Our Little Precious

Easter break: Netherlands

noreply@blogger.com (Mummy N) — Mon, 13 Apr 2026 04:04:00 +0000

What's a trip to the Netherlands if one does not visit a tulip farm?

Taking a break, resting her feet. :)

Easter break: Denmark!

noreply@blogger.com (Mummy N) — Sat, 04 Apr 2026 03:38:00 +0000

It was Easter season and school would be out for 3 weeks so C and her friend flew off to Denmark.

They found themselves in a shop selling jellycats.

They went to Tivoli Garden too.

and our girl celebrated her 21st birthday while on the trip.

eating at the beach!

We'll celebrate again when she returns. :)

Road trip: Edinburgh 1.2

noreply@blogger.com (Mummy N) — Wed, 25 Mar 2026 02:56:00 +0000

Then having arrived at the next destination.

She was just telling us that the weather was wonderful and then...

the skies opened up and they sought shelter in the car.

The next morning, they were preparing to set out again when they realised one of the cars were stuck,

After trying for over an hour to free the car, they gave in and asked for help from the people living there.

Oh my... the indentations from the tires.

Road Trip: Edinburgh

noreply@blogger.com (Mummy N) — Sun, 22 Mar 2026 01:50:00 +0000

It is Easter break and the group of them planned for a road trip. C was excited and was talking about it for weeks.

This was them onboard the train to Edinburgh.

Their first accommodation.

2nd accommodation.

I love this photo a lot!

The views were amazing. The signal up there is a bit hit-or-miss, so we’re cherishing every update we get. It’s a 'no news is good news' kind of situation, but seeing these photos definitely puts our minds at ease. Does anyone recognise these tracks? #iykyk

This was them driving out at night—Daddy made sure to remind her to keep the driver awake and alert! C's reply made us laugh; she said they’ve been chatting his ear off and he’s been singing along to their playlist the whole way. It’s heartening to know they’re having such a good time together.

Derby!

noreply@blogger.com (Mummy N) — Mon, 16 Mar 2026 00:13:00 +0000

The group headed to Derby for the weekend!

Spring

noreply@blogger.com (Mummy N) — Wed, 11 Mar 2026 23:02:00 +0000

Spring isn't my favourite season but I love flowers.

C was at a church in Nottingham and all of them returned to the dorm with their own pot of plant.

This is hers. :)

Pretty daffodils looking out and enjoying the view from C's window.

Nottingham again!

noreply@blogger.com (Mummy N) — Sun, 08 Mar 2026 01:16:00 +0000

Last week was a busy week: she had assignments to work on and projects to complete so besides the weekly grocery run, meal prep, and lecture readings, she was in her room completing work. Oh yes, she also came down with fever earlier part of the week and spent Sunday sleeping it off.

Then on Wednesday, she told us that she and the group would be going to Nottingham again this weekend. :)

They spotted NTU: UK version!

She said the portions were always large and filling.

They also attended church where they were gifted some plants. :) The leaves resembles that of a daffodil plant so lets hope they bloom into those pretty yellow flowers.

Went to Nottingham Castle too.

When you hear 'Nottingham', you think 'Robin Hood'.

Here they were, back in their room after.

C has a thing for fridge magnets.

Meal Prep Series: Cabbage rolls

noreply@blogger.com (Mummy N) — Mon, 02 Mar 2026 05:04:00 +0000

That time of the week where C did the meal prep with her friends.

Next week, they will be having cabbage rolls and

It is always quite comforting to have warm soup with rice. :)

Nottingham: weekend ventures

noreply@blogger.com (Mummy N) — Mon, 23 Feb 2026 02:37:00 +0000

There is always something to do when the weekend draws near. C is diligent with her readings, tutorials, and lectures. On the days where she does not have classes to attend, she stays indoors to finish up her readings or whatever work she has with her team mates.

The group of them were supposed to head up to Nottingham the previous weekend but some of them were slightly under the weather so plans were postponed.

The 40-minute bus ride out.

C said it was sunny but oh so windy.

异乡游子

noreply@blogger.com (Mummy N) — Wed, 18 Feb 2026 02:20:00 +0000

Being miles away from home, and especially during this festive season, homesickness must hit hard and different. It was heartwarming to learn that they got together for their own celebration.

Meal prep Series: heart pancakes

noreply@blogger.com (Mummy N) — Sat, 14 Feb 2026 02:11:00 +0000

With Valentine's Day around the corner and it being the weekend, C and her friends had a bit more time to spare. They gathered for breakfast and made themselves pancakes.

I was going to upload a photo of the girls together -but I didn't get permission, so I think I shan't.

Meal Prep Series: Chicken Curry

noreply@blogger.com (Mummy N) — Fri, 13 Feb 2026 02:06:00 +0000

The girls cooked chicken curry today!

C said it took them a good two hours to prepare everything: way too long. hahaha. oh well, the good thing was the kitchen smelled heavenly after.

