. Eric brought the boys out for an evening stroll at our nearby neighborhood with pretty big lake. We like this place very much. There is a long stretch pathway for the people to walk or bike.

y

Soft to loud

2011-07-24T18:03:00.001-07:00

We had a small gathering last night at one of our friend's house. It was fun. Moms got the time to chat, dads had a chance to mingle around and the kids were having their fun time in the pool and the playroom.

Suddenly, a mom mad a comment about how women tend to change from soft voice young ladies to a loud annoying mom. She saw one mom was scolding the kids in loud voice when they are fooling around.

Yes, once we become a mom, we tend to not speak in soft voice like we used to. We have naughty kids to take care and sometimes, we forget to control ourselves and screamed at them like crazy. I totally admit that I did scream and scold them without mercy. I knew it is not a good way to show our love but I just forget to control my emotion.

Now, whenever I feel angry and frustrated when parenting them, I will take a deep breath and calm myself a bit. I think this is a way of learning after all these years being a mom. Well, as I always say, being a parents is the most difficult task in the whole wide world.

Pool time

2011-07-24T10:32:00.000-07:00

Summer time means splashing time for us!! The boys go swimming almost every weekend. Yesterday, we went to one of our friend's house. She got a pretty pool at her backyard and the boys love this pool very much.

Like Star on Earth

2011-07-23T07:15:00.001-07:00

Again, I cried while watching this good Indian movie. I am so emotional because I am happy for the ending. This is a great educational movie and every parents with kids should watch it. I check out this movie from the library and watch it with my boys. At first, they are not wiling to watch it. First, it is Indian movie. Second, they think it will be very boring. But they watch the whole movie with us till the end.

Like Star On Earth showed us every child is special. It depicts the reality of this society where parents are eager to push the kids to the top. When the kids are not performed as they expected, they are assumed to be failure and will do no good in the future.

Herman Park and Japanese Garden

2011-07-21T11:33:00.000-07:00

Early Thursday morning, I brought the boys to the park. There is a show at Miller Outdoor Theater--The Princess and the Pea. They did not enjoy it that much but we stayed there for the whole show.

In the Japanese Garden. The garden is well maintained and pretty.

They were at the Japanese Tea House. It was locked but they just pretend they are in the Japan now.

Several Koi Fish are swimming towards them. They are such a big fish with beautiful color.

A long the park trail. It is shady because of those tall big trees.

Evil and happy laugh

2011-07-21T11:29:00.001-07:00

Ethan finally found the box. He hold on it and showed it to me with all the toys in the box.

" Hahahah! I found them!" He showed me a evil laugh but I knew he was happy to find his long lost toys( I purposely hide them because he did not cleaned up and scattered them around the house).

The boys were so happy and excited to see their toys again. It is better than buying them a new one. They know our rules. If dad and mom found the toys which is not belong to some places or they did not clean up after done playing with them, those toys will go into a special box.

At least, they learned how to appreciate what they had!

Houston Arboretum

2011-07-18T10:20:00.000-07:00

Sunday was a hot humid day. The kids get used of the air-conditioning room and I decided to bring them for a nature walk at the jungle. This is one of our favorite place to explore. The Houston Arboretum and Nature Center is a lush 155 acre nature preserve. It is located in Memorial Park which is not far from our place. The Arboretum is home to more than 75 varieties of trees, 16 species of turtles, 10 species of frogs and 33 kinds of butterflies.
( Information from the brochure I got from the center).

We are fortunate to see an armadillo.

The boys favorite part after the trail. This is a cool playground where everything is made out of woods and recycled things.

Inside the discovery room. There are many things to learn and explore. I am explaining the function of a tree. There is a big diagram showing how the tree making food and producing O2 to the human.

There are several animal skins from raccoon to rabbi

iHow old is this tree? They are counting the ring and this tree is 92 years old.

Crazy about lego

2011-07-15T19:15:00.000-07:00

The boys are crazy about Lego. They got these Legos from Ethan's 3 years old birthday presents. They do not play with them much when they are younger. But at the age of five and eight, two of them can make many things from them with imagination. It is so amazed to see them making the robot, machines, space ship, car, superhero from Lego pieces. They can spend a whole day just playing with it.

Ethan is the one who is so fanatic about Lego. Evan just follow his big brother. To my surprise, he can make cool thing from the lego just like Ethan.

My little closet

2011-07-15T17:32:00.000-07:00

I have a very little closet with a few clothes. Once my friend took a look at my closet, she was surprised to see that little closet and she said that my clothes is just 1/10 of hers. I am not surprise to hear that because most of my friends got big closet with many clothes and accessories. I prefer not to keep a lot of clothes which I know I will not wear. To be honest, I seldom buy new clothes because most of my clothes are passed to me from many people.

As a stay home mom, I do not need a lot of fancy outfit to dress myself up . Thus, I do not spend money in shopping to fill up my closet. Exactly how many clothes a lady really needs? I personally think that as long as the clothes are still in a good condition and we still can suit them nicely, there is no need to buy more. Some of my friends will give me their old or unfit clothes to me. I will then recycled my old one by donating to the local charity and wear the one I just got from them. Of course, I will buy new clothes once in a while but most of the time I feel comfortable wearing old clothes.

Splish, splash

2011-07-11T08:16:00.000-07:00

Hot summer with cool splashing water.. what a good combination... We went to the Discovery Green Park yesterday along with Chiew Hon's family. The boys were having fun playing with the water... Little Ariston was so excited seeing those water splashing out from the ground.

Even the adult cannot resist the cool water....
There is a art car parked by the park.

An lay back afternoon

2011-07-08T14:46:00.001-07:00

Sometimes, I prefer just stay at home and let the boys doing some puzzles or coloring instead of bringing them out. Tuesday and Thursday swimming and Wednesday Taekwondo do wear them out, so, staying home doing some puzzles is a great way to kill time.

Venice Twilight by the boys....

2011-07-08T14:28:00.000-07:00

Last few weeks I went to a painting workshop with some girlfriends at a local painting studio. We painted the Venice Twilight by Claude-Monet. This is my first canvas painting and I enjoyed it very much.

I teach the boys the same painting with the steps taught by the teacher at the studio. It turned out easy with the steps. We used the water color instead of acrylic paint.
Work in progress.

Caylan's painting
Ethan's painting

Evan did not show much interest in finishing the painting, it ended up I did most of the painting myself.

Dear son, we cannot afford that...

