Saturday Fun At A Family Karaoke

We had fun time singing at Inul Vizta Family Karaoke last Saturday. It was part of my mom's birthday celebration. Since we had not done anything for her birthday last week, except for a small chocolate cake, we thought singing together with the whole family at a family karaoke would be a great way to celebrate it. We all love to sing anyway.

Some sang, while other preferred to sleep

Evan obviously enjoyed it very much,

he never took down his microphone

Before we went to Inul Vizta,

we first had lunch at Satay House Senayan

Everybody enjoyed it, including the baby

So how was your weekend? Hope it you had fun too!

Time To Wrap The Holiday Up

Ding ding ding! It's the last day of school break! Time to get ready for school again. While most schools already started since the 4th, Evan's school extended it for another week so he'll start schooling again on the 11th.

Now to wrap up this holiday, let's see what he's been doing during this three weeks school break. Before Christmas, malls were the main destination for us to entertain him so we could do some Christmas shopping as well. After Christmas we had a trip to Puncak and stayed at a resort there until NY eve. We chose a resort with complete facilities for kids to play so we didn't have to go anywhere and got stuck in the traffic just to entertain the boys. Evan, naturally, spent most of the time at the swimming pool and children playground.

 

In the morning he enjoyed breakfast with cool breeze from the mountain around.

As for Eldrick, that was the first time for him to stay in a hotel and he adjusted very well. Every morning we would spend a couple of hours strolling around the resort area.

Last week, we had rain almost everyday that forced Evan to play inside the house with his toys and Eldrick during his last days of the school break.

That's it. Holiday's over, he's back to school tomorrow!

A Long Weekend - School Breaks Started

 

It's a long weekend here due to Islamic New Year and it also marks the beginning of a three weeks school break. Yesterday we came to school to get Evan's report card for the first term of this school year. His teacher reported that Evan has been behaving nicely at school. He's polite, obedient and attentive during his lessons, which is good to hear it. Just wish he could do the same at home! And I do hope she was really talking about my kid, not got mixed up with other kid, lol!

Anyway, we received the report card along with his workbooks and photos of him from the latest events inside a big brown envelope decorated with a Christmas tree. Nice isn't it? The teachers are really prepared for this holiday season.

So starting today the school is officially closed for holidays until it starts again next year on January 11. For us that means we have to say goodbye to quite peaceful morning for about three weeks and prepare to hear his loud voice, and see him playing and running around the house all day long again. He surely will keep us busy! However, on some occasions he can help us watching over the baby :)

As for the baby, having his brother near him means he has to prepare for a surprise peek-a-boo or stolen kisses from him...

Do you think Eldrick enjoys having his brother around?

 What do you think?

Happy long weekend everyone!

Mommy Moments: My Own MM

Since this week theme is about our own mommy moments, I decided to share what I've been doing lately, which is basically enjoying being a new mom again. I spend (almost) everyday taking pictures of my sons and watching them spending time together.

Notice that I've been actively posting in this blog since last month? That's because I'm still on maternity leave so have plenty of times to capture their moments. My colleagues said, "Enjoy your free time whenever you can coz next month will be a different story!" Well, they were right, it will be a different story. It will be bye bye holiday, welcome back a bunch of work :-)

So what's your own mommy moments? Share with us here.

Thanks for stopping by everyone. Have a great weekend.

In Loving Memory of Oma Lena

To die completely, a person must not only forget but be forgotten,

and he who is not forgotten is not dead. ~ Samuel Butler

The memory of the just is blessed ~ Proverbs 10:7

This weekend our family were in grief for the loss of our beloved aunt (my dad's sister), or "Oma Lena" for Evan, on December 3rd. The news shocked us all as just a week before my mom had a conversation with her over the phone. She sounds fine and eager to see her new grandnephew. It turned out that was the last conversation we had with her. On Thursday morning she peacefully came back to her Creator.

This post is to share our memory with her. Pictures were taken during Valentine's weekend this year when we brought Evan to visit her in Surabaya, East Java. That was the last time we met her.

Oma Lena on the right

Rest in peace Oma Lena, you're always loved and in our hearts your memory is kept.

The Rainy Season Is Here

It's been raining almost everyday now, and it looks like it's gonna be like this for days ahead. When  I checked the weather forecast for our area, it says storm, storm, rain, isolated storm and storm. Yup, the rainy season is definitely here, so better buy some more candles, in case the power is out, and some dry food, in case the vegetable vendor doesn't show up (and we don't like going to the market when it's raining). So far the internet connection still functioning just fine, let's hope it stays that way. Usually during bad weather like this my DSL becomes very very slow.

Anyway, have a great day everyone, and keep yourself warm!

It's a boy!

Just a quick update. Evan now has a baby brother. Will post his pictures later.

Thanks for stopping by :)

Full Term

Full term preggy :)

Evan's Nanny "Mudik"

As the Ramadan month is nearly over, here comes “mudik” season. “Mudik” literally means going back to ones’ hometown. It's an annual event here in Indonesia marked by millions of people from big cities migrate to their childhood home to celebrate Idul Fitri with their family. Yesterday, we said goodbye to Evan's nanny, Atun, as she went mudik to her hometown in Central Java.

No nanny to bring him to school for the time being

This was the second time for Evan to see his nanny mudik. Last year he clung to his nanny's hands, cried and didn't want to let her go. This year he could handle it much better. He still cried when we drop his nanny off at the bus station but didn't hold her hands anymore. In fact he managed to wave goodbye to her, with tears off course.

