Mothering Corner

We had recently got our boy a second handed piano, and it’s one of those “shorter” upright which we managed to squeeze it into the lift to our condo. It’s impossible for us to get a new one right now, and I’m not sure if my boy is very serious about learning piano. He likes it, and he will be sitting for Grade 1 exam soon, but I’m just not sure if he’s really passionate about it to lplay it “forever”?

Both hubby and I learned music, but we gave up during teenage years. So, we are taking it easy on our kids. They can choose to learn other musical instruments if they are interested when they are older, such as drumming, Squier guitar, or even the harmonica. But for the time being, I will let them choose either piano or violin.

I’m still waiting for my gal to make her decision. She’s turning 6 soon.

My boy invited some friends over last Saturday afternoon and it’s the first time I’m having guests in our condo, other than our family members. Since our place is quite small, I only allowed him to invited 4 children, and that had also made the whole place noisy with kids! LOL!

Luckily, our place is not packed with furniture, so there is sufficient place for kids to play around. I would love to buy those Polywood Adirondack chairs at AdirondackChairs.com, or get more nice living room decorations, and get a bigger cabinet for my kitchen tools storage, but after having a play date session that day, it’s best to keep our condo as minimal as possible to avoid the whole place by cluttering up.

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…