Silverjoy

Friday, 12 July 2019

Sleepover Jun 2019

The Jun 19 school holidays arrived. LT's family took a 11 day holiday in Taiwan while Desmond's took a 7 day break in Hong Kong. ,breaks are never enough especially for kids and after their holidays the 4 girls wanted a sleepover at our house on Jun 16/17. This time the youngest of our female grandchildren, CharO showed interest. She was caught up in the mood but later, perhaps sensing our reluctance(she has not really spent much time with us so we were not sure if she would start her "singing" once her parents left) she opted out. Maybe next time, Char!
Jun 16 was the 3rd Sunday of June which was termed by commercial enterprises as Father's Day.
LT ordered some takeaway and Des bought some durians.

We have a belated 7th birthday celebration for Sx on Jun 16 (Sun). Popo baked a small heart-shaped cake according to Sx's specifications. Nowadays kids are really different from our time. Probably the upbringing and environment.

The gang of 7

After dinner, the 4 girls went to work on some doll making set which LT got from Taiwan.

The dollmakers' effort from top left to right

ClariO, SH/LT,SX and below ChlO

Later in the evening when the parents and remaining siblings have left, the girls prepared their own fashion show. They were pretty serious, even brought different attires. Good show, lasses.!

The participants with Chlo as host and co-ordinator. Ahem, Popo did strike a good pose as the invited guest

Then it was bed time

This time round, we decided to let the girls have the freedom to decide when they wanted to sleep. They were in their room by 10 pm. However lights were off only at around midnight and the room went silent by 12.45pm. Well they did made up for the late night by waking up after 8 the next morning.

Breakfast comprised of roti prata

Popo then led them to make cookies

Lunch break - macaroni with fish slices and meat balls

After lunch they have a go at pictionary. But it was not an easy game for the kids especially SH.

Then it is cake making time again, this time cupcake

The kids loved the cakes especially freshly out of the oven

After that the younger girls played among themselves before I brought the four of them to a nearby park for a swing

For dinner they have fried noodles/meehoon followed by dessert

That concluded the June sleepover. We hoped the girls enjoyed themselves and picked up some baking tips from Popo!

Tuesday, 28 May 2019

Sleepover

The idea of our female grandchildren staying overnight with us was first mooted in Dec 2015 when all of us were holidaying in Taiwan. In Taipei we stayed at Palais De Chine, a hotel with pretty big room space. The one my wife and I stayed had a master bedroom with an adjoining room with mattress on the floor.

Master bedroom

Adjoining room
The kids were pretty excited and wanted to stay with us for the night. There were 4 girls at that time but SH at 16 months, was considered too young and would probably create problems. The adults were apprehensive of the whole suggestion but with the parents nearby, it was not considered a big issue.

SH, centre of picture , was left out from the attempted Taiwan sleepover

The threesome

Initially they had their fun but near bed time when it was time for lights out, ChO couldn't sleep with lights on. SX on the other hand need a light on. Habit when young I suppose. CLO was already dozing off. CH started crying and Sx joined in the chorus. Meantime ClO was sleeping soundly. We called the parents to bring back the girls and ClO, woken up from her sleep, added to the decibel already in the room.
So the idea was abandoned for the rest of the trip.

A year later in Dec 2016, the girls wanted to stay one night during the Dec school holidays. There were some misgivings with the Taiwan event in mind but kids will be kids. Hard to dampen their enthusiasm. The light off light on episode was still there but Popo compromised by bringing in a lamp shade casting dim light. Apparently workable.

SH was now a year older and also allowed to form the quartet. Sometime in the evening towards bedtime she did show her homesickness but CHO, a year older proved a stabilising influence. The light on light off problem was still there but Popo compromised by bring in a small lamp shade casting a dim light. Apparently workable. The lamp shade was used over the next couple of sleepovers but after that the light off was accepted.
Overall the girls appeared happy. Did some artwork to pass time.

The girls were now treating the sleepover as a norm. There were the usual artwork session. For Jun 2017, Popo decided to let the girls made some gingerbread man. They did a decent job, at least the cookies were edible.

Another gingerbread man session, this time a little more creative and colour

Apart from the usual art session, the girls were shown how to make mooncake
by Popo. Edible too.

Another new session was added, this time making hotdog buns

This was an additional sleepover due to SX and SH's day care scheduling. The other two cousins joined in as well.

Making more hotdog buns. Even SH joined in. The thing was the buns disappeared quite quickly once out of the oven as the girls couldn't wait to sample their products.

The girls are getting older. CHO is now in secondary school. There is plan for a sleepover in Jun this year.

Thursday, 9 May 2019

Growing Up Part Two

Last blog I mentioned the limitation of photos to 1997. I liked to add that 1997 was also significant as it was the last time we went travelling as a family unit of 4. The children had all grown up and had their own activities. To balance the time for planning a trip could be challenging.
For this blog I am showing the growing up photos of OLT.