Jo's first real punishment

Little Jo decided to try and see what it'd feel like to smack her older sister. So, while snatching her sister's stuff away, she smacked Nel on the face and yanked her hair. (yes, a 2 year old can do that!) So I pulled her away, got to her level, looked in her eye and said "You CANNOT hit your che-che (sister), you understand? Hands are not for hitting.."

Jo looked at me seriously, and said "yes mummy, no hit Nel, no hitting Nel."

I replied "you sure you understand what mummy said?"

Jo looked at me somberly and replied "sure mummy, Jo cannot hit Nel."

I then took her to the corner of the room, placed both her hands on her ears and told her to face the wall and stand there for a while. I've tried this before, and she burst into tears the last time. This time, she quietly did as told and did not cry a tear. However, she took lots of peeks at us, hoping we'd allow her out. She had this really serious frown on her face and if I happened to catch her taking a peek, she blinked her eye in a really funny manner. I was trying hard to be serious, but I could not help turning away for a bit of laughter. No, I'm not a sadist, it's just she looked so seriously cute! hahahaha.....

Finally I said "ok Jo, you can come here now."

Jo walked over to me, smiling, and said "Jo want to say sorry to Nel. No beating Nel." So she walked to Nel, tenderly stroked her hair and said "sorry, Nel, Jo sorry." *sigh*..... the end.

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Apart from that, yesterday we celebrated mooncake festival. I don't know the significance of it, I don't celebrate it in the real sense of it, but traditionally it's a night where you eat mooncake, and children walk around the neighbourhood with their brightly litted candles. So we got together with the neighbourhood kids and did just that. It was fun, except for a few lanterns that got burnt. But that is part of the fun, watching the lantern light up in flames! hahaha...

Addtions to the family.

Wish I could tell you that I am pregnant with a new baby. but no, no, no. Am not pregnant, do not plan to get pregnant in the near future.... maybe in 2 years...maybe maybe.....

However, in a matter of one week, we acquired a dog and a rabbit and we have a terapin boarding with us as well. Nel ( and I) REALLY REALLY wanted a dog, and we were going around checking out Animal Shelters. Nel (meaning I) fell in love with a Schnauzer mixed with Terrier and asked to adopt that little fella. Unfortunately it'd just come in and was not ready for adoption, and they wouldn't allow us to place bookings. Well a volunteer happened to be there and took my number down. Two days later she called me to ask if I was interested in a rescue Poodle. It's pure bred, but kept in a small cage for an entire year by a cruel breeder.

The little fella's hair was all mangled up and he had weak hind feet due to being caged up. Well, after several visits to the vet..he was ready for adoption. And yeah, we took him in. :) He is simply adorable, REALLY active little fella who's really inquisitive and cute. :) We take him for long walks, so his legs have strengthened. He's so strong he actually pulled Jo flat onto her nose once when she held the leash. Thank God we were on grassy patch. Anyway...enough of stories already. By the way, we've named the poodle Camel.

Oh yeah, in the same week, my dear dad, not knowing of our intention to get the dog, decided the kids needed to have pets around and got us rabbits. Sadly one died within a few days. I guess, we're learning how to handle these little creatures. One survives, and his name is Tee-tee.

Kuala Gandah Elephant Sanctuary

well we spent a whole day at the Kuala Gandah Elephant Sanctuary . It was a hot day, and 5 families went with us. Had our picnic at the site and at about 12 the show began. First we watched as they bathed the elephant

then it was feeding time. You get to go up close and feed the elephants all sorts of fruits.

and finally riding time. Here's the man preparing the elephant. If you notice, no carriage. You just sit on the elephant and hang on tight to the man, and feel the elephant's very prickly hair tickle your thighs! :)

They also brought out two REALLY cute, ADORABLE baby elephants, which the children, especially Jo REALLY loved. (they are orphans rescued from the forest.)

The water activities (elephant dunks you, and swimming with the elephants) were canceled due to strong currents. too bad, or I might have posted a picture of me being dunked. Next time. :)

Finally, if I've anything to say, it'd be STOP illegal logging, and safe the rainforest. I'm passionate about nature, and I feel sad when their (animals) homes are being destroyed. Why are we destroying God's beautiful creation?
The complete set of photos can be found at flickr where I post my pictures

more why questions from Nel

Nel has been asking tonnes of questions...that I admit, sometimes, I loose my patience. *aarrghh...I can hear the lightning strike me for being an impatient mother.* You see her torrent of questions usually come when I'm driving. Coz she's sitting down with nothing to do...so she either starts asking questions, or she starts making up strings of songs which she INSISTS I listen and appreciate and clap!! or she starts disturbing/playing with her sister.

