Lost World of Tambun. I hear this name often thinking it is just another dry and wet park which we already have so many in Malaysia hence I never go out of my way to plan a trip here until recently. I was planning a local getaway for the boys for the week-long school holidays and the Daddy suggested going up North. I narrowed down our option to either Penang or Ipoh and the Daddy […]

Can you smell it? I CAN! 5 more schooling days and we’ll be enjoying the week-long school holidays. Are you excited? Or are you horrified to have the kids stuck with you 24/7?  Haha! Well, let’s start planning for this school holidays then. As usual, the boys will pester us to bring them up to where the weather is cooler. It is only an hour drive from home yet the temperature was as low as 15° […]

On Thursday (8/3/2018) after midnight, I was ready to go to bed. I set my alarm as I have to wake up in a few hours to prepare the boys for class. Suddenly a message popped out on my FB Messenger from Elie. She alerted me that my boys’ pictures are being used by one sick fella claiming them as his own. He even named the boys differently and was very consistent in his story about […]

Ethan is 10 years 7 months old. He has been playing drum for 5 years now. These days, he loves playing commercial songs. He learns these songs from YouTube and at times, gets assistance from his drum teacher to help him with the more complicated beats.  This is his latest drum cover – Fight Song by Rachel Platten. This week is also his school’s first term exam so yeah, fight on Ethan! For me, what […]

With just a blink of an eye, we are into the 3rd month of 2018. Where did the time go? Before I know it, the celebration for Chinese New Year is over. Luckily, I managed to bring the boys to see one final lion dance before Chap Goh Meh is over though. It is the first for Ethan this year as he missed the one we caught on the 7th day of CNY as he […]

For parents with children going to Primary 1 in 2019 & 2020, it is time to register online for your child at https://public.moe.gov.my Online registration is only for schools in Peninsula Malaysia and only parents are allowed to do the registration on behalf of their children. I registered Ayden today. Here’s how you register ONLINE. Step 1 Go to https://public.moe.gov.my Step 2 Create an account if you are a new user or simply log-in if […]

I homeschool elder brother Ethan during his preschool years. I’m doing the same with little Ayden presently. I wonder how other young children aged 4-5 years old are able to learn in a classroom seating environment as from my observation, both my boys require tremendous individual attention during their formative years. What I love about homeschooling is they can learn at their own pace, anywhere and anytime of the day. This way, Ayden gets ample […]

It’s the 5th day of Chinese New Year and we are back at home but are still very much into the Chinese New Year mood. Today, our Little Chefs tried roasting for the very first time. Since we are still in CNY atmosphere, the ingredients used for our roast are also very much CNY influenced.  The Little Chefs roasted delicious chicken drumsticks with plum sauce. Plum sauce is one of the most important ingredients […]

Alright, where do I start? I was invited by Bernama to be one of their esteemed panelists for their LIVE, English language talk show, ‘The Nation’ on Monday, 12th February 2018, speaking about CHILDHOOD OBESITY IN MALAYSIA.  As I’ve mentioned in my previous blog posts, I wasn’t feeling well the past weeks with me and the boys down with some kind of bug going around but this is a topic I feel strongly about. I advocate outdoor playtime […]

Chinese New Year is just around the corner. How many of you practice going vegetarian on the first day of Chinese New Year? It is believed, abstaining from eating meat on the first day will enhance longevity. Additionally a vegetarian dish helps to purify and cleanse out the body as well.  There is this one vegetarian dish that is extremely popular on the first day of Chinese New Year – Loh Hon Chai. My mother […]

There was a burst pipe in front of our house. The contractor who was working on it brought an excavator and a huge dump truck to our place.  Both my boys watched them in awe. They kept talking about the excavator; pointing to each part of it. The contractor heard them and asked if they would like to go on a ride on that excavator. Imagine the boys’ surprise and delight! They said YES immediately.  […]

Ethan is currently without a teacher for piano. His previous teacher has her own studio now but it is far away from us. She is also teaching in a music school not very far away from us yet not very near either but we are unable to commit due to time and distance factor.  To pass his time, Ethan uses YouTube as his guide. He learned this song, “How Far I’ll Go” from Disney’s Moana […]

I guess I better update a little over here otherwise you may think I’ve disappeared. The truth is I am very much around but have been busy lately. We are busy creating YouTube tutorials for the upcoming Chinese New Year hence the little disruption on the blog. Here’s my YouTube channel in case you are interested -> https://www.youtube.com/submerryn1 Anyway, I still actively update my Facebook so if we are connected on FB you will know that […]

