Gymboree

We were at Gymboree Play & Music Bangsar Village for a few times already since beginning of August. I've signed them up for a year-long package ending August next year. The package consists of 12 Arts classes (for Evan), 32 Play or Music classes (Evan or Marissa - flexible), 10 Playgym vouchers, membership fees for 2 yrs, T-shirts for both of them & special RM150 off birthday party celebration at Gymboree.

The first time Evan attended Gymboree Play class was when I won a contest organized by Mother & Baby Malaysia Magazine in 2006. Evan won a free one month (4 weeks) Play class package. Since then, we've enrolled him in Play classes and Playgym on and off whenever time permits.

We've also registered Evan for his first Gymboree party - Halloween & Gymbo's Birthday joint celebration on 31st Oct. I've been informed that it's gonna be a BIG & GRAND event! Evan will need to dress up in a costume as well. So I guess it will either be a new one from Gymboree - or recycle his Owl costume. We will have to wait and see....

TJC Sports Day

Tadika Juara Cerdik organised its bi-annual SPORTS DAY on 22nd August 2009. I was requested by Evan's class teacher to prepare some finger food for the kids so I decided to prepare cheese sandwiches cut into flowers & 'Toodles' with the school's initials : TJC.

This was Evan's 2nd Sports Day. Here he is holding his class Jasmine's placard - leading his classmates who marched single file onto the school field ( SRJK(C) Yuk Chai).

Canopy tents were put up for the parents & kids. Great weather that day! Only a slight shower towards the end of the event.

Evan's event was : A Fish Tale. He was in RED team. He had to use a 'fishing rod' to hook a 'fish' from the tub and then walk on the balance beam to feed the 'shark' with the 'fish'.

Hurray! Gold Medal for my efforts!

Evan was very excited and he said he felt like Mulan who received a medal from the Emperor for her heroic deeds. He also thought he was like Special Agent Oso who received a 'Digi-medal' for completing his 'special assignment'!

Evan turns 4!

Evan's 4th birthday falls on 18th August 2009. We decided to have a mini celebration at home this time (as we just had a big one for Marissa 2 months ago). Continuing with the same theme : Mickey Mouse Clubhouse..... I ordered a jelly cake from One Utama's QQ Jelly. Cost? RM38 - which was quite ok.

My dad was around for the weekend. My mom couldn't make it as she is busy with my 3-month old nephew (who's gaining weight like a sumo wrestler!)

Evan blew out his candle - and splattered saliva all over the cake!

He received lots of presents & ang pows as well!

4th Birthday Party @ TJC

Evan's 4th Birthday Party at Tadika Juara Cerdik on 13th August. His actual birthday is on 18th August but we are celebrating it earlier. Many of his classmates were absent from school due to flu. Evan was bitten by the flu bug last week and thank God that he recovered in time for this.

His friends were so excited about the party and everyone sang the birthday song and helped blow out the candle. Teacher Esther led the children in prayer & grace.

Only 10 kids present in school. 7 absent! I had prepared for full attendance!

Cupcakes by Pretty Frosting. I added the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Picks to jazz up the cupcakes! I ordered 30 cuppies.... and the kids only walloped 12. I also brought mini Milo packet drinks for them.

Evan's party pack - Oral-B Mickey Mouse toothbrush & Storybook.

Tutu Workshop Contest

I just happened to stumble upon the Malaysian online Baby Shops Blog while blog-hopping. The Tutu Workshop/MOBS contest caught my eye immediately. Having read about Tutu workshop and their lovely creationis in the Star newspapers 2 weeks ago, I decided to take part in the contest.

It was really super cool that I won 1st Prize! A Super Mario Brothers inspired Tutu, Headband & Wand worth RM120! I hope Marissa will look cute in it!

Interested in a custom-made tutu for your little princess or for yourself? Visit tutuworkshop.blogspot.com

Anyway the winning slogan : My princess will look great in a tutu......... as she stands elegant & tall, undoubtedly the belle of the ball, the cutest one of all!

The Gruffalo

Currently Evan's favourite bedtime stories are from award-winning author : Julia Donaldson & illustrator : Axel Scheffler. I purchased these 2 paperback books at a warehouse sale some time back - feeling lucky to have found them there in the midst of the madness associated with warehouse sales!

The Gruffalo tells the story of a Little Brown Mouse who walks through the deep dark wood. The entire book is told in rhymes and makes it very easy for kids to remember the story. Evan could even tell the story just by looking at the illustrations.

Well, back to the mouse, he was a cunning little fellow who made up the so-called monster : The Gruffalo so as to scare away his predators. Later, the mouse got a huge shock when his make-believe monster actually exists and threathens to eat him up! But the cunning mouse has more tricks up his sleeve! I won't reveal the ending but it's really such an interesting read even for me as an adult.

This is the other book that I mentioned - the sequel to The Gruffalo : The Gruffalo's Child. Brilliant as well. Evan loves this book too and he will sometimes 'read' the book to his grandparents instead of the book being read to him.

This is another book : paperback as well : The Gruffalo's Song & other Songs. The CD contains several of Julia Donaldson's songs sung and performed by herself. Evan's favourite is of course The Gruffalo's song. The lyrics are actually from the books describing the Gruffalo.

Since he enjoyed the Gruffalo so much, I decided to buy another highly acclaimed book from Julia Donaldson : Room on the Broom. Managed to find the paperback version of the book in mint condition from 1 Utama MPH during the Jimat Sales. Sometimes it can be really hard to find books in mint condition as most would be damaged/shows major shelf wear. True enough, Evan enjoyed Room on the Broom too ( I did too!). So it looks like I will be getting more books from Julia Donaldson in the future! Will try to get more copies for sale in my ebay store as well (sold 4 Julia Donaldson books already so far.... all sold out!). Other series I am looking at are Charlie & Lola books by Lauren Child.