Ho, ho... hols (while they lasted)!

Our Christmas hols was a bit colorful and a lot RANDOM like this...

I am just keeping it real... ho, ho, ho! 


That last batch of cream cheese cookies was for ourselves. I was using the frosting press as a makeshift cookie press -- until the boys (are boys!) found the more creative use for it! :D.


With the house in a much bigger mess (no kidding!), I've resolved to try and do something about it... after the new year!


So there were the Christmas joy and blessings. Meimei also made some playdough-cake for Jesus, the reason for the season!


Because we had potlucked at another family's before that, I hammed it up just a little for our own Christmas eve dinner. And then made a few more simple meals out of the leftovers from the slowcooked spiral ham.


Boxing day, the hubby, though bogged down with work (still), was game for some shopping. I picked out a sweater for him and two knit-tops for myself at a bargain, and the children also got their unexpected best buys.


It was so cold to play outdoors, Meimei played hopscotch while grocery shopping with me! 


Still, she happily joined her brothers to keep me busy on my their feet -- and to keep from "suffering from major boringness"! (You bet that phrase from my younger boy, made me roll my eyes 8-I). 


So that was how we rolled...

And looked set to roll our way into the new year! :)

P.S. I know, it's more like "Ha, Ha... Happy New Year!" by the time you read this. I didn't manage to roll out the pics, all phone pics, as fast as when I started writing this. But can you see why it's replacing my point-and-shoot, for how convenient it is?! ;p

Let heaven and nature sing

'Hark! the herald angels sing,
Glory to the newborn King!
Peace on earth, and mercy mild,
God and sinners reconciled.'
- Charles Wesley

Don't worry, I didn't work the kids hard for this pic; fall has become when we take our own family pictures, for these yearly greetings. They're quite used to it by now, haha! ;p

Merry Christmas to you and yours!

Heart the Joy

Here's what my youngest loves about baking...

Also why I vacuum AFTER not before we bake, haha! She is especially good in stirring up a storm ;).


Seriously now, her giggles and laughter are like spoonfuls of sugar! :D

One batch at a time... 
So glad Kait helped me with these simple cookies. I was happy to put in some OT, too, for more batches, for her and her brothers to give to their teachers with their hand-drawn cards. 


Our other little merry touches, when we eventually got round to them (er, life is busy ;p), are also helping to chase the winter blues away!



Much more than that, I am reminded that we are celebrating God's gift of Christ. 


The heart of the season is giving.


Christmas is about love and joy. It is also about the giving of joy -- to brighten someone's day, not just this time of the year. 


This article on The Gift of Joy recognizes that life is not picture perfect. Surely we can all relate to having tough times and days when we feel down ourselves or for those we love and cherish, over very real problems and losses.  


It goes on to encourage us to "choose joy and give it away", and I quote from it:
Life is not picture perfect for most of us, but there is so much joy to be found and shared every day. If I simply LOOK for JOY and then make the effort to SHARE it, I can change my attitude and perspective on what Christmas is all about...


"The more I dwell on my blessings every day, by God’s grace the more they seem to multiply before my eyes. And by experiencing more joy in my own life, I have more JOY to give away.

Jesus came so that we might have life and live it to the full (John 10:10)!

Let's heart the joy; bless and be blessed, too! We're always blessed when others send cheer, encouragement, and prayers our way (thank you!!!). Am thankful and feel blessed always also for the opportunities for us to do that any day, every day (we don't have to look far).

“Let us remember that the Christmas heart is a giving heart, a wide-open-heart that thinks of others first.” - George Matthew Adams


I heart these cream cheese cookies...
made with this recipe, and find them to be as versatile as sugar cookies, and softer. 


It works for us with two egg yolks also for cutout cookies (to frost if you like), as an alternative to the thumbprint with jam or Hershey kiss in the centre, or just add sprinkles/decorating sugar on top. They're also yummy enough to eat on their own :D.

Pumpkin Snowman, anyone?

