Let's Make It!

Darling son YW had wanted to show how to make the windmill. I agreed and he happily went about teaching me. As my little teacher went ahead to demonstrate how to draw, cut, fold and tape, I quickly took pictures and then went back to be the good attentive student =D

Take a pice of rectangular paper. Draw two diagonal lines as shown above.

Cut along each line, halfway. There are four lines to cut.

Pick one corner of the paper. Fold the cut half towards the uncut line. Tape/glue it down at the tip only.

Go to the second corner of the paper. Do the same as before. Fold and glue.

Proceed to the third corner. Fold along the uncut line and glue the tip down.

Now the last corner! Fold it and tape it.

Start stamping, drawing or coloring!

Let the fun begin!

Let's get crafty!

Halloween Crafts

Are you ready for Halloween? I definitely am! See, I even receive a special mail from a mysterious little kid!

Darling son YW was watching "Sid, The Science Kid" on a lazy Sunday morning. This week's programme was about Halloween. Halfway through the show, I heard my little boy's footsteps as he started running up to his room, and then down, back to sit in front of the TV. I was wondering what he was up to. After the show, he came and showed me this.

Wow! No wonder he was looking for paper, pencil, and scissors!

I told him I liked it very much, and was very impressed that he learnt something interesting from the TV show.

"Do you think you can make it even more exciting?", I asked him.

And all I gave him was this set of self-inking stamps.

And he came back to me with the following ....

Ok, the one he did was without the edges being ink, and minus the stick. But I love the drawings he did after stamping ... the happy suspended in the air spider and the "scary" vampire. I asked him if he would like to make it even more interesting by having the sides of the paper inked. He had seen me done it before, and he would like to try it too. And so, I showed him and then passed him the ink to do it. Then I added a straw to the back and added a black ribbon.

The final product! He was so pleased with it that he wanted to show me how make it! All over again! Kids can be so creative. One will be amazed at what they can come up with when one let go and let them explore!

Happy 7!

Every year, when the month of July starts, my boy will ask us, "How many more days to my birthday?". Without fail, he wakes up every morning asking the same old question. He is the baby in the family, and sometimes, I forget that he is going to be 7, and will be a student in Grade 2 (equivalent of P2 in Singapore) when school starts in Fall.

I am glad I take up card-making as a hobby. Without bento-making during the school vacation, card-making helps to keep me sane. And so, I made a card for the baby in the family. I call him "My Little Monster", and so, a monster-themed birthday card is suitable for the occasion. Instead of handing the present and card to him, we opted to go on a treasure hunt. We started with the card. Twice, the birthday boy came down to the living room empty handed. Finally, he found the card on his third attempt, came down and said to us "I saw this but didn't think that it was for me. I like it!". I had been sending cards back home and he thought it was just another card for friends back home. What a silly boy!

As usual, I had been asking him "What kind of cake do you want for your birthday?". He chose a combination of strawberry and chocolate. Woo ... lovely combination! But e am one guilty mom. The photograph above was a no-bake Jelly Cheesecake! The heatwave this week made it almost impossible to cook, not to mention bake. The tiny kitchen in the apartment is one big OVEN on its own. I turned Grumpy-Mom since day 1 of the heatwave. A no-bake cheesecake was all that I could handle in the heat of 37C. Well, there was no complaints from the birthday boy, since he knew he was the star of the day, and he loved the jello on the cake!

Birthdays and presents ... they are a good pair. Time for treasure hunt! One for the birthday boy, and the other, for his brother. This has always been the tradition in the family , as we do not want the other child to feel left out.

A DIY kaleidoscope for the birthday boy, since he loved looking through the kaleidoscope at the Botanical Garden.

And a compass for his GorGor. I bought these two items from a gift shop during our visit to Boston.

The finished product. We were both perspiring profusely when we completed the project. Not that it was a strenuous one. My attempt in taking a inside-the-keleidoscope photograph.

After the celebration and just before hubby dear headed out for work, he asked the birthday boy, "过生日开心吗？" ... translated into English, it meant "Are you happy on your birthday?". To which the birthday boy answered in English, "What?! My birthday is over already?!!" in astonishment. Erh .... I'm speechless ... Seems like I have a lot of coaching to do this Summer ....

