So….School started yesterday & that marks the end of the year-end long holiday!! What has my boys achieved during the month? There were many to-do-things (eg. express swimming lesson & other enhancement classes) in the plan initially but again we eventually put them aside due to various excuses. If you would remember, we were either on the move travelling or occupied with events for most of the weekends which meant a distruption to their classes if we ever committed to any. Anyway, I don’t really feel bad about it as the boys had been without failure attending to their tuition centre daily. The list of activities lined up for them in the centre wasn’t really the stressful type. There were max probably about 4 hours spent for revision & school works with breaks for games, TV, play, snack, lunch & shower session in between. And there wasn’t a day where the boys showed any reluctancy to attend their tuition+daycare centre….. so what else can I complain?? Apart from not neglecting their books & studies, I bet the boys had hell of a FUN TIME during those short vacations we had during the school holiday. They experienced many many FIRST times during this holiday. And you know what….i had wanted to upload those videos & photos so desperately but one of the monkeys/boys actually DELETED the entire contents of my camera’s memory card….a total of 4GB @#%&* ….i tell you i nearly strangled them :( Luckily huby managed to find the memory card recovery software & hopefully he’ll be able to revive my valuables asap.
Anyway, the boys were excited knowing that they will be promoted to standard 2 when school reopen. And we had also got them new uniforms, new school shoes & new bags so their excitements were oblivious. I think they kinda missed their classmates too.
We had banned SWAN school bag….despite paying more than RM200 for each bag last year, they couldn’t last more than a year. When the boys were approaching the end of the year, the condition of the bag was already very worned out. What has become of today’s production, seriously? After much sourcing around, we found that there aren’t really many good ones out there. I’m pretty much admire IMPACT’s bag but since the design of the bag is a little bland (without any interesting cartoon character), the boys rejected the bag no matter how we explained to them. We ended up getting the below bags which supposingly comes with spine-protection & super light. They were carried by Impact too but not as commonly found. We sternly warned the boys to take care of their bag this time as they came no cheap at all !!
Next rant is on shoes….i especially hated the stupid idea of the ministry in enforcing the WHITE shoes in school going children. After so many years, things are not improving. White shoes is certainly difficult to care for so why wana made the parents’ life more stressful. Due to excessive washing & applying of those white polish, the fabric of the shoes got torn easily. So this year, i chose the type that comes with the most LESS fabric but PVC leather instead so that the dirt can be easily wiped with cloth….will see how it turns out !!
With the beginning of school again, it means i would have 1 hour less of sleep. I need to get up at 6a.m. to prepare their light & quick breakfast. For a start, i made it real simple……a fried egg, a hotdog & a small bowl of their favourite chocolate pop rice cereal with freshmilk 
Finally right before we left, Scot acceded to my request for a photo but Sean was forced into it, hence the grumpy look :(
Putting Academic as a secondary thought, i really wish that the boys continue to enjoy going to school as i believe “happiness” is the key to learning. And it is the right VALUES & PRINCIPLES in life that i’m more looking forward to out of their journey of knowledge-seeking !!
Happy Schooling to all
Luv fr your beloved mummy 
yau moe gau chor! RM200 for each bag?? you spoilt the market rotten, i telyiu! i give my boys the rattan bags, to protest against the highly expensive schoolbags sold in the market! no design? not to worry, slap the bags all over with ben 10 stickers jiao tuck jor! hoe yau ying leh??
and the shoes… same sentiments! why is it not dark blue for girls and striking pink for boys?? tsk! our school uniform design totally clashing with each other and so old fashioned.
JL: “striking pink for boys” lei hou kwai chi sin geh *tongue in the cheek* rattan bag, don’t lie lar
Wow, RM200 for each bag, that’s really expensive w/o the quality. I must try the PVC type shoes too. I hate canvass white shoes. Dirt gets stuck to the shoes very easily and it’s really hard to wash them away.
all the best to the boys!! and I am sure they enjoy school minus all the work.. muahahha…
wow, the swan bags are so freaking expensive. how much is the impact ones you got? no wonder i read in the papers that some parents spend a few thousands when school reopens *shake head*
JL: barb, swan has both exp’ve & cheaper ones….didn’t want to talk abt the cheap ones, but even the exp’ves are not up to standard, sigh !! well, the impact is equally above RM200….can’t recall exactly, think around 260, u can check their website or isetan/parkson.
wondering if both your boys managed to get into the same class this year?? did they stream? glad to know they are happy to be back at school. i personally prefer the pvc type and zap-ons ones. can u believe sonny can’t tie shoe laces yet - no chance to learn properly.
JL: yes chris, the boys r in the same class too…don’t think i’ll agree to separate them
but what u mean stream ahh?? eh, u r not alone, my boys can’t tie shoe laces too….coz the mummy never teach them, LOL !!
hehe…one skinny and one meaty boy, no matter how well my skinny twin eats. weird eh?
i love the glow in the dark bag. can’t wait to “throw” my boys out home to school!
JL: cnee…it’ll be another level of headaches and/or stress with the kids going to school & being a little older. do appreciate what’s in store for u now coz i missed my twins when they were babies, ok
heehee..now aren’t you honoured? yours the first blog i hop to after not bloghopping for like half a year. *grin* just kidding.
