The Apple's Diary!

Moving on to the 2nd Quarter of 2017  with Maid... So it has been a month since she joined us. Minor hiccups here and there but overall, I have nothing to complain. She has her handphone with her all the time, she asked for wifi nightly for 2 hours, she probably nap in the afternoon when no one is home. She could be also chatting over her hp  while working but I am not going to bother so long work is done and no monkey business from her. It could be a good match for both of us. She prefers to be left alone, quietly working and I like to leave her to work in the background. We can communicate, no language barrier makes it so much simpler to convey my wishes. She's easy going and I appreciate that. Cross my finger that all will be well from now on. The boys... we are still doing our nightly routine which has now become part of their life. They automatically just sit at their table and wait for me to start their nightly revision. Even if they have some grand plans on building

I have never pay much attention to academic term until this year. This year is going to be such a memorable year, because we have to make several (major)  decisions. For the past 3 months, we saw the boys being more "auto" in their nightly study routine. finally all done! We finally completed Matthew's Heguru set of worksheets that were given in 2015. It took us so long to complete these 24 books. Yet it is late better than never. With him in K1, I am starting to expose him to assessment books and more writing and reading. This is in bid that he has a more gentle learning curve. He is still in Berries although he protested in the beginning. He is still having his piano class although the pace is real slow (as expected actually). Show&Tell - Jon's MBS For big boy, he has more work to do since he is in K2 now. Spelling and 听写 weekly and I mean this is introductory to Primary school life, we should still cherish this preschool year. swimming les

On 24th February, we welcomed our 7th helper. She's 7th since we started having a live-in helper in 2011. The first 6 helpers were all from Myanmar and only 3rd helper was good enough to last almost 4 years with us. But the last 3 experiences with Burmese helpers really made me sworn off this nationality. It is a big no no now for me to take Burmese helper. It is also funny how whenever I change a helper, I have to replace some of the household appliances. This round, I had to change my airpot, my frying wok, rice cooker and vacuum cleaner. My Zojirushi airpot was damaged. Hopefully,  Tiger can last longer new Tefal rice cooker better don't damage the latest HappyCall frying wok new vacuum cleaner So 7th came. First impression of her was rather good. She snipped off her long hair for easier management (suggested she is really serious in earning her keep here) and understood I am a working mummy so I had very little time to ori