The Art Of The Brick

One of the perks of being a parent blogger for us is the opportunity to bring our girls to places we would not normally plan to go. Not because the place is not interesting, but rather it can be quite costly to bring the entire family for such events.

Recently, we were invited to the ArtScience Museum @ MBS. The Art of the Brick is an exhibition that started since last November and was given an extension due to the good response from the public.

The artist who brought us the wonderful creations is Nathan Sawaya, based in New York, he transformed LEGO bricks into awe-inspiring and thought-provoking sculptures.

The exhibition has been extended to 26 May 2013, so if you are interested, don’t miss the chance again. For a family of four like us, the total cost would be $48.

Media passes for us. This is the first time we brought Joey out after the horrible accident during Easter. Glad to see a smiley face again!

Take the lift to level 3 and a colourful wall greets us. Coupled with 2 beautiful girls.

One of the more popular sculptures we have seen many times on advertisement is this yellow brick hollow man. It actually reminds me of the movie, “Hollow Man” by Kevin Bacon.

A man without hands.

A thinking man.

Triangle, Square or Circle? State of our thinking?

  

Four colours of skeleton faces.

    

Jayne can cross her legs but has decided to pose a cute face instead of the serious pose.

More art pieces.

 

After all the exhibition pieces, the girls were long bored. Finally they had the chance to play some LEGO pieces and exhibit their own creativity.

First, formulating the design on the drawing board.

Then it’s time to build the design out.

 

Final design!

It was a great break for the girls after being cooped at home for more than a week. As for us, we are just happy to have our cheerful girls back.

My favourite photo!

Community Games 2013 - Introduction To Floorball

Events

Once again the Community Games 2013 is heating up in the month of April. And we were invited to attend an introduction to Floorball. Partnering with 13 Shining Stars Floorball Academy, a group of bloggers sacrificed our sleep on a Saturday morning and sweated it out at Kallang Cage with Jill and Priscilla.

Jill Quek was awarded the Coach Recognition Award by the Singapore Sports Council in 2007. She has been coaching floorball competitively for 8 years, with both international and local coaching experience. Jill has represented Singapore in the Women’s Floorball Championships since 1999 and played at the elite level during overseas stint in Sweden and Finland.
Priscilla Chia starting coaching floorball in 2006 and had coached both school level as well as on the Singapore League level. Priscilla has represented Singapore as a player at the 2009 World Floorball Championship in Sweden.

In short, we had the best coaches in Singapore to teach us the amateurs (none of the bloggers has played floorball before). Indeed an honor!

(L-R): Eng Hoe, Wen Xin, Melissa, Grace and Jill.
Jill teaching us how to hold the floorball stick correctly. But once we started to play, everyone adopts our own comfortable method =)

The plastic ball used in floorball is only 29 grams. So it’s much safer than hockey, the most is a bruise on the arms or legs if hit. But I think none of us were injured during the game, we were quite good for first-timers.

Time to put what we have learnt to the test. The court we played on was indoor, no fans but open doors and windows. Still, we sweated like nobody’s business. I guess that’s the purpose of exercise. For a guy like me, I don’t mind lah..

The face-off, how we start the game or after a team has scored.

One of our key players, Tiffany! She is good!

Floorball is FUN! I think I really enjoyed it a lot and will definitely try to play it again with friends in the near future.

Great to know these fun-loving friends!
(Front L-R): Jill, Tiffany, Rui Ying, Grace, Melissa, Jessie, Priscilla
(Back L-R): Calvin, Andy, Me, Eng Hoe

Thanks to the Community Games 2013 for organising this event. Many more to come!

What is Community Games 2013?

The Community Games 2013 (CG 2013) is a multi-sports competition held across the island, bringing the Games to the heart of the community and connecting residents of different ages, races and living across estates.

CG 2013 is organised by the People’s Association and Community Sports Clubs, with support from the National Sports Associations of the sports to be featured. The sports featured under CG 2013 are Badminton, Basketball, Bowling, Dragon Boat, Football, Netball, Road Run and Sepaktakraw, Swimming and Table Tennis.  CG2013 will be taking place from March to June at various facilities across Singapore.

Community Games 2013 Web Links:
Official Website: http://www.pacsc.org.sg/
Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/CommunitySportsClub
Twitter Hashtag: #CGSG13

Is 3 Better Than 2?

