A stupid thing, and hopefully a lesson learnt

On Friday, 13 February, Kai's Chinese HOD called me to inform me about a case of leakage of WA questions/answers from the Wednesday batch to the Thursday batch.

Someone in the Thursday batch said Kai was involved. So she approached Kai on Friday morning to ask for a written statement on the matter. Kai wrote a note admitting that he gave the questions and answers to his friend S who was in the Thursday batch. She told me she was surprised at his honesty. But I said honesty had nothing to do with leaking the answers *.*

Anyway, she said many students were involved and the school would conduct its investigation before updating me on the consequences.

We asked Kai about it when he reached home. He told only S who didn't give him away. But Kai heard that another boy mentioned his name somehow. Ah well, he did it so let's just wait for sentencing...

Yesterday, the teacher in charge of exams matter called me to follow up on this. Kai would get (a) zero for that Chinese WA, and (b) a "fair" conduct grade possibly for the year rather than the semester. There were other cases outside of the Kai-S loop and those students would also get zero. Kai also learnt about this yesterday, and had to write a reflection letter.

When he came home, he told us he got 24/30 for his Chinese WA, top in class tied with this boy whom he thought was a good kid. But it would be reflected as zero. He also said some boys got off with a warning. We think teachers probably didn't have evidence that they were involved. Unlike my kid and his friend who had traceable evidence on the school laptop and Google account - he told us yesterday that he and S wrote the answers in a Google doc...!!!! Really 🤦‍♀️ 

Actually, we were not harsh on him when we first knew about it last month. Only told him to not do such things anymore. Why? This kind of thing has been happening since forever. I remember people sharing "tips" in secondary school. I found it unfair that my classmates who often didn't do as well as me, got tips to score better; whether they really did score better with the tips was not important. But in the first place, why do such tests take place on different days?? There would naturally be big mouths or pressure to share when a friend asked.

I asked Kel. He said something to the effect of not disrupting timetable by taking a week out for WA, leaving it to the integrity of students and taking the chance to correct kids if anyone should cheat. I feel like it's setting the kids up.. Or, some kids. Like mine. Who "helped" a friend. Who in the end still did badly though he passed; he failed Chinese last year.

Fine, I think Kai really needs to learn. No better time to learn than when he's still a kid.

But when we heard about the Google doc, Sito really scolded him - for being stupid on top of doing something wrong that did not benefit him or his intended beneficiary.

We accepted the consequence meted out by the school without contest since Kai really did something wrong. Rather he learn this lesson now than later. This is only Sec 2 and for internal exams, and the penalties are, in the grand scheme of things, inconsequential. 

But for a kid in school, these penalties are painful. And the zero was even more painful coz he scored so well. Also, with that conduct grade, he would not be able to get an Edusave award even if he continues to do well like last year. He likes his money :p

So yes, very painful. We really hope he would remember this pain and the lesson, and know what to do and what not to do in future.

Anyway, we made it clear that he should not give - or receive - answers. He has already proven to himself that he can do well all on his own merit. If this happens again, we would not be so kind. And of course, no stupid business, please!

We also shared this with the brothers with his knowledge. We can learn from each other's mistakes. This is called 前车之鉴。

Kai's cooking

I’d been waiting for this day but when Kai pulled a plastic bag of some soggy thing out of his pocket after school one day in early July, I was quite appalled… 

Guess what he made for his first kitchen session?

Yes, omelette tortilla wrap. The tortilla had gone all soggy in the plastic bag. He was supposed to bring a box but he either forgot about the kitchen session or didn't know. I didn't think he brought his apron and towels too...

Anyway, he didn’t want to eat it. I have a weak stomach.. Papa gamely ate it all and said it was good! Best part - Kai asked me if I had reheated it to 60degrees - so I guess food safety education was well done??

Back in our time, boys didn't have home economics. But I remember my brother bringing home some food he made. Don't know if it was still called home economics then but now it certainly isn't. It's called food and consumer education (FCE) now. Think that means no more sewing? I broke my mother's sewing machine more than once haha!

