Memories Monday: Laughter of God

 

Genesis 21:6 TEV "God has brought me joy and laughter. Everyone who hears about it will laugh with me."

8.10.07

God indeed has been good to us. More than good actually, lavish. Lavishing us with so many wondrous things in life, especially the gift of lives which He so generously entrusted unto us. May we, as parents, do our part, patiently loving and leading our little ones, every day.

On time and change:

They say that the days feel long but the years are short. How true.

It seems not long ago we lifted our tiny firstborn in our arms. And then... sooner that i'd expected or realized, that 'some time ago' was the last time i lifted him up in my arms that way, and it was. It was the very last time.

May we pay attention to the now and cherish this moment with our beloved children.

Amen.


A little note to Isaac:

My dearest son Isaac,

60 months you have been with mummy and papa, and in a whirl of time, you have grown from a wee baby to a fit toddler. So soon, that next year you will already be in kindergarden, only a year away from Primary 1!

To celebrate You, here's a brief pictorial about you and how blessed we are to have you in our lives:

The day "Laughter" came into our lives:

 Isaac "Laughter of God"

 

Learning to crawl at 4 months

  

 

  

 Your first word for a thing is "bulb" and i can still remember your mini voice as you point your index finger at the light.



 

 

You are deeply curious about a lot of things, and here are some of your favourites: 



 
 The Bus in the Natural History Museum  31.5.09

You love banging at the drums.

Here's at our first attempt at exposing you to pre-kindy 24.2.10

 You love shells!

And the colour blue until red became your new favourite colour :)

 

 

You love rides and fun fairs  21.8.11

 

You love mummy or papa read books and tell stories to you

 

And you love Ultraman!


 



 You are a HUGE fan of Ultraman. And that means a huge collection of Ultraman figurine toys of All sizes, and all things Ultraman - your school bag, pencil case, shirts, DVDs etc. and yes, birthday cakes also... 4.8.11

Remember the colourful necklace beads you made for me? :)

 

 

You are a discoverer, and aren't afraid to try new things, food included.

One of your current favourites: Fried chicken.

Stuffing as much as you can with Ngieh-ma's cookies!  26.01.09

Ps: Pineapple tart in your left hand. Sporty grandma looking on with baby brother.

 

 

 



Trawling for shells at the beach with papa 15.4.12

 

 

You are full of energy, creative, fun-loving and bright.

Trying to brushing mummy's frazzled hair! hahah   27.10.11

 

 

I love, love your doodles. "mummy, Jesus...", you said with a smile as you showed me this picture.

19.11.12 

 

 

You enjoy puzzles, creating stuffs with plasticine and building blocks.  13.07.11

 

And how you love "surprises"; our code word for fun activities like craft. 19.04.12

 

 

 

 And then one day, you gave me a Surprise! I love this  15.11.12

 

 

You laugh easily, and love to be funny and make us all laugh...

  well, maybe not Ah Mi... heheh  21.09.08

 

 

 

"Mirror, mirror on the wall, who has the sparklier teeth of all?"  26.08.12

 



At times, you'd rather play alone, yet you and your brothers are close and it warms my heart to see you all playing together. Nicely. Hmm, you have your fair share of fights too, but that is what brothers are for! :)

 With baby Jeremy then at Reservoir Park  20.06.10

 

Chinese New Year 2010

 

...with Gabriel 18.08.12

 

And with your favourite cousin Alex   07.08.11 

And some of my favourite photos of you:

  

You in your lovely costume Ta-Ku gave you 26.1.09

 

The first day in uniform, after a couple of months plus settling down in Nursery school.
See your pepet in your hand? 12.03.10

 

 

 Fifth birthday celebration with your classmates. Theme for your cake: Ultraman :)  17.08.12

God who has entrusted you in our care has watched over you these 5 years and He will continue to do so until you meet Him face to face.

God is good, very good, and we pray that you learn to put your trust in Him every day, giving your very best in everything you do for His glory, and becoming a blessing to many.

We are blessed to have you in our family, and we love you very much.

