Friday Five: A little messy

Hello! Today, there's a whole bunch of thoughts swirling through my head, so I'm just going to list them down:

:: The movers came on Wednesday. They were scheduled to collect our things in the late afternoon, but turned up before nine in the morning! Imagine my horror to see the movers' van pull up in front of our apartment, when I was still trying to put things in the remaining few boxes! Somehow, we managed to finish tossing the remaining things into the boxes, while feeding the kids their breakfast. The moving guy had to wrap our bikes so that bought us some time. And since most of our stuff went into those boxes, we've had to improvise a little with what we have. Junior J is still a little on the small side for a normal chair, so he's been sitting on a phone book and a language coursebook...

... and I've had to cook soup in frying pans, and cook Junior J's pasta in a huge pot.

Whatever the case, I'm glad we're done with the boxes. What's left now would be the luggages, and cleaning up the house!

:: Today is Good Friday, and I thought this post was a great reminder of what Good Friday and Easter should mean to us:

"Because of Maximilian Kolbe, I can't act frivolously - because every single moment is pregnant with meaning. Because it was a gift to me from that one who died that I might breathe this breath, that I might act today, that I might embrace this moment - I could never take another moment for granted." - Franciszek Gajowniczek

:: This simple video touched my heart. Those crazy days of boys bouncing on the bed and yelling and chasing each other? They will pass. It's reminded me not to mind the messes and to treasure those "perfectly ordinary days".

:: I'm still trying to be disciplined about using my handphone when the boys are awake. This post reminds me that while we sometimes do lapse into twiddling with messages and getting distracted, let's not judge others' use of their phones. And I guess it applies to everything else, from how long they breastfeed, or how/what they feed their kids, or sleep training. Perhaps we should save those judgements, and concentrate on what matters!

:: Finally, this post is the start of a Friday Five linky, for any posts relating to the number five (five photos of the week, perhaps?), or lists with five points (don't you love lists?). I'll be posting this once every two weeks, and the linky will run for two whole weeks. The next link-up will be on the 12th of April (goodness, its almost April!).

Have a blessed weekend, I'm off to tackle the remaining mess and wrestle with those suitcases!


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Wordless Wednesday: Our boxes are packed

We've been packing (I know, I've probably mentioned it in every post for the past two weeks). And of course, that means loads of boxes and tape. So this is my idea of packing:

I kept losing rolls of tape or the scissors amidst the mess of bubble wrap and stuff.
So I took one of the boys' paper suitcases to hold all the packing materials,
and carried it around with me as I packed.

... but the males in the family have a different idea altogether. Hubby's idea: Packing is easy, just throw it all into boxes, and everything would be fine. They are professional movers after all. (Sorta true, just that it took longer than I expected.)

Junior J's idea of packing: Help yourself to a box, and ensure you tape it up securely with lots of tape after you place your treasured possessions inside. Then declare that you're all packed and ready to go!

And what's inside? One of his dinosaurs, a tomato and egg for the journey, and more play food (which was wrapped in plastic) in the paper bag, in case the tomato and egg were not sufficient for a huge dino appetite. 

He refused to let me open the box, saying I just had to ship it as it is. I took this pic one day during nap time. :p

Baby J's idea of packing: Fit yourself in a box, in case they forget to bring you along for the ride. 

Or if the box doesn't fit, find a bigger one that does. Never mind that you have to share the space with some toys. After all, that's more fun isn't it?

He has been climbing into half-packed boxes and opening up and messing their contents,
so much so I had to tape all my boxes shut, even when I wasn't done!

Linking up with:

  

Thankful Tuesdays: Mess and mayhem

It has been mess and mayhem over at our place, as we try to pack up to move home. Every night, the hubby and I stay up late to sort and pack things into boxes, since its near impossible to do any packing while the boys are awake (especially with regards to the baby, who views every box as an adventure playground to explore).

We're glad to be going home. The past year over here has been a great one, and we did enjoy the time we spent together as a family. However, it's never the same as home, and we are looking forward to the move back, and being able to meet up with friends (and of course, the local food!). After all, its hard to sink in roots in a place that is foreign, and just transient grounds.

This week, amidst all the craziness, I am thankful:

:: For the official arrival of spring (I wish it was warmer though!). Its always a delight to see all the blooms bursting forth on our walks around the neighbourhood.

:: That the boys manage to find their own ways to entertain themselves while mama is busy trying to sort this or that:

This is how the kitchen looks everyday after baby J is done ransacking the drawers while I cook. 

Junior J on his diving expedition.
Complete with pillow raft, scuba helmet and a furry friend plus lunch.

:: For all the help we've received from our friends over here. And for family back home, who have been helping to clean up our place for our return.

Very blessed! And I need to run and pack somemore, meanwhile, do share your blessings!

