Cassandra's Latest Craze

Cass' latest craze is some kiddos' cutesy toys called Shopkins.

Shopkins are a range of 148 grocery store-themed characters for kids to collect, share, and trade. Shopkins come packaged with a shopping bag and a hand basket, which can be used to tote around lots of Shopkins friends.




Some time in August 2015, Shopkins were the latest toy craze to capture Canadian kids. These tiny toys are as hot as Pokemon once was. Girls (and even boys) enjoy collecting them, organizing them and using the supplied checklist to keep track of their collection. This collectability is part of what makes Shopkins such a hot item. There are hundreds of characters available, with different levels of rarity.

I have no frigging idea why Cass, who has never liked soft toys or dolls would like Shopkins. As a baby, she liked 'challenging' toys like stacking cups or slotting shapes into a shape sorter. As a toddler, she only liked jigsaw puzzles and playing with real kitchen utensils.  Dolls and soft toys given to her as presents were all given away.   I hardly ever bought her toys when she was younger. She hardly ever bugged me for toys too, except for Rainbow Loom 2 years ago and play dough recently.

For the past 2 weeks, Cass has been bugging me to buy her Shopkins.  I caved in and set a few conditions, which she met.   But I didn't know where to buy Shopkins. I searched Toys R Us online but they did not carry Shopkins. Cass then bugged her daddy to help her buy these toys online from overseas. I think it would be absolutely crazy to pay so much for international shipping to ship these toys over. The shipping may cost more than the toy itself.

Then yesterday, the girls' friend in school Whatsapp-ed a picture of Shopkins to Alycia.  The friend saw Shopkins at Parkson @ Sg Wang Plaza.  Cass was happy beyond words.  From that moment, she has been using her magical charm on her daddy. She has been talking to her daddy using her cutest charming voice and giving her daddy lots of hugs to charm him.

And daddy was entranced!

This morning, he took pictures of Shopkins with his phone as reference for him to shop for the toy.  But he will first try checking out the wholesale toy shop at China Town and if  that fails, he will then have to make a trip to Parkson.

Since this morning, Cass has been sending umpteen Whatsapp messages to daddy to remind him to shop for Shopkins :D






Maybe I should also do a 'Cass' Charm' to beguile the hubs for some bling bling diamonds and Chanel bags ;)

Rainbow Loom Craze

My girls, especially Cass and Sherilyn are still very much hooked on hooking loom bands.  It's been almost a month since they started their craze on Rainbow Loom.  I wonder when the worldwide Rainbow Loom bubble will burst!?  

Ever since Cass got hooked on Rainbow Loom, she has been churning out dozens of loom bracelets.

These are just some of her creations:






Sherilyn spent hours on end glued to You Tube after her exam and came up with the creation below.  Not sure what design this is called. Only she will know.  There are thousands of gorgeous designs from the internet and I have no freaking idea what each and every design is called.  There are Rock Candy, Rainbow Ladder, Starburst, Fishtail, Hibiscus, Double Starburst and the list goes.




Are your kids on the Rainbow Loom bandwagon too?  My girls at the height of it and they keep buying them and now their collection is quite an impressive one!

Cassandra And Her Doraemons

That's Cassandra drinking her daily dose of Nutrifresh and Refresh from E. Excel, something that she's been drinking since she was less than a year old. And joining her is her collection of Doraemon. She lost the baby Doraemon, which is a tiny Doraemon in red and she's been asking me everyday to look for her baby Doraemon. Her mah mah bought these Doraemons from Japan recently. Cute eh? Oh yeah, she also has a cute Anpanman tin toy that can spin on the floor that mah mah bought from Japan too. That Anpanman tin toy matches her set of Anpanman training pants so well. I'll show you that next.

Too Good To Resist

My mil bought these cutesy stuff when she went to Japan for a holiday recently.

Oh my, I tell yer, these buns look, smell and feel almost 100% like the real stuff! My 3 gals kept squeezing the toy buns, even I can't resist squeezing them and sniffing them haha!!







Baby could not even resist pinching the buns and peeled off the chocolate toppings, then slowly peeled offf the buns. Even the bread crumbs look SO real!! I had to keep reminding her that the buns CANNOT be eaten, lest she pops them into her mouth when I turn my back on her!

Finally...A Giraffe Soft Toy From Guardian Pharmacy

After collecting the soft toy redemption stamps from Guardian Pharmacy for over 2 months, we finally filled up the card with stamps. For every RM10 spent, a stamp would be issued. Each time we shopped at Guardian, my gals would be eyeing and touching the redemption soft toys at the counter. They would be telling me that wanted the elephant. Last week after dropping Sherilyn off for ballet class, we had 2 rounds of shopping sprees at Guardian Pharmacy and finally filled the Guardian Pharmacy card with stamps. We must thank the gals' 2 godfathers for contributing some of the stamps. We also have to thank a stranger who gave his stamps to us when he saw my gals going gaga over the soft toys at the Guardian Pharmacy counter several weeks ago.