2011-07-04T13:36:00.000-07:00

We were at the bookstore. Besides books, the bookstore is selling lots of toys to attract young kids. Ethan was browsing the toys and pick up a big box of Lego set to show it to us.

" Can I have this? My friend so and so got the fancy Lego set and I really like this Ninja Lego. See, you can do this and do that, you can flip this and flip that. Cool, right?" he sounded like a salesman to me and his face looked as cute as can be in front of me.

" My dear son, do you know how much is it? $49.99 plus tax. It is really not worth the money, and in fact, we cannot afford this Lego set." I knew he sure did not feel good but this is the reality that he got to accept. Some more, it is a bad idea to buy whatever the kids want. We normally will not buy the toys immediately unless it is super cheap or is a good deal.

I know he is crazy about Lego because most of his friends got fancy Lego set with different theme. He played with them and I understand his desire to want to have one like his friends.
But, he got to learn that we are a family on budget and it is not easy to save money. Well, I am not sure whether he understands all these but at least he put back the Lego set. Of course he was not feeling happy the whole afternoon, but we delivered our message clearly and stood firmly on our decision.

Angry and forgiving...

2011-07-03T13:25:00.001-07:00

My dear hubby once told me he tried not to feel mad or angry towards others. He told me that he was so mad at work one day because someone was making a stupid mistake and he yelled at him. Then, he felt so bad and went to apologize to his coworker whom he scolded harshly few minutes ago. Suddenly, he felt good after apologizing.

Bravo to him! It was not easy for a man to say sorry to someone after a big argument or disagreement. My dear husband is learning to control his emotion and feeling especially he feels that it is better to calm down and solve things out.

生气是那别人的错误来惩罚自己! We always feel angry towards someone else mistake. He or she might forget about it after a while and you already kills tons of your good body cells when you feel angry or mad. So, just calm down and think is it worth it to feel angry?

July is here...

2011-07-01T10:35:00.000-07:00

My goodness, half of the year 2011 is gone.. We are welcoming a new month ----July.

What have I done so far? mmmmm, normal life with normal kids and normal husband. No excitement, no adventure, no big news but at least no chaos. Though the life sounds like a bit boring but this is a good life for a normal people like me.

So, for next half year... I set a mini goal for myself. Pick up my yoga mat and do the yoga at least half an hour each day. If not, at least 15 minutes. I lost my flexibility after not doing that for quite a long time.

Hopefully the next half year will be as good as the previous half. Love and being love by others.....

A day out at Museum district

2011-06-26T11:38:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday was a good day to go out. After two days of raining, the weather was cooling down and not as hot as few days ago.

Houston Fine Art Museum is offering summer discovery art program on every Thursday. It is free to public for the whole summer. Today the boys were learning about Portrait. They have to look at the art paintings by Rembrandt van Rijn and did some observation. Too bad I am not allowed to take pictures inside the museum.

They are doing their own portrait.

We had the lunch at the Herman Park which is located near to the museum.

Three little monkeys climbing up the monkey bar.....

Muffin time

2011-06-26T11:35:00.000-07:00

We were making cupcakes last Friday-fresh blueberry muffin.

We were mak

感恩奶奶(thanks to grandma)

2011-06-26T11:09:00.000-07:00

Sunday morning, we have a house cleaning "project". I sweep the floor, the boys mops the floor and daddy clean the toilets. Of course, they will not willing to do it but they have no choice.

Daddy is busy washing and cleaning the bathrooms. I grab this opportunity to tell them daddy helped grandma every day to do the house chores and he did it perfectly. We really have to thank grandma for training daddy and they should learn that from him.

It is always true that when the parents is doing the chores, the kids will sure follow. They have no reasons to object. I am grateful to my mother-in-law for instilling the value of helping around the house to Eric when he was small. She make sure everything was done in perfect way and no more excuse for not doing that.

A lot of parents are complaining the kids do not help out. But we got to find out the reason behind it. When they are still small, parents will tend to do everything for the kids because they are afraid of messiness and clumsiness. When the kids are older, they still do everything for them because the kids are too tired of the school works or all kinds of activities. So, when will the kids learn how to help out if they are not given any chance?

言教不如身教---good role model is much better than a lot of talking. We tried our best to do the house chores with them so that they know this is a family thing. They have the responsibility to
take care of the house.

Making Egg Monsters

2011-06-26T05:13:00.000-07:00

With three boys with me during this summer, I got to find some craft works for them to do besides letting them watching TV, playing video games and running around like crazy. So, library become my best place to find all kinds of craft books to give me inspiration to explore different kinds of ideas.

This is an easy project. First, prepare some empty egg shells. I cracked them at the bottom to let out the egg yolk and white. Clean and dry them. Then, I put some sand into it and tape it to let the egg stand.

Prepare some glue and tissue paper ( the one I save from the present wrappers). The project required to glue the tissue paper all over the eggshells but the boys were too lazy and they preferred to color the eggshell instead.

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These two eggs were wrapped all around by tissue paper. You can just paint whatever you want on it. I drew the monster eggs and mouth.

They are looking at the pictures from the book to get the idea how to draw the monster face.

Three Egg Monsters.

Papier-mâché---Making a bird

2011-06-22T11:40:00.000-07:00

This is a very messy project for the boys. First, got to make the glue out of the white flour with water. Mix the flour with water then cook it for a while to make it gooey. Then,cool off. This art project took about three days to finish. It must be totally dried off before painting it with color.

Before start, the boys got to tear off a lot of newspaper into small strips.
To make the bird body, I used the bowl as a base. Put some vaselin inside it then glue the paper strips one by one around the bowl from inside out. Cover the whole bowl with paper strips then let it dry under the sun.

For the bird feel, I used the twisted art wire to make the claws. Then, covered them with the paper strips and let dry.

Making the bird neck and beak by using the cardboard. I cut them into long strips and triangles shapes. The boys covered them with paper with glue.

After putting the bowl ( the bird body) under the sun for one day, it is ready to be trimmed.

The finishing bird with white paper as the outer layer.

A bird make out of paper.

Three little dancing guys

2011-06-20T15:26:00.000-07:00

Watching them growing up together is a blessing, videotaping them dancing together is a joyful feeling. Time is flying, I am not sure whether they still be as good as now but at least I captured the fun moment.

Summer Taekwondo class

2011-06-16T09:26:00.000-07:00

This is the first time the boys having the taekwondo class for this summer. They are having fun in the class and I keep laughing when I see Evan doing something funny in the class. He is not good in jumping jack but he tries his best. He is one of the smallest kids in the class and he does things slower than others.

