Enter the dragon(s) with a huge bang(s)... :P

Chinese New Year Dragons at The Wiles' Residence

Hello 2012!!!

Isnt this a gorgeous pic? We take them to the studio every end of the year for our annual Christmas cards... but this one didnt get done till too late so didnt add to the cards... love how cheeky lanner is..and what a sweetie my girl is turning into.

Another year has passed and I haven't been much of a blogger.. life got in the way. Tons to do... between teaching regular school... lecturing.. giving talks.. being a wife/mom/woman/friend and more recently a semi-pro baker ... life is overspilling most days.. i've had a nice close to 2011 with a great beach party and fireworks and even a disco under the moonlight... rang in the new year with a bang indeed.

As you can see.. kids r getting bigger n cuter (every mom thinks so,..) and life is good in so many ways... there are some downs.. but I will assume that 2012 will solve all my woes... and that i can reach enlightenment... oh ok.. maybe not the last bit.. hehe but it's good to try.

Boy is an angel... but hasnt developed linguistic skills yet.. i think he's in the silent period.. absorbing .. understanding.. but not producing yet. Lots of people tell me that when he starts.. i'd wish he'd pipe down. hehe.. we'll see. He loves his lil flower lime green pillow to bits... but we hv hidden that now cos the pillow filling (micro Styrofoam balls keep falling out in making a mess where he's bitten yet another hole in the darn thing!) ... he's so intelligent and spends his time making guns with his blocks and shooting everyone in the vicinity... and he puts his plate/bottle back in the sink when he's done.. :P love this momma's boy of mine.

Besra is also a gem... she keeps saying the funniest n wackiest things like
a) i wish for world peace (customary for us to make wishes when crossing a bridge)
b) look at lanner doing the dishes, he's my minion! (do YOU know what a minion is? my 5 year old sure does!)
c) (after i've scolded her like hell when she released my hair clip) but mommy i just wanted to put this tiara on your hair cos you're my queen (awwwwww... )

anyway.. she's in her final year of kindergarden this year... knows her alphabet well and spells a few words no prob (esp her name :P) but has yet to master reading. one day she'll read superbly and wish she never knew how cos of tons of homework.. so i think i'll let her enjoy being a baby a lil longer n not pressure her.

ok.. will try to be a better blogger this year. :P World peace everyone!

Car ride with the headbangers.. :P

Introducing our talented children Lanner & Besra!

Besra Playing Hopscotch

Lanner my lil Malaysian Idol

Lanner vs Scotty

Lanner & tour of my surroundings

Lanner dancing

Lanner running on our balcony

How to beat up Uncle Scott!

BUNNY GIRLS WISHING HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR

New Year, New Resolution.. :P

Well Besra's birthday was last Oct... so i guess i've played AWOL for way too long now. LOL... life gets in the way, and laziness is a disease! In real life I haven't been lazy at all.. in fact i was back to being a supermom... working all the hours god sent, raising two children, and being a baker chick. was on holiday from nov 19 to end of dec and pretty much spent it making cakes and more cakes. my record was 30 cakes delivered for christmas eve. by the end of the month, i was all baked out. :P nevermind, the money is money.. we all need more money in life, don't we.

Now it's january.. and it's back to work. life is hectic as usual... but i guess it's worth it. if life were too easy we wouldnt appreciate it as much. then again, give me a money tree and i wont have to work myself to death and i would pretty much appreciate life from the couch. hehe.. that can't be a bad life either eh. hehe.

Besra is now in Kindergarden 1. Next year is Kindy 2 and then its primary 1. haha.. she's still a baby. she can write and spell her name... but she can't read yet. as a teacher i should be pushing her and drilling her so she will be the smartest in class. but i dont have the heart to do that. the way i see it, she will spend her whole life studying and reading once she gets the hang of it, so why no let her be a child a bit longer... let her enjoy this 'stress free' time. she's already doin homework, writing out her letters... and her spoken english is quite perfect, so why force her to become an overachiever at this young an age. i dont want her to burn out too fast. so anyone reading this post, what do u think? should i start drilling her so she can read or do u agree that i should preserve her innocence a lil bit longer. hahahha.. besides, she can sing the whole collection of barbie songs, word for word. :P

Besra's latest gems:
1. she goes n gets a broom n dustpan and sweeps up while saying: "Do I look like the nanny?" hahahhahhaha
2. i wish lanner was a bug so i can keep him in a jar because he is sooooooo cute.
3. what the heck? (is this acceptable for a 4 year old?... hmmmm..)

Lanner is growing up into a pretty handsome boy.. he's not speaking yet but you can tell he's a smart kid. he goes crazy when there is music on tv, esp american idol, and starts dancing like mad... hehe.. his latest move is to dance then breakdance with his head on the floor and bum in the air. u hv to see it to appreciate it. hehe.
Here's some things that he does naturally, without being forced.
1. He feeds himself with a fork to poke things and spoon to scoop great big portions n stuffs his face. After he eats, he walks to the sink which is taller than him and throws it in perfectly. He also knows to aim for the sink with his cup or anything else he deems ready for washing.
2. After removing his diaper for him, he carries it to the kitchen, out the back door n subsequently plops it into the bin which is as tall as him. smartypants!
3. He knows how to open the fridge and ask for drinks and food... and points at the cookie jar when he's hungry.
4. He can say mum-mum, nod his head, shake it for 'NO' and he does do the lippy-thing, the pathetic look when he's being scolded. hehe. works like a charm! Oh and his favourite word is "Uh-oh" when he does something wrong. hehehhehe so adorable.
5. and he loves to sing even if it is one word and one note: aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

Anyway, kids grow up way too quick. I've learnt that I've got to spend the time with them, put in the hours, even though i'd dead beat all the time now. they're only young once, and when they get more independent, i'll be the typical mom, pining for their attention. hehe.

