New Moonmania

Finally ....we saw it! And we will see it again.. and again.... and I will read the book again.... :0) .

Twilight pandemonium has taken the world. Young, old, middle old, a bit older, teenager , moms, aunts  ^_^.

And yes.. as you can see ( and tell) I am one of them. It is nuts, and crazy , sometimes doesn't even make sense. But I think it is cool to still be able to "love" something and "passionate" about something.

My nieces and nephew said: you are the only " aunt" that love twilight in my school. My sis said : Geez....my teenage daughters are not so into Twilight like you" ;")

But we need to be entertain ( and NOT just buy compulsive shopping). But by books ,movies and music too.

So here are the photos taken on the early NM in Kota Kinabalu. We thought we will be the noisiest but NO! hahaha . When the famous "Jacob the six packs" and" Edward's daylight appearance  in Volterra" was shown... the whole cinema go : AAAAAH............OOOOOH.......and... WEEEEEEE.......And for the last sentence by E.C in the last part of the movie....almost everyone clapped their hands! And that is the power of Twilight Saga.

Another show anyone? I am going to see it again tonight :p...

Next obsession : you guess it....of course ! ECLIPSE!

He is not a babysitter!

I am a mom of 2 young girls ( and the time yet to come until they become teenager). Are all the TV program suitable for kids? NO!

Adam was performed in the AMERICAN Music Award and it was almost 11 pm , he was not performing for Nickelodeon, Teen awards or kids choice award. So leave him alone.

Was his performance is family appropriate? NO!
But so do the Desperate housewives, Friends , Sex an the City, and even Keeping Up with the Kardashian ! These shows all content vulgar language, talk about sex and a lot of kissing.

Have you heard one of Eminem song? Even Katy Perry lyrics said "Bitch" is it suitable for a underage kid? NO! Have you seen the kissing between Madonna and Britney at the MTV awards?

For your Entertainment Official Video

Great video! Great music, a great guy.
Controversy is still hot post AMA ! :)

Whataya Want From Me?

One Sweet Day!

The next day after her school concert we attended the " Advance Cupcake decorating class" held by Deana Cakes. As you all know, I am a fan of her cakes . 2 weeks ago we attended the first cupcakes decorating class. This time we are playing with fondant. Finally I know how to make it :)

Making the fondant from the scratch ( not pre made ,ok?)

Knead knead knead..... and mixing the color.

Yay! one ready to me mould pretty in purple fondant!

Cut and embossed , it is ready to cover one cupcake!

The "pro" tools

Yay! One is done !

The little artist . Getting busy with fondants, colors, designs. She never run of ideas!

Then... came the intruder!!!  Cikgu Deana is so patient to teach Indy. We gave Maya " black" fondant ( as per request) and spatula, so she can get busy too ( and not disturbing) . Maya is having the time of her life, since when playing with play dough can be so yummy too!!!

Funny notes: when we reached home, she still got the fondant in her hand ( mixed of black and yellow and REALLY looks like play dough) , She ate it in front of our maid, and our maid screamed in horror.LOL. Maya with her cool style said : ini boleh makan ,bah! ini bukan mainan , kak! ini gula gula buat kuih!

LMOF!!!

The playful Maya with so serious Indy ( trying to make a "pink turtle")

Cut Cut Cut.... and Sculpt , Sculpt....

And TA DAAAAA our creation :

Indy made most of this , specially the 3D deco. I helped her to mix some colors, and covered the cupcakes.I did some embossing and cutting too  ( Hey!! I also want to learn mah!!! hhahaha)But she had a great fun embossing, cutting, making cars, bottles, mushrooms, turtles, cubes, cutting numbers.

Too bad we must leave about 30 mins early. But we did bring home 2 boxes of cupcakes, learn new skills, and had a fun time! Thanks to Deana who is willing shared and spent her time ( despite of her morning sickness ^_^)

Indy is very happy and told me : She ( Deana) is so nice ya ma? She really sound n look like teacher oh when she teach me ! ( LOL) I am so happy that Aunty Deana wants to teach me.

The cupcakes might last a few hours, or a few days, but the experience and skills and memories will stay for a long time. It is worth it!

