Here’s what we did with the Tchibo box – we made it into a toy car!

If your kids love cars, simply use your old boxes and turn them into a colorful automobile. Let the kids draw and color on it; you can also cut out some colorful pages from a magazine and paste it on the box. Working with basic arts and crafts tools, such as cardboard boxes, scissors, crayons and paste, help kids prepare for the more advanced stuff, like clamps and dowel pins, or sewing kits and art brushes, when they grow up.

Used boxes can be turned into anything in a child’s imaginative mind. For Caity and Adie, these boxes can be a boat, a bed or a house. There are no limits on how the box will be designed or decorated. It’s a great DIY project to stimulate your kids’ creativity during playtime.

The photo above tells it all! You don’t need to guess where Caity is now. And yes it is her, and not me… though my sis told me she looks a lot like me in this pic when I was a kid. And no, I didn’t use any design online tool to tweak this lovely pic, it’s my little girl growing up just like her mama. Don’t you just love how she poses like a pro here – with poise and looking so confident. Anyway, we’re off to more sightseeing activities and enjoying the following days ahead.

I ordered a silicone form from ebay, but when it arrived, the kids were the first ones to use it. Well, they were attracted to the soft feel of the forms and they kept poking the convex side which pops to the other side. They said it was like the bubble wrap.

When Caity was in school, Adie had it all to himself. (:

He even took out M’s blanket and laid it down on the carpet for some serious popping fun!

Anyway, here’s my first cake pops! Like it? The kids love it! I burned the white chocolate when melting it on the microwave. I tried melting the brown chocolate in the pot, and it was better coz I can control the intensity of the heat, but whew! I had to be fast coz I was afraid it will end up burnt again.

Yummy bite!  What’s up with that look, Caity?

Oh, and this is the recipe I used for the cake pops: chocolate cupcakes recipe.
I lessened the sugar coz it will be dipped in the chocolate later which would make up for the sweetness. I also use this recipe in making brownies, I just add crushed peanuts on top of the batter before baking.

I’ve mentioned about the bunny piñata and the crepe paper carrots we made before but that’s not all!  We also made a paper eggs and decorated them with confetti. At Caity’s school, they were also making Easter-related crafts.  She has brought home eggs decorated with colorful tissues, bunny paper basket and rabbit ears.  Last week, their school had an afternoon of crafting with the family and we made some more crafts.

Here’s a collage of Caity’s school Easter crafting and her artworks:

Yesterday, we spent the morning coloring eggs and decorating them.  The kids enjoyed it a lot! I’m happy that my kids are into arts & crafts too! They’re my buddies when it comes to crafting! They are super-crafters with super hands, super eyes and super feet! haha Maybe they should have shoes such as superfeet to match their title!

While waiting for their eggs to get their color treatment…

Decorated eggs placed in the nest.

And we’re done!

Happy Easter everyone!!!

The kids are excitedly asking me to put treats inside already, but I told them they have to wait for Easter. Meanwhile, bunny is our wall decor.

I’ll be showing how the bunny piñata was made at Easy Crafts 4u soon. (We made it from a pizza box!) So please check out the site.

For over two months now, Adie loves the song “Far, far away” from Slade.  He would belt out the chorus which would send me and M into fits of laughter “..and I’m far, FART away….” ha ha ha.  We corrected him many times that it isn’t fart!   Even Caity got to like the song too, and both kids ask for it whenever we’re in the car (they first heard it from the car stereo).  What a torture it is for M and I, being subjected to listening to the same song for the whole duration of the drive. Yay!  We’re not even spared at home, coz they’d also ask for it. If we have a powerful speaker like leslie speaker, the whole flat would be vibrating with the kids’ most requested song. Last weekend, when we were driving for a date with the kids, Caity asked for the song, and hubby said that he took out the CD and forgot it in his office.  I don’t know if it was intentional, but the kids were disappointed.

Anyway, moms and dads, when your kids sing their new favorite song a hundred times a day, be a little patient.  Enjoy the broken record!

Here are some pics of the kids and the things they did:

Pics from L-R: Adie gassing up his paper car, Adie hiding inside their play house, Caity cooking her first-ever plain omelet, the kids painting snow, Caity playing with her paper car, Caity showing off her omelet, and lastly, their pets seeking refuge in their house.

This one is a collage of their photos showing the lunch they set up, the bunnies feasting over the crepe paper carrots I made, dining al fresco in the balcony, playing outside with the snow, and our weekend treat for the kids at Slonikov indoor playground which ended with an ice cream.

We did a lot, lot more of course. Most of the time, the kids were playing by themselves with Caity initiating what they’ll do. Their favorite game is role playing. I would hear her tell her lil’ bro “Adie, you will be the puppy, okay?” Adie would nod, and she’d put a plastic chain around his neck and pull him around, feed him lego bones, etc.   Or she’ll pretend she’s Peter Pan and Adie is Cubby… They’ll take out their musical instruments- tambourines, maracas, seagull guitars NOT, just their wooden ones from Boracay, plastic violin, etc and make music, ey NOISE! They come up with many interesting ideas. (:

Anyway, I think I did a great job, coz guess what? After a week of being with me, Caity doesn’t want to go to school anymore and asked or should I say cried and begged to stay with me all the time. Ha!

Caity was sick that time and the dress cheered her up. She asked to watch the movie while wearing the dress and even slept on it on Sunday night.

I also bought that weekend some Burda dress patterns which I still have to learn how to use. It’s a bit intimidating! But I’m taking it slow, not pressuring myself. I usually spend most of the time repairing mistakes in my projects because I hurry! That has got to change. Who knows one day I’d be really good with sewing and even make an awesome dress for myself or an equestrian apparel for Caity’s dress-up.

So Caity wore her Snow White dress to their school’s carnival day, and she was a pretty Snow White. (:

There wasn’t much to do except lie down coz my body was just too weak.  Even a minute of standing would make me feel nauseous. The kids recovered fast though, thank God! What was the most difficult was that no one was there to take care of us.  I wanted so much to eat hot soup but got no strength to cook!  We just drowned ourselves with hot tea. And celebrated Valentines in bed. (: Anyway, we survived it and I’m still wondering where my appetite has gone. Nothing seems to taste good after that flu attack.

Fortunately we have a centralized water heating in our flat. Though we’re using gas for cooking, its being regularly checked, so we’re quite safe. And we breathe fresh air everyday! We open our windows for few hours even in winter to let in the cool air. Or one can get a home hepa filter system to simply purify the air around. People were suggesting installing carbon monoxide detectors just to be safe.  Do yourself a favor, if you using those small water heater or gas stoves, have it checked and install detectors!