For the past one month, there are so many friends around us giving birth, mostly their 2nd child. Since Kless and I were one of the first few among our peers to be parents, naturally the question everyone ask is, when will we have our 3rd baby?

Joey when she was 3 years old.

Jayne when she was one month old.

And this is Joash (Gerald & Kristie) when he was just a few days old.
When we visited Baby Joash, I had a sudden thought of the possibilities of having a 3rd child. Don’t ask me why, I can’t even explain or understand. Maybe it was the baby smell.

Let’s break it down. The pros and cons of having a 3rd child.

Good
a) According to most parents with more than 2 children, the transition from 2 to 3 is the easiest. You are already experienced enough to handle 2, adding another child is not that tough.
b) The more the merrier. Of course children are a blessings from God and every child is different and unique. Already with Joey and Jayne, we are having loads of fun learning about them and seeing how they are growing up in the same environment but developing different characters and interests.
c) First thing first, I have no gender preferences. I love girls equally as boys, in fact I think I prefer girls (daddy’s girl experiences). But if we were to have a 3rd child and by God’s grace, we have a boy, then it would be totally new fun experience to raise up a boy. At least I can have someone to watch Liverpool games with me.

Not so good
a) You can no longer take the cab service as the limit is only 4. Same goes for most rides in the amusement parks, the seats are usually for 2 or 4 pax, there will always be the odd one out (tho this is not so much of a problem for our family).
b) Parents, you are outnumbered once you have decided to have more than 2 children. With just Joey and Jayne, Kless and I can tag-team and pull each one aside if they start to be a bit more mischievous. I cannot imagine what would we do if there is a 3rd child running around.
c) Middle child syndrome. As most experts and experienced parents will warn us, the middle child syndrome is very real and most likely will happen. So if you are already not having enough time for 2 children, then don’t cause more trouble having a 3rd. That is also probably responsible parenting 101.

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Am I ready for number 3?

Only God knows.

Cocoa B - Creative Chocolate

Advertorial

Are you a chocolate lover? If you are, have you ever wondered how nice it would be if you can create your own chocolate? This is made possible with Cocoa B.

Cocoa B is all about the chocolate-lovers. A chance to show your creativity and to choose 5 different toppings you like and mixed it with a selection of chocolate flavours. In short, Cocoa B is like your online chocolate boutique. Cool right?

So why customize when there are so many different types of chocolate available out in the stores?
Because Cocoa B allows you to be personal in your chocolate creation. It is the perfect gift for a special someone on a special occasion. There are 5 different categories, more than 40 toppings to choose from, special toppings such as bacon bits, crystal dice ginger and ikan bilis.

Still unsure of what to expect? Just read on and give it a try in 3 simple steps:
1. Choose your choice of chocolate bar (milk/dark/white)
2. Select your toppings from 5 categories
3. Make payment and your creations will be delivered / mailed to you

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This is my creation:
Dark Chocolate bar with Cranberries, Crystal Ginger, Wolfberries, Almond, Marshmallows.

We did one for the girls too, and these are their selections:

After we submitted our online creation, the chocolates were delivered within 5 days.. fast!

The packaging is very nice as a gift.

A closer look without the plastic jacket.

Daddy’s creation – Dark Chocolate.

Jayne’s creation – White Chocolate.

We are definitely enjoying our creative chocolate!

 

If you are interested to give Cocoa B a try, here is your chance to do so. I will be giving out a bar of Cocoa B creation to 2 readers! You can even win it for a friend (BF or GF) and surprise them!

Just leave me a comment “I want to create my Cocoa B!”. Remember to leave your email so that I can contact you when you win. 2 random winners will be chosen by 12 Apr 2013 (Fri).

National Breakfast Day - Get Up & Go

Advertorial

Thanks to McDonald’s and omy, a group of us were invited to try out their latest ‘Get Up & Go’ breakfast selections.

Quoting Ms Phyllis Cheung (Managing Director of McDonald’s Restaurants Singapore).
“Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and on National Breakfast Day, we want to energise everyone’s morning and give them the fuel to Get Up and Go. Breakfast is also one of the fastest growing meal segments in Singapore and over the years, customers have shown us how much they enjoy our breakfast menu. National Breakfast Day was our way of thanking our customers for making McDonald’s breakfast the start of their day.”

Chicken Muffin – tender crisped chicken in a soft toasted muffin with cheese, top it up with a hash brown and the new richer, bolder premium roast coffee, you have the Chicken Muffin Breakfast Meal available for $4.

