Living Serenely

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Showing posts from September, 2014

Dropping naps and Lego busy-bags

At three and a half years old, the inevitable is now happening: Nathan is gradually cutting back his nap times. I knew this day would come some day. But I confess that I’m grieving a little bit over this development. As much as I treasure every single moment of the day spent together with my kids. I still breathe a huge sigh of relief once all the kids are nestled soundly in their beds for two hours of quiet solace. But then I decided, just because Nathan doesn’t need his rest time, doesn’t mean I don’t need mine. That’s when I discovered the magic secret of busy-bags. I stumbled across them one day while browsing on Pinterest and was completely enthralled by them. There was such a enormous variety of busy-bags… but which ones would truly appeal to Nathan. Just because they appealed to me, does not necessarily mean that they would appeal to him. Then it struck me. There was ONE toy which definitely has it’s hooks on him. LEGO! He could play with them all day, every day if he co...

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Bye-bye little caterpillar

So I know it’s been quite a while since my last caterpillar update . All winter long actually. Because apparently that’s how long our caterpillar has been lying asleep in it’s cocoon. But all winter-long, we’ve garnered plenty of inspiration for all sorts of activities around our little caterpillar. We’ve read caterpillar books. Painted caterpillars and butterflies. Talked about the life cycle of butterflies. And did all sorts of caterpillar and butterfly themed crafts and activities. “Feed The Very Hungry Caterpillar” food and letter recognition activity (from A Little Pinch of Perfect ) Nathan had definitely not forgotten the little caterpillar. Every now and then, he would always ask to look at our cocoon to see if it had turned into a butterfly yet. But nada. I started to get a little worried about the little caterpillar. After all this was not one of the most conducive environments to sleep in. Especially with a curious little boy picking up the box every week or so to c...

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I’m still here

So some of you readers might have noticed a some funny sounding links at the bottom of various blog posts like IBOT or Wordless Wednesdays . In the blogging community, these are known as blog link-ups or linky parties for bloggers to connect and network with each other. I know that the underlying motivation bloggers have for blogging is to write for ourselves. However every blogger still gets a huge morale boost whenever they receive an acknowledgement or comment on one of their posts. But the truth is, the only people who would comment on blog posts are other bloggers (98% of the time). So one day, some blogging genius started these blog link-ups as a way to share our work with one another, support each other and cheer each other on. There are tons of such blog link-up parties around the world. I’ve stopped by various ones from time to time. But eventually I found a couple of communities which I really felt comfortable with and enjoyed the like-mindedness of the bloggers there. T...

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Conversations with Nathan

Dear Nathan, I haven’t posted an update on you here in a while. But at three and a half years old, there’s definitely a LOT going on. So I decided to jot down a few special things about you to remember for always… You have the biggest heart . You love EVERYBODY. Literally. You use the word ‘love’ quite liberally with almost everyone, but the sincerity in your words never gets watered down. I know you really and truly mean it each time you say it. You have room enough in that big heart of yours for everyone. You are the most affectionate little fellow . You constantly make people swoon at how loving and affectionate you are. You warm easily to people and you don’t hesitate to give hugs and cuddles to anyone. You love books . You look forward to story time every day. You enjoy going to the library. You always need to take your three books with you at naptime every day to read on your own in bed. I’m so glad this love of books is growing so naturally on you and I pray it will always b...

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Freezing the picture–Grace at 14 months old

Dear Grace. This is just another post mummy just HAS to write to bottle up more of your baby-ness because it’s just slipping away too quickly for words. Checking out the mini petting zoo at our church Easter carnival today #pettingzoo #babygirl A post shared by Serenely (@livingserenely) on Apr 20, 2014 at 8:42am PDT You are fourteen months old. Still yet a baby. But definitely well on your way to toddlerhood. I adore the fact that you are still chock-full of squishy and rolly bits and you still have a lingering baby smell in your hair that I cannot stop sniffing and smelling whenever you happen to be in my arms. Which is gradually happening less and less often these days. Because you just. Cannot. Stop. Moving. Baby behaving all grown up pushing around the big kids wheelbarrow at the playground outside #babygirl #10monthsold #play A post shared by Serenely (@livingserenely) on May 14, 2014 at 1:07am PDT From the moment you wake up until you go to sleep. Your legs ne...

