Spider!

Lately, Bubs has been learning finger weaving at school and was very excited about it so paper plate weaving (or building a spiderweb as we called it) was a fun way to show him other forms of weaving.

You'll need:
A paper plate (try to get ones with thicker/sturdier rims)
Hole puncher
Yarn
Card stock/pipe cleaner/embellishments

This needs just a lil amount of prep work which I did when Bubs was having his afternoon nap.

Cut out a circle in the paper plate, leaving just the rim behind. The easiest way to do this is to place a bowl in the center then slice carefully using a penknife.

Punch holes into the rim of the paper plate. If the paper plate wasn't that flimsy, I'd have let Bubs do this himself - he's fascinated with hole punchers :)

Cut out a long piece of yarn.

 

Start by taping 1 end of the yarn to the plate and thread the other end through the holes.

Continue until you've completed the length of yarn and tape securely.

Every spider web needs a spider, right? The easiest way to do this is cut out 2 coin sized black card stock and glue them together. Use pipe cleaners and goggly eyes to embellish anyway you want.

If you used pipe cleaners for the legs, carefully position them onto the yarn web by twisting them around. Otherwise, you could just glue them together.

Voila! Your very own spiderweb :) 

7th Anniversary

For our 7th wedding anniversary last weekend, I'd made dinner reservations at an eatery that we've been wanting to try for a while.

It started out quite innocuously. In the afternoon, Bubs complained that the back of his neck was sore. Hubs placed the back of his hand against Bub's forehead and noticed it felt warm so I took his temperature which was raised. We gave him some Panadol, mopped his forehead with wet towels and made him take an early afternoon nap.

When he woke up, he seemed fine so we stayed in bed, watching cartoons.

After a while, he said in a tiny voice, "Mummy, I feel cold." This time, his neck, his tummy and his ankles were hurting. His temperature was also spiking so I called the pharmacist to ask if it's ok to give another dose of Panadol after just 4 hours (Yes it is, if the child is feeling discomfort).

Hubs and I were deliberating between going straight to Emergency or wait a couple more hours for the hospital's night clinic to open when Bubs suddenly burst into tears, wailing that it was painful "everywhere". We rushed all the way down town to the hospital's emergency with a tearful Bubs screaming. His little body was still flushed with fever.

The ER nurse handed me a basin filled with warm water and a towel, told us to strip him and sponge him down all over again.

This is the crazy part that Hubs and I still look back in disbelief.

Bub's temperature dropped, his crying ceased and he was back to normal. There we were, all 3 of us sitting on the narrow ER single bed and Bubs was laughing and talking at the top of his voice.

The ER nurse must have thought that we were all nutcases. She discharged us and told us to see the pediatrician at the night clinic just to rule out anything serious.

So instead of a swanky dinner, we'd buns from the hospital's bakery. Not that Bubs minded, his appetite returned as he chomped down on his kaya bun with gusto.

I didn't know to laugh or cry given that Bubs was now full of beans.

"Look, Mummy, I'm Spidey!"

Hubs looked at me, "did we just hallucinate all that?"

What's in the Bag

This has to be the month of splurges *looks around guiltily* My standard excuse is that someone needs to stimulate the retail economy so it might as well be me ;)

It's our 7th wedding anniversary and although I love fresh flowers, they're a bit of a waste for me so I dropped massive hints to Hubs to get me this instead ...

Tiny white flowers embroidered into a scalloped hem of this floaty, chambray skirt from Forever 21.

Because I aim to have a pair of pointy toed heels in every single colour under the rainbow ;) Low heeled sling backs in a muted shade of gold, this ticks all the boxes on my list.

Look, Hubs, I pointed excitedly at my just past shoulder length hair, it's finally long, I've saved so much on haircuts this year!

Big deal, he shrugs, look at the amount of spending you did on hair accessories.

Opppps ... I think in the process of trying to grow out my bob, I ended up with quite a number of intricately beaded Forever 21 headbands and hair pins.

I've to admit, it's taken me quite some time to realise that shopping for boys can be fun after all. Bubs ended up with some goodies at the newly opened Sports Direct outlet at Udini Square. His eyes popped out when he saw the Spidey hoodie and boxers. There was also the coolest Animal (my favourite Muppet) tee that Bubs didn't really fancy so I just got it a few sizes up for myself instead!

There was also a Star Wars R2D2 shaped cereal bowl giveaway with 2 giant boxes of cereal so you can guess what will be on the breakfast menu for the next few weeks ahead ;) Plus for Lego fans out there, Shell is having a collaboration so you get to purchase a Ferrari themed Lego poly bag for every purchase of Shell fuel above RM40.

Fun Science: Dyed Flowers

This is one of the prettiest science experiments we've done in a while: showing how plants "drink" water from the ground using capillary action.

You'll need:
White flowers
Food dye
Jars of water

Drop food dye into different jars filled with water. The more concentrated the mixture is, the brighter the colours of the flowers will be.

Bubs carefully jotted down his experiment in his journal.

He observed how the flowers slowly started getting coloured the next day.

Day 3 before we called it quits. The white petals showed up light streaks of colour which were more concentrated at the base of the petals. Ours was a bit of a failure because we didn't use put in enough food dye but it was still fascinating for Bubs to observe the changes which didn't photograph too well.

Bubs had fun though and we're thinking of going ahead with the next variations: dyeing celery stems!

Where Did October Go To?

October came and zipped past us so fast that I'm still reeling from the fact that it's just a few more minutes before November starts. It's been a pretty intense month with work, family gatherings and Hub's birthday :D

Happy birthday, Hubs! We celebrated with lunch at Rasa Sayang and his birthday cake was a medley of cupcakes and mini desserts pinched from the dessert buffet with Lego figurines on top. I know, wife of the year award for the amount of effort put in, right? LOL

It surprises me that Bubs has been showing so much interest in Roald Dahl books. These were definitely some of the best bargains we've got from the Big Bad Wolf book sale. I've started reading them aloud to Bubs before bedtime, serializing them over a few nights and he's hooked on to them. "Just one more page, pleaseeee," he'd plead when Hubs turns the lights off.

Trick or treat! Japan produces the best and cutest snacks ever. Period.

Bubs and his mate went nuts at Jump Street. It was our first time there and they went nuts over the amount of space they could run around in. At RM27 (peak time) for an hour, the both of them were bouncing all over the place, literally. Their favourite bit? The giant foam pit. "It was like swimming in marshmallows, Mummy,"