Kids' Drawing and Writing

Darling son KW brought home from school the above drawing. Asked him what it was, he said it was a page on his imagined computer game. From wanting to be Lego-Designer, he is now a computer game "designer".

Here's his Lego Design called Blizzards' Peak. I found it among his stack of drawings on the table while tidying up the room.

Here's another drawing of the Ben 10 aliens. The drawing on the aliens were done during the Ben10-craze sometime back. So many sheets of drawing ... if only I can sell them for some pocket money for them =p

Darling son YW brought home a piece of writing on Spring.

Here's what he wrote about Spring :

Spring is good because we can play with water guns.

Spring is good and fun because you can wear shorts.

Spring is sunny and there are birthdays in spring.

Spring is sometimes hot.

I'm amazed at the things he can write about spring! And that he is observant enough to notice that Spring, although cold and missing most of the time, can sometimes be HOT! Yes, there were a couple of days when it felt like summer instead of spring. I really enjoy reading his writing. Did you notice that the teacher do not correct him on the spelling? As such, the kids are encouraged and motivated to just write and write. And they can just write about anything! I love their creativity and their imagination!

Click, Clack, Moo!

The school term is almost coming to an end. Teachers are almost done with the assessments and wrapping up the different units for their teaching. Field trips, class plays and other activities are usually organised during this period.

Darling son YW's class put up two plays, each lasting five minutes. He was the narrator of the play, Click, Clack, Moo. Here's our three narrators.

And here's Farmer Brown, the cows who love to type, and the chicken.

We had fun watching the play. The kids worked hard rehearsing their play, and they did well! Being younger, they were given shorter lines, and each play lasted only five minutes.

I think these plays help to boost the kids' self confidence and their public speaking skills. I really hope that Singapore's primary schools can be just as fun and as nurturing. Memorizing phrases for composition is not being creative. Doing lots of homework is no fun. Staying back for extra lessons is exhausting. Why did all the fun and creativity go then? Kids are kids. And kids learn best through play, not through numerous assessments. You want them to learn a skill and to know their strength and weakness. You don't want them to learn a fact to get an "A", only to forget about it a couple of months later.

So for the time being, I'll let my boys enjoy their childhood as much as they can, before entering the stressful education system in two years' time.

Horrible Science

I got to know about this series of books from a friend's blog. She blogged about how much her son T loved these books, and how he learnt something from reading them. I did a search on Amazon, read a couple of pages, and placed order for "Bulging Box of Books - Horrible Science".

These books were shipped from UK, and I was impressed by the prompt shipping by this external company, pbshopus. The books were shipped from their UK warehouse a day after I placed my order. And it came wrapped securely in many layers. The box was in very good condition when I received it! I will definitely order UK published books from this company again!

These books would be good for summer reading. Darling son KW was eager to start reading, and loving to do things systematically, he opted to start reading from Book A - Angry Animals. He even brought the book to school to read. I could hear him laughing out laugh as he read. Definitely a boy's kind of book =) And seeing his big brother reading and laughing away, the little one also started reading the first book, after his elder brother finished reading it.

And I'm happy to see them read! It seems kind of crazy to order a box of 20 books. But if the boys enjoy the books, and each book (including the shipping fee) cost less than S$4, why not? I would say that it is money well spent =)

Weekend Activity - Making Bookmarks

Darling son YW has been bringing home chapter books to read as homework. He is in Grade 1, the equivalent of Primary 1 in Singapore. He is currently reading the book on Stuart Little. He brings the book for two days, and will be asked to finish three chapters or so during these two days. Sometimes, in between chapters, he will be given a sheet that says "Draw and retell the story from Chapters 1 - 3". It is very much like summarizing the chapters, with your own illustrations. Sometimes, he will have to do a story flag, or complete some comprehension questions after finishing the book.

Very often, he will come to me and say "I don't remember where I stop reading" when I ask him to do his reading homework. Since their swimming and chinese lessons have ended, they now have more free time to do their own things. I asked him if he would like a bookmark, since he kept forgetting where he stopped for his reading. He readily agreed, and I asked him to help me with it. Under my supervision, he was allowed to punch out the various parts of the owl, and put them together. He was happy putting together the bookmark, and used it for his reading homework thereafter. No protest about having to read. Phew!

