Homemade Mountain Glitter Globes

We were learning about mountains last week, and the Bees understood how mountains were formed by using clay pieces. We simulated tectonic plates pushing into each other by using "clay continents", slowing pushing 2 continent clay pieces together so that the edges buckle and squish up into mountains. 

We bought a brand of clay that was exceedingly soft, so it was rather hard to create big strong mountains just by pushing 2 continent pieces together, so the Bees had to mould their mountains a fair bit thereafter. 

We then let the mountains dry before painting them. Through this process, we learned about the shapes and structure of young and old mountains. Big Bee created narrow, jagged mountains with rounded peaks, whereas Little Bee created rather undulating, broader mountains with sharp peaks! 

Big Bee's mountains on the left; Little Bee's mountains on the right

The painting allows us to talk about snow-capped mountains and how mountains changes colours with the seasons. We also learned about snow mountains (arctic mountains), stony mountains (grey slate and all) and green rolling hills and mountains (their favourite!). 

Big Bee's painted mountains

Little Bee's painted mountains

When the clay hardened, we decided to create homemade mountain glitter globes by sticking the mountains onto the caps of glass jars. 

We then filled the glass jars with water, and the Bees were excitedly sprinkling glitter in the shapes of sun, stars and moon into the glass jars to emulate the atmosphere around mountains and demonstrate how close mountains are to celestial beings. 

Big Bee's jar

Little Bee's jar. She also learned about sinking and floating concepts of lighter and heavier objects in the process.

However, this craft turned out to be a disaster because 1) our acrylic paint was not water-proof, despite what the package stated, and 2) our clay - although hardened - was disintegrating gradually in the glass jars, resulting in a murky glitter globe! I took the opportunity of a cloudy jar to explain the concept of snowstorms swirling around a mountain! 

Big Bee's mountain glitter globe!

Little Bee's mountain glitter globe!

The Bees, albeit disappointed, were laughing alongside me as we embarked on a couple of rescue missions to rectify our mountain glitter globes, to no avail. 

But the spirit of endeavour permeated our house that evening, as we gamely destroyed our crafts despite working on it over a few evenings. The Bees were great sports about this, and we used this opportunity to learn about the concept of impermanence, where we created an object of pride and beauty in one moment, and eradicating it with mirthfulness in another moment. I was glad they were laughing through this entire process :)

Big Bee wrote a rather hilarious account of our craft in her blog here. Enjoy reading! 

Her Ambition

Little Bee has always been highly expressive and articulate, with strong EQ (emotional intelligence) skills. She is also an enthusiastic kinesthetic learner with keen interest in dancing and singing all day long at home :) 

Which was why it came as no surprise when she wrote that she aspires to be a singer and dancer in a recent piece of schoolwork. She aptly drew herself performing on stage with a beaming row of stagelights!  

She loves pirouetting and prancing around the house in her ballerina shoes and ballet skirt. Or strumming her little pink guitar, one minute crooning like an Italian serenader, another minute prancing around like a little rock star.

In school, she revels in regular assembly performances, always eager to present her best on stage and never displaying any semblance of stage fright. 

In a recent Book Week in school, she dressed up as her favourite book character, Belle, from Beauty and The Beast, and brought the book along to school. Her teacher was chuckling as she was relating to me how Little Bee was describing the story of Belle's life through a first-person account, with the teacher addressing Little Bee as Belle. During the Book Parade, she was strutting without diffidence on stage, breathing the role of Belle with true conviction!

Little Bee with her friends in school during Book Parade. Her teacher is dressed as Elmo beside her! Little Bee's sunny disposition usually means she has no qualms about hugging or cosying up with teachers, chatting with them and expressing her affection for them.

She certainly brightens up our lives with her brilliant showgirlship! :) 

Halfway Point

I cannot believe that Big Bee is now at the halfway point of her primary school life. At primary 3, she is now considered one of the bigger kids in school and the P3 kids are expected to be very independent and settled into school life by now. It wasn't an easy odyssey for children to assimilate into the challenges of primary school from their warm and cosy kindergartens, but it is a journey that all kids have to trudge through, no matter what. 

One of the fundamental ways that primary school children can enjoy a typically rigorous and demanding school life would be to immerse them in non-academic school activities. And as parents, we should endeavour to participate alongside them as often as possible. 

Through intensive participation, I strongly believe that our kids would create an indelible bond with their primary schools, and not merely associate their school lives with pure studies. I heard of parents who worry that extensive participation in non-academic activities might eat into precious study time, but I think CCAs and representing the school in some activities are wonderful platforms to cultivate multi-dimensional children, nurturing their social and leadership skills. 

