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 !!
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.
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