And I made a bookmark for myself too, from the scraps I have =)

I love the glitter on the blue dots, and I love the bling on the circle!

The above owl card was made when I first received my owl punch from Stampin' Up. Darling son YW liked it so much, I gave it to him and called it an "Owl Badge". Now the little owl bookmark and his owl badge sits side by side on his table, awaiting their next assignment =)

Hanbagu and Tulips

Habuga, my boys' favorite.

After a week of no-bento, I had a slow start in picking up the momentum for bento-making again. Preparation and planning were not my list of to-do things. I knew I was going to pack hanbagu for the boys' lunch. But what else? Since it is Spring and the flowering trees in the neighbourhood had started to bloom, I thought it would be nice to just cut out some cheese tulips and lay them on the rice. And I like tulips!

My little boy is a slow eater. He is always the last one to finish his dinner. He would still be eating even when I had finished washing the dishes. So today, I was pleasantly surprised when he brought home an empty lunch box. Yes, empty! There would usually be one or two florets of broccoli and a little rice in the box. Growth spurt? Whatever it is, I'm one happy mom as long as he brings home an empty lunch box =)

Elephants

Spring Break is finally over. The boys were happy to be back at school, after a week of staying at home. However, the little one had to skip school, as we had to bring him to see the doctor at the urgent care clinic. He had been having a low grade fever for the last two days, and last night, a rash broke out around his neck and shoulders. He also complained of having a sorethroat.

A throat culture for Strep confirmed that the boy had strep throat, scarlet fever. He was given a 10-day dose of medication. After the first dose of medication, he felt better, and ran happily outside to meet his brother when the elder boy returned home from school. Since the weather was good, I let them play (hide and seek, haha) outside the house for a while.

Back to the bento ... Darling son KW asked me on Sunday night "What are we having for lunch?". He was referring to the different figures I put in the bento. It was then I realised, after a week of not packing bento, I had forgotten that I had to start my bento-making the next day! I was tired, after Darling son YW kept waking up at night because of his discomfort due to his sorethroat. So I took a shortcut, used my elephant cutter and cut out two cheese elephants. In the bento, there's Chicken Kijiyaki, broccoli and rice. The boy finished his lunch as he was hungry after all the running and activities in school. I guess it's good for them to be back at home, since they eat more during school term.

Ben 10 Alien Force

If you are a fan of Ben 10, you will be familiar with these aliens ... EchoEcho and Chromastone. Darling son YW has been a fan of Ben 10 all along, but not Darling son KW. Recently, KW became a StarWars-turned-Ben10 fan. I guess the fact that Ben can transform into different aliens is far more interesting than the droids, clone and storm troopers. Even I'm in love with these colourful aliens in many different forms, heights and shapes!

So the boys had been drawing ... aliens after aliens. They never get tired of drawing. They cut the aliens out and stick them on their bedroom wall. Now I have a gallery of aliens. Sometimes, two of a kind, since both of them draw the same aliens, but the same alien looks different.

KW being a little older and started drawing at an earlier age than his little brother, had drawings which looked more like the cartoon characters. He is however, encouraging, when his little brother feels discouraged that his drawings are not as "nice and real" as his gor gor's.

When I saw the above three drawings by Darling son KW, I couldn't resist taking photographs of the drawings! You know how hard copies tend to curl at the corners and the ink starts to fade after a while? With the digital copy, I can keep them for ages and show him when he is older.

For the little boy, he likes to draw combos of aliens ... that is, he likes to create his own alien, using the different parts of many aliens. And he was one happy boy when we agreed to let him stick the drawing of his combo alien on our bedroom door, erh, to protect us.

This is one powerful alien, as stated in the footnote of his drawing:

With Ben Ten Ultimate Aliens and regular ones also.

Starfish or Flower?

Does it look like a starfish to you, or does it look like a flower?

Darling son has been coughing and sneezing the past week. I was just glad that his fever was gone. He had been eating the less oily, and easily digested meals for the past week. He had scallop porridge yesterday, and today, I cooked the porridge in chicken stock.

Eating porridge can be boring, especially if you do not like eating it.

"Hey, there's a flower in your porridge!", my effort in trying to make his lunch sounds interesting.

He ran over, looked at his bowl of porridge, and replied "It's a starfish!".