"Have a safe trip mbak Atun, enjoy your Idul Fitri time with your parents. Thanks for taking care of Evan for almost two years now and hope you'll come back to work for us again after the festive ends."

This Wonderful Day

This date five years ago my friend sang this song as I walked down the aisle...

This Wonderful Day ~ by Ir. Welyar Kauntu

Today I will walk
With my hands in God
Today I will trust in Him
And not be afraid

Reff:
For He will be there
For He will be there
Every moment to share
For this wonderful day
He has made

Indonesian version:

Hari bahagia
Dalam hidupku
Berjalan bersama Mu
Yesus Tuhanku

Reff:
S'bab Kau sertaku
S'lalu sertaku
Sepanjang hidupku
Bahagia selalu sertaku

It's been wonderful 5 years
Because He was and will always be there for us

Wonderful Day.mp3 - Ir. Welyar Kauntu

Independence Day Long Weekend

We have a long weekend here because tomorrow, August 17th, is our Independence Day. As for our little boy Independence Day holiday means time to participate in various events in our neighborhood. Last year he joined a bicycle (or tricycle in his case) parade. Though no parade for this year, there are still other interesting games/races he can join or watch tomorrow.

Last year's Independence Day carnival

Happy Sunday and Dirgahayu Indonesia Ke 64 tahun.

His First Taste of Heaven

Durian. People say it tastes like heaven and smells like hell.

Durian, a thorny fruit from heaven

Because of its smell the fruit is banned in certain public transportation (like airplane) and some places (hotels), but in our house it's warmly welcome. When we brought durians to the house today, Evan was curious about them.

Though he commented about the strong smell, he still willing to try. It was his first taste of heaven.

But he decided that one lick was far enough for him. Hmm... let's see when he's a bit older.

Have you ever taste this fruit from heaven?

A New PC Set for The Little One

My son just got a new PC set for his graduation day present from his grandma. My mom knew that Evan had been familiar with my laptop since he was 2, so she thought it's time for him to have a computer of his own. Now, who can keep a grandma from buying things loving her grandson?

Anyway, since my mom doesn't know anything about computer, she asked us to help her looking for it. We decided to go with a custom built PC instead of a branded computer. We thought should something terrible happen, a custom PC would be easier and cheaper to be fixed/upgraded.

The computer has an Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 2 Gb RAM and a 16" LCD monitor. We also added some kid programs and songs in it. Compare to my HP laptop and desktop we have at home, my son's new PC set is certainly the fastest one. Hmm... maybe it's time for me to change my laptop too.

He doesn't need to borrow my laptop anymore.

Because he has his own PC now.

"Thank you for the nice present grandma.
Now let me show you how to login to my desktop!"

Time To Say Thank You

One of the consequences of becoming a work outside of home mom (WOHM) is I can't be with my son all day, so sometimes I miss his important moments including his schooling time. However, I have made my decision to have a career outside home, so I take the consequence as a challenge to stay update with my son's development. And I feel blessed that I have my mom and Evan's nanny to help me taking care of my son's needs while I'm not around.

This post is to acknowledge their important roles in my son's schooling time. They prepared and brought him to school, accompanied him on school field trips, been there with him on school events, reminded him if he had homework, etc. And let's not forget that they also took pictures of him at school. Even though sometimes I got frustrated with the photo results, without them there wouldn't be any pictures at my "School Time" post series.

On graduation day last week, I could see they got teary eyes when my son walked on stage to receive his trophy and diploma. They must have been as proud as us, his parents, too.

Thank you mom and Mbak Atun, you've been a great help. Hope you still willing to help us when the school starts again next month :)

Evan's Graduation Day

Last week was my son's graduation day. Yes, my little boy is officially graduate from Pre-K and starting next month he'll be a Kinder student. We are happy that even though we enrolled Evan in the middle of school year and his 4th birthday (the required age for Kindergarten here) is still 3 months away, his teachers said he was qualified to graduate. He was the youngest among the Pre-K graduates.

This morning we received the report card for his 6 months studying at Pre-K. The teachers wrote that Evan was able to concentrate and paid full attention to the teachers in the classroom. He can count up to 10 and memorize the alphabet both in Bahasa and English. However, they also noticed that he was a bit selective in choosing friends to play with.

We didn't take many pictures on graduation day because the stage was quite far from our seat so it was useless to take pictures using my P&S camera. We were focusing on making video instead. These two pictures were from the school's documentation. They were taken days before graduation for the school's yearbook.

Evan with his classmates and teachers.
Only 9 out of 12 students in his class that are graduated this year

Remember the love song for teacher he was practicing the other day? On graduation day he sang it together with his fellow graduates. The stage was a bit crowded after they sang. Let's remember that the graduates were a bunch of 4 to 6 y.o. super active kids.

After that was the tassel change moment. Evan's teacher was preparing him before he got on stage.

Once he was off the stage, he was asked to pose with his proud parents.

The graduation ceremony was closed with praise and worship. The graduates were given banner so they could raise their banner while praising God.

But my son was too busy singing until he forgot his banner :)


Thanks for stopping by and have a good weekend.

Under Construction

No, not the page, but the house :)

I think I should have posted this earlier. Our house is being renovated starting this week and because of that I needed to move my desktop to another room. The packing and unpacking computer took longer than I thought because we were also busy moving other things. Anyway, after four days neglecting my computer, today I finally made it work again. I thank all of you who keep stopping by/dropping your card here when I was off line, I shall be able to do my blogging and Entrecard routine now.