Last night with BEET

Took so long to finally upload the pictures taken on the last night with BEET before they left.

A letter for Button Nose

Dear Bernice,

My heart was broken last night when you pulled my hands to wrap around you and whispered softly, " I am going to miss you a lot." Big drops of tears rolled down your cheeks after completing that sentence. My heart ached when I saw how sad you were. You have always been reserved with your feelings. You always try to be in control of your feelings and do not reveal your sadness easily. I was deeply moved and a little surprised when you took courage to express your sadness last night.

I am going to miss you a lot too. In fact, I missed you the minute you walked past the departure gate. Tears rolled uncontrollably when sadness engulfed me. I miss you, little Bernice. I thank God for blessing me with you in my life. You are a beautiful gift from God. Your friendship and love have warmed my heart and brought me much joy. Button Nose, I see a lot of God's goodness in your life. I see His strength, joy and kindness in you. I pray that you will continue to bring joy to the people around you.

I enjoyed the few days that we spent together. I especially enjoyed the story-telling sessions where we did funny actions every time we came across words like Crocodile, Witch Hazel, Cinderella, Button Nose etc. I am also glad that all three of you visited my place, swam and had a short story-telling segment using the ducklings finger puppets. These memories put a smile on my face every time I think about them.

Till we meet again, take care, enjoy school and stay joyful. I will be waiting for the 10 letters you promised. Do remind Daddy to deliver the letters! :>

I love you. (Button Nose greeting)

Sharon Jie Jie

Ethan's 5th birthday celebration @ Merlin Mansion

This could be the last birthday celebration before Wei's family moved out.
Relatives and friends were invited to celebrate the handsome and enterprising boy's birthday. This time round, the BEET had TWO stalls - Lemonade and Art stalls.
Price list:
$0.10 for a cup of lemonade and $1 for one drawing.
Cost price:
Cost price of home-made lemonade was completely covered by Ma Ma.
Cost price of drawing - paper provided by Suk Suk and marker provided by me (Sharon Jie Jie)
Rental of stall - Space usage at the garden in front of the house was free. The management did not know about the stalls! Phew!
Profit:
$16.30

The two children, Ethan and Bernice, were well-equipped with a cash register that allowed them to make announcement through a microphone and keep their money safely in a cash box. The cash register also came with a scanner to scan the sale items and a credit card reader. Whenever guests arrived, Ethan would announce, "Welcome to my party. Please come to my stalls. $0.10 for one cup of lemonade and $1 for one drawing." They worked really hard for two whole hours. On top of selling lemonade and drawings, they had to hand out door gifts to the children and collect presents. They were completely exhausted at the end of the party. In fact, they were already quite worn out before the party. They came to my place to swim and hang out in the morning till afternoon. I also brought them to my office to pick up some writing materials for the stalls. Then we went back to Merlin Mansion to work on the banners and decorations for the stalls. These two little ones did work real hard for this event. They certainly deserved the $16.30 profit. In order to ensure that they had energy for the event, they were sensible enough to rest and nap for a short while after preparing the decorations. It was really funny watching Ethan grabbing his lum chum, walking into the room on his own and mumbling to himself, "I need to rest now because I have a lot of things to sell tonight." And Bernice declaring, "I am not going to talk now. I want to save energy for tonight." Cute babies.
The stalls turned out to be a great success. Everything was sold and the babies were satisfied.

BEET squatting by the pavement waiting for a taxi

BEET knocked out in the taxi

Name tags made by Bernice to be worn by all stall helpers - Gu Jie, Sharon Jie Jie, Ethan, Bernice and Manny

Mei Gu's birthday

On Saturday, we gathered to celebrate Mei Gu's 66th birthday. It started as a simple pepper crab dinner for family. But it soon got transformed into a marketplace where a young, budding entrepreneur combined his artistic talents and business acumen to make a whopping profit of $11.30 out of his loved ones and their friends. This elated artist went home beaming with pride and satisfaction after convincing his Gu Jie's friend to buy his last art work. What made us proud was how he took initiative to ask Gu Jie's friend this:"Would you like to buy my last drawing?" Who could say no to an innocent, adorable and dashing boy like him? Apart from his good looks and tender age, I must say that many of us readily bought his drawings because we were captivated by his drawings too. There was so much creativity, spontaneity and originality in those drawings. The most unforgettable one was GERMS, bought by their Suk Suk (uncle), Kevin.

Besides the glowing success of his first art sale, we must not forget the ever-supportive sister, Bernice. Her willingness to step back and let her brother shine that night was moving. Not only was she not upset that she was overshadowed, she tried hard to support her precious brother. She helped make a paper envelope for Ethan to store his wealth. She bought a drawing from her brother. On top of that, she even became a mobile "billboard" when she lifted up her brother's drawing in front of the family van's side window during the entire journey home. At the lift lobby, when she saw people coming out of the lift, she immediately lifted up the drawing and said, "Come and look at Ethan's drawing. Would you like to buy his drawing?" She even suggested to Ethan that he wrote his address on the drawings so that others could locate the artist if they wanted to buy his drawings. Ethan got himself such a good manager! This little girl really has a magnanimous spirit.

Happy Birthday, Mei Gu

The famous artist and his drawings

Those were the germs he drew!

Busy counting money....

