Season of Change

                    “Change is the only constant in life.” ― Heraclitus

I previously worked in a consulting company that helps people and organizations manage change. I have experienced several life changing events such as getting married, giving birth, and losing a love one. Yet, I believe that I am facing one of the most dynamic changes that I have yet to encounter - stepping back and letting go. Yes! Letting go of Ian, my 9 year old son, who is now going to a regular school. We homeschooled him since he was 3 years old which meant that I had 6 years of fun and learning with him. 

Being Ian's teacher has been a tremendous honor for me. Our time together was priceless. Ian is very inquisitive that I am constantly learning from him. Just like his dad, Ian reads everything and anything from animals, Lego, jokes, history, trains, and planes.

More than teaching him academics, our aim has been with Character Building or Values Formation. I am grateful to the Lord that He is constantly changing and forming Ian's heart according to His will. I can list many values that we see in Ian, but some of the most outstanding values are his obedience to us and his diligence in accomplishing whatever tasks we assign to him. We gave him work assignments (to practice writing) during the summer break and as much as he wanted to get away from it, he just did it everyday.  

I was a bit anxious when the start of the school year was approaching because I worried about things - Did I teach him enough? Will he adjust well at school? Will he be alright taking the school bus home? A thousand other things. But as I prayed, God reminded me again that he is in control. 

I also realized that my role as Ian's teacher is not ending. 6These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts.7Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. (Deuteronomy 6:9)

For my Season of Change, I look forward to homeschooling Quin and welcoming our new baby in July. 

Parenting: Toilet Training with Poo Goes to Pooland

Today, I'm not writing about crafts or cooking but on parenting. As much  as I want to feature new recipes, my pregnancy hormones don't allow me. My nose and the kitchen are at war!!! Basically, my theme for the last two months is quick and easy. 

As parents, we have encountered many challenges in training our children,particularly, our toddlers. For the past months, my biggest challenge was toilet training Quin (my 3 year old son). I tried to remember the strategies we had with Ian (my 9 year old son) but then, I realized that I just supervised his training (gave instructions to his Nanny on how to do it) but all the hard was done by his Nanny Me Ann. In short, I started from scratch. 

For Number 1 (wee-wee), it was easy. We just showed him how Kuya Ian does it then, after a few attempts he got it right! For Number 2 (poo), it was a different story. Initially, he couldn't get the rhythm thus, we had few accidents. We introduced him to his potty and the toilet, both of which he refused to use. Quin ended up asking for a diaper when he needed to make No. 2. He did this very well. No accidents. 

But, I still want him to be diaper free. Last Sunday, I was talking to a friend, Esther, about our predicament. She suggested that I search the net and look for the story of Poo Goes to Pooland. We found it and read it to Quin.

Amazingly, Quin got the story! The story is about Poo who needs to go home to Pooland to be with his family and friends. The only way for Poo to get home is through the toilet so he needs help from kids. 

I believe that the story is age appropriate because Quin understood the meaning of home, family, and friends. He also at the stage where he loves to help (he already helps around the house like packing up his toys and putting place mats on the table). I highly recommend this story. Great tool for toilet training! 

Now, Quin goes to the toilet to help Poo! 

Christmas Balls

For Christmas, I decided to make some of my decorations. One of my projects was the Christmas balls made from paper. I found several sample of these balls from Pinterest. It was easy and fun to do!

Materials: strips of crafts paper, puncher, fasteners, pair of scissors, and embellishments like sequins or glitter (optional).

Procedure:

1. Cut 8 strips of paper (1 1/2 inches wide & 6 inches length).

2. Gather them together and punch a hole on the top-center of each narrow end.

3. Put the fasteners on both ends.

4. Fan-out the strips until it forms a ball.

Additional idea:

You can add glitter or sequins on each strip before punching them.

Have a Blessed Christmas! May the love of God be our reason to celebrate this season!

