A walk in the mall during x'mas eve

i love black n white photography !!



Drawings update

Cassie's drawing has been quite fun lately. As she paid attention to more details now and with her ability to control her hand writing, she's been drawing some funny stick figure cartoons. Here's the photo she drew last nite.


Scroll down to view the 2nd photo i posted here with explaination. apparently the one on the left is a girl going to the shopping mall with her pink hand-bag. She insist the girl has all the different colors. Notice the blue drawings ? the one on the left has a cicle/dot between her eyes. That's because she's drawing her Teacher Louise and she's a Malaysian Indian. She's quite observant :)

I'm loving it.


We don't eat McD a lot because we just don't like it. But, it's a different story for Cassie. For McD, she's loving it !

My 'team mate'


Because of my work, i sometimes need to attend very early meeting. It's strange, but almost everytime when i'm up to attend meeting at 5 or 6 am in the morning. My 'lil chick will follow me into the study. No matter how much i protest, she protest, we argue and discussion, she insist wanted to be with me. I somehow has got myself a team mate during my early morning meetings :)

A picture says more than a thousand words

I loved to take photos, i believed in photos that tells a story and i loved taking photos of Cassie.

In all her photos that i've posted, you can really read the story by viewing it, that's my whole intention of photography.

There are many schools of photography, some emphasize on techniques, some focus on specific theme like nature or close up and etc. For me, it's all about conveying a excellent story. Be it a happy one, sad, exciting, heartbreaking or sometimes just bring an emotion to your face when you look at the photograph later in life. That i believe is an excellent photo and that's the photo that i strive to take as much as possible. i'm glad to achieve my goal of capturing emotions in the photography sessions that i've render my service into and i'm always in the look out for good story. do you hv a story for me ? :)

what do you see in this photo ? In this photo, i see an always ever chicky, sensitive, opinionate and curious toddler. And that's excatly my thoughts about my 'lil chick lately, ever since she achieved her year 3 milestones. I know this photo will bring the same emotion and thoughts i have for her even when years later :)

Cassie cartoon charaters mix

Cassie was watching the 'Pocoyo' show and exclaimed that 'Pocoyo' is very clever. Hearing that, G asked him a serious comparison questions regarding her familiar characters :

Dad : who is better ? Pocoyo or Ellie (the pink elephant)
Cassie : Ellie !! Because Ellie is bigger and strong.

Dad : who is clever ? Pocoyo or Diego ?
Cassie : Diego ! Because Pocoyo is small-small.

Dad : How about Diego and Mickey Mouse ?
Cassie : Mickey Mouse ! because Mickey mouse got tools.

Dad : How about Mickye and the girls in Totally Spies ?
Cassie : Totaly spies, because they are super heroes.

There you hv it, Cassie's accessment over her cartoon characters. Her ultimate idols are the super heroes now.

Cassie's Thoughts


I offered Cassie her favourite chocolate milk and she asked me what are the photos shown on the box. I told her the first one is for strong musle, the second one is for hard bones, the third one is to be able to run faster and the fourth one is to be clever.
She said : " Ooooo, i want this one." (pointing to the first picture)
" i want to be STRONG". (I asked if she wanted to be clever)
she said, "No ... i want to be STRONG like the super heroes ! "

That's Cassie, her priority 1 now is to be "STRONG" :)

X'mas Tree


It's end of the year, and the time to prepare for X'mas and new year. Usually Friday and Saturday, Cassie get to sleep a little bit later than her usual bed time. It was then i decided to take out the X'mas tree and get Cassie's help to put it up. She has a lot of 'wow' moments, and find the whole x'mas tree facinating.

She's in the stage where she wanted to do everything on her own. Thus, she wanted to hang up all the ornaments herself and sing 'jingle bell' while doing it. It was a fun and cozy moment ;)
After we had everything up and the lights are turned on, then she asked me, "mom, where's my present ?"

It's School Holiday !