I can take a little bit of listening, and answer some questions, but when I'm on the busy highway and Nel's questions or songs increase, my head starts to pound and sometimes I yell out "zip your mouth or we're gonna blah blah blah." Ok, I need to be more patient. Praying for MORE.

Well, yesterday her question was quite CUTE! Here's what she asked "Mum, why is it, I can see your chest bump out and Ah Ma's (grandma's) chest and aunty's chest all bump out (protruding) but I cannot see daddy's or Ah Kong's (grandpa) or mine?"

I thought, oh my, here we go, another question about anatomy. (If you remember, when she was 4 she once asked why Lu's belly button was dangling and hanging out of his tummy!) Well...so I was about to go into breast tissues and milk ducts etc etc....when she herself answered the question. She said "Is it coz you, AhMa and aunty are women, and daddy and AhKong are men? and because I'm just a little girl? that's why our chest are flat?"

"Yes Nel!" I replied happily. Not wanting to go into scientific detail since I was driving. Maybe it's time to get a science book on human anatomy for her. Ok, we're off to the Elephant Sanctuary in some forest where we get to ride the elephants, feed them and bathe them. Ciao.

It's been an interesting week with all sorts of things going on. Well...it was a long weekend coz of our coutry's 50th independence celebration, which was a REALLY big do! too lazy to blog about it though...it was just a really busy weekend with lotsa concerts and fireworks (which baby J didn't like at all) and blah blah blah.

Here's a quiz for you. CAn you guess what is Baby J's favourite food? If not, click here for a clue. Download J's voice .wma (will take about 40 seconds. Please keep speakers on.)

Ok let's see who gets the question right! haha...

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Ok I've been tagged by Sonia . Sorry Sonia, coz I'm lazy to go copy the rules. but basically if I remember correctly I have to list down 8 things about me which you all don't know. Oh well, I actually did 101 in my previous blog, but here goes 8.

----at one time of my life I owned 3 wild chickens, a dog, a cat, a turtle, some fish and lots of stray cats.

----- I love Korean, Japanese and Italian food

----- I have consistent sinus problems and cannot stand dust

----- I love the outdoors

----- I am by nature an introvert

----- I did at one time wish my body was proportioned differently (haha)

----- I also love Indian food, esp North Indian cuisine

----- I love my parents dearly

there's the list. Ok, hoping you all have a beautiful week. It's rainy over here. I just spent some cash on new plants. Cannot specify ammount, lest hubby finds out. hahaha... my garden is packed! coz it's so tiny. I cannot help but envy those with huge compounds. I dream of having a large compound one day so I can plant to my heart's content.

In Search of Imitation Kipling

Kippling & Le Sportsac
Recently some of my friends had been telling me how unique Kipling bags and Le SportSac bags are. So I went to check them out, and YES, I simply fell in love with these two brands. they are unique, and "young", nothing like the boring old leather bag.

Unfortunately, the prices here are RIDICULOUSLY high!! Well, I suppose if you're earning 1000 pounds a month, a 90f bag is no big deal. But convert it to M'sian ringgit, the bag becomes a whopping 630$$$!! So, yeah, I was disappointed when I stepped into a LeSports shop and a Kippling store to find most products 250 and above. That's not very affordable when I don't earn too much.


Well, somebody told me I might find an imitation if I went to Petaling Street, which is a little ChinaTown in Kuala Lumpur. A street (very very long street) packed with stalls after stalls of imitation stuff! So me, hubby and sis in law, decided upon a trip to the street. We parked all our kids at my mum's and set off on a Tues night, thinking it wouldn't be so crowded. I was WRONG! It was so packed, the lanes were so narrow, I found myself being bumped left and right while tourists walked past me by the hundreds! I had my camera but I couldn't take very nice shots, simply coz I'm not as tall as all the tourists there. Well, I'm a mere 5' 2 and the tourists mainly from Europe are TALL. Anyway, after one hour, I couldn't find any Kiplings, but LOTS of LeSportSac of VERY BAD quality!



My husband the "thick-faced" haggler stood by me everytime I thought I was interested in something. You really have to haggle there. I saw many a tourist being cheated out of their pockets. Some of the sellers are nice, some are really RUDE and they talk like they're gonna kill you when you try to bargain for a lower price. So it's good to go with someone who's not easily intimidated (like my husband). haha..

