[and the little one said.....]

....roll over! roll over!" ... hehe, this is one of the many songs that K absolutely LOVES from youtube. It's a very cute series of songs, all sang by little japanese kids at a music class. So cute!
We took advantage of the 1-child only status (G has gone to malaysia with my parents) over the weekend to get started on the packing. Thanks to P, (who is the best help ever) we managed to get most of the things in the kitchen and living room into boxes. It was great that G wasn't around, as i believe moving most of her toys into boxes will be pretty traumatic for her. K wasn't too fussed, just really curious, and kept asking "what's mummy DOING?" "what's this?" "packing packing?" haha.
We also had her first ever playdate with my good friend S's daughter C. It was really great! They started out having lunch together (we learnt that peer pressure is great for fussy eaters!) and managed to get through quite a bit of soup, bread and banana without too much probing. After that, K of course decided that she had to wear C's crocs, and basically took possession of it throughout the playdate... lol. It was a real difference between C&K's playdate and their older sibilings E&G's playdates. This was altogether a more peaceful and happy one, full of good vibes and lots of smiles and toddler babble. There was no shouting, no snatching, no vying for attention, no "this is mine!". In fact, at the end of the playdate, they actually packed up together!! Me and S were pleasantly surprised and very very pleased.... lots more morning playdates are planned! :)
peeking out from the box
K can't resist the boxes once we started, and V couldn't resist putting her in them! She was really funny, when she went into her "House", she started asking "where's the door, where's the door?". Heh, then we flipped it over and made a "tunnel", with the flaps as doors. She was really pleased.
A pleasant surprise came in the post last week - I was asked by Scrapzstudio to do a little guest DT skint over at their blog - look at the pile of goodies they sent me!! What got me really really excited were these 12x12 fabrics - see!!! How cute are those elephants!! :) And soooo affordable too! Perfect for the little pieces i always use. No more waiting for long shipping times for me. Go HERE to check out other cute fabrics on offer.
Look at the little Piggies and Lambs.... adorable!
I'm definitely visiting there often to check for new fabrics!! :)
*watch out for my new embroidered album featuring these fabrics in the next few days*

The next day, guess what else came in the post!....
droooool.....
My favorite part of them all - the little wild cards! They are soooo cute! And the perfect CS weight too.
More stickers.
I HAD to make this almost straightaway (well, actually at 5am the next morning), even though there is a huge backlog of work that needs seeing too.. heh, hence the ungodly hour of crafting...
These are from the "ducks in a row" and "cherry hill" line of products. LOVE the colours!
:) More creating in the next few days!! :)
Remember this little book? I've started adding more embellishments and journalling to the inner pages.
The "Road trip" diecuts and stickers are PERFECT for this album all about my 'other' wedding celebrations in Malaysia.
Lots and lots of journalling, mostly about who were there, what we did etc.
O, this album definately brings back memories almost 6 yrs ago! :) we were so young then (without the kiddies who added a lot of wrinkles! haha)
leaving you with a few pics of my Little miss bedhead on Sunday morning....
We seldom dress her in 'matchy matchy' PJs, but i think we should! :)

[musings on creativity]

In a weblink post from good friend PE, the Reggio Emilio philosophy of preschool education talks all about instilling and nurturing creativity into preschool children. As I embark on my own search and journey for a good way of educating children in an art course designed for preschoolers, i marvel at the way the little ones look at the world. Like what the philosophy teaches, i truly believe that young children (and even adults) will thrive better creatively in an aesthetically pleasing environment. The way that childcare centres and kindergartens are put together here, they are usually converted houses and parts of commercial buildings. Often converted on a very low budget, these places are as far from the aesthetically pleasing environment that is ideal. Perhaps this is why there is an inherent design sensibility in some nationalities and an almost blase non-existent indifference in others. The crux of creativity stems from a need to make something original, something that is not a copy or an acquisition. In putting together our art program, we try to impart to the preschoolers the delight in creation, by teaching them techniques and methods, so that they can use the acquired knowledge to create something totally unique and personal.
As the girls grow up, we too try to impart them with as much knowledge of crafting, of making things and to expose them them as much as possible to beautiful spaces.
Little pieces of an installation work done by G, sitting next to me while i'm typing up this blog post. :) I love how the opportunity of the coins structure formed the basis of this work, how it provoked different emotions to the maker (G) and viewer (me). It made me look at the coins in a different light, and i think all successful art pieces should do that... :)

[weekend again!]

