Growing with Guidance

Thread the Needle

2011-04-22T04:39:00.001-07:00

We made these today for Arts and Craft Project. To see how we made it, view it here on my other blog. Making Socks Bunny.

Making these bunnies require stitching. I hardly sew. The only one sewing project I've ever completed is a large Precious Moments cross stitch work which I gave to my sis in law as a wedding present. I took one year to complete that after multiple procrastination and stops. After that, I vowed never to start another cross stitch! haha...

However, my mum loves sewing. She sewed dresses for me, curtains for the house, dresses for my babies and host of other projects. When she hit her late 30's or early 40's, I remember mum asking me to help her thread the needle. I used to think "man, I'm better at this then my mum." :) or "Oh no, not again, why can't mum thread her own needles!"

But as I did my bunny project yesterday, I found myself squinting as I tried to get that darn thread through the needle. And since my children are still young, I was tempted to get help from Ju (age 16, who's like daughter to me) by asking her to help me thread the needle.

Then pride held me back...and I told myself, "nah...not now", perhaps in a year or 2, I'll humbly ask my children to help me thread the needle.

(Do hop over to the other blog, if you're keen on trying this project for yourself.)

Milo or Coffee?

2011-04-21T07:04:00.000-07:00

Fancy giving your child Coffee for breakfast? Well...that's what I did this morning, or almost did!!

We woke up late and rushed to meet an early appointment with some mums at the National Science Center this morn. Before leaving, hurriedly I asked my kids, "Want some milo?"

Milo or
Coffee?

"Yes!" they replied. So I opened my cupboard, took out some green sachets which I thought was Milo 3 in 1. I made the drinks quickly, some for them and some for me. It was brown, like the colour of Milo too. Anyway, It's a good thing I made some for me, coz usually I don't drink Milo, makes me feel nauseous.

Before heading out, I took a quick gulp of the drink and was surprised by the taste that hit my tongue. I shouted to the kids "STOP! DON'T DRINK THAT, it's COFFEE! !" (I don't give coffee to my kids, simply coz I myself can't take too much of it. It gives me palpitations (SVT) and thrice I've landed in the hospital's emergency ward because of it.)

"Well...no wonder it smelt so different mum!" replied Nel. I looked for the sachets I used, turned them over to discover this.

Can't believe Old Town White Coffee has now created green sachets!! Coffee's supposed to come in brown packets, not green!

Ok, now off to find out when did hubby get these.

Leave it!

2011-04-20T06:54:00.000-07:00

You know those days when you feel like you've no energy?.. Yes?? I'm glad it's not just me who knows such days. Well today was such a day. Just lethargic with no energy.

I had to take extra cups of coffee to help me get through the day. Yeah, I remember, my cardiologist's advice was "no coffee," but how do I get the much needed energy boost then?

Woke up with a heavy head from a lack of sleep (again). Blame it on the thunderstorm last night. It was thundering half the night with several house alarms going off nearby. In the middle of the night both my girls woke and ran to our room.

Still we got up on time, went through the usual day's routine, with me being extra grouchy and fierce! haha...(ok, no laughing matter as far as my children are concerned, they dislike fierce mum!) Noon came, and extra coffee helped me stay awake during the piano classes I had to teach.

Then suddenly, Boom! Bang! RAIN! Who would've thought it'd rain again after the storm last night! Well it did. When I got done teaching, I found half my laundry hanging on the fence drenched! *heavy sigh*

Wanted to put it back in the washer to rewash and then realised that there was an extra load in the machine, which I'd washed in the morn and forgot to dry. *double sigh*

With this kinda day.... I thought.."Leave it!" Let the wet clothes remain OUTSIDE, and let the washed clothes remain IN the washer. I'll do double load tomorrow again. So I slammed shut my washing machine, closed the door on my wet laundry hanging outside and walked IN.
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As I was typing this, Jo came and stood quietly next to me and said in a serious voice "Mum, I'm pregnant, you need to help me get the baby out."
I nearly fell out of my chair from real shock, coz of the seriousness of her voice. I had a good laugh when I looked at her, dressed in a long gown with an overcoat, handbag under her arms and high heels. In her gown there was an actual baby doll. haha. As for Nel, she spent most of her free time today reading. We read bout environmental pollution, and she seems interested in that topic.

hiking n old jeans

2011-04-17T20:23:00.000-07:00

We will be heading for a caving adventure soon. Am really looking forward to that. I just read that there are 4 levels of caving, level 4 being the most difficult. Have yet to decide if we'll do 3 or 4.

I also read that I will have to walk some 700 steps to get to the top before the steps descend into lower levels, streams and tunnels. My heart is already palpitating thinking of all those steps. So in preparation, I'm planning on hiking a lot these few weeks!

Yesterday we did 2 hours of hiking up and down hill, and am proud to say that my children did it without any whining (coz there was the ice cream reward promised at the end of it all! ) :)

As I do this, I also hope to shed the 7kg's that I DESPERATELY need to shed in order to get back into the jeans I used to wear some 14 years ago when I was merely a size 4/5. Oh yes, I still have my old jeans...hoping, dreaming and longing for the day I'll get back into them.

