1) Take the cup and make a hole the size of the 5c coin in the bottom

2) Tie the black plastic bag over the opening of the cup and fasten with elastic band

3) Using a pin and a nail, make holes in the plastic.

4) When it is dark, shine the light through the hole you make in the bottom of the cup.

Imm was so excited to see the little lights (planets) appearing on the wall. These days, he loves playing with flashlights and just seeing shadows appear. Something simple for sharing and consolidating. :)

The man and the boy enjoying their food.

Mummy cannot help posing as the trees looks so nice in the background.

Walking along the path.

This boy will try to "poke" at the dragonfly despite always telling him how he will like it if someone were to poke at his face.

We found some lalangs and the kids got to play with them.

To wrap up our Christmas celebrations, we went to the Snowplay area near our place again! This time both of them played pretty long there and Ko enjoyed herself much better with Imm around. He will say things like let us make a castle or ask "can you make the door with me?" and she will be more engaged. Definitely much more fun to be around! :)

Hello Mr Snowman!!!!!!!!!! :)

Ko is a real fan of gingerbread man so I asked if she could help gingerbread man put buttons on for his friend...

I prepared a number die...

And some nice buttons.

There you go gingerbread man!!

Another counting game using montessori counters.

For Language, we did this preposition book which I did sometime ago... do just for revision...

For both of them, I took out some chalks and let them draw on the balcony floor since it could be washed away easily...

I guess this pretty much wrapped up what we did during the end of the year. To me, seeing my kids happy faces most of the time are the greatest blessings. Their innocence and joy truly rubbed off on me and I look forward to yet another year growing up with them and having fun.

To me, Christmas always held a special place in my heart and I would say the same thing every year. These few years have been more special as we are away from home in Singapore. Since we are away from family and friends, which made a big part of the celebration, I tried to put in more effort to bring the meaning closer to the kids. Last year, me and Imm made gingerbread man together. Having a bigger space and more time as a SAHM truly made a huge difference and I am glad I am able to sneak in some precious memories in their growing up years. I am sure parents will always try their best to bring big smiles upon their kids' little faces and sometimes, we do that through grand celebrations or big sparkly presents which I try to avoid. I struggle with wanting to make them happy but in the simplest way possible... thus experiences like making the gingerbread man = bonding time. And this year, it was snow play and reading stories to Ko since Imm was not here yet. We also put up a Christmas tree with simple deco. Ko really enjoyed seeing the beautiful lights and would often ask if she could switch it on during the day.

We read stories together just to bring Jesus a little closer.... and she even sang a birthday song loudly in church during Christmas Day Mass. We gave embarrassing smiles to those who heard but was secretly proud of our little girl with the big voice.

This was a nice book with pop up pictures. I bought it some years back and it was a good accompaniment on every Christmas.

Since it is summer time here, I brought Ko to the the nearby shopping mall where there was a snow event for some fun. She was so scared at first because it was dark and they had some music which she was not familiar with. It surprised me because I brought her last year too and she was fine. I started digging snow first and she followed me after a while. :)

She also tried her hand at the slide! But didn't want to continue after 2 tries. Guess it was pretty fast.

We went there with my helper's kid and they were just dancing! Such innocent joy!

On another day, we went to the pool for some splashing good time. It is the school holidays and I try to occupy her with some outdoor time as her big brother is not around to disturb her, hee...

Anyway, it was indeed great fun spending time together and sharing about Christmas with Ko. This year, I spend more one-to-one time with her, which I never had with Imm around. Thus, it was a little teeny bit more special. Though I also missed Imm, it is also a special pre Christmas bonding time with my little girl....

Our good friend was here for 2 weekends and we played host to him. We love having visitors as we get to revisit some of the places that were our past loves but long forgotten. And of cos, we get to visit the wineries knowing that if either of us get drunk, there will be two people to bring the children and 1 adult home.These places that are not all kids friendly  but they make up for their food, wines and atmosphere.

On the first day, we went to Clos Malverne. The moment we arrive, we have to get our friend drunk right? Anyway, we go there almost every quarterly with visitors and found that the menus were changed again from the last time, which was great. It is rated as the #2 restaurant to eat in Stellenbosch according to Trip Advisor. Anyway for a fix price of  R295, you get to choose from the set menu which is about 5 courses. And each course comes from a wine pairing. *gasp* Now you know why we avoid going there when it is just us and the kids.

1) Clos Malverne

 Hub looked drunk already so I had to grab the wine away from him as I don't want to be the one handling the 2 kids. 

I only took pictures of my favorites, though I love most of the food there. It is busy enough handling two kids who gives no hoot about good food and wine. Mussels in wine and garlic are always to die for....

And desserts.. cos they just look so pretty. Yes, you can safely judge a dessert by its look.

2) Sacred Heart Catholic Church

Ok this is probably biased, but I have listed down the place we go to weekly for our mass. It has to be one of our must-go favorite places if we go to it weekly. :)

We went to have breakfast at Cold Press first before going to church. Breakfast feels really healthy with salad and smoothie.

3) Brass Bell Pub

We haven't been here for sometime as it is a pretty long drive but we love the beach and food here. You can definitely print it out on a postcard.

We had the seafood platter and heaven felt so near suddenly.

We did not bring the sand scooping toys nor the swim-appropriate/wade appropriate clothes as we can be the most attentive parents. We allowed the kids to roam around themselves. In the end they found random small objects to play with, like mini containers and shells to scoop water. We paid the price by having kids with soaked pants and sand that are like leeches.

4)  Sake Sushi

This is a place which we love to go for a sushi buffet. However, be careful of mayonnaise overdose as it can fill you up easily. For R129, you can have as much sushi as you want and 8 pieces of sashimi. We enjoyed going there when we feel like abandoning our diet. The kids totally love tempura. As it is pretty near to our place, it has become one of our favorite haunts.

Say Hello to Uncle Keenan!