Distracted vs On her toes

Watch how Jon tries to grab Kait's attention, but she reaches for the camera strap instead!


And turning 7 months old a week ago, the little girl has gone from crawling -- on the mat then floor, and also to the edge of our big bed (*mini heart attack*), to standing more now -- hanging on to anyone, anything, and in the crib with the side reaching up to her chest...

It got us scrambling to lower the crib's mattress as part of the babyproofing!

Been a long time since the boys were at this stage, when the place was not overrun with their things and those teeny tiny Legos!

Kait goes from this last month (you put your hands out, and she holds onto them to pull herself to the standing position)...


and more crawling in-between...


to this now... she looks for the nearest object or person to grab onto to stand up...


Hmm... think I've got a potential laundry helper there?! ;p

Bow Chicka Bow Wow

Probably the best way to wrestle with our children when they wrestle with us parents, is...

with humour, and love! Tough love included (and that's the tough part), and also, that extra measure of kindness -- read: grace and mercy, I know my kids won't mind! ;p

It's no secret that they have been driving me up the wall, because they clearly have minds of their own. And not that the wrestling has stopped, but I'll spare you the details. And for my own sanity, I'm including this post for the smiles that my "Da Gua", "Zhong Gua", and "Xiao Gua" (three stooges, large, medium, and small) do thankfully also put on my face!

And here, from the cartoon "Phineas and Ferb" is the Bow Chicka Bow Wow song, Jon and Ben have me singing with them to entertain Kait. Especially when she's crying away, but for some very good reason she's not attached to me at that point. The song ends aptly with, "Gitchi Gitchi Goo means that I love you!"!


And it's on this happy note that I'll like to congratulate fellow blogger, and mommy of En and Xuan, on the arrival of baby Bao Rui! =)

World War II...

Is this for real?




Have another look...


Do you see "trigger-happy" soldiers... with cameras? ;p

It was World War II weekend at the Jefferson Barracks here.

I came across the nondescript (1"x1") announcement for it in the papers. And knowing how this is the kind of stuff boys especially like, we went and caught a slice of the action yesterday!



"Do they have this every year?"
"That's so cool!
"Like a dream come true!"

OK, maybe he exaggerated, but Jon was bubbling over with excitement, the moment we stepped onto the (former barracks, now turned) park grounds -- at the mere sight of the different camps, and all things military...




Ben, who knows a little about wars -- from what he and Jon have caught on TV, besides the bit we've read previously, was also asking questions. Like, what this and that weapon could do, outfits worn by the soldiers, and the kinds of vehicles. Not that this mom had the answers; sometimes, daddy did, and the boys themselves knew a thing or two.




Can you guess which one's the German camp, and which is Italian? (Hint: look for who's wearing a feather in his hat)...



What are some roles women and children played during the war?


The real action (and biggest draw!) was the battle re-enactment, of course, and the crowds were filling up the front-row seats!


The convoy heading towards the battlefield...



... no turning back now!


Lady in a hurry...


... for a group photo! =)

... and we took one with them, before they scooted off for more serious business!

Other Kodak moments...

Say cheese!


Last but not least, here's a short clip of the re-enactment, if you'll like a better idea of what the "friendly fire" was about! Have a great week now! =)

Afternote: Sorry, I've had to remove the video, as it doesn't seem to work. Think it may also be one of the things causing the blog to crash a lot lately!

White Easter here!

How'd your Easter go?

Over our end, while spring has started, the last frost may not be over yet. Imagine our pleasant surprise when fluffy snow started coming down this morning, and continued on and off throughout the day!

It sure wasn't in the forecast, when we checked the day before. But watching the snowflakes fall from the sky, I said to the husband that the heavenlies must be raining down white confetti to celebrate the risen Christ! ;p

It was the familiar song, "In Christ Alone" -- for which a mime was done at the Christian school's Easter service the other day, that caused tears to well up in my eyes. The same song, we sang in church today, just when I had been trying to look for the lyrics. And like an answered prayer, there it was, in black in white, in the bulletin!

