Lauren's Kindergarten Graduation at Wisma Belia, Indera Mahkota

Our eldest daughter has completed her two years of kindergarten training and will be starting primary school next month.

We attended her graduation ceremony at Wisma Belia in Indera Mahkota. 

Lauren receiving her honours

Lauren looking through her honours booklet

Lauren with a selection of her friends

Family picture

Can't believe Lauren will be starting primary school so soon! The two years have passed so quickly, like a blur. Our hopes for Lauren at kindergarten were that she would be able to learn Bahasa Melayu (the national language of Malaysia) and that target has been achieved. She is now ready for proper school. She can speak English (naturally) and Bahasa Melayu and is learning Mandarin Chinese.

Here is a photo of her last day at kindergarten:

With her two kindergarten teachers

Dengue Awareness Campaign; Colouring Competition

We attended a dengue awareness campaign in Bukit Sekilau, Kuantan which doubled up as a colouring competition for students from two kindergartens in the area. Lauren entered the competition and was delighted to be selected as one of the winners; she came in 3rd place and won a prize!

Dengue fever is killing more people this year compared to 2013 and it's vital to understand the basic steps to preventing the spread of the disease and the aedes mosquitoes which carry it.

Lauren waiting for her prize

Lauren and her friend with their two teachers

Top 20 Photos of 2013 - #12

#12

I am torn when it comes to photos of my children to be included in Top Photos lists. Do I include a picture of my daughter just because she is my daughter and she's cute, or do I omit such an image as it's probably not as technically good as other landscape, nature or animal pictures? I really had a struggle with this one but I believe it is both physically cute and technically pretty. Lauren's hair, dress and sunglasses were all perfect, as were the natural surroundings of the KL Butterfly Park, which framed the image nicely on either side.

Photoshoot with Lauren

Taking a break from the usual today to share some photos I took in a photoshoot with my eldest daughter, Lauren. We painted her bedroom pink and the photos there look so much better as a result. Hope you enjoy these photos. Lauren will be 6 after Christmas.

Christmas Tree is UP!!!

Lauren stands by our Christmas Tree

It may still be a little early, and some of you may still be recovering from a Halloween fright night, but our Christmas Tree is up!

My good wife has got a tradition going of putting the tree up on the first day of November. It does give me the opportunity to get the camera out and start experimenting with the lights. And I love the relaxing nights with nothing but the tree lights on. It does create a very warm and cosy atmosphere!

Lauren's interpretation of the HAZE in Malaysia!

Haze is a hot topic in Malaysia right now - literally. It's the worst haze in 16 years but thankfully it has become a lot clearer today in Kuantan.

Lauren decided to do a drawing of how she sees the haze. Thought you might be interested to see how a 5-year-old interprets this situation!

Lauren's Pose

Lauren is a girl of many poses. Here's a particularly elegant one at Swiss Garden Resort & Spa Kuantan:

Is this a nice variation, or does it just look scary?!

Lauren's 5th Birthday!

It's Lauren's 5th birthday today, and she celebrated with her new friends and teachers at kindergarten!

It was good to see her so happy at kindergarten after a difficult first few days where she cried, yelled, and screamed whilst adapting to her new lifestyle!

Our friend, Aunty Dora, made the cake for us. Click here for more of Aunty Dora's cakes

All of her friends gathered round as the teachers started singing "Happy Birthday" to her in English and Malay:

Lauren cutting the cake:

We joined Lauren and her friends for her birthday celebration at 10am today, which is breakfast time for this kindergarten.

Leah wasn't afraid to go and join Lauren and the others!

Photoshoot with Lauren

Lauren is a great model for photographing. So on a recent free day I decided to take her out for a photoshoot to get some practice with my Canon EOS 650D.