Perhaps it will always remain a dream? *sob* *sob*.....

cooking rice

2011-04-14T16:44:00.000-07:00

Some evenings, I teach late. As I was teaching yesterday, Jo little one, came up and said "I'm hungry mum." I whispered for her to go cook the rice. Usually she'll ask me to help a little bit, but this time she didn't at all.

After work, I walked to the kitchen, looked in my rice pot n found the rice perfectly cooked. She'd even mixed brown n white rice 4 health. :) I'm proud of her.

As for Nel, she'd help me peel all carrots and sliced them up. But she didn't end there, she helped me take in all the laundry and hung up the newly washed load. I'm truly blessed by my little ones.

Literature - Behind the Bedroom Wall

2011-04-14T08:31:00.000-07:00

Someone gave us some old books to read. Amongst the books was Behind the Bedroom Wall by Laura E Williams. The book given was rather tattered and torn, and I was just about to throw it away when Nel begged me to read it to her. I guess, the picture on the front attracted her attention.

Sure Nel loves to read her own books, but there is always a book of the week which I read to them, almost daily, when I have the energy. So this is the book of the week, Behind the Bedroom Wall.

Let me just be lazy and copy an excerpt found on Amazon.com. The review goes -

Grade 5-8?Korinna, 13, loves her country and is active in the Jungmadel, Hitler's youth group for girls. When she learns that her parents are hiding Jews, she is shocked and angry. A series of events, including her reluctant, but growing attachment to the little girl hidden behind the wardrobe in her room, leads her to conclude that the price of being loyal to the Fatherland is too high. It is Korinna's quick thinking that saves the family during a night raid. The atmosphere and mood of the times are palpable, with Korinna and her family forced to flee Germany. If the characters are "types," such as the brave father, the nasty so-called "best" friend, and the vicious Gestapo agent, they are clearly drawn and appropriately employed in a fast-moving, believable plot with an inevitable ending.?Amy Kellman, The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Well Jo has also become captivated by the book and listens attentively when I read. Both my children have grown to love the story of how Korina, who at first hated Jews and called her parents "traitors", eventually transforms, and rescues her family during a raid.

Since we're on this book, I've decided to add on Anne Frank, as well as a brief history of Hitler and the war.
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Our favourite short story of the week : "Phewtus the Squirrel" by V.H. Drummond.
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Making Own Speleothem Experiment

2011-04-14T04:41:00.000-07:00

Last week was our final week on Cave Science. Over four weeks we covered
1) how caves are formed
2) Speleothems
3) Living Creatures in Caves, creating a robotic Bat
4) Cave Art

There's lots more to cover, but this will do for now I guess. It's the process of learning that's more important anyway. :)

We finally succeeded with our speleothem experiment. Initially the liquid ran too much, causing a mini flood. Then we adjusted the cloth and distance of bottles, and the growth of the crystal was overly slow. We adjusted it a third time, and walla it worked!

For the experiment,
-we made a saturated solution of Epsom salt and water and poured the solution into 2 bottles. We added a little red colouring to this solution.

-Then we cut a thin strip from an old cotton shirt and tied both ends to nails. We dipped the whole cloth into the solution to wet it first, before dropping each nail, cloth attached into separate bottles.

-I added the saucer at the bottom after we had the mini pool created by the over dripping of the solution.

-Finally we added sticky plaster (in green on photo) to mark where the original level of the solution was before the experiment began.

Here's the pictures of our own speleothem

see the liquid at the bottom? it eventually hardens to form part of the stalactite. If water runs too quickly, it will not form.

To avoid breaking, coz it's really fragile, experiment should be placed in a quiet place away from running children.

Almost a column. Below (not seen clearly in picture) is a VERY tiny stalacmite forming

Full column, which broke, coz Jo got curious and got too close up.

Well..children really enjoyed watching the speleothem grow over the days! Nel recorded solution level and growth of speleothem daily. To conclude these weeks of learning will be...Caving! :)

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*Nel: When I grow up, I want to be an animal rescuer or a vet.
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Learning Batik Painting- Jalan Seri Penchala, Kuala Lumpur

2011-04-13T08:16:00.000-07:00

If you get to Restaurant Muhibah on Jalan Seri Penchala, Jalan Sg. Penchala, KL...you're pretty darn close to Uncle Sam's Batik Workshop. Keep driving down the same road, and you'll see garbage bins on the right with numbers on them. Look out for no.5, take a turn immediately after. You've arrived at Uncle Sam's Batik place.

We were there today, and I've only praises for his classes. He spent almost a full day with us, patiently teaching the technique/art of Batik Painting. I've been to several places to do Batik Painting, but none provided information and tips like Uncle Sam did!

So if you're looking for some place to learn Batik, do head to his place. His number is 0173198309.