It’s the beginning of the new year and that means time to get busy again with DIY Chinese New Year Angpow decorations.  We’ve been receiving requests on doing tutorial videos for the many DIY Chinese New Year Angpow decoration written tutorials I’ve shared in the past years.  I was not into video making then hence there were no video tutorials for them but we are now so I’ll be sharing all our Chinese New Year […]

Is the Baby Shark craze still on? Ayden listened to this song when he was very little but recently it became a hit all over again.  Since the boys has nothing much to do during the school holidays, we recorded this Baby Shark Dance and Drum Cover by Little Ayden and big brother Drummer Ethan.  Hope you enjoy the video:   Check-out the compilation of their music videos here.

We went back to both Darling and my hometowns last weekend. The journey back to my hometown in Melaka was extremely tiring due to the most horrible jam we had ever encountered. We started our journey at 11.30am only to arrive at my mom’s place at 5.30pm with one quick stop at KFC along the way to fill our empty tummy  If not for my cousin’s wedding, we would have made a detour back to KL […]

Hello! How is the long school holidays treating you guys?  We are busy as ever… busy doing nothing  Today we found time to bake something for the coming festive weekend. Our little chefs baked Darling’s favourite cookie – Almond Cookies. It is super simple yet the Daddy and the boys love it so much hence we bake this often. Almond Cookies Ingredients for Almond Cookies: 115g salted butter (1/2 cup) 90g fine sugar (1/2 cup) […]

Ethan plays the drum and piano a lot during the school holidays. It keeps him occupied. Ed Sheeran’s PERFECT is trending again since the release of Perfect Symphony with Andrea Bocelli and it prompted Ethan to play this song.  This is also the first song he learns to play by himself. Take a listen to his drum cover to Perfect: Check-out the rest of their music videos here.

There is this restaurant lounge and wine bar nearby our place that we hang out frequently as their food is quite reasonably priced. Located at Menara Lien Hoe along Persiaran Tropicana, this resto-lounge is generously spacious with an extensive wine cellar and a delectable fusion menu. Moreover they have this promo of KIDS EAT FOR FREE on weekends with purchase of adult main meals. Last Sunday, Lavo held a Christmas Colouring Contest for children. We love their festive coloring […]

Christmas is in the air. It is my favourite season of the year. Our house is filled with one Christmas medley after another. These days we spend our evenings in the music room with Ethan playing on the piano while the rest of us singing to the tune. Ayden is slowly learning the lyrics to all these songs. Here is Ethan playing When Santa Claus Gets Your Letter on the piano:

During our recent trip down South to Johor, we stayed at KSL Hotel & Resort.  KSL Hotel & Resort Johor Bahru is the largest integrated resort in Johor. The hotel contains 868 rooms, suites and 20 function rooms. Besides located in the city center and near to Singapore-Johor Bahru causeway (5minutes), the hotel is also connected to a shopping mall. The fact that it has an astonishing 868 rooms, the 4 elevators can be pretty crowded during peak season. We […]

It’s December. Are you feeling festive yet?  We definitely are. Look at the cheeky little Ayden  The house is filled with Christmas medleys played by Ethan on the piano.  Here is one of the boys’ favourite – Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. By the way, since we are talking about Reindeers, the Christmas decor at The Curve is beautiful this year complete with flying reindeers and Santa on his sleigh. I did not spot Rudolph though […]

Happy Nut.. that’s what my boys call Pistachio nuts.  We super love this nut and today, we are going to try baking cookies with it. Today’s cookies is super simple to bake. No mixer is required as we are using the knead method.  It is our first try yet I am happy to report that it is a success!  Ingredients: 350g self-raising flour 100g pistachio nuts (coarsely chopped) 75g chocolate chips 100g fine sugar 175g […]

It’s the school holidays. Guess who needs a break more than the boys? Yes, ME (not forgetting the Daddy too). Having two active boys at home 24/7 is no joke. I need my ME time before I go crazy but being a stay-at-home-mom with no baby sitter, it is almost impossible to get any pampering done as there won’t be anyone to care for the boys. But all hope is not lost as I found […]

Ayden has been requesting to bake cupcakes ever since he saw Peppa Pig eating one. Now that we have an oven, he is allowed to bake almost anything he wishes. We start with his longtime request for cupcakes.  I asked him what cupcake he wants and he answered, “Cheese!”  Since we still have cream cheese in our fridge, I decided to let them bake Chocolate Cheese Cupcake today. Chocolate Cheese Cupcake Look at how excited […]