Wow, another weekend! how time flies!
My computer is back safe and sound, i'm happy to report! There was a faulty fan and some heatsink element that needed replacing, so glad that it's not kaput and it's now in full working order without breaking the bank. :)
So, I can blog now, though this post has to be a quick one as i can hear stirrings of awakening emanating from the girl's beds.....
I love taking these pictures of the 2 girls, i hope they have many fond memories of playing together when they were growing up, as i have of my own childhood with my many cousins all about the same age. O! The fun we had inventing lots of different games as we congregated at Grandma's after school everyday...
This is the daily walk to and fro the carpark, these 2 will want to walk within the grey pebblewash strip, K mumbling "no space, no space" all the while...
G in her new red shoes, this girl is starting to be as obsessed about fashion as mummy n daddy, although she doesn't really mind the genre, it just has to be PINK!
Cheeky cheeky, snotty snotty face....
G has this way of posing right now..... she says that's how princesses do it! Haha.... anyways, in a long PINK dress from gap, a bargain off the sales rack which mummy was happy to find! :)
K and G loves using our computers.... here's K with V, she is VERY into Youtube, she will point at the videos that she loves watching... now it's the UH HUH song, Green Monster, Hokey Pokey, 5 little monkeys (it has to be THIS or THIS version!), thankfully, she also likes the more tuneful Elephant song, and my personal favorite, the tale of the sun and the moon.
G likes Disney channel and of course, the disney princesses websites....
Little robots that the little ones (4-6 yr olds) at the charKOL tots class that i helped my good friend S to teach last week! :) They're super cute right!
We had brunch at 15min on Saturday - a nice relaxing way to start a weekend! :) Good food, and best of all, a stage for G's antics!
K was content to just browse at magazines, while G went straight to the stage for her own rendition of hokey pokey (she loves to do the "backside in" part... sigh, 4 yr olds and their predilection for anything with the words "bum bum")

[sans comp - K reading]

Another day of being computer-less. I've had to wake up really early each morning so that i could complete my essential computer activities (ie - writing up proposals etc) on V's computer. The rest of my regular activities could be achieved on my iphone (ie - blog surfing, emailing, facebooking) hee.
Anyways, I think it's about time I upgraded my computer. It's been 2 years since I've bought it and i believe it's on it's last legs (how often do you upgrade your comps? Is 2 years too short a shelf life?) I really can't understand how Apple can sell it's Apple care for 3 yrs when usually it's 2 yrs max that the comps last (or feel really really slow). In anycase, mine is probably fried!
So, since I'm on V's comp, the following videos that were taken from his phone are really priceless. It's all about K talking. She can't quite pronounce S, R or C yet. And her intonations are hilarious!

[weekend pursuits *many pix*]

Finally we are back on track with the blogging, doing stuff over the weekend, spending time with the girls.... Took lots and lots of pix (after backing up my HD last night and realising i've only 1 album for June!?!), here they are:
Trying to get over my lack of Mojo with some quick small cards...
You can see my love affair with Kraft continues.....
Lots of OA pps and stickers, SEI bubbles, of course the Hambly Kraft pps as background, and some forgotten 7G flocked pps. :)
G requested for some scrap goodies to play with and here's what she used them for!
Here's G with her latest craze - Roary the Racing car - all prettied up with stickers! hah....

A commissioned iPhone holder - new design with flip top cover! :)
This is how K hugs people - she's grab your neck and pull you REAL close! You can see she's using all her might to hug G here :) (eta: it looks super adorable, but when it happens at 3am in the middle of the night, it's not so cute)
All dressed up! K insisted on bringing along her little handbag
We brought the girls to the Park again this morning. This time round, we decided to rent 2 bikes with child seats. Don't know why we've never done this before! It was so enjoyable, we spent almost 1.5hrs (with playground breaks) cycling all over the park, the kids were thrilled to be on bikes, and we had some relaxing time without chasing or nagging!
K obligingly bent forwards whenever we got to an uphill portion of the terrain. She would say - "mei mei do this way, better".. mummy's groaning at each exertion must be very obvious! hee..
G sharing her ice milo with K. Look closely and you will see that she has squeezed the straw shut and poor K had to work really hard at drinking!
A face a mummy loves - delight over dinner!
K is such a copycat..... (although she did finish up quite a bit of pasta and brocolli!)
G says Aurora (sleeping beauty) looks like this
Yup, copy catting again!
We burned a CD of pics and videos for G's good friend, she said she wanted to write in the card. So here's what was written.... haha... for those who do not have 4 yr old kids, here is what it says : "the next time you come, let's play hospital! Gracie loves Giselle too"
The whole time she was writing that note, i was falling off the chair laughing. Here's the soundtrack to that notewriting:
J: okay, what do you want to say..
G: the next time you come, let's play hospital..
J: T....H.... E... N
G: Is this how you write N? The right direction? But it doesn't look like N! (i then took the pen and wrote the vertical stroke)... hmm, now it looks like a flower! MUMMY!
J: nevermind, E... X...
G: I'm REALLY good at X! u know, this is how i used to write X (see "x" above) then, now i know how to write it properly...
J: *rolls eyes* T (can you write slightly smaller, otherwise you'll run out of space)
G: Okaaaay (proceeds to write "time" really tiny)
G: how do you write Y? Look! i did the "O" with join the dots lines....
.
.
.
G: (writing O for hospital) - Hey! This looks like an apple! hahahaha.... let's make it an apple, Oooo and a SNAKE..... and the "T" can be a stretcher.... (by this time, i was LOL)
G: can i write "too" first?
J: but you won't have enough space for both your names!
G: *laughing hysterically* no space mummy no space!

sigh... i hope G appreciates the humour....

We then spent the afternoon making models of our new place (well, i'm making the model, K's slowly dismantling the pieces, and G was making a "house" of her own)
This is K all serious and concentrating on putting the pieces together... she was SO intent of "glue glue glue" and piecing them together!
Heh, if only they are big enough to be architectural interns! :)