Advice from a Penguin

As seen on a t-shirt in the Shedd Aqaurium souvenir store:

Dive into life
Find warmth among friends
Appreciate snow days
Stand together
Take long walks
Go the extra mile
Keep your cool!

Now, isn't that cool? ;p

Late fall in Chicago

You can tell from the colours going, and more bare trees around (and all those long, straggly branches!), that while fall hasn't quite ended, winter is near.



In fact, temperatures were already below freezing in Chicago last week, where I'd taken these shots while "on the go", as we were moving from point to point (mostly between carpark and museum). Literally, point and shoot, before I or Ben would be straggling behind, and Vern and Jon would have to call out to me to hurry along because it was so cold!

On Thanksgiving Day itself, there were flurries (light snow!) in the morning, while the MacDonald's Thanksgiving Day parade was going on. Which, for what a bigtime event that was, how could we possibly give it a miss? And so, we caught a bit of the floats and fun... on TV! Hehe! Think warmth and comfort of indoors, although more, more of the great outdoors had it not been so windy, would have been the way to go!



With the chilly weather, and us fighting the flu, we didn't try and pack too much into each day that we were there. Except for one evening when we walked around for a little while, until it got way too cold, we would just call it a day after dinner.



And with kids in tow, you might too, because the sun now sets at 4.30pm!



Watch this space for what we did do in the Windy City!

Bright lights, big city

The one and other time before last week, when we visited Chicago, was two years ago. With lots to see and do there, we decided to go back for more (besides that it's just a 5 hours' drive away, and only if you drive non-stop, which we didn't, but it still worked out rather nicely)!

So then...

We came...



We saw...


We also ate, and ate...


... and laughed, and rested...


Then we saw some more... till the sun went down!


... To be continued!

Chasing the sun!

Coming back from Chicago the other day, we followed the sun -- as fast as the wheels of our vehicle could take us!

And as though that big orange ball was playing hide-n-seek with us, it would dodge behind the trees, or some building, before appearing again. Then, dipping lower and lower, and going farther and farther to our right, until eventually, it was out of sight. But not out of my mind.

When I'd downloaded these pictures, my elder boy Jon shared my same thoughts, and he said out loud the exact words I had felt would describe these pictures. "Chasing the sun!", for that was precisely what we were doing on that highway!

Now this wasn't one of those glorious sunsets by the sea, with deep dark hues to die for. Still, every bit, a lovely one -- like a beautiful dream to go after!

"From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets,

the name of the LORD is to be praised. "

~ Psalm 113:3

Sunrise, and sunset, such are the everyday things I don't look close enough at.

When the new day dawned, I turned a year older. But I let how I always have to be the one, to remind my three guys to at least greet me with those two special words, get to me. And that was when I realised, that it shouldn't have to take a special day, or special ways, but just everyday things, for me to know what a lucky wife and mother, or sister, daughter/in law, and friend, I am. No, not lucky, just how truly blessed I am!

Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

Wrong Food

Recently, Judy who has moved on to a related topic, talked about constipation being quite a pain. There's also the other not-at-all pleasant kind of reign on "the throne" -- when one has taken the wrong food. The stomach cramps, and the breaking out in cold sweat, to the extent of seeing stars!

I had it quite bad last night, and was still trembling hard from all that shivering, and cold inside my body, when I was done, but not quite done, with my erm business! A sweater and two blankets over me didn't really work, but slowing down my breathing, so I wouldn't knock out the oxygen, helped.

What food it was I'd taken that brought this on, I don't know. But boy am I thankful, it happened only after we got back from Chicago, and not while we were on the road! And it took more than half a day, until this evening, for me to feel more like normal. Vern doesn't think it's the stomach flu -- those noroviruses I was reading about. But I am still fighting the coughing fits I came down with a week ago.

That aside, our 4D3N vacation was a nice break, and thank you for your well-wishes! I hope to tell you more about how it went! Meanwhile, it's out of the holiday mode, and back to school for the guys, and the 3C's for me! Chauffeur, cook, and cleaner... what were you thinking?! ;p

Have a great week now!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Looking for fall treasures last month...




The oh-so-lovely fall colours, the bountiful harvests that come with the season -- they all point to His handiwork.

And in a beautiful way, they remind me also, of the treasures in our own lives. Much to be grateful for. And His love, His grace I see, one season, one day at a time. Praise God!