Well, finally after 2 hours of walking, I chanced upon a store that sold pretty good imitation of the Kippling bag! hahahha....and thus, here is my new Kippling bag priced at only 35RM, instead of the whopping 350RM! hahaha....I also bought myself an imitation Coach wallet for a very cheap price. (we bargained it down from 85Rm to 28Rm!) Ok, I'm not too proud of myself for buying imitation stuff. In fact this is the first time I'm buying imitation stuff. There were also TONNES of pirated VCD's, I'm proud I did NOT get one of those. but...still it was an interesting shopping experience, and though an imitation, I'm proud of my new Kippling bag, and my husband is also very happy with his bargaining skills. Yeah, we brought it down from 75 per bag to 35. :)

A collage of some of the shots I took on Petaling Street.

A stall selling delicous charcoal grilled chestnuts

WANNA Come shop here at Petaling Street? imitation Nikes, Adidas, perfumes, wallets. You name it they have it!

rain rain

today as usual, I headed for my morning lecture at the university. After lecturing for about an hour, it began to thunder and storm outside! There was hardly any point in trying to beat the sound of the roaring rain, so I had my students do some work while I walked around to check on their progress.

Anyway, instead of leaving straight for home...I was stuck with no umbrella. So we talked a little about their future plans and all. Most of them have not even thought about it. They are Sooo into enjoying their current lives, partying hard, having every expense paid for by their parents or a bank loan (paid back by their parents.) This is the current generation. They have little value for money, have no idea what hardship or responsibility is like. They just spend spend spend and have fun. Well, I kinda gave them a little lecture today, coz the results were poor. I painted them a picture of reality and that set some of them thinking seriously for they will graduate soon in a year.

Anyway.... yeah, after that, they went on to their next class, while I stood on the porch watching that torrential rain falling hard and quickly from the seamless sky. I stood there for an HOUR! What an hour. Finally, I ran to the car.... soaking wet. Thank God no students were around or they might have seen my "see through" "wet look" blouse and hair. Not very nice. haha..

It continued to rain the entire day till the evening...then I got out, with my camera again (a cheap one...I'm bugging my husband for a better one.) My garden though small, is a lovely place to be after the rain. The children love it too. Nel loves watching the flowers, Baby J loves plucking the flowers and throwing pebbles. :)

a flower I brought back from Maxwell

Japanese Rose

Pebbles on my lawn

Part of my spice plant (Bunga Kantan-totally aromatic)

Nel holding a flower from the garden wall creeper

Nel checking out the little wild plant from Maxwell

Today...

From Nel's Perspective.....................

This is what we often do, me and my cousins Lu and Ld (oh and baby J and baby Lo). We love to cycle...to the big big field. Sometimes it gets hard and mum has to push a little to get me up the hill. Little J and Lo would be in the stroller..and sometimes they fall asleep.

After a good 15 - 20 mins of cycling we get there and park our bikes under the evening sun. Then we just have fun...

playing ball...

playing with sand....

picking up rubbish from the ground though mum says we shouldn't do that..but I don't see why we shouldn't. It's fun picking up stuff from the ground.

sometimes we fight....but today we didn't really. NOt especially since special jet planes kept zooming above our heads. I think they're preparing for the 50th Celebration of our Country's Independence (31st August.) Lu particularly liked the airplanes. He's a guy, so it's natural.

But mostly we just have great fun and are REALLY happy...

coz we're young and free...no cares or worries yet...

our energy is boundless like the open sky...

Thank you God for making me, Lu and Ld...oh and for giving us baby J and baby Lo (who are fast asleep... so mummy hasn't taken their photos.)

Well we play tirelessly till the sunsets...

then head home...

for some delicous ice cream.yumm........ Today was beautiful. thank you GOd.

(all pictures copyright of Hearts @ Raising Children.)

A visit to the Retirement home

Last weekend, me and the kids and a group of dedicated volunteers visited a Retirement Home for senior citizens, many of them ill or disabled. It was quite an interesting and enriching experience for me and particularly for little Nel. I have to admit that I wasn't used to the stares and environment at first, but I got used to it after a while. I was really touched to see how the volunteers there really sat down to talk to the elderly...not just talk, but with a heart that truly loved these people.

One of them led me to a lady who was in her 80's and partially blind. I was a little uncomfortable, not knowing how to start the conversation. But then, I realised I didn't have to talk much, for she was full of interesting stories, and all I had to do was to listen.

As for Little Nel, she was running around in the backyard..and finally came in to sit on the sofa. An elderly man who could hardly walk, suddenly stood up, and looked like he was agigated by us. He struggled and mumbled something unclear.....and tried to move towards Nel. Nel panicked for a while.... but then we realised, all he wanted to do was to hold Nel's hands. That's all he wanted to do. Nel's first reaction was to hide her hands behind her back, but after some coaxing, she stretched out her hands to hold the elderly man's hands. Wow...it brough such a broad smile onto that man's face. :)

She was encouraged, and began going round holding hands of almost all of the elderly folk who stay there...praying for them too. She wants to go back. :)

Jo's singing

Just for fun, I recorded Baby J's voice. If you wanna hear her, you can go here. It'll take about 3 mins to download. Download JOsinging2.wma

Happy Birthday J

Baby J turned 2 last Sunday. We celebrated it on top of Maxwell Hill (photos of MHill in entry below.) It was a beautiful morning, cool and breezy so we decided to have the little party outdoors amongst nature. :) Ahh...you have to be there to know how lovely it was.

