Reading story books out loud is daily routine for me. Many many times a day actually. From baby picture books naming colours and animals… to adventure stories on superheroes, Lego characters and Star Wars. I always aim to put my heart into each reading. Even if it’s simply a book about naming colours or animal sounds. But if it’s a book for slightly older children, I really like to get right into the story. Especially if it’s a good one. Here are four favourite children’s books of mine which I especially love. I often get a lump in my throat as I read them…. sometimes it even gets my tears going (if I happen to be feeling particularly emotional or wistful that day). **** Jonathan and Martha by Petr Horáček I’ll give it to you straight. This is actually a love story. And an incredibly sweet one at that. It’s about two lonely  worms named Jonathan and Martha who inadvertently met one day through their love of eating and eventually fell in love. Nathan enjoyed the story too as w...

Bizarre conversations that have been happening in our household lately… “NO Grace! You’d better stop that! I mean it! Or I’m going to get The Lobster!” “NO LOBSTER!!! NOOOO!!!” “Alright then!” “NO! I don’t like lobster. LOBSTER GONNA EAT MY EARS!!!” In case you’re trying to figure out what that is, it is a little purple lobster wind-up-toy. It was a present from my brother and sister-in-law for Grace at their wedding in Singapore . Supposedly as a thank you gift to her for being the flower girl . And probably something fun to keep her amused at the reception. When you wind it up, it makes a funny buzzing noise as it rolls across the table or floor. Unfortunately Grace found the toy lobster absolutely terrifying. She refused to touch it or let it get anywhere near her. I kept aside and forgot about it for a while. One afternoon a few weeks ago, Nathan came across it among a box of toys. I picked it up and wound it up just for a bit of fun. Grace went absolutely ballistic. ...

Do you remember performing in one of those obligatory kindergarten concerts as a child? I remember having to dress up in a super frilly dress, and having make-up on… very red lipstick and very pink cheeks. The performance itself was a blur which I barely can remember now. I was only four or five years old then. I do remember enjoying the feeling of having make-up on. It felt very grown-up. Hubby remembers his kindergarten concert. He told me he had to wear make-up too. He distinctly remembers the weird sticky feeling of having lipstick on, and walking around his lips pouted out the entire time because his lips felt so weird. The circle of life goes on, and now we’re back again at the scene of a kindergarten concert performance. Though this time it’s not us wearing the costumes and make-up. We are now the paparazzi parents in the audience with our eyes glued on the little orange-maned lion on the far right. Nathan distinctly requested a lion costume for his performance as they were...

Was looking through some photos today and just had to share these favourite photo moments of my kids with their uncles… “Only the BEST brothers get promoted to an UNCLE” ( Quote from here )   Reminded me of this very famous uncle from an old favourite sitcom…   ( Source )   Here are some interesting reads and fun links I thought were pretty cool…   Famous cast silhouettes quiz (how did you score?)   Reading these notes broke my heart.   The true gritty secret to success . This video clip blew my mind.   How cool are these convertible handbags ?   My four-year-old has a dark side .   And this deeply intriguing article about Alice in Wonderland and Imaginary Mathematics —-which I learnt was a real thing. It’s a little long but I think it is quite worth the read.