Meimei and I had a bit of fun there with this little recycling project...

A pumpkin snowman, what do you think?


"Sure, whatever!" *! Picture my 3yo saying that, shrugging and with her hands spread out; I like that -- more than just "whatever!", haha! 


She was also happily helping herself to the props, as you can see :-).


Thought I'd better wrap up on fall already, moving into these more and more wintry days now.


*Meimei said she got the "whatever" from Rosemary Well's Max (and Ruby; she loves the books and DVDs). Of course among my three "Max-es" (they said it themselves, they are Max, not Ruby), there's more than just "cool" rebuttals -- that's trying more than my eye-rolling skills 8-| 8-| 8-| . I need to "jia" patience not just energy also, as we "jia-you" for hubby's rest of the worktrip this week ;).

Season of Thanks

My hubby is not done travelling for work for the year. So it was really nice when we squeezed in our simple not-so-simple turkey dinner with the children on the eve of Thanksgiving, in spite of the busy and quite crazy day it was -- just before he was whisked away on yet another worktrip.

I cooked it, a herb-roasted turkey (using this recipe), he carved it, and we all dug in :D. 

Thanksgiving holds extra meaning for me. It's much more than whether in my frazzledness I can (almost couldn't) thaw out the bird -- and especially to yank out its frozen-stiff neck (HELP, it's not budging!) -- to get it into the oven pronto! 


It's also around this time when I grow a year older -- and get to count not just our blessings, but also ponder our growth -- gains, and pains included ;p. We have our challenges and discouragements, and moments and days, of course. 


More than that, when I focus on all there is in front of us, around us, we have so much, everything in fact, to thank God for and not to take for granted. And it's not because I had turned the big 4-0 that I say this: 
Life is a gift. Being able to give is also a blessing.


This busy busy fall, in the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving, we have also been blessed with the joy of sitting at the table with friends in our home and taking our guests out to eat.


Thank you Lord for your faithfulness and providence. Besides family, and our loved ones back home, I'm grateful also for friends who care and encourage each other to keep going on life's journey through its ups and downs. Thank you for being here for me!

And thank you for making my happy day with your sweet birthday wishes, emails and phonecalls. My dad forgot about our time difference and woke me up with his greetings bright and early at 4.30am! I wore the scarf my MIL sent over. Thank you also my "twin" Fay, for your box of blessings. My laptop has been down for two weeks, but meanwhile I am finally enjoying how convenient a smartphone is -- thanks to the hubby who thought it'll help with my sanity! ;)


I'm also encouraged by the sharing from other women on this site: www.incourage.me
Especially like the recent thanksgiving posts, with reminders for us to give thanks and focus on our priorities. 

We've got snow! Seriously?!

Jon turned 11 last week. He was just wishing for snow, when it arrived days after that, over the weekend! Not enough for me to have to shovel (PHEW!); hubby was away again for four days then. Still, I'm thankful it gave the children (who were going, WOOHOO, FINALLY!) and me a little outdoor fun -- and also with a new friend (neighbour) who popped over to play.

Before that on Jon's birthday, I'd caught Meimei's cold -- and was keeping the running around to the essentials so we could all feel better soon. Instead of making the Panda Express (fastfood) lunch delivery to school Jon would have preferred I did like last year, I woke up to make him his fave roast pork with noodles.


"SERIOUSLY???" he asked me, when I handed him the packed lunch that morning. You know, I get asked that A LOT during this I-am-learning-to-communicate-with-my-tween (who-is-wishing-he's-a-teen-already) stage. But I guess it's not just us parents getting used to being plied with their "Nooooooo!!!", our kids also have to learn to take No for an answer ;p.


Still, it was great to see the birthday boy's face lit up eventually -- over the simple bake (a Devil's food cake from a boxed mix) Meimei helped me bake up in-between the daily grind. Think I overdid it with the sprinkles on the cake as camouflage for my so-so frosting, but it was after all my sweet gesture, hehe!


