Crazy!

The last day of school.

Josh’s last day as a Year 2 kid.

Crazy Hair Day.

Chris has been after me to give Josh a hair cut, but I held out.  Partly because I miss the floppy longish hair from his toddler years.  Partly because I wanted more to play with for his Crazy Hair Day at school. 

Josh had wanted me to put little stick-up ponytails all over his head.  He wanted hair that was “really crazy” 

…to go with crazy, silly faces like this!

Murderous Maths

You would never have caught me reading something like this.

But I am glad that Josh loves books like these.

Because the more that he is able to help himself at mathematics, the better.

I am all for whatever he can find that will help make maths more fun.

 

 

From the little that I was able to skim through, the Murderous Maths series of books engages him enough about topics that one (that would be me!) might normally find dry and boring.  The books use language that kids are able to relate to.  It has comic strips and uses aliens to illustrates points. 

 

Week after week, Josh would come home from school with a new Murderous Maths book.  This has somehow replaced his usual Star Wars book that he would bring home.  Lately, we would find ourselves being quizzed by him about square roots and other math equations.

 

Ask me now about the square root of 900 or 2025 or the cube root of 729.  My math teachers would be so proud of me now.

 

Are you a whiz with numbers or are you, like me, more of a word nerd?

Quarterly Top 5 | Apr–Jun 2012

I feel like I’ve hit the jackpot when I get good pictures of both kids together.  Sometimes one would be smiling nicely, but the other would be making silly faces (three guesses as to who this would be!).  Sometimes someone or something would walk into the picture or one of them might have her eyes closed. 

 

These pics below are my favorite pictures of the kids this quarter. 

 

1.  This was taken with my Sony TX-1o.  I love this point-and-shoot and I carry it wherever I go.   Technically we’re not allowed to take pictures at our pool… but I made sure I had a black swim suit on that day and my small camera just blended in nicely.  Sometimes silly rules are meant to be broken.

 

 

2.  Zoë was trying to lift Josh up.  I love the smiles on their faces.

 

 

3.  A totally candid moment where they  were cracking themselves up over some silly word game they were playing.  I love to hear and see them totally enjoying each other’s company.

 

 

4.  Josh loves fooling around in the pool and asking me to take pictures of him in different poses.  This one was so cool!

 

 

5.  My sweet Zoë at her Summer Concert the other night.  She hung around onstage after their number ended; the rest of her friends have already moved off to the side.  She absolutely loves being on stage and performing and you could tell she was enjoying every second of it.

 

Thank you to Sarah (Naptime Momtog), Amber (Click.Pray.Love.), and Ashley (Ramblings and Photos) for hosting this.  It gives me a chance to go through photos on a more regular basis –before it gets too overwhelming to do so.

I Sounded Like a Pig!

You just can’t help but love a little girl who can laugh at herself.

 

Zoë was upset at something and was whining and moaning.  I ignored her.  All of a sudden, she stopped and started giggling in that way that never fails to make me stop whatever I was doing and just enjoy the sweet little girl sound coming from her.

 

 

I looked at her.  She kept on laughing and giggling.  I had to ask, “What are you suddenly laughing about?”

 

 

In between giggles, she said, “I sounded like a pig when I was doing that!”

 

 

Precious.  Whatever she was whining about in the first place?  Forgotten.

 

The Creativity Project | Colors!

The Creativity Project is a monthly blog circle with a new theme each month.  This month’s theme is Colors.

 

1.  Orange – I’m starting with Orange, because it is such a happy color.  I love splashes of orange.  It makes things that are otherwise drab really come to life. 

 

 

 

2.  Brown – The new black.  I love brown with pink, brown with certain shades of green, brown with orange.

 

 

3.  Yellow – Another bright, happy color.

 

 

 

 

4.  Red – Fiery, passionate.  Such an attractive color.

 

 

 

 

5.  Green – Zen.

 

 

 

6.  Blue – Calming.

 

We were at Cityplaza (again!) on Sunday and there was a display of what I think were “eyes.”  There were rows upon rows of them –not one of them the same.  It was such a wonderful kaleidoscope of colors and absolutely perfect for this theme.  {I think it was a project to benefit Orbis.}
  

Do hop on over to Sharon’s (The Covert Lens) for more splashes of color!

(Also linking up to Parenting by Dummies for Wordless Wednesday)

*Sigh*

I’m feeling a bit guilty…

I’m feeling a bit disloyal…

You see, I’ve fallen in love…

with the camera and lens with which I took these photos.

The Canon 5D, with macro lens (100mm f/2.8).

Now I need to try out the AF Micro Nikkor 105mm f/2.8 on my D90 to see how it compares.  

