First photo book

Like I promised, here are some of my favourite pages from the end product to share with you, and no, this is NOT an advertisement for Winkflash!

The start of school marks the end of summer activities, but not necessarily projects big and small that I thought about doing but didn't get round to, or started on but have temporarily abandoned because of other priorities. Like the many a Pandora's box of my own and the kids' things that I opened, and was hoping to declutter and put in a more orderly fashion. But now I half-wished I hadn't, for they are just lying around in organized messes, because I can't find the energy to go through them at the end of the day.

There were, nevertheless, a couple of things, that I did check off my list. Like one curtain project, and just to get it off the ground, we settled for tension rods rather than curtain rods to hold up the curtains, so there was no need to drill any screws into the wall. The curtains were store-bought, and at a bargain too good for me to try and sew our own. To be honest, they aren't much to shout about, but the drapes beat (anytime) the really old and unsightly blinds we've been meaning to replace for a long time now.

And then, of course, there's our first photo book, that some of you may recall was a project that got my adrenaline going! I literally burned the midnight oil for it over three nights, after the kids had gone to bed. I had a sound reason (my ear infection!) for not having started on it sooner, and it was good that there was a deadline to the promotion, which made it a great excuse for me to try out this online product for the first time!

Putting it together

I sifted through what must have been more than a thousand pictures we'd taken on our New York trip last October, and eventually picked out about 160 of the best of (what I felt was) our best, that showed not just people but the sights, too.

Using the fairly decent selection of templates available, and I mostly went for those with no more than three or four pictures a page, I laid out the pictures on all 100 pages according to what I thought might work.

For those pictures I was more sure of the composition, I opted for them to bleed, and I also included a couple of doublespreads of full-bleed pictures.

Had there been no cap to the number of pages, I would easily have gone on and on!

Am I happy with the outcome?

Yes, pretty much! However, as with any project, there's room for improvement.

In particular, there were pictures I'd chosen to bleed on the LHS that only after I'd clicked the "send" button, I remembered what my boss back home who's an expert in corporate publications, said before -- that to some extent, the right-hand page has more prominence because our eyes rest naturally on it more than they do on the left side. And on hindsight, now, I think those pictures might have looked better on the RHS.

There were other pictures where the lighting wasn't great, but I included them nonetheless as they were integral to telling our travel story, that maybe I ought to have mixed more with pictures of better quality.

But like my husband said, it's alright! The book's done, and it's something I can look back on and be happy that I've managed to put together many of our favourite pictures that I had enjoyed taking as well!

We were using our old point-and-shoot-camera, with lesser megapixels, so the resolution wasn't all there for the bled pictures. But again, this is a home production, not some company publication!

How do I rate the online facility?

I think it could be more user-friendly, like right now, there are no thumbnails to allow users to zero in on a particular page immediately.

And when it comes to text options, there's hardly any, as there's no choice of font-type or size, and whatever caption typed just gets "eaten up" in the textbox. For that reason, I abandoned my captions one-quarter of the way, because I could not see what they would look like on the pages themselves, and I didn't want that to ruin the photobook.

But this is after all, one of the more, if not most affordable, photobooks offered online. And as you can see, it does make for a rather lovely coffee-table book of sorts.

Would I do it again?

Probably! How nice if I can turn all our pictures into photobooks, so that way, we don't have to worry about how to store the prints, and whether the ink would fade.

But that's if I do get round to plowing through our megatons of digital pictures, and good promotions like this one that was limited to just one album per household, won't come round again!

So yes, I may do so selectively, but as you can guess, this is very time-consuming!