Happy birthday, son.

Aug 12



Foodie Friday: Banana cake

This is a nice cake recipe made from one of the commonest (and cheapest) fruits here - Bananas!

The recipe is made up of common cake-making ingredients and it is simple to follow. Easy process, easy outcome. The taste is light and yummy, perfect for an afternoon tea. I liked it so much that i made it again last night. For a step-to-step guide, click here.

Structure: The main stuffs; Process: Well, this is the final process (baking) when my hands are quite clean & the boys are away.. heheh;
Outcome: Golden brown with a nice, smooth, even top. Photo credit: myphotorecipes.com & myself :p

Tips:

1. Make sure to use a large mixer bowl (4.6L or more) if you intend to make the whole recipe as the banana mix fluffs up in volumes. Since i work with a mini 2L bowl, i did it by halving the initial mix after about 10 mins of mixing. Takes a while longer, but the result is good, nonetheless.

2. Instead of putting whole / halves of bananas directly into the mixer bowl, i used my fingers to squeeze-squash them as i place them into the mixer since i got small clumps of banana stuck to the mixer prongs after the mix the first time. Probably due to the design of the mixer/prongs (cheap brand) :p

3. The cake cooks much faster than the prescribed 55 mins. I suppose the heat can be moderated so it can be left to cook longer to give it a more toasted brown look, and perhaps a less pale inside.

Enjoy!

Crafting: Making a Fish Tank

So i was excited when i learnt about this creative craft from great blogger, Leonny. And immediately thought the boys would be equally excited as well.

...

Yeah. They were excited. To PLAY with each other! = . =


The time to complete the aquarium was much longer that i thought thou. Partly so as i had to search for the stuffs and chase after the boys. In the end, i owned most of the process as the boys were too spirited and distracted to wait on mom to draw the fishes (what happened to my art skills?!) AND Zac just happened to choose one of the hardest fish to draw - he wanted Lionfish! Grrrr....

I'm cute, right?

But really, it was fun (for me), and maddening (the boys doing a screaming match in the background). 


Yet really, i think kids, especially those who have experienced an aquarium or are into fishes, would find it amazingly fun to build.

Sweet Jem's Seahorse, Clownfish, seaweed; Isaac's Orange Fish, Green Clownfish, Shell, seaweeds & coral.
All the drawings, cuttings, touch-ups, tapings and box: Courtesy of mom.

Happy faces looking at mummy

Tip: If you color your fish on one side of the paper like me, then you may want to attach 2 strings (at head/body of the fish). Then the fish will still dangle neatly without it turning the other uncolored side facing front.

For a guided tutorial, please check here. Thanks Leonny for the great idea!

Ok boys, guess we'll do this another time, ok?

Memories Monday: Chin Sin Sports Day 1 Jul 12

L to R clockwise: Papa & Gab looking on; Sweet Jem clasping his hands in anticipation; And off he goes!; Isaac happily waving back at Papa & Gab.

L to R clockwise: The boys lining up for their poco-poco... heheh; Gab; Isaac's K1 contest.

L to R clockwise: Papa & Isaac in the parent-child game contest;Prize-giving; Gold/Silver medallions; Isaac & partner goofing around in the school's playground while Jem sits in the background.



Gab looking on by the stand while eating his favorite raisins. I will miss your cuteness son, when you're all grown...

Sweet Jem taking his sweet time

A tender moment with papa during the parent-child contest

Well done my boys! =)

*Hugs* Muah...

Psst! Don't forget mummy ya! I may not be in the pictures, but that's because i was hustling away getting all this memoried for you.. heheh.. actually sayangs, i'd rather not have my stoned-weekend look to mess with all your cutenesses... Haha!

  

That's quite like the exact representation of weekends-me.. heheh.
No, that's not Sweet Ah Mi, and no, you boys didn't mess up that wall.. heheh..
Photo credit: dailydawdle.com

Sunday reflections: The Sacrifice... not in vain?

Giggles. A smile. Two beady eyes look up at me as this playful soul test the boundaries. I cast a weary, perplex look.