Babies' return

The babies returned from Australia on 1 July, Sunday night. They were received like celebrities at the airport, with full video coverage and cameras snapping at them. They were very much missed by all their loved ones. Thankfully, they spent their first night at Merlin Mansion and Bernice sleeping over at Wei's room was another bonus! Story-telling complete with role play, characterisation and narration is a ritual with the babies whenever we spend the night together. However, we only managed to do that with Bernice this time round.

The next day was a blast! Our first stop was Spinelli when we had mango twists. Then we went to the Merlion, followed by Esplanade (the babies' favourite; they called it the durian building). It was so hot that all three babies were flushed with rosy cheeks, which made them look like peaches. They simply looked so adorable. Despite the heat and humidity, they were hyperactive throughout the day. Chattering and giggling non-stop.... We had lunch at the Soup Spoon (Raffles City Shopping Centre). These kids had a very healthy appetite. They ate heartily and obediently. Actually, it was not difficult bringing all three out because they are such sensible and well-behaved children, including the little Manny. Though it was hot and humid, they did not throw a single tantrum and had great stamina for the long walks. Including Manny! After lunch, we went to Takashimaya and Wisma. They stopped by the aquarium at Wisma to look at the fishes. They recognised Dory from Finding Nemo straightaway. Of course, a day out must be completed with a visit to Toys R Us. Our last stop was Toys R Us at Forum Shopping Centre and we bought toys for all three babies. On our way home, Wei and I were completely knocked out but the babies were wide awake and talked non-stop. Including Manny! When we reached home, they did not let us rest either. They wanted to play with their new toys!!! So we did... The day ended with a family dinner at a nearby chicken rice restaurant.

Though tired, we felt terribly blessed by their return. Our hearts are warmed by their love, attention and pampering. It's going to be hard to say goodbye again...

Editors' note

This title was chosen because one of the first things that amused us, being here in Sydney, was how Manny would point out at something new and say, 'Look at tha-at!' in a very signature way. Later, between Ling and I, we would repeat that phrase (Manny style) to point out to each other the antics of the children (dancing, talking, giggling, laughing or doing something silly and sweet by themselves) or all the things we appreciate about being here (local food, things to buy, breathtaking views, rolling hills, grazing cows, lazy kangaroos, endless stretches of vineyards).

Here we'll like to share some of our 'look at thats' with you.

Enjoy.

(scroll down for updates)
Two new updates! Visit to Featherdale Wildlife Park on 6 March, and Blue Mountain Day on 7 March.

Goodbye for now

These parting words and gifts break our hearts and make saying goodbyes so difficult....

Ethan, the most charming, thoughtful and sensitive boy -
"Is it really tomorrow you go back to Singapore?"
"Why can't you stay here forever?"
"Can I make you something so that you can go and tell them that you will stay here forever?"
"Can I give 20 000 air tickets so that you can come here?"
"I will wake up in the middle of the night so that I can creep upstairs and say goodbye to you while Didi is still sleeping. Then I will sleep after that."
"I want to make you balloons so that you can bring to Singapore."
"I will put bubblegums in a hongbao and send them to you because there aren't bubblegums in Singapore."



From the sweetest Ethan, I(Sharon) received five kisses on the cheeks, forehead, chin and neck.

Bernice, the most beautiful, loving and kindest girl -
"I want to give you these."
"I will write you lots of letters and send them to you."
"Can you develop these pictures in Singapore and send them to me?"


Bernice gave me her art work that she did in school on the first day when we arrived in Sydney. I was almost touched to tears.


Taken by the great photographer - BT (Bernice has her own signature now. She signed off as BT.)





Manny, the most irresitable and cutest boy -
"I want Shaaron Jie Jie and Gu Jie..."



These parting scenes make us determined to return next year or even do our phd in Sydney so that we can watch them grow up.


Picture taken by Ethan.


Picture taken by Bernice.

Goodbye, BEET. Till we meet again in July, where we will set up a lemonade stall and sell lemonade at Ethan's birthday party. We love you dearly.

Afternote: Jinying told us that Bernice cried when we went upstairs to sleep. Mummy had to coax her to sleep.

Oversized

As we were going through Bernice's (largely pink) wardrobe, she suddenly remembered an item and said excitedly,

"Let me show you, let me show you!"
"Show me what?"



"This is what ma ma gave me for when I’m 680 years old."
- Bernice, facetiously referring to how oversized the jacket mama had given her.

Bedtime stories

In Bernice's room.

Last night, Sharon devised a way to engage the kids in their bedtime stories. When she was reading Cinderella to Bernice, everytime the word 'Cinderella' came up, Bernice was to repeat the word after her, accompanied by a flip of the hair in a fun, flirty way. Ethan was amused and tried to imitate by picking on his hair (see picture).

Meanwhile, Manny was just too funny. Everytime he heard Sharon mention the word, he would repeat 'CINDERELLA-aaa!' in a deliberate low, husky, monstrous tone, accompanied by half squats and hand action.

Monster "CINDERELLA-aaa!"

"CINDERELLA-aaa!"

"CINDERELLA-aaa!"

Monster Cinderella sequence was repeated a few times, each time ending with this cheeky grin.

Later, when it was Ethan's turn to be read his dinosaur book, the kids were told to pretend to be dinosaurs whenever the word came up. They were absorbed and oblivious to Manny's antics...

...as he throws himself up and down into this dinosaur trance everytime he heard Sharon read 'dinosaur'.