And they're off...

Two friends we have the pleasure of knowing here, just left St Louis.

With the other Singaporeans, we got together for a farewell dinner for them -- over some nice Asian food, eat what you like, as much as you can -- before they headed off for another part of the States.

Looking back to congratulate them on their achievements, and looking ahead to wish them the very best in their new endeavours... just around the corner!

Dug up these lovely pictures of Chin Tong and Mandy, taken last year by another friend Melvin, for this colourful, cheery layout -- as part of our well-wishes for them!

Eye on the ball

The school's baseball season doesn't resume until next month. These pictures I'd snapped last year, when the three guys were having a bit of fun, just before one of the games the boys' team -- made up of almost every boy from Jon's class -- played against the other schools. I finally got round to putting them together for this layout, just the other night. One of the many things I would like to do, but lack the time and energy for.

Now, the pictures on their own, do not tell as complete a story, as when they are grouped together. The same grouping I'd used, for a page in the calendar that went to our loved ones for Christmas (below)...
A trick that worked for me for most of the pages in that calendar -- to pack in as many of our boys' happy faces as possible, as a way of telling our loved ones they are thought of all throughout the year!

And while it was with really basic photoshop skills I'd done up the pages in the calendar, it's also with some simple scrapbooking ideas I'd relied on for this new layout. As a final touch, I added the sticker of the huge baseball (that cost just $1 for two big stickers and two small ones, from Walmart), to hit home the connection in the pictures.

The same message -- to keep our eye on the ball -- I've been trying to impress on Jon, and serves also as a reminder to myself to stay focused on the task at hand, every time we see the layout! Once I was done with it, that night while the boys were deep in slumber, I'd gone and put it right away in a photoframe (bought a long time ago, though, to tell myself not to procrastinate this little project any further), and placed it on the wall next to Jon's bed. Where he couldn't possibly miss it. Eye on the ball, eye on the ball!

Yet, it's still an arduous task to get Jon to show some responsibility and more interest in his schoolwork. Poke, prod, cajole, bribe -- all the "soft approach" tricks a parent could have up his or her sleeve, we've tried, and let me just say, it is a battle of wits, a game I don't play so well, because more often than not, I find myself at my wits' end!

I don't think our moms or dads would have found it funny, if we made paper planes out of our book report or Chinese poem. The same kitchen timer we are using to help Jon break up his homework time into small chunks, he uses to set a limit for how fast I should have dinner served! But it's not always as hilarious as this, and not nice either, when the husband or I lose my cool because we "can't take it anymore"!


So, back out has come the rewards chart, and we've sat down to talk with Jon about some ground rules, and set a few immediate goals. Including whether or not we were going to sign him up for baseball.

But poke, prod, cajole, bribe, we continue to do, and are still doing, because Jon for how nonchalant, oblivious he can be, if you leave him alone with his books, he's just not going to touch them. Is it that bad? You ask. It can be, so much so, I feel like... *pulling out my hair*... *gnashing my teeth*... *bumping my head on the ceiling*... er, you get the picture!

On bribing, though, I really hate to have to go that route. For to be reward-oriented is not what I like to see my children become, not that the "gimmes" aren't already there. So, as far as I can, and especially if it's something as basic and straightforward as homework -- that Jon should by now, show more responsibility towards, I prefer to keep it to little things, like TV or computer time, or even just a favourite snack.

Now Jon is smart enough to know, too, that some things, like baseball being his most favourite sports, we would not want to deny him of. So, he's also pushing our buttons, and seeing how far he can stretch our limits! Which makes it all the more important for us parents, to remember we have to stay focused on the task, too, and mean what we say.

Eventually, we did turn in the registration form when Jon chalked up just enough balls on his rewards chart on that last day, before a late cost would be added to the fees. No, it's not free, none of the ECAs are, but I did warn Jon we would rather forfeit the fees if he doesn't make any effort to keep up with his daily schoolwork, than let him play and play all the time. Am I being the mean mommy, like when Bookworm raised the question here recently?

Jon must want to work, and work harder, and I hope it's just a matter of time when he will mature some and not think it's only the barest minimum we should do, or whatever we can "get away with". And you know, as the mommy, I mustn't forget to also pray and pray!

No, it's not easy to be a parent. Eye on the ball now!

By Charlene

I interrupt our back-to-school stress with these lovely layouts by Charlene on her Cherry Arte August Gallery, that include two of my boys.

One of Jon and Ben together, and another of Ben -- both photos I'd snapped randomly back in March '07 (spring) and Dec '06 (winter), while we were playing outdoors! Look how creatively she's used them!

