thefoosfamily 胡家

Bye bye to our IKEA table

2009-07-01T23:11:00.001+08:00

Our 5 years old coffee table is finally going to RIP. Er, the kids decided to give it a grand farewell....
Shaking for the past few days.

time to give it a gand farewell. Why not? going to throw away anyway.

EEeeeeee!

Kieran's work.

Arghhhhhhhh

roar!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

the gentle spirit, zen style....

Kieran likes to suck his lower lip.

Nice?

might as well paint the hands. normally most parents will go "NO!"... me? not my hands, no problem, go ahead.

I thought it looks nice.

time to wash up

Kayzia: see lah.... the paint cannot come out.
Me: er, you wanted it, not me.

see, paint still in the nails.

now, let wait for mummy to come back home.....

and surprise her!

After many comments (in facebook), we decided to keep the table and hang it up in the kids room.

Almost terminated: Rise of the FACEBOOK.

2009-06-02T21:17:00.000+08:00

I have not update this blog for a LONG time. Guess facebook is easy and more accessible to everyone. Plus I have been busy with wine and photoshoots.Well, enough excuses, i will update some happenings soon. I aslo started a blog on wedding pictures I have taken. It is @ myleftyourright.blogspot.com. more on the family soon.....

PaFoo

2008 SC Marathon

2008-12-09T23:03:00.001+08:00

My 1st Marathon. Prior to the run, i kena Iliotibial Band Syndrome (IBS).it is a stinging sensation just outside of my left knee. I rested 4 weeks to the race, hoping it will be alright.. who am i kdding? I felt the pull at 2km! at 13km(East coast), i almost gave up cause the pain was getting worst. Then i decided to walk and see if it will get better.(again, who am i kidding!) by the time i hit 20km(after numberous start stop and applying deep heat on my knee) I got my 2nd wind and walked non stop for 8km. the worst part of the race must be the 30-37km. limping, resting, wondering what the heck am i doing this for. see pics for yourself..

walking funny liao... as i need to compensate for my left knee, my right foot started to hurt!

after awhile i was switching walking positions(as if there are many) to lesser the pain on my left knee and right foot! And once u get "that painless walking position", u want to keep walking as long as u can....

by this time, i was at 40km. almost there....stilling wondering what the heck am i here....

pain...

even with 25METERS to go, i cant walk properly! actually i was getting emotional. i knew ppl were taking pics, didnt want them to see me teary(wondering what the heck am i doing here!)

finally! i tried jogging, cannot!

YES! took me 8hrs and 3mins! walked more than 30km!

good thing about finishing late is, they take good pics of you! and many solo shots!

2008-11-28T16:37:00.003+08:00

Book Game from Facebook

Rules:
* Grab the book nearest you. Right now.
* Turn to page 57.
* Find the fifth sentence.
* Post that sentence along with these instructions in a note to your wall, and post your sentence in a comment here as well. Include the title of book and author.

My book:

"Calloway vowed,"because the next time i get the chance, i'm going to mess you up so bad your own mama wouldn,t know you. "

from Change of Heart by Jodi Picoult.

HOPE Outreach on National Day

2008-10-08T22:59:00.001+08:00

It is National Day,our family volunteered for the church's HOPE outreach programme. We started at 10am and ended at about 1pm. It is good to teach the kids to be giving and feel for the needy when they are young. The biggest joke I heard on that day was; a member of the public questioned one of the parents' motives in "using" our children to collect contribution! child labour! You could imagine what would have happened if it was said to me...... look, the money collected is not for us! We dun get a cent for it! Back off, if interested, you give, if not just walk away. We want our kids to grow up to be like Jesus. He loves the poor, he never rejected the sick and needy. Jesus wept(John11:35) for Lazarus and those around him. We want our kids to be Man and Woman of God when they grow up. No, they dun have to be man and woman of wall street(anyway, WS is in a mess.) No, they dun have to buy us houses and villas(actually i dun mind if they could!hahaha). We just want them to be disciples of Jesus and live a godly life. Kayzia and Kieran(when both of u are old enough to understand), remember this, Mummy and Daddy pray everyday(alomst) that one day you both will love Jesus more than anything on earth. That is the gift we want to give the both of you.(well since your daddy is poor anyway...hahahha.) Anyway, we ahd a great time as a family collecting money!

The kids are getting ready.... or are they?

On a closer look, Kayzia is alomst there....

Aiyoh, Kieran, what are you doing? looking for money at the wrong place lah...

Kayzia is ready.

Thank you very much!

You! give money! give money!

No people give money leh.....

Kevin teaching Keiran how to "get money". Yes, like that people will give mah.

Or like that also can....

Siew and family. Plus Desmond's son, Lucas.

Light moments....

I found my twin brother!

Dun tell Nike....

help is here! part 3 (getting a helper) (end) HOW TO GET A GOOD HELPER/MAID

2008-08-08T10:04:00.009+08:00

Havent wrote anything recently as we were busy with a few things.

1.Getting Kayzia into Pri 1 next year. A brain damaging exercise, which school, the distance, which phase is available for us and so on. Maybe I will blog abt this later on.

2.Preparing myself for WAST(squash) in Dublin in 3 days time which was sadly cancelled 2weeks ago due to poor respond. It was also thru competition, that i picked up running (which i hate doing as long as i can rem). I have being running since May, 2-3 times a week.

3.Having a new helper(maid) and eventually sending her back home!
Modesta was barely with us for the past 2 months. She is honest and sincere and she cares for the kids. She is a believer and reads her bible often.(er, but sometime at the wrong time, like at 8plus 9ish, when we actually need her help with the kids or housework.) We felt we could leave the house to her by herself and not worrying about anything else.

