ANZAC cookies

I guess I'm writing too much on sports these days and less on cooking coz I haven't really done any great recipes lately.
Well, it is almost ANZAC day in Oz which is a very important memorial day here and older son kept pestering me to make ANZAC cookies from a recipe in a kid's mag his friend gave him. So I baked some last weekend with his help. It wasn't that difficult and it is rather nutritious with rolled oats, dessicated coconut and honey. I could bake more cookies if the recipes are not that cumbersome. (you know many cookie recipes need to use cookie cutters and rolling pins etc ).

Cross Country

[ So okayyy.. I missed my weekly update last week. I also missed a very important dinner this week. I might as well inform everyone on the blogosphere as EVERYONE in dh's dept knows that I had toothache due to to wisdom tooth plans to emerge out of my gums. (So who's big idea was it to call it wisdom tooth? I can't find any wisdom in it except intermittent throbbing pain!) ]
Back to the real world. The kids had a lil cross country at their school this week. I missed ds' event as had an appointment with the dentist to reevaluate my wisdom tooth but I came just in time for dd's event. I was quite pleased to see her run, She was about position number 5 or 6 in her age group. When I asked her what position she got , she said third last. I guess there was only 8 girls in her age group. Oh well , I think this was an improvement from 2 years ago, when she got last or second last was it? My friends' daughters , wow.. they were really good getting placing between 1st to 3rd. (Amazing when you see some of them running with gutso in their lil hijabs.)
I like to see schoolchildren enjoying sports and playing in the field at the school every time I pick my kids up. School isn't just about sitting down and looking at the blackboard in the classroom all the time. Fitness and character building is important too.

Blur Week

It has been a bit of a blurry week. My head was spinning from a slight cold coupled with some other factors. My 2 lil heroes weren't well either, with older son receiving the full brunt of it with a nasty cold/cough. (I think it might have something to do with him eating too much ice cream.) The weather had changed decidedly cooler during the evening and early morning. With ds at home most of the week, I couldn't do anything much except care for him and his bro and appease their appetite (or lack of.) Ds even in sickness, couldn't even stay in bed like one would expect a sick child should do. Always out and about!
His sister had to go to a music camp at the high school nearby so sick or not , all 3 of us had to pick her up each day after camp. At the end of the week, we let ds go to school (as school break starts next week and he would be wondering why he hasn't been to school yet). When I went to pick him up, I noticed more kids than usual were riding bikes back to their house. (I like to watch them pedal their lil feet up the hill with zest!) I realised they were doing this as it was bike week and they were encouraged to ride to and fro school. This in turn reminded me that I had a 10km bike ride to do with dd and ds on Sunday. I vaguely remember this due to too much things going on.
Well, the time came this morning. We were late or shall I say very punctual, as we rode to the starting line from the carpark , the wave of riders from the starting line came from the opposite direction! We let them past. Went to the startline. Talked to some marshalls. Decided to follow suit with no numbers stuck on the bike. The boys were a bit behind dd and I, so dh said we could go ahead to catch the masses so we did. I must say it was a bit of an art for me trying to ride slower than dd and some other lil girls. My seat was lowered at first so I could put my legs on the ground if I had to stop suddenly etc and then I brought it up at a higher position half through the course so I could ride better wthout my feet feeling cramp but ehem.., this wasn't a good idea as there was once/twice I stopped some other people on their track behind me. It was such a tight space there next to the cliff and I was trying not to collide with dd in front of me. Oh well!
We came back to start/finish line where dh and boys were waiting - they went back after riding to/fro the goodwill bridge.- only 2km ride while we did about 10km. I think dd did quite well for her first attempt at riding by the masses. Her dad said he'll like to do this again next year after the boys become better at riding (and also wake up earlier in the morning). I was a bit surprise that he wants to enter again as he was all excuses- weather, sickness etc before the event.. while I am not to sure I want to do it again!