A good example for us

2011-06-13T09:48:00.001-07:00

Recently, one of my good friend was having a family trip with her parent-in-law traveling up north to New York city and Canada. She said it was her husband dream bringing his parents along visiting a new place and the most important thing is, having a good fun time with them. My friend father-in-law is having difficulty in walking and depends on walker to walk for short distance. So, I can imagine that the whole trip was in slow motion without any rushing.

My friend really set a good example for us. They ultimate goal for this trip is being around with their parents since they live out of state. At the same time, they let their kids got a chance to be with grandparents.

Spending more time with our own parents is always in our mind and too bad we are not able to do it every year with them. So, this year while we are back to Malaysia, we will plan a trip to bring our parents around the places that they never will plan to go or somewhere relaxing.

Happy 9th Anniversary

2011-06-06T11:39:00.000-07:00

June 6,2002 we officially become husband and wife in front of a county office Judge. By then, we were considered a very young couple to get married among our friends. Now, June 6, 2011, we are a parents of two young boys, Ethan and Evan, and still love each other as much as we do 9 years before.

Being together for 9 years, we learn how to tolerate with each other bad and good habits. We learn how to survive to be young parents and of course, we still learning how to live happily for next unknown years ahead of us.

Life is good and I have no more complain living with my dear husband each day and each moment. Happy Anniversary !!!

2011 June Piano Recital

2011-06-04T13:36:00.000-07:00

Ethan got a piano recital today. This time, it was a little more grand one than before. He joined with other students from another piano class.

He is playing The Woodchuck Chucks Wood and Rustic Dance.

There are 21 students ages from 5 to teenagers. I am amazed to see those kids can perform so well and they all seemed having fun with the piano.

Good job! Ethan...

2011-05-31T14:16:00.000-07:00

Today is Ethan's school Award Ceremony. I brought Evan along and planned to attend the ceremony. Too bad we were turned away because sibling is not allowed. I told the lady in the front office that I did not receive any notice but she insisted we cannot attend the ceremony. Well, it is not a big deal for me and I just went home with Evan.

Ethan went home with two medals and two certificate. He showed them to me proudly and sadly. He is proud that he is one of the two kids in his class received four things from teacher. He is sad that we are not there to share his happiness. He waited for me for the ceremony but I was not there.

Well, I told him the reason and comforted him that it is not a big deal as long as mommy knew his hard works paid off for this whole year. His grandparents were not there for mommy during mommy's award ceremony for the whole school life. In fact, back to my school age, most parents were not invited for the awards ceremony. Normally, we just received the awards or certificate in the school at the end of the year with no parents around. We just did our best to perform well and brought home whatever we got.

Keep up the good works, my big son!

I am so proud of you...Evan

2011-05-31T14:05:00.000-07:00

Today is Evan's third swimming class in Sea Star Swim School. He used to be afraid of water and did not like water that much compared to Ethan. I enrolled the boys to the swimming class after I bought a good deal from Groupon. He started the class two weeks later than Ethan. He watched his brother did the lesson and preferred to stay dry. It took me two weeks to persuade him for the class.

Luckily we have a very super nice and patient lady to be his teacher. I am so glad to see him enjoy the swimming lesson. No crying, no screaming, no complaining, instead, he is so enjoy and cannot wait to go for the class.

Finally, we find a good sport for him to do.

Walking towards the pool area. Today, he is lucky to have one-on-one lesson with the teacher for full 1/2 hour. Normally, there will be 2 to 3 kids with him for one session.

Warming up with the float.

Learning to float.

At the end of the lesson, Ms.Heather said he is a quick learner. He already master some steps that might take months to practice but he managed to do it for only three lessons. She was amazed by his skill and improvement. My little Evan, I am so proud of you.

A fun Memorial Holiday Day...

2011-05-30T11:28:00.000-07:00

Well, again, the Sugarland Folks are having another food fair. Since the Chinese Rice Dumpling Festival is approaching, we are making the rice dumpling this time together with Penang Laksa from Kar and Winnie. Of course, we had fried Ti Kuih ( sweet sticky cake), fried banana, frozen durian, bake chicken wing from Kim and other dishes. This time as usual, the party is from noon to night. But this time we had more fun games for both adults and kids.

We were celebrating little Dylan three-year-old birthday at night. Everyone was having such a good time.

Fish for Laksa

Lady Winnie is preparing the laksa soup.

Homemake Penang Laksa made by Kar and Winnie from scratch. It is so delicious with all the fresh ingredients.

After the lunch. we started working on making the rice dumpling. This time,we got more male helpers. Good job, guys! At least you all were not sitting there and watching the ladies making the dumplings. Team works....

Fried guy... Mickey! He always in charge in frying.. Yummy ti kuih and banana.

The boys were having fun playing in the small pool at the backyard.

Water balloon throwing game..

This time, I wanted everyone to have fun including the adults. Everyone got to play limbo rock. At first, everyone was hesistated to play by saying too old, too stiff, too tire and lots of excuses. But later, everyone was participated and I can see we all were back to younger stage and showing the flexibility after a few rounds.

The kids started the game first.

The guys were doing some warm up before the game. Everyone was bending their body and stretching hard.

Ah Ken is the winner for this game. He even beat the women. The lowest height he can go is 31", it was so amazed to see him to have such a flexible body. He is our record holder. See who can beat him next time?

Happy Birthday to dearest Dylan. He is getting three years old by next week.

不要吵mommy

2011-05-25T05:08:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I went to bed at 30pm ( ya, that is very early for this time of the year, in fact, the day is still light).. well, I was too tired after a whole day schedule and the yard work so I went to bed while the boys were watching TV with the dad.

Before I fell asleep, I heard the boys were entering the room. Evan wanted me to tell him story before bed. Ethan quickly told him," 不要吵mommy ( do not wake her up), mommy 在睡觉."

I remained still without making any movement showing that I was awake. Then, Evan said again," But, no one read to me. I want to hear story."

Ethan," I read to you lah..( Malaysian tend to have a lah, oh, gua at the end of the sentence, and he got that from us)."

Thanks, my big boy. You really showing your big brother spirit in taking care of the little one. Mommy is so proud of you though it was just a small action.

Sometimes, the boys gave me a lot of headache. But once they showed a little bit respect and appreciation, I am happy for the whole night....

