Tag: Family

Family Art

K loves this book that we recently borrowed from the library;

And he has been singing the catchy tune of the song 'Dem Bones', which is actually a song about the valley of dry bones from Ezekiel 37 :

"The toe bone connected to the heel bone,
The heel bone connected to the foot bone,
The foot bone connected to the leg bone,
The leg bone connected to the knee bone,
The knee bone connected to the thigh bone,
The thigh bone connected to the back bone,
The back bone connected to the neck bone,
The neck bone connected to the head bone,
Oh, hear the word of the Lord!"

We did a family activity this morning relevant to this book. I traced an outline of dh's body, dh then traced my body outline and then followed by K's.

Dh went on to sketch the detailed skeletal structure of the bones inside the body drawing, while K got busy adding in all the other details.

K knows where is the neck and back vertebrae and the Fibula (the smaller lower leg bone) Tibia (larger lower leg bone) and loves to re-enact the drama of how the skeleton in the book kicks another skeleton's Tibia (or in the shin).

I absolutely love books that we can all learn and play from!

2 Comments by Rachel on August 11, 2010

filed in home school

tagged Family, home school

My 3rd Mother’s Day

My first mother's day gift and card from K. He came out of class this afternoon toting these two items in his hands and said, "Mummy, I love you!"

He probably had quite a bit of help from his teachers in school to put this together, but it sure warms my heart to be able to receive this from him for the very first time.

Here's wishing all moms a Happy Mother's Day for this coming Sunday!

8 Comments by Rachel on May 7, 2010

filed in Occasion

tagged Family, Preschool

Another birthday for K

Dh requested for Teppenyaki and we decided on Shima @ Goodwood Park Hotel. He had his fill of beef teppenyaki, while I stuffed myself with salmon sashimi and K loved the salmon teppenyaki and miso soup. We were all ‘afflicted’ with garlic breath for the rest of the day, but it was well worth it for we had a wonderful lunch.

Both wore the disposable bib given by the restaurant and and went to see the fishes in the tank outside its premises.

The last time we had a teppenyaki meal was when K was about 1 year old. He was rather fascinated when he watched the chef whip up our meal in full view.

No meal will be complete without dessert, and for K, it has to be vanilla ice cream.

No, it’s not his birthday today. But according to K, anyone from the family who celebrates his/her birthday will need to share their birthday with him. Which includes, allowing him steal the limelight and giving him the full responsibility of blowing the birthday candle.

Happy birthday my dear hubby Keith…K and I love you lots!

No Comments by Rachel on November 30, 2009

filed in Family, Occasion

tagged Family

It’s beginning to feel like Christmas…

It has been raining every single day since November 11 (Yes, I have made that mental note each time it rains). Whenever it rains, it just reminds me how near we are to Christmas and that this is my 2nd Christmas as a SAHM. No plans to change this status as I am enjoying it too much to ever want to go back to work.

I am so glad that I have the advantage of beating the crowds on the weekends and be able to do all of my Christmas shopping on a weekday. I have just ended the frentic race to buy Christmas presents. Really early this year, as I so do not enjoy the experience of hanging out at malls and jostling with the crowds doing last minute shopping.

So nice to be able to relax with dh and k at a mall on a friday morning. Taking our time to enjoy a slow lunch and dessert, without having to queue up for food or wait for seats. Dh and I absolutely abhor crowds, so you will hardly see us at a mall in town on a weekend, unless one of us needs to get something urgently. We will rather be in our shorts+t-shirt+flip flops dropping by at our neighbourhood mall for lunch or dinner.

After reading a feature on this new fast food restaurant, which has been voted as the best in New York, dh was curious enough to want to make a trip down to ION Orchard to try it out. Dh’s review? Not bad, quite crispy and appetising, most apt for the american taste buds as the soy sauce chicken tasted a tad too sweet. Very much like sweet and sour pork dish that is served in most chinese restaurants in an European country, that is always a little too sweet on our taste buds.

Holding on the tag @ 4 fingers, which will light up when the food is ready for collection

For K, any meal in town will not be complete without dessert. So he patiently waited…

And waited…

Finally it was here, all 3 flavours. Coconut for dh, who is extremely consistent when it comes to his preferred gelato flavour. Apple flavour for me as I am the fickered-minded gelato consumer who usually goes with whatever I feel like for that day. And for K, another consistent epicurean when it comes to ice cream, it will be vanilla flavour for him. Except that the ‘vanilla-like’ flavour in this gelatarie was too milky so I chose another flavour that I was certain that he would like. When he tasted the hazelnut flavoured gelato, he exclaimed, “Like kinderjoy!” (his favorite egg-shaped chocolate that comes with a toy).