Zva Creative March DT Blog Hop!

Zva Creative and my fellow Design Team members welcome you to our March blog hop! We are excited about month's hop and look forward to sharing our new work with you!

Today's Blog Hop begins at Zva Creative's blog! Be sure to head on over to check it out! You will also find a complete list of all the participating blogs there (in case there is a glitch along the way).

As you know, Zva offers many beautiful color groupings for pearls, flowers and crystals. If you like what you see along the hop you can find a list of stores and online retailers that sell Zva HERE.

For today's hop, I'm sharing this tag that I made as a little gift for a church mate's daughter. (If you remember, I made other versions here!)

I used the pretty roses and leaves from Zva, as well as their crystal flourishes to dress up the tag, and strung it up using ribbon. For some reason or other, the colours remind me of spring!

If you would like to play along with our design team, just follow along the blog path. Be prepared to be inspired along the way!

The Blog Hop starts today, March 25th and runs through midnight US Eastern Standard Time on Tuesday, March 26th.

***Prizes***
Hidden on FIVE of the designer's blogs is a Zva Creative prize package! Winners will be randomly chosen after the hop is over. All you need to do is leave a comment on this Blog Hop post... you do not need to leave a comment on each and every designer's blog post to qualify. However, the more times you comment along the blog hop path, the more chances you will have to win.

The 5 winners will be announced on Wednesday, March 27th on Zva Creative's blog. We will do our best to notify each winner, but it's best if you can pop in to Zva's blog on Wednesday to see if you are a winner!

We also thought it would be more fun to add even more chances to win our blog hop prize! To increase your chances of winning:
* Comment to let us know that you posted on your Facebook page about our hop (link to any of the blog hop posts)
* Comment to let us know that you "tweeted" about our hop (link to any of the blog hop posts)
* Comment to let us know that you asked your local store to carry Zva creative products. If they already do, that's fantastic, maybe you can suggest other products that they don't carry.
*Hop over to Zva's facebook page and "like" our page or leave a comment there to tell us that you stopped by if you already like follow us there!

You've reached the end of the hop. Hooray! Do head back to Zva Creative's blog, and have a blessed day!
Thank you for joining us!

P.S. Mark your calendar to join us again on April 29th for our next Zva blog hop!

Thinking Thursdays: Let it snow! (and books about winter)

Our weather chart is a free printable from here.

It is already spring, and it hasn't warmed up much. This week we're having temperatures ranging from subzero to below five degrees, and its been snowing on and off!

However, January was even colder and we had pretty heavy snowfall for some days. Since its probably the only time that the boys get to experience winter, we did try to bring them out to romp in the snow as often as we could. Getting them dressed took ages (especially for the baby who kept taking off articles of clothing and running away), but they did have fun, trying to make snowballs...

... making snow angels (ok, this one baby J didn't really like!):

On days that I was too strapped for time to bring them out, we let them loose in the balcony with a tub of snow, and some shovels:

Aside from all that snowy goodness, we also read quite a few books on winter. We read about trees in winter (Winter Trees) and animals in winter (Over and Under the Snow, Animals in Winter). Junior J also enjoyed some simple stories set in winter, like "The Hat" and "The Mitten" by Jan Brett. Baby J loved "Snow" by Uri Shulevitz, which his older brother enjoyed too! Of course, we also read "The Snowy Day" by Ezra Jack Keats, and spent some time doing some related activities. (We also looked at snowflakes by reading "Snowflake Bentley", which I blogged about here.)

Guess we're looking forward to warmer weather in Singapore and not having to pile so many layers! Do you have any favourite reads about winter?

{Small Spaces} A child's corner in Japan

Hello! Packing has been crazy (I put books in boxes, and the boys decide those are the most interesting titles and take them out!), but I'm popping by to share a child's space with you. 



Today we have Michelle, to share her son's space. Michelle is a stay-home mum to a two year old boy, and has been residing in Japan since 2010. She blogs about her life here, and she's letting us take a peek into her son's play area.

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In our small cramped rented apartment , we racked our brains so hard to have a small area for the son. Initially, we put all his toys into those big plastic containers. But we realized that he only played with whats on the top layer. So we decided to find something to display his ''properties''.

Here's an overview of his small space inside our bedroom. We also have charts and artworks all over the wall.

We went to Baby R US and saw these colorful shelves on sale. We bought one in the first place and later on added the second one 6 months later.

Here are the details of the two shelves. Most of his toys are cars..(BOYS) we arrange accordingly to the types. Balls, mini cars,big cars, trains, flash cards, puzzles etc. The second shelf , you can notice I overturn one shelf case to act as a base for the radio.

By the side of the shelves is a big plastic box where we keep those baby toys he doesnt play anymore. We also use the box to act as a table top for his Tomica Thomas toy set.