Since the elephant was out of stock, my gals had to settle for a cute giraffe. The quality of the soft toy is very good.





Guess who liked the giraffe the most and has been hogging it?

And guess who was the one who had been diligently collecting the stamps from Guardian? Me, daddy, Alycia or Sherilyn?

'New' Old Toys

Daddy had bought 2 tents (one in the shape of a yellow school bus and the other in the shape of a school) and a toy tunnel for Alycia and Sherilyn last year. When we moved to our condo a year ago, the 3 toys were moved to his office storeroom. A year on, the girls suddenly remembered that they had those toys when they saw kids crawling into a toy tunnel, which looked like theirs on Hi-5. They had badgered daddy to bring the tents and toy tunnel back and after much persuasion and reminders, daddy finally brought them home.

They had great fun playing their 'new' old toys. Sherilyn even insisted on sleeping inside her tent at night!






Camping inside their tent. Love to see their happy faces.

Amazing Toy Fish That Can Grow Everyday

If your kids are constantly bugging you to get them some fish as pet but you find keeping fish as pet too troublesome, now you can buy them a toy fish that can really grow in water!

My visiting sil from Saipan bought Alycia and Sherilyn each a toy fish that can grow in water, up to 600% of its original size! Here are the 2 fish - one is a black and white shark and the other is an orange colored fish.


Day 1...

Day 2....

Several days later.....

The black and white shark outgrew the mineral water bottle and I haven't had the time to remove it from that bottle to place it in a bigger container, just to see if it can expand to 600% its original size. The growth of the orange fish got stunted and it just stopped growing at that size. Well, it did expand horizontally but not vertically! Maybe it will just grow into a big obese fish instead of grow longer hahaha!

Do you have any idea how the fish is to be removed from the bottle? Not by cutting up the bottle, which I had originally thought so. Just pour away the water and the fish will shrink! Amazing toy eh? My sil bought them from Mid Valley Megamall.

My sil also bought these goodies when she was in Japan recently....

I love that Hokkaido potato crisps (on the right). Even a health freak like me who does not eat potatoes can't help gorging on these sinful crisps that taste so good and addictive, a packet a day - shared with Aly and Sher. I find the orange flavored KitKat and that cute bunny biscuits with cream filling too sweet though.

New Teething Rings For Baby C

These are the 2 new teething rings that I bought for Baby C last week. I chose the colorful rings coz each ring has different texture/pattern and I can also teach her colors with the rings. The rings can be linked to form a long chain, which can be clipped to her stroller, thus will not drop on the floor when she throws it. The second one is a sanitized water filled teething ring, which can be put in the fridge since she likes to chew on cold stuff.

New Pink Scooter

Check out Alycia and Sher's new pink scooter in my other blog.

Bee The Movie Toy

When daddy brought us to MacDonalds last week, he got the gals a Kids' Value Meal each. Inside was a Bee The Movie toy. The gals, especially Sherilyn was crazy over the toy as the bee can move after winding it at the back with a key.




Sherilyn brought the bee everywhere - to the dining table, the bathroom and even to bed but after a few days when the craze has subsided, the toy is now dumped in our Toyogo toy box.

Future Basketballers

This is another birthday pressie that Alycia received, a toy basketball net. The gals have been practising their shooting skills day and night. Very soon, they can join daddy in his basketball games and matches. Daddy is an avid basketball player and he plays basketball almost everyday after work.

Fun With Bubbles

My gals are balloon and bubble crazed. Recently, the gals' koo koo (youngest sil) bought them an ELC battery-operated bubble maker from Hong Kong and they had so much fun playing with it. Even I find the bubble maker amusing. I normally bring them to the park to blow bubbles so that they will not dirty the floor of our porch but yesterday, I was too lazy to bring them to the park, so they played at the porch and dirtied the floor with soap. But it's ok, we parents cannot make rules so rigid at times, else our kids will not have an enjoyable childhood. It's really nice to see Alycia so happy shooting bubbles from the gun whilst Sherilyn chasing after them.

New Toy Tunnel

This is the new toy that Daddy bought Alycia and Sherilyn yesterday from Toys R Us. Another bulky toy, a tunnel for them to crawl. This is quite a 'healthy' toy because crawling is known to be very beneficial for the development of the brain. In fact, crawling and creeping are highly recommended by Glenn Doman for kids with brain injuries.

