If the Lord is willing, many years down the road when our hairs grey and our memory fades, I'll read out this post to my grandchildren and great-grandchildren to remind us of the many blessed moments we shared as a family.

Sharing our family votes for the best nine family moments in 2016 - because the best nine is not just about the most-liked photos.

Photos from top row (left to right)

• We spent a whole day at Kidzania! From the time it opened to its closing time. I couldn't believe that all the three kids were still hyped up when we left, whereas I was exhausted just sitting around and taking pictures. It was an incredible experience as there was hardly any crowd and the kids tried out 11 establishments. Precious moments spotted when the siblings helped one another to complete the task, accommodated to K's walking speed by walking slower, brought K along to set up her bank account and collecting the 20 kidZos and many more. 
• We had a thrilling time at the Singapore Wake Park, challenging each other to see who will be the first to successfully wakeboard across the waters. Precious moments included cheering each other on when we couldn't make it to the opposite tower. Even K, who was watching us from the side, encouraged us and gave lots of thumbs-up. 
• We brought K on a bus ride because she started asking. Each time when we are in the car, she would point to the buses that pass by and say, "I want to go on bus." For a girl who has overcome so many challenges in her short life and has improved so much physically, it was indeed difficult for us to reject her request. The look on her face when she finally boarded one was priceless! So, so precious because it was her first. 

• We celebrated L's birthday at Zoom Park because he wanted the same experience that Ch had for her birthday. It was extra memorable because he had the company of 5 other friends and they expended so much energy trampolining for that one hour. 
• We finally saw enough weight gain from K and more progress at eating and drinking by mouth. Hence, we confidently pulled out her feeding tube! The family cheered for her when she took a photo with her tube dangling from her small fingers. And she proudly said "No more tube." Will 2017 be the year she accepts Gerber puffs, biscuits, cubed fruits and everything else?  
• We were pleasantly surprised with our luxurious family suite at the recent staycation at the Civil Service Clubhouse@Changi. A chalet it was, but it was more than the typical chalet we are familiar with. The kids watched tv whenever there was time and we had friends over for a barbeque too. A post about our experience to come soon.

Enjoy the little things in life. For one day you may look back and realise they were the Big things. 

 What about you, dear friend? What were your best nine family moments for this year?

This is the second post of the series featuring our collaboration with Nippon Paint Professional Painting Services. Read about our pre-painting site consultation experience and the surprise we got.

 - The day our room breathed a new look again -

The painting team from Nippon Paint Professional Painting Services reached our house on time with their tools and paints and started work promptly. Quietly, the two painters worked in tandem to shift the furniture to the centre of the room, tape the fixtures etc.

Job to be completed in 5 hours: walls and ceiling of my helper's room and ceilings of my Master Bedroom and two toilets.

Pre-painting preparation

Protecting all fixtures with Nippon Paint-approved masking tapes

Nippon Paint Plastic Drop Cloth to protect all the furniture and floor

Painting work starts

Adding a coat of primer (sealer)

Although the Vinilex 5170 or ExpressKote sealers might be more efflorescence resistant (hence providing more protection to the finishing coats of paint), the Nippon Paint 5101 Odour-less Water-based Wall Sealer was suggested by Alan (project manager of Nippon Paint Professional Painting Services) as we have young children at home. It emits a low level of VOCs (Volatile Organic Compound), hence is safer for them as compared to the other two types of sealers. And... did you notice the name says "odour-less" instead of odourless? Keke... true to its name, the water-based sealer does emit a little odour, but is definitely much less as compared to the normal paints, and it is almost unnoticeable.

The work was divided between the two painters. One painted the top coat of my helper's bedroom while the other worked on the ceilings and the toilets.

Top coats waiting to dry

Blistered paint removed from the toilet ceiling

Areas on the ceilings where the old paint blistered or peeled off were scraped and cleaned before applying the new coat of ceiling paint. The Nippon Paint Anti-Mould Ceiling White paint is formulated to have anti-mould properties against most species of mould - definitely what we need, considering the booklice feast on mould on the walls.

Just when the painters were going to clean up after completing the work, we found bubbles forming under the new coat of ceiling paint in one toilet. Thankfully, the painters rectified the problem immediately. They had to reapply new coats of paint after removing the bubbles and stayed on to check if the problem persisted. I am impressed with their work attitude because not once did they give me any "black face" for delaying the completion of the paintwork.

Cleaning Up

The painters worked fast to clean up the rooms and removed all masking tapes and drop cloths. As part of their professional painting services, they were supposed to reinstall the furniture in my helper's room to the original arrangement, but the painters told me to let the top coat dry completely for a few hours before doing that. I was more than happy to do it myself since they stayed almost the whole day just to make sure the ceiling paint dried up properly.

We love the new colours and a refreshed look for my helper's room. Stay with me for photos of the completed paintwork in my next post!

We have been neglecting the maintenance of the paintwork of our house since we moved in. Other than a new paintwork in 2011 at the foyer leading to our main door and the current bedroom which Ch and L are sharing, the rest of the house still retains the original paintwork that was done in 2003.

Parts of the ceilings in our toilets and Master Bedroom have blistered and cracked. The wall paint in my helper's room and the balcony suffer from the growth of mould and "scars" when stickers or Blue Tack were removed.

Problem areas on interior walls and ceilings

We have been thinking of giving the walls a new paintwork especially since the helper's room looks kind of dull, but ... you know how things are with work and kids around ya? The days turn into months and the months into years, with the problem areas still unattended to until we were invited to try out Nippon Paint's Professional Painting Services.

Helper's room cum play area for the kids

Pre-painting site inspection

What do you see on this bedroom ceiling?

Do you notice the tiny black speck at the joining of the ceiling and wall? That is actually a living thing!

A closer look under my microscope

It was a shock to see these pests which have been breeding on the walls in my helper's bedroom. Alan told me that these tiny insects (length about 1 mm) are booklice and they are commonly found in warm and moist conditions which are conducive for the growth of mould and mildew. The mould and mildew are their sources of food.

Booklice don't bite and they are not like head lice. They are generally harmless but they may cause skin irritation for some and are difficult to remove effectively. There are a couple of ways to eradicate booklice but since we were going to repaint the problematic areas, that would remove the thriving population.

Choosing the type and colour of paint

From macarons to room colour ideas