Right, so happy new year to all out there. a bit late. but dont worry, chinese new year is coming...
9 days holiday!!! weeeeeeeeee! hugs to all!

Besra's 4th birthday

Have I lost interest in bloggin...?

Daddy's pond.. :) Day 1.
Reunion of sorts with my highschool mates.. :)
Lanner can feed himself ! Cool boy!
Martin n his fish..
And another fish..
Regular traffic right in front of our house, headed to our part of the river.
Another regular visitor to our jungle house!
Lanner n i up on a hill somewhere called Kokol Hill.. gorgeous view!
my lovelies
Family pic... :) sun was bright that time.. can u tell?
i likey!


i'll protect this house, mommy, dontcha worry!
besra my lil helper baker
peekaboo!
leaf insect... !
i can walk!!!
my famous cheesecakes!
at the butterfly farm
Babagon river, priceless!


Martin's 46th birthday. Blueberry cheesecake this time, no a bit of choc in sight!
Happy children!
Another bug!!
My cutiepie!


Hmmm... i think i've been really enthusiastic over sites like FB but less on bloggin cos this actually takes some brain matter action. hehe.. nevertheless, here's a short update on life with the wiles.

Lanner: Has just turned 1 yr n 5 months old today. :) Has 6 teeth, nothing else seems forthcoming but we are not worried. Walks on tippytoes most of the time so we wonder if he'll be a pro male ballet dancer.. hehe laughs all the time as u can tell from the pics, has the sunniest n the sweetest deposition for a child of any age if you ask me, today had a jealousy display when he pushed Besra out of the way cos his mommy is his and his alone! hehe.. loved that! 12kgs, tall for his age, skinniest member of the family as the other three most definitely have guts (beer gut, food gut, baby gut), lanner is definitely the studmuffin! Sleeps through the night so mommy is no longer a night owl.. and can finally get 8 hrs sleep a night for a change. phew.. raising kids is hard work!

Besra: Is a very lively and amazing girl. :) wonder where she gets it from eh! she spends most days singing barbie or butterfly songs n nursery rhymes from memory, pretends she's a princess and talks to her left hand almost everyday cos it is her imaginary friend 'baby spider Jameslah'. She adds 'ing' to almost every thing from mandi-ing (bathing), lay-downing and the most interesting one was when she crossed her legs in the buddha position, put her palms together and declared that she was 'chinese-ing'. Her active imagination also makes use of the 'pretending' concept.. and she usually pretends to be all sorts of characters including my cake mixing machine, or pretending to have a milk bottle to feed her baby spider. the other day i tried to make her promise to be a good girl and she wouldnt say it and when i asked why, she said she was a pretending statue and couldnt talk! cheeky git! haha. funny child. my current fave comment from her was when she was helping me ice the cupcakes and she said 'i love you mommy, you make my life exciting'. spot on, babe, spot on!

Martin: Has been fishing n socialising with new fishing buddies lately.. and has been published in a national fishing magazine as well as a local touristy magazine called 'breeze'. So he's been keeping busy and now busier still with the pond finally kicking into gear. they say it will be done in 3 weeks... will keep you guys updated with weekly pics of the pond's progress. Still keeps fit by strimming the grass around our 1acre plus land.. and he just bought two new toys. another strimmer and another reel. whatever keeps him happy. :)

Audrey: Has been working like a dog up until two weeks ago when school broke for the muslim celebration, hari raya combined with the mid semester holidays. phew!!! running courses at state level to retrain and share new info with teachers is hard work when you're the only one writing the modules and designing every aspect of the course. but someone has gotta do it eh. anyway, there was a lot of politics going on with this whole issue but i wont get into it. suffice to say i did my part in shaping the future of students in sabah and that in itself makes me happy. On the baking front, i've gotten order after order.. so my sideline business is taking off. :) ppl call me to make anything from my signature cheesecakes and cupcakes to apple pies and my biggest order to date is for blueberry cheesecake and brownies for 200 people for a wedding on 10th oct. wow. even i'm impressed. oh.. i forgot to mention that i went to kl for 3 days last week to attend a wedding but i forgot my camera battery so that's that. no pics until the wedding couple post some online.. even then i didnt pose much. ah well... it was still nice to kick back n relax.. finish read a dan brown (god i love him!) book in 3 days and just catch up with old friends n pretend to be a teenager again, out partying till 5am! hehe.

right, so that's life on this side of the world. hope everyone is doin well.. esp those with new babies: my cousin martin n his newborn John Paul.. and Norsham n Christophe with their lil boy. The circle of life, gotta love it!

Lanner riding his horsey!

My boy's idea of fun

happy kids

Un-joyful ride,,,,:)