Potato patties

Kai doesn't like potato except as fries or hashbrowns so he didn't eat his food again... It was nicer when we toasted it as it wasn't fried enough.

Cinnamon and banana muffin

This was so good! I think I can replicate it one day. I love cinnamon stuff :) But of course our boy wouldn't have it.

Fried rice

This, he had. Yummy fried rice with a tad too much chicken powder haha! So after that, I scrambled my eggs like this for fried rice. Also tried added chicken stock to the fried rice. Now Kai would praise my fried rice when he sees my eggs scrambled like this 💕

Exam piece - a reprise of the tortilla wrap

See, less soggy with the box! But no, he still wouldn't have it!

Some cheese puffs?

Like the potato patties, these didn't really have a name. Or Kai couldn't give us a proper name. Just a mish-mash of ingredients he used. But these were really nice with a quick toast!

So that's his Sec 1 kitchen experience. I had never expected him to make waves in the kitchen, and this is reinforced after the above. Not that the food wasn't good, but that he just wasn't interested and found kitchen sessions a bother. Ah well... Lucky for him that food is easily accessible in Singapore!

I compare his kitchen sessions to mine back in 1993-4. Really 小巫见大巫 but I guess cooking skills aren't terribly essential nowadays?? 

Back then, it was also pair work but each pair worked on two items rather than the same item. We started with a simple orange cordial - don't laugh, need to boil ok... Then there was fried rice of course. But we also had prawn toast. And once there was a whole fish! I couldn't gut the fish but a friend at the next table came to the rescue 👍

I guess some kids are just better at cooking than others.. Or at least, more interested. Today, Kai went to a friend's place to play after lunch, before the two of them headed off to Bishan for a chess tournament in the evening, actually happening now as I type. This was the first time he travelled to an unfamiliar place on his own - plenty of text messages along the way, very cute :)

Anyway, his friend A cooked fried noodles for him! We were so impressed.. It will be late when he comes home tonight. Tmr, I shall ask him if he feels inspired by his friend to get wokking at home!

Kai's first kitchen session for FCE

I remember that boys started doing home economics since at least YQ's time, i.e. 5y younger than me, coz he brought back some unrecognisable food thingies...

Now it's no longer "home econs" but "food and consumer education" (FCE). I bet no more sewing!!! Sewing was a nightmare back then - I broke Mother's sewing machine more than once, oops... But I ended up top in home econs in Sec 2 💁🏻

Anyway, I saw friends posting their son's culinary adventures in school so I was looking forward to Kai's turn. But when he came home yesterday and pulled out a plastic bag containing some soggy thing out of his pocket, I was honestly quite appalled...

It was supposed to be a burrito but condensation and time (and the plastic bag in his pocket) did nasty things to the presentation... Smells quite good though... Chef Kai begged not to eat it. I claimed a weak stomach - true ok! But Sito gamely tried it and finished it all!

Egg, lettuce, tomato and mushroom with some chilli mayo sauce

The best thing about this? Kai asked me whether I had reheated it to 60degrees 👍  Happy to know he's learnt about food safety!

I must remember to give him his FCE kit and a lunchbox for his next kitchen session! Looking forward to trying his food!

Mid year report

The year started with a flurry of activities and lots of uncertainty as our firstborn entered Sec 1. Now, the first two terms are over.

I'm happy to see Kai thriving in secondary school. 

Yes, he can still be quite blur when it comes to organising himself. First, we taught him to use the calendar to remind him of all the WA dates. Later, we had to tell him to check emails, Google classroom and WhatsApp etc regularly for updates on academic, school and CCA matters, AND update us if he needs to stay back in school etc.

And sometimes, he's just stubborn about things, or overly worried. Like D&T. His team creation did not work, and so he didn't take a picture *.* His team mate didn't bother. So we discussed and guided him on what to do. In the end, he asked an old friend for a photo to show in his assignment what it could have looked like and explained why it didn't work or something like that. It worked.

But he has been fantastic at homework and revision - we seldom had to nag him to do them, at most a reminder or a quick check on whether he had finished them.