Strawberry and Hot Fudge Hotcakes – the familiar fluffy hotcakes are not available with 2 new toppings, strawberry or hot fudge. This is simply the ladies’ love. What more can one ask for, when you can have either chocolate or strawberry legitimately immediately after you wake up.
The Strawberry or Hot Fudge Hotcakes Meal is going for $.550.

One thing good about such events, you get to enjoy all the different meals! *clap hands*

Personally, I prefer the strawberry topping. It gives a a very fresh taste, not too sweet, not too ‘jelak’. As for the hot fudge topping, it’s a bit too sweet for my liking.

This is the surprise package. Chicken patty on a muffin is definitely a good choice, I can totally understand why one of the McDonald’s staff has been eating it for days. It’s created just for me!

The addition of a slice of cheese is definitely a touch of brilliance too. Perfect!

While Daddy had his excellent breakfast, the girls at home will be happy to receive the limited edition McDonald’s food strap set.

Aren’t they cute? =)

Though I am not a breakfast person (a cup of kopi-o is good enough for me), but I am definitely cultivating the good habit for my kids to have breakfast daily. Looks like I have another good reason to bring the girls to one of their favourite breakfast restaurant.

Remember Or Forget?

This is a post not to remember the pain but to remind myself what exactly happened. To say it better, it is a post to release my feelings.

This year’s Good Friday is definitely a day not easily forgotten. Not just because of what Christ has done for us, but closer to heart, my dear Joey had a bad fall which causes her forehead to literally spilt open with a deep cut that required more than 40-50 stitches inside and out.

It happened after we came home from marketing, my mother was preparing lunch, Kless and I were doing our work and the girls were playing outside with their scooter. In a moment, we heard the scream from Joey and my heart sank immediately. I knew it was not a normal scream. Kless was the fastest to run out to the girls. What we saw next was never a scene anyone can prepare for. Joey was holding on to her forehead with blood flowing profusely down her entire face. As she turned towards us, Jayne who was just besides her saw the blood and she too screamed with fear.

Kless took hold of Joey and brought her into the house immediately. Took a clothe and applied pressure on the wound, thank God for her. It is definitely very important for someone at home to be trained in first aid. I was carrying Jayne tightly in my arms for fear that she would be traumatised. I can only tell her it’s alright, don’t be afraid.

I called for the ambulance and thankfully it came within minutes. The paramedics took a look at the wound and for the first time I saw how bad the cut was. My mother did not even dare to look but was just praying non-stop at one side. Truly, at times like this, when we do not know what to do, prayer is the best thing we can have.

As the ambulance left with Joey and Kless accompanying, I took a pail of water to wash away the blood on the corridor floor. To be frank, I was not sure whether it was sweat or tears on my face, whether was it fear or doubt, I was just like a zombie scrubbing and scrubbing hard.

Initially, I did not want to bring Jayne along to the hospital, but looking at how she was clinging on to me and begging me to bring her along, I know I have to give her the assurance especially after she just witnessed such a horrible thing.

At the hospital, very quickly Joey was brought for a x-ray, and the result was good as there were no other injuries. Doctor told us he will have to put Joey under GA and do the stitches which will be a 3-layer job. We have to be in the room to accompany Joey as the nurses administered the anaesthetic. When she is unconscious from the drug, the doctor explained to us the extent of the wound and how he will be doing the stitches. Looking much closer to the wound and the face of Joey was totally a heart-wrenching moment. I really prayed that I can be the one taking her position.

The stitching procedure took about an hour or more. Once it was done, Joey was awake as well. After a short while in the Observation Ward, she was deemed okay to be discharge.

The first night was tough for Joey, still under the effect of the anaesthetic, she vomited out everything she placed in her mouth, food and water. Thankfully, she didn’t fill any pain even after the effect was over.

After 24 hours, we removed the bandage and for the first time revealed to the family the look of the hideous-looking stitch work (a good 30+ stitch). Joey was reluctant to see it for herself initially but after a while, the brave girl took a sneak at the mirror and declared that it was not too bad. Thank God! But in her own room, she confessed to grandma that she was a bit afraid that the scar will stay forever and she won’t look pretty anymore. So sad, I cried.

Looking at her sleeping peacefully on her bed, I can’t help but feel so sorry for her. Even when Kless and I laid down on our bed to rest, that screaming scene keeps replaying on our mind. I can only pray that God please please remove that memory from the girls’ mind.