Batik Wax

Showing children how to apply wax (canting)

Nel's crazy bout dolphins right now

My work in progress..

pink dolphin almost done

My work completed. :) Am so please with the techniques Uncle Sam showed me.

Pink DOlphin by Nel Completed!

and what else would Jo draw, except MERMAIDS!

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Me to JO: "Twins that DON'T look alike are called Fraternal twins.
Jo: "Wow, then twins that look the same must be Nocturnal twins!"
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A Rainbow

2011-04-12T05:40:00.000-07:00

After a whole afternoon of teaching, I took a short walk with my girls. After the lovely walk, we sat outside on the swing enjoying the very cool evening breeze. Suddenly Nel said "Mum! Look up! A Rainbow!!"

That got us all excited. This is my second time seeing a rainbow encircling my home, on a cool, dry day without rain. (well..it must have rained somewhere far off..but not near my home.)

This amazing sight of the rainbow brought memories of a post I wrote in 2006, when my girls were so little. At that time, Jo was a very difficult baby who cried everyday without fail in the evenings for an hour to 2 hours, stressing me out. I remember feeling very depressed at that time in 2006, until I saw the rainbow. Here's the original post written in 2006.

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2006...........
How I got through yesterday, it’s only by God’s strength and Tylenol. After almost three days with hardly any sleep my head hurt so bad. I went to work in the afternoon and later tired, I sat on the swing outside of my house with my two little girls, little Jo in a sling attached to me.

Far away in the horizon…I watched the sun set. It seemed mellow…comforting. It stretched forth it’s gentle rays, decorating the sky with hues of orange, red, yellow and pink. There had been no rain that day and hardly a cloud in the sky. Yet it was surprisingly cool and windy. I did wish I’d see a rainbow. It’s been a long while since I saw one, and Nel has been wanting to see one so much. I told her to pray and ask God for one.

Well…the clock showed almost 7 in the evening…and most of the sky was getting dark except for that sunset in the distance. We got up and walked back. It was then something, told me to look up. I did…..and there, enveloping our house…right around it, a Perfect, Beautiful RAINBOW. Totally complete….no faded parts or parts covered by clouds. In fact it was a DOUBLE rainbow. I was totally amazed… how did it happen? It hadn’t rained. The mellow sunset was far off……and there was barely a drizzle….. but yet a beautiful double rainbow enveloped our house.

We just stared at it……….and as I did…I felt the stress lift off my shoulders……..and as if God was speaking and saying “ Here’s your rainbow…you’ve been asking for it. I listen to your prayers…and I love you.” What a beautiful evening.

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Jo: I want to be a noctural person, so I can get up at night to watch Malaysian owls. :)
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The Power of Worship

2011-04-06T17:09:00.000-07:00

I try to do morning devotion with my children daily. Usually I use a devotional guide book and a Bible which I read to my children, followed by discussion and prayer. But this morning before devotion, I decided to play on my piano first. I opened my song book randomly and the first song I saw was “Above all powers.”

As I sang the song, I pondered on the meaning of Good Friday and Easter, and .. I just felt the love of God again. I felt compelled to call my children. They gathered close to me and we sang the song together. I explained the meaning of the song and asked them what it would be like for a rose to be trampled on the ground.

Then I asked them to bring a sheet of paper and draw whatever came to their mind as I sang. Both my children drew a picture of the cross with Christ on it. As I kept singing, I told them, “now, draw yourself inside the picture.” Nel got very silent and shed silent tears, while Jo faced down started crying aloud as they both drew themselves in the picture. I knew then it was the Holy Spirit touching them.

Later I asked them about their picture and about how they felt. Jo replied “the song is beautiful. Also I cried because Jesus died for me, He’s so kind mum.” Nel replied “I cried because of all the wrong things I’ve done. But Jesus still died for me.”

We then prayed together, thanking God for dying on the cross for us, for His forgiveness, for loving us, just the way we are despite our imperfections and all.

“Crucified, laid behind the stone, He lived to die, rejected and alone, Like a rose, trampled on the ground, You took the fall, the thought of me, above all.”

Cave Art Project

2011-03-31T01:29:00.000-07:00

Thursday science has somewhat expanded with the addition of some good friends.

We're in our second week of learning all about caves. First week we looked at a virtual cave and learnt about how caves are formed, and we also learned about various types of speleothem. This was followed by a crystal growing/speleothem creating experiment, using Epsom Salt.

This week we continued by looking at another virtual cave, (Lascaux in France), and studied cave paintings. When I asked the children why did people then paint? There were various answers such as the Cave men were very bored with their lives! ;)

Anyway, we concluded the class by trying our hands at cave painting.
First each family brought their own soil. Altogether we had 6 different shades of brown to paint with. Amazing how much variety there is with soil alone! The children pounded the soil using mortar and large stones, then sieved the large stones out. Then they mixed in some water and a bit of vegetable shortening/oil.

Paint ready, they began painting. First pictures were drawn using charcoal, then painted with the "soil paint".

pounding soil

drawing pictures with charcoal

Can you guess what this is????
It's Little Du's horse. :) (LOVE his drawing!!)

