Valentine's Day

Ah lou is not good with giving surprises. He bought my VDay present last week and was eager to tell me that he has done so.. The best part is, he even gave me a preview of the present on Friday morning and I got to know what I'll be getting this valentines day.

For 2 consecutive years, the gift is sourced from Crabtree and Evelyn. Ah Lou has gotten enough lessons in getting wrong presents for me so he has learnt to play the safe game these 2 years. I love toiletries so anything from marks and spencer, Crabtree or Origins will not go wrong. He particularly liked that fragrance from this year's Crabtree range which he bought so it will be something that benefitted both of us ( it comes with talc powder) so ah Lou can use too! :) anyway, it's also a sweet gesture to still receive a gift despite all these years

Peace comes with loads of hard work

It has been almost 3 weeks that we were coping without a maid since the new maid was sent back to the agent after putting up a strike at work. It was really hard adjusting without a maid's help after all these years. Each night, after we finished our dinner, the usual routine starts with washing up the dishes, pots, kitchen hob and table tops, etc. Mopping the floors (kitchen + living room), ironing the clothes, packing up children's stuff for school the next day.. coupled with attending to their needs (usually they asked alot of our attention when we are back from work), ferrying Caden to and fro from classes on some nights... and the list goes on.

However, after 3 straight weeks of intensive work, the routine got settled in and ah lou basically helps to mop the floors and wash up the dishes while I spent time with the children and iron the clothes and packs up the living room mess. I kinda of now like the peace that we get on weekends, without the presence of the maid and really can feel the warmth of the house of us being alone for once (after so long)..

Caden and Ethan have now also been forced to take more ownership of their self being, they need to get themselves changed after school, feed themselves on both lunch and dinner and Caden gets to bathe himself now, cleans up his own poo (since we are also preparing him for P1 next year).We were just discussing if the next maid doesnt work out again, we probably may want to just do without a maid permanently but definitely have to get our father-in-law to be around as well to jagar the kids while my mil is busy cooking...

For a long time, the boys were so busy doing their own stuff till we allow them to sleep at 11pm yesterday..

Caden's happy version of the Angry Bird



Ethan was busy making his own money..