Her feeling and her achievement

It's been an emotional roller coaster for our eldest daughter for the last 2 weeks. It is normal to feel sad, to say good bye to her friends. We do not deny it, and we do not think that her feeling is unimportant too. We do what parents need to do, to comfort her, to understand her feeling, but we also need to tell her that this is life, sometimes we don't like it, but we do not have a choice, and it is ok for her to feel sad. But it is important for her to know that she still can keep in touch with her friends, and she will make new friends, and that is is lucky to be able to make a lot more friends whenever we live.

I noticed the change in her. She lost her appetite 2 weeks ago, and she even wet her bed twice in a week ( when  she can read my blog, she will kill me to tell this in my blog !:D ) . I knew that , that was the sign of " children stress". Poor girl. But I do not want to deny that facts or just brush the issue aside. We can't do that to our children. Sometimes, we think : oh that is not important, or oh she will get over it, or naah..she will be ok , or no we dont need to tell her the truth.  The thing is, our children need to know the truth. Specially if that involving their life.

I do not tell them that we will come back to KK soon. I told my youngest that this time , we are moving and will not come back to this house again. This is not holiday. I don't want to lie to her and said ok we go ok?later we come back. For Indy, it is different, she knows what moving mean. And she knows that she will say good bye to her friends  , to her school and to her teachers. I told her, that I know she feel sad, and that is ok. She can talk to me anytime about her feeling. But , I told her, don't worry, you will make more friends there, and you will still be friends with your friends here . Just look at mamma, I have friends in Jakarta, Singapore, etc and I m still in touch with them . I also told her, that she is lucky to have all of this technology now, and she can chat with her friends with webcam, and when she can read and write better, I will let her to have her own facebook ( under my supervision of course) to keep in touch with her friends and our family.

Children will adapt well and faster in normal case. And I think both of them will be excited to live in a big city too. ( finger crossed) .

Indy also had her "school concert" last Friday. And on Thursday, her teacher announced to the class that Indiana will leave them and move to Shanghai. Every girls in the class hug her and said good luck and good bye to her, the boys shake her hands. I knew that must be hard for her to hold back her tears. Some of her friends gave her small gifts too. Her teacher told me that every students in the class love her and like her very much. She is a friendly and helpful girl. And Indy told me that she is the class clown :).

The teacher told me this a few months before when Indy came back from holiday, every one greeted her enthusiastically, so this time her teacher told me that her friends will sure miss her very much. I feel bad also for her best friends, some even told their moms that they are so sad that Indy will move . :(

Sadness aside, last Friday also a good day for her. On the " Awards Night" she got 3 awards! She got  " attendance award" , "reading readiness  award" ( for those who accomplish good progress in reading) and " Bible Scriptures memory award"( for those who can memorized the bible verses in a year).

Her school doesn't put the rank system. Instead they give awards. And this is great. And of course we are so proud of her no matter what. Less than a year ago, or when she was in the Kindy, she was consider the "blur" one. Not by the Kindergarten teachers though. They are quite supportive and said she is doing fine . ( I m not a fan of school who wants to push and force  the students). As we know, most people use the " reading skills" as the measurement to someone intelligent level. Some one that can read early will be consider as smart, and someone who read later on will be consider " slow". While I believe that is not true. And that is important to all parents to have faith in our children no matter what.

Indy shown a good progress and efforts to read. I didn't even force her at home, but I did intrigue her to certain books and stories. And this is what the school did for her. She got free time at school to borrow some books to read. So it was more to "dig out" her interest in reading rather than" forcing" her to read.

So to get the "reading readiness " award is a great milestone . She DID it! And for someone who has struggled to read to be able to memorized the bible scriptures is not easy at all. The principal even said, to memorized that many verses is not even easy for adult. So imagine what effort she did with her limited reading ability to be able to memorized that verses. ( shown on the photo's background)

In one sentence : We are very proud of you ,Indy! :) with our without award!

This is her painting being shown in the student exhibition. I think she did a great job!

"Spoon feeding" method??(edited)

Taken from Learning Beyond Schooling page , this morning I found this article:
Which related to my previous post "the cookie cutter"kids

UPSR shows only 5.7 pc of year sixers think critically


PUTRAJAYA, Nov 19 — The education ministry’s first Aptitude Test for Year Six students during their UPSR exams has shown that only 5.7 per cent (29,084 students) out of 509,885 pupils are skilled at problem solving and decision making, and only 34.34 per cent (175,101) in skilled thinking.