Now to share it with you also, here's one of many videoclips for the song, available on Youtube! Maybe you had just sung it this weekend, too? I still have the tune playing in my head =).



Oh, the love of God, the love of Jesus!

In Him, we stand.

When it's hip to be square!

Here's a fun side of school, when the kindergarteners through sixth-graders picked up both square and line dancing during P.E and music class in the last two weeks!

Now isn't that cool, not to mention what a neat form of exercise it is for winter especially?

Catch the second-graders do the Virginia Reel in this clip, and see if you can help Ben spot Jon having a bouncing good time! (View at own risk: It's a short video, but jerky, and that's because Ben who'd climbed on my lap, was also bouncing to the beat)!


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And it's not true that only at-home moms, like yours truly, will show up for such events -- this one took place in the last 45 minutes of school, that first day of Chinese New Year. It was a big turnout, that saw working parents, too, come lend their support, and I grabbed the second last available parking spot!

What a performance it was, and had us floored, alright! Besides the "Virgina Reel", there were also the "Solomon Levi" and "Oh, Johnny, Oh!", that a me-with-two-left-feet was hearing for the first time! Perhaps you like to dance, and can enlighten me some? =)

The dance floor (gym!) bursting with all the creative energy of the different grades come together, in this combined line dancing...



The finale also saw the teachers let their hair down... here's the last bit!


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Winging It!
The performance was a pleasant surprise -- I only knew two days before it, when a note came home about all the dancing that had been going on!

Winging it, Jon got the leftover* chicken wings from our previous day's reunion dinner -- as dessert after a proper dinner! I simply grilled them in the oven (these with just oyster sauce, soya sauce, and maple syrup, since they were already lightly seasoned the first time round)!



* Leftovers from a reunion dinner augur well, yah? "Every year got surplus"... hehe!

Ready, Set, SLED!

Where's mommy?

When she isn't behind hogging the camera, she tries to be the 'driving force', hehe! Not just the "schoolbus driver"... double-click on the arrow to see what I mean ;p


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Specially for Grandparents

I wasn't the only parent standing in as a guest, at the school's Grandparents' Day last Friday, so that our children wouldn't feel left out. But I wasn't really a guest, so I skipped all the welcome bit for the first hour, went and hung out with Ben and his classmates in their classroom first, until it was time for their performance.

And guess what? That's how I got my front row seat, albeit on the floor (!), but it was as close as I could get to capturing all the fun and action happening in the gym, that day!

Grandparents grooving to the beat, and gamely taking to the floor, to do The Twist!


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Like the grandpas and grandmas there, I too was floored -- impressed with how well thought out and put together the program was. The school turns 50 this year, and the theme of the event was things to do with the 195o's.

So, besides those young Chubby Checker fans among the 5th and 6th graders, including an Elvis in their midst, there were also boys and girls -- 1st graders -- donning The Cat in the Hat's red-and-white striped hat, and reciting familiar rhymes out of Dr Seuss books.

It was a nice walk down memory lane for all grandparents, too, especially those who had been there to play those games highlighted by the 3rd and 4th graders, way back when everything from Lego and hula hoops, to Barbie dolls and ant hills even, were introduced!

And specially for our boys' grandparents who understandably could not attend the event, here are snippets of

• Ben and the rest of the pre-elementary level, doing "Jesus is my rock, and He rolls away the blues..." and that cool "Bop, shoo bop, shoo bop, whooooooo!" he's got Jon and me, still singing along with him, at home!

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• Jon and the 2nd graders, making up their very own Mickey Mouse Club, with signature Mickey ears they made themselves out of construction paper!

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I would love to also post pictures I'd snapped of my boys and their friends, if only the red eye function on our camera hadn't not worked for them, as seems to be the case whenever it's a picture taken with flash. Any suggestions on how I can correct that?

But I do have a shot of Jon, Ben, and me, that another mommy helped us take, that may do for now, for me to remember that special day I was both mom and grandma rolled into one! ;p