Besides this is his book shelf. We also use the shelf top as a base for his lego box and some other toys.

Next to this is his activity table. On the table, we place his crayons, drawing blocks and coloring books as well as other stationary.

Below the table are 2 plastic drawers. Here what's inside, some craft material and wooden blocks. On top of the drawers, we place plastic tray to house his xylophone set and some other craft materials too.

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Michelle says that this area is usually in a mess when her son is awake. However, I think its pretty well organized, don't you think? 

How to keep your baby occupied for 20 minutes #6

Recently, I threaded wooden beads on pipe cleaners and passed them to Baby J. He's been having fun fiddling with them, and has also managed to thread a bead or two if he tries really hard (pipe cleaners are easier to control compared to shoelaces/string).

Most of the time, he prefers to take the beads off though!

Linking up with:

  

Thankful Tuesdays: Sweet, simple things

It's been such a full week, and I realized that I've not posted for almost one week! Things have been really busy, with Junior J waking up at crazy early hours in the morning (and then declaring he is so tired that he will not wake up until the day after tomorrow), and all the moving prep that we have to settle. There's stuff to sell off, there's stuff to pack. There's learning to be done, meals to be cooked, clothes to be washed... so I can't write much... save to give thanks for the simple things in life:

:: Walks with boys. I will miss the cooler (but not freezing) weather here. And this little boy has been walking a lot more when we are out, and insisting on stomping on every muddy patch he sees.

:: The quiet simplicity of snowdrops, that herald the arrival of spring.

:: Little wondrous finds, like a singing robin, or a feather sparkling with raindrops.

:: Friends, both human and not, that share life's moments with us. 

Source: Homegrown Hospitality

So thankful amidst the hustle and bustle. What are you thankful for this week?

{Small Spaces} A homeschooling space

Hello! If you can remember, we had mothers sharing their children's spaces over here last year, and I'm excited to share a few more with you! 

Today, we take a look into a room used for homeschooling, and you will be impressed how neat and pretty the room is. Jean is a homeschooling mum of two, and she blogs over at "Jean Stitch". I'll leave you with her to introduce her kids' learning space!

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Hi! I am Jean, a homeschooling mom of 2 kids who love to sew, craft, bake! Today, I will bring you around the room that we spend most of our time together from morning till late afternoon. We call this room our "Study and Play Room"! And what do we have in there? C'mon in!

This little corner here is where G and J will take turns to read or flip through books (for my 4 year old J who is not reading yet). They love this space and the little sofa (sometimes they 'fight' over it). We have another bookshelf in the children's room. A smaller one where they get to read during their free time, when they are awake in the morning or just before nap.

Every morning, G has to follow a timetable during school time. This timetable is not valid now since she has taken her year-end exam for this year and now pretty relax where she gets to do what she likes to do after completing a few pages of her workbook during the holidays (oops! no idle time lest the brain works slower).

Schedule for 2013 coming out soon with new outdoor activities and I am going to include visitations to her great-grandma into it :)

Since we are into this home-learning space, let me talk about it a little bit more. We usually start our day around 7.30am, actual learning starts around 9am after morning devotion. It will last till noon time with 5-10mins break in-between. After lunch, she gets to rest a while before practicing her piano for 45mins. A short break before starting her second half of her schooling. We usually end the lesson around 4pm. Our Fridays though is still a schooling day, we do minimal so that we can have some outdoor activities. It can be out to library, park, museum for next year or mummy's favorite place (can you guess where?) :)

Little J's timetable is slightly different, he at the moment has no official timetable maybe... next year :)

A small table for J to do his writing and occassionally, G will use it to do her schooling too but most of the time, she will share a table with me where I get to score her worksheets while supervising her.

The other side of the wall, we have a map, pinboard where all of us are sharing, whiteboard for learning, charts.

A little corner for myself. A cupboard full of fabric. Pretty suitcases for some craft tools, stamp pads, rubber stamps. I am not into scrapping but little girl likes to make cards. And I have plenty of love notes from her :)

This is the table that I mentioned where G and I do our work. When we are done with our schooling or she doesn't really 'need' me, I will do my sewing while little boy naps. She gets half the table too for her craft! Over here, she made some marble magnets while I worked on my key holders. And yes! that's my sewing machine there :)

How do we keep our workbooks and worksheets? We have plenty of these. We heart these transparent holders that we bought from the bookstore. They make looking for workbooks easier. Worksheets will be in the files :)

Almost done! Just to share a verse from the Bible which I slowly cut out 8 years ago when we first decided to homeschool our children. This verse keeps me on the toe whenever I look at it, almost daily because it is just right in front of me up on the wall :) A good reminder as a parent.

{ Proverbs 22:6 ~ Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. }

That is all. Thank you for coming by! :) ♥ Jean