Year End 2010

Its been a while. Making it a point to put something down as it is almost the end of the year and Harvynna starts a brand new era next year. What has been happenning since the last post?

 - family holiday to Cherating. We went on a short getaway to Cherating during the long Merdeka break. It was the first holiday in 2010. Pathetic, but somehow we managed to do it. The girls had a whale of a time swimming, lazing, eating and just spending time with us. Rowena was quite sick before we went. But once we reached Cherating, she immediately got well. The last day of our trip was cut short, as Rowena was summoned back to KL for a TVC shoot.

School Year End Concert & Graduation

The girl's had their annual concert at the end of October. The theme for this year was 'The Jungle Comes Alive'. Rowena's class performed a Monkey Coconut Dance and Harvynna's class performed the 'Tiki Tiki Dance'. Harvynna performed really well and was very confident. Guess her musical Theatre classes paid off. Rowena on the other hand, looked a little lost and looked like she was waiting for her performance to be over. It's her first performance on stage in front of a big audience. It was also Harvynna's graduation. This is her last year at her school and next year she will be moving to Primary One. My little girl is growing up too fast. I must say, her kindergarten has done well for her and she will definitely miss the school.

We moved....

We moved to our new place, finally. We moved because we wanted a bigger place, plus I wanted to live nearer to Harvynna's school. We now live 5 minutes away from her school and 15 minutes away from my work, which would save a lot of time next year. I can only imagine next year would be 100 times more hectic than this year with Harvynna in Primary school. I must say I am definitely a Supermum managing a full time job, 2 hyper active and demanding kids with NO maid.

Rowena's debut on tv!

Rowena's appearance in the Fernleaf ad recently.

Whats been happenning?

I hardly ever update this blog now that I can see cobwebs beginning to appear. Think am losing my mojo for updating the blog since the girls are much bigger now and I am so busy trying to keep up with life's routines!

What's been happenning so far with the girls?

1. Rowena started ballet lessons at school and she totally loves it. She actually talks about it all the time so I can tell that she really enjoys it. I made her pay for her own costume (terrible mummy). She used the money she earned from her shoot for that! My reason, is I had my doubts that she would pursue it further but she insisted that she would!!
2. Harvynna started musical theatre lessons. The teacher is good, but she was kind of put-off as the first song she learnt was 'Hello Dolly' and not some latest Jason Bieber or Kelly Clarkson hit. Lets see how that goes. She actually signed up as she aspires to be like Rachel from "Glee'. Next on the list, is vocal lessons which is due to start in August.
3. The girls did another small shoot for Colgate. Well, actually Rowena was selected, but Harvynna managed to slot herself somewhere at the back!
4. Harvynna's other front tooth is shaking - which means she would be able to sing 'All I want for Christmas is my 2 front teeth' pretty soon. Poor gal - she had to forgo a few casting offers due to that!
5. Both girls are sleeping in their own room now
6. Rowena is able to read and write a few words now. Quite average for her age group, nevertheless I am still very proud of her
7. FIFA World Cup - Rowena was a SPAIN supporter while Harvynna was an Argentina supporter, then Germany, then Netherlands, then Spain supporter. Basically, she does not stick to one team - she changes as the teams progress and looks most likely to win!!!

2nd Parent Teacher Meeting

The girls gave me the notice from the school that the Mid Year PTM was on. I felt like I had just attended the last one and here it is again. This year has just swooshed by - 7 more months and Harvynna starts Primary school and I havent even decided where to send her. We have done all the necessary registrations, but there are lots of things to consider. From Primary 1, 2011, all schools will have to revert to teaching Maths & Science in BM. Initially, I thought Harvynna would be safe as they were supposed to start it only in 2012, but alas, they now have decided for 2011.

Back to the PTM, it was a real long wait. I thought I will beat the queue by going there early, but there were many other earlier birds.Plus, i have to see 2 class teachers this time, so that would take even longer. I started with the BM teacher (who by the way, is an excellent BM teacher)

Well, as expected, she mentioned that Harvynna is a very good girl and catches up very fast. (yawn...)
She is advanced in her reading and writing and takes the iniative to do things and also speaks to her in BM. She has no issues with her and in fact she encouraged me to start giving her simple essays to write in BM. Looks like i will have to practice my BM too.

Then, the teacher says, 'Do you mind if we discuss Rowena no?' Then she starts off with 'Rowena is totally different from Harvynna. All the teachers here say the same thing.' Then I knew where she was heading!!
She says Rowena has a mind of her own but is very entertaining. She talks to everyone and is very friendly. Her attention span for her work is quite short so she gets bored fast. She does not seem to like BM much' - so she keeps volunteering to send things to the office so she can miss the class.
But I told her that its ok since Rowena is only 4. Then again, she says 'but when Harvynna was 4, dia sangat cepat dan verrrry interested in her work'.

Then when I went to see Harvynna's class teacher, it was the same story - Harvynna is doing very well and is a very helpful girl. I did ask her about 2 girls, that Harvynna really dislikes and the teacher said that those girls are very loud and quite rebellious - so harvynna finds them annoying. The girls are also quite intelligent so she probably feels the competition. So young - and so competitive.

