Calling for ideas!!!

Like I said before, I am not a very creative cook, or baker...even worst with this little bump getting in the way all the time. But, I seriously need some idea and recipes here...

You see, there are numerous parties held by Grace's school, and parents need to let their kid bring in some food for those parties....

So far, I've made my best ever product, Banana Muffins and Egg/ Tuna sandwiches for Christmas and CNY pot luck party respectively. And, in another 2 weeks, I need to make something for their teacher's day pot luck party. But, I don't know what to make! Furthermore, I don't have an oven now! Oh dear.....

Any ideas? Easy and delicious ones.....

Mother's day card

Mother's day is just around the corner, and I had Grace make cards for her 2 grandmas.

She wanted to complete the whole card by herself, even wanted to snap the photos of the cards herself....

Here's the cards (handmade by Grace, photo courtesy of Grace)....
{and yes...that's me with my little bump holding the cards}



And here's her with the cards, squinting.....

Lunch headache....

I don't know about others, but for me, thinking of what to cook for lunch, sometimes really give me headache.

Grace is a picky eater and I'm not a very good or adventurous cook, thus the problem.
Our weekly lunch menu will almost always looks like this:
Monday - Spaghetti
Tuesday - my off day, at my parent's place
Wednesday - Porridge with 2 dishes
Thursday - fried rice or noodle/ or sometimes noodles with soup
Friday - Rice with 2 dishes or eat out

Boring....right? I too feel bored......and I think, the little girl too!

And so, last week, I decided to have sandwich for lunch and here's Grace's reaction.

May I have some tissue paper please?

We (Grace and I) were at one of the fast food restaurant yesterday (note: I sent my car for service, thus not able to cook a proper lunch), and while we were finishing up our burger and fries, we ran out of serviette. Having sitting very near to the counter, I wanted to give Grace a try on requesting it from the personnel there.

So, I told Grace to go over to the counter (with my watchful eyes over her), and ask "May I have some tissue paper please?" This little girl was brave enough to walk over to the counter and did as I told her, and she did not utter the question in a very shy/ timid voice, but in a very clear and loud tone. Unfortunately, these personnel, whom are suppose to be very aware of any kind of request, did not not hear her. She tried many more times, but still no response. I was kind of like, "huh? what is wrong with these people? I can hear her from where I sit, how could they not hear her?". And, I too notice all those other adult customers standing beside Grace. All they do were look at Grace and nothing else. Not a single adult make any attempt to help this little girl. Sigh....I'm disappointed.

Grace is also very disappointed. Here she is, trying her best to be brave, but no one else seems to care. I called to her to come back to where I sit, she came back but insisted on trying again to get the serviette that she needs. She went again, but was also disappointed. She insisted again (sometimes she can be very stubborn). On her third time there, finally the cleaner heard and saw her. She then is a happy girl!

Kids are ever ready to learn new things and take on new challenges, but unfortunately, sometimes, we adults just don't give them the encouragement that they need. This is sad.

It's all about winning

Many years ago, I heard of people talking about how their kids want to win in every situation. I once heard an aunt said that her 2 sons were competing about and the elder son exclaimed, "I'm First!" Upon hearing that, the younger son, shouted with pride, "I'm number Zero!", with the understanding that zero comes before number one, so number zero is better than first.

I wonder, if this happens in every child? I don't know about others, but I do know that this happens with my precious little daughter. Ever since she knows the meaning of "win", she wants to win in just about anything, or should I say, everything.

During Chinese New Year, we were having fun with the not-so-dangerous, "pop-pop" (a type of fire works where no fire is needed, all you need to do is throw it as hard as possible towards the floor). And so, we asked Grace to play scissors-paper-stone with everyone of us, and who ever wins the scissors-paper-stone session, will get to throw the "pop-pop" once. Initially, we let her win in all the scissors-paper-stone session. Then we decided to let's try make her lose. So, there we go, winning the s-p-s session and throwing the "pop-pop". She make not noise initially. After a few losing rounds, she was having the s-p-s with daddy and she lose quite a number of rounds. This time, she playfully hit her daddy, signalling to him, "that's enough of you winning, now my turn".

On another occasion, on Tuesday night, I was playing some cards with her. There's this scissors-paper-stone image on the cards and we were drawing cards randomly to see who wins. Well, when she wins, she cheers. And it so happens that for the next few rounds, it was her mummy who's having clean sweep, and this was what she exclaimed, "Cannot always you win. You never win, I WIN!"

Sigh....is winning so important?

Ear and Eye Candy

Let us first get entertained by Grace giving her speech on Obedience.



And now, the eye candy. Below are some of my recent craftiness for my church. Handmade box flowers and borders on the church notice board and a poster to promote the upcoming Children Holiday Camp.

I would like to take this opportunity to invite all kids from the age range 3 to 11 to come attend this holiday camp! (Parents, this is for you to read and send your child to attend) Understanding basic Mandarin is essential, though. The camp will be on June 10 to June 12. It will be full of fun, laughter, stories, crafts and joy!