It's school holiday and Cassie get to spend FULL day at home. That means a lot of panic attack from myside. I expect that she will be demanding, running around and making noised but i wasn't ready to expect that SHE NEED ALL THE ATTENTION !!
She's a attention graber, she's always, look mom, come here mom, what is this mom, hug-hug mom and on and on.
i tried gave her art time, which led to more attention time because she will complaint about the glue stick to her hand while doing in. i tried gave her a new set of puzzle and she played on it only once !
I then tried the play-dough ... it ended up with a mess and a lot of clean up time for me. Finally, i got her a new princess dresss. And that calm her down a bit while she swing and swirl around in her new dress, and then she wanted to wear the dress every single minute and there's a lot of negotiation time with her.
ar .... this week is the first week of her holiday-camp and i can get some breather (1/2 day) and the 'lil chick is all excited to be with her friends again.

Funny moments with dad

It's always fun and sometimes hectic with Cassie around. Now that she has improved on her speech ability and armed with her ability to argue, we found ourselves constantly in this kind of blooper funny moments.

Funny moment # 1
(Cassie was playing outside and daddy was watering the garden)
Dad : Cassie, your hands are all dirty after you touched the car. go and wash your hand.
Cassie : Dad, your car is dirty, go and wash your car.

爸爸 : "舒蔚, 为什么你动车那边 ? 你的手肮脏了, 去洗手 !"
蔚: "爸爸, 为什么你的车肮脏 ?! 你要洗车了 !"


Funny moment # 2
Dad : "Cassie, pls don't run around in the shopping mall, scoundrel will come and catch you."
Cassie : "scoundrel ? where ? where ar ? "

爸爸 : "舒蔚, 不要乱跑,坏人抓你去."

蔚: "爸爸, 坏人那里 ? where ar ?"

It is the Concert Evening !

Cassie's school had the annual concert yesterday evening. This is the first concert for her and for me and i was so anxious. I was worried if she will get hungry, stage freight, forgot her steps and etc and etc. Her concert start at 7 .30 pm and we need to be there by 6.45 pm max. She needed to get ready with her dancing dress, hairdo and makeup before arriving at the concert all.



Getting her hairdo is not a problem because i've been doing this every day. However, getting her make up done is another thing. I know my make up kits will not be sufficient because she needs to be on stage and anything less dramatic will make her look washed out. Everything i have in my make-up box says 'earth tone', 'casual' and 'transparent make up'. So, i went and get a more dramatic colored eye-shadows (purple, blue and even green) and found my most shining-"red-most" lipstick. However, it's still not enough ! Tips : get the 'red-chilli' colored lipsticks and 'blue-green' shimmering eye-shadow to stand-out if your kid(s) is going to be on stage.



Before the concert started, there was some background music and the microphones pre-setup on the stage. Cassie saw the microphone on the stage and she told me that she wanted to go up the stage and sing !While the other girl arrived sobbing and refused to go on stage, Cassie's courage to want and stand on the stage and sing makes me realised that she is one little 'dare-angel'.


The surprised that i blogged about last week is that Cassie is getting her award for being placed 2nd in her class !! Her teacher praised her for her flawless work in her maths area, saying that she doesn't even need instruction to complete her maths work. She can count, write, draw, fill-in-the-blanks without any problem. Considering she just started school on July 1, I am very happy for my gal. What an accomplishment in 3 months time !

(* crazy frog dance *)


After the award ceremony, it's SHOWTIME ! Cassie's dance is simple and compose of very easy steps. When she was dancing at home, she will smile and really enjoyed it. When she was performing on stage though, she look 'business-like'. It's like she's following instruction instead of really dancing because she cannot get her free-flow style going on. Their dance is funny and cute at the same time. And we were buzy snapping photos and videos away.



After her dance, she ran out from the backstage happily. She has the pat-on-the-back from her dad and a big hug from me. We leave the concert soon after her dance because it's near her bed time. But not before we all went for ice-cream and chocolate milk for dessert to celebrate !! Fantastic performance Cassie :)

Birthday Party !!

"Birthday present, birthday cake, birthday party we can't wait !" (Playhouse disney's b'day song) and that's exactly the feeling from Cassie when she get to know that she'll be having a party at school. She was so excited that she can't sleep ! :)

Actually, when i talked to the teacher, i told her that Cassie's b'day is coming and i'm thinking about having a celebration at school. I didn't tell Cassie anything yet during that time because it's not yet confirm. Cassie was listening to my conversation with the teacher and she told her grandma that i'm having a party for her before i even mentioned it to her. h'mm, i wonder what else she has picked up from my various conversations ....

