Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Nathan the Pizza Chef

Nathan attended a Pizza Making Course at Modesto's. He had so much fun... he asked me if you were going back again "tomorrow"!

Listening attentively

Watching intently

Just a little bit too short

Coating the dough with flour

Looking cheeky

Getting some help

Sprinkling a little bit of flour on the rolling surfaces

Rolling out the dough

Almost done with the pizza base

Dusting off the flour

Arranging his chef's hat

Excited about adding the ingredients

First the pizza sauce...

then, cheese, ham, sausages and tomatoes...

All ready to put the pizza in the oven...

Into the wood fired oven...

One for the camera... :)

Wait for it to cook...

All done!

Yummy!
Certified Pizza Chef

For $25, the kids get to try their hand at making pizzas. At the end of the session, they get to sample their own pizza, and also get a drink to go with it. An afternoon well spent. :)


Tuesday, December 18, 2012

BB Share-a-Gift 2012

In recent times, Nathan will tell me that he has a certain toy, but not this other toy, this other toy and this other toy (usually the ones in the same series). Then he'd ask if I can buy the rest for him. I'd respond by telling him that it's okay not to have the entire set, and also tell him that if we spend too much money on toys, we will have to cut back in other areas. I am glad that Nathan's not one who will fuss when I say no to buying something he wants at a store. He accepts my reasoning and walks out of the store empty handed but not sulking.

I've been telling him that we are very blessed and have many reasons to be thankful. I also tell him about children who do not enjoy luxuries like he does, and about some who even go hungry. When I heard that the Boys' Brigade is still short of meeting their target for BB Share-a-Gift 2012, I decided to bring Nathan to NTUC Finest (Bukit Timah Plaza) to make our donation. I got him to help pick out some items that he thinks the children will like... and true to self, he chose items that he himself likes to eat.

Biscuits

Halal Canned Food

Ribena? Or Milo?

What about marcoroni?

We bought 4 of each item - one from daddy, one from mommy, one from Noah, one from Nathan

BB officers helping to unload



The donation drive ends tomorrow. So hop on down to the collection points to make your donations.


Monday, December 17, 2012

Flying with young children

It's our first holiday as a foursome. It is also Noah's first time on the aeroplane. Nathan's second... though I do not know how much he remembered of his first time flying when he was about 13 months old. We chose to fly out at 8.30am in the morning, to maximise the day. Had to get the kids out of bed about an hour before their usual waking up time. Thankfully neither of them complained. We took a cab to the airport, and there was a snaking long queue to check-in. No idea why the queue were so long, but thankfully, it moved pretty fast. 

In the cab
At the check-in counter

After clearing immigration, we wandered around the airport, before heading to the boarding gates. They might have relaxed the rules on carrying liquids onboard, as I had no problems bringing onboard the boys' water bottles which I've filled to the brim. Traveling with young kids, I much prefer to board last. There's a long time to wait after the doors close and before the plane actually takes off... so to minimise the number of 'why are we still here' type of questions, I prefer to let them roam freely outside the plane before boarding. That also give the ground staff ample time to tag and pack our stroller for check-in at the gate.

That's our plane!
On the gangway

Nathan got his very own seat this time around. He enjoyed the KrisWorld entertainment system onboard, and that kept him glued to his seat the entire journey.

Noah offers kor kor a drink
Seat belt buckled and ready to go
Checking out his tray table...
Enjoying his lunch
Enjoying his inflight movie
Noah, just shy of 24 months qualified for infant prices, but it also means he doesn't get his own seat on the airplane. We had done an internet check-in 2 days before our flight and thankfully we managed to get seats with a bassinet. When we were flying with Nathan about 2 years ago, we checked-in late and the flight we were on had more infants than bassinets. We had to keep him on our laps throughout. 

Noah wasn't too happy about being strapped in, much preferring to walk around. Thankfully, the bassinet row had marginally more space for him to roam around. He didn't find KrisWorld quite as entertaining, possibly because he was experiencing it sans audio. 

Look!
Trying to decide what to watch on KrisWorld
Noah's not too happy about being strapped down
Noah watching Elmo without audio cos he refuses to put on the head phones

Noah shared my lunch with me even though he had his own baby food jars. No photos of our food because it is actually quite a feat having to make sure that Noah gets most of the food in his mouth and doesn't knock off the tray table and everything on it. After the meal, Noah was getting sleepy. I gave him his favourite bolster and he drifted off to sleep in my arms pretty quickly. He continued sleeping even after I placed him in the bassinet. Phew! :) At 21 months, he is a bit too big for the bassinet... His legs can't stretch out fully... but even then, it was comfortable enough for him to sleep soundly. While he slept, I requested for some cup noodles as I was still hungry. They'd usually have a stash of cup noodles for passengers who need more food. :P Yummy!

Sound asleep
Traveling with young kids, do plan ahead on when you'd like your meals served. On our return leg, I knew that Noah's nap was shortly after take-off. So I requested for his meal to be served first. Well fed, he promptly drifted off to dreamland. While he was sleeping, I requested for my own meal to be served before everyone else... just in case Noah woke up. 

Nathan & Noah enjoyed the ride and we're thankful that it was pretty fuss free.

Are we there yet?
The view from our seat
I think that means we are ready for a holiday further away from home?

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Gingerbread Man

Stop! Little gingerbread man... I'm going to eat you for my breakfast.

Starts off with the hand...


Moves on to the foot...


Then tries to bite off one of the buttons...


And then the other foot...


He then asked me to bite off the head.

Thereafter, he continues devouring the rest of the buttons, the eyes, nose and the mouth.

When all that is done... he returns gingy to the plate and declares that he's done.


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