Problem started when her pastor husband could not handle the stress of caring for their 4 kids,(9,8,4,3) and not have her around. He called her often. Said he is sick, something to do with his brain(which i agrred), got cancer. We offered financial assistance for him to go for the required scans which of course he rejected. However the doctor did give him a M.C. that indicated, "complete rest needed" without any other explanations. I thought what the doctor said was this "completely healthy, nothing wrong, wife needed thou". We asked if their slibings could help. Mod's couldn't as they are far off from her place and her other sister nearby has 2 kids and one more popping out anytime soon. Hubby not in good terms with his slibings. In fact they wanted to charge Mod $$$ for taking care of their kids in his period of rest. We offered Mod financial help if she needs to get a helper to take care of her kids as she take cares of us as our helper(make sense?). We left the decision entirely to her. We went thru all the possibilities but I know we are fighting a losing battle. As stories of husband crying and laughing in the room by himself, trying to walk to the main road to get himself killed surfaced.... We know it is time for her to go.

We felt sorry for her cause she has spent her saving to get to Manila and so on. She also has a $600 debt with us. Thank God for the church and MaFoo who signed her up for the Western Union grant, which she got it!($500). She could pay us back a portion of her debt as we forgive her of the remaining amount. At least she has a bit of money to bring back home. (and gifts from us to the kids, not the husband thou....)

We realised a few things. Modesta was introed to us from our frd's helper who had good intention to help us. Seem like getting a helper directly and not thru maid agency may not be the wise thing to do.

They are not obligated to finish the contract as they do not owe any money to the maid agency. So the bad thing is, they can leave anytime. But got contract leh! er, do u want to force them to force u to send them back home at the expense of your kids?

I realised MaFoo has to instruct her every morning on what to cook for dinner before she leaves for work. At times, we had to tell her what to do at home, she was not well-trained as a helper. when my parents and friends came to my place, she didnt serve them anything to drink. Once I was busy with the kids, as i came out of my room, she was reading the newspaper in the LIVING ROOM, and many times, she read the bible in her room at night. I am like, u got the whole day at home right? cant u read it in the afternoon? Of course, i didnt blast it out. I wont go into more details as I have sent her back home on the 2nd Aug. But somehow i felt, she was here on holidays than to work. But dun get me wrong, I still think she is a nice person, but not a good helper.

So MaFoo and me had interviewed different helpers. We met one that said the agent threaten her with a gun(we got to know from Mod as she helped to interview her privately in another room as we are talking to the agent), when we asked her some basic questions, she kept saying, "hm, hm, hm, i nervous." I almost said, "quick say, or i take out the gun!". Another said she likes to care for young kids but her agent told us that her ex-employer fired her cause she dunno how to care for young kids. We asked her what went wrong, she cant answer us but insisted she is good with young kids. Sure! We called another (phi)who used to work in Jordan, she sounded confident and we thought she is the one. All this happened in the week Mod was leaving us. Our good friend Mable also introed this good helper to us but she is only free from Oct. Then another agent, Doris called, said there is a transfer helper(Tini) availble anytime, asked if we have time to "view" her. (i asked MaFoo, were we getting a flat or helper?". We got auntie Lisa( MaFoo's auntie) to come along for "viewing". We all had a good 1st impression, but how can we know from just one "viewing"? Mabe we should wait for the Oct one? We told Doris we will "reserved" her first, will decide in a few days. I know this story sibei long and boring,going to finish soon.

3 days later, Auntie Jen called MaFoo, "Ah Mel, wa wu ji ye maid tay wa ye chun(Mel, i have a maid at my place),ji ye ho(this one good), hardworking, well mannered. lai tek!,(come take!)"

MaFoo asked " Simi name, ok, will tek her"

A. Jen went "called Tini, quick called Doris"

MaFoo "Tini?!?!"

Doris and A. Jennifer(my best friend, Gin Kai's Mother) are good friends. A. Jen helps Doris to train her maids at A.Jen's home. Turned out that tini stayed with her for the past 3 days. We decided to take her as A. Jen has years of experience in this field. She has a better "view" than us.

Tini came right after Mod left on Sat.
The house is much much cleaner. She dun read the newspapers, she is very hardworking. Single mum,Indo, speak english, can cook very well (MaFoo and I have been looking forward for dinner everyday! and MaFoo dun have to tell her what to cook everyday.) and the kids like her...

O lord let her be the one......
How to get a good helper/maid?
I dunno also... pray loh......

help help

Hi Aunty Tini

2008-08-07T15:58:00.004+08:00

Mel got promoted recently and I told the kids about it.

Kayzia went, "what is promoted huh?"

How do I exprain this to a 6 years old kid.

I went, "well, mummy's position in the company just got higher"

Kayzia was beaming with joy and excitement as she went

"WAH!"
"I want to see mummy now"
"I want to see mummy taller!"

hm.... bad explanation.....
And well done mafoo! keep it up!

Ball Ball Rash

2008-06-10T13:38:00.000+08:00

Yesterday the school called(3pm plus), said kieran got rashes all over his body, ask if someone could come and bring him back home.(i tempted to ask:" is he turning green green?" just saw the trailer of Edward Norton's Incredible Hulk, ROCKS MAN!) Then we realised we had not teach our helper, Modesta, what to do when the kids fall sick in school. Thank God for Mel's mother, she was able to help. I found out later that, even with my MIL, kieran refused to go back home. He only wants daddy and mummy. Teacher called Mel, Mel talked to kieran,(no used one, cannot talk to a 2 and half years old kid lah) finally with Kayzia's help, who was willing to scarifice her playing time in school, they got Kieran back home.