Little did i know, the teacher went away and assume i'm having a big party for ALL the kids in the school. Oh dear, oh my and there i was in the weekend baking and baking and baking .... cupcakes, birthday cakes, candies, cereal cookies .... It was a lot of hours in baking.

We all took a break from work and went to Cassie's school that morning. She was so happy to see us ! we have all the kids gathered around and she told her friend very proudly that 'my mom made this.' (my big GRIN !) I got her a crown and all her friend sang the b'day song with her.

Cassie helped packed the party favors and she distribute to her friends in the party. After that, it's feast time and i can see all the kids sink their teeth into the cupcakes ! yum.

She had so much fun that day and even tried to hug the computer when she saw the photos of the party. I know you're happy babe, Happy Birthday dearest !



Happy Birthday Cassie - part 1


While september is full of birthday for my side of the family, November is full of birthday for my husband's side of the family. Cassie's, Hubby's brother and sisters all have birthday on November. When it was time to celebrate her birthday, we head down to E&O buffet lunch. The food was not bad, and i'm surprise to see the dining hall was so FULL. It's really like the economic situation doesn't impact Penangites appetite :)

It was a sunny day and as usual, Cassie loved the outdoor than the food. Well, she ate some and then play around with the dessert. But she loved the outdoor green and blue sky more :) I hand-made the blue tu-tu for her knowing how much she loved it and she looked adorable in it.




Cassie told me earlier she wanted a pink color cake with lots of love. Since we're in a buffet lunch, so i decided to make a petite 4 inch birthday cake. When i showed her the cake before the b'day party, she was so happy and excited. She cannot resist herself and picked the pink icing ! I actually thought taht i'll leave the mark on the cake un-done. but the perfectionalist in me nag me to re-do. but it's OK, i know she just cannot resist it.

Happy Birthday Cassie !


Cassie's First Rehearsal

It's coming to the end of the school year and almost all schools are preparing for the year-end concert. Cassie started school on July 1st and i wasn't even sure if she will be participating in the school's concert. Not until a couple of weeks ago the teacher informed me that there will be a rehearsal. Up until that time, i was still puzzled and asked if Cassie needs to join. "Of course she is participating !" and that's the answer i've got.

It was rainy when we arrived at the hall and i wasn't prepare to take photos. I had the camera with me but i wasn't sure what to expect and thus the photos came out not very good. I'm glad that it's a rehearsal afterall and i'll get another chance with the photo this weekend. By then, i really have only 1 chance. From the rehearsal, i get to know a happy little surprise .... will update on the surprise next week :)

The Great 'Tutu'

A friend of my mom got Cassie this pink wonder tutu for Cassie last year. Last year when she saw the dress, she didn't seems to care at it at all.

Last Sunday morning, she saw the dress hanging in her closet and asked very very nicely "mom, can i wear this dress please, please please".

Once she has the tutu on, she start her dancing and swirling again the whole morning. I guess this year, the dress carries some meaning and it attached some imagination and play with it which makes it fun.

btw, i think the name 'tutu' sounded very conflicting with the dress :). But, what's in a name anyways rite ?!

Imaginations and Pretend plan

Cassie has moved on from playing with her toys to playing inside her imagination world. Anything can be her toys nowadays, she can stage a whole drama with a piece of paper. Now, she's a bit over with the 'princess' thing and more toward 'SUPER HEROs'.

During the weekend, when we were travelling in the car, Cassandra told me that she's a supergirl and i'm a supergirl (too) and her dad is 'superman'. Then she told me that i have 'fire' power, she has the 'leaf' power and her dad got the 'storm' power. I know where those power from. I have the 'fire' power, because i'm the one cooking most of the time, i'm near the fire (or perhaps when i'm angry with her she can feel the smokes hehe), she has the 'leaf' power because i got her a 'leaf' shaped necklass the other day. And her dad's 'whirl-pool' type storm power is from the game Cassie shared with her dad. Her dad will pick her up and swing in circle (like carousel).

keke, so there you go, the 'history' of our super powers. That day, we just played along, imagine the big trucks are 'bad guys' and we're there to stop them by using our super-power. We shielded, ducked, hide, screamed, make funny faces, shouted ready-set-go and set off with our super powers. She laughed so loud and had so much fun.

Sometimes, we really do not need expensive toys to have fun. The best things in life are really free afterall.