Oh well, it doesn't really matter, as long as he finish his meal. He did, and he asked for more grape tomatoes. He finished half the box of grape tomatoes I bought that afternoon.

Meet the Minion!

Meet the Minion, from Despicable Me!

These little fellows are busy working for Gru, building this and that ... so they need tools!

Minion and tools ... they make a good bento lunch for boys =) Plus, it is not difficult to put together the Minion. Simple tools like straws and piping tip, or any circular objects you can find in your home for cutting circles of two different sizes. Cheese slices ... Cheddar and Swiss, two colours, for the eyes.

Darling son KW will be bringing this Minon, Despicable Me lunch to school. In the lunch box, he got a rice ball, shaped like Minion's head and hidden under Minion, blanched broccoli florets, and pan-fried chicken. How about Darling son YW? He had a terrible sore throat last night. I thought I should let him bring something light for lunch ... blanched snow peas, prawns cooked in salted water, and rice. So two different sets of lunch for school.

Midway through lunch preparation, I noticed that Darling son YW was not his usual self. He looked tired and his face was very red. A mother's instinct, I would say, and I quickly took his temperature. He was having a high fever of 102F/38.8C! So the boy would be staying home today! He could still have prawns and snow peas for lunch, with rice in a bowl of miso soup.

Hubby dear was one lucky guy today! He's got a combination of both meals!

The medication did bring Darling son YW's fever down, but after lunch, it went up again to 102F/39C. I hope he will get well soon, after a day or two of rest. So for now, I will be preparing two sets of meals, till the little boy recovers!

Fun in School!

School has never been so fun!

The loaf of bread was made by Darling son KW ... in school!

His teacher brought in the ingredients, and they kneaded the bread dough in class. The kids left the dough to proof in the classroom, and some parent volunteers brought the dough home after school to bake. The next day, he came home with a loaf of baked bread, wrapped nicely in a transparent bag, with his name written nicely on a tag stuck on the bag.

We went "WOO" and "WOW" when we saw the loaf of bread. He was very pleased with his work, and wanted to try the bread after dinner. We all had a slice of bread. Don't expect the soft, fluffy kind of bread. It was after all, made by little hands. There was this hole in the centre of the loaf, and the top of the bread was very hard, making it difficult to slice. But we all ate our bread, and his little brother gave his support by having not one, but two slices! The bread tasted good ... yes, the extra ingredient in the loaf brought out the sweetness ... the effort put in by the boy in kneading the dough and completing his task in school.

Of course, the little boy YW needed his praise for his work in school too. He made a gingerbread house in school, and wanted to eat the parts after he brought it home.

"Since it is such a lovely house, why not let it sit on the window sill for a few days?" I suggested.

Reluctantly, he agreed.

And reluctantly, I agreed to buy some candies for him.

I don't remember school being so fun back home. It's work, and more work. Here in the woods, the boys have the luxury of time to do what they like. They read, draw, use their imagination to construct vehicles with LEGO, and of course, go on play dates with their friends. They still have to finish their school work when they return home from school, and they have their extra assignments from me during their long school holidays. They don't spend the whole day studying and doing assignments. And these extra work do not take away the joy of learning from them.

And I am happy for them that school is fun!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Darling son YW brought home from school this painting.

It's a turkey. And along with it came a little message ......

We don't celebrate Thanksgiving Day, even though we had been living in the woods for the past two years. However, we do take a moment to think about, together with the kids, what we are thankful for.

Last year, darling son YW came home from school with a list of things he was thankful for ... Family, Friends, Books, Reading, Apples (as he went apple picking with his classmates), Lego.

This year, he gave me this little notebook.

"Where did you get the notebook?".

"It's my prize from class.".

Wow. I am truly touched. He is giving his prize to me.

That is his way of saying "Thank You".

As a wife and mother, I am thankful for the time I have with my family.

I am thankful for a loving husband, who is always there for me.

I am thankful for the opportunity to stay home, watching my boys grow, and witnessing each milestone they achieve.

As a daughter, I am thankful that we are always in our parents' thought.

I am thankful that my mom is taking things positively, with a good spirit, even though she is diagnosed with breast cancer.

I am thankful that my dad is with her, giving her the support she needs.

What are you thankful for, on this Thanksgiving Day?

Happy Thanksgiving!