When I came back home(6pm), I expected to see a cranky boy, crying in pain with rashes all over. Nope, he was happily jumping and dancing with Barney's music! When he saw me, he went, "see, see, ball-ball, ball-ball, so many ball-ball " like he had a new toy! I brought him to the Simei GP, Doc Chua, who also specialised in treating skin problems. On the way, Kieran kept looking at the ball-balls and kept asking me to look at them. I asked, "you like ball-ball?" pointing at the rashes. I could see it was a very complicated and confusing question. On one hand he loves playing with ball but on the other hand, he felt the itch of the rashes growing all over his body. Finally he went, "dun like ball-ball, ball-ball go home". Even then he kept laughing at himself for having so many ball-balls on his body. Normally he is quite cam shy,(not a problem with Kayzia thou!) but in this case, he was like a proud kid showing off his new toy!

Dr chua confirmed he had Urticuria, (dun ask me is simi, i only know rash), can happened to anyone, anytime, anywhere. No cause, wont spread, just need to take med(Zyrtec oral drop) and will be fine in 24hrs. By 9pm, after dinner, med and bath, the rash is 99% gone. Thank God!

Look daddy look, ball-ball on my hand.

Ball-ball on my face.

Doc Chua gave him a sticker book. Look at how shy he is with the cam.... He didnt cry at all when Doc Chua was checking him. In fact, he was proudly showing Doc Chua where all the ball-balls were!

Andrea's birthday party and Kieran's happy pics

2008-06-03T21:37:00.000+08:00

Last Sunday was Andrea's birthday (Chee Wan and Yoke Ling's daughter). We were invited to Jacob Ballas Children Garden. It is opp the old NIE school at Bt Timah Road

It is on the same road going into the old NIE school. On the left u can see the NIE running track. Look out on the right now.....

Please note,
1. Close on Mon, unless Mon is holiday.
2. Opens from 8am - 7pm.
3. Got car park but no ferry bus. Can take SBS bus, 48,66,151,154,170,186, SMRT 67,171. Stop after Old NIE school, 5mins walk.
4. Only children aged 12 and below will be admitted and must be accompanied by adult(s).
5. For adults not accompanied by children, please contact a staff to arrange for a viewing.
6. No pets allowed.
7. FREE.

Not much food at this cafe, so better pack own food.

Chee Wan and family

I realised many of Kieran's pics in our blog tends to be moody or gloomy.
So these are some rare happy pics of him!

Help is here! part 2 (getting a helper)

2008-06-01T21:08:00.004+08:00

My good friend Christina asked me, "you not afraid the kids will be close to the maid?" First of all, Mel and I prefered to use the word helper than maid. My answer is, yes, they will be close to the helper, as she will become a part of our family. I am not worry about that. But the kids will never ever be closer to the helper than to the both of us. We are very clear about this issue. Personally, we think many parents leave the task of raising the kids to the helpers.

When the kids have fun in the park or playground, who is there with them? Helper. When they whine and cry, what do parents do? They half expectingly wait for the helper to bring the kids aside so that both the parents and kids can cool off. which to me, is the worst thing to do. So in good and bad times, the helper is with the kids. They go to school together, play together, they bath the kids, sayang them when the parents scold them, talk to them about anything under the sun, cook for them their fav food, make their hairdo, etc.... And the parents wondered "why my kids not close to me?" It is not the helper's fault but we have forgotten the reason we hried a helper for.

I dun think, any parents want the kids to be closer to the helper than themselves. Most got lazy, find it hard to deal with their kid's character issues, let their work and career take out more time than it should. This is especially true for fathers. They are the most adsent firgure in most family outings. You seldom see fathers bringing their kids out by himself, but you will see lots of mother doing that, or worst still, helper. I am not refering to non working mums bringing the kids out on working hours. I talking about weekdays night and the weekends. Where are the fathers?

In the last posting, part 1, I stated the 3 main reasons for us hired a helper. I am not going to compromise with my time with the kids. I will still cycle them to school and back home daily. I will bring them to the playground how ever tired I am. I will read the bible and pray with them. I will discipline them myself and never let them go crying to the arms of the helper. When they cry I want to be there to feel their pain. When they laugh, I will be the one laughing the loudest and when they sleep, I will be the one carrying them (but seriously they are getting heavy for the both of us...), protecting them from all dangers.

I know I do sound very self rightous, I am saying this so that people can hold me accountable if I fail to be a good father to my kids. We love them more than our very lives.

So will they be close to my helper? yes. Will they be closer to my helper than us? Never! They are our kids, not the helper's.

"You talking about me??????"

"I have a bad feeling about this....."

Help is here! part 1 (getting a helper)

2008-05-27T13:54:00.001+08:00

Mel and I had being talking about having a helper for a long while. I had alway not being keen about having someone we do not know well in our place. On the other hand, I also know we do need help in our house. 6 years on, the time is right for us to have a helper. As Kayzia will be studying pri 1 next year, her classes will start at around noon time and being working parents,we cant send her to school. Yes, we had went thru many times about Mel not working or working part-time(even worst!), they are not the best solutions. Having a helper earlier will help the kids to get used to her.

We also very kiasi(afraid bad things will happen), what if we get the time bomb one, how? We read so many nasty stories about helpers ill-treating the kids when the adults are not around. Well, also many inhuman stories of horrible sir/mdm torturing the helpers. We prayed for the right helper and determine to be good masters. Our church friends, Siew Hee and Joyce have a wonderful helper. She is a committed disciple in our church. She told us that her cousin wants to work in Singapore to ease the family financial difficulties. We prayed and asked God to show us if there is any reason why we should not take her.