Dd's completed painting.

this is mine..when I showed the chidlren how to do one.

All in all, it was enjoyable, easy to do and fun. :) Do try it! however, be forewarned that it can be messy, coz when children's imagination go wild, they CAN do a lot of other things with the soil! :)
(Group projects are really fun. I think, more worthwhile than going for tuition after tuition.)

A few Disastrous moments during extracurricular classes

2011-03-30T00:07:00.000-07:00

My girls are usually obedient, but like all kids, they have moments where they go with the “no holds barred” rule especiall when they are with their closest cousins. Then, they can become ~~very~~ , a little rowdy.

I pity the Chinese teacher (a young man) who had a disastrous class with them (the famous 5) yesterday. Before class began, Ld started toying around with the radio there, changing stations, causing unnecessary static and white noises, alternating with Tamil, Malay and Chinese music/news.

The teacher got very annoyed and began barraging Ld with a long lecture on how to behave. To the ~~amazement~~ horror of the teacher, my Little Jo (a 5 year old fast becoming a 25 year old lawyer), stood up and said, “Teacher! You Are wasting my time!”

The teacher glared at her, full of anger and said “How DARE you speak to your teacher like that! I’m not wasting time, I HAVE to scold Ld! If you think I am wasting YoUR time, you may WALK out now!!”

This led to laughter from several others, which sparked further anger in the teacher. Disaster. *shakes head*

(Later I asked Jo why did she speak in such a manner and explained to her that it was rude to speak like that. She explained “I meant that the teacher was wasting his own time because when the time is up, he will not be able to finish teaching and will have to add time. He was wasting his own time." Then she added " Please don't scold me mum for talking to teacher that way...pleaseeee...pleaseeee" she said with an innocent voice. I burst out laughing, we all laughed. (then i reminded them that this was no laughing matter!) hahahaha...

Pottery class.

We again went with the gang of 5, Fabulous Five, Fearsome Five or whatever you call em 5 cousins, for pottery lessons. At the pottery class, there was a dear Japanese lady in her 50’s making a very beautiful vase. She’s a regular student there. She smiled widely when she saw our children and said “oh, such adorable children. So clever, you come and learn? Good! So cute, so adorable.”

Unbeknownst to her, little L's had quietly placed scraps of clay in her beautiful vase, still in the process of drying. *gasp* When she turned around to look at her vase and to add finishing touches, she let out a scream of anger! That poor lady threw her arms up in anger, and started muttering expletives (I’m sure it was) in Japanese language. "@@!!##&&&##***" she went on and on and on in a fit of anger.

Our kind pottery teacher, Mr. Cheah, merely stood in front of her, listened and smiled and laughed (laughed sympathetically). That was a disastrous moment. I hid my face and thanked God I don’t understand Japanese.

Let me end by quoting something my daughter Nel said while she was still in Chinese Primary school. “Mum, I have 2 angry teachers. One’s a Malay who teaches English, and the other is a Chinese who teaches Malay. Both like to say the “S” word. One likes to say SHUT UP, and the other likes to yell “STUPID.”

These teachers must have had difficult/disastrous days in school to use those words. Five children can cause so much havoc, imagine handling 50 in one class!
(most local schools have between 40-50 students per class.)

Pottery

2011-03-27T22:19:00.000-07:00

Today, Mr. Cheah, the very patient pottery teacher called to say all's ready and we can finally pick up our work. :) Altogether we paid just RM50 person, which includes a 3 hour session clay project, glazing and firing. Worth it!

Posted 13.Dec.2010 (on other space)

Today my sis-inlaw and I took our children for a class of pottery. It was a really wonderful experience, and a lot of FUN! I remember reading this Bible verse to my children earlier this year: Isaiah 64:8 "Yet, O Lord, you are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand."

Well, then I decided that I wanted my children to feel what clay is like, and how it feels to mould that soft, formless clay into something specific, something special. (Just like how God formed each of us into someone unique! )

The man Mr. Cheah, is a wonderful, patient teacher! Imagine handling 5 boisterous children (I wanted to write disobedient, but Nel sat here and swatted my hands! haha..) He started off by telling us what clay was made off, its composition (silica and alumina). He told us about colours, about how to FEEL the clay, to gauge its balance, thickness, to pinch it gently, score it, shape it etc etc.

It took us me 3 hours to complete the work...(well for me, 3 hours. for the children 2 hours, followed by one hour of playing with Miko, mr. Cheah's dog -which was actually in a cage till they let him go! ) In the end, we learnt a lot..and we plan to go back soon. Well, we have to go back anyway, to glaze/paint it.

(I highly recommend his classes. His shop is in Segambut, he can usually be contacted between classes, somewhere during lunch time at this number : 017 8812265 )(he's not paying me for this advert) :)

these are for the advance student

Mr. Cheah cutting a piece of clay for each of us

showing us the difference between the diff types of clay

the children's work. After making pots, they decided on a more creative thing. That's Jo's cake on the right with mushroom like candles and K's frog in a pond

My doggie my hero

2011-03-27T20:16:00.000-07:00

This little cutie, "fierce", protective guardian of our family, Camel, did it again. He most likely thwarted a robbery attempt at my house last night at 2am, when he started barking fiercely, crazily, protectively.