Kmberly was glad to go back to school too.
wow, the boys’ bags are not cheap. I am like changing bag after bag too, all within a year. Maybe I should check impact out as well
JL: hey…so u r back, ok lar….i sibeh honoured, hehehe
what were u busy over the past half year, gotta update us too, ok. catch up one day 
oooo i like gargle idea la.. perhaps buy those sturdy laptop bags n stick or sew some cartoons on it…. or is it ur boys too rough?????
sigh, i wonder when my turns come, i will be ah chee ah cor or not…
JL: rachel, laptop bag is certainly too small for our school going children. and i think yes, i gotta admit my boys r the rough type but which boy isn’t rough these days
Same here with the swimming lessons/clay classes. Dec seemed to zoom by so fast I din hv the opportunity to bring XY for the trial swimming class. Then I dilly dallied after our HK trip, din bring her for the once a wk clay class. Nvm lah, it was for her to waste some time anyway. Waste elsewhere or waste at home, same lah. hehehe Good that the boys attended tuition ctr everyday. At least their books r not “abandoned” during the hols, while having fun at the same time.
Aiseh… the Swan bag so flimsy one ah? Din tell me earlier. I oso bot her a Swan bag. Was vy tempted to buy the RM200+ one (space lite range) coz I’ve got the voucher to get it for RM190. Supposedly super lite (not really wor), waterproof, with back support n detachable trolley. In the end, settled for the 3-wheels bag. She chose the barbie design… typical of her loh. :p
Their shoes look like XY’s. I bot her BATA non-canvas type too, with 2 straps. Nowadays dun hv to know how to tie shoelaces. Just zap n go!
And I love ur philosophy! That’s definitely more meaningful than academic achievements.
JL: ginie, hopefully u won’t be too dissapointing with the bag u bought…coz i think girl handles it better
thanks for LOVING & sharing my philosophy, u my gooood flen lar, LOL ….we just chatted abt it the oth days huh
The school bags are from Sanrio? It’s it’s the keropi frog… so nice..
Btw, for breakfast, they eat so much?
My girls just have a slice of bread or a bowl of coco-crunch only.
JL: yes agnes, the bag is from Sanrio…only after i bought them, the cute shinkanzen train character was brought in…. arghhh too late. btw, i super like the girls’ selection (hello kitty & melody)…super chio!!
yes, boys’ appetite r definitely greater than girls lar….
hi. re: streaming….some schools they divide the classes into ‘express’ for brighter kids and rest normal. Traditionally sonny’s school stream at std2 but they didn’t do for this year, they will start end of this year though. Not that I so hadap for him to be in best class but they say the teachers there better wor - which don’t make sense because one argument is why not also help the less brighter ones.
good your boys didn’t get split up, but not sure how long it will stay that way. sonny’s whole class got juggled around with the rest of entire year std - based on bm results wor. i’m praying he is a late bloomer ;p
JL: well chris, i seriously disagree with all these ’streaming’ of classes….not just bcoz i knew the weakness of my boys. but like u said, why deprive the less brighter kids of the rights to be educated by better teachers?? if it ever happens in my boys’ school, i might consider switching them away from all these practise of ‘favouritism/biasness’
wah big boys oredi.
my girl in P1 this year. initially i bought her a trolley bag but find it too heavy so i got her impact. colours are plain i must agree but they also carry a range of impact cartoon character bags in parkson 1U. i dun quite like that cos the cartoon character bags have a much flatter back tho its padded. it doesn’t follow the spine curve like the ori impact. so i opt for the plain pink one for her. cost us an arm and a leg .. haf to eat bread for the whole mth.
hi twinilla: yes the trolley added weight to the bag but thought it was meant to be pulled instead of shoulder carry? i must agree shoulder carry type is certainly lighter
btw i’m following ur blog at networkedblogs facebook. u can claim ur blog at http://apps.facebook.com/blognetworks/blog/sean_scot/
u’ll haf to have a facebook acc i think to access this appln.
JL: THANKS !!
ok, something new for me to pick up here, about the school bag.
Eh, really can see your boys size different, Sean so meaty!! Good that they still got tuition during school holidays. My boys ar, i only do thrice revision with them and some writting, other than that, they PLAY EVERYDAY!!!!
JL: yes annie, i’m sure u’ll be able to differentiate my boys when u see them now
it’s ok for your 4-5 years old boys to play NOW lar…just let them enjoy as much before they start primary school
Well Jac what about the old gunny sack that your FIL and others would have used back then. Cheaper, lasted longer but not cool enough now!! Christine went through about 4 bags but the most important selection criteria was the character on the bag, its suitability was secondary!!
JL: haha…so the 4 bags were for how long….1 year or the entire primary school?? thought this chapter was already history to you, LOL !!
Really Jac, I too have the same opinion about SWAN bags. Karl had 3-4 bags when he was in P1. Never bought SWAN again. As for the shoes, hahahahaha, the shoes turn BLACK when they return from school on Monday itself. Luckily, they wash their own shoes.
JL: wow JO, 3-4 bags in a year are shocking…..hahaha
and u r lucky that Karl is such an independent kid. as for me, i doubt i would hand the life of the shoes to my boys for handling….no way YET!!
Thanks for the tips on schoolbags… will be useful for me when my kiddos start primary one :-). Right now, my eldest is still using the lightweight toddler size one for pre-kindy
impact is really good quality but it’s definitely overpriced here.i got it for kieran since std 2.it’s still in pretty good condition now.good thing kieran was not fussy with the plain design…but i reckon it’s good cos it’s not a trolley bag so it’s not dragged around on the floor. that’s how those other common trolley bags break down fast!
JL: agreed absolutely with you amah on the quality of impact & i’m glad to hear a good review of an actual user of the bag
so i let them be for now!!
i would agree that kids might not be able to handle the troley properly but that’s the FUN part that they find in a bag at this stage…
gosh,, Swan’s been around since my time, I think they are too expensive too.
I got my girl an ‘Ironman’ bag with blink blink lights but then later found out the school provides bag..
Eh, no news from you geh? Baby popped out d?