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Early this Sunday, they lost their mother too.
Madam Smaelmeeral Abdul Aziz, 32, was found dead at the foot of Block 181 in Stirling Road with multiple injuries and fractures.
The girl is just two years old and the boy is four.
Now, they could lose their father.
Yesterday, Tharema Vijayan Govindasamy, 38, an odd-job labourer, was charged in a district court with the murder of his estranged wife.
He faces the death penalty if convicted.
For now, the children are being cared for by a friend of the family, said the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS).
A family member has, however, stepped up. Tharema's older brother and the brother's wife, have told the MCYS they would like to take care of the children.
The MCYS spokesman said: 'MCYS officers have been in contact with the children and the families and will continue to provide them the necessary support and assistance.'
Tharema's sister-in-law - who did not want to be named - told The Straits Times the latest event yesterday added to the family's sense of grief.
She and her husband, Tharema's brother, spoke of the bittersweet love affair between the couple.
'Tharema is a very nice man and a very loving father to the kids. He cares for his family a lot,' the sister-in-law said.
'Smaelmeeral was my brother's first love. He met her in early 2002 and they were married towards the end of that year,' the brother said.
He added that the couple faced financial difficulties.
Tharema - who did not complete his primary school education - found it difficult to secure a regular job. Madam Smaelmeeral was also in and out of jobs. She was a factory operator when she died.
The brother told the Straits Times he was glad that Tharema had surrendered after police started searching for him, rather than remain a fugitive. He had tried contacting him, and made the breakthrough on Monday night.
Then Tharema had asked him: 'Please take care of the kids.'
Tharema is now in remand until his next court appearance on July 11, pending further police investigations.
Yesterday, Madam Smaelmeeral's body was brought from the mortuary to the Choa Chu Kang Muslim Cemetery for burial. A group of 30 relatives and friends were there.
The dead woman's older brother, Mr Jaffar Abdul Aziz, also spoke of the couple's five-year marriage.
The family had been against it but 'later we gave in because what was the point of stopping two hearts that were together?'
Two friends of Madam Smaelmeeral were also among those at the funeral.
Madam Mathinah Baham, 33, and another friend, who wanted to be known only as Miss Rani, recounted the close bonds among all three, and how Madam Smaelmeeral had sung praises about her husband.
She told them he knew how to care for the children well, cooked and even did the housework.
The three friends had been spending a night out on Saturday, several hours before she was found dead.
They left the nightspot in separate cabs.
Madam Mathinah said she did not know why their friend had ended up at Block 181, Stirling Road.
Twenty minutes before she was murdered, she had made phone calls to both her friends, but they had missed her calls.
Madam Mathinah, who is a childhood friend and distant relative, said she regrets not noticing the phone call that night as she could have rushed to her friend's aid.
For a sense of how the weekend's murders have shocked the public, catch our free video report.