In term 1, Kai forgot to study for his science WA. I think that worked him up for revision in term 2! In the end, he did very well for semester 1, with L1R4 of 10. His English alone was C6 so plenty of room for improvement. He knows that as well. Overall, we are all very pleased with his achievements this semester :)

Inserted para 8 June: While reviewing his 1A Chinese this week, he told me that his secret weapon was his own 笔记本 where he records phrases and terms for reference. He said he was forced to do this in P3. In P4, he wasn't sure if he needed to do this so he just did it. And the habit continued! I didn't even know!

We wondered if his lacklustre PSLE results gave him motivation to do better in secondary. If so, well, the PSLE results are super good then! In the grand scheme of things, PSLE is the least important exam.

There were two parts to his MTP - meet the parents session. Morning sessions were for teachers who wanted to meet parents. Afternoon sessions were for parents who requested to meet teachers.

We didn't get a "see me" note (haha!) which means he's doing fine. All teachers except English sent out PG blasts to parents to book afternoon slots. In particular, his literature teacher encouraged parents not to be too hard on the kids as this was their first attempt at literature - so nice!

We only wanted to meet his English teacher. Had to email his form teachers to find his email. Turned out that he's a relief teacher for the term as the original teacher in term 1 was on maternity leave. But she would be back in term 3.

Anyway, it's the same old - read. And the teacher also shared with us funny things that Kai did in class. Mainly about his social awareness. Um, like Sito said, a triangle is a triangle; we can only soften the edges...

Besides academics, he also did well in chess - his participation in NSI has been noted down in his report slip; now, they all keep report books at home and bring back the slips to file themselves. He's also participating in chess tournaments outside to gain experience even though he has been losing ratings overall. As long as he is interested, and can put his academics first, we will support his chess endeavours!

Things he made in D&T

Now, Yang. He did worse in term 2 than in term 1. We feel for him as he really worked very hard with us since the beginning of the year. He's such a sweet boy that it's hard to see him being disappointed after putting in so much effort :(

We asked his form teachers, also his Chinese and science teachers, at his PCTC - parents child teacher conference - how he was in school and how we could help him. He seems to have difficulty focusing. Sito has started meditating with Yang before bedtime. Hopefully that could help Yang over time. 

The good thing this semester is his constipation issue - with track and field as his CCA, he exercised and drinks more water. So he has been pooping twice a week quite consistently now. In the past few(er) times that the toilet was clogged, I found that the poop was softer, just big. So it looks like his issue is a big balloon (rectum, as referred to in a video on constipation) which will take time to shrink. Will continue to work on this health issue.

Finally, Yu. He had his first WAs this year, and so far, he has performed consistently good. But he failed Chinese compo in class a couple of times *.* Need to watch that bit if he wants to meet his goal of getting AL4 for exams this year. This boy has high expectations of himself... We shall see...

He also took beginner Malay in term 2 and practised a bit with YeePo fortnightly. A bit :p At the end, he asked if he could take intermediate Malay. Sure, if he's interested and can be motivated to study on his own, coz parents could not help at all! Then this boy said he wanted to take it so that he could play with his Malay class friends during lunch..!!!

At his PCTC, he was a different person! Quite unlike Yang who was still his usual self though less loud :p Yu said he was shy. Ha! Let him portray a 乖乖 image in school ba!

With results slips and after speaking with teachers, we started the term break with a trip to the science centre!

Birdly!

Need to wear a mask before putting on the headset

It's VR that allows users to feel like a bird! I "flew" very near MBS, helix bridge, floating platform, SG flyer etc. So cool to see them from height.

The boy who is not yet 1.4m for Birdly went to fight viruses in the same hall

Hahaha!

Us two retirees mostly sat around after Birdly. The kids are familiar enough with the place to roam on their own. Kai had his phone with him so it was convenient for us to find them too.

First laser maze experience

He asked if he did it like mission impossible, complete with the music. Eh, no way, boy. You crossed the laser beams four times, means can die four times in MI!

One of the last things we did was competing with AI to guess a drawing. Just nice five seats. We took turns to draw and guess. The AI is quite cool, able to detect writing under scribbles, and understand Chinese and hanyu pinyin! 

