Layouts post will be a regular thing from now on!

Well, since scrapbooking is an important part of my life as a mother now (notice the change in my profile? No? Read it!), I will make it a regular thing to post or rather to share my completed layouts here in this blog. I will not start another blog for my scrapbooking as this hobby of mine is very much related to me as a mother. So, sit back and enjoy (hopefully) my creativity (err....I guess I can say so) works! For those whom are into scrapbooking and also those non-scrappers (in other words, everyone), do drop me comments or even improvement ideas. Thanks!

Here's the 2 layouts completed for the past few days. Had been busy with tax filing and other stuffs (you know, watching tv, surfing the net) that my productivity suffers.

New found friend

I "met" a new friend today and would like to tell you guys about it. Her name is Debbie Doncaster and we share the same passion in scrapbooking. She's celebrating her 1st blogoversary and is giving away a really yummy candy in celebration. So, just drop by her blog and get to know her. Well, I will be doing so myself too.

Here's her blog: http://passionforcrafts.blogspot.com and click here for more details on the candy that she's giving away.

Painting

Just thought of sharing this. Recently I allowed Grace to experience this:





She really had fun!

Funny

We were on our way to Queensbay Mall, when we saw an airplane on its way to landing. Grace was so excited to see an airplane in such close proximity and was pointing on it saying “飞机！飞机！” meaning airplane.

Then she started to link it to the songs that she sings. There's this one church song with the name “小精兵” meaning, little soldiers. It starts with “小精兵,小精兵,我是基督小精兵。。。。。。”。(rough translation is "Little soldier, little soldier, I'm the Christ little soldier...") But this little girl was so excited with the airplane that she sang "大飞机，大飞机，我是基督大飞机” (translated as "Big airplane, big airplane, I'm Christ big airplane). At this point she knew that she had sang wrongly, and quickly corrected herself.

Trapped!

Yesterday morning, I was up a little ealier than Grace. For some reason, Grace likes to sleeps in late (er...not a good habit). As she's still very sound asleep, I decided to take my bath first. So off I went to the bathroom, which is just two steps from my bedroom door. When I'm done taking my bath, I heard knocks on the door. Obviously, Grace is already up and is knocking on the bedroom door for some one to help her open the door. So, I took 2 steps and hands on the door knob to open the bedroom door. Twist and turn, then twist and turn again. Argh.....Grace seems to have press on the look button. I thought to myself, no worries. We have this whole bunch of bedroom keys. So I search through the bunch of keys and OMG....none of it could open the door.

Now I'm a little panic. I'm afraid that Grace might get scared being alone in the room too long. I tried the keys again. Nope....no hope. I called hubby to let him know. Then I wake my sister-in-law up. We tried the keys again. Nope...nothing. Then Phaik Sim says that we could try using a card. Off she went to her room to get a suitable card (it needs to be flexible) and started to slide it through the gap. It was tight, but in the end we managed to get the door open. To my relieve. Thanks Phaik Sim for helping. I need to really learn to not be panic when things happen.

What then was the reaction of the little one inside the room? Well, read on.

Here I was, outside the room, worrying that she might get scared (I'm not worried that she will get hurt as my room is infant or toddler safe, no bed, no sharp item). But to my surprise, she did not cry or even whimper for a moment. I told her to try to turn the knob, but it seems that the knob is far too tight for a little girl. Below are a few of our conversation, or rather what Grace said.

Mummy: 韵，你等一下。 (Yun-her chinese name, you wait a little while ok.)
Grace: Mummy, 你进来找我。 (Mummy, come in please.)
Mummy: Ok, 你等。 （Ok，wait.)
Grace: Mummy, 你的电话。 (Mummy your phone is ringing)
Mummy: (thinking that it was hubby calling Grace, told her to talk to the phone, telling her that it's daddy).
Grace: Hello? Hello? HELLO? (capital letters to show her impatience for not hearing the caller)
When the door finally opens,
Grace: Mummy, 你们做什么？ (Mummy, what were you doing?) And laughing all the way.

Gosh.....here I was worrying for her, and there she was enjoying the moment and could even get angry with caller, whom is not talking on the other line. It appears that it's just the sms alert.

Just love it!

I just love these 2 layouts which I put together yesterday night, that I need to make a post for it. Just 2 simple layouts of myself and Grace.