Going over some of our summer pictures, I couldn't help but smile at the ones of Jon striking his signature pose. He was doing that so much, it caught on with Ben and Kait also and I caught several cute shots among them. It's that "I love the great outdoors and our God is an awesome God" declaration! Like when we were at Mt Rainier -- it still had snow in August, during my father's visit and roadtrip with us then:

I just love how much Jon loves the great outdoors. May he embrace all of life with so much zest -- and a grateful heart. Amen!

Chills and thrills

So there was the dressup fun...

And the trick-or-treating!

Because SAHM asked :).


Ask the kids also... it was very much about that yearly sugar high -- more than did the friendly knocking on doors send shivers down our spines! ;p


Then came that Reptile Man night in the boys' school...

Glad their dad could take them. Meimei stayed home with me because of her cold. She found her voice again when she went Eeeeuuuwww!!! at these pictures of her brothers with their dream pets! Still, not to be left out, she grabbed our stuffed Croco for a quick snap, too -- and also went "Aaahhh, SNAP!!!", pretending the croc got to her!


Haha, cheap thrill!

Besides our princess' Jasmine outfit (thank you Viv!), Kait also got to be a fairy during her preschool parade. And that's Travelling Teddy making its rounds in her class. Jon reprised his role as a caped-somebody, with that blanket I'd added a few stitches to last year. Ben was a ninja until he ditched his black ski-mask beanie for the vest, and became some SWAT guy instead! We're erm versatile like that ;p

Seeing red... and gold, my fave hues

I'm talking about the fall colours, of course...

littering the ground with many a red carpet...

and painting the town red!

I caught these lovely reds at the start of last week, while out running errands in-between the schoolruns and trying not to work myself up into a sweat with housework -- before our friend Jac came and stayed with us during her visit to this part of the States.

Then together, we took in more reds, and lots and lots of yellows, too -- mostly with Meimei's help to show her around. Hubby was away on a worktrip after Jac's first day here. One of the evenings our boys after school, also took her for a jog on a trail, and I got a workout, too, from pushing Meimei up the slopes on her trike ;p.

Jac was a natural in front of the camera...

Tasked with being her "personal photographer", I took many more pictures of her with the colours. So glad they held out for us to enjoy them together! The leaves are looking more dried up now, and the trees are balding as I write this.

After the children and I saw Jac off, we were also blessed with their St Louis "grandparents" dropping by, en route to catch their flight back. Turned out to be a bit of an STL weekend; I was wearing my red Cardinals t-shirt after the Cards' 11th World Series win, and hubby himself also got to catch up with some old friends where he was :).

He eventually came back on a later flight yesterday, in time for us to take the kids trick-or-treating together. Of course the hubs has all his work to dive right back into...

And I also have more than just the washed laundry I did religiously last week but had bagged them up like leaves to get on with. It's a new week, and another busy, busy month...

Blessed November to you and yours now!

Little hands and feet

While the sun was out, she wanted to do something about the falling leaves, "Mommy, you use the big rake, I use the small one!".

Yes, of course! Never say no to a child who asks to help! ;)

I enjoyed those precious moments watching her being so cheerful -- as we went about raking and bagging the leaves.

And so free-spirited -- diving into the small heap (and bigger ones since) more than once, and her happy little feet doing the "crunch, crunch" on all that brown, dried up foliage!

"A happy heart makes the face cheerful..."

- Proverbs 15:13

Here's something I read that also encourages me to check my own attitude. So often I am playing catchup on housework, and kept on my feet (and toes) with the children and their everyday and growing needs and still basic things we struggle with. I forget it's myself I have to straighten out first, and it's about taking control of my own emotions that is what will help me be an effective parent -- and whatever it is I set my heart and mind on.

"... The kids can be running around like a bunch of hooligans

through a house that appears to be at the bottom of a toaster,

and yet, if organization and order can still be found in my attitude,

we are doing well. But if my attitude falters, even in the midst of

external order, so does everything else."