Then I went to see Rowena's class teacher - she started with Rowena being very friendly and kind. She is loved by all the teachers and students and is everyone's friend.And she related a few stories about Rowena, which was quite funny yet sweet. And that was it. i looked at her and asked 'What about her work?' Then she paused for few seconds and said, that her work has improved a lot from when she first came and showed me her work - looked ok. How much can you expect from a 4 year old?. She mentioned that Rowena loves to sing and dance like she did at the last school assembly.And that was it???

These teachers must have been trained to focus only on the positive things!

It's hard to imagine how different these 2 girls are. But I would rather have them this way, then to have 2 exact characters - definitely spices up everyone's life!!

The 2 divas

Sometime in April, both Harvynna and Rowena were selected to appear in a TVC for the Middle East and India market. Although, the amount paid was quite small, i thought why not since they get to go together and with 2 of them, the amount does not seem so bad!

The shoot was at Putrajaya and they were shooting many scenes with the adults at vaious locations - we followed them everywhere, and by the time it was 7pm (we were there since 12.00pm), they told us that they cant shoot the girls and they had to come back the next day!!!!???P#@@@ Anyway, since, they would pay us for both days, and since we waited the WHOLE day, we said ok.

So, we were there bright and early the next day, and the girls were excited and looking forward to the shoot. Harvynna loves dressing up and getting her hair done, and Rowena was just happy to be there. Finally, their turn came, and they shoot was under the blazing hot sun in Putrajaya. HArvynna did not care - she happily went under the sun and did what she was told. As for Rowena.........

the moment it was her turn, she looked at everyone and said.....'NO - I dont want. Its too hot'. She just refused to go under the sun. The director and the rest of the crew told her to go and she said,'Too hot'. In the end, the director requested for umbrellas. So while she was under the sun, she had 2 guys holding umbrellas over her head. Once the camera was rolling, the guys ran off. In between each take, the guys came back with the umbrellas!!!

At the end of the day, I told them, see acting is such hard work, you spend so much time waiting and waiting, you have to go under the sun - do u want to do it again?
Rowena said 'NO' but Harvynna said 'YES. i love it'!!!!

Last week, my cousin asked Harvynna to go for a casting, but in the end they chose Rowena!! So of course, Harvynna was quite annoyed and disappointed and felt like the whole world was against her!!

The shoot was done last Thursday, and I (and everybody else) was ready to strangle Rowena.

First of all, she refused to have her make up and hair done. All she said, was 'DONT WANT' and kept hiding behind me. They bribed her with all kinds of things and threatened to tell her uncle (my cousin) but she was not bothered. In the end, they told her that they will replace her with Harvynna and that did it. She said 'NOOOOOOOO!!!!!' No Harvynna'.

She finally warmed up and did not stop singing the song she was supposed to sing. She was finally in the mood!

 When it was finally her turn, she bullied everyone around her, demanding for sweets, water, and having her face wiped. She made the others sing for her and God knows what. After many takes, she said' I am not doing any more, you keep asking me to do. No more ok'. We persuaded her to do one final round but it must be done perfectly,which she replied 'dont tell me what to do. I know what to do' and she did it.

Gosh, I was so embarassed. I can clearly see that Rowena just does not like being told what to do. She has her own mind, and if something is not to her convenience, she just wont do it!!!

Rowena's 4th birthday party

We celebrated Rowena's birthday in Melaka at my parent's place. Again, she did not mind any cake and was willing to settle for the same cake she had last year or the previous year!! So we chose the Strawberry Shortcake Cake to match her school bag. It was a delicious sugee cake, which is quite hard to find nowadays.

Harvynna, being my dad's pet, had a cake for her as well - so all in all Harvynna got to cut 3 cakes this year. My cousin organised the games with the kids - who were quite unsporting!! I guess the older kids are already at the age where they dont want to perform in front of everyone.


It was a small, but meaningful party as Rowena was surrounded by family and close friends.

HAPPY 4th BIRTHDAY CUTIE ROWENA (belated entry)

My little princess turned 4 on April 25th. She was really excited about celebrating her birthday at school since it would be the first time, plus Harvynna had celebrated her bday in school 2 weeks earlier. Since my school was closed for a week due to the H1N1, I grabbed the opportunity to celebrate her birthday on the Friday before (23rd) - did not have to take any leave.

I ordered an identical cake (like Harvynna's). it was lilac to match her dress. Rowena is not very fussy, she really did not mind any cake, as long as there was a cake. She is very easy to please when it comes to things like this - unlike Harvynna, who wants everything to be perfect.

Her class party was a sweet affair - all the 4 year olds were so cute. They each, gave her a hug when she gave them their party pack. They even performed a dance for me!!

Despite Rowena's extreme naughtiness, she is a very loving lil girl. Despite the fact that Harvynna did not allow her anywhere near her class during her birthday party, Rowena went upstairs to specially give Harvynna a piece of cake. I could see that Rowena was really happy for me to be there, as it is a rare occasion that I visit her during school hours.

It was a weekend of birthday celebrations for her as we had a small party in Melaka the next day with close family and friends.(next post)