Other than that it had pictures we took ourselves that we like, our New York trip was the first for all of us, and it was memorable for a couple other reasons. We got to spend two wonderful weekends with my old friend and her family, who now live in New Jersey. It was great that our kids got to play together. The remaining time in-between, when Vern was having his meetings during the day, he'd told me I could stay with the boys holed up in the hotel room, or to try and navigate my way around with them. It wasn't easy and I had my fair share of challenges. But somehow, I got a tad adventurous, and thank God indeed for His protection over the boys and me, we did get to take in quite a bit more of New York, like Central Park and Rockefeller Centre, and also the Sony Wonder Technology Lab that the boys liked enough for us to visit it twice -- all these places that Vern would have to wait for another trip to enjoy!

But beyond the awesome Manhattan skyline, and the brights lights of Times Square, it was the great outdoors in the likes of Bear Mountain and its fall foliage splendour, and the beach -- all that sand and the sea that we so miss here, that we are loving more than ever!

Have a good week!

The extremely hot weather let up some, with a smattering of rain and thunderstorms last week before temperatures climbed back up to above 32 35 deg celsius* within a matter of hours even before noontime. It's not as sweltering as when it had been a constant 35 deg celsius and above for sometime now, but it does seem more humid.

With the rains, our yellow gladioli bloomed, albeit just two sprigs, but two lovely ones! And flowers, and especially those we grow ourselves, always have a way of brightening up any day, any week, no matter how crazy it is!

But if I thought my week was crazy, two of our neighbours' homes were broken into, in broad daylight, and thankfully nothing (as far as they knew) was stolen, and more importantly, no one was hurt. More than ever, the issue of safety was raised, something we mustn't take for granted, never mind that ours is a pretty safe neighbourhood.

It's a new week, and hopefully, I will have time for what I need to do, without rolling too much over to the next week! My boys are settling into the routines in school, and slowly but (I have to believe it's) surely, those in our own home, too. For right now, they are still taking ages to fall asleep, even though we've brought forward bedtime and tried to keep it to the same time every night. If you've been there, you know how tiring it is, and I so look forward to when Ben will not need to get up at least once to go to the bathroom. Nothing like being able to sleep through the night, and I've not done that for a long, long time!

Catch you later, and you have a wonderful week now! God bless!

* I take back what I said about the weather turning cooler, because it's very hot still. After soccer practice (oh yes, it's started, adding more meaning to the term "soccer mom"... haha!), Jon was red as lobster! Ben and I must have grown shades darker too, and the heat is so penetrating, I don't think any amount of sunblock works.

To hubby, to daddy, with love

For my husband's birthday last week, I made him this lime/cherry/coconut cake on the eve, with help from Ben to frost it. I'd had a really long day, trying to cram in as much housework as possible in the time Ben was in school, and had also gone for the "Back to School" night for parents that Vern reminded me not to overcommit myself to help in this activity and that. Partly because I have quite enough to take care of already, and also super dark, dark circles you won't want. Partly because I have a tendency to say "yes" don't know how to say "no" very well.



All three guys were asleep, by the time the cake came out of the oven -- past midnight, that first hour of the day Vern was turning a year older. I waited till later that day, to get help from Jon and Ben to frost the cake. But Jon said to go ahead without him, so while he was in school, Ben did a great job with it, almost entirely by himself. And of course, in the process, Ben got a taste of the icing ahead of the cake-cutting, too!





Besides the cake, the only other thing I picked up at the supermarket while getting the ingredients, was a bottle of red wine. The wine was the only thing, of other things I thought of buying for Vern, that I didn't hear his voice in my head, telling me, "No need, no need.".

Of course, spouses don't need to wait for special occasions to get each other things or be nice, but it's true that after being married for awhile, and Vern and I will be for 10 years by this year-end, doing so takes a backseat to giving our children the best. But when we do go out of the way for each other, it's extra nice, and isn't this picture that Jon took of us both, quite a keepsake? After kids especially, there aren't many pictures of just two of us, and hardly any after coming here, so this one's pretty special!

Normally too, we wouldn't bother trying to take a family shot, but that day, we took out our mini tripod and set the camera on timer-mode, and we went "Cheeeeeeeeese" for the longest time (and that would explain the gritted teeth!), before it took a picture of all four of us also!