- Rachel Jankovic, in "Loving the Little Years"

Another day, I was glad to spend a morning with my youngest's class -- and to paint and wash their feet for the "ghost" footprints the teacher thought she could use a little hand with to make.

What I could use: those extra giggles!!! It was ticklish for many of the little ones when I brushed the white paint on their soles. I was tickled also by how Meimei draped herself on my back almost the whole time I was bent over doing that. Oh, my silly little gal ;p.

With that also came the whisper to be faithful in the little things. It may not be volunteering bigtime in my children's schools, but in little ways like this. And there's always other stuff not to wait till I'm on top of my work (read: wait forever ;p) or have raked through our clutter to give a hand or ear to, to do with a cheerful heart :).

Autumn Mix

The colours are here! And I am catching them on the go...

On errands, schoolruns, and also while out knocking on doors with the children over the weekend -- to try and sell popcorn for one son's scout troop and another son's cubscout pack!

Take five... taking in the lovely hues during the busyness of the day; look how the golds pop!

For how quickly seasons, and seasons of our lives, come and go, I'm reminded also to savour and appreciate what is in front of us!

"O taste and see that the LORD is good:

blessed is the man that trusts in him."

- Psalm 34:8

Taste the goodness

That's our autumn-coloured salad (haha!) -- before tossing it with an asiany sauce...

And fried rice, with meat I'd cooked ahead...

as time was tight. Had to whip these up quickly -- after getting the children home from one afterschool activity to get them homework-ed and fed (a snack in this case, other times dinner) to head back out again.

The salad and rice were what we brought to that fall potluck, where Jon moved a little bit up the foodchain in Scout-dom, and also earned a few more merit badges.

Enjoy yourself, I told him; he has a third campout since school started (one with the school, and other two with the troop)! :)

Such one-pot meals, and slowcooked soups and stews, are what I'm making/making ahead for our dinner more and more, not just on these busier schoolnights of hurrying with the kids from one thing to another. But also to help me be less frazzled and hopefully more organized.


Also telling myself, no matter how "mixed up" (not-on-top-of-things) our days may be, to taste God's goodness and bask in His grace. That is not about what we do or try to do.

HAPPY FALL!

Best foot forward

On your marks...


Look how they're getting ready to lunge forward...

It's FIERCE, I tell you!

And fiercer than last year, with many more runners trying to outdo one another at the zonal level -- to qualify for the All-City Cross-Country Meet!

Watching from the sidelines, that's my eldest (his hand) helping me to rein the youngest in -- so she doesn't get in the way. Or be trampled on!


That was last week. This afternoon, Meimei and I will be there again to cheer her two brothers on in a second zonal meet. It's hardly sunny today though. Both times driving out just now, I worked the wipers hard while at the same time wishing, praying for the rain, rain to go away and come again another day! Sure hope the field isn't too soaked or the forest ground too muddy. And um, just thinking maybe I should not be saying, Break a leg! -- to be taken so literally ;p

Catch and release

Sweater days have arrived, and with that, fishing season ends at this lake -- but not before we got to cast our rods there (yes)!


"I can't wait for a bite on my line!" quipped Meimei. She'd convinced her dad she was finally old enough to fish, a month plus after turning 3.

Of course she was a lot more eager to reel it in -- than you would expect a newly minted preschooler to be waiting, waiting patiently ;).


Her brothers were quite persistent, hoping to do more than a catch-and-release...

before the sun was setting already...


Although we eventually went home empty-handed, it was really nice to have caught a breather together like this :).


Such a welcome relief from the daily hustle and bustle -- *breathe in, breathe out* -- before another busy, busy week and the new season are here already!


(Fish Lake; phone pics)

Afterschool obedience potion (*grin*)

After school, after a day of shuttling kids...

It's that bewitching hour!

I give the children the ink-coloured potion AT THEIR REQUEST...

And they drink to OBEDIENCE...

