Happy Birthday, My Dear =)

I was busy in the kitchen, preparing a birthday cake for my dear husband when my handphone rang. It was from him. Wondering what was up, I picked up the call immediately, only to hear a worried voice from the other end of the phone.

"KW fell at the playground and cut his chin. School nurse called, and said that the cut required some stitching. It was a small but deep cut."

I dropped whatever I was doing, got darling son to dress warmly, and went to school immediately. TS said to meet him at school. I went in to meet darling son KW and the nurse while waiting for him to arrive. A huge blood-stained bandage was sitting under darling son's chin. My heart ached. But KW was a brave boy. He didn't cry. He sat quietly in the nurse's room. He returned a hug when a friend came in to see how he was, and managed a weak smile. His little brother gave him a hug and asked if he was ok.

We drove to the nearest Urgent Care Clinic, and he was given treatment almost immediately. Six stitches in all. Plus a Tetanus jab. Darling son took it all without a whine or tear. I was so proud of him. The whole process took almost two hours. While waiting for KW, we witnessed the first snowfall.

My dear husband went back to work while we went home.

Ingredients for the cake were all thrown away.

I quickly settled the boys, and tried to bake a second cake.

Maybe it was the snowfall, maybe it was the birthday cake.

Darling son KW seemed happy to be home. Both kids were excited to see snow. They were happily singing .. it's snowing, it's snowing, santa clause is coming ..

The men in the house were pleased with the Cinnamon Chocolate Cake.

Since darling son KW was such a brave boy, I topped his slice of cake with M&Ms! He was very happy. So was his little brother, who got a fair share of M&Ms too!

Devils Lake State Park

Our neighbour invited us to join them for a hike at the Devils Lake Park at Baraboo. The place was about 2 hours drive from our place. According to our neighbour, if you want to find a good place to take in the fall foliage, this is the place. We were approaching the end of October, and this was probably the last weekend to admire nature's splendor of vibrant colours and rich hues. In fact, most of the leaves on the trees in our neighbourhood had fallen. 

It was a super windy morning to start off.

We went to our car prepared. Coats, gloves, hats, scarves. 

We saw people half walking and half running as the gusty wind blew.

We were really glad we were well covered from head to toe!

West Bluff Trail : 1.5 miles, approximate hiking time 1.5 hours

A medium effort trail that is asphalt with stone steps and a steep climb on the south end and an easier climb up the north end. Goes across the bluff top past drop-offs with many scenic views of the lake and park.

Darling son KW was really enthusiastic about the hike. He was in fact leading the group.

"I am the leader!" he kept saying to us.

The climb was quite steep at some points. My little boy had difficulty climbing up. We took quite a while to climb to the top, as there were frequent stops for photograph taking, snacking and resting. 

After all, our boys are just four years and five years old respectively. 

Collage above : View of park and lake at the top of the bluff.

Collage below : Admire nature as you walk.

Going down was a lot easier, especially for the kids.

It was kind of taxing on my knees and old bones though =(

The second trail we went on to : Walking along the lake.

Tumbled Rocks : 0.8 miles, approximate hiking time 0.5 hours

An easy, level asphalt walkway winding through quartzite boulders at the base of the West Bluff at lake level.

It was a long walk for the two boys.

I was really proud of them! They walked from 11am till 3pm, without a word of complain! Of course, they were tired, and dozed off as we drove home.

Kite Flying

Vegetables picking in the morning, kite-flying in the afternoon, how does that sound to you?

Well, that was what we did!

We went to The Tree Farm for vegetables picking in the morning with our neighbours, then we headed to Fitchburg where a kite-flying event was held. You could bring your kite to fly, or you could made a kite with your kids. 

So off we drove to Fitchburg!

And so many kites greeted us when we alighted from the car! The sky was "littered" with kites! Kites of all kinds!

There was a kite that held candies. With a touch on the remote control, candies fell from a container attached to the kite! All the kids ran to get their candies. What a sight!

It was a lovely day in Autumn.

Windy with lots of sunshine.

The kids had fun decorating and making their own little kites. 

We had fun watching them made it.

We had fun flying it.

The kids had fun chasing after the huge octopus.

Darling son YW made a new friend ... with the grasshopper!

Darling son KW lost his first milk tooth while picking candies!

It was a Sunday filled with activities. 

The kids were tired at the end of the day. But they were really happy.