Just nice for five of us

Must try bubble tea robot outside science centre!

It was very cool to see the robot hands make our drink. The strawberry tea was yummy too and marked a nice end to our trip..

But no, we were not done yet. Went to eat and shop for Japanese curry roux.

Long time no eat Paradise Dynasty!

But no, they were not done yet. After three bowl of noodles and 20 xlb, they each had a hotdog bun from Ikea. Kai topped it with soy ice cream from Ikea too. On the way home, we found that OCK at the MRT station had reopened after renovations, and got them all some OCK. Back home, they had snacks while watching TV. Why are they still slim??!

Kai is now quite thin. I think it is due to him having more lunches in school. Canteen food for sure isn't protein heavy. He's missing out on all my double cheese burgers! Must build him up in June :) Yang has been gaining height and weight - he feels more chunky these days. Yu still eats very well so no issue, ha!

So there, mid year report on the Sito boys. We will still work hard during the term break, but we will also play hard hard! Hope for good weather :)

How is Clan Sito lately?

I realised I haven't written about our daily life for a while. The start of the year is always so busy, especially when the breadmaker broke in January just as I started to have to make breakfast for Kai. Now, making bread takes more active time. More fun though :p

Anyway, let's see what we have been up to in the past couple of months, apart from Legoland trip etc...

"I like this!"

Fried eggs are always good. That was a lazy meal coz I just stirfried minced beef, add mixed vege and top with eggs. Made a few things for the first time this year - swiss roll (kind of flat instead of round :p), onigiri (rice came loose!), tomato with egg and noodles (single serving - easier to cook) and airfryer chicken burger. I've also turned their usual beef burger into double cheeseburger - easier to cook two thin patties than one thick patty :p

But the most interesting one was the bread. I bought a Pullman loaf pan when the breadmaker died. I tried various recipes using 250g, 300g, 400g and 450g flour. The 450g flour really filled the pan so I got a nice square loaf but it was difficult to remove from the pan. 400g was just nice. What was surprising was the 250g with egg - it almost filled the pan like the 400g, but how?? Coz of the egg? 300g without egg didn't fill up nearly as much.

Anyway, back to the boys...

Sito being 奶爸 - my fave persona, haha!

So nice to see my boys working together. Kai is not in this picture but he was also working hard in his room. He has homework almost every day now.

Earthquake!

We go to Swensen's at least once a month. Finally, we accumulated enough points for a free earthquake! Kids were very pleased :)

Individual hotpot at Paradise

Such good value. No wonder the queue was long! We went for lunch and took the premium set but realised the value set was good enough as the buffet counter had a lot of food too! Can't wait to bring the kids one day. And there was a sale so we topped up our Paradise credits - time to eat more!

A little pet came over at times, must feed :p

Does he look like Labubu??!

That was after watching Ne Zha. Papa said 哪吒 looked like labubu. Yu tried to look like labubu too. 谁比较像？

For Founder's Day school holiday, we went to the pool. It’s been almost a year since our last trip! Topped off the happy day with lunch at the adjacent Macs. Then Kai and Yang napped on the bus back. Yu dozed off while practising for his maths test. Parents were also sleepy...

Kai carried Yang who was tired

Coz Yang and I walked to the pool from some 20min away. We went to buy PE shorts for him but they ran out of his size. In the end, he decided on a pair of comfy berms from his home clothes for his CCA instead. 

Yu forgot how to swim?!!

Kai the shark beneath the surface and Yang the inflated balloon 

At one point, he let the water into his mouth 🤮 

Happy after dinner!

I've decided that I shall not make dinner on bedsheets days. Just too much work. So we told Yang and Yu to go straight to Paradise Classic downstairs after CCA. Packed for Kai who was already in PJs and doing homework.

Oooh, my fave handyman!

Somehow, the LED got busted. Soon after, the kids' toilet was partially clogged by Yang - there was a gurgling sound when flushing and the water level was lower than usual. Unlike a full clog, I couldn't just break up the poop with a chopsticks coz there was nothing I could see! A combination of dish detergent, bleach and hot water did the trick, phew!