It was a simple celebration; nonetheless, a little labour of love -- from me to hubby, from the boys to daddy, our well-wishes, prayers and all for him to study hard, study smart -- that had come from our hearts.

Lime/Cherry/Coconut Cake

Here's what went into the cake. If anyone's interested, let me know, and I will upload the recipe. It came from a "Kids' Baking" book that I chanced on at the library!

(Note to self: If I bake this cake again, I will go easy on the lime zest).

Art at home: Veggie Prints

Just a quick post, though I do have more stories and pictures to blog, and all your blogs to catch up with... much later after the kids have gone to bed!

Did you use vegetables to make prints when you were in secondary or primary school?


Now I'm not terribly good at cutting veggies though, and twice when I was newly married and only cooking for two, I ended up getting stitches on different fingers because I cut myself badly when trying to dice a carrot and core an apple! I'm better now, but just so you know I'm no Martin Yan (and especially not him and his don't-try-this-at-home chopping skills)!

But I digress. I love to let my kids get their fingers deep in paint, a lot more than deep in mud. Last Friday, after his first day at school, when the other kids were taking home art pieces they've painted in class, my little boy Ben told me he didn't have one "... because we have our own paints at home!".

So last weekend, I let him play with these veggie prints. It's easy, it's fun, and children this age (and the experts are right in saying so, that our kiddos) always enjoy the process so much more than the end-result. And really, that's all that matters, right?


And Ben did look like he was having a good time!


Other ideas that work for us
This is a variation of using sponge, bare fingers, or brushes to paint with. And if you aren't a great fan of chopping greens, use lady's fingers or some other vegetable that already has its own pattern once you slice through it.

Before, when Jon was still more interested in such green stamps, he would use them to make repeated patterns without me asking him. And whether it's that, or a more abstract piece like what Ben's done, there are several things we can turn the artwork into, from homemade cards to art on the wall, to wrapping paper, and whatever works for you!




We have switched to washable paint, but as you must know, not everything that says it's washable can be washed off! And probably the only other downside of washable paint is that it fades almost as soon as it's dried up. So now, I try and remember to snap a digital picture when the colours are at their brightest, so we'll still have a soft copy of the artwork even when we throw the hardcopy away later. Maybe that'll work for you too, to keep the clutter down?!

School starts

A week ago now, school started...

with Jon in second grade...


... and Ben, doing for the very first time, half-day sessions three times a week in 3K.


Excited I was, like them, over the first day of school! And they, like me, were also anxious, and somewhat overwhelmed. Already on the eve, which was classroom preview day, Ben gave the teachers more than a sneak peak of how bad his separation anxiety was, and Jon realised from all the textbooks piled high on his desk, how much more work to expect!

For first-timer Ben, even though he fell asleep late, he was the first to rise at 6am. He asked me for omelete and French toast for breakfast, and boy, was he raring to go! He carried his own backpack, and remembered where to hang it outside the classroom, just like the teacher had shown him.


Praise God, Ben went on to do wonderfully, and every day since, has been looking forward to school! The only time, after that initial outburst, he had tears welling up in his eyes was when I surprised him at the playground that first day, earlier than I'd told him I would see him again (supposed to have been lunchtime, just so he had something to look forward to).

And that was when he asked me, "Why (did) you take so long to drop off daddy?", before givng me a big hug. Of course I didn't let on that I'd also gone to run an errand at the post office, but I did get to join him and his new friends for the remaining part of their schoolday.

And I knew Ben was in good hands, and so was Jon!


More shots of Ben's first day, first time in school:

At the playground...


Heading back to the classroom...


Story time...


Lunch!


Getting ready to go home...


Back at home

We celebrated the first day of school with a semi-homemade cake, like I promised the boys we would bake something simple.

But all that running around to get back-to-school supplies, and shuttling back and forth to fetch the boys at different times, I was totally exhausted. In the end, I settled for a no-bake cheesecake, using dried cakemix out of a box.