Or so I hope! ;p

Truth is... There isn't an "obedience potion"; what happened was the eager kid got to the frozen pops before they could freeze completely. And the icky inky liquid is what you get when you mix orange, red, and green juices together -- of what had not contributed to the BIG *STICKY* MESS!!!

But it sure is one way of making light of the busyness and more craziness than this that like to take place during this let's-be-positive-and-call-it my BONDING time with the children! ;p

Another busy day, another reminder to pause for a *smile* break in-between all the running around...

Younger son after cross-country practice, stopped to flash me his new "boh-gei" (missing front teeth) smile, having just lost his second front tooth in school earlier that day! :D

Between home and school and preschool I drive back and forth for the dropoffs and pickups, and the thrice a week cross-country. That day I'd also come from a grocery trip, and taking two kids to the dentist -- and got us back in school just in time *pant, pant* for the oldest to be part of the same training as his brother. And we weren't done as there was a scouts meeting to head back out again *sweat*, and a back-to-school night that thankfully the hubby could go for it instead. Still, trying to do the mommy-multitasking thing with homework, dinnner prep and dinner in doublequick time after such full days of driving, I am pooped!

Can I use as many SMILES -- and lots and lots of COOPERATION?

You bet! ;)

(Post rolled out eventually with pictures, while still working, working on our routines. In my eagerness to multitask one crazybusy day, I tripped over the wire for our external drive and lost the ton of pictures, not these ones, I've downloaded there but not managed to make any backup for b4 that :(. One thing, one day at a time, yah).

See you later, alligator

First day of school went OK... better than our last night of the summer hols, trying to get ready for it!


Raring to go...
or not, we had to get going -- and the eldest's scout meetings resumed on the first schoolnight itself already!


Younger brother was happy to see a few familiar faces in his classroom...
He looked forward also to the tooth fairy visiting him; both his front teeth were loose!


It was also the first day of school for Meimei -- for the very first time!


Glad the hubby was there with me to assure our youngest she'd see us in a bit. Oh, she grabbed me, she did -- and begged, "I WANT you!"... but just for a little while. A quick hug and peck later, she let me go. Not a tear from her! Atta-girl!


So she is going for preschool for 2h on two days. Think, please DON'T, all the work/housework and errands especially I can get done in that time -- not much left, after the to-ing and fro-ing. And I'm back to the shuttling back and forth, driving almost every day; the boys have their afterschool activities also.


Getting back to basics with homework and lunchboxes as well. But just as important for us to work on is the earlier bedtime; younger two have not learned to sleep uninterrupted, and youngest needs to learn to sleep independently also. Will you check back with me this time next year if I have got round to our messes, haha?!    

Good morning, Zion National Park!

On the return leg of our roadtrip, all that cargo (camping gear) that the hubby had packed on top of the rental minivan finally came in handy, when we made an impromptu detour to this national park...

Good morning, Zion National Park!

The campout let us bask in nature's gifts... and also the "quiet sanctuary" this park got its name from. 

The Virgin River runs through the canyon of sandstone cliffs...
Oh so refreshing in the sizzling heat, after a dip in it!  That was also where we had our "virgin" river bath -- in our swimsuits! Guess some things are worth letting your hair down for... especially when it was the closest thing to a bath we could get there! ;p 

So goes our last leg of summer -- sometimes crazy, and more often than not spontaneous!

Feeling the exhaustion, but also really grateful for all we packed in! 

More later (an earlier on-the-road post didn't roll out); a quick update with these phone pictures first. Still more to wash and unpack, and have to pack the fridge again... and school supplies! 


School is starting already in less than three days, and my boys are groaning the loudest of us all! ;p

On with the Terrific Threes

She was in a jolly mood, singing Happy birthday "to me (herself)... to Meimei... to Kait, Kait"!


Yesterday, the children with their Gong Gong, my dad who'd come from Singapore, joining Kait to usher in the Terrific Threes...

And leaning over, she took a bite out of the cupcake, sharing it with her Daddy, also an August baby. (She'd picked out the cupcakes over a cake, and I arranged them to form the number 3).