Penguin of the Month

Dd has received recognition online as the penguin of the month. She has been a member of an online club for barely a month and she has received the coveted award.( I think it is similar to adults receiving employee of the month for a club/organisation.) She was soo excited to learn she won it. Probably has something to do with spending a LOT of time in front of the PC playing games and meeting her school friends online. I think she spends much more time online than her mom now, lol. But it is not that bad as she also learns to type words quickly and create funny stories about penguins and puffles, and learning to surf! I do wish she would do her homework beforehand though.

Earthhour

Last night we participated in earthhour and switched off the lights from 8 to 9pm. Kids and dh had a steak and chips candlelight dinner during that time. (Usually kids would have their dinner earlier but it was a weekend). It wasn't so bad without the lights. The kids even practiced switching off all the lights the night before. Light is necessary for comfort and safety but do we really many lights in one focal point? Too many lights on can/will create light pollution . (Eg. I could hardly see the stars in the night sky at my home near the centre of KL because of the city's brightness... which is a pity.)

Chocolate eggs anyone?

Dd and ds won 2 baskets of chocolate eggs in their school's lucky draw. Their dad had submitted their tickets on the morning of the draw (in other words last minute!) and then when we picked them up from school , an admin lady was helping carry the baskets to the car. We weren't really expecting them to win anything but both of them got one each! We usually lose/misplaced the tickets somewhere and couldn't give them on time but I insisted dh to give it in this time as the school needs funds ( as they didn't do a fundraising fete last year). It seems there are all sizes of chocolate eggs in the baskets; large, medium and small. Dd who won the 2nd prize basket gave some to her fave neighbour and still there are heaps left. Does anyone want some? (Sorry I can't post them worldwide!) I think I'll give some to the family with the 6 girls whom I consider my extended family here. I sometimes give my kids' things to the family as so much of their stuff accummulates in the rumpus room.

Family Bike Outing

So dh finally bought an MTB (multiterrain bike) for himself and a new bike with gears for dd as she has outgrown her old bike. At first dh was adamant that he would only need a stationary bike for fitness and he won't have time to ride a bike around the neighbourhood but he finally succumbed to pressure to get one as all the other family members had bikes to ride now including me! We decided to venture out to the local park yesterday to see how the older kids coped biking in a group(while toddler had to sit on a mounted child seat on his dad's bike). I plan to enter them in a 10km family bike ride during the bike week if they were okay. I guess they did not too bad for a first outing. It lasted about 2hrs. (1 hr biking + 1 hr at playground for the kids.) We'll probably go for more bike trips on weekends now it is convenient that their mum and dad has one each. Anyway, when we were going out today, I noticed one of our neighbours had got all their old bikes and accessories and were fixing them up on the front porch. They never did this before! I guess our family's bike enthusiasm had caught on to these neighbours of ours!

Fun Run 1

Woohooooo! I completed a 5km fun run. I wasn't really thinking about doing one in March as am still a beginner (and I suffered shin splints ( ie horrible lower leg pains) for a couple of weeks) but what the heck, so I signed up a week ago after finding out about the International Women's Day funrun. I only jogged about 2/3km a couple of times a week for the past weeks and only managed a 5km jog 2 days before the event and the good thing is I finished the funrun 5-6 minutes than my 5km training time! How good is that! There were also hills and bridges to climb in the course when I was really hoping that it was a flat, flat course. The contor of my neighbourhood is a bit undulating (perhaps easier than the old neighbourhood I lived in which was super hilly). Now perhaps I need to fine tune my jog for the next fun run probably in April/May.

Geckobusters!

My kids on their quest to keep something (ie anything that breathes) as pets sometimes like to hunt down and catch house geckoes (or cicak in Malay). Yesterday, a gecko on the sliding door startled me. When I proclaimed it to ds, he totally forgot about his dinner and called dd to help him catch the gecko. They have become pros in catching the geckos and have handled and kept 3 or 4 big & small geckoes before dh and I asked them to let the poor things go eventually. I don't really fancy touching these creatures (ewww!) but my kids have no qualms about it. I think this was since they found a blue tongue lizard in the garage last month and had captured it with their dad and placed it in a plastic box before releasing it back in the backyard (It was as huge as a small monitor lizard but harmless and a slow moving creature obviously.) Thank goodness they decided not to keep that lizard as a pet!