Note: The photo on the 2nd layout of myself is taken by Grace! Not bad...eh?

Here it is:

Imaginary Play

There's this little empty bubble bottle with a wand that I wash and keep in my room. I don't know why I keep it, until recently. Grace and daddy were playing with that little bottle. What did they play? Imaginary bubbles! Ohh...gosh, not enough of real-life bubbly fun, now imaginary bubbly fun time!

Well, I just let it be. Since that fateful day, Grace kept on playing with this empty bubble bottle. Today, just before I write this post, which is just before she's in her usual afternoon nap, she was having imaginary bubbly fun! I tried role playing with her. I told her I will pretend to be baby, while she pretends to be mummy. Here's how it goes:

**Conversations are in mandarin. These are the english translation.
Mummy: (role-baby)....Whimpering. "Mummy, I want to play bubbles!"
Grace: (role-baby).....pretending to pour bubble solution from an imaginary bottle, then came over, pass me the imaginary bottle.
Mummy:....whimpering. "Mummy I want that one!" (pointing to the actual bubble bottle)
Grace: holding the actual bubble bottle away from me. "No. That's mine. You take this." Handing me the imaginary bottle.
Mummy: cry and sob. "No. I want that one."
Grace: Run over to the side. Put everything on the shelf. "Mummy, don't cry. This is yours." Then hand me the imaginary bottle.
Mummy: Accepted the imaginary bottle, then starts to wave the imaginary wand.
Grace: "No, no. Not wave, blow."
Mummy: **Dumb** how do I know what type it is when it is something that she imagine!

Er.....not sure if I have confuse you. Just want to give you a feel of the play that we had.

Still not done with scrapbooking!

Nope. Not EVER! Scrapbooking is part of me right now, nothing, and I repeat, NOTHING can take that from me. Things may slow me down, but never wipe it out completely!.....grin grin.....that's my true feelings!

Well, over the week end, I managed to put together 2 very simple layouts. Had downloaded the collage template from Scrapbooksetc, played around using Adobe Photoshop CS4, printed it out using my old inkjet printer, add the title and some simple embellishments.....tada 2 simple layouts on Grace!

Here:



I'm not done yet! Since I love scrapbooking so much, I wouldn't want to miss the Art Retreat with Rachel Greig which Scrap-N-Crop is organising on 15th and 16th May, 2009. So, I'm blogging in hope to win a 1-Day pass to the retreat. If and only if I'm selected, I may also enroll for the second day! I just need a good reason for myself!


You could learn more about this event and the contest here.

"I want to join Rachel Greig in Scrap-n-Crop.com's ART RETREAT because......

.....I've never been to one before and I'm sure it will be fun! I've been crazy about scrapbooking since day-1 I lay my hands on it. As of today, I've already made 7 mini albums (6 for my little Grace and 1 as a gift to little Fidel), 1 photo-frame for my dad and 22 random layouts (12x12). Though I've been into this for about 9 months, I'm still lacking knowledge in many of the techniques used in scrapbooking like those which will be taught in the coming Art Retreat, among others, stamping, embossing, and masking. I wanna learn more!"

Well-o-well...this may be a chance of a lifetime! What am I talking about?

Oh....this is the Scrap-n-Crop.com's Art Retreat with Rachel Greig!
And they are so kind to have this "contest" for those whom needed just a few more reasons to leave their daily routines and kid behind for something that so interest them. Well, I'm one of them! And yes, I'm blogging to win this Art Retreat!
Has my time come? Let's wait and see.

Sweet!

A friend's baby was having fever and cough, so we (mother-in-law, Grace and I) went over to their house yesterday afternoon to visit this little baby. Now, this little boy (7 months old) is like a dear little brother to Grace. Every time Grace sees him, she will "sayang" and care for him. So, yesterday afternoon was a chance for Grace to portray her "BIG" sister act.

When we reach their home, baby's mummy is feeding him medicine and water. Like most other little children, baby is a little reluctant to take in the medicine and was like complaining to us. Here goes Grace:

Grace: 弟弟，不要哭好吗？乖乖吃药。姐姐 sayang. (pronounced, "didi, bu yao ku hao ma? guai guai chi yao. jie jie sayang" translated as "Little brother, don't cry. Be good, take the medicine. Big sister care for you)

SWEET!