Hence, I keenly encourage Big Bee to participate in school activities enthusiastically. She is now in the school performing dance team, and was recently chosen as the only primary 3 ballet student to perform in a concert, together with other bigger girls. She also plays tennis in school on a recreational basis, and I am heartened that her school organises many non-academic activities for the parents to bond with the children in school. 

Some of the recent activities in the post-exam hustle and bustle include:

1) Zany Brainy Day

This was a day in which parents took over the entire management of the school, so that teachers can all take a well-deserved break right after the mid-year exams. Parents planned a full day of fun and games for all the students, and it was generally a convivial, noisy, hot but memorable affair!

I had been volunteering as a parent helper in this event since she was in primary one, and had been a "class teacher" and a "games judge" in previous years. This year, I was arrowed to be a "dance parent" where we had to guide the kids to dance a little K-pop routine! We even had to attend a dance practice the night before, and then danced our hearts out during the event, so the kids could be motivated! It was truly fun and exhilarating!

Such events also allowed me to network with other parents, so we could exchange notes on the fierce P3 teachers (!!), homework, exams, tuition, CCAs and other idle gossips :)

More importantly, I also had the good opportunity to know Big Bee's friends better through such activities. A lot of them treated me amiably as I tried to be as crazy as these 9-year-old kids. It was evident Big Bee was secretly pleased, with her wide Cheshire Cat grins whenever her friends teased me. 

2) P3 Musical Extravaganza

Last Thursday, the P3 kids in Big Bee's school put up a musical for all the parents. I went early to help the children dress up in their glittery, glamorous outfits and to put on make-up for them, although I noticed that girls this age are already interested and capable of putting on make-up themselves! 

It was great fun having dinner with them, and changing them up in the dressing rooms. And even funner joking with Big Bee's sprightly friends again. 

The colourful stage actors!

After the kids were transformed into dazzling stage actors, I joined Hubby, my mum and Little Bee for a buffet dinner held in school, whilst networking with other parents. I love such opportunities for parent networking!

We were all aptly impressed and very awed by the quality of the musical performed entirely by the whole P3 cohort. There were 6 acts, and 2 extra performances by students from an Indian primary school here on exchange (who looked so sweet and tiny!). Throughout the 2-hour musical, the students sang and dance just like a Broadway or West End musical - very captivating indeed! 

Big Bee was a singing mouse...hmm....

I am very glad that Little Bee would be embarking on this independent journey like Big Bee, who is beginning to have a significant social life of her own now. 

Little Bee was very inspired by the musical! 

And yet, I wish to be by their sides whenever they need me, ubiquitous and supportive, but not obtrusive. 

Baking For Dummies...

...and I am that dummy! We have no oven at home (and no microwave nor toaster too), and I had only baked once at a friend's house ages ago, way before I became a mom - using Betty Crocker's no-sweat recipe, no less - and I remembered Hubby being truly surprised and somewhat bewildered then!

But my Bees are a lot more domesticated and feminine than me, and they had been persuading me to do some baking with them. So, I got my hands on a no-bake Oreo cheesecake package from the supermarket, and started work with them last Sunday morning - to their utmost delight!

Another reason why I don't bake is because I limit the Bees' intake of sweet stuff, and I always ask my baking friends what they did to the delicacies they baked! True enough, we still have some of these Oreo sweetcakes in my freezer now, almost a week after our baking adventure.

The Bees were extremely excited at the start of the session, and it was hilarious looking at their bound-up energy. I was the "baking teacher", calling out the instructions from the package, and the Bees were diligently performing the required tasks. 

Step 1: Lay out the tray with paper muffin cups (Little Bee's task) and mix cookie crust with melted margarine (Big Bee's task).

 

Step 2: Press the cookie crust onto the bottom of the muffin cups to create a firm Oreo cupcake base. This is where the Bees demonstrated teamwork at their best!

Step 3: Pour mix and milk into a bowl and whip it until dense and creamy. Instructions was given on the package to use an electric blender for precisely 4 minutes. However, without any baking appliances at home, we did it the old-fashioned way with a manual whip. The Bees and I took turns whipping the mix for almost 10 minutes (with me doing much of it, of course!) and the mix turned out beautiful and creamy. 

Step 4: Pour Oreo cookie bits into the creamy mixture and blend well. 

Step 5: Fill muffin cups with mix. Again, the Bees demonstrated very agreeable teamwork here. 

