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During my 4 days in the retreat in Kuching, I was missing my children a lot. They said, absence made the heart grow fonder, well, it's true!
We have two self-inking stamps and a few used/recycle envelopes and the kids just took it from there to have their own fun... it's amazing, that they worked on this activity for an hour!
The two kids working on their "job" as a postman... stamping away...
Little Missy being playful again...
Busy little Mr Postman holding two stamps in both hands...
We had a great time playing Mr Postman... after the stamping fun, we read the story book "Seven Little Postmen" by the Golden Book Classic
I've recently cleared out a section of our bookshelf to contain the learning aids that I've made so that the kids have better access to them at anytime they want. Within the learning aid boxcontained a lot more Montessori's 3-part cards in Chinese.
Here's one of the learning aid that Little Missy is practicing on. The 3-part cards contained a picture/word board and matching picture and word cards. Through this exercise, the child will get to hear how the word is being read, it helps with eye-hand coordination, visual discrimination as well as a gentle start in word recognition.
Here's the 3-part cards on numbers & quantity which Tim practiced on.
After selling so many of the weather & day of the week chart, I finally made one for ourselves. I was more keen in teaching Tim about the chinese words than the days of the week, to be honest.
After using this chart for 2 weeks (kids really do learn through repetition), Tim, was able to recognize the word 晴天 (fine weather) and he placed it accurately against the weather of the day *beaming mama*
The very first thing that I picked up in basic photography is the 1/3-2/3 rule. Photographing the subject not by placing them right in the middle of the picture. So here's a picture I took of Tim when he was enjoying a morning game with his sister in my bedroom. I love that smile on his face... charmer!
Little Missy singing to us... she was standing against the window where the glare made her look very dark without flash. So I turned on the flash and took this pic but that didn't minimize the glare from the window quite well.
Tim was moving a lot as he laughed and played so the picture didn't turn out clear under no-flash photography... but I just couldn't resist putting this up because of his happy smile.
Little Missy being very curious about the lens of my camera... she made a 'mark' on the lens after this pic was taken o.O
Cheeky Tim, peering from behind the toy in his hand...
Monkey-see, Monkey-do... Little Missy, mimicking everything that Tim did... *smile*
Little Missy, wanting a piece of hubby's breakfast... :) can't block out the background much, need a better depth of field which this camera can't achieve... sigh...
On days that I feel a little more energetic, I'd bring the kids to explore different playgrounds that are around our neighbourhood. On this day, I brought the kids to a playground that took us approximately 15mins walk to get there. Tim & Little Missy simply had a hay-day...
This was how they played at the slide that day... not by sliding but by hanging...
He's such a happy kid... it rubbed off on me every time I watch him smile and laugh...
Little Missy playing with the gifts I received from the Divine Getaway... she had her tresses chopped off by her mama... I think she looks better with longer hair... so no more bob-hairdo for her from now on...
There were times when the kids fell ill and the pain that I experienced as I witnessed the pain they have to go through fighting those viruses and diseases – it was unbearable for me to see them suffer. I had secretly wished to be the one who was sick instead.
In order to have a peace of mind that Tim & Little Missy are happy and healthy everyday, I work hard to keep those natural defenses up. It has since been built into my system as a habit to ensure that they are properly taken care of from top to toe J
I’m a very busy mom, and to be sure that I am confident in my children’s well being, I keep a check list of what are they to eat, drink, use, wear, play in my mind all the time. I am blessed to have a great helper who understands my concerns and have been working alongside closely to ensure that all of the kids needs are taken care of.
One day after our daily reading of a bible story, Tim was praying...
Me : Ok lets pray and give thanks to our Lord.
Tim: Dear God, thank you for this day, please bless Timothy & Joyce with a new baby, in Jesus' name Amen.
Me : -_- *shudder*
Here's Little Missy checking out her "new shoes" that were handed down to us by a dear friend whose daughter has outgrown all of them. The shoes were pretty new, some were obviously not worn before.
Little Missy trying on the shoes and parading in the house...
She loves shoes, clothes and bags just like her mommy...much of it must have been my influence on her... whoops!Haven't shared much about the messy stuff we've been doing at home... reason being, we've been rotating all the past messy fun activities hence I thought there's nothing to share about... :)
Little Missy, is more tactile and she needs things that are more concrete where she could touch, feel and see all at the same time. So we started learning about colours with real things, followed by identifying the colours of colouring material such as crayons. Since she's so hung up about working on a workbook like her brother, I got her a colouring book to teach her colours. Though she doesn't get 100% of the colours correct when we ask her, she's getting there... *smile*
On this day, we were covering lesson 3 - Quantities 1 to 5 and Matching. The popsicle sticks used were tally sticks where Tim is to tally the number of object against the tally sticks.
We also learn that 5 is a very interesting number... because it has a "middle". 
Tim loves the Starfall phonics games. He could easily sit in front of the computer for hours but we had to give him a time limit to that lest he becomes a 'puter addict like mommy ;P Learning phonics through Starfall is one sure way to captivate the kids as the games are very interactive and fun.
