Living Serenely

Posts

Showing posts from 2014

Nathan’s fourth birthday and Christmas bash

So I know I said yesterday that I am officially finished with my last post for the year. But I just had to sneak in these photos of the wonderful party we had yesterday to celebrate Nathan’s fourth birthday and a sort of final year-end/Christmas bash we had for my beloved day care children. None of my parties have ever been the fancy sort, but the only thing I hope for is that they are fun and memorable. We borrowed an inflatable pool and colourful plastic balls to make a simple ball pit which the children all just went mad over. It got a little crowded in there at times, but we somehow always managed to work something out. Hubby sportingly took on the role as the ‘magic balloon man’ and made all sorts of fun shapes and creations with a little balloon kit we got from the party supplies section at the shops. The theme of the party was all about lollipops. So I made some ‘ marshmallow dough ’ for the children to have a lollipop-making activity. I knew my children all love ...

Read the rest of this entry »

An early Christmas for me

So Christmas came early for me this year in the form of a shiny new hardback set of this well-known saga . As some of you might have known, I only recently discovered what the whole Twilight obsession was all about less than a couple of months ago. I happened to catch the first movie on TV while I was surfing around the channels one Saturday night and got sucked into the story. I know, I knoooow… I am like soooo late for THIS party that I am arriving after the whole thing has long died down. Yes, I have heard of the Twilight Saga, but for one reason or another, the whole thing had evaded me somehow. It wasn’t because I was anti-Twilight or something. I was just probably busy with other things at that time while the whole party was going on. Hubby must have obviously seen how captivated I was by the series. Being the sweet man he is, he quietly went and got the complete set of books that the movies were based on. Apparently it was no easy feat tracking down these books as I was re...

Read the rest of this entry »

Going matchy-matchy with my little girl

Sometime last year I had made this piece for myself from a stripy mint fabric my mum had given me. Lately I’ve been going through another crazy sewing phase . I suddenly had an urge to make a cute little outfit or dress for my little girl. And I thought, why not make up a matchy-matchy piece for her too! As this was the first little girl’s dress I was making, I selected a simple peasant dress pattern to experiment with. I was able to put it all together in under an hour to wear the very next day. Grace seemed to like it. So we could head out to church with our mother and daughter matchy-matchy outfits. Definitely one of the fun perks of having a little girl!

Read the rest of this entry »

Celebrating Chinese Winter Solstice Festival

So I know it’s now officially summer here for us in the land down under. But around this time of the year since I was a little girl, my family has also been celebrating Dongzhì or Chinese Winter Solstice Festival . The Dongzhì Festival or Winter Solstice Festival is celebrated by the Chinese annually around 21st December. During this festival, family members will travel from far and wide to come together for a big reunion meal. The biggest highlight I remember about the festival as a child was making and eating Tangyuan , a traditional dessert of dumplings served in a sweet syrup. Although this Chinese festival is generally not as well-known compared to other festive occasions such as Chinese New Year or the Mooncake festival, it still holds a special place in my childhood. So this year, I decided to share this experience with my kids, together with a couple of my other day care children. I decorated our house with snowflake cut-outs to set the mood for the cold winter setting and...

Read the rest of this entry »

Desperate dribbly times call for an army of bibs

Back when I was still pregnant with Grace, I had busied myself sewing various pretty little things in anticipation of her arrival. I was a big fan of bandanna bibs with Nathan. But somehow with a baby girl, it seemed to be more fitting to have pretty, floral, ribbony classic style bibs on her. I added a couple more here and there along the way after she arrived, but not very many as she was not really a very dribbly baby. Well, not at that time at least. However over the past couple of months, her dribble level was reaching a record breaking amount. Almost, if not as much as her older brother when he was her age now. It got so bad at one point that I was unable to keep up with the laundry turnover and had to resort to drying her morning bib so she could use it again later in the afternoon. So over the weekend, I finally got my head down and sewed up yet more bibs to keep up with her over-productive dribble glands. I was quite pleased with my handiwork. So please ind...

Read the rest of this entry »

Five in Five: Worth Casing Blog Awards

There must be something about this time of year with so many bloggy awards and blog hop series going around. The bloggy love is really in the air. There is just so much to express and be thankful for the connections and bonds we have formed over the year in the little time we have remaining of 2014. I was really touched when my dear bloggy friend Druimé of Snippets and Spirits nominated me for the Five in Five ‘Worth Casing’ blog award hosted (and sponsored) by Agent Mystery Case . Five in five is a series of five questions for each nominee to answer and then pass the baton on. There is also a great prize up for grabs which is six months of advertising on Agent Mystery Case's website worth $500. There are so many amazing bloggers out there, so I think I’m honoured already just to be invited to join in the fun. So whether there is a prize or not, I’m just happy to hop on board to answer these five questions… How long have you been blogging and why did you start? I first st...