Trip To the Penang Hill


I was having a conversation with my India counterparts and got to know that he and his wife came to Penang a couple of years ago for 'HONEYMOON'. I imagine that Penang is like a 'Hawaii' or a "Mauritius" for them. I am surprised and glad to hear that and asked him what are the places he visited. He told me one of the place that he and his wife hired a taxi to is the 'Penang Hill'.

I then realised that sometimes (well maybe a lot of time, *sheepish*), we took things for granted. My in-law's house is located at the foot of the Penang Hill and it's 10 mins away from the cable car station ! And determine to change the taking for granted attitude, we went up the hill last weekend.
Penang Board Of Tourism and the Penang State Government should really focus more on renovating the place and fixing the cable car. We were disappointed that we can only ride the cable car up to the 'middle station'. When check with the station director, they are expecting another 3 months of work before the cable cars can reached the upper station. Well, then again, there's the hiking trail that one can take to reach the top :)

Nonetheless, the trip was fun for Cassie. It took about 1 hr for a round trip and RM2.00 per adult. She pointed out the tracks immediately and ask me where's the train. Then follow with a lot of questions, what's this/that, look mom, what's the sound, what happend to the door, who's moving the train (haha).

It's definitely worth it to visit again, but wait till Feb 09 :)

Some markers and papers


Cassie makes wonder with her new markers. She requested to be on the floor when she draw (perhaps cooler), and has different 'pose'.

Sharing dinner


I cooked up some japanese-style curry thinking that i can hv a quiet solo dinner. I made sure Cassie had her dinner first and then i took out my dinner. Came along Cassie and she insisted to share my dinner. She just dip the curry like nobody business and eat away.

Child's play


What it feels like to be near the ocean ?!

All islanders out there, you know what i mean here, don't cha ?! When you're near the beach or ocean, you tend to let loose and just want your hair to fly with the ocean's breeze. Forget the tingling sensation the sand makes your feet feel, the glueyness on your skin from the air and the piercing ray from the hot sun to your eyes. Forget those, they doesn't matter. Instead you just want to hear the sounds of the waves, smell the scent of the ocean and feel the heat of the sun on your face. I love the beach, i think it's in my dna :)

















A visit to the buttefly farm


Cassie enjoyed the place so much that she walked around the pond, taking her time to look at the fountain, the koi, the mini waterfall, the flowers, insects and of-course the butterflies.
And of-course, G had a blast of time taking loads of photos :0.
It was a wonderful day-trip.

Happy Birthday !!

The month of Sept is full of birthday for us. My dad's, my brother and mine b'day all falls in Sept. Most of the time, we just have 1 big celebration. This year we actually wanna plan for some sun and sand in the Rasa Sayang. Unfortunately the weather was pretty bad for the last few weeks. We actually drove 1/2 way to Batu-Feringghi only to find out there's a 'landslide' near that area. So, we took the u-turn and jump into the E&O instead. (See Cassie dancing to the beat in this video)

Because of all the delay, we quickly ran down the car into the restaurant and totally forgot about my camera ! When thd jazz band came along, only then i remembered i left the camera in the car *darn*

It was a fun evening after all. Dad had fun singing with the band, cassie had fun dancing to the beat. Even with the pouring rain outside, the whole place is full of warmth and excitement :) We'll definitely do it again. Happy birthday Grandpa !

Cassie's funny moments

Moment # 1
It was rainy most of the evening last week and Cassie snuggle happily in her favorite blanket.

I teased Cassie and said : "Cass, borrow your blanket to daddy ok ?"
Of couse she came back with the answer "No, this is my blanket"
I tried again and said : "You have a nice blanket here but daddy don't have blanket .. borrow ok ?"
Here's Cassie replied : "Mom, you have blanket rite ?! "

*hmpt*

Moment # 2
It was school holiday yesterday and cassie was pretty relax when she knew she doesn't have to go to school. Later in the afternoon, she picked up her bag-pack and her water bottle just like how she does every morning ready for school.

I asked Cassie : "Cassie, what r u doing ? r u going to school ?"
Cassie replied said : "Yes, good morning teacher ! "

*kekeke, she misses her school after all ...

Peek-A-Boo


Cheeky chic.

