I gave my elder son a little surprise the other day

A little something to remind him that he has not been forgotten even though he might be feeling so these days

I made him a bookmark stuffed with colour pencil shaves
A heart shaped one that is bigger than usual

big enough for his latest favourite comic series
big enough for him to hang around his neck, he said
big enough to make him smile all day

A heart big enough to accommodate both him and his little brother
..
….

And since teacher’s day is just round the corner, I thought this will make a perfect gift for the teacher as well

What You Need
Colour pencil shaves
ribbon
clear book wrapper cut into heart shape

It’s really simple, but the children might need some help to thread the ribbon around the edges

Malcolm was asked to bring a used bottle or a tissue box for lantern making in school. Either that, or bring a home made lantern. We did the latter.

Last year, we made tanks and planes and they were a big hit at his school so much so that it is hard to beat this year

Then we read this story, a 12 year old boy who ran 15 km for 2 1/2 hour, in his flip flops, despite heavy rain, to follow the Youth Olympic torch relay in his neighbourhood

We were greatly inspired by the young boy’s determination, perseverance and passion

..

…

So this year, in the spirit of YOG (Youth Olympic Games), we made an Olympic torch lantern

His teachers in school loved it so much that they have requested to borrow it to adorn the classroom

So this Mid-Autumn festival, my 6 year old will be running around like a torch bearer. HA !

What you need :

1 used kitchen roll
2 plastic food container
aluminum foil
acrylic paint
cardboard
stapler and blue tac
candles
printouts of YOG mascots, banner or logo for decoration

It seem to take forever for the tree to be up this year

I thought of getting the fresh fir tree from Ikea
at SGD 69 I thought it was a good deal
save the hassle of storing the tree
and we LOVE the smell of fresh pine

Then we passed by Carrefour
they were having clearance
The deal seem too good to be missed
and we bought the tree at 1/2 price
some ornaments at 80% discount

I have this grand plan of making our own ornaments
and I totally miss the fact that with a 6 weeks old baby
doing craft with my 5 year old will be a totally new challenge

Here’s how the baby looks while we were busy

and we finally completed our ONLY piece of art for the tree

And I MEAN it when I said Recycling Can Be Addictive !

We made 2 lanterns for Mid-Autumn Festival
He hogged the F 15 Jet to himself
and loaned the Tank to anyone who is eager to play with him

He carried it with his classmates
He carried it with his cousin
He carried it with his friends

A GREAT way to impress the GIRLS!
Especially the sweet and gentle ones.

We were at this shop with his little friends the other day
He saw them each bought a piggy bank
He wanted one too
but I told him perhaps we could make one ourselves
one with a little more character and cost a little less

We rummaged through our ever growing collection of scraps
We gathered these

and we made a piggy bank, from our pile of recyclable junk

An Army Tank Bank
where he can drop coins from the top
and pop them out from the side
an opening with a blue cap
where his Meiji milk used to flow

And it wasn’t just any tank
It was a FV 101 Scopion from the British Army’s reconnaissance units
one used in the Gulf War

I was clueless how a reconnaissance tank should look
so he instructed me to refer to his book

He was particular about how each part should be
the position of the turret
the length of the gun
and the colour has to be like those used in Operation Desert Storm

It’s fun piecing up what he WANTS from what we HAVE
and I love to hear him goes
‘AH! I have an IDEA!’

When we were finally done
the tank probably looks different from the actual one
with his own specification and improvisation
but he was ecstatic
and he was exhilarated

He LOVES how his reconnaissance tank looks
and I LOVE what follows next

That I can now nag less
for he has incentives to do his daily things
as he was eager to earn his keep
to fill up his Army Tank Bank

And he LOVES his tank/bank so much
that he had to bring his precious creation to the airport to welcome Dad

Malcolm celebrated Teachers’ Day in school today.
Since last week, he has been telling me how he can’t wait for Monday to come.

The reason being this

We made them for some of his favourite people in Paris
We made them again this time

With a bit of improvisation
Nicer paper with ready printed design on one side
and brightly painted colours on the other

He suggested rolling 2  handprints instead of 1 on each stick
Making it a DOUBLE flower

He is right
It looks better

Easy peasy
here are the few simple steps

Note :
Curl each fingers using a pencil to get the curly petals
Containers for the flowers are made from toilet rolls

Because it is his obsession as of late

Because after 3 hours of school each day we still have lots of time to spare

Because going Green can be fun

Because there IS really life after being a milk bottle and juice carton

Because the 3R concept (Reduce, Reuse, Recyle) can be addictive

Because he really doesn’t need another toy to fill up his play room

Because it has been proven that play things that run on alkaline cells never hold his interest for long

Because when you do the math, [price] / [interest span] it doesn’t make economical sense to fall for the merchant’s lure

Because they don’t need fanciful toys to make play time fun

Because it is not always about the product but the process

Because we were bored

Because there is nothing that THRILLS me more than to see him jump with joy with each new creation