Houston Children Museum

2011-05-23T06:21:00.000-07:00

This is a cool and fun children museum in Houston. In fact, it is “America’s No. 1 Best Children’s Museum” by Parents magazine, winner of Nickelodeon Parents’ Picks “Best Museum in Houston 2009 & 2010,” Click2Houston’s Best “Best Museum 2010,” the Children’s Museum of Houston is a Citysearch.com’s nationwide 5-star children’s museum.

We spent about 3 hours there but yet, we have not gone to every part of the museum. There are so many activities for the kids and even the adults are having fun there too.

Daddy is playing along with the kids.
Little Artist

Little Chef preparing meal
Driving a police car

Little lab chemist.

Making sail-car.

Making the paper-copter. This is Eric's childhood game.

A day out in the park

2011-05-23T05:42:00.000-07:00

There was a DinoTrain day at Herman Park Mini Train Station. People were everywhere, the train station was full and we did not spend whole lot of time there.

It was a breezy humid day. We had our lunch there and having a relaxing time at the park .

The boys just took the craft mask and color them at home instead.

This mini train will travel around the park. The cost is 3 buck per person.

Guess what is this?
We were lucky enough to spot a Texas Armadillo in the park. It is a small one. It walked around the ground to search for food. The boys were fascinated to see such animal in close up.

Ethan is more serious now when we took his picture. Evan is beginning to show his funny side.

We saw this weird art car parked at the park. Everyone opened the mouth!!

2011-05-18T11:47:00.000-07:00

I try my best to teach Evan a chinese poem each week. Today, I think it is more fun if I let him do some craft associate with the poem.

http://coolschoolathome.blogspot.com/2011/05/chinese-poem-with-craft.html

Oyster Creek Park Spring Concert

2011-05-16T06:14:00.000-07:00

We went to a park after the piano recital. I knew there was a spring concert there and we tried our luck to beat the crowd. Luckily we found a perfect parking spot. Since it was a free event, there were a lot of people in the park.

The boys were watching a mini magic show. The magician walked around the park and showing his magic tricks to the people.

They got free balloon. Ethan had a machine gun and Evan got a dragonfly.

I basically did not get the chance to sit down and enjoy the music and performance. I being standing on a line for about 1 1/2 hours waiting to get the portrait for the whole family. The guy is so talented, with just a few strokes, he managed to draw us on the spot. The portraits were free and we all laughed out loud after seeing our own portraits.

Ugly mom ( looks like a school headmistress)

Fierce dad (looks like a strict and unfriendly tennis coach)

Handsome boys

Piano Recital 2011

2011-05-16T05:38:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Ethan had a mini piano recital along with other two kids. It was held at our friend's,Kim,house. It was a fun and enjoyable experience for the kids. Though they were a bit nervous, they managed to play all the songs that they learned so far.

Duet by Ethan and Caylan

Ethan

Caylan

Victoria

Of course, Evan and Dylan were great audience. Little Dylan could not sit still but he was not making any fuss. In fact, he was the star in the movie. Check out Victoria's clip for his funny acts.

Birthday celebration

2011-05-09T10:20:00.000-07:00

I am going to be 33 tomorrow.... but my dear friends and family were celebrating my birthday day two days before May 10. We had a simple dinner ( take-out from restaurant) and gathering. For me, the more important thing is everyone was having good time and happy.

This time, I had a little craft workshop for the ladies.. not for kids this time. Everyone got to paint a little wooden picture holder themselves as a party favor.

The craft was main for ladies, but the men did join in for fun...

A fun Easter weekend

2011-04-25T14:51:00.000-07:00

Past weekend was a great day out for us gathering with friends. We had a birthday party at the park then a kayak ride at the lake behind our friend's house. It was a long relaxing day for everyone but at least we all enjoyed the day.

We had a mini Easter Egg Hunt at the park.

I became a little boy's " mom" for a day. It really reminded me the joy to have a small kids. He is Chiew Hong and Ken's son, Ariston. He was with us while the parents went house hunting.

Brotherhood

2011-04-25T14:49:00.000-07:00

It is always nice to see two of them sitting side by side. Little one is watching his big brother drawing something quietly. I am not sure how long this will last but at least I catch this moment with my camera.

Unity Tree Musical Night

2011-04-25T14:45:00.000-07:00

Ethan's school was having a musical night performed by all second grade kids. Though it was only half hour performance, the kids were having fun.

Artificial flavor

2011-04-19T10:22:00.000-07:00

I like to make cake or muffin from scratch. One day, I make a banana bread with real mashed bananas. It tasted good and not as sweet as the one sold in the grocery store.

" Mom, it tasted good and smelled like bananas. Is that artificial flavor?", asked Ethan when he was eating the bread.

My dear son, it was real bananas and where on earth you got an idea that I am using artificial flavor. I do not blame him for that because he being expose to too much chemically processed food with coloring, artificial flavor and high sugar. Kids nowadays are having sweet tooth and they can eat tons and tons of high sweetness dessert and snacks. It is actually sad to see our society is no more emphasize on real original food. Parents have to use different tricks to hide the green vegetables somewhere in the pie or tart or bread so that little one would not notice it.

Pen pal fun

2011-04-19T10:10:00.000-07:00

Evan got a pen pal from California. We met Ethan Huang from Chinese Class in Houston and since then, they became good friends. Too bad they had to move back to California last December. Rachel ( Ethan's mom) suggested we let the boys write letter or draw somethings and send to each other by mail instead of using email. This is a great idea and they both like it.

" Do I have a mail?", asked Evan whenever he sees me open the mail box. It has become his habit to check on my mails to see whether he got any letter from his friend. He likes to draw and write something to him. He likes to put on the stamps and other stickers on the envelope and go mail it by himself.

Seeing this, I recall that I do have pen pals long long time ago when I was in elementary school. Internet was not common 30 years ago and writing a letter become the only tools to reach someone far away. Now, everything is electronic and it suppose to enhance the relationship between friends and family. But in contrary, I seldom email to my good old friends from high school. I used to wait for letters from the mailbox but now what I expect are bills, bills and more bills. What a bummer!

MS150

2011-04-19T09:56:00.000-07:00

Good job to my dear, what a great effort in participating this wonderful events by riding the bike for 130 miles from Houston to Austin. Though he could not finish the rest of 20 miles, I still think that he did an amazing job past weekend. Bike MS is the nation's largest organized cycling event drawing 100000 participants each year to 100 unique rides benefiting the National Multiple Sclerosis.

The first time he told me he wanted to participate in this event, I could not believe my ears. I knew it was a hard task by riding a bike for 150 miles from one city to another. Some more, he did not have road bike and never trained for riding such a long distance.