Meal Prep Series: Salmon and sweet potato

noreply@blogger.com (Mummy N) — Thu, 12 Feb 2026 02:50:00 +0000

Meal prep is getting more exciting with each passing week.

I guess it is also easier to be preparing western meals as they have less complex procedures and do not need all sorts of fancy spices.

The colours truly whet the appetite! We are heartened that C is adapting well. :) C said she liked the taste of the sweet potatoes and that they provided a contrasting texture to the oily salmon.

Leicester and the weekend

noreply@blogger.com (Mummy N) — Sat, 07 Feb 2026 23:17:00 +0000

The weekend's here! C and her group of friends headed out to Leicester.

bonding time with her mates. :)

She found a thrift shop and bought 2 tops for 3 pounds each: much to her delight.

Meal prep for the coming week.

Sunday morning, a few of them went to church near campus.

Okay, we'll await for more updates from C. :)

Classes

noreply@blogger.com (Mummy N) — Wed, 04 Feb 2026 23:11:00 +0000

It's been 2 weeks... C's daily routine has been quite similar: Up at 7am, eat breakfast, then get ready for classes. Lectures are mostly in the afternoon with a day at 9 o'clock in the morning. Then she will be back in the dorm to do her readings.

Then at around Singapore time, 5pm, she will call us. :)

Dorm life!

noreply@blogger.com (Mummy N) — Sun, 01 Feb 2026 04:30:00 +0000

Finally moved into the varsity hostel!

her school for the next few months.

Her room is really quite decent: spacious and clean and she has a pretty view of the outdoors. The size of the bed is a luxury too, I must say, given that it is a dorm.

The girls must have gone out to do some groceries shopping too because C showed us photos of them meal-prepping. Not too bad with their choices of vegetables and meat. Wonder what food they would try to cook next.

Looks like dinner for the next 3 days is settled. :)

Settling down

noreply@blogger.com (Mummy N) — Fri, 30 Jan 2026 02:13:00 +0000

Thanks to the wifi onboard her flight, C was able to keep us updated. Much to our amusement, C bought the famous Dubai chocolates while waiting for the connecting flight out to London.

When she arrived at Heathrow Airport, she also let us know that they had cleared customs and were waiting for the train out.

Thankfully, the train looked clean. Because they were not able to move in to the hostel yet, they had to put up at an Airbnb for 2 nights. They also took the opportunity to explore the university town.

Oh man, the old-so-familiar grey England skies...

in a foreign land...

noreply@blogger.com (Mummy N) — Wed, 28 Jan 2026 22:56:00 +0000

C took off for her 6-month long Exchange. After we learned that she had been accepted, she had been preparing herself mentally to be away from us. We noted down the things she might need and slowly made purchase over the months.

Everyone at home was excited and yet had that longing for her.

With the cousins.

A reunion.

and also an extremely early birthday celebration for the girl who will be turning 21 this year.

I went to work with a heavy heart...

Can't believe that she is all grown up ...

Kids these days are really quite resourceful. C was added into a group chat with students from the various universities who were also going for Exchange during the same time. There is a group of 9 others: 8 from NUS and 1 from NTU, met up several times to get to know each other and discuss their plans in the months leading up to D-day. Honestly, we left C to do almost all the preparation for the trip: she settled the study visa, flight tickets, booking of the modules that she would be taking, accommodations, among others. She updated us every now and then about the progress of things and we did not have to worry much.

So, we shall look forward to her texts, video calls, and photos from her adventure. :)

New year, new school

noreply@blogger.com (Mummy N) — Mon, 07 Mar 2022 00:25:00 +0000

It was some time late 2020 when C came to this decision - she would continue her post-secondary school education in a junior college. Since then, she had been gearing herself up.

We spoke about the challenges she would face - the late dismissal from school, the CCA commitments, the pockets of "free" time from her time table, and the demands of the curriculum. We also advised her about the friends and school mates that she might encounter. It was not all solemn and serious, of course. We also commented that class would be interesting especially for English and General Paper because of the discussions that would take place. We candidly shared that during our time, our motivation to get into jc was as simple and frivolous as us just wanting to go to school in trainers. Haha

It has been about a month since school started for her and she is still acclimating. She is definitely spending more hours online reading up on materials, or watching a film for class but she is enjoying the process. Then there are days where she is grouchy and waking up tired - all part-and-parcel of student life.

We keep her in prayer. May the good Lord watch over her and guide her.

Ending on a high

noreply@blogger.com (Mummy N) — Thu, 13 Jan 2022 01:34:00 +0000

12 January 2022 - O level results release

The much-awaited day came and went. Unlike 4 years ago when she received her PSLE results, this time she was alone - parents were allowed in school due to the Safe Management Measures (SMM) so we had our mobile phones close in case her message came in.