Fitness

I haven't been able to update as frequently as I would like. That's because I'm currently doing more sports and this is taking over the time that I blog. Sometimes, I go to the gym or walk-jog early in the morning ie before dh goes to work. (I tried going to the gym with toddler but he didn't settle well in the creche). Dh is planning to get a treadmill soon inshA. (He already bought a stationary bike for himself.) I think he doesn't really like the idea of making breakfast and preparing lunchboxes for kids and getting them ready in the morning. When I came back this morning , he didn't cook french toast as I requested but just dumped plain sliced bread on the table for them with baked beans. (However, the kids do get ready much quicker for school on days that I go to gym !)
I'm trying to be a lil more proactive so I can improve my overall fitness and also lose all the residual pregnancy weight that hasn't banished from my system yet. I had put on > 20 kg when I was pregnant with my sons. (I had 3 of them.) Although I lose 20kgs , there are some still stuck some where. It is fun to do sports here. I think I'm getting addicted to running, in my case slow jog and am still lousy at it. There are lots of parks and bushland to walk, run or bike. I think I'm going back to my outdoorish self which I got partly due to my dad. (My mum claims she was a sport woman and runner at school but I've never seen her do any sports in my life time! Sorry mum. Well I saw her wearing sports attire once probably for a social badminton game.) My dad , the jack of all trades, is actually very outdoorish. He likes camping and hunting in the jungle and he also used to scuba dive and go abseiling. He brought us along sometimes. In fact, dh got the rockclimbing bug while practicing abseiling near batu caves a few years ago.


Note:Ladies, for those of you who plan to go to umrah or hajj this year (or travelling anywhere else), and if you're not already doing some program, try walking etc a couple of times a week as you have to be fit for the walk from Safa and Marwa hills 7 times totals more than 2km plus tawaf and maybe you're walking 3-5km each time you perform umrah. Interesting that islamic rituals like solah, tawaf and saei etc demands some physical and spiritual interaction.

100th post! (book giveaway)

So okay you guessed it , it is my 100th post on this blog and I thought I'll do a book (or two) give away (so I can have more space on my book shelf). Just register your interest in the comment box by the end of Feb for a chance to receive a copy of an unread book, "The God of Small Things" by Arundhati Roy ( A story about a family set in India which won the booker prize) or "The Shadow of the Wind" by Carlos Ruiz Zafon (a wordy almost long winded yet beautiful transliteration of a Spanish bestseller set in a creepy mysterious setting). I can post worldwide. Regular commenters and blurkers welcomed!

Horizontal Acceleration

[I haven't updated dd's gifted blog much. I'll just copy and paste this later. ]
I've decided to go with horizontal acceleration instead of vertical acceleration for dd like her class teacher suggested to dh last year. That means I'm in view of developing other aspects (beside literacy and numeracy) namely the sports , social and the arts. She excelled in the literacy and numeracy test last year, her results being over and above average than the state level and in the majority of her numeracy subjects, her marks was high off the charts! (I can't figure out what that means?) I don't want to concentrate too much on academic stuff as if/when we go back to KL, it will be all about marks in school as it is highly exam oriented there. (I mean how many exams a year do kids have to do there?) Me being the antithesis of all this, I'm of the opinion that young childrens should enjoy their school years instead of stressing too much about exams. So no extra tuition for her this year even in Maths or English. She'll just do what interest her. That's a lot of stuff that she likes and she can excel in them fairly quickly eg the arts, music, science, foreign language. Dd and her bro sometimes attend the fun activities/workshop organised by the Gifted and Talented Children Assoc too and I think I have more than enough things going on a daily basis.