Since adopting him 3 years ago, I've learnt to differentiate his barks.

He has several different barks (and posture) to tell me different things such as:
- he wants to play/walk
-he wants to pee
- a family friend has come to visit
-the squirrel or cat is irritating him again or stealing his food
- postman at the gate (I'm afraid the postman will throw a grenade at Cam one day for terrorising him daily.)
- recycle lorry passing by (he makes a very weird whining/dying sound for this that comes from his throat, stomach. Perhaps he cannot stand the music that comes with the lorry.)
- An intruder/stranger at the gate

At 2am last night I heard the bark that indicated an intruder. His barking woke me up, while the rest of my household remained asleep. I got up to my window, parted the curtains to look out, and saw a shadow of a man at my gate. I think the intruder saw me because he immediately ran behind the tree. Few seconds later, he got on a bike and quietly disappeared into the shadow of the night.

This is the second time Cam's saved us from intruders. (the first time was scary, coz it was a masked man who saw me and shone a red light into my eye before taking off.)

There was a time when the robbers actually broke in and ransacked my house (2 years back), and that was the night when Camel went to the groomers and boarded a night there. If he had been home, he probably would've been a champ 3 times now.

huh...so that little fella needs a special treat now. M thinking...a new toy? or special food today. probably lotsa play and hugs too. :)

My rendition of "May the Lord Bless you" (sung in my early morn voice)

2011-03-25T19:25:00.000-07:00

Just checked back in my previous blog. Reading it brings back lots of memories about my children's toddler and baby days. They grow too fast.
As I read, I found this post dated January 21st, 2008 about a little recital I had with my children, just the 3 of us. Can't believe it was that long ago, and my girls were so little then.

While spring cleaning recently I found the CD with the song I used to sing to them every night before bed...and as I played the song to my girls.. they each wanted to be cuddled all over again, sang to like babies again. It just brought back memories of the time when I used to smile more and put them lovingly to bed.

Nowadays, I just shout "bed time! Get to bed! It's late it's LATE!" How did I get from singing patiently to this madness before bedtime!!? I need to reevaluate myself, reprogram myself and somehow go back to the "patient, loving, smiling mother mode,"... IF that's possible.

Anyway..I couldn't resist doing this...here's my rendition of the song "May the Lord Bless you and Keep You" originally sung by Twila Paris. My rendition was recorded early this morning in a squeaky voice...while my kids were still in bed. Jo heard it, woke up and said "Mum, I cried when I heard you singing that song, because i had a nice, warm feeling in my heart." and she then showered me with hugs. As I've said it before..children are a blessing always. :)
Below is my rendition of the song followed by the original post of 2008.

Monday, January 21, 2008

today, me and my children held a little recital of our own. :) I switched off all the hall lights, leaving the light above the piano on. So my little Nel and Jo took turns performing, bowing each time before a piece was played.You should've seen the way Jo bows, drives me to fits of laughter. hahaha...

They played, "improvisations" based on picture books placed on the piano. haha... I was just thoroughly entertained. In between, they sang songs, quoted Bible verses, ending each performance with more bows! haha...

As the recital progressed, Jo got creative. She did her cutest bow, climbed up the piano stool, and began playing the piano with her nose, then forehead. Hearing our laughter, she was further encouraged to try playing the piano with other body parts, like her cheeks, elbow and ears. The grand finale was when she stopped to pick the booger from her nose. hahahaha...

Finally, this mama decided that the recital wouldn't be complete without a performance from me. So I took my bow, went up to the piano to perform a classical piece.

I ended the recital by playing and singing a lovely song which I've sang to my children since the day they were born. I sing it to them almost every night.... "May the Lord Bless you and Keep You" by Twila Paris. So imagine this, as I played the piano and sang.... my little Nel got up and started dancing the most beautiful, touching dance in the dimly lited hall.... she and I seemed so connected then...

I just felt like she was a baby in my arms all over again...it was beautiful... I had tears in my eyes at the end of the performance....looking at my beautiful children...and knowing that yeah, they're truly a blessing from the Lord.

Girl talk

2011-03-25T03:29:00.000-07:00

Overheard this while driving my gals and their cousin (8yr old) to a class.

Lyd: Do you know when we're older we have to wear bra??

Nel: Really, why?

Lyd: My mummy said if we don't, the things on our body will droop droop droop.

Nel: Droop? really?

Lyd: Ya, my mummy said it will droop soo sooooo long, it'll be so ugly like boing... (making an action with her hands.)

Nel: ewww..so long, and bouncy?

Lyd: Ya!