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Coconut Pandan French Toast

So for Fathers’ Day this year, I wanted to cook up something really nice for breakfast for the daddy in the house. Generally his ideal breakfast treat would be the classic big brekkie, with eggs, sausages, bacon, baked beans, mushrooms and the works. However I knew I wouldn’t have enough time to cook it up in the morning before Fathers’ Day Service at church. So I decided on French toast. Now French toast is more of an ‘okay’ brekkie thing for the hubs. He is not a fan of bread, but it’s only made up by the fact that it includes his other favourite food: Eggs. Then I had a lightbulb moment. Add in another one of hubby’s favourite ingredients: Coconut. The result. Big thumbs up! These are too good not to share. So here is the recipe: Coconut Pandan French Toast Ingredients 8 slices of bread 3 eggs 200ml coconut milk 2-3 tbsp sugar 1/2 tspn pandan paste* Oil for greasing pan Method Mix together eggs, coconut milk, sugar and pandan paste in a bowl. Drizzle some oil in fryin...

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Sharing some Liebster Love

So here’s a big hug and thanks to the lovely Stephanie of Stephsjoy who has nominated me for a Liebster Award! The Liebster Award is a nomination to bloggers from fellow bloggers who believe that their fellow blogger is writing some good stuff, but their name might not be that well-known in some circles. It’s a great and fun way to share our bloggy love and connect with each other. Here are the rules of the Liebster Award: Thank the blogger who nominated you and include a link back to their website. Then answer eleven questions asked by the person who nominated you. Finally, nominate more bloggers and list down eleven questions for them to answer. Remember to let those bloggers know that they have been nominated so they can continue the chain. So first off, I shall launch into answering the eleven questions which Stephanie is apparently dying to know about me and my fellow nominees: You have 30 minutes all to yourself, what do you do? I dive into my hidden stash of chocola...

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Though your sins be as scarlet

When was the last time you fell for this age old mistake… It’s been a while since I experienced an ultra major case of silent toddler mischief . But I guess as parents, it’s our lot in life to have to deal with drama like this. This time (it actually happened several weeks ago) it involved a tube of lipstick. Deep dark red lipstick . I was slapping on my usual 5-minute make up routine (BB cream, blusher and lipgloss). Nathan was bouncing around the room as usual. 5 minutes. That’s literally all the time it took. Then I turned around and was struck numb at the sight of dark red lipstick smudged, smeared and pressed all over the carpet. Oh the horror. I was so numb from the shock, I didn’t even remember to snap a picture of it. At that point, there was nothing funny about it at all from where I was standing. After many, many sighs as I confronted the culprit on his crime. There was nothing else to do but get down on my knees to clean up the scene of the crime. It was a slow and...

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Chemistry is fun and tasty!

A couple of weeks ago, we headed out to Curtin University to check out their Chemistry Department (a.k.a. ChemCentre) who were holding their annual open day to the public. It was a free event, and the organisers had promised free ice cream and fairy floss for everyone. Plus I thought it would be a fun way to introduce Nathan to some of the concepts of science. We learnt that the key to being a scientist is using your senses to investigate, explore and discover. Each of the activities and booths were set up to introduce one of these sensory elements, such as… Our sense of smell to investigate mystery items hidden in jars Our sense of taste to investigate mystery flavoured water in beakers Our sense of sight to investigate different metals reaction to fire Nathan had fun pouring liquids into tubes and beakers and seeing the colours change depending on the reaction of different alkaline and acidic chemicals with each other There was a...