Happy New Year!

2011 has been a great year, even if everybody got busier, with Daddy and his ever-increasing workload, Mama and her 'stuff', and Kecil with Skool and all.

We wish you all a great new year, this coming 2012, on this last day of 2011. Right on top of the list, this Mama hopes to clear Mama's backlog of pics and stories ASAP, learn even more stuff, have more fun, basically having a blast in 2012. I am very sure we all share similar hopes for the coming new year.

So... cheers, have a toast, have a blast!

From this Daddy, Mama & Kecil, wishing you all a wonderful year of 2012!

Missing...

We had been missing from this space.

Indeed, we are currently on our BIG holiday, visiting the people who are our main audience in this blog, the Family. It's an epic holiday, with surely tons of pictures, stories, hilarious giggles and laughter, with family, with new and old friends, new places, new gadgets, old haunts ....
Epic.

I suppose it will be a while until we get down from all the whirlwind (which is still going on as Christmas and New Year comes along). But we'll try our best to drop in, and even work on that backlog on the Skool's Christmas party. Eeks!

And just in case we don't get to see you again until next year, here's to a great holiday to each and everyone of you!

Happy Holidays!

{this moment}

{this moment} A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. via SouleMama

Our Christmas tree

 It's a bit overdue, but seriously, who would ever thought it be so difficult to get a nice pic of the tree?

Our tree this year is a sight that makes this Mama happy,
It is still our old tree, already four years in use, older than Kecil herself,
With the same old decoration in red and gold, the very ones we bought after we got the tree,
Just with a slight twist to the placement.

This year, it's bottom heavy! (Do you notice the heavy concentration of red balls at the bottom of the tree?)

The tree this year is not only early,
It was also decorated in collaboration with the Little One, who has, finally, grasped the idea of this huge, nationwide celebration (oh, worldwide. But especially felt here, in a predominantly Christian/Catholic country), called Christmas.

In fact, the tree is also not ... stagnant.
For every now and then, this Mama would find bits and bobs from the tree ending up in various places around the house.
Courtesy of ... ahem... let's not call names, ya?

But it's a happy sight, our Christmas tree this year, as it totally signify yet another milestone in Kecil's growth.

How's your tree this year?

Perspective

(Now that I've shared with you our new toy, I can share this story, since the pics are mostly taken using the new toy)


In dealing with Kecil every day, although squatting down to get on her level kind of comes naturally, often this Mama forgot that her view of the world might be wildly different, thanks to her ... uhmm... relative size. So it was indeed great to have a share-able, Kecil-proof camera, with which Kecil offered this Mama the world through her eyes.

 Like her tall, tall, big Mama, who loves big sunglasses and from whom Kecil learnt this pose

Mama's uhm.. huge arms

the blue sky as the favored background (got to do with the angle the pics are taken, no?)

And even how close the Dog's face really is to Kecil's (and Ami's) eye level.
Photo credit: Ami

It's going to be interesting to see how much faster Mama's hard disk is going to be filled up with an extra camera around the house (and a certain set of itchy fingers). I am looking forward to it. How about you?

Water cooler chat

Apparently there is no age restriction to water cooler chat or water cooler effect. There must be something primeval about water and humans, I suppose.

OUR new toy

Still remember Mama's camera dilemma and her love/hate relationship with her phone camera?
Well, here's hoping that we have put an end to all that.
Right before Daddy's business trip the other day, Mama must have put a fine bee buzzing in his head about this camera thingy, he actually came back with a nifty point and shoot, from Olympus Tough series, a cool baby-proof Kecil-proof camera.

It is OURS, not just Mama's or Kecil's, but shared.
We have been playing with it for a while, and it's a fun little thing. We are expecting great things from having this gadget in our arsenal, for sure. In the meantime, Kecil is happily snapping away with OUR new camera:

Just expect many more Kecil shots in the near future as we get better acquainted with our new toy.

How about you? Any new gadget in your arsenal lately?