Heaviest Downpour

We had by far the heaviest downpour yesterday. Cats and dogs I tell ya. It started when we were arriving for my kids swimming lessons at the sports centre and we had to walk a fair bit as it poured. Toddler was all soaking wet even though he wore his bro's big school legionaire hat. We left straight after the class. Good thing we didn't wait as it was flooding in the car park and the water almost reached the car's exhaust!
I think it poured for nearly 3 hours. When it stopped , heard a ding dong bell. Neighbour was concerned a lot of water coming in his backyard. Wondering where it was from? (How about looking up in the sky?) His family's house was sort of down the hill/road so water was gushing down (It's call gravity.) He was concerned that our pool was full to the brim and maybe this might be perilous for his home/backyard.(Believe me the water will trickle in my house first before it does go into his. And I was hoping to do a few cannon balls with kids). I told neighbour that (workaholic) hubby wasn't home yet and I was waiting for dh to do something about it. (Not a good idea if our houses were on the verge of flooding.) I offered to sweep the water puddling in my backyard into the drain a bit, if it helps. He offered to jump over my gate/fence to help open the pool's valve so the water level recedes a bit. Cute. Go on! Jump over the fence! Break a leg!
..............................
Oh, for heaven's sakes! Use the gate. It's not locked!

Lazy week /rainy weather

I had a lazy week last week. I didn't do any sports. The kids also just started schooliing again and was a bit busy. However, I managed a walk-jog on Saturday as I noticed my post-kids flabby tummy bulging more than usual. (*sigh* I wish I had those really post-kids flat tummy genes sometimes). I wanted to do a walk-jog on Sunday morning too but it rained heavily.(Very unusual rain for Oz btw, maybe the effects of Lanina?). By the time the rain stopped, workaholic dh had to dash to work so I had to be content with swimming in the backyard pool. Today I couldn't get to gym either as dh's took my car to work as his need some repairs. He owes me big time!How about he get me a bike so I can ride it to the park/gym?Plus it is more environmentally friendly you know. (Yes, I so want a bike at the moment, teehee. Does anyone know what model of a mountain bike is good for a full figure not very athletic kinda woman?)

End of School hols soon (YaY)

YaY, the kids had their last swimming bootcamp lesson today and they are going back to school next week. Phew!! I am so glad the school hols is almost over. My friend whom we met yesterday and went to park near the river together, was also glad that school is starting soon. (She has 6 kids, mind you). There is absolutely no way I could go to the mall to do grocery shopping and take a leisurely tea break with 3 kids all of whom have vested interest in going to any toy shops and book shops they see.
Anyway, I am very pleased with dd and ds swimming skills as they have improved immensely and their competency level has gone up. I spent more than $300 for 3 weeks for 2 children so I think it was well worth it. Dd is now learning how to do the butterfly stroke and I think she was quite good at it for a beginner. (Hey, I 'm still struggling with this stroke myself.) Ds also has improved and can do freestyle/front crawl and backstroke well. Being nimble, he is also very good at somersaulting and diving in the water too which wasn't even part of his lessons. Maybe I should sign him up in synchronise swimming squad at the aquatic centre if they will have him!!!
Today there was a pirate pantomine at the library so I promised to take the children there. Sadly ds didn't have enough stamps to qualify for a reward in the summer reading program yet so this was a quick way to get a stamp. They had to dress up like a pirate somewhat. Dd brought along her bandana and a plastic sword along. When we arrived at the library , the pantomine had already started and I noticed dd holding an unidentified brown object in her hand. It turned out she was holding her dad's underwear which I have no idea how and where she planned to use it as part of her pirate costume. I confiscated it right away. So there you are , she was holding it from the carpark all the way to the library and I didn't even realise it as I was busy calling out to ds on his scooter and toddler. I hope nobody else realised it either!

