Meals, and work and family
Yes, this must be balanced. And EVERYDAY, it's different for all of my family members. All these are possible with Eve's planning of meals as well as the activities we do with our children.
Meal planning
We have downloaded an app that enables us to plan out the rough meals we can prepare for our children and for ourselves. The image is just a sample. It's half done though. Eating out is the last resort if I am unable to cook at all, or somehow we are unable to prepare the dinner that day.
We prepare simple dishes such as this. Asparagus with some portobello mushrooms and prawns. I love to dice and throw everything into one dish, makes things so easy.
Steam fish is my children's favorite as well as ours! And it's so easy to prepare! Wash the fish. Place some slices of ginger, cherry tomatoes and add some soy sauce as seasoning. Steam it for 8-9 minutes! Healthy, economical and delicious!
We love to prepare meals for ourselves because eating out is so much difficult for us. Thinking of what to eat, to beat the queues, to see the crowd, minimal cost per meal is $50-80, not so healthy... Hence we make a point to just eat out once a week. Home cooked meals are generally cheaper, and we can just maximize the groceries at $50 every two days. It's really affordable and we are so much happier people after we eat the food.
Some simple greens with fresh fish balls from the wet market. And purchases of organic vegetables from our wet market is really something we have to thank God for. It's fresh and locally grown here. It's also very cheap too! And we are so glad that our children love to eat greens too!
Work planning
Of course, if I have appointments, I will have to remember and inform Eve what my daily schedule will be like. From there, we will make arrangements to see whether my father-in-law or Eve will cook if I am unable to prepare that day. And at times, the marketing in the morning was made either by Eve or me.
Quite a few times, after I cook dinner, I will dash for appointments and be back home around 9plus to have my dinner. Ain't it funny? Ha. I really like the flexibility of my job as I can get to cook, and prepare meals with my children and eat with them too.
Now Kate, when she sees me change into my work clothes, she will not want me to go to work! So cute of her, and once, she took my belt from my hand and threw it! However, all of us explain to her that I need to work so as to have food on the table. I guess it's a phase for Kate to go through it.
Family activities
We aim to go swimming once a week, go to Botanic Gardens once a week, playgrounds daily, going to church etc. For swimming, we also prepared dinner there! We will cook, put the food into the thermo flasks and after the swim, the hungry family finishes up the food! Ha. It's quite a hassle, but it's achievable though. We just strongly feel we need to consume healthy food.
At times we are unable to achieve what we have planned out, because of the weather, or maybe one child was sleepy. It's ok. We will change to playing at home. And that will activate our creative minds once again. It's just about spending time with them in these growing years.
Kate and Gwen.
Well, I really want to thank God for providing us such wonderful children and family. And that He has given us the capacity to manage so many things before age 30. And honestly, all these are impossible without us to have God in our lives.