-at this point, I checked in the mirror and spotted both girls frowning with that "ewww" look, while I the driver silently grinned from ear to ear! haha..
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The Story of WHY I could not finish painting the apples

2011-03-24T23:01:00.000-07:00

Uncompleted painting of apples

I've given up trying to complete the above painting. It was a special morning when the sunlight shone on the inner apple. I quickly sketched and began painting. As I was about to continue, the clouds came in and the lighting totally changed.

I waited for similar lighting the next day, which also happened to be a day where the part time cleaner comes in. I told her to leave my apples alone, but alas she did not take heed. ;(

So when the sun shone its brightest, I rushed to my kitchen only to find my apples gone. The part time cleaner had cleared it. I, glared at her silently, rearranged my apples on the tray and placed them back on my washing machine where it originally sat, patiently allowing me to paint it.

But alas, the machine was vibrating so hard, trying to cope with the overload of clothes in it. So I watched helplessly as my apples bounced and tumbled all over the tray. I gave up.

I waited the next morning, a weekend, what bliss. As I got ready to paint, I said good morning to my hubby and found him cutting the very apples I was about to paint. End of story. end of painting.
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Progress at self-learning painting. I wish I was back learning at a proper class with proper guidance. I called the art teacher again, but he only teaches fri morn and no other time. I can't make that time slot, so till I can, I'm on my own still.
Here's my attempt at painting Apples again..without that special lighting.

Apples by my window

Painting with flour paint

2011-03-24T21:39:00.000-07:00

On Fridays I usually let my children prepare their own meals. Well last Friday we decided that PanMee (noodles) would be the menu of the day. I took out my packet of flour and asked Jo to put it all in a pot. Just then, my phone rang, and before answering my phone I told Jo, "Put in a cup of water!"

When I got back to the kitchen after the phone call, to my horror, I found flour floating in a lot of water! somehow she heard 3 cups of water and put in 3 large cups!! (well..not her fault). I had no more flour left. *sigh*.... what a waste to waste so much flour. Then an idea struck.

We stirred the flour in the water till totally dissolved, split it into four parts and added food colouring. Walla...we then had paint! :)

WIth this homemade paint..we had LOTS of fun (after a packed lunch.) ;)

Gently adding paint within paint

splattered paint with finger/hand prints

Loving feeling the texture of cool flour water

I had a go at this too. I used a big brush, dropped paint and gently moved the paper to shape the flow of colour. the nice thing is that it flows very slowly so you can really shape it.

Close look at the texture of the paint. Lovely isn't it?

Love this piece of art by Junee who joined in the fun by using several methods. Her picture depicts some earthworms coming to the surface after the rain. Lovely!

This was created by swirling the paint and scraping the paper, using old credit/name cards

After it all, Jo decided to use old fashion paint brush to paint this.

Nell used a smaller brush, dripped paint and controlled its flow to create this boat with a square sail.

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Later that night, still inspired, Jo used some watercolour to paint her usual subject, "Mermaids." She's done uncountable drawings and paintings of mermaids!

Have fun if you're gonna try this. Do it outdoors though! :)

Caning in anger

2011-03-23T00:30:00.000-07:00

I know in this part of the world, caning is still commonly used as a mode of punishment when a child has gone overboard with his/her actions. Most of us still believe that by sparing the rod we spoil the child, thus the necessity of the cane

but Parents..please, do not cane your children in anger.

When a parent uses the rod carelessly, incessantly, and in anger, they are not “caning the bad out of the child.” Instead the parent is putting in, uploading hate and resentment in the child. Over a period of time of experiencing such anger regularly, the child usually becomes either abusive, very angry internally, or feel an extreme sense of worthlessness.

The child can begin to feel trapped, unable even to look anyone in the eye because of very low self esteem. She/he can became a "voiceless" person, unable to express the anguish of trapped emotions and confusion within themselves. That’s what caning in anger can do to your child.

-So if you’re a parent who’s prone to anger, please STOP yourself before caning in anger.

-When angry..go calm yourself down before facing your child. Do NOT upload YOUR ANGER into your child. Do not make your child feel useless and worthless. Do not pinch, slap or shove your child.

-If you need to use the cane, TALK with your child. Explain, and then, one or 2 strokes will do. Even then, control your strength. Remember, you are stronger than your child physically, don’t abuse your strength.

-It’s ok to hug your child after punishing them. Don’t push them away and say hurting words like “Don’t call me father/mother!" Or "Go to your room, you useless child!” Watch your words, they hurt more than you know!

Finally, remember to love your child. I once read, for every negative word you speak, make sure there are 7 positive ones. Focus on building your child's strengths instead of just picking on the mistakes.

Difficult days

2011-03-21T02:31:00.000-07:00

The recent months have not been easy. With hubby's new crazy schedule, we hardly get to spend time with him. It's now compulsory for him to work 12 to 14 hour shifts, so when he's home, he's sleeping, and if at work, he comes back late. We miss him a lot, I miss him too. I miss dinner together as family, i miss the Saturday morning breakfasts and outings. My children miss hearing our doggie's excited dog followed by daddy's car door closing, signalling his arrival home in the late evenings. My children miss his bedtime stories.

