Fish Craft

I haven't been doing any art and craft with Elizabeth for quite a long time until recently she pleaded with me many times to do one with her. She sounded like a broken record, repeating non stop every few minutes, I had to relent in the end for my own sanity. So while Joseph was having his afternoon nap, we did a fish craft together. It's pretty easy and I got the idea from Disney Junior's website and improvised a little.

You need felts. I didn't have enough felt for the fins and spots so I used foam paper for that. Draw the fish, lips, fins and spots.

Fold the purple felt to cut two fish shapes. Cut the rest too.

Place some cotton wool on one of the fish shape.

Carefully put the fins and lips at the correct part of the fish shape. Apply glue on the other fish shape and stick the two fish shape together (with the cotton wool, fins and lips in between).

Then apply glue on all the spots and stick on both sides of the fish's body.

Lastly, glue two wiggly eyes on each side of the fish. Poke a hole on the upper fin to put a ribbon through and tie a knot to it. Wala! You have a fish to carry or hang it around. See my girl so happy to finally do a craft. It's been so long.



Lazy Sunday?

It was suppose to be a lazy Sunday but we ended up

...going to the Bukit Jalil Park in the morning to have a picnic and walk.

All set and excited to go to the park and ride her tricycle.

We found a shady spot and start digging our breakfast. Bread with butter and cheese for Elizabeth, please.

We had bread with ham, cheese, butter and fried eggs.



Joseph only ate a little of cheese and yakult because he was interested in something else!



The 'picnic basket'. Is that a huge camera lense? I'm not that pro lar. It's actually a water tumbler to fill my hubby's coffee.

The terror was only interested with climbing..

..cycling

..more cycling

..walking

..running

..exploring

..and pushing!

Going for a little exploring with papa to the stream.

..doing arts and craft in the afternoon at home.

Joseph doing some free hand drawing.

Elizabeth working on her craft.

Elizabeth happy with her finished giraffe. Got the idea from Merryn's website. Thanks Merryn!

..playing with lanterns at night.

Very apt suit with the lantern eh?

Elizabeth with a fish lantern.

Elizabeth with another rabbit lantern.

Then this caught the childrens' attention.

Poor lanterns were left neglected. They didn't want to go back so I told them they would have to once the candle burnt out.

Like I said, it was suppose to be a lazy Sunday but we ended up having a fun-filled day. Come to think of it, there is seldom a lazy Sunday for us!

What about you? How was your Sunday?

Not So Delicious

I have never been so insulted before! Maybe yes but I couldn't remember it. But this latest incident made an impression on me. I'll let you know why later but first the story must have an intro first before leading to that part.

Not wanting to miss out on the Christmas decor at the malls, we went to Mid Valley last Sunday. It's also to settle my Christmas shopping. Going to the shopping malls is not an easy feat especially when you have two kids in tow. Oh and also when you have a "very big kid" too. :P

No. 1 - A lot of preparation needs to be done before starting our journey like preparing Joseph's porridge, packing the baby bag, getting them dressed, etc.

No. 2 - Lugging so many things along like the baby bag, food jar, water tumbler and baby stroller. It's like going on a mini road trip.

No. 3 - Handling kids itself is already very challenging. We have to put up to their tantrums, needs and demands. We even have to keep a close eye on them.

No. 4 - You have to multitask between shopping and taking care of your kids. This even includes the "very big kid". He will get grumpy if the shopping takes hours and the kids are starting to give him headache. Then he will start rushing me to finish my shopping which I really hate it when that happens.

Little kid telling that this is his favourite show, Big kid just woke up.

Nevertheless, no matter how challenging a shopping trip may be, it will not stop me from going shopping with my family especially for my kid's sake. Part of the reason to go shopping last Sunday was for my kids and also of course to do my Christmas shopping.

Big kid giving little kid a peck before leaving to brush his teeth

The shopping malls not only decorate extensively but also provide an array of activities for children and family. So as a mum who tries to give everything I can to my children, I participated in some of the activities. Looking at all the decorations made my children happy and in awe. Not only that, we even bought tickets for a photo session with Santa Clause and the proceeds from the ticket sales will be donated to charity. We went through the long queue just to have a photo session with Santa Clause and his Santarina. Don't play play, the Santa Clause is imported ok? :P Elizabeth was so excited to take the photo and she told me, "Mummy, I will sit on Santa Clause's lap, I'm not shy". By the time it was our turn, Joseph was already asleep. It was a great family photo only without Joseph. That was my only regret. Sigh.