Step 6: Decorate the cupmix with Oreo cookie bits. The Bees tried decorating the mix with their initials, if you can spot those!

Step 7: Put in freezer for 2 hours and time to enjoy!! :)

The whole process took less than 40 minutes, and could be done completely by the Bees with a little help from me. I would say this would be a wonderful, fuss-free playdate or party activity for kids! 

And the verdict? The Bees (and Hubby and me!) loved the uber-sweet Oreo "ice-cream cupcakes"! 

Post-Exam Laissez Faire

The Bees had a glorious day of crazy chuckles, hysterical squeals and exuberant cheering on Sunday - reunited with their good buddies Eugene and Claire. After a long hiatus during the school term when the 3 primary school kids were busy with schoolwork, they had complete licence to do whatever they wanted on Sunday - a true blue laissez faire day :)



We met in the morning for breakfast and hung around the entire day till late afternoon, letting the kids indulge in activities like poolside catching, arcade games, hide-and-seek in shopping centres and an exciting game of bowling for the 3 big kids (with the hubbies engaging in 2 games too!).




The final scores between the 3 kids

The big kids were acting rather rambunctiously with raucous exclamations and remarks, and Little Bee was beginning to be accepted more readily into the group, as she is becoming more like a big kid herself! Which led to the adults chatting more easily and relaxing more, compared to days of yore!

Am certainly looking forward to the post-exams liberty and exhilaration of the June holidays, and am planning more activities with the Bees and their friends soon!

Up, Up And Away!

I had merged homelearning into 2 related themes this half of the year - and enjoying myself tremendously! We are currently learning about earth sciences and space, and almost all the activities are integrated together.

However, with a busy travelling schedule in April (2 trips to China!) and more intensive revision for Big Bee's much tougher primary 3 work, I did not manage to do much craftwork, and am using this post-exam, post-work travels period to catch up on lost time.

Here is a rocket that Little Bee created using a multitude of materials, from aluminium foil to crepe paper to construction and coloured paper! This craft was created after we read some books on astronauts and walking on the moon, as well as space exploration to Mars. She drew craters on the moon, but these were not apparent after I took the photo. Very easy craft to make - we did this within 45 minutes (much of the time was due to the scrunching and pasting of the aluminium foil).

When 2 Flower Girls Meet A Lion

Last weekend was an exciting and busy one for our little family. The Bees were flower girls for Hubby's cousin's wedding on Saturday, and we went to watch The Lion King musical on Sunday!

The entire wedding day was truly beautiful, and the wedding ceremony in a resplendent Catholic church was solemn but sacred. Shy Big Bee was rather nervous the night before about her role as a flower girl, and Little Bee was so eager to doll up as usual. Both of them were hopping about with zeal and anticipation when the time came in the morning to dress both of them up. Girls indeed!


The girls walking calmly into the church for the ceremony, just before the bride

True enough, I think they looked exquisite. I deliberately sourced for 2 identical dresses, and I beamed with pride and joy whenever they ambled gracefully in the church. They were joined by their young aunt Brianna, and the 3 girls were so eagerly catching up with each other - just like snowy white angels.


With young Aunt Brianna, who is only a year older than Big Bee

The ceremony rekindled the sacrosanct meaning of marriage to Hubby and I again. Years ago, before we were married, we underwent a marriage preparation course together, and even then, we were still bewildered by the many challenges of marriage and the adjustments in different stages of our relationship and life. We had undergone many upheavals and had vowed many times not to take our special relationship for granted. And as all married couples know, it is very much easier said than done, and a lot of mental and communication work is needed to seal the foundation of a happy life-long marriage.


A very precious photo with the Bees' great-grandmother!

The wedding dinner was one of the more enjoyable ones I had ever attended, with plenty of friends coming on stage to perform and sing for the couple - what a night! Even the Bees' great-grandmother sang a wonderful Cantonese hymn to the couple, bringing tears to the bride and her mum. During several moments, even the typical cynical me had tears brimming just below the surface of my usually dry eyes. Weddings never fail to strum a few strings at our hearts indeed!


Feeling a little fatigued but still dolled up for the wedding dinner :)

The Bees enjoyed themselves thoroughly - being dolled up like angels in the morning and evening, gorging on yummy food incessantly, being fussed upon by doting grandparents and other relatives, catching up with their young aunt Brianna (who is more of a friend than aunt!) and staying up way past their bedtime!


Snuggling cosily in their white furry shrugs that they love!