Because there is reason why a Stay at Home Mum will NEVER grow senile

We built

bridges, ramps and skyscrapers

Optimus Prime in Autobots City

and it is still growing …

One of those practical toys we introduced
Convenient and easy
He loves them

We have books on How to Fold a Paper Plane
We fold, he sees and he follows
but he never remember how to fold one himself
we ended up folding planes for him everytime he wants to fly one

Coincidentally, the school happens to be teaching about planes
they teach how to fold a paper plane
It’s like the most fun thing to do
How can he not love school

Within a week
he came back annoncing smugly
‘I can fold my own paper plane’
and he says that to anyone who shows the littlest interest in what he can do
He is proud of his achievement

We ended with a basket full of them
polka dots, stripes, floral, funky prints

He is more than happy to fold one for you anytime

What we have been doing together for months
took him less than a week to learn in school
I am impressed
Perhaps that is the power of peer learning
Perhaps it is the teacher
someone new to impress other than mum and dad

During our stay in the States 2 years back, I collected a whole carton of crafty supplies. There were stuffs for scrapbooking, card making, glitters, acrylic paint of varied colours, cute punchers, stampers, ribbon of all sorts. I HAVE EVERYTHING! Well…almost.

I told my husband that he should NOT view my collection as junk but instead, as a sign that I do have a wee bit of feminity or girlishness in me - my weakness for little, lovely, cutie, girlish stuff.

I enjoy whipping out cards and working on craft project that will let my limited coagulated creativity juice flows. I am not the artistic sort and I admire those who have a flare for arts with bountiful creative ideas.

Last week, we decided to dig out our priced collection and that was how we got started with our little project, Making Something for Dad’s Birthday.

For consecutive days, apart from school, the project kept us busy. We couldn’t rush for it takes time for the glue, the paint and the plaster to dry. Some of the paint did harderned and some of the punchers weren’t working anymore, after being in storage for so long. However, we had more than
enough stuff to whip out something simple.

I am so proud I did not spend a single cent. EVERYTHING we used was from my carton of collection.

Part of the fun for this project was finding a hiding place to stash our unfinished work before my husband gets home each day. I was totally impressed by my 5 year old’s ability to hold his excitment, seal his mouth and not breath a word to his dad while we work on the craft.

It was a few days before my husband’s birthday when we finished. Malcolm could hold it no more. He insisted on giving the present. And I let him. He had the present bundled up with some tissue paper and placed his work at the foot of our bed while my husband was still sleeping.

Dad was pleasantly surprised when he woke up. But he had his birthday card and gift, 2 days BEFORE the actual day.

I must confess that we have been stinging quite a bit on gift wrapping this season

As if to rid the permanent mountain of junk sitting in the kitchen

we are busy churning out gift boxes from our glorious collection

So if you will to find your present wrapped in a gift box

which looks more like a cross between a cornflake box and a tissue box

PLEASE DON”T HATE US

Malcolm says that the polar bears in Manitoba will be happy

cos you have helped to save the ice

We were invited to a friend’s house for dinner.

With some help from Mal,

We dressed up an old biscuit tin

packed it with some freshly baked cookies

top it up with a little handmade card

I felt so happy and satisfied

I LOVE Christmas !

The persistent virus has been causing my duo runny nose and phlegmy cough for the past week. A dose of antihistamine before bedtime not only numbed the sinus but the anus as well! Malcolm soiled his diaper in the middle of the night without even realizing it. And of course he was delighted when given a day off from school.

We ended up with this from our over flowing junk box. His version of ‘Storm Chaser’ which he decided to give to someone he missed at the library.

When we were in Italy, we spent 1 week in Florence, in the Tuscany region. Florence is a small city and like many cities, has its fair share of crazy traffic and tourist crowd. We rented a 1 bedroom apartment, just outside Florence and it was one of the nicest accommodation for our whole trip.

This little apartment was tucked nicely up in a little hill, shielded from all the buzz in the city, yet within walking distance from Florence. The apartment was tastefully decorated. Very Tuscan style and extremely cozy. I fell in love with the ochre coloured and very classic wood furnishing. There was a HUGE balcony with a perfect view of the city, where we had our meals everyday and thereafter, catch the sun set in the evening. It was amazing how well it was shaded from the Tuscan sun throughout the day, which thus provide a perfect place for a good siesta.

For once, I don’t mind the buzzing mosquitoes as the scent from the burning incense made me feel nostalgic, reminded me of the good old kampong days when I was a child.

Thanks to the mosquitoes, Mal had fun every evening helping Daddy light up citronella candles and mosquito coils.

and here’s an attempt to capture the view from the balcony on paper

and here’s one from Malcolm too.

We celebrated my husband’s birthday on the road during our drive to Sanicole and here’s Malcolm’s little something for Daddy, and of course, it had to do with planes! A 8 pages Jumbo Book of Airplanes which took him 5 days to make. He helped to draw and colour the planes, write the words , paint and sponge stamp the background. It was lots of effort for this little guy and it kept us real busy for the past 1 week. Each day when Daddy came home from work, he would cheekily chirp ‘we have a 5 day surprise for you’. It was just so cute, watching him keep a secret.

Jumbo jet out from our junk box.
A coca cola bottle with paper marche, 4 toilet rolls, pieces of cardboard and loads of paint is all it takes