Lately.

Lately, I've been praying.

Lately, I've been praising.

Lately, I've been staring.

A good life.

Still Life

Condensed Version of Merry Month of May

May was a busy yet surreal month.  I spent it

• nauseous as I ended my first trimester. In case, you missed the translation, I'M PREGNANT!  *hee* Another thanksgiving baby. 

• My mom and sister were visiting in town and we did much shopping and eating. We got to try this hip Japanese restaurant in town. It was so good I convinced my husband to make reservations for our tenth wedding anniversary. Our tenth!!!??!! I feel so old and so young. Before she left, my kind mother stocked my freezer with tons of goodies like fisherman seafood stew, beef tendon stew and roast lamb. I even have some lobster, ribeye steaks etc.... you get the drift. I'm in food heaven.

• Swim season started and we are loving it. We are nicely tanned. The girls are learning to float and blow bubbles. They love their swim instructor, a petite high school girl. The boys are both in swim team. I can't say they will be joining the Junior Olympic Team anytime soon but it's all good fun exercise.

• I've been getting my fashion fix through the blog Ain't No Mom Jeans. It's a nice reminder to take care of my appearance even though my main audience is a bunch of preschoolers. In the same vein, I bought some cute slouchy t-shirts, a few snazzy sandals to replace my 8-year-old pairs, switched out my black leather bag for my summer bling and bought new make-up. Oh yeah, I may drive a ten-seater white tank, but at least I'm stylin' in it. *winks* 

• Now that my mom has left, I've been dreaming of Asian cuisine and Rasa Malaysia is my go-to place. I cooked up a plate of Pad Thai according to her recipe and it was delish! However, since I'm still primarily craving bland food, I've been eating tons of Chinese veg simmered with cut-up fish balls and mushrooms. :) Add in an occasional steamed seafood or tofu and I'm doing alright with this pregnancy. 

• I recently discovered that my college friend has a food blog, Saucy Mommy. My kids are particularly smitten with her Bento boxes! Boiled eggs in the same of cars! Star War sandwiches! Strawberry flowers! Oh My! We are so planning a trip to our nearest Japanese goods store!

The Month in Pictures

Snapshots of Life

 A Birthday

 Fairy Wings for Christmas

Christmas at Our Cousins' Home

Wood-shop Birthday Party

Happy Birthday C!

And a random photo of the younger crew playing fruit match-up with an Eric Carle jigsaw puzzle. :)

This Week in Time

Continuing my resolution to record the highlights of the week in a simple fashion......

The local homeschool group has been super helpful is recommending medical professionals and even hair dressers! Nothing is more welcoming than an email from a stranger who says that they know the best hair dresser in town and she ain't pricy. :)

The various medical professionals the recommended above are indeed a dream. It's so reassuring to find people that you trust will give sound medical advice!

We finally sent our saints cards to Kimberlee. It wasn't completed in the expected reverent manner. More along of the lines of "My saint is the patron saint of lightening and so beats yours of gardeners....." *laughs* But we did learn our patronages pretty well through the week.

I finished reading a book! Don't get me wrong. I read plenty of books.... to the children that is. Seldom are they adult books unless you consider dipping into various cookbooks reading. The book is the The Samurai Tale by Haugaard. Ignore the fact that its audience is intended for Young Adult. *ahem* I am very much a "young adult". :p It was originally part of C's reading choices for history but a couple of pages into it, he didn't think it was suitable and I agreed. The author was accurate yet poetic in the typical treatment of a defeated samurai's family. C continue reading The Treasure Seekers by Nesbit, a much more light-hearted children's classic while I sat engrossed in sixteen-century Japan. Blaise, in typical fashion, adored The Samurai Cats by Eric Kimmel.

Good Things This Week

School is coming along so smoothly that it's sometimes boring. *laughs* What a difference from constantly worrying and changing plans. Ahhhh, blissful peace. Thank goodness we have a ton of read-alouds and crafts to look forward to!

Currently sporting a Thanksgiving theme artwork in the breakfast nook. B says that I am "very good at copying drawing books". And that, you can see, is the extent of my creativity.

Found many potential babysitters! Woo hoo! Can you say date night? Or perhaps date day?

Watched a First Lego League competition. M. and the boys are super excited and hope to form a team to compete next year. I see Lego Mindstorm set in the future.

