Mothering Corner

My kids are coming back next week and we will be off to Chiangmai. After numerous trips to Chiangmai, I’m not sure which place should we be visiting this time, except Royal Flora Ratchaphruek Chiang Mai. My parents will surely enjoy the flowers.

Maybe we should visit the national park of Doi Inthanon. It seems to be pretty cold uphill, so I shall pack  fleece jackets for the kids. If I’m really out of idea, then we shall revisit the zoo, Night Safari and Tiger Kingdom again.

Kids are still enjoying their 3 months term break and flood holiday. Up to today, their school area is still flooded at 1.55m, so the new term can only start in January. As much as I wish to keep them occupied with activities and trips but hubby and I are too busy, and I don’t feel like spending much on vacations too.

Maybe we will bring them to a resort for horsing riding, which we always visit during school holidays. Both kids are always happy to see the ponies, and there is a trainer here who can coach kids in horse riding. Besides that, equestrian helmets and equipments are up for rent.

Let’s see how things go after hubby and I have managed cleaning up our dirty flooded house.

School break starts this week and both kids will tag along with me to work. I’m not sure how they will behave at the office though but I will try to keep them occupied with some work instead of playing the gadgets all day long.

They have received some playdates invitations too, so at least there are something interesting for them during this school break. I will be all occupied with renovation and work, and hubby is too busy to bring the kids for trips anyway.

Thus, I’ll slow down in bento-ing again, unless I have some nice ideas.

My boy has been asking me to get him a new PNS camera as his Canon is not working well anymore. It doesn’t give a sharp focus, and I can’t find its extra canon batteries either. The charger was lost as well. O.o

He loves taking photos, just like his mother, but my dSLR is too heavy for him, and he doesn’t understand the settings yet.

But since he’s only 6, and a camera is an expensive gadget, I will only get him one on special days, or he’s doing well in his exams. Frankly, he’s sitting for his first formal exam in Primary 1 next week, and I doubt that he has any idea what’s going on. LOL!

Just do your best boy. It’s just a practice. *mommy’s trying to convince herself more *

So if he does well in Primary 1, then I might get him a new camera.

I used to be a shopaholic, but I hardly shop since I started helping hubby. But a few days ago, I brought my relatives shopping in the city, and we had a great time buying stuffs for children. They have 11 grandchildren, so you can imagine the amount of kiddie clothes they bought!

As my boy is getting older, I realized that I shop lesser for him. He has his preference in clothes now, and he doesn’t like everything I buy. So, out of the few hours of shopping spree, I only managed to get him a Ben 10 tee!!! LOL! As for my gal, she ended up with 5 dresses, some tops, rompers and etc. I looked like I’m not treating both my kids fairly, with my shopping spree, but hey, my boy said he didn’t like most of the boys clothing we saw.

He’s more interested in getting gadgets. I’ve just bought an iPhone 4 and he was so thrilled. Nonetheless, I don’t sync the games in both iPhones now. This photo is strictly for mommy, and the kids can only play with 3GS and iPad in the weekend.

As comparing to bursting his wardrobe, my boy will thank me more if I get me more gadgets.

The junk food stall at my kids’ school is open again, and I thought that it was gone for good. When the kids told me that it’s closed when school reopened, I thought that the stall was gone for good, and I was so happy about it! I don’t mind giving allowance to my kids, even if it’s not needed. They can still save it up as gold coin.

So, the kids were so happy when they saw the stall reopened again on Thursday! They quickly asked for their pocket money so that they can buy some junks today. Argh!!!

But we have come to an agreement of having junks 2 days in a week. The initial plan was only a day, but the kids succeeded in our negotiation.

My gal loves keeping coins. If those are gold coins, she will be quite rich by now. She will dig out those loose coins in my car or in the house and ask if she can keep them. Some times, I will give her some pocket money so that she can buy some junks or anything at school. I’m limiting pocket money to twice a week as eating junks is pretty bad!

Unlike my boy who spends all his daily allowance, my gal will normally bring home some change. Her piggy banks are heavier than her bother’s!

Hopefully, this gives her a good idea of saving up.

My boy was disappointed that he could not get his own saving account in Thailand. As expat kids, it’s quite hard to get an account, unless you have some connection with the banks. He wanted to get the Ben 10 piggy bank badly, and he’s been eying on it for a few months.

I feel that the kids should have some savings or investment for the future too. Too bad that I can’t buy gold bars and keep for them yet! The investment plan shown by the insurance agent was not good enough. I am not convinced to tie up with something that generates return after 20 years!

So, what can I do? Mmm…

We didn’t attend any Halloween party today, but we did something else. Hubby’s uncle and aunt are here for a visit, and it’s great to spend the Sunday with them. In fact, my kids enjoyed their company a lot, and I’m sure that my gal will misses this uncle when he leaves in a week.

We spent a lot of time shopping today, and both old folks bought a lot of kiddie clothes home! LOL! With 10 grandchildren, I can totally understand why they were buying so much. I honestly think that this uncle has a good life now, especially with all his grandchildren being so close to him. As much as he can just afford to buy bullion for them, but he brought the whole family members here for a holiday last week, and the memories created definitely worth more than gold bullion.

From the way he interacts with my kids, I know why his grandchildren adores him. To put it in a nut shell, he’s acting like the best playmate and Santa Clause all in one. LOL! I bet he might even get my gal a bullion if she dares to ask. But of course, we don’t let that happen. It’s their company that counts and our kids hardly have the chance to spend time with their grandparents nor any older relatives. There is a special bonding between little kids and older relatives, as long as they don’t spoil them all the time!

I don’t like the house we are staying in because it’s too small and we have limited storing space. The sofa can’t even hit any guests, in all of us would like to sit together and chat! When BIL asked us if we would like to move to their neighborhood, it hit me that maybe we should move to a bigger house one day.

First of all, I hope that the interior of house is not all covered with wall paper. My gal has a tendency to tear it down! If it’s painted wall, maybe we can decorate their rooms with fancy wall stickers such as these:

My kids will be thrilled to have these wall stickers on the wall in their room, and they might help in getting them to sleep on their own. Actually, I hope that I can find some Ben 10 wall stickers, have anyone seen any?

I can’t stick the sticks on the wall in my house now as our tenant agreement did mention something like no nailing and no sticking anything on the wall. If not, we will have to pay for the new wall paper installation.

So, maybe I should really consider moving to another house, if we manage to find a bigger one that fits our budget.