We finally put the moveable letters into good use... we recently borrowed a book "I know an Old Lady who swallowed a pie". Very fortunately, I've found this great website, Making Learning Fun, that offers free printable downloads of learning aids based on the book. Here's a glimpse of what we did...
On days, when I just don't feel like preparing any materials, we'll do workbooks that I bought from the Popular Bookstore. That's the easiest for me *wink*
Instead, I took a cup of Camomile tea to try to calm my nerves and hoping that this might help me doze off sooner than the full blown migraine hits me.
I chose external remedies by rubbing medicated oil to try to stop the pain... within a span of an hour, I rubbed the medicated oil more than 5 times on my forehead, temple, back neck and behind my ears...places where the pain was coming forth...
I finally succumbed to reach out for the Extra Strong Panadol because I simply can't take the piercing pain of the headache anymore... an hour later, the pain DIDN'T GO AWAY... while I've already stomach the drug into my body!
Before I drifted off to sleep, I made hubby paste 3 Salon Pas on my shoulders and at the back of my neck, that helped to relief some of the strain that was causing the headache...
I've all the ingredients ready... the beauty of preparing homecooked food is you add anything at any amount you like *grin*... I love portabello mushrooms and prawns...so these are the must have's in my pasta :) added chopped garlic, tomatoes, chicken ham and red cut chilli..001.jpg)
Being a diabetic, I try to consume staple food that are whole wheat (as the body takes a longer time to digest such complex carbohydrates ie. it doesn't turn into sugar in our body immediately)... so the pasta I used today is whole wheat... this takes a slightly longer time to boil but it is just as tasty!
Hubby said I’m being over protective towards the children which might stifle their growth. I need to learn to let go and not be too over anxious however, there’s one thing that I’ll not compromise on that is their health and building up on those natural defences.
Ensuring that the environment is clean is of utmost importance to me. Building up the good habits, in the children, of washing and cleaning up after themselves was something I’ve started early. Opportunities of running and playing about in the playground to work on those large motor skills and exercising is another big thing for us. Afterall, exercise and keeping a healthy body is the fundamental of building up those natural defences.
Being a mom, it’s not a 24/7 job, but it’s a very fulfilling career J nothing beats watching and growing with my children… I will certainly not give up being a mother to my two children for the world.
This was the booklet we read this morning... about a Fat Cat...
This is the objectives of this particular booklet.
Here are some other resource I've prepared to supplement his learning to read... these are Montessori's pink series - phonics cards that I plan to help Tim learn how to read and spell through the use of moveable letters.
Made these moveable letters and was very thrilled that I was able to find the appropriate box with sufficient compartments to put all 26 letters individually *pleased*
The package came in a huge box and it weighs 6.4kg in total. Go figure the shipping charges but it's all well worth it!!! I am so excited about this program hope Tim will be as excited about it *smile*
She'll often amuse us with her dances (just twirling round and round till she gets dizzy) and her singing (usually sung out of tune or with the lyrics all mixed up) I am just thankful that she's able to keep herself entertained and at the same time being the life of the party...
She's now 26 months old, and she's picking lots of stuff from her brother... I am not about to start anything academic with her as she's got a totally different style of learning... would have to put on my thinking cap to make some plans in helping her learn... since she's not going to school next year...
It's been over 3 weeks since we last had the video shot. Today, the website is made live!
My children’s health and overall wellbeing is of utmost importance to me. I remember how paranoid I was whenever there was a flu pandemic going on or even the recent H1N1 flu that’s happening, I tried to keep them at home or we won’t venture to places where there were huge crowds. Avoiding such places at all cost.
The kids were rather blessed to be healthy and happy. However, things took a different turn when Tim was being sent to school earlier this year. He began to fall sick at least once every month and often bring back flu, cough bugs and other viruses that spread like wild fire at home. So the two kids were playing flu and cough bug tag literally every month and my purse was drained dry because of those medical bills. At that time, I often wondered if I had done the right thing by sending Tim to school, exposing him (and indirectly Little Missy) to viruses and germs that his body wasn’t ready to fight against.
Since then, I’ve decided that the prerequisite of having a strong and healthy body is to build up on those immune system. So that even when I am not with them I don’t have to wonder or worry about the dreadful flu and cough bugs or even worst some other unknown viruses they would be exposed to.
On a daily basis I ensure that their meals are home cooked and pack with nutrition. While we don’t consume organic food, I still believe that the kids’ diet should consist of loads of fibre (vegetables and whole wheat snacks), vitamin C (a wide variety of fruits and freshly squeezed juices), essential fatty acids such as Omega 3 & 6 (fish & cod liver oil) and probiotics (cultured milk), and these are exactly what the kids are being fed everyday.
On days that I have to leave them in the care of my family or helper, I am no longer worried nor anxious because, today, I am proud to say that my two kids are healthier. They fall sick lesser and are definitely happier…
This is in fact, my second batch of snow skin moon cakes in 3 days... hubby gave me the thumbs up that this batch was better than the earlier one. The skin was much softer and the filling taste better with melon seeds added into it.