Mummy, I love you! (Mummy, 我爱你!)

This is the sweetest thing! To hear Grace say "Mummy, 我爱你" (pronounced "wo ai ni" meaning I love you). Well, how could you ever resist anything that she request after hearing these 4 sweet words? Let me tell you, Grace sure knows her way around! (**wink wink**)

We always teach Grace that she must not shout or whimper when asking for something or a favour. She will need to say the powerful word "Please" politely. We also taught her that she will need to tell everyone (i.e. family members) that she loves them. Okay....now she knows how to please people around her, especially her dear mummy.

This is what happens today. When daddy came home today (late, as usual), I told her to go give daddy a hug, then say "Daddy, 我爱你". She did accordingly, making the daddy smiling from ear to ear.

When it was time for bed, I was still chatting with daddy in the room. Then came this little girl face-to-face with me:

Grace: Mummy, 我爱你! (repeated this a thousand times!)
Mummy: Yes, mummy 也爱你. (pronounced "ye ai ni" means Mummy also loves you)
Grace: Mummy, 我爱你! (again, continue to repeat)
Daddy: Baby, 你没有讲 Daddy, 我爱你啊? (pronounced "ni mei you jiang" means why don't you tell daddy that you love me)
Mummy: Asking her to say "Daddy, I love you"
Grace: Whimper a little.....我刚才讲了吗! (pronounced "wo gang cai jiang le ma" meaning I already say so just now)
Daddy: Speechless......
Grace: Mummy, 我爱你! (again, repeating it).....mummy, 我要 "nen nen". (mummy I want "nen nen")
Mummy: Speechless.......

This whole "Mummy, 我爱你" thingy is her foreword to the request that she's gonna make!

As I laze on the couch..........

.....this is what I see.


What is she doing?
Well, this is her version of "working". She will do some typing, counting on the calculator, talking on the phone, writing something down on the notepad and clicking on the mouse. Isn't this fun to see? These are all the things that she picked up from us, the adults!

Random stuff as of TODAY!

Let us start with daddy....

Daddy
* is still with a job, which by the way is taking up more and more of daddy's time
* is still working from 7.30am to way pass 7.30pm everyday
* is still being disturb with work related phone calls during the weekend and during some midnights
* is learning and improving on giving sermon on Sundays
* is having a little of diabetic
* is still as charming as when mummy met him
* is getting more tired everyday........guess it's the work load
* is turning 38 this year on August 5th
* is still loving baked beans, squids, octopus, bread (especially those baked by mummy...*grin grin*) with lots of SCS butter

Mummy
* is in love with baking bread
* is addicted to scrapbooking and is increasing her inventory of supplies and tools (hint hint on what to buy for my birthday present...hehehe...)
* is still a stay-at-home mom
* is still sleep deprived
* is still very healthy, except for the low blood pressure and constants leg-ache
* is still very much in love with everything that is SWEET
* is turning 31 this year on June 1st
* is still a little over sized

Grace
* is still as naughty and mischievous as can be
* is still full of energy at any given time
* is still NOT and I repeat NOT weaned
* is still learning and improving on toilet training
* is still obsessed with ice-cream, not every flavour though.....kiwi, honeydew, sesame is a big NO NO for her...
* is also loving SWEET things like her mummy
* is still loving her veggies.....broccoli (her version..."to to li"), carrot, lettuce, tomato, ladies fingers, french bean, "siew pak choi", bean sprout
* is also loving things that are sour
* only like banana and sometimes pineapple
* is very much improved on her speech in mandarin, able to use some not so common words
* is turning 3 this year on November 26th
* is still afraid of any living thing that moves
* like to eat meat

Well, that's us.

Bubbly Fun!

Yup....after the short play at the playground near "gong gong"'s house last Wednesday, Grace is addicted to blowing bubbles. The very next day onwards, the only thing that stays on in her brain is BUBBLES!?! She will request for it even at odd timing.

On Friday, I bought her another set of bubble blower; a set of 4. Grace just loves it!

This is part of our routine for now....until she's obsessed with another new thing. Evening time, after her nap, is then our Bubbly Fun Time!

One thing that frustrate me for now is the bubble solution. I just couldn't home made it! Tried with two kinds of soap....and the results were heavy bubbles and lesser bubble. Sigh........guess buying a big bottle from Toys R Us is much easier!