Read the rest of this entry »

A decade of marriage

So today marks the momentous occasion of my tenth year anniversary of being married to my dear hubby. I meant to write a big epic post for this special day…. but I’m finding it all quite overwhelming. Ten years! My goodness! What can I say? I remember a conversation I had with my parents on one occasion. I asked them “ Does it ever get any easier? ”. Their answer: “ No, not really! ”. After over 35 years of marriage, apparently there are times that they still can get hopping mad at each other and they still drive each other crazy sometimes. Image Source So for us, after a decade of marriage it certainly hasn’t gotten any easier. We sometimes still argue over petty things or even disagree over more serious matters. I still can get hopping mad at him at times. It’s crazy how someone you are so crazy about can REALLY drive you crazy sometimes. But one thing I can say is: It’s better. Not easier. But better. It’s still at uphill journey. But with each upward step we take, it j...

Read the rest of this entry »

Poolzies pool shoes for children (product review)

With the summer season descending upon us here in the land down under, we’ve been looking forward to cooling off with lots of water play and swimming to cool ourselves off. So it was perfect timing when the lovely Pia of Poolzies contacted me to ask if I’d like to have little Grace try out their special anti-slip pool shoes. Poolzies is the brainchild of Steve and Pia, an expat couple based in Singapore. The idea for Poolzies first came about one day while on holiday when they were searching for a solution for their own child to be able to play safely and comfortably in a water park. Upon discovering that pool shoes were not easily available in Singapore and Asia, they decided to turn this idea into a unique business venture of their own. The shoes are fitted with a Toughtek non-slip and abrasion-resistant sole, while the lightweight material is aimed at providing comfort and flexibility in movement. The fabric also provides UPF-50+ protection from the sun. We tried them out fo...

Read the rest of this entry »

What do you really mean by ‘sharing’?

What do you think of the term ‘sharing’? More specifically in relation to children ‘sharing’ things with one another. I personally think we adults use the term ‘sharing’ a little to flippantly. I have been guilty of it myself at one point or another, although I am practising to be more conscious about when and why I decide to use that term. Sometimes I think parents use that term with children, simply to get a child to give up a toy or object to another child, without much regard for their rights and feelings. Strictly speaking, if you were asking a child to ‘share’ something, it should either mean: #1. Playing with the toy or object together, or collaborating in some way to use it jointly as a team; OR #2. Finding a way to divide the item(s) fairly so each person can have a share of it (such as with food or a pile of blocks). However from personal experience, whenever I had a ‘sharing’ encounter with another parent, their desired outcome often had nothing to do with any of t...

Read the rest of this entry »

Big Brother a.k.a. Superhero

Sometimes I envy this little girl of mine. Just a teeny weeny bit. Simply because she gets to be baby sister to this awesome big brother. They adore each other to bits , it’s hard to stand it sometimes because I feel I could just burst with such incredible joy every time I see them together. Like this… Or this… I am so glad they have each other. And that little Gracie has her own little knight in shining armour and superhero for life. It must be awesome to be a little sister to a big brother like this guy. Image Source

Read the rest of this entry »

Quick and easy mini apple pies

We go through a LOT of food in our household every week. With four kids to care for five days a week, it can sometimes be challenging to come up with a variety of snacks and meals to keep them fuelled up for play all day long. For morning and afternoon tea, I usually serve fruit or yoghurt and sometimes crackers with cheese. But each week I like to come up with a little special treat for the kids, just for a nice change from our usual tea time fare. Here is one of my favourite tea time treats which I like to keep up my sleeve. It’s really quick and easy enough to even get the kids involved in the cooking process… Mini apple pies Ingredients 2 tbsp sugar 1 tspn cinnamon 2 sheets shortcrust/pie pastry 3 tbsp melted butter 2 medium tart apples, each cut into 8 wedges Directions In a small bowl, combine the sugar and cinnamon. Unroll the pastry sheet, brush with melted butter and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar mixture. Cut each sheet into 8 one inch strips, about 8 in. long. Wrap one ...