Elizabeth with a very giant teddy bear

The decorations at the Centre Court in Mid Valley

The photo without Joseph. Sorry baby!

Then we walked about and stumbled upon some kids workshop. Elizabeth was attracted to this clay workshop and so I allowed her to make something for herself. There was a choice between doing a bookmark and a candy bottle. She chose the candy bottle because I guess it was more attractive than the bookmark. The workshop costed rm48 to do the candy bottle deco with clay. I must say that she did enjoy herself playing with clay. It was worth it to see her happy to the brim.

So concentrating on making holes on the strawberry. Can you see Joseph sleeping?

Look at the oh-so-serious face

The teacher telling her where to poke

More strawberries to poke

Now for some snowballs on the strawberries

The nearly finished product. Now to complete it with sweet inside the bottle and a ribbon.

The happy girl with her effort. That curled thing on the biggest strawberry is for putting photographs.

Elizabeth with the final product - candy bottle complete with candies inside and ribbon around the cover.

And all this while, he was fast asleep.



Ok, the not-so-delicious part now. After wandering around not knowing what to have for lunch, we went to Delicious to have our lunch. This is my first time there, so I don't know how big is the usual crowd there but I'm guessing it must be quite popular. We had to wait to be seated. I can understand that considering the crowd but when we had a seat already, the manager was quite slow in clearing up the table. The waiters doesn't seem friendly and have like a couldn't-care-less attitude. So we ordered and naturally the food took quite some time to make its appearance also. Then Joseph woke up from his sleep. He started to make a racket. He didn't want to have his porridge after seeing our food. He wanted to play with the utensils and the glass. When I stopped him, he threw his tantrum. I don't see any patrons in the restaurant giving me the dirty look. So I took it as they didn't mind the noise. But guess who didn't like the noise? The manager! He came whispering to my husband and my husband took Joseph out. I'm like what the...? We haven't even finished our food and dessert wasn't serve yet. I was so humiliated I asked for the bill. They didn't even take out the banana pudding in the bill since they haven't even serve it! It's bad enough to chase us out but waiting for the amended bill also take ages. They can't see my black face is it? My husband is already outside trying hard to calm the poor boy down who was screaming for me. Elizabeth was already in need to head for the washroom. And they still take their own sweet time to bring me the bill. It's bad enough to chase us out without us finishing our meal and also to chase us even though no one's complaining but to be so slow in service? I wonder who's at fault here. I know I've mentioned in this previous post that we might be thrown out of an eatery if he continues to be like that but I don't mean it literally! Never expected it would happen one day. I'm pretty sure that manager is heartless or he doesn't have kids yet. Pity him. He'll understand one day. Meantime, I banned you Delicious in Mid Valley. Blerrkk. How dare you treat my boy like that.

Anyway, for those of you who wants to be mesmerised by the Christmas decorations, Mid Valley is one of the places to go. It's better than KLCC's Christmas decoration. Christmas feeling is in the air and is coming very soon. I better finish my Christmas shopping fast. Cheers!



Shopping trip wouldn't be complete without a go on these rides.

Two smiling kiddos

My sweetie pie princess

My cutie pie prince



Lazy holiday

Yipee! It's a public holiday. The day started with an early bird who never wants to miss catching the worm and never gives me chance to catch extra 40 winks.

He woke up early because he pooped in his diaper, so I had to bathed him. After his bath, I wrapped him up in his towel and he roamed around the house.

Come here you, Joseph!

Lost balance and ended up lying on the floor.

It was quite a slow day. Doing my mother duties like bathing the kids, boiling his porridge, feeding the kids, putting them to nap, you know the usual mother stuff.

For now, Joseph still nap twice a day most of the time. On naughty and hyperactive days he naps once. :D Too much distraction that prevented him from getting his beauty sleep.

So what did I do with big sister when little brother was having his morning nap? I did craft with her and let her do some painting by herself.

Thanks to Merryn's craft blog, I got this idea from her and tried it out with Elizabeth. You can get the steps from there and do it with your little ones too.

Can you spot the Red Elephant?

A closer look. Isn't it cute?

The little artist

She's quite an abstract artist, isn't she?

We went to the Bukit Jalil park in the evening but too bad I left my camera at home and had to resort to my camera phone. Only took some pictures of the kids after feeding the fishes in the pond. It's an ideal holiday for my husband. A day without having to go shopping. :P

We just let them run and run on the grass

And run and run they did