Now, my house really looks like a playschool. There's a school-bus tent, a school tent and now a tunnel. Anyone wants to bring your kids to my house to play? You are all welcome :)

Tracing On Doodle

Alycia loves drawing and tracing on her Fisher Price doodle. Each morning as Alycia and Sherilyn eat their breakfast, they have a habit of either scribbling on their doodle or have me or my maid read to them or play jigsaw puzzle on the floor or dining table. Learning to scribble and doodle on the Doodle Pro has definitely helped improve Alycia's and Sherilyn's fine motor skills and that's one of the best toys I'd bought them. Best of all, the gals never seem to get bored with it.


Alycia tracing a picture and word from a flashcard on her FP Doodle Pro.


Alycia's 'artwork'.

Toys Rationing

I recently wrote about my gals' habit of not picking up their toys after they are done with them. Some mummies suggested that I ration their toys and only have limited toys for them to play and to train the gals to keep their toys.

Today, I finally made the move and my maid and I sorted out their toys and kept one big bag of toys in the storeroom. I told the gals that they have not been behaving well, always strewing their toys all over the house, stepping and jumping on them and eventually spoiling them, ripping them apart, chewing on them and mummy is not happy, so mummy is going to keep some of the toys and if they prove to be good girls later, mummy will bring the toys out again.

I was surprised they didn't protest my bold move. My 2 brats even helped me put their not-so-wanted toys into a big garbage bag.

The gals helping to sort out their toys.


The big bag of toys to be kept in the storeroom.

Picking Up Toys

This is normally the scene at my house if I am not around to supervise my gals when they play. Lately, I've started to train my gals to keep their toys after they are done with them. It's not easy to get them to cooperate as most of the time, they'll just ignore me and continue playing, as though I am invisible. It's only when I raise my voice (again), threathen them and flash out the cane that they finally hear me. But when they are in a good mood, they will gleefully and willingly keep their toys without being told. Guess they have been pampered by the maid who has always been cleaning up their mess. Time to make a change now.

New toy

This is the new toy that DH secretly bought his 2 angels from Mid Valley Megamall yesterday... a school bus tent. Well, I shall see how long this new toy can sustain the gals' interest before being chucked into the storeroom if it is lucky enough to remain intact or being ripped apart into pieces.


Hello mummy... I love this yellow school bus.... "the wheels on the bus goes round and round, round and round, round and round..."




Taking turns to play bus driver and school children. This bus even comes with an inflatable steering wheel that's attachable to the tent.
The driver on the bus goes honk honk honk, all through the hall.

Toys Again!

I am sure those who bought the Star newspapers today got an insert of a huge, attractive and colourful flyer from Toys R Us. Whenever Alycia and Sherilyn see these flyers, they will go oooohh & aaahhh and the 2 of them will spend a good half an hour studying each and every toy advertised in the flyer, discussing amongst themselves what to ask daddy to buy. Now, that's another free and good breather opportunity for me.


Let's ask daddy tonight to buy us this, this and this toys, k.



Good taste you two have darlings.... that rabbit slide set costs RM449.95 Alycia girl.... and Sherilyn sweetie that playhouse cost RM1,299 wei... u think your daddy is a millionaire?



Sisters play turn ugly... Alycia snatched the flyer away from Sherilyn. Now, that's a very good excuse for mummy not to buy anyone any toys.

Toys Everywhere

Toys strewn everywhere, at every nook and corner of the house. This is a permanent sight at our house. Stepping and tripping over toys all the time.

Notice the pieces of blue and red plastic on the left? That was supposed to be a new toy trolley / cart that DH had earlier bought the gals. The 2 little brats even had the ingenuity to remove the bolts and dismantle the whole cart.

DH managed to re-assemble the toy cart but the 2 back wheels can't be re-attached coz the bolts are missing. Just hope Sherilyn didn't swallow them.

Disney Bunting

Recently, my SIL from Hong Kong sent another package of goodies to the girls and me again. This time, the box was full of Disney knick-knacks and souvenir and some very nice blouses for me too. Mmmmuack.... thanks tai kar cheh once again. When the box was opened, the girls went gila over the colourful cute cute Disney items. Amongst them were 2 Disney Mickey Mouse buntings, one blue and one red. When DH got home, the girls got him to hang the buntings across the dining room. Now, my house looks even more like a playschool. I suggested to DH and my mum that I can now even start a small comprehensive childcare service business to earn some pocket money but both advised me to DITCH this idea completely. Think very easy to earn this kind of money ar, can't even handle your own 2 kids!