Before i go further, I will list the 3 reasons why we wanted a helper.
1. As stated above, Kayzia is going to pri 1 next year, someone needs to be at home.
2. We need help with our house chores. Someone to help with all our daily cleaning so that we wont be burden and tired by all these unimportant yet necessary responibilities.
3. When the kids are sick, we cannot always take leave to be with them, or get our parents to come down to look after them.

How about getting our parents to stay with us? Without even praying or having any sort of discussion, we knew the answer is no. Not that our parents are not willing to help, they had in many ocassions, even on last minutes notice, came over our place to take care of the kids. They deserved a break, they had it hard raising us(especially me), should we burden them even more with our own kids?

So with that in mind, our help came last Sat. Her name is Modesta, she is 40 years old, married to a pastor back home in Philippines, and they have 4 kids. The youngest is Kieran's age. It must be hard for her to leave them behind. She called back on Sunday, the kids were crying for her. Mel took Monday to Wednesday leave to be with her and teach her the routine of our home. She used to work in Taiwan in 1999, but have forgotten most of the Chinese she had learnt back then. O, her pastor husband dun get paid in church for preaching, voluntary work. They sell veg to get by monthly. How much a month? 1000 peso, which is about SGD30! O mine! I almost fainted when i heard that. Then we told her why we needed a helper (the 3 reasons), her pay, the kids, and so on. We had a good talk. Both of us think she is a good person in nature. We prayed sincerely that she will care for the kids like she will care for hers.

For the past few days, both Mel and I felt physically less tired. After the talk with Modesta, we had time to go for a jog. The last time we did that was just before we found our Mel was pregnant with Kieran. Hm, is this a sign? Help is here. We are grateful for her.

Labour Day outing

2008-05-07T15:17:00.007+08:00

My mum called us to go makan(Whampoo market) and walk walk(Lower Peirce) on Labour Day. Her friend(school bus driver) was going to pick us up from my place. Free transport, good breakfast and most of all, the kids are excited about it... what else can i asked for? the only problem is this. I stayed up on wed morning(230am till 5am) watching Man U beat Barcelona(COME ON!) and then caught Ironman on wed night, 11pm show. Reach home at 2am with Bruce in my house watching Liverpool vs Chelsea till 530am(they went into extra time!). What time is the uncle coming to pick us up? 730pm? no, what time? 730am... I am dead.

Mum's frd came with one of those non seat belt school bus(which is a hot topic in Singapore). Pick us and the parents up. The brealfast at whampoo was nice! But i was feeling sleepy and falling sick(sore throat).The weather was good, too good, infact it was hot. Er, this morning the aircon was running cold but by now, it seems a little warm. But free transport, better dun complain. wait uncle tell me go take bus. Found out from mum later on, that the aircon has not being working fine recently.

Mel and I had not come to Lower Peirce before. No transport mah. Once I stepped into the place, I actually felt much better! The air was fresh, it wasnt hot, infact it was cooling. I felt refreshed n recharged! We had a good 45 mins walk and the kids love ths place.

Since i havent update for awhile, i will load more pics this time.

"where is uncle?" as usual, kieran is sleepy.

Yeah!

Even with food, kieran looks sleepy.

Whampoo market.

Lower Perice.

entrance to the serect garden?

This is where they shot 臥虎藏龍, Chow Yun-Fatt and Zhang Ziyi fought here.....

Mafoo n Kafoo.

I think Kieran still not fired up that we woke him up early.....(Kifoo with my mum).

Kafoo and Kifoo.

My dad with 2 little foos.

Group photo minus me.

where is everyone?

Kayzia, queen of the jungle?

Singapore Tarzen.

Going home. Note, this car kena fine but not ours. Cause he/she parked in the grass. NEA fined him/her. Next time make sure you park nicely....

Have $50 notes with 'KF' mark?

2008-03-27T13:47:00.000+08:00

By Esther Tan
WHEN Mr G.S. Lee withdrew some money from an OCBC Bank ATM at Compass Point earlier this month, three of his $50 notes seemed a bit strange - the letters 'KF' were on the top right hand corner.
The bank told him then that there was 'no problem with the notes', he said, but the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has since clarified that such notes have been mutilated on purpose and are therefore worthless.

The letters looked 'legally imprinted', said Mr Lee in an e-mail to The Straits Times online portal, Stomp, asking what the letters might mean. But 'KF' is not part of the $50 note's design, said MAS' spokesman, adding it did not know what 'KF' stood for.

'Notes with such markings are considered to be deliberate mutilation and they command no value,' she added.

Anyone who has notes with the markings can take them to the banks to be exchanged, she said, and MAS will take the notes back as an 'act of grace'.

When contacted, OCBC's head of group corporate communications Koh Ching Ching said currency could have become defaced while being circulated.

She said the bank's ATMs will be checked so any other mutilated notes can be retrieved.

She added that OCBC's tellers are 'trained to look out for defaced or mutilated notes and handle them as per guidelines provided by MAS', and that it has reminded its staff to be vigilant.

If any of you have this note, dun worry, you can change it with the banks as we have a gracious MAS. As an "act of grace" they will accept it back. Seem to me that "KF" wasn't written on it as Mr Lee noted that they looked "legally imprinted". Wondered how could OCBC's trained tellers tell Mr Lee the KF note has "no problem" while MAS commented that the note is mutilated. Maybe MAS got special scanning machine that our highly effective banks dun have? Maybe MAS printed wrongly? Surely NOT! NEVER! Must be some bored fellas somehow managed to "print" the letters into the notes in remembrance of their love ones.