A lot of sweat, hard work, and sleepless nights went into the preparation for the national examination so she was anxious naturally. She recounted the friendships she had fostered, the pep talks, and the occasional well-meaning scoldings the class received from teachers. These 4 years hadn't been easy - they went on a month-long of Home-based Learning in 2020 and another short one in 2021, all when they were moved on to upper secondary where the syllabus and work were more demanding. Camps and outdoor activities were suspended, CCAs came to a halt and social activities were very much none in existence. Yet, this lot of students strived and persevered - they adapted and rose to the challenge.

I was browsing my photo album and saw these photos that I had taken earlier :

The lovely notes of encouragement and gifts from her teachers and classmates when they had their own farewell. Among them was also a letter that she had written to herself.

A plaque from the school for her service.

and the parting gift from school. She loves this bear a lot :)

God is good - all the time and C knows she is in good hands.

of delayed gratification.

noreply@blogger.com (Mummy N) — Mon, 15 Nov 2021 23:07:00 +0000

Last day of exam and C was already getting ready to let her hair down.

She only had one thing on her mind and that was to get her hair coloured. She had talked about it previously when she was much younger but our answer to her had always been "no". She knew from an extremely young age that there was a timeline for her to be able to get certain wants.

So this time round, we agreed of course.

Here she is, our happy camper with her flaming hot hair.

National exams 2021

noreply@blogger.com (Mummy N) — Mon, 18 Oct 2021 22:50:00 +0000

It is an understatement to say that time flies... really.

A photograph popped up on Memories in Facebook and it was on a set of photographs that I had taken of C getting her uniforms and books for primary school. Fast-forward to 2021 and she was sitting for her O level English papers this afternoon.

She was pretty nervous, I must say. Whenever I could, I would get back home in time to say a prayer with her before sending her off for her papers. However today, I did not manage to and gave her a call instead. She had initially said that she would only leave for school at 1.15 in the afternoon but her papers were starting at 1.30! After that correction, I received another text from her that read she had taken the bus in the wrong direction! oh man...

Luckily C has a habit of giving herself an hour of buffer time so she wasn't all that flustered.

Talk about being stressed. She commented the EL papers were tricky with many inferential questions for Paper 2 but Paper 1 was alright and she didn't feel much anxiety about them. Hopefully the exam would proceed smoothly.

C's turn

noreply@blogger.com (Mummy N) — Fri, 16 Jul 2021 11:42:00 +0000

The latest vaccination drive was for students who would be taking their National Exams and we booked her a date during the June hols.

She was supposed to get her second dose earlier but she had a paper just a few days back and we didn't want to risk her falling ill just before so we waited till today.

Daddy took her down in the afternoon.

like the previous times, she returned with freebies.

She is resting now and hopefully she will feel better tomorrow.

In 14 days, our entire nuclear family would be vaccinated but I doubt this changes much for us - we are already staying home during the weekdays and much of the weekends as well.

MD Celebrations 2021

noreply@blogger.com (Mummy N) — Sun, 02 May 2021 00:13:00 +0000

For some strange reason, I remember Mother's Day to be the first Sunday in May and because of this mistake, we went about making plans for our hot pot lunch at Mum's.

We hadn't gone out as a family for meals but we were always grateful that we had been able to go over to mum's for meals. Food does bring people together, gives us the opportunity to chat about anything and everything under the sun, or just with with each other.

So after the announcement came out in the news that the number of visitors each household could receive would be reduced to 5, due to the spike in C19 cases, we joked that our "mistake" was timely. On a more serious note, we rarely gather - the last time we had all of us together with during the CNY period where a maximum of 8 guests was permitted. Even after the restrictions were less stringent last few months, we still rarely went out on weekends.

Back to our lunch, food was tasty and plentiful, company was awesome - we are thankful that we are all in good health and keeping well. :)

May all of us continue to stay strong!

We are all out today.

noreply@blogger.com (Mummy N) — Mon, 12 Apr 2021 01:37:00 +0000

Writing this entry to mark another significant event - last year this time, all of us were working from home. Daddy started way earlier as his company had grouped them into Teams A and B and then rostered each team to report to work alternate weeks. That gradually stopped and some time late March, Daddy was just staying in for work full-time.

I returned to school on 25 May 2020. Our mid-year break which usually happens in June was brought forward a month earlier to May. This was after a month long of Home-Based Learning (HBL) where we taught from home, graded papers on our laptops, and fidgeted with gadgets like microphones and ear-pieces. C returned to schools for lessons on alternate weeks on 8 June.

My set-up at home where the dining area was my work station.

Daddy's work area at the Study. We have a sofa-bed against the wall which also doubled up as Cheryl's work zone. On days where Daddy had meetings, C would be in her bedroom with the laptop, plugged in for her lessons.

Well, today, Daddy heads back to the office but the good thing is he isn't required to be there the entire week. For now, he gets a reprieve from this arrangement of being alone at home.