{Does anyone of you have the Nikkor 105mm f/2.8?  How do you like it?}

Don’t forget to link up below with Communal Global for our Tuesday Around the World.

 

Scavenger Hunt Sunday | Shek O Beach & Big Wave Bay Edition

1. Black and White – For some reason, there were these bottles lying around at Big Wave Bay when I was there with my friend this Friday. They were begging to be photographed. There’s just something romantic about glass bottles at the beach. These two might just be my favorite photos of the week!

 

 

2.  Silly – This slipper washed up on the beach and soon we were all crowding around it.  It looked kind of pretty, kind of gross.  Like something a little child mermaid found at the bottom of the sea.  She probably started to decorate it with shells and then decided that it was too much trouble, so she let it drift back to shore.  Only those little suckers with which she decorated the slipper were alive.  You could see their little thingies sliding in and out of the shells.  Grossly fascinating.

 

 

 

3. Travel

 

 

 

4. Paper

 

 

5.  Spots – Not exactly polka dots type of spots… but this interesting whatchamacallit has markings that look like spots.  (Stretch, much?)  When I saw this guy and the thing he’s holding, I just had to stop and ask if I could take a picture of it.  He agreed and posed.  I usually have no qualms about asking people if I could take their picture.  It doesn’t hurt to ask.  The worst they could say is no.

 

At Beas River

We met up with good friends on Sunday and headed to Beas River after church.  It was slightly overcast with a prediction of rain.  On the way there, it started to drizzle and we jokingly told the kids that we should turn back.  Of course, they protested.  Loudly.   Luckily, by the time we got there, the rain had stopped. 

We went for a dip in the pool.  Zoë, much more confident now that she could swim, kept going down the slide in the smaller pool.  The same one that, almost a year ago,  she would only get on if we promised to catch her when she came down.  What’s more, she decided that she’s big girl enough to brave coming down the bigger (and faster) slide in the other pool.  …and she did –all by herself!

After lunch, the kids chilled in the play room for a bit, before deciding to go biking.

It was the first time that Josh really got to ride around with the training wheels off.  He had borrowed the bike of a friend and tried it once before, but only for a very  short distance.  This time, he just took off and went around the course as if he had been riding sans training wheels forever.  I’d always thought that we would go through learning to ride a bike like how I did –with either Chris or me running beside him, holding on to the seat of the bike, then slowly letting go once he gets the hang of it.  *Sigh*   Go, Josh, go!

Zoë, of course, not to be left out, got on a bike, too –a purple one to match her shorts and Crocs.

We had such a wonderful day spending time with great friends.  The weather cooperated.  It was lovely, actually –pleasant breeze, not too hot.  Apart from the fact that the mozzies totally feasted on me, –10 bites down one leg and seven down the other leg!  –it was a most awesome day.  Great company, a fun-filled day, and kids who, at bedtime prayers, though totally tuckered out, were so full of thankfulness for a most wonderful day.

I Heart Faces | All Boy!

You do not get any more "All Boy!" than this --

a John Woo-esque underwater move,

reminiscent of Tom Cruise’s move in Mission Impossible.

Dance Recital

I wish I could show you pictures from Zoë’s dance recital today, but we were not allowed to take any photos during the performance.  Bummer.  The children looked just adorable!

We did manage a brief shoot after the performance.  Brief, because Zoë was tired (and a bit cranky).  I’d dropped her off at the theatre at 12:30pm for the dress rehearsal and she didn’t come out until after the show was over –at 5:30pm!  The snacks that I’d packed for her (sushi and grapes) were not touched at all and she was saying that she was “so thirsty” when she came out.  Poor thing.



Nevertheless, we had a happy girl tonight.  Tired though she was, during bedtime prayers, she enumerated a long list of things that she said she was thankful for :  Being on stage, that we were there to watch her perform,  getting to wear her pretty dress and have a crown of flowers,

the pretty flowers that her friend, B, gave her…

It was a pretty special day.

Scavenger Hunt Sunday | Shine

1.  Shine – This was the scene that greeted me when I went into the room tonight:  Daddy and son reading at bedtime, sharing the light from the reading lamp. 

2.  Fast – My baby is growing up way too fast for my liking.

3.  Left – When one of Zoë’s classmates left the school, he gave out little plants to each and everyone in the class.  This was what Zoë brought home.  Pretty, no?

4.  Peace

5.  Plain – This is one of our plants at home,  I don’t know what it’s called, but I love how this tiny plant has lots of little leaves with pointy tips. No flowers, just leaves and leaves.  Quite plain, but I think it’s pretty.