Enjoy all the rest of Charlene's works! I always go "ooh" and "aah", looking at every thing she's made with her hands!

Memories are made of these

Around this time, three years ago:
Jon, Ben, and me outside our previous place, shortly after we got here together with my husband.


More special moments between then and now:
Fun times with Melvin and Gerrie, at outings and gatherings with the other Singaporeans, including those who've since moved off and on to greener pastures.

Melvin and Gerrie are now back in home sweet home Singapore, just in time to celebrate its 42nd birthday! We got to enjoy their company, longer than usual, when they stayed with us over the weekend, before leaving St Louis for good. But why'd the two days have to go by so quickly? I asked this, too, not just Jon and Ben!

We wish this wonderful couple the very best in their new endeavours!

Yes, if you haven't guessed by now, I am a sentimental person, but I do a terrible job of keeping in touch. So it'll be nice when those of you without blogs (but unbeknownst to me visit this blog now and then), start your own too. And then I can be privy to what's going on in your lives too, when we don't email each other as often as we should!

Does that sound like a good plan? =)

Preserving memories: One moment at a time

... One page at a time...



And here's the story behind this one:

You know, I've been going on and on about how photos capture precious moments. Of course, there are many other wonderful ways to preserve memories, other than to blog about them.

Blame it on the convenience of digital cameras and online storage (whether it's on our own computer or on platforms such as Flickr), I hardly print out our pictures anymore, save for those I've long ago put in frames, already hanging on our walls or sitting pretty on some shelf/table-top in our home (and now crying out to be updated).

I guess to some extent, I am old-fashioned; traditional, if you like. I still prefer the feel of a picture in my hands, more than an image on a screen. Like a book, a magazine, or newspapers even -- something I can hold, and be able to leaf through page by page, and if these have pictures in them, to see how they are laid out. The way clicking on a mouse to get from one link to another, doesn't quite produce that same kind of 'kick'.

And every time I look at Charlene's awesome scrapbooking creations (and beyond!) on her {Scrap_A_Bee} blog, and those magazines of other scrapbookers' works I sometimes borrow from the library, I do itch to play with pretty pieces of paper myself too, and hopefully come up with something creative to preserve my own boys' pictures, and even more so, the memories behind them!

So at 1 am, when I was getting ready to hit the sack, but I couldn't stop thinking about two pictures that had jumped out at me of Jon and Ben, that I had printed, besides all the others that Gong Gong has taken back with him, I had had to turn the lights back on. It's not easy to take pictures of kids, what more to try and capture my two boys together. One of them might be beaming me the widest of smiles, and the other, would nearly always be well out of range of how (not so) far our camera could zoom.

But remember that earlier visit I made with them to the Gardens? I'd clicked away and there were some nice enough pictures of the two of them together. And of those pictures I shortlisted to print, two had the same lighting and mood. One other shot of the boys strutting with their arms around each other, would have been great too, if not for it turning out darker than expected, and on closer look, as I held the picture in my hand, I knew it just couldn't beat the close-up that I eventually picked over it, where the smiles of both boys were the sunniest!

Hence, the "Sunny Smiles" layout! At 2.30 am, I was sleepy, but happy! I don't have the proper tools for scrapbooking, but nothing some glue, a penknife and pair of scissors couldn't do!

I used four different pieces of paper to achieve some simple layering, including some patterned paper left over from a card I'd made for my in-laws a few months ago, that was my only other attempt at scrapbooking but on a smaller scale. The letter stickers were from Target's $1 section (yes!), that I was going to use at first to spell out "Jon" and "Ben" to differentiate their paper storage buckets. And they were the only embellishments I had on hand, never mind that they weren't all that fancy.

OK, don't laugh, but this is a very basic attempt at scrapbooking, and I can certainly do with pointers and suggestions from all of you! On the one hand, I already have an idea or two running in my head on what short text I can add to the layout, so it will provide a journalling of sorts as are what scrapbooks are about. On the other hand, I like that there's nothing on that green-and-white polka dotted space on the top righthand corner, and it gives some breathing room so the layout doesn't look cluttered.

What do you think? Should I add any text at all? I don't know if I will sit down to do another layout anytime soon and have enough pages to compile into a proper scrapbook later on. But even if I don't, one alternative is that we can always hang it up in a frame, like any one of our other photos around the house.

Photos with people, faces, in them, that I always feel help add warmth to any home, office, and just about any place you want to add your personal touch. Do you feel the same way, too?