Chloe is 5 !

Chloe turned 5 on 10 July 2014. A few weeks earlier she asked what is she giving to her friends for party packs. I said you decide. Then Lucas and Chloe both decided to do a piñata in the Arts and Craft class. Chloe chose a 'present' instead of animals. It took them 4 weeks to complete this piñata.
Then I suggested that maybe Chloe should take the piñata to school and share with 'goodies' with her friends. The teacher said it is ok to bring the piñata to school and that sealed the option. The kids had a ball time smacking the piñata.

The piñata made by Lucas and Chloe, and filled with goodies by me.

Chloe was the first to be blind folded and hit the piñata. Then each of her class mate gets a turn.

Then we had a small celebration at home. Chloe wanted to make sushi for his birthday dinner. So, I cooked some Japanese rice and the adults had tempura.

 

Chloe mixing the sushi rice.

Opening her presents…lots of them. She said her favorite is Elsa doll.

Making and eating the sushi he made.

Birthday dinner - tempura for adults, sushi for Chloe, sashimi for Lucas.

The neighbourhood kids club had a celebration for July babies. And of course we went. The kids enjoyed the  clown. That should be enough celebration. :)

They danced Chicken Dance and Gangam Style

The clown entertaining the kids.

Cake cutting with the July kids

Holiday, School and Holiday Again Soon

So, what has come and go?? So much…
The kids had their mid term break, back to school and very soon summer break.
During the mid term break, Dominic took them to Cameron Highlands. The last time they were there was when Chloe was 6 months old. That's four and a half year ago. I had to stay back as I have no leave. They sure had a great time without me. The postcard they sent me from Cameron Highlands just arrived yesterday..2 months after they sent it.

In the playground on one of the tea house

With the grandparents visiting tea plantation

Plucking strawberries…something they wanted to do for a long time

Lucas said his favorites activities are plucking strawberries and drinking milkshake in front of a fire place.

Back home, missing the iPad.

Back to school, we had parents teachers meeting, the last meet for this academic year. Lucas maintains his status on being the top group in his class but he has to work hard to move to the next level. His teacher lists out the extra effort he has to put in such as all the varieties he has to have in his writing skills (use adverbs, use adjectives, use dialogues, more details etc). He has to keep his daily work even during summer break to keep his momentum going.

For his drum, he is doing very well. He managed to keep his enthusiasm and in fact play very well. He was doing some 'promotional' work for his school by performing in public on behalf of his music school. I just hope his drum enthusiasm lasts a long time. 

He dropped his drum stick half way in the performance but he was very cooled about it. He picked it up and continue playing without missing a beat.

Chloe is doing very well in school too. She has everything exceeding her peer groups except for Listening and Speaking. She still made sentence like 'I eat strawberry yesterday'. It looks like she needs to read more. I tried to get her to read Enid Blyton books. Lucas has almost the complete collection of Enid Blyton books. It is too much for her. Well, slowly…

Chloe has piano lesson and boy, wasn't she lazy. She never practiced her piano except for 1 minute before she goes for her lesson. Each time I asked her to practice, she replied 'Tomorrow'.

She loves the face painting she had in one of the friend's birthday party. She refused to have her face cleaned that night. Slept with the Hello Kitty painting and asked twice at night if the painting has come off. Then she asked me to print this picture so that she can enjoy looking at herself!

World Cup Fever Continues

We are almost at semi finals and in World Cup and Lucas's fever continues. He plays football everyday in school and practices at home. He even watched some of the games and had better memory than me. He remembers the score and whether the goal is penalty kick and at what minutes the goal was scored.
For your info, I did switch off this alarm more than once. If it is on weekend, I will let the alarm go off for a few seconds. If he is not woken by the alarm, I will tell him he sleeps through the alarm. Then he can't get grouchy and get annoyed with me. He bets with his father which team will win. When he wakes in the morning, the first thing he does is take my phone and check the scores.

I bought hin football jersey a few days ago. There were limited choices (with this late in the stage) and found him the team which is still in - Netherlands. He was not pleased. He wanted Brazil or Germany. And he asked to buy the ball - Brazuca. See, he even knows the name. His father told him he can get one if the ball goes for half price after the games has ended.

In the next world cup, he will enjoy the games better…when he is four years older.