This is what I call ... childhood ....

Vegetables Picking

Do you like eating broccoli? 

Do you know how it is grown on the farm?

We love eating broccoli.

Sadly, we do not know how it is grown on farm.

Growing up in a city, we do not have the opportunity to visit a vegetable farm, and picking your own vegetables is out of the question. 

Away from home, into the woods, we have been doing things which we would not have done, or cannot do back home. 

Like using chalk to draw on the floor outside and around our apartment.

Like picking your own apples and other fruits at a fruit orchard. 

Like seeing so many ladybugs, fireflies, squirrels and many more.

Like picking your vegetables?

So off we went to this farm called The Tree Farm with our neighbours.

There were lots of vegetables for us to pick .... peppers, potatoes, Bak Choy, broccoli, radish, fresh herbs like rosemary, pumpkins and many others. 

Darling son KW was happy to pick the long beans.

No, he is not a fan of beans. He dislikes them. 

But he enjoyed picking them so much he had a big basket filled with it. 

The beans were easy to pick, light to carry, and not messy.

Darling son YW happily helped with picking the green peppers and Bak Choy. And they both ran wild when they saw the area with big and small pumpkins!

 

We didn't spend a lot of time there, so we only managed to pick some long beans, green peppers, Bak Choy, and a winter melon. 

I would love to go there again next Fall, to try picking some other vegetables. You can really taste the freshness of the vegetables. Or maybe it's because we picked the vegetables ourselves, so it tasted sweeter?

It was a sweet experience for both adults and children. 

Cook and Cooker?

My little boy said to me one day : Mama, you cook for us, so you must be a cooker!

Hmm, yes, I cook. But definitely not a cooker. A rice-cooker especially, since the rice-cooker is always switched on.

The men, big and little, in the house, love eating rice. They will have rice for lunch, and dinner. They are ... errh ... rice buckets? They feel hungry, if they have other carbohydrates for a meal. Macaroni and noodles make their guest appearance once in a long while.

So when asked, "What would you like for lunch/dinner?", the answer will always be "RICE!".

I love cooking one pot rice.

Claypot rice, baked rice, fried rice. Chicken rice too, if I have the chicken rice sauce.

Minimum washing and cooking. All in a pot .. your meat, vegetables and carbohydrates.

I am sure there are many more ways to 'dress up' the rice. I am still exploring and learning.

But for now, the men love the way their rice is 'dressed up', and are not complaining.

So the cooker cooks, while the cook rest.

My Books Have Finally Arrived!

Came home after picking darling son KW from school and noticed my front gate slightly opened. I remembered closing it before leaving the house. 

As I neared the apartment, I saw this huge brown bag sandwiched between the gate and our locked door. It's a parcel! It's our books from home!

I had been waiting for the books to arrive. It was sent as bulk mail on 30 June. It arrived on 8 October. It took more than three months to arrive!

Maybe because we live in the woods? Hmmm .... 

I was impatient while waiting for the books to arrive.

I was frustrated while waiting for the books to arrive. 

I had no books to use as reference when I home-schooled my boys during the last three months. I had no new books to read to them before bedtime.

I had no cookbooks to refer to.

It finally came! I was so happy.

One bag came. How about the second one?

I hope it arrives soon too .....

Pumpkins, pumpkins everywhere!

Darling son was learning about pumpkins, spiders and ghosts during the first week of October. 

They did math problems using with spider webs, read stories about pumpkins, and did crafts on spiders, ghosts, and pumpkins. All in preparation for ... Halloween! 

To end the theme on Halloween, a field trip was planned for the kids to visit a pumpkin patch! Oh, sorry, no spiders farm, although they did learn about spiders that week. Ghosts and Haunted House? Yes! There were two haunted houses at the farm, and the two girls we chaperoned were too scared to enter the second house after they went through the first one! But darling son bravely went through both the haunted houses, and came out of the houses way before his father did, ha ha. All this while, I was busy running after three kids, who were running after the kittens, and their classmates. 

The students were allowed to pick a pumpkin to bring home.

Look at the pumpkins scattered all over the field!

It was a windy and wet day. 

But we had fun picking the pumpkins, going on a wagon ride, running through a corn maze, and having a good laugh when the kids picked pumpkins that were bigger than their heads! The kids had fun writing their names on the pumpkins they picked! We would definitely bring our kids to a pumpkin patch again next Fall!