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Showing posts from October, 2014

My Two Mini Superheroes

There is something magical about a simple piece of fabric or scarf. When tied around the neck on your back, it has magical properties to transform a little person immediately into a superhero. I’m not entirely sure if little Gracie has any inkling about the whole concept of superheroes. But as the persistent, faithful little shadow to her big brother, she was up for anything her big brother was doing.

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Who am I, really?

I discovered this lovely poem today… Who are you really? You are not a name or a height, or a weight or a gender You are not an age and you are not where you are from You are your favourite books and the songs stuck in your head You are your thoughts and what you eat for breakfast on Saturday mornings You are a thousand things but everyone chooses to see the million things you are not You are not where you are from You are where you are going And I'd like to go there too. - Madisen Kuhn Sometimes I worry that being a blogger can be a potential factor that isolates me at times. I wonder if people shy away from me because my thoughts and ideas seem too intimidating. I wonder if putting my thoughts out here makes me seem so transparent that people think this is everything I am about, so there is supposedly nothing else left to discover because they know everything about me already. The truth is, I am more than the anecdotes and bits I share on this blog. I am more that the im...

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Three things…

I have quite a few heavy thoughts going on at the moment. The problem is that I am lacking the energy to solidify those thoughts into words right now. So in the meantime, I shall turn to something more light hearted by sharing a few of my favourite things from my Pinterest collection . Three wardrobe items I am currently drooling over… Three awesome quotes… Three things on my wish list to add to our outdoor area… Three dream touches I would love to add to our home… (Images taken from various sources on my Pinterest boards )

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Is there such a thing as being too different?

I’m feeling a little melancholy this evening. My thoughts and feelings are wandering in a hundred different directions all at once. I know I am searching for something. But I’m not quite sure how to put it into words right now. Here are two articles which sort of reflect a couple of the thoughts swirling around in my head at the moment… It happened to me: I don’t have a best friend (The plight of the best-friendless) Friends of a certain age (Why is it hard to make friends over 30) Sometimes I wonder if there is such a thing as being TOO different. I’ve blazed my own trail and created my own path. Then I turn to look around me and find myself all alone. Just a thought. Image Source

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Soapy bubbly water play

With the warmer weather gradually descending upon us here in Australia, one of our current favourite activities is to head outside for some water play. It can be as simple as setting out a tub of water with a some containers and toys… to taking things up a notch with a few drops of food colouring or even doing some water painting . Our latest thing to add to our water play is to add a few squirts of dishwashing soap to turn it into a soapy, bubbly water-play experience. I also add a couple of drops of glycerine (an optional ingredient) which helps the bubbles to hold together much better for a more wonderfully frothy and bubbly effect. The play kept the children engaged for over an hour… swirling, splashing, scooping, pouring… exploring different ways of creating more bubbles by agitating the water… and even pretending to wash some toy dishes and cups with sponges. The children enjoyed it so much, I decided to repeat the play experience the following week. This time I added a bas...

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The easiest deep pan pizza

One of the ‘headaches’ I sometimes encounter in running a family day care , is managing a wide variety of food preferences (and aversions) among all the kids each day. Every single child comes with their own unique quirks. Some chomp down anything and everything laid before them. Some pick through their meal painfully. Some love all sorts of fruits and veges. Some refuse to touch anything with a tinge of green in it. I am usually pretty firm about giving any new foods a taste or try before deciding not to finish it, as I do with my own children. But to keep meal times to a low-drama activity, I have learnt to modify my expectations and focus mostly on preparing healthy meals that are generally crowd-pleasing. I do try to introduce something new and different every now and then, but I keep that to a minimum. Kids thrive on enjoying the same old favourites on a regular basis anyway. One regular crowd-pleaser that is always a big hit with everyone is: The good old classic PIZZA. Someti...

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Our encounter with the native Australian animal rock star: The Kangaroo (at Caversham Wildlife Park)

So last week, our little family were busy playing the role of host/hostess and tour guide to hubby’s family who had flown over from Malaysia for holiday. All the days were chock full of outings to all the usual touristy places around Perth… King’s Park, Fremantle, Cottlesloe Beach, Swan Valley… and of course, Caversham Wildlife Park. It was also our kids’ first visit to Caversham Wildlife Park and also their very first up-close encounter with all the usual suspects of native Australian animals… kookaburras, wombats, echidnas, dingoes, koalas and the big highlight of the park: kangaroos. You can walk straight into the kangaroo enclosure, to touch, pat, stroke and even feed them. The excitement and enthusiasm of every visitor is clearly evident. All around me, I could see and hear excited visitors walking up to kangaroos and squealing with delight as they stroked the soft fur on their backs. And the kangaroos? Well, all I can say is that I’ve never seen more bored kangaroos in my li...

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Keeping up traditions: Mooncake Festival

So last month in September was the traditional Chinese Mooncake Festival . I have many fond memories of this festival from my childhood, including indulging in many slivers of sweet mooncakes and parading around the neighbourhood with candlelit lanterns by the light of the full moon. There are many stories on the origins of this festival. The one I remembered most of all was the legend of the hero Hou-Yi who shot down nine out of the original ten suns in our sky, and his wife the Lady Chang-Er who drunk the magical elixir which caused her to float up to the moon where she remains to this day. As part of the cultural heritage focus in my family day care, I decided to feature some activities around this festival during the week. I even prepared a felt board story to illustrate the legend of the Moon Goddess, Lady Chang-Er. I even made a mini bow and arrow out of a popsicle stick for Hou-Yi to shoot down the nine suns. Nathan was absolutely captivated by the story. Almost every night...

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Children’s book writing activity: Nathan and the Blue Crayon

One of the books we’ve been enjoying lately is ‘Harold and the Purple Crayon’ by Crockett Johnson. Nathan is very intrigued by the scenery and how the story comes together through the pictures, all created by little Harold with the aid of his purple crayon. We decided to write our own version of this story. Nathan selected blue as the colour of his crayon. Hence the title of his version: ‘Nathan and the Blue Crayon’. But we added an extra twist to the story by creating a mini ‘Nathan figurine out’ of cardstock to walk through the pages of his story. Then the pages were then filled with the illustrations and scenery, using a blue crayon of course. As he narrated the story, he walked the mini Nathan figurine through the pages. I played the role of his humble secretary by jotting down his narrations on each page. We finished off the book with a neat little pocket in the front to keep the mini Nathan figurine. I just folded a piece of coloured paper into a simple envelope and glue...