Toys: Transformation fun

Activity of the day: Reorganising the Transformers' display cabinet.

Boy used to have trouble transforming all his robots, so this was a challenge for him to convert all his troops into vehicles.

Because presentation is key ...

Selfie: Posing with his figurines

Jottings: Birthday greetings

Hv been blessed with many hugz, well wishes, dinners, cakes and thoughtful prezzies from loved ones this past birthday. But I especially love these gifts by my babies :-)

Toys: A Place for Everything Lego

Have been busy spring cleaning and finally found a place to store the kids' Lego sets — I figured since they cost so much, should keep them nicely for the cucu-cicit.

What I like most are the little drawer-like boxes — it's packaging for some health supplements, and I had a few lying around. It's very handy to sort the loose pieces and easy to move around.

Also I had an Ikea photo frame that had its glass broken. I removed the glass and used the reverse side as a Lego tray. That way, whether they are playing on the floor or table, any time we need to go out, they can move all the little pieces to a safe place immediately.

Garden: Back to the Garden

After the haze had passed, one of the biggest treats was to be able to venture outdoors and enjoy time in the garden again.

I got a new weedtrimmer as our garden's grass seems to be quite flat in the centre but long on the sides. Was quite fun working on the lawn in the morning. Take a bit of getting used to, and I have some bare patches as badges of honour.

Before and After ... note the botak spots near the wall

Also revived some of my faded garden furniture with a combination of canola oil+vinegar. There are still some patchy colours, but it definitely has been given a new lease of life.

Before and After

Art: Cabinets in disguise

I was out for the evening and wondered what mischief the kiddos would be up to.

Was pleasantly surprised when I returned to see them taking the initiative to decorate their storage boxes with stickers on their own.

Colour me impressed!

Motor Skills: Developing fast

Baby's coming along nicely with his colouring. More detail, more diversity with colours, and more careful with keeping within the lines.All these after I've "given up" in pushing him to do his schoolwork.

Evolution of Baby's colouring work at 3yo

He even started drawing stuff on his own accord.

"Look Mummy! A bug!"

Garden: Down to Earth

I had the chance to attend a gardening talk, The Edible Urban Garden, organised by the Ibu Family Resource Group recently that reinvigorated my desire to become more down to earth despite my lack of success with gardening.

First order of business was to plant my "door gifts" from the talk, which included a pineapple crown and a newly sprouted ginger.

I also transplanted some of the herb cuttings from a friend's plant. It's pretty exciting seeing roots sprout from a cutting in the water for the first time! Unfortunately only one cutting seems to be surviving, but it's a good first step.

I had an orange seedling that sprouted from some of the seeds that got thrown into the compost heap. The plant is surviving, but something seems to be gnawing at the leaves :-(

A nice surprise is this papaya seedling. I doubt it'd grow big enough to bear fruits but we're keeping it there for now.

Party: Fourth of July

We had an American house guest who was feeling a little homesick, so we thought one way to cheer her up was to throw an American 4th of July party!

So we went all red, white and blue, with a whole Independence Day picnic set-up, with hot dogs, fries, chips and lots more yummy food. It was thrown together at the last minute, but I think it turned out well, and everyone enjoyed themselves.

Brownie cake and Blue Bunny ice-cream!

Topping the night of with sparklers
— our substitute for 4th of July fireworks