Currently we dunno what KF means. KAE(hokkien for not real), FAKE? luckily not NKF otherwise will have another strom. Actually I would like to have 2 of this worthless $50 if anyone of you have it. Cause to me, KF means Kayzia Foo or Kieran Foo. Contact me.For the record, I dun work for MAS or any banks;) so I didnt do it ok?.....

What not to wear when going where......

2008-03-27T13:24:00.000+08:00

Last Sunday morning, was wondering what to wear for church. Took out a yellow short sleeve and blue cargo pant. There was something odd about it but I just couldnt pinpoint what was it. It became all so clear after church when our friends Malcolm and Joanne suggested that we have lunch at Tampines Ikea. Great, I can be Ikea staff for that few hours when I am there! At least 2 guys asked me for help when we were there.

Dear Readers,
Please note the following uniform,

Ikea : Yellow Top Dark Bottom.(see below for sample)
Mac : Red T DB
Cold Storage: Green T DB
Burger King : Dark Blue T DB
Borders : black Polo T DB

Please feel to comment and add on....

Dec 25th christmas trees and presents

2008-03-26T19:09:00.000+08:00

This year my mother gave us a white 6th feet christmas tree! The kids are goo goo over it! We gave out many presents in church and in return we also received many many gifts. Kayzia and Kieran both have the most gift, then come Mel, of course i am the last. No one rem the fathers most of the time in Christmas. Well, not that i care. As long as everyone is happy!

White is nice!

All mine, hee hee.....

use my wu-yin-shou(no shadow hand*) to open all the presents!

*no shadow hand-kongfung founded by master wong fei hong, it is so fast, it takes the enemies out in seconds.

Dec 25th - Christmas at the botanic Gardens

2008-03-20T13:10:00.005+08:00

On Christmas day we were at the Botanic Gardens after visiting our friend at Gleneagles. Not a lot of people. Fresh air. lots of walking space. Good place to relax the mind. But if you are bringing the kids, it is always harsh on the parents aching bodies......

"Whatever you guys have in mind to do or go, I need to eat first....."

"dont you snatch my food!"

"who wants to eat?"
"MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

Going home

"waha, managed to con mummy to carry me....."

Dec 1st: Chirstmas photo taking in Orchard 2

2008-03-18T22:42:00.005+08:00

We were at Far East Plaza cause the girls needed to use the toilet. I remembered my childhood neighbour has a shop in the basement. It is called Area 51. Kayzia loves the place! why? can do airbrush tatoo mah, happy loh.

Kayzia, by the time you have grown up. Take a look at all your tatoos. You cannot say to daddy that I never let you do tatoo. You asked me back then and I said yes, only for this time in your life. And you agreed that you will never do again.

Kieran, I know you didnt ask me about doing tatoo, in fact you were too scared to go near the machine. I also gave you the chance, I asked if you wanted and you said no. And you also agreed that you will never have one.

Mum is the witness. Case closed.

Getting started

Left arm- Dragon

Rght arm- Tiger

"What if i do a simple tatoo?" look honey, u already did it on your legs.
Left leg- Rose

Right leg- Flowers

Li Ching, Li Ping and Kayzia

nonononononono, not me.......

I need to hide.....

Dec 1st: Chirstmas photo taking in Orchard 1

2008-03-17T13:37:00.006+08:00

Christmas is coming soon(over liao, back tracking), so the family went kaikai to see Christmas lightings. Kieran kena mosquito bites on the face the night before, so not very good looking...

25th Nov 2007: Trip to Manchester United.

2008-03-17T13:25:00.000+08:00

More boring pictures for most of you.
We went to Old Trafford the next day, yes, I got Oma (Die Hard Liverpool Fan) to come along. I even got him to pay for the stadium tour! Yeah. In the beginning of the tour, the guide asked if any of us support other clubs, how can I miss this opportunity. Oma declared he is a Liverpool fan and the crowd went.... boooooooo... hahaha, it was fun for me....

Team photo

Guide:"So who supports Liverpool?"

Theatre of Dreams

I took photo with Ronaldo and Ronney..... i meant with their jersey

This is where Alex Ferguson sits on every home matches.....

Nov 24th 2007- Trip to Manchester

2008-03-17T13:12:00.001+08:00

Was too lazy to do anything. So now I blog backtracking.
Since I so bored, I decided to take a trip to UK to see my favourite team, Manchester United. You must be thinking, wow, you very rich hor? suka suka, go UK watch football? Rich issit? No lah. Yearly my company (SIA Engg Company) gives us one free ticket to travel (return, of course) anywhere in the world as long as SIA flies there(wondered if they are planning to fly up to the moon in the future!). My 2006 ticket expires by 2007.Coincidently my friend Oma (SIA cabin crew) had a flight to Manchester in Nov. Got free air ticket, got free 4 stars hotel stay in Hilton, the football club replied that they will reserved 2 tickets for me, and Mel is supportive of me going.... what else can I asked for.

Manchester was cold man, like at sub cheero.... We touched down, took a nap and off we go! The game was played in Bolton, which is 20mins away from where we stayed. Like what I told Oma, machiam from Cityhall to Simei, very fast one lah. U can understand Oma’s reluctance as he is a Liverpool fan(Liverpool was playing away in Newcastle, very far, so no choice but to follow me). We had a great time.
Why so short? Cause Man U lost to Bolton 1-0! The last time this happened was like many years ago! Needless to say, Oma was screaming the whole time and Jason in Singapore asked me to buy him a Bolton jersey. Pure torture.