Big Bee spent the entire night chatting mirthfully with Brianna, who was such a great companion for her

The following day was their much-awaited The Lion King musical. Throughout the entire musical, they were entranced by the captivating songs and brilliant cast. They particularly loved the opening scene and were mesmerised by the talented younger actors. Throughout the show, they were glued to their seats, eyes wide, mouths agape, much to the amusement of Hubby and I who were busy sneaking glances at them.


With the stage backdrop of The Lion King behind them during the intermission

The end of mid-year exams. The start of carefree fun and activities. Life is looking good this part of the year indeed :)

Liberation

Now that Big Bee's mid-year exams are over, we can start indulging in lazy weekends and leisurely evenings. We can revert back to fun activities like badminton, table tennis, tennis, cycling and bowling!





I had been trying to introduce more outdoor play for them, so they can learn about the marvelous Mother Earth around them and to adapt to a non-airconditioned environment. More importantly, outdoor play helps to keep myopia at bay. Already, Big Bee is now slightly short-sighted at 50 degrees for both eyes, but I am resisting glasses for now. I guess it is hard to avoid, given her voracious reading appetite.



But for now, plenty of play, huge doses of greenery and an abundance of fresh air!

Chronicles Of Our Lives

I had been writing journals faithfully since 11. I have boxes of diaries stashed in hidden corners of my home. Once in a blue moon, I might take out a few to read, resulting in whimsical laughter and bittersweet nostalgia whenever I re-discover my thoughts and feelings at different stages of my life - from a naive child to a rebellious teenager to an inquisitive undergraduate and finally to accounts of my travels around the world with Hubby. 

I stopped writing shortly after I became a mother to Big Bee, probably overwhelmed by the busy life of motherhood! But I restarted my journals shortly after Little Bee was born. 

As such, I was able to remember the little exquisite details of my life, and I thought these diaries would be a nice keepsake for my Bees when they are all grown up and I had passed on from this world. 

Hence, journal writing is something that I encourage fervently in my girls, so that they maintain a beautiful record of their lives to re-live exhilarating or sad moments. I thought it gives a good balance to our perspectives throughout life if we can sometimes look back and reflect. 

Therefore, Big Bee started her first diary at the age of 5 - right on her 5th birthday! And she had been steadily writing since then. 

Little Bee just started her very first kiddy journal in March, when she was 4.25 years old :) 

Here are some of their entries from their first diaries (and I added in mine too!). All unedited, so pardon the bad English (especially mine!). 

Our first diaries

Big Bee

28 April 2007 (5 years old)

I went to Siloso Beach Resort at Sentosa. When I reached the hotel, I keep jumping on the bed.

4 November 2007 (5.5 years old)

Today I went to Gallop Stable and my horse's name is Charlie. I love horse riding. I went to Gallop Stable to learn how to ride horses. I was very happy because the horse was trotting. 

Little Bee

13 April 2011 (4.3 years old)

I went to Changi Airport for my field trip. I took the sky train.

29 April 2011 (4.3 years old)

I went to school for our Book Parade. I wore a princess dress. 

Me

3 January 1984 

Today is the first day of school. I'm in the afternoon session this year. Mr Lim is our form teacher. At my class, I sat with Serena. Today at school, Mr Lim gave us a Science quiz. Our group won. The second group has a naughty boy who talked aloud. Once, today, he even wrote a love letter to Jenny Lim. Recess, I ate Mee Soto and an ice-cream. After school, I went home alone. My watch has spoilt. I was in a hurry home for I had to learn drawing at 7pm. It's already half past six when I came home. I ate my dinner quickly and then changed my uniform and went to draw with my brother. Mum brought us there. Our class has quite a lot of new boys and girls. The old members drew not the same as them. And I've got 79 for my drawing. 

Beauty In Glass

Hubby bought this breathtaking glass chess set on Saturday, much to the Bees' delight. I guess we should be seeing a lot more sparring chess sessions between the girls and us from now on (perhaps not Little Bee yet!). 

On another note, the Bees (even Hubby and myself!) had been highly intrigued and captivated by this game that I bought last month. It comes in a handy case that we could bring around with us, especially on holidays, and is a wonderful game for family bonding. The game apparently enhances strong logical and analytical thinking in children, hones mathematical and geometrical concepts as well as strengthens perseverance and concentration. It is an excellent nanny for the girls, being able to engage and occupy them for a long time. The Bees love it, and so do we! 

A Spellbinding Party For An Extraordinary Girl

Magic. Fantasy. Animals. Friends. Laughter. Squeals. Excitement.