Skool mornings

This week being the last week of Skool for the year 2011, Mama thought it would be cool to share some pics of Kecil's day in Skool. This has long been on Mama's to-do list and was finally possible with the help of a particular new toy (one that is less intrusive to be brought into the Skool as compared to the Big Camera). Plus, there is one additional reason, which we'll touch only at the end of the post.

When Kecil gets to Skool on time (90% of the time), the day would start with playing at the play room while we wait for the rest of the students to arrive.

 

While playing together is de rigueur, there are times when reading on your own is a better way to start your day.

There are usually some scrambling for each kid's shoes when it was time to go to classrooms.

And finally, we get to the classroom! Pretty late in the Skool year, we don't really have a lot of scenes from the students, but we still do have some anxious guardian watching from the door (and some nosy Mama snapping pictures, as well! Ha!).

Oh, you still remember that 'additional reason' that I mentioned earlier at the top of the post? Hmm... somehow today, despite having started (and weathered) Skool since almost a year ago, Kecil refused to be left behind by Mama today! The moment Mama was not in her line of sight, she started bawling. Loudly.
And while she was not bawling, she kept checking for Mama. Le sigh....
Of course this has to happen on the week when Mama has deadlines.

Oh well... at least you get to see how Kecil's Skool mornings are like. There will be a Christmas party this Friday as well, so I'm sure we'll get some coverage on that.
Until then!

Weekend morning

These are how some of our weekend mornings look like:

With an extra pair of legs (and no body!) poking out of the wiggly blanket

A sleepy face under the mess of cute, curly hair

Two (!) wiggly extra occupant on Mama & Daddy's bed with their relentless effort to get Mama & Daddy OUT of the bed. Hmmppphh!

With a Kid and a fluffy Dog in tow, I guess Mama's day of lazing on the bed the whole day during weekends are kind of over. Sigh.

But oh well, at least they are the parents' guarantee that the weekend will not pass by unnoticed around here.

How was your weekend?

{this moment}

{this moment} A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. via SouleMama

Deadlines

There are times which are set aside specially for the Little One, for photo ops, for playing and everything.
But there are also times when Mama needs a lot of time to herself.
This week (and next, me thinks) Mama have a few deadlines to meet, as well as some exciting stuff to happen. We'll how that will work out with the blogging schedule.
Be well.
(and if you have some spare prayer, you can also wish Mama best of luck with her deadlines. Hehe)

Little Pilots

There were days (usually Fridays) when Mama got a little fed up with staying at home for the millionth cleaning session and looked for better inspiration outside. It helps that sometimes the weather co-operates, providing the much needed mood booster in the form of light, beautiful light.
Not to mention a few gorgeous muses frolicking around, all ready to be Mama's next photo op!

There was no time to waste, no reason to not jump at the opportunity.
These girls, they are old hands at walkies with Mama, the Dog and the camera.
They know the rules of the road, and they do not mind Mama clicking away.
So ... why not just follow on autopilot? Or rather, Little Pilots?

We had some difficulty starting off. The scuttle involved some to and froing into the house to get the necessary 'gear' for walkies: drink, bottle, bags to bring the bottles...
But we finally made off with the girls leading the way: up the slope, through the trees, round the fence and everywhere...

... ending up at the playground, as usual.
Hmm... I guess the attraction of a nearby playground is undeniable when you are little girls walking with a friend, a Mama and a Dog in tow, huh?
Anyway, we did have a good time. Mama even got some pretty amusing bits of conversation. Not to mention lots a pic, resulting in THIS very blog post!

Thank you, Ami and Kecil for being Mama's 'autopilot' for the day!
Here's for more walkies together, enjoying the late afternoon light, fresh air and good company!

The quality of light in late afternoon such as these has always been one of Mama's obsession, even in the days before the Big Camera. The Golden Hour, the folks in the photography circles call it. It's a beautiful, beautiful hour to be out and about, with or without little ones and dogs.
If you haven't enjoyed it, go out and try it at the first opportunity! It does not happen everyday, you see, so when it happens, you really should jump at the chance. Who knows what you might get out of it? Fabulous pictures, new friend, or even just simply a fantastic mood.