My husband misses us too. He misses coming home in the evening to eagerly waiting children who shower him with hugs and kisses. He misses his sometimes smiling and sometimes grumpy wife. ;)

He misses time with us. Yesterday I received an sms from him. He wrote "I miss you and the children...shall we do a special dinner when I get off?" I replied "Korean will be fine." :) See we actually have to make a date to meet and talk nowadays.

In these times, my children have been a strong source of love and support to their daddy. They pray constantly for him, and they show him love through action. Often before he leaves for work, in the few moments they get to spend with him, they jump into action. They pack goodies for him consisting of ribena drink, milo in a flask, biscuits, cheese, fruits and they put it all nicely in a special box for their daddy. Never once did we ask them to do this, but it is out of love that my precious little gals do this.

Their daddy is touched and yesterday before he left for work he said "At least I know, my wife and my children love me. I am blessed."

Yes, hon, we love and appreciate you.

Adventure on Kenyir Lake

2011-03-18T21:36:00.000-07:00

Just got back from an ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL holiday adventure with my usual camping group. This time we had a total of 10 adults and 17 children! We spent 3 days on a houseboat out on Kenyir lake, through rainy and sunny weather. It was superb except for a few drawbacks.

1) they provided us with filthy black mattresses and pillows, bed bugs included!!!
2) a very small and horrid toilet

but the above is ok, if you're regular campers I suppose. and..yeah, we've seen worse toilets. Also the beauty on the lake is soo breathtaking..nothing else matters.

Our Boat House..which was actually just planks kinda built together as a sort of shelter.

There were 3 boats that came with the boat house, and these provided additional fun on the lake!

First night we were visited by hundreds of Mayflies, and some other variety of insects. lovely for camera shoot!

We saw hundreds! Mayflies are very sensitive to pollution, and as such are usually only found at high quality, minimally polluted sites.

Why I loved Kenyir??

1) Beautiful scenery, fresh air, clean water where we were. Some parts of the water I hear is polluted,especially near the Gawi area. We were far from that area parked between 2 waterfalls, and another day on an isolated river on the south side of Kenyir.

An early morn by the lake. Our boat was parked between 2 falls, this was one of it.

2) Swimming in VERY cold refreshing waterfall. However, remember waterfalls are DANGEROUS and always be on lookout for danger signs. Few years ago sudden surge of water from a fall crashed an entire floating chalet. Even as I swam on that calm day, I could feel the current gently pulling me towards the falls.

the roaring powerful falls!

we stopped at this waterfall. very powerful fall! here's one of our group Swinging in like Tarzan. :)

3) Swimming in clear water lake.

Swimming in the lake. Cool..refreshing! and counts as a shower. ;) making a circle..

My little ones swam too, and throughly enjoyed it. life jacket is very important! water is very deep more than 100 meters. there's warning that every year several children drown. so be very cautious, but enjoy. and if you're all the way there, you MUST swim in this refreshing water.

4) speed boats and row boats

boating on the serene lake..ahh...what joy

5) Breakfast/lunch on the deck

6) cooking with friends in that TERRIBLY noisy kitchen coz the engine was where the kitchen was.

7) most of all, WONDERFUL fellowship and fun with good company. :)

Early morn at the boat house. The sound of insects at this time of day is AMAZING!!! fascinating!

photo taking.. Almost impossible to get all 17 children together. they were everywhere creating commotion, laughing and sometimes fighting. *grin* Well, as long as they didn't push each other off the boat, that was fine.

typical scene at Kenyir..which makes it so beautiful

fresh fish from the lake, ummmm....illegal..don't ask us how we got these fish, EVERYDAY, every meal! YUMMMM!!

some parked houses on the lake

more children chilling on the deck. they took bottle caps, made holes through it, tied strings, and let these caps skip on water. Innovative!

Drizzling on the lake

Cloudy day on the lake

great fun and adventure...and the children made some best friends forever and memories that will last forever...

field trip to study plants

2011-03-18T20:51:00.000-07:00

since we've been studying plants the whole month, we decided upon a field trip today. Little Lu arrived earlier than usual, dressed in stripes, a sling bag with his magnifying glass and a water bottle.

After watching some videos on YouTube about pollination, we did a short study on the structure of a flower, using a large flower diagram. While D had to study it in more detail, Jo and especially Lu just had to learn the words Pollen, Stigma, seeds and pollination.

We then drove to the nearest forest reserve. Armed with their own magnifying glasses, they managed to study pollen on several flowers and even little bees at work!

we tore this flower apart little by little to study the parts

kids were very intrigued by how the spores looked through this magnifying glass

they were equally excited by this moss. Everything looks wonderfully exciting when magnified! a good magnifying glass is ESSENTIAL!

However, Lu's most favourite activity of the day was CHASING PIGEONS! I had to call him for at least 5 mins before he came back. At one point he had about 30 pigeons flying above his head. missed that shot.