But everything got its own solution. Thanks to Mickey who loaned him a road bike and thanks to all the friends who donate money, he finally make it.

He sure had a wonderful experience.

Playdate

2011-04-08T14:13:00.000-07:00

Ethan is getting to know more neighborhood kids who go to same school as he does. Now, with a 8 years old boy, I not need to plan any play date for him because his "dates" just come to our place including girl. Now, I am getting his friends' phone number in my cell phone. They will call before come over. Since they all in the same neighborhood, they just walk or bike.

Sometimes, after asking my permission, he will ride his bike to his friend's house. Evan will follow him along. I know they will have more time out playing with friends instead of staying at home like they use to be.

Houston Audobon Society

2011-04-05T15:35:00.000-07:00

I brought Evan to the Titmouse Club today where there is a story time, hands on activities and nature exploring. It is a big area with lots of things to explore and see. Today theme is about wildflower. Every kids got a chance to plant their own sunflower around the nature trail.

This is a weekly activity which is held on Tuesday or Wednesday from 10am to 11am.

Planting sunflower seeds.

Waiting for others for the story time.

We saw a big bull frog emerged from the water. It is a big frog with big eyes. Oh my!

Zookeeper and builder

2011-04-05T11:40:00.000-07:00

" I want to be a zookeeper when I grow up," said Ethan.

"I want to be a builder," said Evan after hearing his big brother talk about what he want to be in the future.

Eric and I just smiled when we heard that. I wonder what will other parents ( Asian ) think or do when their kids tell them they want to be a zookeeper instead of zoologist, a builder instead of architect?

I remember once I told my mom that I would like to be an archeologist when I was in middle school. She looked at me with unbelievable eyes and told me that it is not a good job for a girl and I will not have stable normal life. I recalled that some of my friends just change their mind in what their really want to be and pursuit a career which they are not passionate about.

Eric and I always emphasize to the boys that they should do what they really passionate about and do it with all their heart. Of course, we do hope that they have a good life in the future without worrying money and financially stable. It is hard to predict what will happens in the future, as long as they are good people and contribute to the society, we are happy no matter what they pursue in life.

Let's see whether we have a zookeeper or a builder in the future.....

书包太重---My school daze

2011-03-20T12:20:00.000-07:00

Recently, we are watching a Singapore Movie series called My School Daze. It is a movie depicts what happens to today kids in Singapore but I believe that it is happening in Malaysia too. We just watched the few episodes and it really opens up my boys mind. They see the kids back there are study hard and they have whole load or tons of home works compare to what they have now in U.S. Kids back home have to bring a big heavy backpack every day while he just have a small backpack with nothing but few chapter books in it. Every kids got to have a tuition lesson besides school works in order to be success academically.

I felt sorry for the kids in Singapore and Malaysia for I underwent such experience before. I have a big backpack for textbooks and workbooks. Ethan can put his textbook in his classroom desk drawer. I had several tuition class and Ethan has his mom as his tutor. I had tons of home works to finish each day and Ethan just has few pieces sheet of works for a week.

I strongly believe everything should be in moderation. Eric thinks that kids back in Singapore or Malaysia are losing their childhood. They go to different classes after school to learn this to learn that. They have to attend many tuition lesson in order to catch up or to excel what they had learn in school. I even heard that kids have two different tutors for just one subject. In contrast, kids in U.S ( at least what we observe from our kid who is still elementary) are very relax and having a easy school year. Of course, the standard of education does show big difference.

So, Eric and I use a moderation method in parenting and educating our boys. We do not want to put too much pressure on them. Of course, we do give them extra works at home beside the school works. We do not put them into many extra activities after school. First, we do not have the budget. Second, I do not want them to involve too much until they forget the real reason behind it.

Well, let kid be a kid......They deserve to have memorable childhood .......

Give space and time to each other

2011-03-18T06:27:00.000-07:00

Recently, I wrote a blog about my own personal time. It got quite responses from my friends. Eric and I do give each other time and space to do our own things that we like. Of course, I did complain about him to go playing mahjong or poker with his friends. I used to nag him for returning home late at night especially when the time Evan was very small and need a lot of attention. But now, I just let him go and play the game whenever he wants and do not want to nag on him like I used to. When he goes playing the cards, the boys and I already fell asleep and it does not bother me at all how late he comes home. Since we moved quite far away, he just play the games once in a while.

For I think it is no use to nag or complain because man do need some time off from family and do something they enjoy. Of course, a family guy should know their own limit and they have to make some sacrification for the family just like women do. At least we have to be more understandable for the other half.

We both are still young at our 30s. We have kids at early age and we missed those fun things that most of our friends already enjoyed. We love to play and having fun. But with two boys, we really stuck up with all the housework and their education. Of course, we do have fun with them and enjoy being parents.

Giving space and time to each other is one of the way to maintain a good healthy marriage. The more we want to be in control, the more suffer we are. Just do the things you like and enjoy doing it as long as it is no harm to the society or your beloved one.

A good nice day...

2011-03-17T11:32:00.000-07:00

Today is a super fine day to go outside. I got no car and three boys with me... so, bicycles are the best transportation. The boys ride the bikes and I walk, what a good exercise! We go to the lake beside our neighborhood. It is a big pretty lake and there is a playground at the end of the trail. It is a great motivation for them to keep riding for about one or two miles.

They suggest to have lunch there, so everyone got a backpack with food and water.

tHaving fun at the playground.

Lunch time!! Yum ,Yum ,Yum...
Feeding the ducks at the dock.

With three boys

Mommy's personal time

2011-03-17T06:18:00.000-07:00

I am lucky enough to have three girlfriends who are crazy about tennis. Now, I got two weeknight off to play tennis with them. We being playing tennis for about one year now, so far, we are quite committed to the game and it becomes my ladies-night-out twice a week.

This week is spring break. The boys wanted to follow me to the court to play tennis. I told them mommy will not play with them and they have to hit the ball on wall or wait for their dad to come and play with them. Of course, they continue to beg me to play with them though we already had the deal before. Of course, I definitely would not play with them since I already told them this is mommy personal time.

Ethan then asked me," Where is my personal time?"
I replied," You got your own personal time for the whole morning and afternoon. You got to play with your toys, riding bike to the park and play in the playground. Mommy brings you here and there. You got more personal time than mine. So, who got more personal time? You or me?"
Ethan," mmmm..................."