Anyway, I really enjoyed myself.
Airticket: free.
Lodging :free.
Football ticket: 30pounds, which is cheap because I got it from the club not black market(abt 200pounds for one!)
Even though Man U lost, currently we are leading Arsenal on goal different and have a game in hand! Liverpool? smell no smoke....Come on Man U!

Outside Manchester Airport...cold cold....

Steven and Oma, on our way to Bolton, tututrain.....

Reebok Stadium, home of Bolton Wanderers.

Reebok Stadium.

Players warming up.

Penang - Wedding and yumseng!

2007-11-07T10:12:00.000+08:00

One of the reasons for us to go up Penang was to attend my friend's wedding. I worked with the penang church for about 6 months in 1998 or 99? Anyway i had lots of fun (plus lots of good food) and made many good friends. One of them(Jason) is currently staying at my place in Singapore. Will scan a picture of the couple's wedding picture and post it here soon. Thank God for freddy and cheewan(this one is woman, not the tan chee wan in our church), they came to pick us up from the hotel to the restaurant in mainland Penang. we took the ferry, it was fun for everyone. You only need to pay for enterance into Penang Island, going out by ferry is free. You should try it if you have the chance. cheap cheap also. Anyway, wedding in Malaysia is awesome man. The food is great and atmosphere like a big family gathering. I heard kala ok is a must. Everyone had a good time. You dun see much of kieran cause he scared of yumseng(cheering for the wedding couple). I took him out for a walk most of the time. We recorded yumseng from kayzia, take a look.

Penang 2007

2007-11-02T16:15:00.000+08:00

Hi everyone, sorry for the silent. I have being busy with a couple of things. OK, I am lazy, I slacked. Anyway, I shall start with my Penang trip with the Koppe family. Not laupei (father in hokkien), but Oma, Michelle and Marteen. We decided to drive up Penang. Ok, to be precise, Oma and Michelle drove us there. I useless, no license. Total there were 4 adults and 3 kids. The Foos family slept over at Koppe’s house and we set off at about 7plus in the morning from checkpoint. The journey was long but we were ready. Parents if you are thinking of traveling long distance with the kids. You need a few things. A big car is a must! We were in a MPV. Make sure there is some sort of entertainment. In this car, there is a built in screen and 2 extra DVD players for the 2 kids. There is even a DVD charge at the back seat so that the kids can take turn to charge and watch the cartoons at the same time. We also have 4-5 extra soft cushions for the kids to sleep on. Blanket also. Last but not least, lots of snack to keep the drivers awake (Actually I took the most!). The ride was smooth and we reached Holiday Inn (Great hotel!) at 5pm.We had many breaks and kids were not cranky (Very important, otherwise whole holiday gone). As you can see the kids were all ready to play!

Gathering of the foos' friends

2007-08-31T01:29:00.000+08:00

Andrea and Kafoo

Andrea and Kafoo

Andrea and Kafoo

KiFoo

Edrik

Edrik and Kayzia

Last Sat my best friends in church (since campus days) got together for dinner at my place.
All of us have being really busy so have not being able to meet up. (EXCUSE!)
I have known them as long as I have been a Christian, 16 years to be exact.
Not their wives thou, only the husbands.
Chee Wan and Yoke Ling have 2 kids, Edrik (7) and Andrea (3).
Gin Kai and Karen, last but the least the only single, Joseph Tan, JT.
Chee Wan, Gin Kai, JT and I were in the Campus Ministry back in 1991.
It was one of the best days of our lives.
We were also part of Tone Zone (church informal accapella group).
Nope, I can’t sing, I am tone deaf, I am more of a cupbearer to them.
There are simply too much things for me to recount.

Agenda, makan, fellowship and play broadgame,(Settler of Catan)
I charged my battery (cam) but got too excited about the food that I forgot to take pictures!

Half way through, KaFoo and Andrea wanted to watch Stuart Little (the mouse show).
I told the 2 girls, unless all the kids agreed, they will not watch it.
Erick wasn’t too keen on the show.
So Kafoo tried talking to him the whole time.
I didn’t really hear what she was saying, but it reminded me of Delilah in Judges 16!
Then out of nowhere I heard Erick said: “you don’t bluff me.”
And KaFoo went: “no Erick, no, …..”
Then Gin Kai commented maybe Edrik should have said: “Your dad can con my dad, but you can’t con me.”
We really enjoyed the time together and look forward to the next get together.
I attached some other pictures (kids’s photos) we took in the past.

Painting

2007-08-14T23:20:00.000+08:00

KaFoo has a new hobby. Water colour painting. It all started in Kin Ching and Yvonne's place. We were there for dinner and their daughter Alicia introduced this hobby to her. After a while they were painting their hands and legs! So yesterday, we got some brushes and colour paints for her (can get them at Popular). Seems like KiFoo also like it. Dont asked me what they drew. As KaFoo put it: It is painting, cannot ask one....sign of a good painter.We had a good time!

Children haircut day

2007-08-11T21:47:00.000+08:00

We brought the kids for a haircut. Kieran's haircut reminded me of Michael Scofield from Prison Break. I recorded the process thru my Sony Ericsson S500i. As you can see, he cried from the beginning to the very end. I think the vibrations caused by the shaver must have scared him big time. So young parents, get ready, your time will come, unless you have a girl, then in that case it is not much of a problem. Kayzia had a good time.