Gym & Sing

I'm happy to say that I am no longer saving up for a liposuction as my swimming and walk/jog routine has toned my body like never before. All I have to do now is to keep this up a couple of times a week. However, the only downside to swimming is that my skin has turned a beautiful dark tan like never before. (beautiful ie if you are a proponent that a dark tanned skin is desirable, an unlikely thought if you are M'sian/Asian woman.)
I opted for a gym session yesterday. Gym isn't really my thing honestly as I get kinda dizzy using the treadmill but I managed it for half an hour( I only read the notice that we're only supposed to use it for 20 mins during peak hours afterwards) and a bit of cycling. I think I need to do some upper body exercise too so probably I'll do rowing next time. There were many guys doing weights and stuff in the other room. I tried one for a few seconds which I saw a woman do, where you sit and pull the weights down to your shoulder or something. (I'm clueless about weights. Where is the gym instructor when you need one? )
On another matter, when I picked up my kids at the sports centre's creche, the childmilder exclaimed to me that "your children have such good singing voices!" and she hoped they will be back to entertain the creche again! It turned out they were singing songs from High School Musical 2 which they have watched countless times now. (Countless as I've given up counting how many times I heard the songs from the DVD since last week.) So okayyy, so they are hyperactive talkative kids and they make me a little embarrassed sometimes in public, but admittedly, they do sing quite well!

Ready Set Go!

As I was lying on my back floating on a lap one fine day( they should invent waterproof magazines for this sport), I noticed a girl on the next lane pass me by with her backstrokes. Now, I 'd let all the free stylers and the people with snorkel fins and floaties pass me on my laps and I wouldn't give a hoot. But a backstroker?!! Backstroke was my best stroke when I was a kid and I was at par if not better than the best swimmer at school (who was also extremely envious at me for my dedication in class work that she did some naughty things to me but I digress). Anyway, I couldn't let this backstroker pass me without a bit of friendly competition so I began doing backstrokes to see if I could beat her to the end of the lap. She was probably about 5m ahead of me when I started but I increased my speed and I managed to swim up to her side. So guess who reached the end of the lap first?
*Big grin*

Pool Obsession

I'm obsessed with the Olympic size 50m heated pool at the local sports centre. It is perfect for swimming for rainy, hot or cold weather! (Well, I haven't tried it in winter yet).
My personal best in KL was probably doing 25m x 25 laps. However, last week I managed 50m x 20 laps twice (after the first session, my body ached soo bad) and yesterday I pushed my ability a bit more and tried swimming for perhaps a mile (1.6km). I wanted to do more up to 2km but due to technical problems I had to stop (In other words -I had to answer nature's call). Of course, I did them mainly in breast strokes and back strokes as I am working on my new free style technique. Hopefully when the new DVD/books I ordered arrives, I can do the drills (somewhat). Then... only then, I might be able to do more laps in free style without being out of breath, and I don't have to give way to those power swimmers passing me on my laps too often on early morning laps.
My obsession with swimming pools led me to the city's aquatic centre to check out all the pools there. They have a diving pool 5m deep, 25m , 50m and wading pools under a climate control environment. While my kids and I were there, we had a glimpse of the aussie national team practicing their synchronise swimming routine. Hmmm.. interesting. Ohh.. I also checked out sally's blog on swimming pools she's been to. It is soo good to know that I'm not the only person going googoo gaagaa over pools teehee... Now, did I mention the local Olympic size pool is heeated?

At the pool side

Bubbly dad of 2: Doesn't he (toddler) want to go in the pool?
Trying to be bubbly mum of 3: He's not feeling it.
Bubbly dad: (Big ??? on face).
Trying very hard to explain mum of 3: He's not feeeling it.
Bubbly dad: (Big blank face).
Snappy mum of 3: Hedoesntwanttogointhepool.
Bubbly dad: Ooohhh.

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Dd: There are a whole group of grandmas and grandpas over there ! (pointing at deep aqua aerobics class).

Ds: Oh yeah.

Ds: There is a whole meeting of grandmas ! (looking at a group of ladies at the canteen where we are sitting next to AND within hearing distance).

Me: Don't say that! (Embarrassed as usual being a mom of loud mouth kids!)

( Those ladies are young at heart. They are totally fit and can beat me at free style anytime coz my freestyle totally sucks at the moment).

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Dd : Why is he wearing underwear? (pointing at man wearing speedo).

Me: Don't point at people. ( avoiding dd's question).

Dd: Why?

Me: Some people don't like it.

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Me: Ssshhhhh! (before entering changing room with dd).

Dd :(gawking at a bare woman's posterior).

Me: Sssshhh!

Dd :(still gawking quietly).

NZ Geysers (video footage)