Shelf revamping

Since Linnea got her new shelf in her room, Lucas has said he would like the same one in his room. I kind of agreed that one like Linnea's would work better, since the shelf we initially had made wasn't working the way I had planned it to.
(We had this shelf custom built to fit his Lego creations when we first got here, but in the end it didn't quite work. It was always just housing a mess...)
So I've sold it to Nicole, who is about put her daughters in separate rooms and just needed a shelf like this!

So, this is before:



And here is after, a lot neater I think!
Also, when he has outgrown some of his Lego, this shelf will be better capable to room other kinds of things, than the previous one. I'm very pleased, and so is Lucas!

Hash Rekkie

Nicole, Misuzu and I are laying the hash in a couple of weeks time. We thought it was about time to do a rekkie today, as we are not very familiar ourselves with the site we have chosen.
We managed to go in alright, and find a couple of trails that looked very promising! They even involved a rope-climb, juhu, always a bonus on a hash!



But then we got a bit confused in the jungle and couldn't really find any out-trails. Since it was getting a bit late we decided to go back out the same way we had gone in, and try again another day - instead of risking getting caught in there in the dark.
Only trouble was, going down the same hills we had just climbed up - were slightly more tricky... and slippery...
This is how we all ended up looking, after a big slide down a grassy, muddy hill:



It was rather fun though! Just letting go, and sliding down! (Well, we really had no other option..!)



Looking at the Garmin tracking afterward, we realized we had been sooo close to getting out of the jungle... *Gah*
But it doesn't matter, we want to go in a slightly different direction too, so we'll have another go later in the week again. Looking forward to finalizing the route, it'll be great!

The Mother's Day Celebration

I got my wish!
This afternoon we went to the Empire Hotel for their special Mother's Day Celebration. They had a lovely high tea buffet prepared, with everything you could desire; hot food, finger sandwiches, bagels, scones and different cakes and treats, mmm!






Happy Mother's Day to me! ♥

A cracking party!

Little Emma's birthday party today was a ballet themed one. Her mother had gone to great lengths to make it a very special morning, and it sure was.

The invitation came with a picture from the Nutcracker and at the house she had set up different little craft stations for the kids, to create different things that had to do with the ballet.
They got to mold little mice out of play-doh, put tulle skirts on pictures of ballerinas, ice biscuits and paint pictures that she had pulled from the Nutcracker story.
Icing biscuits:



There was also water play outside, and a bouncy castle..:





... but actually most kids seemed to prefer to be inside, and craft! It was amazing to see, how 20 4-year olds could just sit still, and create! For a moment there they were all still and concentrated, it was so lovely!
Here's Linnea and Daniel, both with tongues out, very concentrated:



The music of choice was of course from the ballet itself, and the birthday girl was tip-toeing around in her own little world most of the time, dressed in full ballet outfit!





The birthday girl, Linnea and the Nutcracker cake. Happy Birthday Emma!

Who's that girl?

Linnea has always been a bit of a tomboy. Really capable, strong and always right in there - preferably with the boys!
She has never been much for dresses or girly things (apart from a slight handbag fetisch), and I've struggled to get to put her hair up, it used to be only for PE.

But... the last few months she has gone through quite a transformation..!
She's now all into dresses, pretty, sparkly, hairdos, accessories, glitter etc - everything girly!
I have no idea where it came from or how it started, but I do welcome it and thoroughly enjoy it! Now I get to make new hairstyles every day, she loves wearing all her pretty dresses and she accessorizes like a pro!

The other day, Matt & Misuzu gave her a very pretty dress, out of the blue (Thank You!) that they'd bought in NZ. She looked at it and exclaimed:
-"Oh, what a beautiful dress! I'll save it for Emma's party!"
And today for her little friends party, she pulled it out and put it on. She matched it with her favourite Strawberry Shortcake necklace, her favourite shiny, pink sandals, we made new kind of ponytail, her white sunnies, a pink handbag AND - her little fluffy white stuffed dog! Because:
She wanted to be like Sharpay Evans..! (Out of "High School Musical" for those of you who don't know. A character probably inspired by Paris Hilton...)
Then she posed nicely for me outside the party:



Who's that girl? Where is my little tomboy?

Happy Mother's Day to me!

This week it's been Mother's Day factory in Kindy, since today it's the Bruneian (and NZ/Australian) Mother's Day.

On Friday the kids were sent home with "secrets" for their mothers, and we all know how good Linnea is at keeping them... So, she didn't even make it in through the door until she had told me she had a gift for me, and had unwrapped it and everything already! :)



It was a beautiful tea cup and saucer that she had painted all by herself (it said 'Mum' on it!), a beautiful card she had made, and some lovely little heart-shaped treats. I got so spoiled! ♥


(Photographer: Linnea)

I have wished for this afternoon (after we have attended this weekend's birthday party...) to get celebrated a bit at the Empire - I've seen they are having a Mother's Day special on their High Tea! Mmm... (Photos to follow..!)

Friday homework

In Linnea's class they've started with homework this last term of the year. Yes - she is in KINDY!
But, you should know that this is something that has been requested by some of the parents..!
Reason being it was explained to us, many of the kids in Kindy have older siblings, who do have proper homework (Lucas f.e has a book to read every day, about 10 spelling words for once a week and sometimes some maths or other special assignments too), so the little kids wants to do some work too.

There is no pressure though, and the teacher isn't bothered at all about whether it gets done or not. It's purely to respond to the parents' demand, and the kids who enjoy doing it can do it, the kids who don't won't get neither pressured or asked about it. (Their homework is usually some cutting-and-pasting, or some pairing up or tracing.)