Then Yu told me this: Our family is so good right? Papa can fix the light, and you can fix the toilet.

😂 

Funny boy is also the lumpy boy - new baluku his head!

The balukus on the side took a few years to subside 95%! Sighs... This time, he and Yang were at the playground and he fell while bouncing on a car structure. Yang brought me to the scene - turned out he fell within the car structure. I suspected he first landed on the metal bar hence the baluku, coz the bottom of the car was wood which gave when I knocked and shouldn't cause such a lump. The ground at the playground was also the cushioned type. 

Poor kid... Made the two write Rule #1 - safety - a hundred times!!!

This boy - and Yang - likes my belly so this is common...

Let's cook!

We met JY's family last Saturday. First, lunch at Kiseki. Yang is one year younger than K2 but taller so ended up paying for adult price while K2 got child price. Sito couldn't help laughing coz K2 looked heftier than Yang! Indeed, Yang had mostly tamago sushi 🤷‍♀️ But ok la, we all enjoyed ourselves. Sat there until we were the only ones left, ha!

Next was the National Museum. It was unexpectedly fun! Yesterday, Yang could still remember when the Japanese invaded China!

Listening to a Brit and a Dutch quarrel

An old-school phone!

These two "called" me. And even wanted to scam me with the fake friend scam! Yu was so funny, claimed he was "your friend, Auntie J". I told him, my friend wouldn't call herself that! So he went to ask JY for her name, and told me he was "JY" - yes, full name. Still wrong! Haha!!!

We were supposed to go to the National Library but it started to rain! So we took a bus instead - JY they all went to HV for dinner while we stopped at Somerset to catch a train to Bishan library instead and had dinner there. Sito brought them home while I went to meet KLK.

Sali was here!

It was so good to see everyone again, especially Sali. At one point, the girls all went to the toilet together, just like in JC haha! We left in batches. By the time we split, it was like 1 am. I haven't been out this late for a long time!

When I got home, the second living thing I saw after Sito was... a roach! Argh! We spent some time killing it and cleaning up. Now, I still shudder if there's a shadow near the bottom of any cabinet :(

The next day, I texted the group to scold AT - I saw a roach at the bar, which led to a small convo on roaches at home. I said I had very few roaches fortunately and he said something like “怎么可能没有蟑螂的？” Really is 承你“吉言”！

Reading an old book on fairy tales before bedtime - on our bed

On Hari Raya Puasa, we took the chance to do our annual 清明 but at home instead of at the columbarium. As it was Ah Yee's birthday just two days before, we used the gathering to celebrate her birthday too!

Swirling - what's the verb? - incense paper

Two cakes coz ML/MT and I 英雄所见略同！

Yes, that was after lunch and there was still a lot of food! There's also a third cake in the foreground but it was part of the offerings.

This year, a distant aunt was also present. She's the daughter of my grandfather's youngest brother, I think..

Was chatting with MY when we had to go as Yu had a playdate arranged just that morning. It was near his school. Probably my second time in a black and white bungalow and my first in a lived-in one. The five boys were playing in the pool when more than 20 monkeys came over! One even swiped at my drink! A boy kept throwing water balloons at the baby monkeys. Eventually, we had to get everyone into the house for safety.

Playing nerf guns

No such space at home for long distance shooting! The final activity was outdoors again - tennis and badminton. Monkeys were gone, phew! But I got bitten by mosquitoes! More than 18!!! Still a little itchy now...

Kai had tuition via Zoom that night

There is no class on public holidays, and no rescheduling. But his tutor is very dedicated and arranged a free session via Zoom! Only three kids attended so quite full attention. She also organises additional Zoom sessions to prepare her kids for Literature as well. We are so lucky to have her!

This week was learning week for Kai. Tuesday was training for his new PLD - personal learning device, i.e. his Chromebook. From next week, he is to bring it to class every day. Wednesday and Thursday were for coding, including a WA for D&T which he said he failed coz his thing didn't work. Ah well... Friday was science carnival in school. We also signed him up for Chinese day camp on Thursday and Friday after the mandatory activities. He didn't like it, as expected :p But better the immersion than not!