Sometimes, we got to let the kids know mom and dad have to rest. They never will know how hard you being work your butt off if you never tell them so. One of my tennis partner asked me do they really know what is personal time? I said they will know what it means if you tell them constantly. LOL....

Kite Festival

2011-03-15T09:53:00.000-07:00

Kite Festival is an annual event in Sugarland Memorial Park. There are many colorful kites on the scene.

The event is from 10am to 3pm. We arrived there around 1030am. There were several kites flying up the sky. I bet there were more after we left.

Getting a free horse ride.

The boys got the chance to make their own paper kite.

The man on stilt.

Ethan participated in the Hula Hoop Competition.

Walk or Bike to school day

2011-03-11T11:09:00.000-08:00

Today, Ethan wants to ride his bike to school which is about 0.8 miles from our house. His school is having a walk or bike to school day. He normally takes the bus to school and he never ride the bike to school. I am a bit concern about his safety on the road but would like him to have this experience. So, I ask him to go ask his friend who is in fifth grade in our neigborhood to see whether he can accompany him together to the school.

Luckily his friend accompanies him to ride the bike to school. He is so happy and proud. I bet he will sure talk about his experience with his classmates today.

Kids are very funny. I used to drive him to school when he was in Kinder. Every time he saw the bus, he wanted to ride the bus to school. Now, he goes to school by bus, and he wants to ride his bike to school. Well, at least he experiences all these three transportation.

My little body

2011-03-11T10:31:00.000-08:00

Evan is learning his body part....

http://coolschoolathome.blogspot.com/2011/03/my-little-body.html

I want this, I want that....

2011-03-09T10:15:00.000-08:00

Kids nowadays are way tooooooooo lucky. They have everything prepared for them from food to technology gadget. They never feel hungry because there are food ready in anytime. They do not feel cold because they have good sweater to protect them. They never feel bored because there are tons of toys waiting for them. But too bad, their desire for something is never ending and it is very scary if we do not instill the value of appreciation and show them the differences between needs and wants.

Ethan's school is having a book fair at least twice a year( so far is two times in this school year). The teacher will bring the kids to the book fair and let them write down the books they wants in their wish list. The first time he came home, he has about 6 books on his wish list. We let him bought one with his own money. I check out the rest of the books he wanted from the local library. I showed him the way to save money. I know he will just put the books aside once he read them and the books will just sitting somewhere collecting dust.

This time, he came home with the wish list again. He got the titles and prices list down. We showed him how to compare the price in the internet and he found out that it is much more cheaper buying online than from the book fair. But I told him it is okay to buy just one he really likes since buying from the book fair will support his school.

We do not want to let the boys feel that they can always get anything they want instantly. They got to learn the way to get it or wait for the good time to obtain it. We told them that it is the same when they grow up. Dad and mom do not buy thing without thinking ( of course sometime we do) and we search and do some researches to compare the price from different shops.

Well, it is easy to teach them the value of money when they are small. Of course. we have to let them know saving for the future is way too important.

4 people, 2 1/2 hours, nonstop chatting

2011-03-09T09:46:00.000-08:00

We are lucky to have some good friends who share common value and idea with us. Our friends stop by our place on Tuesday night to give us something. Once the chatter box opened, we just could not resist to chat. It happens that four of us are chatter box, the topics are never ending and news idea just came out instantly.

Sometimes, you just have some friends that you never feel bore talking to. We talked about everything from parenting to traveling. Each time, we do learn something new from each other without noticing it was about 2 1/2 hours.

It is really 酒逢知己千杯少，luckily we do not have 话不投机半句多...
Though we do not have any wine during the conversation, we were very relax and enjoy the night.

Outgoing

2011-03-06T10:46:00.000-08:00

Ethan is a very outgoing boy. Now, he is 8 years old and he starts to go out of the house meeting his friends. He got several friends of his age from the same school in our neighborhood. He will go to their house with his bike or just walk across the street to play with them after getting permission from us.

Though it is very safe in our neighborhood with good people, we are still have to put an eye on him and make sure he is mixing with good friends. When the kids reach certain age, we just have to let go and guide him all the time.

Our job as parents is never ending. When they are small, we worry about their overall growth and health. When they reach school age, we have to find school and activities for them. When they are getting older, we have to make sure they are with good people and do not get bad influence. No wonder people say though the kids reach adulthood, they are still treated like small kids by their old parents.

Technologies...

2011-03-03T11:29:00.000-08:00

Yesterday night, we watching an interesting program from PBS channel about the technologies from 1970 to 2000. Withing these 30 years, human have being undergo such a big change from simple life style to a complicated one with all those technologies.

From the show, we recalled back what we have back in our younger age. The pager, fax machine, dial up internet, old fashion phone, SEGA, big and chunky cell phone, VCR and many more that are not used by the new generation.

With computer in every household, internet become a necessity. Eric and I do not use it until we were in college. There was no computer at home and not mention the internet. Now, even the little toddler know how to handle the mouse.

From the show, the experiment family experience 30 days with different kind of technologies from 1970 to 2000 from nothing to everything. Each day is another new year for them and they will receive all the technology gadget from the tech team.

One comment the man of the house made really hit me. He said," We have all kinds of kitchen gadget from smoothie machine to garlic press, do you really need it? It ends up I have to wash more thing at one time. "

Really, when I look around my house, we do have a lot of technology junk that are not used any more. We got to stop and think before we made any purchase.

Evan 背唐诗

2011-03-02T12:20:00.000-08:00

I am starting to introduce Chinese poem to Evan and Ethan this year. The boys know a lot about Mother Goose Nursery song but have not idea about Chinese Poems from many many years ago. The poems are full of rhyme and it is one of the way to teach them to recite and learn the words quickly.

鹅鹅鹅

鹅鹅鹅，
曲项向天歌。
白毛浮绿水，
红掌拨清波

春晓
春眠不觉晓，处处闻啼鸟。
夜来风雨声，花落知多少。

静夜思

床前明月光，
疑是地上霜。
举头望明月，
低头思故乡。

游子吟

慈母手中线， 　　
游子身上衣。　　
临行密密缝,　
意恐迟迟归。　　
谁言寸草心，

Getting dress

2011-02-27T11:44:00.000-08:00

Today, I decided to let Evan to get his own shirt and wear it by himself. Normally, I will prepare the shirt and pant for him. Every morning, I have to ask him to brush his teeth, what to wear for the day and then give him breakfast. But today, I think it is time for him to pick his own shirt and go wash himself without me.