Chocolate Mousse Cake

This was one of those days when Carlos and I were craving BADLY for chocolates. Checked our pantry and found almost a kilo, yeah a kilo, of various chocolates (mostly dark). I had Lindt, Ikea, Nestle, and Cadbury. As much as we love chocolates, we were also doing our best to cut down on sweets. Best solution - Chocolate Mousse Cake. Two reasons, it only had a tablespoon of sugar and flour (I didn't add the golden syrup).

This recipe was from Taste which was easy. Minimum effort for maximum impact!

Ingredients

500g dark chocolate

2 tbs golden syrup

125g unsalted butter

4 eggs

1 tbs caster sugar

1 tbs plain flour, sifted

Melted chocolate, to decorate

Chocolate sorbet, to serve

Procedure:

1. Preheat oven to 220°C. Grease and line the base of a 20cm round spring-form cake pan with non-stick baking paper.
2. Melt the chocolate, golden syrup and butter in a bowl over a saucepan of gently simmering water. Set aside to cool slightly.
3. Place eggs and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer or use an electric hand beater and beat on high for 10 minutes until very thick and pale. Gently fold in the flour then fold in the chocolate mixture until combined. Pour into the cake pan and bake on the middle shelf of the oven for 12 minutes. Remove from oven and run a knife around the edge of the cake. Remove collar from cake pan and transfer the cake to the fridge for 1 hour to cool (this step is important as it sets the middle of the cake).

Wow! I skipped dinner last night so I could treat myself to a slice of this temptation. Opps! I also skipped hopping into my weighing scale this morning. 

Quin enjoyed it too!

Fire Truck Cake

Our little man, Quin, turned 3! As part of our family tradition, I baked a cake based on the request of the birthday celebrant. He wanted a fire truck! I remember a few years ago my brother and I also made a fire truck cake for Ian. 

Ian volunteered to be in-charged. He looked for the design (of the truck itself) that he liked and drew his plans on how to decorate the cake. 

For the cake I used my usual Chocolate Cake recipe that is moist and not too sweet.

For the truck design, we followed this video from YouTube.

For the butter icing, I used 1 cup butter (room temperature) and about 1 1/4 cup icing sugar (sifted). Mix them together using an electric mixer then slowly add drops of red food coloring, until you reach your desired color.

For the decorations, we used Oreo cookies (wheels), M&M's, chocolate sticks, assorted candies, candles, and writing icing.

I had a great time with the boys in making this cake. Ian was the designer and I was the kitchen assistant.   

Definitely, this experience is a treasured memory.

Wall Art from Toilet Rolls

Carlos and I love to recycle things that we normally discard. Part of my collection is a bunch of toilet rolls. When I started keeping them early this year I didn't have any specific project in mind. I think I just saw their "potential". After months of accumulating this treasure, I saw a picture posted on Facebook by one of friends that used toilet rolls as a wall art. Chaching! I "Mitchinized" it.

Materials that I used for this project were toilet rolls, ruler, pencil, glue, clothes pegs, scraps of crafts paper, craft paints, and blue tack.

Directions: First, I painted the rolls. Then, cut each roll into  5 pieces, petals, (the height of the roll was 10cm so each petal was 2cm). Glued them together and I used the clothes-pegs to clip them together. Last, I stuffed the middle with scraps of crafts paper to form a bud. I attached them to the wall using blue tack.

It wasn't just fun for me but Ian also enjoyed helping mem by painting some of the toilet rolls.

For this version 2, I added details on each petal.

Recyle. Recreate!

Dressing up our lamp shade

Hi! When I initially started my blog, my intention was to share recipes with friends. Overtime, I found myself doing other things such as crafting. I want to share with you the project that I just finished last night.

It was past midnight and I was still wide awake. So, I browsed Pinterest, my latest discovery, for dream houses, decorations, and finally, crafts. There were many great ideas that I wanted to try unfortunately, I fell asleep. The next day, inspiration hit me and I decided to 'Mitchinized' our lamp shade. We got it from Ikea, the shade was white and the stand was black (too dull for my taste).

I was inspired by one of the lamp shades at Houzz. I used crafting paper and my son's drinking glass as a template. 

Basically, I just cut circles (around 230 pieces) and glued them on the lamp shade.

I invite you to look at my Pinterest for other amazing and creative craft ideas.