Birthday party

Kecil's Pink dress got another use last week as we went for Kecil's classmate's Birthday celebration in town. Having received her invitation during the UN day, the event had been wildly anticipated. Perhaps it's Mama's fault, but it would seem that Kecil had developed her preconceptions of what constitutes a 'proper Birthday party', namely that it should include some candle blowing, Birthday cakes, toots, and hats.Oh, and of course, bringing presents for the Birthday girl/boy.
Good thing she was not disappointed that day.

Kecil took her present-giving very seriously, so once we got to the venue, she made a straight bee-line for the Birthday girl to deliver her present. In return, Kecil was so excited to get her share of the various Dora merchandise, both as part of loot as well as a reward for her participation in the various games being organized.

Games? Why, yes, games. There was the fetching the balloon game, the race with the balloon between your legs game, there's even a wishing-the-longest-Happy-Birthday game. She actually took part in all three (No pics of actual action because Mama was busy coaching then). She even did her part of the Chucky dance, which involve some shaking of her body. Hahaha...

Of course, I am not too sure if she is really into the games or if she is just looking for more Dora stuff. She did come home with a veritable stack of loot from the party.
There was just one time when she faltered, that was when the 'guest of honor' arrived.

Ugh Ogh. Kecil did NOT like the chicken. In fact, she was absolutely terrified of it. Many days after the party, she would still talk about that scary, big, white chicken. With Christmas coming, Mama is just wondering about Kecil's reaction with the ubiquitous Santa Claus. Hmmm....

Still, I think we had great fun at the party. Thank you for Thea and her family for inviting us. Happy (belated) Birthday and all the best wishes!

Kecil said...

As Kecil grows to be more and more articulate, Mama thought we should also set a side some space to record her 'speeches'. As you all know, Little People often makes the most insightful observations. And hence, we hope there will be a series like this, aptly named Kecil said ...

Mama and one of her sisters are very much alike. For many years, we have met with comments that roughly amounts to: "You two look so similar!", "You are very hard to differentiate", "You are like twins"
You get the gist, no?
But nobody summed it up better than the Little One that day, while she was looking at the photo wall above.

"That's Tante, that's Mama, that's Mama some more!";

Oh, she has a way with words, all right.

Cheers!

Walkies with a friend

There are times when walkies are made more challenging, with the lack of a proper vehicle (the bike sustained some damage through the weekend when Daddy was not home), uncooperative weather (slight, intermittent drizzles) as well as an additional participant.

But I guess, there is always the case of making lemonade when the world throws you lemons.
Make the best of what you've got!
And we did have fun. Great fun! And Mama feels that the risk taken by taking TWO active little girls out for walkies on a CLOUDY day without BACKUP transportation was justified.
Especially with the returns that we got.

Still remember the drizzle I told you about? What happened when there's rain and sunshine at the same time?
Haha.. you got it. We had a beautiful rainbow that day.
And TWO very fascinated little girls squatting side by side on the road.

As I said before, it was a good walkie. Even when Mama was only planning to take a short one.
We ended up being out for almost an hour. But it was fun. And we so do look forward for the next one.
Until then!

An afternoon at the pool

A beautiful sunny afternoon, and a prospect for reunion with a former classmates, it was a great combination for some great time at the pool last week.

Little Karin was a former classmate of Kecil's. After just 1 term, however, she moved back to Japan. Last week, she came by for a holiday, and we made arrangements for Kecil to meet her old friend (whom she still remembers!). And so that was how we got invited to spend the afternoon at the gorgeous pool.

The invitation was also extended to a few other girls, who are part of the small Japanese community here. We have with us that day Ami and also Sora & Hana.

Right on top of the list of things to try: the small water slide!

Followed with a few more rounds...

Then it was swimming around the pool ...

Attacking a figure of authority ... (these girls are rebels, I tell you!)

Even admiring the view!

Kecil had a real great time at the pool and we would like to thank all the girls very much for playing with Kecil. The girls probably spent more than an hour in the pool, after which they still played at the playground nearby. The picture follows:

Karin had since gone back to Japan. But we do hope that there will still be next time for the girls to meet up and play together again. Until next time, Karin!