The girls and L. play so well together. All the kids have taken imaginative play to new heights. Lots of sword-fighting, impromptu concerts and general twirling around. It seems as if their imaginations are directly related to the amount of toys I have in storage. *laughs*

Halloween

This year's theme was a medieval royal family complete with our very own fire breathing dragon!

Our Bags Are Packed

If you haven't heard by now, we are moving again. Going back to the beginning as some would say. When M. and I first started off, we had moved there. Had a baby there. And within a couple of months, we were off. And here we are again. Coming full circle.

With boxes everywhere, there's nothing to do. The kids are watching tv like it's Halloween candy. And I'm enjoying the boredom. It's been a crazy month. We did a normal school load till the bitter end when they packed the boxes. We went on many outings and dates to say good-byes to family and friends. I de-cluttered and de-cluttered. Then I spent days returning things to their rightful spot so that it would be easier to unpack.

I never did see the house other than photos M. sent me. When you move as frequently as we do, a house is just a building. We can make anything work as long as I have a dishwasher. I guess it's good training to be not materialistic. Home is about routines and people, not stuff. A couple of toddlers with black permanent markers will do that to you too. However, as time goes on, it's getting harder and harder to say goodbye to people and places. It's probably shows that I'm getting better at living in the moment instead of not bothering to try because "you just never know".

So it's like a new year here. A new place. A new beginnings. New resolutions. I'm digging out my favorite reflective book - A Mother's Rule of Life. I love its simplicity and its gentle reminder to put first things first. And essentially that is why we are moving. To put first things first. I'm drawing up simple lists when we get to the new place. Something simple with pencil and paper just to get the ball rolling. Our new routines are usually the old resolutions but with slight improvement. They are abandoned when they become automatic. They are resurrected when life gets busy and we become complacent.

The kids have been good with the move. Before we even told them the news, the older boys were already complaining that they have "lived here forever". We just told the girls today. Ce was a little concerned that we will never see our stuff again but we squared that away fairly easily. She's been chanting "Bye-bye ... See you in Daddy's new ow-se" Ca. and L. are in the mood of lots of hugs but nothing too clingy. And we are all enjoying entrees from the frozen section. :)

Personal best!

I just completed my first 10k run , shaving off 10 min from my training time! And was only 10min slower than my husband! Yeah!!! The 2mile run uphill was a brute and having my music stuck in slow-moving Glee station didn't help either! But I did it! And I'm now off to train for my next big run. I think it's high time I invest in iPod.

Beach Holiday

Florida was wonderful! We had a great time with my mom and brother. Some highlights:-

The kids were all put in camp but we did take C. and B. out for a short time every afternoon to sail. The wind was unpredictable. Some days we struggled to catch the wind. On other days, we were flying so fast that turning meant tipping over. It was hysterical as we constantly moved from one end of the boat to the other desperately trying to keep the boat stable. My poor brother flipped so many times that week and even managed to rip a sail once. Nevertheless he won first place in the sailing regatta with us last. *laughs*

The boys enjoyed the camp tremendously. They had a daily routine of circus camp, swimming, land sports - hockey, soccer, tennis etc, art and sailing. The camp counselors even took care of their meals. All the kids were excited to go to camp that they even set their alarms to be the first ones there. Even the girls have been known to fling their arms around their camp counselors in greeting.

At night, the boys and the rest of the campers put on shows for parents. One number was a circus act and the other a dance routine. It was hysterical to watch C. dance to and of course you know how well B. dances.

L. lived up to his reputation as easy-going. He took the camp in stride and was known to be a dare-devil in the kiddie pool. And of course, during dinner when we picked him up, he ate and ate. During one meal, he took down four salmon fillets, a plate of watermelon and some fish terrine. He's the chunk alright.

As for M. and I, we decided to busy ourselves with lots of sports. We took advantage of the free daily tennis lessons in the morning with my brother and even rallied together afterwards. I haven't played for fifteen years so it was nice to be on the courts again. M. humored me by joining in one spin class and one zumba session. *laughs* We drank strawberry daiquiries and pina colada by the pool. Otherwise, we went on our own. M. did some pick-up basketball and ran a couple of miles daily. I participating in pool aerobics and lots of zumba with my mother. We met a lovely family and had a great time talking with them over breakfast or lunch while the kids were in camp. Dinner was a riot with the whole family together again. Despite that, it felt so calming but I think all meals are serene because you are eating by the beach.

