Apron Strings Sep 09 scrappy yummies

I got the chance to play with Apron Strings larger than a Breadbox kit this round, and my am I pampered !!! Thanks Lori !!

Here are the layouts i got to put together with the yummy stuff from Bo Bunny Delilah and Crate Sprout :

Tans
a wonderful feature in my new home now :)

and a closer peek at the details

SOAR
A reminder to R that she just has to put her mind to whatever she wanted to do and she could achieve it.... just loved the little animals that came with the Crate Paper... the owls, squirrels and beavers... too cute !! cut them up in pairs to show too that i'm always just a few steps behind her... every step of the way...

Melancholic You

C is always soooo cheerful and cheeky that I really loved these shots of her... in her 'off' moments.... priceless...

Exception

I was never one to buy those snaps taken at theme parks where u have to pay exorbitant prices. But THIS one. THIS ONE is different. We were just coming down the coaster ride of our lives -Project X- when i caught this picture being taken !!! I HAD to get it.

Can you see why ... here's the close up... it's gold :P (LOL !!!)

SWIM DATE

Catching up with friends while back in Singapore .... sooo miss them..

BEST PALS

Some layouts of our trip out to Monument Valley and Grand Canyon a few months back..

Sunset @ Monument Valley

JUNIOR RANGERS

thanks for dropping by....

Up close with ...

Gators !!!!

This was a baby, and it was all I and C could handle. C made sure she stood as far away as possible from the little fella who was all of 1 year old.

R did a little better :)

petting the little one ...

then posing behind this 4yr old... Hubby of cos' had to show off how 'fearless' he was

Then it was time to hop on the Airboat, and take a trip down the Everglades (which means river of grass), - the largest fresh water river in the world.

It was a fascinating experience, with the wind whirling up our hair, and a tingling excitement at the thought that we might fall into the river where alligators and poisonous snakes abound !

Then we spotted him...

The Great Blue Heron

He cockedhis head, then decided to take off...

As we made our way out further, to the deeper waters... what the native Indians call "Hammocks" or 'island of trees' ..

we spotted something in the distance....

then he got closer.....

and closer... in fact right next to our boat !

that's my head in the left and him in the water !...

then turned and made his way into his den ...

C was sooooo cute... she sat next to me and gripped my hand sooo tightly, terrified that i would fall into the water, screaming "mummy don't lean sooo far" !!!! :P

On the homefront, we created a history timeline file. Something where we can record all the dates and famous events and people we come across in our history reading...

I forgot to take pix of the internal pages where the girls handwrote the timelines on the top of the page, and have pasted stickers in the years where they were born. But here's the cover :)

Some other pix of the girls...... at Old Town Fun Park (Orlando)

my little reader before bedtime...

with their new bikes and scooters...at Masters Park (PGA National)

Let me know what's been up with your lives - all you dutiful silent readers !!!

what a catch...

It was a trying week, school wise, and the girls have been challenging to put it mildly. Maybe it's my teaching style, maybe they're still adjusting, but whatever the reason, I felt drained and discouraged. I packed off the books and declared we should take a walk after lunch.

So at 1pm (we didn't bother about the sun, i needed some air,) we explored our neighbourhood and wandered through some houses and found this creek meandering its way around the golf course. And guess who we caught having lunch ??!!

It was really quite fascinating to see it up close, frame by frame, and the girls stood, transfixed.

A close-up shot of the Heron at work ....

And in one huge gulp, that was the end of the fish !!

And then, promptly gets up arrogantly on the back of this duck figurine in the water to sun himself !

In R's words, it was " SOOOO COOOL !!" ... so that was our highlight of the day, as these faces attest.

But their glee was shortlived, as i decided i had to tell "the other parent" (aka Father) the going-ons of the past few weeks, as it was time for some intervention. Waaaaa.... i so love J's lectures.... it's the kind you want to dig a hole and bury yourself from shame type. So loads of drama that Friday, but thankfully, we still had a pretty decent weekend, so it's all good in the house again.... til' the next drama (haha !)

On other updates, Faye's on the road to independent reading (hopefully !),
and R has lost another tooth just today while we were at the supermarket !! She refused to let me hold it or keep it for her, then of course she had to drop it on the road, while we were crossing to get to our car ! We searched but couldn't find it as it looked exactly like any of the million stone grains of the tarmac ! So guess it'll be fossilized there forever, and someday some archeologist might find it, and conclude that it belonged to a little girl yonks ago !