GRATITUDE JOURNAL

Thoughts on Prom Night

My eldest son, together with his buddies, decided to go stag on their last high school prom. When I asked him how come he wasn't taking his girlfriend of two years, he said she'd be busy being the student council's president and making sure of the event's success. He added too that it was agreed upon that they'd see each other at the venue.

This year's prom had the Oscars for its theme and Matt, being the last minute guy that he sometimes is, didn't have anything to wear. Rummaged in his Pa's closet, he did, to look for anything SUIT-able. Pun intended. I recall he did borrow one for last year and ended up looking like this:

But because he has grown taller and stockier at 16, the one special tux in hubs' closet now perfectly fitted him. This was the one Jerry wore to our wedding eighteen years ago in April!

Seeing Matt in his Pa's wedding tux reminded me so much of that day. *Sigh*. When will I ever be ready to accept that my sons are growing fast? My thoughts always bring me back to his kiddie years. I really need to pause sometimes and savor these moments. They're just so flitting!

And then there's college in a few months...

Here's Matt on his Oscars-themed prom wearing his Pa's wedding tux

Ahh, Ahh, Ahh, Ahh, Ahh, Ahh

by Junnie

It's Winter! And for anyone who would have a first taste of winter, there is no better way to do it but to do it literally - opening up your mouth and catching some flurries. And so Gabe is doing the same and we are helping him create memories at least one for every season. Despite the mild winter, we were blessed with torrential snowstorms last week and we got our first taste of winter. Gab enjoyed it. While we enjoyed it more seeing him this happy.

Exam Week

by Linnor

We were caught by surprise. Last week of Feb, we read in Jake's communication notebook that they were having their final exams this week. I initially thought the tests were not for another two weeks at least!

So in between our busy schedules, Jerry and I squeezed the time to prepare our preschooler for his finals, spending more time on the more difficult topics like Mandarin and Math.

It's Tuesday, second day of tests. We sure hope he's ready enough. From the looks of it, he seems excited that school is almost over.

While his elder brothers in high school prepare for their finals next week, for this kid, summer vacation officially starts this Friday!

Pepakura - Weekend Projects

by Linnor

Cutting the parts to their exact sizes was therapeutic, I discovered. It's my favorite part in doing these "pepakura" projects because my fingers were quite big to make the paper heads or the hands perfect.

After finishing 4 characters, we all became more adept. Each succeeding project took a shorter time to make and each piece looked better than the last.

So imagine hubby and 13 yo Kyle cutting the paper pieces and me taping and pasting the parts together. That's pretty much how our weekend at home was spent. Geeky but cool!

Handmade Bumblebee

by Linnor

Son #2, Kyle's patience, which is usually short (ha!), was tested last night as we cut and glued together the paper pieces for this craft.

It may not be as perfect as we wanted it to look (rough edges, imperfect head, missing piece, etc), but it was the best we could do as 1st timers. This was actually fun and I enjoyed doing it with him.

Thanks to a colleague who introduced us to this, we'll have more projects this weekend.