For lunch, I made us all some chicken noodle soup. Of which Kait ate a little of the chicken, more of the noodles, and all of the eggwhites -- and eggwhite only -- of 1, 2, 3 hardboiled eggs! ;p


You know, I'm hoping the threes will also see her more adventurous in her gastronomic ventures, hehe!


Blessed Happy Birthday, Sweetie!

Way to grow

When she says, "I changed my mind", or "I'm in the middle of something, don't mess me up!", it feels to me like she is two going on 13!


"I'm bigger, I'm older!" she announced, ahead of turning three this weekend.

Last Saturday was when Kait followed her brothers to scale this rock wall in a sports shop, and her daddy dearest gave the nod for her to reach for the sky. 


Look at her...

Spring was when she was mimicking her Gor Gors' bike stunts on her trike.  Summer now she's got the hang of pumping on the swing; all she needs is a little push to get started.

And I watch her every day... exploring, creating, and imagining. Quite the go-getter she is!


These last few months, she's also gone from doodling on a magnetic board to adding details and colours to her stick figures on a drawing pad.  She doesn't just like me to read her Mo Willem's "Hooray for Amanda and her Alligator" for the 238th time, but also makes up her own stories, songs, and pretend-friends.


That's all part of the growing, growing up, besides the things to outgrow.  Like her night partying still (*so exhausting*) even when she's already barely napping for a long time now. (But you tell yourself to keep going because she will eventually grow out of it).


"Go, Kait, go!"! I cheer my baby on! My papa who is visiting us here thinks she has the makings of a 女强人 ;p.

"I'll be right back!"

Just the other day, my eldest was wondering out loud, "Do you think we had tails at one point?". And he went on to say, "If I had a tail, I'd use it to hang on to a tree -- to swing from one to another!".


I knew there was some reason why we parents sometimes refer to our children as monkeys! ;p 


Before long, Jon had swung his way to the scouts' summer camp -- one whole week, no phones allowed, and a 4h drive quite far away in the next state!

It was the longest time and furthest he'd stayed away from home. The hardest part for me was the no communications with him at all, unless you count the mass email that another parent there sent to let us know the campers were well. 

There was that empty feeling. Mealtimes I found myself doling out food and praying for this son to be eating well.  The hubby was stifling a laugh when I went, "This is torturous!" by midweek. Meimei also was asking for him, "Where's Jon? I miss him!". Younger brother, too, although not admitting it, said it was the most boring day ever -- even after I'd taken them out to play and play.


Kait helped me make a cute paper-plate snake card to mail to Jon, wishing him a SSSSSuper fun time at camp. Ben agreed that we should add, "Beware of snakes!" because of the roughing it out not just fun his brother was up for ;p.


"I'll be right back!"
Finally Day 7 came, and Jon returned -- tanned, tired, and thought he would win the "most injured camper" award! The Montana waters were terribly chilly, but that also did not stop him from giving the camp a 10/10!


Glad he did it, and really thank God for His protection. The hypothermia, and Jon also survived quite the bump on his head from a flying rock. He also slid and fell from a tree, and had other cuts and scrapes from more adventures we were excited to hear, not just eager to feed him dinner. 


He really enjoyed the different and more outdoor opportunities than he got to do on weekend campouts, "It was sweeeeeet! I swam, kayaked, shot rifles, climbed trees and went on nature hikes!". The summer campout was also not without more roughing it out (the toilet was in the bushes), and learning to take care of himself.  


The things to toughen our children up. And I guess us moms, too. There was Yan's reminder to "let go, let God" watch over them when we can't be there, and the support from you faraway friends, that helped me hang in there till Jon got back.  


Only then could I say, the week has flown by! ;p


("I'll be right back!" has got to be my fave phrase last week, of all the phrases my youngest has picked up from her two brothers.  And this one happened to be from Jon. The up-on-the-tree picture was from May.).