He is so thrilled that daddy is able to spend the afternoon with him and the highlight of the day was surely the gelato, as he does not get to eat ice cream when he goes out with me.

Rare photos of me with K. Such is the life of the self-appointed family photographer, who is always behind the lens. But I am not complaining, for I get to be the one who selects the ones that get on my blog. So there will hardly be one that is uploaded with me displaying a bad hair/smile day

Anyhow, I am in the mood for Christmas…planning to get the decor up at home, so as to get everyone else in the same mood, wrap up all the presents and looking forward to bake up a storm soon in my kitchen.

No Comments by Rachel on November 20, 2009

filed in Family, Leisure

tagged Child, Family, Fun, Photo

July captions

Been feeling kind of lazy to type too much into this blog lately, so captions will do for this week…

Playdate at Raeann’s on the 30th

K needs time with mei mei to learn that there is more to just rough-and-tumble play

Celebrated Yi yi’s birthday on the 1st Aug, K got a little too enthusiastic and blew the candles even before we finished the birthday song. So then the candles had to be re-lit.

Another fish hat evening; on the way to birthday dinner at Sopranos at Portdown road. Incidentally was the worse Italian food I ever had. Good ambience but lousy food. At least dessert was good when we went on to Peaberry and Pretzel @ Sunset Way.

2 Comments by Rachel on August 4, 2009

filed in Experiences, Family

tagged Child, Family, Friends, Photo

Male bonding time

Hb brought K out to play soccer this evening and the little guy was in such a good mood to pose for the camera.

Hb caught so many priceless pics of K, even one looking a little ‘chipmunk-like’.

K’s signature grin has an added new variation, it now comes with the head tilt.

I am amazed by the wonders of that little ‘father-and-son’ bonding time together. From a reluctant subject behind the camera, K becomes an eager participant for the pictures. Hb became K’s new best friend this evening, K even requested that hb helped him to shower when they got home.

4 Comments by Rachel on July 19, 2009

filed in Experiences, Family

tagged Child, Family, Fun

Rapture

I have been experiencing mixed feelings lately.
A deep sense of sadness to see what is around me, yet joy at what is coming for me and my family.

For most, it sure sounds like I am going through some form of depression.
But I assure you I am not.
Instead, I feel that I have woken up from a deep slumber
A slumber filled with discontentment, confusion, thankless-ness, fear and cynicism.
I have woke up to what I deem as reality
A reality of what my faith (in God) is suppose to bring;
Love and appreciation for my family,
A sense of purpose for my life
And an urgency to make every single minute of my life on this earth count.

What more can I ask for?
Time with my child
Being there for my husband
And my love ones.

I am starting to look at life from the outside
Disconnecting from the materials of the world
Loved ones are the only thing that truly matters now
And the joy from this love is nothing but bliss

No Comments by Rachel on May 28, 2009

filed in Musings

tagged Family, Feelings, Reflection

Father and son time

This coming week will be the first time (in 9 months since I left my full time job), that I will be away from K for a few days. Dh will be taking leave from work to spend time with K. I am glad to know that father and son will be spending some ‘male bonding’ time together, yet, at the same time can’t help but feel a little worried about not being around for K.

To satisfy my ‘anal tendencies’ (according to dh), he has asked me to draft out a schedule for him to follow. I have told him that setting up schedules with a toddler is fundamentally useless, especially when it comes to playtime. But I have anyway, wrote out a long list of activities that dh can keep k busy with, including routines that he can refer to.

Daily routines have to be established, but activities are usually child-initiated. If I want K to do a certain activity, his attention span will last the most 10-15 minutes, unless it is something that he is interested in exploring for the day.

I suppose dh will just do what he is best at…bring K out and tire him out with outdoor activities. It seems that a visit to the zoo, swimming and taking the LRT/MRT, are just some of the morning activities dh have planned for K.