Guess which kind Linnea is?
She opens her homework book while she walks in through the door on the Fridays, and has it all done 15 minutes later..! She loves it! She sure is ready to move up to 'real' school!

JIS Athletics Day 2010

This morning it was Athletics Day at school. Both Linnea and Lucas got to be inside the gymnasium for their activities luckily (the older kids, from Year 3 and up, were out on the hot field). They did four heats each, sack-jumping, throwing a ball, running etc.

Here they are before leaving for school, dressed in their house t-shirts and even with a bit of yellow 'war paint' - and scary faces!



It was a long morning for the little ones, although it was a well organized day and all the teachers and helpers were very efficient throughout the arrangement. But by the 3rd and 4th heat, most of the kids had had enough...

They all got ribbons after each achievement, just like last year - although neither one of our two did participate in the first one, both of them shut down and refused to do it... *sigh*.
What to say to them (mostly Lucas) to make them enjoy it?!? I've run out of encouraging cheers and mostly would just like to say to him: "Just get on with it! Just do it!"... :(
Anyway, following are some snapshots from today.

In the gymnasium. All the kids are separated into their houses, and "competed" along with their friends from all the other year groups:



Waiting her turn, Linnea in yellow in the middle, with the pigtails:



Linnea wasn't too happy to start with, it was very, very noisy in the gymnasium:



She got a bit out of sorts and didn't want to do the first heat, so Mrs Kyle kindly "helped" her get around in her sack:



Lucas, who wasn't in the mood either, for unknown reason...:



Precision throwing:



Lucas throwing through the hoop:





Misuzu and the other bake sale ladies outside the gymnasium, selling yummy treats for charity:



Receiving one of the ribbons:



Lucas in a slightly better mood:



Happier when it wasn't so noisy anymore:



Some of the blue house members, tired of waiting...:



More ribbons!



Run Linnea, run!



And this is how happy we are when it's all done! (And Mummy had bought special home made Hello Kitty-biscuits as a treat for snack time!)



Lucas afterward... happy? Well, not sure, maybe mostly relieved?



Yellow and Red House tied this year for the nr 1 spot! Well done Yellow House! Well done kids!

Kindy Panda 2009-2010

School photos arrived today! (Finally... )
The class photo is always funny to see; more than half of the kids are looking at something completely different than the camera. Linnea is both looking in the camera AND smiling! Sweet!


(I've cut the kids' names out on purpose, in case you were wondering.)

It's been months and months since these were taken, so I actually didn't remember anymore what hairstyle I sent Linnea to school in for the individual photos. Her hair sure looks a bit funny here - but she's cute anyway!

Year 1 2009-2010

And here is Lucas' class. A little bit more cooperative, most looking in the same direction!



And isn't he gorgeous!



Unfortunately this year they decided not to do any "siblings photos", a real shame. I hope they bring them back for next year!

Love you gise

Before bath and bed last night, the kids had a bit of creative time, drawing pictures, sticking and cutting. Lucas came afterward and showed me this:



I think it's kind of... his first love letter! ♥♥
Not so very romantic though, although it's filled with hearts and things, because it's titled to "Hannah-and-Ben"! :)
Very cute!
It said "Love you baby" and "Love you guys", in his own little way of course:

Birthday party fun

As usual, we had a birthday party on the weekend. These last few weeks there is at least one every weekend..!
On Saturday we went to a, for me, new place though - the pool at the Riverview Hotel. It was great! A lovely big pool, all of Linnea's little friends and lots of toys to play with, the had a whale of a time:




(Photographer: Katherine Kyle)

The cake looked great, with a really special Transformer cake topper. You see, Eoin had wished for a Bumblebee Transformer for his birthday, and his kind mother had ordered one from the UK - only to discover that the one she had got didn't transform!
So presto, instead it went on the cake, as a fantastic cake topper (and she got help to superspeedy order in another - transforming - Bumblebee for Eoin...):

Sauna weather

It's very hot and sticky in Brunei at the moment. The heat is really heavy and probably part of the cause to my mega head ache.
All I want is to take a big breath of fresh, cold air - but instead it feels like I'm living in a sauna...

Poll closed!

My first poll is now closed and we have a winner!



Ha ha, it's been rather amusing to follow the votes, and I'm pleased that over 30 people took their time to get involved in my reading corner dilemma!
Thank you!

I have to admit, that my own choice at first was indeed the white table. (Maybe mostly because I can actually get that in the shop here, and wouldn't have had to wait for it...)
But... I must say, the black table has grown on me and I can see it will be great, matching the photo frames and the black lanterns; and being slightly more sturdy next to the chair which is quite big.
Nathan is still not convinced, but if he hasn't come up with a better option by the end of this month - I'll get this table when I go to Singapore! Only three weeks away, yay!

Write-off

I'm sorry for the slow updates in here recently, but I have been a total write-off for the last few days. I'm very rarely sick, but when I am I go down completely.
I have hardly even had the computer on for the past couple of days, tonight I finally feel slightly better.

It all started with a big night on Saturday (and Nathan is very compassionately, *not*, thinking it's a three-day hangover...), with obviously a slow day on Sunday.
But then yesterday, the headache came back with a vengeance and lasted all through the night until today. It's been awful.
Today I managed to take the kids to school, but luckily Nathan didn't work until tonight, so I've spent the whole day horizontal! Every time I stood up, the whole room went blurry and I went dizzy - so I've just been in my bedroom which I've kept quiet, cold and dark.

I really hope I'm on the mend now. At least now I can stay upright, even though the headache is still slightly there.
Nothing has helped so far. I've tried immense amounts of water to rehydrate myself, yes even Nathan's sports-rehydrate stuff! I've munched on Panodol non-stop and I've surely got enough sleep.
Let's hope tomorrow will be a better day!