While preparing breakfast early Sunday morning, Evan woke up and then asked me what to do from upstairs. Unlike other days, I stayed downstairs and told him go brushing teeth and changing clothes. Of course, he was not willing to do it at first. He started to cry and whine. He wanted me to go upstairs to choose the shirt and see him wash his teeth. The tug of war is begin. I remained quiet and continue preparing breakfast. I know I spoiled him for not as independent as Ethan. His skin problem made me to pay more attention to him since small. I prepared everything for him and he is very attach to me on everything. But, now he is 5 years old and he should learn to be independent.

He then brushed his teeth after knowing I am not coming up. He brushed teeth, washed his face and chose his shirt. Kids are actually easy to train and we just need a bit persistence and consistence. But too bad, adult is the one who spoil the whole parenting system. We will give tons of excuse that our kids are still young to learn.

Don't you forget?

2011-02-27T10:57:00.001-08:00

Today, the boys are helping me to hang the clothes under the sun. Ethan is complaining again about this chores while he is hanging the clothes. Evan is hanging the socks quietly without much saying. Suddenly, he tells his brother," Ke ( brother in Chinese), don't you forget? You not need to wash the white shoes like aunt Winnie said last week. Hanging clothes is easier."

I am surprise to hear what he told his brother. He is right. Hanging the clothes which has being washed in the machine is not that difficult. Kids back home in Malaysia have to wash their white school shoe every weekend. I remember this must- do chore when I was a student. Besides washing, I had to put on the white powder cream on the shoe to make it white just like new one. Our parents do not help us after we know how to use the brush to wash it. I am not sure about kids today whether they are still doing this thing or not.But I know it is a good task for us to learn our responsibilities to take care of our properties.

I have not rest yet....

2011-02-24T10:16:00.000-08:00

Early morning at 6am, Ethan woke me up. Today, he was earlier than me. Today, I was too tire to wake up at 530am and stayed in bed till 6am. Normally, by this time, I was down there preparing breakfast for the whole family. By the time he wakes up at 630am, he will have his breakfast ready.

But, today, he was way too early. He came to me and asked me where is the breakfast. I quickly went downstairs to start a new day. He went down after brushing and changing his clothes. Of course, I am not superwoman, the breakfast not ready yet. I asked him to help me to prepare since it was still early. He helped me to cook the noodle. Then, he helped me to put away the dry containers inside the cupboard. It was a busy morning for him instead of sitting there eating breakfast.

After eating his breakfast, he told me that he has not rest yet. He being doing a lot of stuff for me. I then asked him back," What do you think if mommy just sitting around and doing nothing? Do you have your breakfast and lunch ready for school?"

He then paused and replied," Of course no, that is why Mommy is NUMBER ONE..."

I am happy to hear that but the most important message I want to deliver to him is helping out around the house is a must. He should help mom or dad whenever we need help or just offering help when he sees us busy doing something. Eric always made the boys to do yard works with him during weekend. Of course, they do have their own play time besides working. A hardworking child will appreciate more of what he or she has in life. They know it is hard to prepare meal for a whole family and taking care of a house.

Seahorse craft

2011-02-23T10:37:00.001-08:00

Storybook about Seahorse.

http://coolschoolathome.blogspot.com/2011/02/mrseahorse.html

JFK bust

2011-02-20T19:13:00.000-08:00

President day is on Monday, 2/21/2011. Ethan's is assigned a project by his teacher to do a research about President Kennedy. Besides gathering information for his presentation, he is required to make a bust of President Kennedy (from head to shoulder). I do not know what bust is at first. Then, I searched online. My goodness, it is really a big project for a second grade kid.
He kept asking me how to make and when we are going to make. It seemed like this is not the project for a second grade kid but mainly for the parents. Eric asked him to search online to find the information about how to make the bust and what kinds of material we need. It seemed like I will have two weeks headache in making this thing with him... My goodness..

Camping at the backyard

2011-02-20T19:01:00.001-08:00

Yesterday evening was a nice and cool day. We ate the dinner at our backyard. Suddenly, we just had an idea to camp at the backyard since it was not too cold or too hot for Evan. The idea just click and the boys were so excited about it since this is the first time they can sleep outside at the backyard.

Since this tent is not a big tent. so, I let the boys slept with dad. It was father and son night. I slept in the house on the queen bed all by myself. I called that mommy alone time.

The boys were helping out to set up the tent.

The next morning after a night sleeping in the tent at the backyard.

I asked the boys what did they hear last night. They told me they heard the owl hoot, and the crickets were making a lot of noise. They told me that dad slept right away after lying on the sleeping bag. Two of them were too excited to close their eyes to sleep.

Dozing off ...

2011-02-20T18:59:00.000-08:00

Eric is cutting the boys' hair this afternoon. Evan felt asleep while Eric is trimming his hair. It is so funny to watch him so relaxing while someone is cutting his hair.

洗白鞋 VS. 不洗鞋

2011-02-20T18:28:00.000-08:00

今天叫两个儿子帮我嗮衣服, 大儿子有点心不干,情不愿. 一正个冬天都用烘干机,今天总算有太阳让我嗮嗮衣服, 也有机会让儿子劳动. 当然, 他们是在埋怨, 但也总算帮我做完这差事.

刚好Winnie 和 Kar 到访, 看到两个小瓜在嗮衣服. Winnie 说现在的孩子们都很幸福, 有洗衣机洗衣,不需用手洗. 她告诉儿子帮忙嗮衣服只是小事. 若在马来西亚上课, 还得自己洗白鞋. 对呀, 想当年做学生时, 还得每到周末忙着洗刷白鞋. 父母亲都没帮忙. 那象现在,孩子的校鞋从没洗过, 一整年都穿同一双鞋子. 除非是踩到烂泥才洗刷一翻.

Ethan 从来没有听过洗白鞋这事, 有点不可思议. 应该是时候带他回去见识见识马来西亚!

Oh my,oh my..

2011-02-16T09:49:00.000-08:00

Ethan skipped school on Monday because he was not feeling well. The school had the Valentine's party and he missed it. It was not a big deal. The next day, when he was back from school, his teacher reserved a plastic bag full of candies and Valentine's card from his classmate.

You do not want to see all the stuff from the bag. It was full of small cards ( purchased from the store just for the Valentine). There were about 10-15 cards which we know sooner or later will go inside the trash or scattered all around the house.

The Valentine's day is the day we express love to the one we love. It should be a warm and happy day. But, it is too commercialized nowadays when you see those candies and cards. Some kids does not even know the purpose of it. For them, it is a day they can have a bagful of candies.