Kayzia is blading

2007-08-04T21:47:00.000+08:00

Simei rollerblade shop had a sale so we decided to buy Kayzia and myself a pair of blade. (Mafoo too scared - - “) If you are thinking to take up this hobby, please get a good pair of blade otherwise you will spend more time walking than blading.

Fila Blade: $130
Protective gears: $35
Helmet: $25
Bag: $20
See her fall: Priceless! Hahahahaha.

As you can hear, the commentary is really bad. Should be “We got a pair of blade for her” and not “ we got one blade for her”, that will be only one side! PieSay….

yum yum dynamo....

2007-08-01T21:00:00.000+08:00

I got a called from my wife this morning.

“Dear, Ah Mei (Nanny) just called, guesswhat?”

Ok, we all know “guesswhat” is a universal word which means something bad happened. And this word also has a very strong bond with Kieran.

“Ah Mei found Kieran at the kitchen, he was playing with Dynamo (washing detergent) and ate/drank some of it.”

All that Kieran could say was “ hot hot hot hot” with his tongue sticking out. All that i could think of was a picture of Winnie the Poon and her pot of honey! Aiyoh, this boy really hunt for food, Dynamo also can eat. Haiz. Anyway the Nanny said it was only a small amount. My wife took half-day leave to bring him to see the doctor. I was back home at 6pm, there he was, dancing to Barney’s song and waiting for dinner to be served. No, I didn’t see bubbles coming out from his nose or ears. He was in his usual self. Anyway, parents, things to look out: 1~ Dynamo cannot be consumed. 2~ is the kid acting normal? 3~ any vomiting and fainting spell? 4~ is the kid sleeping more than usual? Please consult the doctor immediately.

No fear! Transfirmers and BBF are here!

2007-07-23T19:33:00.001+08:00

transfirmers
Originally uploaded by thefoosfamily

Recently I have being looking for toys specially for KiFoo, cause he has being playing barbie doll with KaFoo, hm, not a good sign. On Sat, I was with Kin Ching at a certain market in the East. While waiting for our chilli crabs, we went window shooping at the neighbourhood stores near the market. We were looking for the coolest boys toy at the moment,the Transformers. We ended up finding the TRANSFIRMERS! Yes, Tranfirmers not Transformers. Dont play play ok, this one got multiply transformed stage one. See picture. The model chinese name, loosely translated ~ Hit Sky Pole! Some more come with CDs! We also saw another gem, KC pointed out to me... the BOMB BOMB FORCE! This one also got CDs and multiply transformed stage. If u can read chinese, it says: "Limited Edition!" wah, 10 years from now can resell this man! The auntie selling it for $25~$30. We had a good laugh.... no I didnt buy.....toys from ch@@@, funny.

2006 Year End Performance- Kafoo

2007-07-04T10:15:00.000+08:00

I just watched this clip today. Got a bit emo. Kafoo is the green green one. She is supposed to be the hungry caterpillar. And the pink pink ones are the ants. For weeks (before the performance, we tired asking her to show us some of the moves but she refused. "teacher says cannot show daddy mummy at home". So we also got to see it first hand.

I will uploaded the shorter upclose version by tonight.(050707)

Teacher Kayzia

2007-06-19T22:42:00.000+08:00

This video was taken in 4th Oct 2005.(sorry video not well taken)
KaFoo was trying to teach us 123 or ABC.
She was doing what the teacher normally does in the school.
MaFoo pretended not paying attention in "class"
I was asking for biscuits.
KaFoo was 2 years and 9months old.
KiFoo was only 2weeks old.
Those days were so funny.

some of Kayzia's words were
"look look"
"take picture, take picture"
"ten minutes can eat biscuit"
"A is to ? 1 is to? 2 is to?"

What would you do? (1)

2007-06-12T14:31:00.000+08:00

Place: Market coffee shop.
Time: Morning.
Incident:
You got your coffee, just made payment and about to leave.
There were 7-8 fellas behind you.
Just then auntie (in her late 50s) came right in, cutted queue, made her order.
What would you do?

hightlight below.....
What I did:
I told her “ Auntie, please queue up”
She went “ Ah Di, none of your business”
I went “ You cut queue, go queue up like everyone else”
She went “you kapo, I order first cannot isit”
As she went on grumbling, I walked off (more interested in having my breakfast) I didn’t think anyone would have said no to her for jumping the queue, IF she had asked. Don’t get me wrong, I think the elderly do need more attention and help but I don’t think they should abuse it and take advantage of others. Will I do it again? What do you think?

Place: Crowded MRT.
Time: Rush hour.
Incident:
You could not board the train cause it was too packed.
You were now first in queue for the next one.
People started queuing behind yellow diagonal line, leaving the front empty.
Just then uncle (in his late 50s) came right in to that empty spot, cut queue, then look at you.
What would you do?

hightlight below.....

What I did:
Actually in this case, I didnt have a choice.
Why? Cause the uncle went, “ Why, what u looking at? not happy isit?”
I went: “ Uncle, there is a queue, you should go queue there”
He went “What, you bully oldman? Why not u talk to others who jumped queue?”
Er, he was the only one standing in that "keep clear" area.
I went “Cause you are the only one that cut queue here!”
This happened right infront of everyone. MaFoo told me to stop talking to him and let it go. Train came, we boarded, I kena bothered. Again, I couldn't stand this sort of attitude.

Enrolling KaFoo for a course.(Roller blading)

2007-06-06T14:39:00.000+08:00

KaFoo is coming 5. For the record, we have not enrolled her to any course to “boost” her intellect or discover her hidden talents (in the form of music or dance). Basically we (especially me) wanted her to be around us more often (Nothing wrong if you are sending your kids for classes, just our preference). Anyway, I got this call from my friend, Oma,

“Ah Foo, any plans tomorrow (Sunday)? We (Michelle) bringing Marteen (their son) to East Coast for blading lesson, do you think Kayzia will be interested?”