Ben helps mix in the wet ingredients, and Jon helps enjoy the cake afterwards...



Needless to say, I'm back to packing lunchboxes, but trying not to complicate things by not having too many variations or different meals to cook! Just always, thinking simple!


Of Milestones, Transitions, and Phases
You can always tell from how much the other kids have shot up, (but somehow because we see our own children everyday, we don't notice it as much in them), that they've all grown over the three months of summer.


Ben is more talkative now, and is able to pick up new words and use them correctly. He's also having fun with past particples, adding -"ed" to just about every word, e.g. "walk-ked", "hurt-ted", "vanish-shed", etc. He's got the hang too, of steering the bike (Jon's previously) with training wheels, when it wasn't too long ago that Ben had graduated to it from his tricycle.

For Jon, it was pretty much overnight that he was able to ride his bike without training wheels. And just the other day, he lost his third tooth. However, he's not that comfortable reading chapter books by himself yet, but we are picking up the Magic Tree House adventures again from where we'd left off at the beginning of summer, before he got sidetracked by adventures of the Playmobil kind.

His reading and writing were what needed knuckling down, and we have to continue to encourage him to read and write more, never mind that he had done well for his SAT exams at the end of last schoolyear. The exam results weren't a direct correlation of his reading and writing abilities. And I try not to think how very far ahead his classmates are in these areas, but we mustn't stop trying to help Jon be on track.


More so than ever, it's become apparent too, that Jon has to learn to sit down to homework by himself, the same way Ben has to learn to play by himself.

For this is the ultimate solution (and especially in the absence of helpful grandparents and/or maids), to the same challenge I faced last year and all throughout summer -- how do I coach Jon and at the same time keep Ben engaged, so Jon is not distracted and Ben is not being a distraction?

Right now still, when I leave Ben alone with some Lego blocks, a puzzle, or a colouring book, he would come look for me in 5 minutes. I leave Jon alone with his reading and writing for the same amount of time, and his mind wanders. Even when I sit Ben on my lap instead, and give him something easy to do, like thread beads or pasta through a pipe-cleaner, Jon wants to do that instead, and not his work!

On top of goals like this, and trying to settle Jon and Ben into a better routine soon that includes an earlier bedtime, the two boys are also constantly growing and going through phases. And the phases in themselves, in my opinion, are what makes parenthood such a daily adventure!

Ben -- learning to be independent, though not quite there and we do still have to keep an eye on him because he's not completely aware of all the potential dangers. And Jon -- yearning to be totally independent, and more and more, does not like to be told to do this and that.

Tantrums from both have not ceased, of course, and first-time obedience definitely doesn't come easy either. And not that their fighting -- Jon likes to contradict Ben, but Ben can't take it when Jon says Ben is lesser or smaller than Jon -- wasn't unnerving before, but my own patience is waning. So there is a lot of testing of limits and pushing of buttons that I don't take so well anymore, and it's not nice, not at all, that when the boys scream, I'm screaming along or back at them, too.

You may have guessed from how infrequent I'm blogging, and I really should go to bed now, that I'm also adjusting to all these changes to our schedules and to the boys' changing needs.

No, it's never easy trying to do this and that, and juggle it all. The additional driving now is sapping, and there's other stuff going on in a stay-at-home mom's world, like meals to cook, laundry to do, and the house to clean, and I'm also our purchasing officer.

And because there's just this much I can manage in any day, and in any pocket of time (and you know, pockets of time are better than none, though not always easy to work with to get a whole lot done), I still leave the library and some marketing to do together with Ben on his days off school. He's been my faithful companion, and I do miss having him around during those hours that he's away from me now!

Above all else, there is so much I have to learn about setting "limits" and "controls", and not just about providing a "structure" (in the form of routines, for example), to "raise rambunctious little boys to be well-adjusted men" -- as a old book on Mothers and Sons from our church library, recommends.

As a parent, or growing up, what works for you, or not?