Thank you all, too, for sharing and caring. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving, and warmest blessings to you and yours!

We'll be off tomorrow for a little family vacation, our first one this year, actually! And because the plans were already made, we have the rest of today to get all better! Our boys are so excited, they stashed their backpacks full of "outside" clothes, and PJ's, too, and "don't forget the thermals!". Of course their backpacks alone won't do, as there are more layers we have to pack...

... (Hope-it's-not-too) Windy City, here we come!

Wheeeeeeeeeee!

Sausage pita bread pizza

This is precisely the kind of food I have to AVOID for our meals now!

My throat hurts when I try and raise my volume a few decibels for the guys to "Come, have your dinner!". I guess I should just not raise my voice per se... good for them, and just as good for me, eh?

The other day, before Jon and I came down with our bad throats, after Vern got his, and Ben's still the first of the three guys to awake this morning, playing astronauts and blasting a spaced-out me into outer space (but we've decided that both boys should stay home, seeing Jon was running a temperature, and I've been coughing more than sleeping in the night)...

I got this healthy-as-can-be Chicken and Apple Sausage from the regular supermarket, not some specialty, organic food store:



We made this lazy dinner, in about half an hour -- just grease the pita bread with olive oil, top with sauce (we always just use spaghetti sauce, or leave it out for Ben), shredded cheese, and slices of the sausage (and the skin is so thin, I just left it on), and leave everything to bake in the oven at 375C:



Looks 'heaty'? But the sausage was yummy! We had the pizza with some broccoli, and soup that hopefully helped 'wash down' whatever oil that wasn't so good.

And look how Jon ended up eating his...



... Set aside and save the best for last?! Do you still eat like this, or just 'whack' and 'wallop'? ;p

Lovely fall colours... going, going...!

Contrary to the"blah" fall foliage predicted earlier in the season for this region, the shuttling back and forth between home and school has been a really pleasant one this past week. At the same time leaves were falling like crazy, trees that weren't bare yet were sporting vibrant shades of red, orange, and yellow!

It was just so lovely, driving on roads and streets flanked by these later-than-usual fall hues. And possibly, the most gorgeous we have seen in our stay here, because I remember them to be more washed out before.

However, we've not had a chance to really "get out there", away from concrete and traffic, to capture all this beauty in more natural surroundings. And there is also always such a small window to view it, before it's all gone!

But did we just miss a chance to catch more of it? The papers today reported that the "late but great" peak season was last weekend! Aw!!! And perhaps it's true that the shades are dwindling. These few shots I snapped yesterday, do not do justice to how much better the colours had looked earlier in the week.




But housebound we will be for a little bit, because we aren't feeling so well, having just come down with symptoms of the flu. Vern said it could be from the flu shot we took, or somehow, somewhere, we must have caught the same bug at the same time. I hope it's a milder version.

Just before feeling blue, Jon helps rake the leaves that are falling like crazy all of this week especially. It's leaves, leaves everywhere; leaves, leaves, all around!



(Updated with pictures, Sun)

Ben @ 3.5 years old

"WAKE UP, IT'S MORNING!" Ben bellows in my ear!

He's right, it's morning, and the room's already bright, with the sun's rays peeking through the blinds. But I don't feel so good, I don't want to wake up just yet. My throat hurts, and my bones ache, a day after Vern started complaining of the same things.

Wasn't it just four hours before Ben sprang wide wide awake, when he needed a middle-of-the-night toilet break, and I just put him next to me after we came back from the bathroom? And then, two hours after that, big brother Jon had heaved his still-tired body on our bed, wondering, "Is it morning yet? Why do I have a headache?". And, with Vern, Jon had stumbled back into the boys' room for a bit more slumber.

But now, our little Captain Von Trapp won't let up! "I'm going to count to three!"

And, "One, two, three...!" he starts counting. All the way, till 10, and I still don't budge. And then, I think he skips '12', goes on counting till almost 20, and jumps ahead to tackle the 80's, but with more difficulty:

"81, 82, 83, 84, what comes after that? And then what? 88?"

By now, Jon's awake too, fumbles into the room, and flings himself on the bed. "Go back to sleep," I mumble to him. "It's Saturday, and there's no soccer game, no chess.".