Oh my, oh my... what can you say?

Happy Valentines Day

2011-02-11T08:12:00.000-08:00

Today is a love day for everyone. We do not celebrate it on purpose because everyday is the LOVE day..Eric is not a romantic guy. He will not give me any surprise or anything. Valentine's day is just like any other ordinary day.

For me, love should be warm and feel at heart. I feel happy to watch him bath the boys, playing with them, read to them or tuck them in the bed. For years, I thanked him being such a responsible dad to the boys and a loving husband.

Happy Valentine to everyone on earth.... Love others and love yourself too!!

Little hamster

2011-01-25T14:06:00.000-08:00

We have a little fat hamster in our house. It is from our friend's son. They moved away and let us take care this little creature. Though it is small, I do not dare to get it out from the cage when I change the bedding. Ethan is the one who take it out and dismantle the cage for me to clean.

Making Man Tou ( chinese steam bun)

2011-01-25T13:58:00.000-08:00

I love this kind of bun very much for some reason. And since Evan is allergic to all kinds of bun made of eggs or milk, this is one of the healthy food that suit him best. Too bad, I always have the hard time to make it successfully. Luckily, I found a good video clip from YouTube.com showing me the steps by steps how to make a good steam bun.

Thare are some good tips and advices in how making good steam bun. No wonder I failed so many time before.

The video clip:

Finally, I have a good fluffy and yummy steam bun which Evan like it so much.

Pineapple Tart

2011-01-24T11:40:00.000-08:00

My favorite pineapple tart.. yummy! I ate a lot of this tart during Chinese New Year many many years ago when I was still a young girl. My fifth untie made the most delicious one and I still cannot forget the texture and taste of her pineapple tart.

This year, I start making the tart with a group of friends. Thanks to Angela who made the pineapple jam few days before. That is the longest process of all to make the jam.

The tarts came out good and pretty. But somehow, I am still missing my aunt one back in Sri Aman. May be got to ask for her recipe and try to make one next year.

I do not know what this facial expression tried to tell me.. May be too good or may be too bad..

Peanut and sambal puff and Penang Laksa Night

2011-01-23T06:44:00.000-08:00

Chinese New Year is just around the corner. We being making different kinds of Chinese cookies for this important festival with a group of good friends. Last night was the third time we gathered together for third time making the yummy peanut and sambal puff. Besides, our great cook,Kar and Winnie, were making the delicious Penang Laksa for everyone. Yesterday was a big feast night with all the food and good friends. Everyone stayed till midnight, 12o'clock, with a full stomach and good feeling.( I hope)

Though we are not in Malaysia, we do feel the festive atmosphere. Everyone is busy making something and the house is full of noise just like what we had back home.

Penang Laksa from Kar and Winnie. The making process was tedious. A lot of cutting, cooking soup and peeling the fish... Whoosh!

The fried Ti Guai with Yam. Mmmmmm!

The guys were responsible for the end of the product line, frying and of course eating at the same time. Too bad the picture of main frying guy, Mickey with pink apron, was too blurry for me to put on this blog.

Paper butterfly

2011-01-20T15:03:00.000-08:00

Two big one represent dad and mom. Ethan is the orange one and Evan is blue. Ethan made the butterfly by himself. I helped Evan to draw and cut the details inside it and he cut the outline.

Thanks to our friend, Eeching, she gave the boys a good book regarding the Chinese Culture. It is call Made in China. At the end of the book, there is a section that show us how to cut a paper butterfly. Chinese people like to cut the paper into different kinds of design and paste them on the window or wall during Chinese New Year.

The boys are so interested in making one. So, here is what we have done.

Evan is cutting the butterfly out. The small details

I cut another fish out of the red paper. 鱼 (fish) is pronounced as Yu.. same sound as 余 which means extra. I cut two and paste them on the window.

Decorating for Chinese New Year

2011-01-20T06:16:00.001-08:00

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On the first day of 2011, Eric lead the boys to decorate the 梅花树( plum flower tree) for Chinese New Year which is just one month away. We bought a bag of face plum flower from the local Chinese grocery store. Eric get a dried branch from the backyard and they started to decorate it. I was surprised this time because he did it without my nagging and completed the task in a short time with the boys.

This is our first time to decorate the plum tree. We thought we had a Christmas tree for Christmas and we should have a plum flower tree for Chinese New Year. This really reminds me of my family back home. Around this time of the year, my uncles sure will decorate the house with all kinds of stuff. We wants the boys to know that though we are in United States, we still celebrate the Chinese New Year with friends and family.

Fundraising for school

2011-01-20T06:00:00.000-08:00

There are so many fund raising events going on in the school. Today, we got another fund raising booklet from Ethan's school to donate money to American Heart Society. This time, we decided let him to ask for donation from his aunts and uncles ( our friends).

What is more interested him is there are some rewards for the kid who reach certain donation amount. Ethan flipped to the back of the brochure and showed us what he wants to get. We felt that he has not got the idea of fund raising. We asked him what is the purpose of this fund raising, he told us is to donate money to the cancer or sick people ( the main reason is for the heart disease patient). Besides, we told him he has to tell those who donate money about the reason and why they should donate. The rewards is just something to award them for doing some a good cause for community.

Hopefully he learned something from the conversation today.

Folding clothes

2011-01-17T09:24:00.000-08:00

Ethan offers to help me to fold the clothes after I pull the clothes off from the dryer. I am happy to hear that and expect him to do the chores half way like he used to do. He just learned a technique how to fold the clothes from his Di Zi Gui (弟子规) class last weekend. He is so eager to help me and show me how good he is in folding the clothes.

Surprisingly, he folded the whole basket. Although it is not that perfect, but I am happy that he is making effort to fold the clothes for me. Hopefully, he can continue this good work and it helps a lot to me. Of course, it means a lot to me too because a 7 years old boy is helping me to do the chores without asking and do it happily and willingly.

Making robot

2011-01-16T11:39:00.000-08:00

There are many unwanted stuff scattered around the house. The bottle cap, candy wrapper, scrap paper, ribbon, and many many small items. I put them into a big tin can for the art and craft.

Today, we read a book about My Robot. Evan wants to make one just like the one from the book.
We use a plastic cup and those unwanted items from the tin can for the robot.

I am 5 years old

2011-01-16T11:29:00.000-08:00

Evan is 5 years old now. He is getting bigger and stronger. His skin is getting healthier but still have to be very careful in his diet. Like his big brother, he likes to pose for the camera.