This peacock actually came charging towards Lu, rattling its feathers and making a fierce sound. Lu, shocked, fell backwards. But later grinned at the excitement of it all! he learned, NEVER mess with a peacock! (and he was proud that the peacock was a "boy"!

After all that exciting walk... I asked Lu, "So what did you learn?"

He replied "ahhh ahhh... the Pollen hop hop into the postbox!"
"What??!!" I remarked
with a little help from D, he tried again... "The pollen hop hop in in in in the stigma. then it goes down down....and becomes a PEANUT!!" and he says it with such excitement. :)
hahaha...I think he loves nuts a lot, coz he keeps saying nuts instead of seed.

Finally after it all, he asked "Kor kor... we saw so many things, but where is the nectar and pollen and all that?" I nearly fainted at that question. :) hahaha...

Anyway, my kids are now requesting to learn about caves, and bats. so that'll be next.

Outdoor Science - Wormery

2011-03-03T07:41:00.000-08:00

Most Thursdays, starting today, little Lo will be coming over for Outdoor Science. To kickstart the class, we started by studying WORMS! oh yeah!

Louis and Jd doing their first assignment of the day.

First we began by reviewing Living Things and Non Living things.

Lo's list of Living things. (I love his drawing! cute! :) )

here's Jd's list of living things. ok, a little more matured in drawing..after all, she's a year older.

Jd's picture list of living and non living things.

Having finished doing review, we then began drawing a diagram of how we'd want our wormery to be.

Louis and Jd's diagrams.

Then came the REAL outdoor STUFF! We headed to the nursery, which got them real excited. Looked at some plants, bought some soil and sand and headed home.

And then next step was to DIG for WORMS! oooohhhh...this is when Jd showed GREAT courage by holding the worms, and at one point almost kissed the worms as she caressed them in her palms saying "oh..cute baby baby."

As for Lo...*ahem* here's where he went running FAR from the worms! haha..

Here's Jd's palm with several worms, and I think..the blob is a worm's egg.

Then we created our Wormery

To make the wormery, we used a glass bottle, filled it with a little mud, black soil, sand, black soil and leaves on the top. In between, Nel threw in some banana skin, a bit of vege and stuff. Then we covered it with black paper.

Finally project completed and worms safely in.

Project completed, we intend to keep it for a week, and will be checking it out over the next few days.

(well..now a few hours later, we checked..and the worms have already made some tunnels, eaten some of the leaves on top!) kids are excited. What an interesting project!

the imaginary, pretend friend

2011-03-02T16:44:00.000-08:00

Recently on one of our field trips to a remote village, we found a vending machine which dispenses toys. All you have to do is to put in 50cents, and walla, a brand new toy (a tiny one!) is dispensed. So I gave my 2 darlings some money and they each tried their luck.

a drawing of Sneaky.
(too lazy to grab my
camera now)

My dear Nell put in her coin and out came jewelery, a pretty piece of necklace. My little Jd put in her coin next, and out came..a tiny plastic mushroom with eyes that look kind and a mouth that's always smiling. Then we walked down to the pier to watch some fisherman fishing. After a while, Jd got bored a little, so we sat down to play with her mushroom, which she named "Sneaky."

Naturally, I had to become Sneaky's voice. Then Play time over, field trip ended, we went home.

The very next day, she brought out Sneaky and asked if she could talk to him. I obliged. But the following nights, she'd do the same, bringing Sneaky out to talk to him, and I admit I began to get tired pretending to be Sneaky, coz Sneaky's got a high squeaky voice, and I've created him in such a way that he's terribly caring, loving and patient.

That's hard to be when this mum here gets overworked and cranky some days. And once Jd misplaced Sneaky and went crazily searching for him while wailing on top of her voice. I began to regret creating Sneaky and told her (in a very loud, frustrated voice) that it was JUST a TOY!

She replied "no mum, he's my friend. He's patient, he's kind and he never scolds or shouts." I kept quiet, realizing how impatient I can get on some days.

So we hunted around till we found Sneaky. Once found, we sat down and I resumed the personality of Sneaky. I found it interesting how I can sometimes get information from my daughter about ME, through that little toy. I learnt that my daughter needs more one on one time, a more gentle way of talking from me and more patience.

Sometimes patience is hard, especially on days where I teach piano half day, do house chores and cook. It's hectic and piano students who've not practiced can drain my patience faster than anything else, and leave me little for my own children . I guess, I've just to either cut down working time, or pray that God, from whom I draw my strength will give me more patience for my own children who are dearest to my heart.

2011-03-01T07:26:00.000-08:00

"passion cannot be forced, but it can be caught." That's what I once heard someone said. I've been passionate about learning watercolour. When I get time, I paint bits here and there..and eventually a piece of art work is formed.

My children sometimes observe me practicing and began to "feel" the strokes and colours..and soon asked if they too could practice painting. They've caught my passion.

So i gave my little JD (5 yrs old) her first art lesson, using watercolour. Here's her very first watercolour work.

an art work by Jd. (5 yrs)

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AND here's some art work by me done during the last week of February 2011

all about GARLIC