Spending afternoon with dad


I went out for a 2 hr facial treatment and here's Cassie and G when i got home, both having an afternoon reading. how nice :)

Reading fun

Cassie loves to read and she is now insisting on reading some of her books on her own. Her favourite last month was the 'billy goat gruff' and this month she's moving on the 'the gingerbread man'. The pre-school's books has a lot of repetition and i think that's good for her because she is able to pick up the phases very well.

// "Stop, little gingerbread man" said the old women " i want to eat you for my tea" //

When i read for her, i usually add in some expression and sound effects :) that's why you see her emphasize the word 'STOP' in the video :)

Playhouse Disney


We walked pass the disney store and Cassie request me to take photo with ALL her playhouse Disney 'friends'.
I asked her to stand closer to 'mickey mouse' and she gladly did, by standing in-front of the poster. she looked so funny with the mickey ears :)

Yummy Curry


Cassie has been a curious little chick and wanted to participate in whatever we're doing rite now. That including eating the roti-canai with curry dips. I was getting ready her tumbler when she insist to try the curry, i've told her numerous times about the spicy food but she just want to have her own way.

OK, i decide to let her try. i thought to myself, she's gonna get it this time. She's gonna complaint the curry is hot and will not want to touch the curry next time.

Well, Cassie being Cassie, she never failed to amaze me ! Here she goes, taking pieces and pieces of roti-canai with those curry with it. She even licked her fingers and told me that they are very good.
Blimey, life is like a box of chocolate after all, and that's always true when it comes to Cassie.

Singing while you work

I was preparing Cassie for bath and waiting for the water to fill the tub. While waiting, i then prepared the mob to clean the floor. Cassie saw what i was planning to do and insist that she wanted to clean the floor. That's why you see her in her 'untidy' attire in the video :)

While Cassie participating in the house chores, she didn't forget to entertain herself while she's doing the work :) turn up your volume to hear her sing :)

It's a great reminder : work hard, play hard. most importantly have fun and enjoy :)

Beijing Olympic (II) - My little gymnast

It was a bright sunday morning and we were browsing through the 11 Olympic channels and stopped at the Rhythmic Gymnastics event. Just 2 minutes into the event, Cassie has a request.

舒蔚 : "我要大家拍手, 我要美丽跳舞衣!"
Cassie : "I want everyone to clap and i want the beautiful dancing dress ! ".

Yes dear, it's every girl's dream to wear beautiful dress and have the crowd admiration ! I can understand what you want and why you want it ;)

And off she goes, doing her dancing and gymnastics routine :) She followed all the moves that she saw from the TV, including the way they walked to the floor and their facial expression when they sat down waiting for their score after the routine.

Aside from being the gymnast, she has the swimmer event last week. I do not know how good a athletic she is, but what i know for sure dear, you are always the winner to me and here's a gold medal for being the best in the "daughter sports" event :)



It's school holiday again !


It's school holiday again and our neighbour friends came to play. Since she started school, Cass is now more capable to share her toys and interactive play with the other kids.
Here she's actually throwing the ball up high, trying to slam-dunk. She did try like 100 times (for about an hr) and finally managed to get ONE basket. Ar, the smile on her face is priceless :)

Beijing Olympic : My little swimmer


Cassie is very particular when it comes to washing her hair. She doesn't like to wash her hair everyday and will scream when the water splashed her eyes.

We were watching the Olympic 2008 events and we managed to catch 'Michael Phelps' broke the record. I then took the oppurtunity to try 'brain wash' her by saying that the swimmer was so brave and he doesn't scream when the water splashed his face.

Cassie watched very carefully and very quickly, she pointed out the 'flaw' in my logic. "他有眼镜, 水没有进去眼睛. 我没有眼镜哦 !"
"He has goggles and water cannot splashed into his eyes. I don't have goggles ..."

Grandma Visit


All kids love visitors i guess, Cass is extremely 'hyper' when grandparents visit :)
It's actually very difficult to take photos for grandparents and children, i think Somehow both the grandma and grandchild seems to want to move in different direction and the photo usually came out 'not rite' :)
Luckily this time around, i managed to get 1 good photo :)

Flying pony tails


It was Friday and Cassie feeling restless at home. We met up with the neighbours gals and went for a fun at the playground. All gals have their pony tails flying high that afternoon :)