Finally, I made the call to the school to make an arrangement for C to come down for a swimming assessment. Yeva and Zinnia were keen so our families went together after service. We were rather apprehensive initially because the several times I spoke to C about enrolling her into swimming classes were met with reservations and protests. She insisted on having Daddy, and no one else teach her. But Daddy wasn't keen because he felt that C wasn't serious and didn't listen to his instructions. She was more into play than wanting to learn swimming skills.

But I must say, our trip today wasn't wasted at all. Yeva and Cheryl were given the green light to go ahead for the swimming class after a short session with their coach, Uncle Chong. He is a very warm and gentle man and worked tremendously well with toddlers. Yeva and C took to him in no time at all, much to our relief.

Our girls before their dip in the pool.

Zinnia was the first to go as Uncle Chong had to assess her swimming ability.

Then it was C's and Yeva's turn. He made them feel so comfortable and the girls had an enjoyable time with him, playing in the water as well as learning some basic skills.

Yes, we signed them up for classes! Daddy and I were pleased with what we saw and children can never be too young to pick up a skill as important as swimming.

Cheryl has been begging for us to take her for art classes but because I hadn't done any research about any art schools, I had to hold her back. When an ex student of mine said that she was working with an art studio, we were pleasantly surprised and happy yet finding a time to go down was nearly impossible.

But we finally did it this afternoon and the result, we signed C up immediately!

Daddy and I were very surprised indeed at how Kelly, my ex student and currently an art teacher at the studio, taught C. This was in the email that Kelly wrote to me after the class.

"Sorry, I forgot to pass you C's practice paper today so i took a photograph of it. Anyway, this is how it works, before we start on a painting, we get the kids to practice first. so for C's case, we practiced to draw a castle. T is for Teacher and C is for Cheryl. So right, i sketched the castle part by part, starting from the hills, then building up the castle and the sun. so C followed my every step. After she is done, I got her to transfer it onto the bigger paper by herself before getting her ready to paint.
You can see from the picture that C actually followed very closely to what i drew which is really good. Most importantly, she enjoyed the process.

It was really a pleasure teaching her. Thank you.
=))

Kelly." 

This is the practice paper and preparation work that C had to do prior to the real work.

 

Kelly handing C a little present after the work was done.

Kelly and Cheryl.

C later told us that she wants to go for the 2 hours class instead of the 1 hour one as she felt that the time just flew away too quickly. I guess she was having fun so the hour didn't seem that long. Kelly also complimented that C was attentive and could do the work as instructed so she highly recommends that C goes for the 2 hours class too.

So there, guess we should give her what she wants. :) Thank you, Kelly! It has been great seeing you again after so many years.

Daddy, Cheryl and I were "off" and when Aunt Joan called to ask if we wanted to join Keziah for a trial art session, we jumped at the chance.

Once C knew that she was going to do some painting, she was very excited and getting her to take her nap turned out to be quite a task because she was going on about the class.

We met Aunt Joan and Keziah at 4pm and then made our way there... .

Vince Art School!

This was C's creation! The teacher commented that C's got quite an imagination. :)

Keziah's art piece!

After the session. :)

The girls clearly enjoyed themselves and Aunt Joan and I were contemplating signing them up for the class. The school holiday is coming up so ... .

This evening, we went down to Clay Cove again to finish up the art pieces the children created.

The children were waiting anxiously for the brushes to be given out.

We took some time to pose for shots! :)

And then they got started...

Emma and Aaron were also concentrating on giving their art pieces coats of paint.

The intensed looks! Children hard at work!

Sheldon, deep in thought as he painted his plate.

C enjoying herself immensely.

The children's masterpieces: Brion's, Sheldon's and Jing Heng's.

Keziah's and Cheryl's works of art. C's piece seemed incomplete but the teacher assured me that after the firing and glazing, the unpainted portion would have a tinge of grey so it would turn out fine. I was asking C if she had spent her time chatting away instead of painting and she commented that it took time to paint each and every one of the tiny designs. Ha ha. Okay Baby, I could tell that she did make the effort. Besides, C was also very careful with the paint and made sure that she didn't have too much of it on her brush before she applied on her plate.

Aaron and Emma finally finished theirs too.

The children happily and very proudly posed with their certificates! :)

We were told that their pieces would only be ready for collection in 2 weeks so... we will have to wait and see how they turn out. :)

I planned to take C for a session of pottery making and since C's friends were in town, we thought it would be great to have them join her.

At the designated time, all of us gathered at Clay Cove where the session would be held.

The children getting ready...

Then they were each given a piece of clay to work on. The kids did a great job first rolling out the clay.

Emma and Aaron came along too and as they are older, they got to do different things. The skills they learned are also more sophisticated.

The children had rolled out the base of their plates and they were printing designs down on the clay.

Cheryl was very engrossed in the task and was carefully picking out the designs she wanted.

Potter's hands... they mould, they create... The children completed part of their plates.

Emma's and Aaron's creation.

Emma's and Aaron's session lasted slightly longer and they each made 3 bowls. Daddy and I were glad that they and the other kids had fun. They were extremely proud of themselves too!

C and her friends' pieces.

No, C or her friends didn't do these but these little craft pieces were placed by the windows at the Centre. After we saw them, we got really excited and C couldn't wait to go back to do the painting next. We are all excited about how their plates will turn out.

A group photo after their session ended. It was definitely not an easy task to snap pictures of restless toddlers. Ha ha ha!

We started the day early today because there were lots to be done! Daddy had to bring our Stream down for servicing and we had a trial class with Kindermusik with Mummies Chloe and Angie and Toddlers Joshua and Yeva.

This would be the first time that Yeva and Cheryl see Joshua. Come to think of it, we havent seen each other since Joshua was born in 2005. (How busy have we been?) Joshua was late but thankfully he made it and our kids had fun during the session.

These were the only 2 pictures I managed because there was no photography allowed. (Ops!) Cheryl and Yeva played with the balls before the class started and then when the teacher came in, she sang several songs and brought out some drums for the kids to play on. C was banging on the drums and punching her little fists on them.

Our kids participated actively and was attentive to the instructions the teacher gave. They totally enjoyed the story telling session too. And soon, 45 minutes just flew by and the class was over.

Then Daddy had to rush off to get his fog lights fixed so we had lunch with Aunt Angie, Uncle JM, Zinnia and Jordan. Aunt Chloe had to return to office to get some work done. (Was it because we were chatting the day before that she couldn't finish her work? *Sorry*)

After lunch, we sent Aunt Angie to work and we went to United Square to catch Dora. Daddy met us there and he had to grab a take away from MaCDonald's because he missed lunch. C loves Dora and thankfully, we managed to get a seat (on the floor) to watch the performance. Yeva missed most part of the show because 5 min before it started, our little one dozed off. She must have been beat!

C, however enjoyed the performance but she couldn't see much because her view was blocked. *Sigh, it seemed that our view is always blocked by inconsiderate adults and kids* Remember our fiesta with the fireworks last year?

This was Cheryl's view for most parts of the show. Fortunately, I manage to capture some nice pictures by holding the camera in the air.

C looked at me several times and with a forlorn look in her face said, "Can't see." I told her it was okay, I got a short clip for her.

We also managed to take some shots with the stars of the show!

(Smiling children with Dora! I have never imagined myself doing this but I guess its fun for the kids and honestly, it did make me feel "young" again. And, I seriously need to lose some weight!!!)