HQ's ambition

We were driving home from mum’s house yesterday night, when HQ (4y 2m old) shared with me in the car:

“I like good people. I like good people who protect other people. Like Power Ranger, Peter Pan, policemen, soldiers, Spiderman and Superman. They are heroes, ya?”

His face was flushed. I smiled at my little chap and nodded.

"When I grow up, I want to be a policeman. I will protect many people. I will catch all bad people and put them into jail. Then give them chili rice; little bit of rice and loooootssss of chilli!”

LOL… Oh, to be 4 again…


Share this post on Facebook

refashion: boyish shirt to girlish top

I love buying shirts for HQ. They’re comfortable and airy, and they look great paired with pants or bermudas, tucked in or left out. And HQ loves them too.

Now getting QQ to wear HQ's hand-me-down shirts is easy. Making her look like a girl in them is kind of tricky. So, again, I used my imagination to make them look cute and feminine enough for my little girl.

This is one of HQ’s favourite Kiko shirt; here’s him wearing it when he was 2 years old. Before: Close-up, with 2 buttons missing
To refashion the shirt:
1. I wanted to make the sleeves more feminine looking. So, I picked the sleeve ends, trim it closely to the edge and ran a row of closely sewn orange thread (I don't know what stitch it's called). Here's how it looks like:

2. Next, to make the sleeves slightly puffed up, I ran elastic threads on both sleeves. Tie the ends of the elastic threads and trim. Here's one of the puffed up sleeve:

3. Next, I trimmed the sides slightly to accentuate the waistline.

4. Last but not least, I replaced all the buttons. I chose orange buttons so that they will stand out among the blue checkers. Again, these buttons are from my mom's tin of 30-year-old buttons.

Here's the finished shirt.
QQ posing with her newly refashioned shirt.

Share this post on Facebook

july

July is a birthday month… phew! With all the birthday posts this month, BoeyJoey can be a birthday dedication blog :-). Well, birthdays are birthdays… we can’t change people’s birthdays to accommodate a blog right? ;-)

This will be a short documentation on how Dad and Mum’s birthdays were celebrated…

The kids at Secret Recipe picking up the cake before dinner. We had Dad and Mum’s favourite carrot sheet cake frosted with cream cheese. See the cookie monster and elmo that HQ was holding? He picked those out from his toy box saying “Cookie Monster for Gong gong’s birthday present, Elmo for Popo’s birthday present”. I swear I did not put that idea into his head! We had a simple celebration. Dad is always happiest when food is prepared by mum – no MSG, healthy food, can eat at own pace, no need to drive out to restaurant, just Mum’s delicious home cooked food. So for their double birthdays celebration, Mum prepared a wide spread of food for steamboat. Truly scrumptious!

Fresh seafood, homemade fishballs, homemade sui kau, meat, etc. all cooked in a kampong chicken broth. The soup was soooo sweet! The kids bathe and changed into their pajamas before we bring the cake out. The kids were all excited, and QQ kept requesting “Put fire on the candle!”

See my family very funny one… have to sit opposite each other to blow their birthday cake candles. Mum and Dad were actually blocking the wind from blowing the candles out before they get their chance to blow them. Yup, my family is all about practicality. It was a simple celebration with the family. Dad testified that mum's steamboat is the best! I couldn’t agree with him more :-)

Share this post on Facebook

happy birthday, mum

Happy birthday, Mum.

I remember the time you held my hand as we both walked to the nearby chicken farm for fresh eggs. I remember the time you taught me a poem, which now, you are teaching the same poem to my children. I remember how we made our way to the village market on Sunday mornings, a woven basket on your arm. I remember how you cherished each and every handmade item that I made for you. I remember how you stepped the pedal on your sewing machine, making a blouse out of a batik that I did in school. I remember the various delicacies that you made for us children, despite your tiredness. I remember how you packed food and send them all the way to my university dorm, just so that I can enjoy festivities food together with the family. I remember how you were still proud of me for getting 0.06 points short to first class honour. I remember the look on your face when I first came home as a married woman. I remember how you helped out during both my confinements. I remember how you lulled my children to sleep, soothed their crying, and cuddled them with love.

Thank you for everything that you have done for me, mum. I am so thankful that I have you. Happy Birthday.

(C) Lee Pei Yi. All rights reserved. Originally published for boeyjoey.blogspot.com. All images and text cannot be republished without expressed written permission.

Share this post on Facebook

work in progress...

loving the colours
loving the textures
loving what they may turn out to be...

See my other handmade projects.

Share this post on Facebook

sunday birthday lunch

the princess
QQ celebrates her 2 year old birthday
Clad in a handmade dress by her mama (mama now resembles a panda bear with oversized eye bags)
the family
Family picture Dad and QQ
The bag that QQ is holding is a present from MY, bro's gf. Mum and QQBro and MY with the kids
(The kids have been making wierd monkey faces whenever the camera is near; I can't get one decent photo!)
the lunch
Dad and mum in the restaurant Bro and MY... The food - buttered prawns, fried tofu with Thai sauce, kampong chicken with scallop, hong xiu pork ribs, and fu yu vege. For 6 adults and 2 kids, the bill only came to RM 108… we even pack one big rib back… very yummy and very worth it!the 2 "wai sek mau"

the candle blowing
Homemade chocolate moose cake and chocolate frosting (another round of panda eyes in the making)the laughter
the entertainment

I did not teach QQ a single song, mum did. Mum has a wonderful voice...
Besides some of the mispronounced words, she follows the songs' tunes quite well for her age :-).

Sifu and disciple
my darling QQ and me... post script: We celebrated QQ’s birthday last Sunday, one day earlier than actual date. We're going to celebrate dad and mum’s birthdays next week.

post post script: HQ is most sweet on his sister’s birthday. When he got the wind that we are celebrating QQ’s birthday on that day, he announced to everyone “Today is meimei’s birthday, quick wish her happy birthday!” He was an angel during presents time (he helped QQ to put the ang pows inside her new bag) and during the candle blowing time. He didn’t mind when all our attention was focused on QQ when she sang for us. At other times, he and QQ fight for their turns to be the lead singer. I’m so proud of my little boy. :-)

© Lee Pei Yi. All rights reserved. Originally published for boeyjoey.blogspot.com. All images and text cannot be republished without express written permission.

Share this post on Facebook