I'm typing this while kids were watching TV and now doing some work alone/with Papa. I should go make lunch soon.. Hungry!

Kai must be hungry too. He just asked to go to the coffeeshop at blk 6 for dinner today - we went there for the first time last Sunday and they all liked it for the ban mian and the prata :)

Finally, update on height and weight, measured on 29 March:

• Kai: 168cm / 49.5kg
• Yang: 150cm / 39.1kg
• Yu: 133cm / 29.8kg

Yes, Kai is now my height! More or less la, coz he keeps moving... Yang gained the most weight in the past three months ~ 4kg!

Our first tween

Haven't posted any daily stuff for a while, apart from the recent term break. Going through my photos, I realised I have fewer photos of Kai these days. But he probably has the most number of baby photos coz it was easier to have a free hand for photos when it was just one kid! 

BK breakfast as an only kid - coz the brothers wanted to sleep

Eat more!! This boy has lost some of his meatiness as he gained height, weighing only 46kg now against a 164cm frame. He's only 4cm shorter than me now.

Recently, he's starting to slouch again. He was slouching a lot in the months before we moved and then improved. I'm guessing he's slouching again coz he's gaining height again. 

Think he grew some 10cm in the past year; my oldest (easily!) available record showed he was 154cm in October 2023. He seemed to have grown more since the start of this year, with puberty clearly on its way - his voice is starting to change, and the boys like to run around naked and/or comment loudly about private parts *.*

Mama doesn't want to see naked boys anymore!

Luckily, Kai has largely obliged by the rules - to always wrap a towel around him when he comes out of the shower*, and get changed with his door closed. I said "largely" coz sometimes he would just open the shower door to say something!!!

* It is kind of impossible for them to wear clothes in the shower coz they would more likely get the clothes wet before they wear them *.*

But he still has milk teeth coz these three started teething rather late. Just this month, he dropped two teeth three days apart. 

I don't know since when but he stopped asking me to 陪陪 him at bedtime. Instead, he played chess. Then we stopped that and he does some work or reading for PSLE instead. Sometimes he came in to lie down on my side of the bed when I was with his brothers, to watch Papa play games. But I don't like to come back to a warm bed. So we stopped him from lying on my side. 

That doesn't stop him from coming in at about 9.15pm when his go-to-sleep alarm goes off - he just kneels next to Sito's side of the bed to watch Papa play games. And then he would still hang around sometimes. Sometimes he brings a paper. Sometimes, it's just him at the foot of our bed, like this:

So big and still wants to nua on our bed!

Ok, good chance for him to sayang him. Think that irritates the hell out of him haha! Coz I cannot call him baby ok...

So, to irritate me or to shut me up, he often asks me lewd questions *.* Oh yes, he brings home a lot of "sus" stuff. Wth. Sometimes, we have to correct his perceptions or random sus comments he heard from his similarly sus classmates *.*

Yup, plenty of rolling eyes here...

Recently, Sito arranged for Kai to come in at the end of his regular chats with his cousin KS to play chess with him. As KS is a good chess player, it's more fun for Kai to play with him than with us :p In fact, I can hardly tell one piece from another!

Playing chess with KS 表舅

Anyway, PSLE is coming. In fact, the orals are already done. He was rather upset when he came home after Chinese orals on 13 August but no comments for English the following day. No comments means ok... Listening compre is coming up this Friday, and the written papers start in two weeks.

He didn't do well for prelims, totalling AL18! His maths and science were unexpectedly poor - came home with lots of comments! Hope he has learnt from his mistakes and can do better for PSLE. Jia you! :)

Congrats to Kai! :)

I was so happy when I saw just one letter from MOE back in December - it means Edusave award! But I wasn't wearing glasses and misread the name at first *.*

Anyway, we read out the letter to the boys. At first Kai wasn't impressed by an award. Then he heard the $150 cash reward. Eyes bright bright! Haha!

But first, I must set up PayNow with his IC. Had to do that at the bank personally so I did it for all three kids. Second, we must attend the award ceremony, and that, we nearly missed!