Can't believe two years have passed so fast! She's just a joy to have. A gentle, curious little being with so much zeal and energy. Just such a little bundle of joy and blessing from the Lord.

Anyway....after coming back from our little vacation...a friend surprised us by sending a cake to our doorstep, so Baby J had a chance to blow more candles! And she loves that, coz of late she's been taking little plates and pretending they're cakes. She's been singing Happy Birthday to herself and pretending to blow out candles. :) Anyway, her little cousins came by eager for MORE chocolate cake! :) and they ALL wanted to blow out the candles!!!! This little reindeer sat on top of her cake. Cute isn't it?

Thanks B for the lovely cake. The night ended with Baby J cuddled on Daddy's lap as he read her favourite story to her. Of late she's become more and more attached to her daddy. Perhaps it's because I'm trying to wean her. (we're down to 3 feeds). Well, it's good....coz fathers play a very important role in the lives of little girls. Will talk more about that next time. Couldn't help but take a shot of this....her little thumb on his...................

it signifiess trust & love... a need to belong....

to need and to be needed.....

to love and to be loved

Happy Birthday Baby J, mama loves you....

More on Maxwell Hill

Here's some scenery taken on Maxwell Hill and one taken during sunset by Taiping lake...again through my camera. Still learning...but here's some shots.

(Pictures copyrighted by Hearts @ Raising Children)

This is Cendana Hut where we stayed

View from the balcony of Cendana Hut

Rumah Hijau

Sunset in hues of blue

beautiful serenity as I watched the sun set over the horizon

View from the Tempinis Bungalow

Sunset at Taiping Lake

Reflections at TaiPing Lake

(lots more...but of children......can't show them here...)

Maxwell Hill / Bukit Larut

(All Pictures copyright of Hearts @ Raising Children. If you wanna use these pictures, let me know.)

If you're lazy to read, please at least view the photos I took below. All taken on beautiful Maxwell Hill (Bukit Larut).

We just came back from a wonderful trip to Maxwell Hill, TaiPing. Lovely unspoiled hill with fresh cool air.

The only way to get up there is by taking a jeep from the bottom of the foothill. THey charge 7RM per adult, and only three jeeps go up every hour. So to be sure we got there half hour before time to secure seats for the 18 of us. Alas, some other passangers got there before us, and thus the SQUEEEZE!!!! Packed like sardines! I mean, so packed as in 18 people per jeep! and some of us barely had anything to support the butt!

Let me tell you that the ride up is like a roller coaster ride! the roads are steep and winding. The drivers SPEED like hell and manage the bends at neck breaking speed sending our hearts into our mouths! You should have heard the screams from our group!!! With the tight squeeze there was nothing to hold on to sending some of us bumpety bump off the chairs at certain bends!! hahahaha...... at every bend it sounded like this arrrghhhhhhhhhhhh!!!...arrrggggggggggggggggggghhh!" Crazy drive.

Anyway, let me tell you what's on Maxwell Hill. Nothing, except narrow tracks, lush beautiful forest, flowers, birds, insects and 7 bungalows all located about 10-20 minute walk apart (ummm...tiring walks sometimes..coz of the slopes). That's all there is. Blissful peace. :) I have to mention that out of the 7 bungalows, 2 are private and in beautiful condition, while the rest are government owned and in not very good condition. However, if you're not a fussy traveler, the government ones will do. Imagine, my bro's family and mine paid 150RM each for a room at a private lodge, while the rest of the group paid 150RM for an ENTIRE bungalow, which houses 10-20 people.

Anyway...it is truly beautiful and peaceful there. The sunset and sunrise is BREATH taking....it makes you feel so close to God. The wind at night is so strong, it howls right through the windows. The night we were there, it rained around 1am, creating strong winds which in turn created booms and bangs as shutters on windows swung open and shut. I went out to look....and it was just plain heavenly beauty. Rain trickling down, flowers, cool cool wind of about 10Celsius, and the night lights flickering from the town far below the hills. You get to see the whole of Taiping town from the hill. Beautiful. I plan to go back during Tulip season which is between Nov and Feb.

Anyway, since ..... there was nothin much to do, I decided to try a hand at photography, hence all the shots here...let me know what you think.