Hm. Sunday afternoon, as always, is our family NAPPING time (the kids need it, if u read my last post or see the pics, you will know who really needs it!). Just in case you start thinking that the Foos are a batch of slackers, we are always busy in church from 9am till 2pm. PaFoo asked KaFoo if she wanted to give it a try. She replied, “YES!”.

We met at East Coast Hawker Centre area, carpark F1 at about 3pm. There are 2 groups of experts teaching blading, one by the carpark and the other is further in. As we were not sure if KaFoo would like to blade more in the future, we asked the person in-charge if it was all right to pay for 1 lesson instead of the full course. They were so kind that they let KaFoo use the equipment and even have a personal coach to teach her for free! (I would strongly recommend anyone to learn from them, they were very patient with the kids). After putting on the gears, KaFoo was all ready to hit the road. “Hold on” said the coach, "got to start from the grass/sand area first." She started off well but ended slightly discouraged after many falls. We kept encouraging her not to give up (since it is free). How about KiFoo? That boy was busy eating and eating and eating Michelle’s (or it is Oma?) homemade cookies, his favorite hobby. We had a great evening.

Last night I asked KaFoo if she wanted to go bladding again. She said no, (which I am fine), as she sniffed her baobao (bolster) before she meets Peter Pan in her dreamland, she went “I want to hold Marteen’s hand” Did she means hold Marteen’s hand for support during bladding or just hold his hand.... Hm... Good night darling….

Is that FOOD?

Stoping playing with me. Give me my cookies! This is not funny!

Is over there! there!

Finally

All ready to go! I want to hold Marteen's hand?

Before and after?

Intro to the foos (胡)family.

2007-05-25T20:20:00.000+08:00

KiFoo is 20 month old as of this article.
Full name: Kieran Foo Xiang Yu.(翔宇).
Meaning: To have a flying free spirit in this world.
He has 2 hobbies, eating and crying.
He eats non-stop and cries when you try to stop him from eating.
This little fat boy constantly drives MaFoo crazy with his endless request of “mummum” which means eating.

Height: 61cm
Top speed: 8 steps in 10 seconds

KaFoo is 4 years and 6 months old.
Kayzia Foo Xin Yu.( 心宇)
Meaning: To have a heart as big as the universe.
She loves to dance and act as a TBDAM sensor. (Tension Between Daddy and Mummy)
When Mel and I have disagreements, (of course not in front of her) she can sense it from miles away.
She makes sure we both hold hands and will says “you must love one another, you know”.
Once she told Mel this: “Mummy, you have to forgive daddy, the bible wants us to forgive each other. Daddy was late because he was reaching out to his friends to bring them to church”
Hm… kind of humbling for adults to hear this.

Height: 1.1meter.
Top speed: 10 words in 5 sec.

MaFoo, never reveal a woman age.(at least not intentionally)
Melanie Tan Mei Ling. (陳美琳)
Meaning: Beautiful jade, gem.
Nurse at work and home.
Loves the husband and the 2 kids.
Often mistaken as teenage mum or maid due to her young looks and tan complexion.
In the clinic, doctor: “Er, sorry to inform you that you are pregnant(with Kayzia), you have to inform your mother, girl”
My wife went: “that’s wonderful, I will inform my husband now!”
At our home void deck, someone asked “this boy (KiFoo) so cute. Where is the mother? Out so early with the maid?” I replied, “We don’t have maid and she is the mother.”

Height: much taller than the 2 kids.
Top speed: like all mothers, can do 5 things at the same time.

PaFoo, 32, 2 years older than MaFoo.
Frank Foo Sze Ling. (石林)
Meaning: Stone forest?????
Yes, I know it sounds very girly, Sze Ling.
What to do, it was given to me by my late grandfather.
Basically, he wanted me to be strong as the stone and to have a heart as big as the forest.
As the years passed, I think my heart is becoming like the stone and my house is like the forest, especially if you have 2 kids.

Height: 1.7m
Top speed: can fall asleep in 10 seconds. (Especially in car)

Knocks and not everyone is Peter Parker

2007-05-25T15:04:00.000+08:00

Kayzia knocked her head yesterday in the childcare. Nope, not in the playground, but while she was sleeping! At the stroke of midnight, she complaints of pain near her left temple. As she did not vomit or faint the whole day, both Mel and I thought she just needed the doctor's assurance. Well, we were right, the doctor gave her some medicine and advises us to ice it down.

No, that’s not all.
Kieran also had a knocked on wed, in the library. He wanted to be like Peter Parker, guess he is not ready for the responsibility that comes with great powers. Anyway, that fall was nasty one, a 0.5cm cut, hm… Where can this cut be? That can really make it bad. Let try the eye lip then. Blood was everywhere. The poor boy was wailing big time. Took him to the new clinic at the Simei MRT. The doctor was calm, he gave him this gel to patch up the cut and observed him for about 30 mins. By then our boy was all fine. Especially when daddy and friends (CheeWan and Stephen happened to be nearby visiting their friend at Changi General Hospital) had DESSERT beside the clinic. "Mummum" with that big smile, he is back!
The funny thing is during the whole time while he was in pain, he was calling for Kayzia, "jia jia.....jia jia" ~ big sister in Chinese. I am glad these two "foos" are close to each other.

Weekend is here. All I need now is a knock-out sleep tonight.....