A full egg yolk in almost everyone of the snow skin moon cakes that I've made... 
I like this playground much better as oppose to the one at the West Coast Park. It's more (young) kids friendly I thought... and the bright attractive colours... that's a real draw no kids would ever resist wanting to put their hands in it... the kids had a wonderful time at the playground running from one play area to another... too spoilt for choice just couldn't make up their mind which one to be at... *wink*
Little Missy was being Little Miss Fussy yesterday... couldn't bear with a little sand in her sandals... wanting to be carried most of the time as we walk through sand pits *faint*
It's a great park, alas, there wasn't any fast food restaurant nearby. Even the vending machines were out of drinks... so be sure to BYO drinks and food if you plan to visit the place.
I thought this was quite a sweet little scene... while waiting for lunch to be served, Little Missy decided to give her cousin a kiss to show her affection *smile*
Since last year, we've (hubby & I) been trained as facilitators of the Parenting with Confidence (by Focus on the Family) workshop ... it was only last Saturday, we were given an opportunity to run the workshop to a group of enthusiastic and young parents... :)
After reading the book made a little bakery using some printed element and a brown paper lunch bag ...
There... one of the proud "owners of the bakery"...*smile*
I tried to roll the dough myself but half way through the process I became lazy and also the kids were hovering around me looking eagerly wanting to put their hands into the dough...so I dumped everything into the bread maker... and let them watch the machine roll the dough instead *grin*
While the bread maker was doing the work I made Tim help me with the baking sheet...
Once the dough was ready, the kids just couldn't wait to start making their pretzels... they were busy patting, rolling, squishing & squashing... not really into making pretzels to be precise but they were at it for over an hour!!! Great! That means they were away from the TV for over an hour *happy mama*
These were the pretzels I made instead... not really good at rolling the dough it's either too thin or too short... not sure how it worked but i managed to make 10 out of the entire lot of dough...
After 10 mins of baking, the dough came out nice and crispy smelling very good... I dipped them in melted butter and cinnamon sugar and topped them with crushed almond and chocolate rice... I thought the pretzels looked more like doughnuts here *LOL*Recently had a MSN chat with Mama Seah and she gave me an idea to work on a new recipe for the kids... Mac & Cheese... must confess that I didn't know what Mac & Cheese was when she mentioned... guess am not quite a western foodie *smile*
With a quick googling exercise, I found myself a perfect recipe to work on the Mac & Cheese. I modified it a little by adding chicken ham as I thought that will give interest to the overall taste... as I don't think I like it plain with just macaroni and cheese... (can't live without meat)...I toasted the chicken ham in the toaster oven for 5-6mins before cutting them into pieces.
And so, here are the basic ingredients I've used in this dish.
Ingredients - 1/4 cup + 1 tbsp butter, 1 tbsp plain flour, 1 tbs Worcestershire sauce, 1/2 tsp mixed herbs, 1/2 tsp paprika (optional), 1/2 tsp white pepper, 1 tbsp Dijonnaise Mustard, 1/2 cup Japanese Bread Crumbs, 1 cup cheddar cheese, 2.5 cups milk, a pinch of mixed spices, 4 slices chicken ham (cut into pieces).
I didn't add any salt as I think the cheese is salty enough... you might want to add 1tsp salt if you like. I can't find any Cayenne in the supermarts around my neighbourhood so I substituted with paprika... not sure if that tasted the same as what's said in the original recipe though *smile*
Watch this video on how to prepare this dish... the video enticed me into trying this in fact :)
And here's my Mac & Cheese...
This Mac & Cheese tasted great when served hot as the cheese is still cheesy and smooth...but once cooled it turned dry and hard... on the whole it was delish... I love the cheesy taste and the aroma of the cheddar... try it, it's nice!
I'm really happy that after a month's of lazing around I've finally gotten my act together to work out something for the kids to learn and have fun... am rather ill disciplined the past month as I've put too much emphasis on my handmade business... I've since slowed down on my handmade business to focus more energy and concentration in the kids' learning... *smile*
Little Missy was thrilled that she could ride on a bike by herself and won't have to fight with her brother over who was to ride on the bike first ;)
We were really happy to have Caitlin join us on our outdoor fun once again... it's the school holidays this week, but we don't really see a lot of people at the East Coast Park today... so it was nice and easy for the kids to cycle up and down without fear of getting bumped into *smile*
Didn't take a lot of pictures today as I was busy chatting with Mommy Adeline... I simply love play dates... teehehe... yes, I do have vested interest when I arrange outings for my kids... *grin*
I started reading to Tim since he was a few months old; it was only recently that I started to read to Little Missy "seriously". She has exhibited more readiness in being read to for a longer duration... whereas previously she could hardly sit still for 2secs... *smile*
I was happy that Little Missy took to the stories of Alfie, Olly and Lucy & Tom quite well as compared to Tim. Perhaps the stories were a little more "girly"? We borrowed a few from the library as most of Shirley Hughes' books are out of print... so if you wish to read it to your child, you might find them in our libraries.