After sending the kids up the bus on Friday, 12 Jan, I opened the letterbox and saw a letter from PA. I was shocked to see that the ceremony was scheduled for 4 pm the next day and we had missed the RSVP deadline! Fast fingers quickly RVSP-ed online and when it was office hours, called the office. Heng we could just show up and even though the letter said three guests per awardee, all five of us could attend.

There was no pre-fixed seating arrangement. We were shown to seats according to when we registered at the counter. Kai was #21 out of maybe 40-50. Seats were arranged in fours so someone brought us a fifth chair.

It was a cosy affair compared to my time. I still remember sitting on my own with many other students; parents were all seated in another section behind. Every year, we waited long long long time for the MP - mine was current PM - to show up, and more time for the hundreds of students to finish getting their cheques. Yes, cheques.

Now, after years of organising meetings involving ministers, I realised that these people were never late - PA must have got attendees to get seated far too early. This is thankfully no longer the case. We only had to register 15min before the ceremony time.

Anyway, our MP, who also happens to be Minister for Education, said that was his 13th session that day *.* Towards the end of the ceremony, we heard the emcee on the other side of the separator wall starting to address the attendees of the next session. And when we came back from dinner, we still saw kids in uniform coming out of the CC! 

Congrats on your Good Progress!

There were refreshments and various booths after the ceremony. The kids had fun with yo-yo. Someone asked Sito to volunteer at the CC or something. Think he escaped :p There was also balloon sculpting but we spent all our time at the yo-yo booth until it was time for dinner.

So proud of this boy. Kai is the most conscientious of the three, knowing when he had to do his work. He worked especially hard last year, with Sito pushing him more than I did. So happy that he finally saw tangible outcomes for his effort :)

Yang and Yu also wanted an award. Told them to work harder this year. But after the ceremony, Yang said he didn't want it anymore coz he was shy about collecting it *.*

Anyway, this is PSLE year. Time for Kai to show his very best in primary school. May this award motivate him to reach his potential and more :)

Master Chef Sito & Junior!

Before exams, I was chatting with Yang and/or Yu at bedtime when we decided to open our own breakfast cafes. So the kids dreamt up their cafe names and (much later) wrote their menus. I also had my own cafe :) 

When we had more time in the holidays, they took orders from everyone one day, and one fine week, we finally opened our doors!

Mama went first on Monday, 4 Dec - as a demo but these kids were too busy playing *.* Anyway, my 小妈妈餐室 served up scrambled eggs and omelette on toast for all of us :)

Kai's Delicious Food Cafe opened on Tuesday. His was Yakun style breakfast only. Everyone had kaya butter toast.

Must make angry face

Yang's Sunrise Cafe started operations on Thursday. But the kitchen opened a bit on Wednesday as he served up egg mayonnaise in addition to scrambled eggs and omelette on toast.

Happily beating eggs

He made jolly nice scrabbled eggs!

Yu's Eggs R Us ended the breakfast series on Friday. He lost one egg when he cracked it too hard! And he was just tall enough for the stove plus he found it a bit hot so sous-chef aka Mama helped a lot... He served up similar fare as Yang.

Pushed a bit and... too hot!

Papa and Mama rated the breakfast, and Yang scored 18.5 out of 20 vs. 17 for Kai and Yu! He won himself the first Master Chef Sito Junior title! And a whole bottle of Mentos candies while his brothers had a lollipop each.

Ok that was a very filling week, full of toast and eggs haha! And after that, we started having kaya butter toast quite a bit coz must use up the kaya! Yu didn't like it as much (Yakun better) so he had cheese on toast.

But we're not done yet! The following week, Master Chef Sito made radish cake! He used the radish I used for soup - no waste! And it turned out fabulous!

Happily panfrying Chinese sausage, dried shrimps and a fat scallop

The steamed version with homemade sauce

And we panfried it for dinner!

Actually, we cooked very little during school holidays. Most of the time, we pack or eat out. And we eat a lot when we eat out *.* Don't dare to weigh myself!