That was how we celebrated Big Bee's 9th birthday party - together with 20 boisterous, articulate and very bold classmates and good friends, 2 little cousins (Val and Chloe), her grandparents and us. 

We had both been planning this party for a while, exploring different party options and discussing what she wanted. Being an opinionated young lady who always knows what she wants, she highlighted that she wanted to invite this particular magician whom we had seen performing last Christmas. Although she was usually quite the skeptic and cynic, even she was amazed by his feats when she witnessed his performance last year. I remembered we discussed his mind-blowing tricks for days on end thereafter. Furthermore, his magic shows incorporated a lot of little cute animals - all unharmed and pretty happy - so Big Bee was even more impressed. 

So, it was a simple magical party that she wanted - with her best friend, very good friends from kindergarten and close P3 classmates. The guest list was drawn up by her, invitations were extended by her to all her friends, rsvps were collected by her and doorgifts were meticulously selected by her. Organising a birthday party for a big kid is indeed easy for the parents :) 

On the day of her birthday, she was beside herself with excitement. Soon enough, all her friends streamed in and I had never seen another bunch of more outspoken and precocious young ladies! It was a drop-off party, so there were only 2 parents around - and maybe that explained why the girls were so rambunctious and uproarious!? Throughout the party, I had to calm a few of the more assertive ones, especially when they were over-zealous during the magic show! 

After some truly active free play amongst themselves, the magic show started with 30 minutes of magic workshop which I thought was rather dull, but Big Bee assured me that her friends loved it as they could learn magic tricks. The workshop was rather interactive, with the girls coming up to conduct magic tricks, but I found the poor assistant magician being overwhelmed by some rather domineering girls! 

When the main magic show started, the atmosphere was sizzling with stunned and fascinated girls with gaping mouths and stupefied gasps. There were advanced tricks with fire, lights, animals and many others that we found impossible to break his code! All the guests, including the adults, were awed. After the party, Big Bee told me some of the girls were slightly frightened of the magician Joe, because they are worried that he might change them into animals!

Joe the magician put up a magnificent 2-hour show for us, inclusive of a cake-cutting finale, as well as an individual photoshoot of all the guests with the 3 main animals - a cute furry bunny which all the girls absolutely adored, a sunny canary and a snowy white dove. His magic show was also highly interactive, where the whole family and most of her friends had the chance to help perform some tricks on stage too. 

The highlights were undoubtedly the photoshoot and the fact that the kids can pet the animals and play with them. Joe had 2 assistants with him, and they were all absolutely friendly and chummy with the kids too. I really appreciated them hosting Big Bee's party, and she certainly enjoyed herself to the maximum. 

Gradually, as with all fun parties, guests gradually streamed home, but Big Bee continued her party with 2 of her best friends Rachael and Lizzie in our home, playing and yakking merrily all the way till 6.30pm!

From her cheery grins and animated chatting, I could tell she was blithe and delighted. Happy 9th birthday, my darling Big Bee. You will forever be my baby, despite the fact that you are fast reaching my height!

You can read about her own account of this party in her blog here :)

The World According To Kids

On politics

Politics 101, from the eyes of the Bees:

Me to Little Bee: Do you want to vote for the party with the lightning or the sun? (We passed by 2 campaign posters placed adjacent to each other)

Little Bee (examining both posters closely): I want the sun, because there is a woman in that team. The lightning team has no woman... *then she frowned in displeasure*

Me: ......

Me to Big Bee on another occasion: Who do you think you will vote for, if you can vote?

Big Bee: Oh! I am voting for the man whose face appears on our dollar bills!

Me: Oh - he is Yusof Ishak, Singapore's first President....and he is long dead!

Big Bee: ......

A friend told me Little Bee will be a future feminist, whereas Big Bee will be a future capitalist! How hilarious!

On health issues

Big Bee had a sudden bout of pretty high fever last night (38.8 degrees), just 2 days before her mid year exams, much to the chagrin and anxiety of Hubby and me. 

Thankfully, she woke up this morning with no fever, but I could foretell the onset of a similar bacteria infection that taunted Little Bee and me for the past fortnight could be prodding Big Bee insidiously, hence I was mothering her quite a far bit today. 

Being the usual independent big girl that she is, she asked me to calm down, exclaiming, "Mummy! I am alright now! Last night, the germs were only passing through my body! They had now marched on from my body and had passed through already! So I am alright now!" 

Hubby and I were absolutely tickled by her analogy! 

One of the greatest joys of parenthood is truly being able to see the world with rose-tinted glasses, through such innocent and naive perspectives of our children!