Anyhow, while I was typing the activities out in a list, I realised that K spends quite a bit of time in front of the TV:
12.00 p.m. – 1.15 p.m. – Lunchtime TV/DVD time
4.45 p.m – 6.45 p.m. – Evening google box time with Playhouse disney
7.30 p.m. – 8.30 p.m. – Dinnertime TV (usually watching whatever I watch)

That’s a total of 4 hours and 15 mins or more, in front of the television everyday! So I have highlighted to dad that he needs to cut down on his TV time when he is with K, as he has a tendency to be a couch potato (which is his form of relaxation) at home. There have been times when I get dh to babysit K for a few hours in the morning/evening, I always return to dh with his eyes glued to the TV and K is sitting right next to him/tumbling on the bed/turning the room upside down, while dad has his eyes still glued to the box.

I really hope k does not become a coach potato when I am back on Friday…

4 Comments by Rachel on April 19, 2009

filed in Experiences, Family, parenting

tagged Child, Dad, Family

Musings: Choices

‘Choose’ by Andy Yamashiro

I met a group of good friends last night for dinner and the key discussion topics were about marriage and children. Among them, I am the only one does not have a full time job. The majority have only one child (except for one who just got married end last year and taking her time), and don’t plan to have any in the near future. It was nice to be with like-minded friends who don’t bombard me with questions like, ‘Why not have another one, since you are a SAHM mom with help somemore…”.

Well I suppose it is just my problem. But I feel that motherhood is one of the most exhausting role that I have undertaken, although I have help on the domestic front. As a mother, I feel the pressure to put my child as a main priority, ahead of everything else, and there is a danger of only focusing on this role of being a mom and nothing else. My life does evolve largely around K (dh can strongly attest to that), although I am aware that I need to strike a balance. Be it other things to focus on or other priorities that I can invest time and emotions in.

For a fact, I do know that time with dh have been sacrificed with the arrival of K. That’s one of the key reasons why having another child is such a difficult decision for me. People always say, ‘Have a kid, complete your married life,’ however, no one mentioned the ‘but-s’. I do know a couple of friends whose relationship with their spouse have suffered with the onset of kids.

So then I ask myself, am I one of those moms that lead a life that only evolve only around my child? I recently completed this tag on Facebook “25 random things about me”, and I am proud to say only 3 points were related to my role as a mom. The rest of the 22 points were all about me, myself and I (never felt so relieved upon realising that I am rather self-centred…)

To have made the decision to quit my fairly well paid, full time job and be around for K about 8 months ago, was one of the toughest choices I have made in my life. But would I have done it any differently? Probably not.

Apart from being a full time mom and wife, I have discovered many passions since I have stopped working full time. I am an amateur photographer, a writer, an avid reader, an internet addict and recently, a small business owner (especially for those days that I need some encouragement).

“Instead of looking at life as a narrowing funnel, we can see it ever widening to choose the things we want to do, to take the wisdom we’ve learned and create something.” ~ Liz Carpenter

7 Comments by Rachel on February 24, 2009

filed in Uncategorized

tagged Family

It’s the most wonderful time of the year

Christmas is indeed the most wonderful time of the year.

“There’ll be much mistletoeing and hearts will be glowing, when loved ones are near. It’s the most wonderful time of the year.”

Did I also mention that it is also a time for major over-eating? With such talented cooks in my family, it is really hard not to at the dinner table on Christmas eve.

We always will have the quintessential turkey. It is a must-have at our family’s Christmas eve dinners, although it is not the most popular dish. We always end up with turkey porridge and turkey sandwiches for the next few days after Christmas.

Christmas for me and my family is more than just feasting, merry-making, giving and receiving presents. The true meaning of Christmas is expounded from this bible verse. John 3:16-17; “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”

Christmas is the celebration of this incredible act of love.

K does not quite understand the meaning of Christmas yet, however he had the most fun at on Christmas eve.

1. He had a whale of a time hogging digital camera (he now goes crazy when he sees the camera and has learn how to take pictures).

2. Gets to drink with the guys,

3. Be the official candle blower for Nana’s birthday cake,

4. Gets to open the most presents,

5) Be the first to use his presents,

6) Even gets to perform for an audience,

The fun does not end there as he gets to sleep way past his bedtime. And then wakes up to some more presents the next morning.

The Christmas season can be a wonderful time of family togetherness and goodwill, but the spirit of Christmas often gets lost in the midst of all these excitement.

From next year, K will be taught the true meaning of Christmas and goodwill. For a start, learn to look beyond his Christmas desires by maybe choosing a toy to donate to a children’s charity or helping to choose groceries and deliver them the Boy’s brigade sharity gift box.

4 Comments by Rachel on December 26, 2008

filed in Uncategorized

tagged Family