"Cannot. I TOLD you times before not to swing (on the baby hammock)."

Silence. Gleeful hands and playful mind ignore my plea. And this weary mother lets it go (again) with an ambiguous threat- "... if your father sees you, then you know."

And before long, we all know. A solid thud on the floor. I spin around too late. And i sit there, and see this poor sibling knocked off his feet, the crash resulting in another crash, falling another foot apart from the bed height to the floor.


"Sorry... sorry..." The words come out softly, eyes expressing concern, hand carressing the pain.  But the mother is bent on punishment in spite of it all.

Hard slap on the waist. A thunder of words, and i-told-you-so's. And the chastisement continues for another bit. And when father comes, mother instigates, and a cane on the hand.

Crestfallen.

But wait... isn't he already sorry? Hadn't he learnt his lesson? Could i have handled it better? Should i have given him a chance?

How too soon, in all the swim of emotion, we have resorted to punishment firstly.

And in the aftemath of it all, after much pondering, only then i decided it was a bad choice. How about a better way? Maybe to slow-talk him in the right time, to teach him where it would impact the root cause of the issue:

Change the heart to change the behavior.

"Son, do you now see the consequence of your actions? So, please don't do it again. Remember this, because your brother paid for your lesson with a crack on his head."

And while i was rehearsing through this lost opportunity and regret, then it dawned on me, how this situation rings true for me (and humanity as well).

It's just that my disobedience does not show up swinging in the baby hammock.


How many opportunities have i let go or stubbornly not learnt? How many times must the Lord bear me before i get the point?

God, HIMSELF, paid for my sins with His Blood. His Life.

Am i going to let His death be in vain?

I pray for grace.

Crafting: Washi Cups

Since we don't have washi tape here, we used the multi-colored paper strips for crafting origami stars. And this is my response to the boys when they asked for a "Surprise" one night: Making a Washi-themed cup!

Steps:
1. Get a used, clean yogurt cup and remove the plastic labels.
2. Cut the right length of washi tape / paper strips to fit the circumference of the cup.
3. Tape or glue the strips horizontally around the cup one by one so that the strips are lined one above the other.




The boys deep in concentration. Zac decide to add some flair and stripe the cup bottom too. To my surprise, Jem boy is diligently neat despite the fine-motor skills needed in the manual pasting!  



TADA!!! ... mummy.

And after that, a celebration: "YAAAAAAAM....SENG!!" with Dutch Lady Strawberry milk.

Enjoying doing the Chinese traditional toast with each other, and mummy.



Zac & Jem, mummy loves your cups! And thanks MamaJ for the idea =)


So give it a try. It Will be fun! =)

Foodie Friday: My basic "Oekakiben" (Picture Bento)

... Well, sort of. Hardly a bento, strictly speaking, but inspired by MamaJ, this is attempt to get the kids interested in their food. First, I mixed the chopped greens and chicken meat into the rice. Then the mixture is pressed into a heart shaped mould, and finally arranged on the plate. Simple.

When papa came over and asked what they were eating, Zac and Jem exclaimed, "I-Love-You png! (rice)"

Heheh...

Thankful Thursday: Weed flower

Tridax procumbens (Coatbuttons)
 Flickr photo credit: Mang Maning

One late evening while perusing the roadside growth near MIL's home, Zac & Jem Boy found several patches of weed flowers. 
Promptly plucked (read: uprooted), one by one, they offered the blooms to me.

It may be a lowly weed flower, but this humble plant was significant enough to show me that I am loved. In many ways.
Thank you Lord, for the expression of love that encourages.

The Inception!

Finally, for the longest time deferring on my blog start-up, here I am! And delighted. Back in the ancient late-90's, some of us were already "blogging", thou the term was not there yet, and we had to do the scripting in HTML. Yup, the whole thing about  <head>, [background-color: #08111e]. Every. Single. Code.

Well, well, hello wired world once again... And this time it won't be about tracking & trending the digerati world or discoursing about Greek mythology (!). Instead, it will be something close to my heart. A legacy.