Ben bounces off, disappears for a little while, and zips back into the room, blaring, "Ting, ting, ting, ting, ting! We have a fire to put out!".

Aw, can I sleep some more? "How about we play pizza? I'll be the pizza!" I volunteer.

(How's that for a compromise? Whoever is the pizza, gets to be rolled around on the bed like a dough, and gets a back massage on top of that, because the back doubles as the chopping board for whatever ingredients that need chopping, dicing, julienning. It's even more fun for the Italian chef. No?).

"No pizza!", our junior firefighter is adamant to fight a pretend fire. How about help me fight some germs, some real ones?

"Wake up!" comes his command, again. "Let's go to the basement. We have to wash my pillow case!". (The basement is his firehouse, washing clothes, our secret code for putting out fires!).

Back and forth like this we go. But not for long. When I eventually roll out of bed, it's only already slightly past 8am! No time to lose... we have a fire to fight!

Ben has the sniffles, but other than that, he's the fittest of us now. He will be exactly 3.5 years old tomorrow, and I just wish I have as much energy to keep up with him!

Now playing...

Mars Mission...
- It's for real, not just on the net, and great for some male bonding, too! Jon couldn't wait to put together that alien strike ship and mining vehicle, and he did, almost completely by himself, except those clamps took a bit of help from his daddy.




Bear Grylls...
- We are big fans of the Man vs Wild show on the Discovery channel, where British special forces trained Bear Grylls makes his way out of some wilderness destination, starting with the Sahara Desert in the new season. Among other stunts, he 'narrowly' escapes a cobra and scorpions, and does a monkey-crawl out of quicksand!

All this, in a t-shirt for a headgear -- that Ben must have, too. And pants with "heavy duty" patches at the knees -- that Jon can identify with, because iron-on patches still work for us to salvage his pants for a few more wears! (I haven't stopped wondering what kind of sports Jon plays during recess. Umm... "see who can crawl fastest on your knees?" What can I say? It's a jungle out there)!



Dinosaurs...
- Ben doesn't always like to do drawings, but now and then, when he draws something like this, I just have to snap a picture of it!



Is this a figment of his imagination, or is there a dinosaur with spikes on its back and a club for a tail? What's it called?*

Librarian...
- Part-time firefighter, takes on a more serious, deskbound job at the library this week. Future librarian in the making? The rapt audience I try to be, in between trying to involve Ben in my chores -- like, pretend there's a fire we have to fight in the basement, whenever I need to go get laundry in or out of the washer and dryer, and we've managed two loads in a row, like this! Hey, it's not all play and no work, you know... hehe!

But each time we play library, I only get to be the person asking to check out books. Probably because Ben likes to go "beep", for every item he scans!



Besides our couch doubling as the bookshelf, with books Ben himself will arrange rather nicely, these are his other tools of the trade:

• a scanner for books, with a holder for "Date Due" receipts
• a smaller scanner for DVDs
• a long strip to demagnetize whatever's in the spine that triggers off the alarm at the library door.

So, don't chuck those mega blocks just yet, you never know when they'll come in handy for something like this!

Small Talk
And it's not just watching the boys' imagination at work, at play, that makes being a mom so much fun, but also getting a laugh here and there, from the things they say.

Here are some quick quips from Ben...

me: So, your library is open till late?
Ben: Until midnight.
me: Wow!
Ben: And it's almost midnight! Let's play!

***
me: Shall we take a break from checking out books, and sit down to read a story?
Ben: Why?
me: Because libraries have story-time, and my 3-year-old likes a good story now and then.
Ben: But your 3-year-old is not with you.
me: Huh?
Ben: He's at the library!

***
me: How was school? What did you do?
Ben: Nothing.
me: Huh?
Ben: I don't know what's the schedule.

***

Ben: For my next Show 'n Tell, I want to bring you!
me: =) (That's a compliment, right?)

***

* And the answer to the dinosaur question is:

Euoplopcephalus
".. was well protected from predators. It had a thick, armoured skin, covered with spikes, and a bony tail-club. If attached... will swing its tail at its enemy. A blow with its tail-club would have wounded even the fiercest predator."

When I asked Ben, he came and showed me the page on the "Triceratops" book by Early Childhood Publications, where he'd first seen a picture of this dinosaur, that I wasn't sure if it existed. It lived in the same Cretaceous Period as the Triceratops, Ben's favourite dinosaur.