Still life drawing: Sunflowers

When I came home from work yesterday, I was greeted with a "Mama, see MY sunflowers!?!"

=.="

His sunflowers. Like he did anything besides throwing compost everywhere.

I was actually super excited too. The first plant that survived...woohoo!

Everything else I'd planted from seedlings died...unintentionally, of course.

This time I told our kakak, "Jaga baik baik, ok. Kalau mati saya nangis."

(Take care properly. If die again, I will cry)

Bless my helper.

 

So pretty :)

 

Since we are learning about flowers, I suggested a drawing session.

We used Buncho oil pastel for this project.

They are Tiger's fav art material at the moment.

Here he was contemplating, as usual. Followed by: I cannot, this is hard.

I am so used to his pessimism/perfectionism, I just brush them aside effortlessly.

JUST TRY, will be my usual respond.

  

This artist went to work without asking. 

She walked around the whole night with her work, admiring it. 

"Whoa, nice"

"Pweeeti"

No shame, this one.

 

Focus level: 2 out of 10

She went from painting to cycling after one minute.

I hope she chooses to be someone amazing, like an adventurer or environmentalist.

Something that we normal people only dare to dream of.
She would suck at being anything confined to a cubicle...hihi...pity her future husband.

Her focus level is as good as mine...the way I digress, I apologize.

What was it I was...ohhh, sunflowers...

Tiger started of with a simple outline.

 I took a picture with my phone and zoomed in to see the details.

So cool, right?

How did people live before technology?

 We added some glitter because mama's cool like that

For some reason, this is my fav piece thus far.

In 20 years, he may produce a Van Gogh, like this!

A mother can dream :)

This was more enjoyable and simpler than I thought.

Next time, Cezanne-inspired?

Disclaimer:

I helped Tiger with the leaves outline, the rest is all his work.

Pretend play: Camping

I bought a tent and tunnel set ages ago from ToyRus because you know, I wanted the kids to experience camping without the risk of contracting leptospirosis, dengue, etc.

picture from walmart.com

Ours is something like the picture above, just slightly more cheapskate in quality and blue/orange.
The two things I have always wanted to do as a kid (besides going to Disneyland) was camping and flying a kite.

"Just camp in the garden laaaa," Those were my exact words to hubs while I was paying with a stupid grin. Hubby just walked away. I turned to my son and said "Tiger, we are going camping!!" He gave me a blank look. MIL started her 'buying rubbish' lecture and I turned on selective-deafness mode.

Truth be told, it was quite rubbish :p
The plastic bent after some usual rough play by some kids. So, my advise is, if you are going to buy a play tent, make sure you buy something with reasonably good quality, like a Bazoogi tent/structure.
 The camping out doors part? Haha....forget it.... with the mosquitoes and the sweltering heat in tropical Malaysia....omg!

So after two years, I finally set camp, in my bedroom. No mosquitoes, no bugs, no dirt, no haze, air-conditioned and most importantly, decreased chances of kidnapping and robbery.

Tiger actually slept in the tent :)  

That's his playpen mattress and his stinky baby bolster.

I wanted to tell him ghost stories like people do in the movies but nevermind la, 

in case the ghost in the toilet decides to come back.

So, I told him there are wild boars at night and he nearly cried.

"Where? Where?"

OMG, I am seriously considering the fact he is on the spectrum.

ZERO imagination.

I had to explain that we're actually indoors and there aren't any wild animals,

just pretending, imagining and making up stories.

He wasn't convinced, so I distracted him with a 'campfire'

I made up another story about hunting for animals.

 "There's a rabbit, I am shooting it with my bow and arrow. 

Now I am going to skin it and we are roasting it over the fire.

Here, have some roasted rabbit for supper."

"IT'S DEAD?!? YOU KILLED A RABBIT."

Pretending to chew and bite, "Yeah, it's food, baby. You want some?"

Tiger was visibly disturbed, "No, thank you."

What am I going to do with you, Little Tiger?

Why are you so literal?

It's exasperating.

We need more pretend play.

I googled for play benefits of tents and tunnels and it includes:

Gross motor and coordination practice.

Speech training

Imagination 

Teamwork 

Basically it is another toy. 

Money saving tip:

Just use a large bed sheet over a string and you have a tent.

Picture from google

Picture from pinterest

 Have a wonderful weekend and happy camping!

 

Hand Trampoline aka OgoSport Disks

Sponsored post

The kind people from TOY TAG INTERNATIONAL sent this to us for a review.

And it's AWESOME!!!

It's called OgoSport Mini Disk: a hand trampoline.

Way cool, right?

Hubs and I were exhausted after a round.

Great for losing weight!

A close up of the cute Ogosoft ball.

It is now residing in the Kid's Sport Bar.

Okay la, it is just a box with their sport equipments but I gave it a snazzy name.

Besides, who doesn't love a bar?

The other items we own are as labelled:

The golf clubs are dangerous weapons in the hands of kids.

The bowling game has been ignored for god knows how long.

And the racquets...hahaha...waste of money.

The only thing they frequently play with are the OgoSport disks.

It comes in handy as a sunshade as well :p

We usually go to the nearby field so that we can run around like hooligans.

Tiger is so funny because  he is not very coordinated.

(sucks at dancing, typical nerd)

He thinks we are laughing together but I am laughing at him, most of the time.

He gets frustrated after some time but like any skill in life, you need to practise and persevere.

And he is getting better! More coordinated and we can actually have a relay.

Future Dato Lee Chong Wei?

He despise picking up the balls repetitively (like his mama).

Lucky for him, his sister decided to become a professional ball picker-upper. 

 So fun to watch them cooperating and working together, for once. 

On another occasion, we tried using a small rubber ball and it works just fine.

 

 

 

If you are super coordinated, I guess you can use several balls and juggle.

I juggle ONE ball with a disk on each hand and the kids were like,

"WHOA!!!"

*brush dirt off shoulder with a smirk*

We tossed the disks upwards to see whose can go higher.

The rings are very durable, so no worries. 

Tiger then bounced the ball upwards, to try to reach the moon.

I asked him, "Do you know why the disks and balls always fall back onto the ground?"

Instead of answering my questions, he asked:

"Mama, this moon got eyes or not?"

"How far is the moon"

"How come it's not dark but got moon?"

"Where is the sun?"

Princess was on a ball picking mission but she was distracted by a path on the field...

...and a mound of hardened earth.

Before she ran off to chase after a stray dog.

Outdoor activities is a must for us.

It gives the kids a chance to let off some steam.

Keeping your body active is good for the brain and soul.

They sleep better (yay!)

They learn about teamwork.

I insist that children should fall and learn to pick themselves up

BUT

Tiger had a minor fall and insisted I give him a piggy back ride home.

=.="

So, Dragon girl got to ride the balance bike home, which is another wonderful

outdoor equipment.

Sorry about the terkangkang legs but I love this pic!

The OgoSport Mini Disks

• Mini flies the farthest and its small target area increases difficulty.
• Bounce any ball -- for summer fun, try it in the pool with water balloons!
• Winner of Parents Choice Award 2007
• Winner of TD monthly Innovations Award 2007

Each set includes one bright-blue and one orange disk with one OgoSoft ball. 

EVA foam ring. 

Nylon-spandex membrane center.

The reviews on Amazon are excellent!

Watch a video on it here

You can purchase from:

Lazada

Rakuten

Follow Toy Tag International on their Facebook here

 Pssst....Lazada is having a 20% discount now, so go get it!