All-in-all a wonderful holiday!

Dressed to the Max

We went up to Chicago for a whirlwind wedding and we couldn't resist dressing everybody up since more than half of the troop were in the bridal party. Can I just say I have one good-looking husband and five adorable children? Some highlights from the trip:-

I drove eight hours up which is a first. M. was beside me on working his laptop and taking conference calls. I entertained the kids by throwing tattoo stickers at them. :)

Finding matching pair of black patented shoes are ridiculously hard after Easter. And so we settled for black matte ballet shoes only to have one pair disappeared in the ice bucket just before the wedding.

B. wowed us with his original dance moves. The kid has never seen a dance video and admitted nonchalantly that he just did whatever seemed cool. Well, cool involved a series of ninja moves, some robotics, break-dancing and some good ole' fashion moon-walking. He was even asked by some of the ladies at the party for his picture.

The girls were truly princesses that night. Their dresses were so long that whenever they had to climb a flight of stairs from the bathroom to the ballroom hall, they had to daintily lift their dresses in front of them to prevent from tripping. Potty-training them just a few weeks before the wedding results in a lot of bathroom breaks that night. And on the dance floor, they jumped and twirled till late into the night.

It was a great wedding and a great trip all round.

Smothered by Love

First Holy Communion

It's hard to explain the journey C and I shared towards his First Holy Communion. For C, he took it as a matter-of-fact - I am eight and this is what eight-year-olds do. I, on the other hand, was a little unsettled. Did I prepare him enough? Did he understand the significance of this communion? And how do I shepherd him despite my own spiritual landscape? Yet, it was C. in the end who guided the journey and I humbly followed. Through the past two years, we pondered on questions like how do we know when God speaks to us and what He is saying. How to offer our joys and suffering to Him. And how do we do what is right when we don't feel like it. And in the end, as I watch my first-born receive the Body and Blood of Christ so reverently, I too received the gift of spiritual renewal. Did not Christ ask us to come to Him as the little children do? Truly, we are all blessed.

Great-Grandmother Visits

I am honored to have my grandmother, accompanied by my father, visit us this past spring. The grand dame turns 80 years old but she can still belt out Chinese opera songs on stage. What an inspiration! Her vitality, not the opera singing. That gene skipped me. She did say my cooking improved from last year which doesn't say much but her compliment did pleased me.

Today

... We had banana pancakes for breakfast. The twins are like monkeys. No matter how high I put the bunches, they always manage to climb up to get them. And not finish them. I always have a Container of half-eaten bananas especially for this recipe. Even my banana-hating boy loves these. Don't worry. When you come and visit, I'll use new bananas especially for yah.

.... Cleaned up the garage. We are expecting a whole slew of guests this coming month. A good incentive to tackle messy projects.

.... Do you know how hard it is to find matching pairs of patent black Mary Janes?

... I literally jumped in excitement, baby in arms, at the end of today's Fringe episode. I love this show and I love how Fringe has been kck starting date night.

7 Quick Takes

1. I'm amazed at how long it has been since I last blogged. Somehow I spend more time thinking and reflecting than recording my life.

2. It's so good to have spring in the air. We cut down outside commitments and required schoolwork. There's still plenty of reading, learning and playing going on. It's just a more relaxed atmosphere.

3. We are enjoying Hands-On Science Mysteries by James Taris. Just the other day, we made clouds of fire shoot out of our mouths or ends of a straw depending on your perspective. B. thinks I'm the coolest mom ever.

4. I've been reflecting on Collative Learning. It gives structure to my Montessori-inspired observations. On the same note, I'm enjoying re-reading my Well-Trained Mind book.

5. I'm also enjoying reading the Introvert Advantage. It really is a great read and gives me some coping mechanisms when I'm surrounded by a bunch of fun-loving and very extroverted kids for seemingly long periods of time. :) Just in case you didn't know, simplistically being introvert refers to your need to alone time and your aversion to too much outside stimuli.

6. Things I'm looking forward to: my husband returning home, upcoming homeschool conference, books from library and the beach.

7. The baby has finally perfected the army-crawl. Oh the joys of undiscovered territories.