Happy Father's Day

Another late greetings.. but heartfelt, nevertheless.
To all the Father's in our lives.... Happy Father's day.
We love you.

Skool: Day 2

It's day 2 of a brand new term!
After the long summer vacation, and the endless badgering on the subject of school, Skool had finally started again with Kecil now in pre-nursery.
With some new friends, new teachers, new faces, longer hour (minute increase of half hour!)...
Both Mama and Kecil are excited, me thinks.

Anyway, it was Day 2 today, and it was back to arts & craft,
The result of which was proudly shown the moment Kecil spotted Mama at the door, picking her up,
Together with all the 'very good' stamps from her teacher, reward for good behavior.

Kecil is growing up....

In full (temporary) 'regalia'

We are still waiting for her brand new uniforms. In the meantime, she wears her own dresses.

Please don't mind the funny expression.
For some reasons, despite being all cheer and eagerness in the morning to go to school,
Upon me picking her up, she's also all eager to go home ASAP!
The expression, I'm sure, is her begrudging Mama the time it took to snap this picture of hers on our way home.

Well... there are still the whole term ahead.
Here's hoping for a good term, more chance for Mama to study and do other stuff, and Kecil growing growing and growing!

Beautiful Pasta Princess

This Mama admits freely that consistency is not her strong suit
Once in a blue moon, however, thanks to strange alignment of planets in the sky, Mama would get all crafty and motivated and would do all kind of 'productive' stuff in the hope for the betterment of Kecil
Stuff like coloring pasta using food coloring.....

Of course, after the blue moon struck, the pasta just stayed in the container for days while waiting for another mood to strike, which happened right at the end of summer holiday.

A summer pasta crown! Why, of course!
Inspired by a crown made for Ami by her tutor, Mama and Kecil got down to work, cutting papers, glue-ing pasta and various shapes, and Voila!
Needless to say, it was a big hit with Kecil... or should I say the Princess?

It was such a hit that Kecil even wore it during our walkies that day.
Sad to say, the paper could not quite stand such rigor and the crown 'wilted' after just 2 days.
It is unfortunate indeed, that the only pink paper that Mama had in her stash was the flimsy type which could not stand too well under the rigors of Kecil.

The story of the Princess Pasta continued to include Ami as well, as Kecil showed off her crown to her best friend (of course!).
We resolved to make one for Ami as well, and just on Tuesday, Kecil had a playdate with Ami and another friend, where we made crowns for everyone, using a thicker pink card stock.
And just in case you are wondering, of course it has to be pink.
Unfortunately Mama was quite busy with the preparation for making the crown and did not bring a camera to the playdate. Will try to source the pics to be posted.

The inspiration (and some of the know how) for this project came from various blogs and sources through the net. But if you'd like, I wrote down some pointers after the jump for those of you who are interested.
As for the rest, here's just hoping for creative inspirations and great projects to fill your days and cheer up everyone.

still here....

 This Mama needs to apologize for the absence of post for oh so many days.
But then again, although there are days where the inspiration cup runneth over,
There are also days when inspiration proves to be as flitting as a certain green-garbed fairy.

But never fear!
We are still here, hanging on, living our lives
And Kecil is still as cute as ever, as you can see for yourself (albeit through pictures only)
Both the camera phone and the big camera had received some use, and the content downloaded
So... with some careful planning, hopefully we'll have some stream of content in the next couple of days...
Not to mention the start of the school term in Wednesday... hm hm hm... two and half hour of Mama time 5 days a week... oo... Mama is giddy with anticipation
Ahem... oh ya, and of course, Kecil too is wildly excited
We have been counting down, you see, to the day when school starts again

So with all the best wishes,
May you all be blessed with some cuteness in your day!
(I shall try and contribute to make THAT happen)

TADAAH! Cuteness blessing to you!

Here's to even more cuteness coming your way.

the Lion ball

After yesterday's post, you would have thought of me as the bad Mama who does not buy Kecil toys.
Well, as a matter of fact, I do buy some toys for her.
I just pick my toy carefully, given the fact that Kecil has yet to learn to clean up after herself,
Which not only means either Mama or Tita cleaning after her, but also Mama finding whatever toy Kecil sets her heart on when she can't find it herself. Hmmpph...

But anyway, the other day Mama decided that a ball might be a good investment

The story was that, when we went on walkies to the playground one day, we found a basketball.
We did not bring it home, because most probably it belonged to one of the guys playing basketball in the field next door.
But we did spend some time playing catch & throw.

Suffice to say, Kecil not only seem to enjoy playing with the ball, but she also seemed to have developed the necessary motoric skills needed to  play the ball pretty well.
So... I guess a ball is in order, ya?

We did not go for a basketball, which is not only hideously expensive, but also way too heavy and bound to create LOTS of disaster were it to be let loose in the house.
We settled on some cheap rubber ball with Lion King illustration on.
Hence, the Lion Ball.

I guess she likes it.
The ball had since accompanied us in a few of our walkies.

Here's to more ball games, and a future basketball player, maybe?

made up toys...

Still remember this one?

I wrote then that Kecil love to make up her own 'toys' out of things which are available around her, like Mama's scarf (read about it here).
Just to say that, yes, she's still doing that.
Here's Kecil trying to make her own endorsement ad:

I love that little girl.

bits of yellow....

As we move further into the storm season, the weather pattern had noticeably changed
With slightly lower temperature, more cloudy skies, and even the occasional rainy storms, or just plain old rain
It is still nowhere as bad as our first year here, with the continuous heavy rain day after day after day after day,
Not even that much rain, come to think of it
Still, there is enough rain to make up some gray days that is cheered by a certain sight of yellow bits

Providentially, somehow the street in front of the house came with a little depression for water to flow through.
During rainy days, it becomes a sort of brook where the rain water flows through which Kecil love to plain in, in her boots and her coat
It is just somewhat unfortunate that the rainy season coincides with a certain obsession for Princesses, resulting in a marked preference for longer dresses above any other, more practical kind of clothing for rainy days.
Still... I guess you can say that Kecil can pass a small, modern Laura Ingalls, ha!

Well, there might be only 2 seasons around here, but this Mama hopes that Kecil would grow up to appreciate whatever season nature might throw at her, and make do with whatever activities suited the season the best.

Here's for more rain for the garden, happy frolics in the rain, and delicious soups from Mama's kitchen at the end of the day.