Education Director-General Tan Sri Alimuddin Mohd Dom This said today that this indicated that the children needed more training on problem-solving and decision-making.


Speaking at a press conference here today, he explained that the Aptitude Test was divided into two dimensions, namely Skilled Thinking and Problem Solving and Decision-Making .


Alimuddin said a student’s aptitude level was then categorised from Band One (lowest skilled) to Band Four (highest skilled).


The test results have found that when it comes to problem solving and decision making, the majority of Year Six students which is 47.71 per cent (243,258 students) remained in Band Two, followed by 28.24 per cent (143,971 students) in Band Three and 18.35 per cent (93,572 students) in Band One.


On the other hand, the majority of Skilled Thinking students lies in Band Three at 41.04 per cent (209,244 students), followed by 20.71 per cent (105,580 students) in Band Two and 3.91 per cent (19,960) in Band One.


The test also categorised a student’s interest into Academic, Technical and Vocational, Arts, Sports and Culture and Society, ranking them from One (primary interest) to Five (least interest).


There is a 39.31 per cent high tendency of candidates towards the academic, followed by technical and vocational (29.25 per cent), arts (19.26 per cent), culture and social (9.72 per cent) and sport (2.57 per cent). — Bernama




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Problem solving and decisions making skill is crucial for the children education. If they can do very well in math and english, but , in real life , they can't make  a simple decision on what to draw or what to extra class to choose from, those good grades won't help much.  Speaking of which, that is why I always try to ask my girls on the "most stupid" or most simple things like what do you want to drink? what do you want to do later?
what do you want to read? That doesn't mean I will or must give whatever they asked for. But it will make them use to " choices" and "option" in life. And how important is it to make a good option in real life as adult. So they don't often choose the wrong way. ( and trust me in decision making , forcing them with cane wont help but will make it worse! Try to use cane for teenager, what they will do behind the parents back are even more scary!)


Recently, when I browsed for apartments in Shanghai, I always involve the girls. I showed them the photos, make them excited , to " see" their new " house" . And I asked " which one do you like?" that doesn't mean we will choose what they like. But it is more into the involving part, to show them that their opinions ( as silly or small is it) count! And just to keep the conversation and make them speak up their opinion. Indy said she like those with the white sofa, and big windows and jacuzzi ( it is far beyond our budget!!!) but it is nice to "dig" her interest, and listen to her opinion. Maya just said : nice! nice! I like that, and that, that, and that. Got playground ah? :P


Same thing when I prepared their birthday party, I always asked and let them look at the picture of cakes,and asked : which one do you like? what kind of cake do you want to have? Cupcake or Cake? But they didn't always get what they want. We discussed , sometimes if  the cake is big and if we do not have enough guests then I suggest them to change to smaller version or other type. Normally they are ok with it. And this is also teach them to be able to discuss and compromise with others, to be able to accept other different opinion too. To learn that sometimes they can't just get thing they way they want.


Spoon feeding method is just like forcing a kid to eat and swallow whatever the teacher prepare without the right to know or ask what is in the spoon. And like if parents don't give the children a freedom to talk, and to share their opinion.  They are not trained to ask questions, or think outside the box , and be creative. Will this do any good for our children in the future? But we as parents still can do something with the way we educate our children at home. Allow them a bit of freedom to talk, to ask, to give opinion, make decision, to teach them that they have the options in life, teach them about  the responsibility and the consequences  of their acts.

Adam Lambert album preview!!!

http://www.myspace.com/adamlambert

Go to Adam's myspace to hear the preview. Album will be available on i tunes and amazon next week ( pre order also available) . Too bad I can't make the pre order as I don't know where is our new address ! Bummer..








The link of the album preview ( only for a week)

But to ease the pain, I can go to the MySpace! And he will performs at the American Music Award this Sunday 22nd November , For your entertainment!

I love it all ! But my top songs for now is : For your entertainment, Whataya want from me, Master plan, Time for miracle ( have you see  the movie 2012? I did!)

And then as I am not enough busy, New Moon is premiering in the States and soon in Malaysia!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
There are bunch of special in the E! woo hooo... check in online here

Huh .............Packing? What packing?????