When we first saw this book in the library, we laughed out loud. We were laughing at how the PSLE had made a mockery of Singaporean families that we actually need a Survival Guide! We were also laughing at ourselves because at that moment, we were wondering how we were going to survive this PSLE year, lol!
I should explain, for the foreign readers of this blog, PSLE refers to Primary School Leaving Examinations - a huge rite of passage for 12 year olds in Singapore, as they graduate from Primary to Secondary schools. The PSLE is a nation-wide standardised testing that has become a big deal, determining entry to the 'best' or 'popular' schools, and stressing out all parents and children alike. No matter how we disagree with and dislike it, we are all caught up in it, and with Jared sitting for the PSLE this year, it has practically overtaken our everyday lives!
For my fellow Singaporeans who are interested in the book, it has some good pointers, but mostly it was great to read about how another family 'struggled' as we did and hear how they survived! What was best is that it is easy to read with humourous short chapters, which even Jared was keen to read, and which made a lot of sense to him, we could connect, and that was quite amazing!
I liked some gems in the book, like the idea of going through this year as a family, taking it like a family project, not unlike when we did our renovations last year, the family suffered together, did everything together, went the extra mile to help each other, we will surely bond and grow stronger together! And how the most important thing in revision is not in getting all the answers right, but for the children to learn how to 'learn by themselves' - personal growth and maturity! I am looking at the next 3 months with new perspective!
We actually see Jared doing just that, growing and maturing, slowly but surely! He wants badly to go to Ryan's school, and is putting in effort and heart, going against his usual playful, completely distracted nature. He is growing up! I felt compelled to make a layout to capture it :)
Don't you think he has really grown? These were photos we took for him in his applications to some of the secondary schools. He has to write personal statements, go for tests and interviews, crazy, isn't it? He is taking it all in his stride, really growing up :)
In the midst of all the applications and preparation for PSLE, we took a much needed break (6 days!!) to our favourite Rawa island paradise! The best family time ever!!
Of course I have completed some more layouts.. from Shanghai...here we were at the 'transparent' viewing deck of the Oriental Pearl...
..visiting a Shikumen (old Shanghainese brick home) museum
At the Shanghai Museum..so much treasures!
And the Urban Planning Centre
Also, starting up on my 2011 photos, did up a layout from January of our place under renovations, oh it seems so long ago, haha
While our home was being renovated in January, both Ryan and Jared had their birthdays (3 days apart), so we had simple birthday celebrations at home in the half renovated living/ family room
This template is now available as Template Pack 8 in the Store. Thanks for your interest!
Just a short post mainly to share the Templates for the Album Covers for my 2010 Shutterfly Album as some has requested (scroll down). I just feel so good looking at all my albums, gives me every motivation to keep scrapping our days and memories! Recently I'm also very happy that I've started adding more pages that are loads of / completely journalling! Like this one I did after our General Elections a few weeks ago. This year's elections has been described as a 'watershed' election, with may Singaporeans going through a 'rite of passage' of sorts, as many of us plunuged into the politics of our country like we have never before. Because Singapore has been under one party rule since Independence, and in the past elections were mainly walkover affairs by the ruling party. This year, with much stronger opposition and their honest & well-articulated call for needed change, the voice of the people have been heard loud and clear. We've seen a lot of change in the past two weeks especially in the appointments of cabinet ministers and looks like a lot more change will come. Quite something for us, and definitely much to commit to the Lord in prayer, to many of us who have been praying, He has indeed been guiding the happenings in this period! Well, I captured my thoughts and reflections in a page, to go into my album, it's a new experience to have no photos, (more embellishments though) but so good to have these captured. Have you done any or many pages with no photos for your scrapbooks?
I have only completed two other layouts for our Shanghai trip, but I like them a lot!
This layout was probably on the second day after our arrival in Shanghai, where we went to visit a flea market of sorts. Full of old and antique trinkets, including Mao pins, Mao's little red book, and lots of other chinese knickknacks - very colorful and loads of fun!
The next layout is of us milling around the Oriental Pearl Tower, a landmark of Shanghai, which has now been overtaken by many super sky-high scrappers around it, at the spanking new and impressive business and hotel area of JuJiaJui. What a bustling and huge place!
Ok, I've saved the templates I used for my 2010 album, for printing with Shutterfly, according to their dimensions for a 12X12 album. If you want to use it for 8X8 album, you'll need to adjust the size accordingly. Please review the dimensions on Shutterfly's Guides Here.
You can download them here - have fun with your albums! There was a question in comments as to how many pages are my albums, well mine are usually 70 to 100 pages. I did one that was more than 100 pages, which shutterfly does not support (not sure if they do now?) so I had that album printed by Blurb. You know, I'm so addicted to my albums now, can't wait to add to my collection! I even took advantage of shutterfly's recent 50% promotion to convert one of my previous 8x8s (2008 Album) to 12x12 - yay! As you can see from the picture, it is a good idea to 'label' your albums on the spines, so that when you get to having a lot of them, they can be easily identified. :)
It's Elections season in Singapore! We only get to do this once in about 5 years, so it is pretty big deal. This time there is much stronger opposition parties contesting all but one of the constituencies, which is a first for us. Everyone is discussing politics, the parties, the issues, our choices, etc. I'm not discussing politics here, this is a scrapbooking blog!:) But we decided it's time the boys get their education and first taste in our country's politics, government policies, and all that. Here's a page (click to enlarge)I made to record this momentous few weeks of election fever, in our country and in our home!
Journaling reads:
"When this year’s Elections came around, we knew it was the right time to get the family involved. R is 14 and very into political systems, how countries are governed, and reads a lot of related books. J is not interested at all yet, but we decided it is a chance to give them an introduction into politics and create awareness. Our Constituency is being contested, and together with our good friends we decided to attend both the PAP and the opposition parties rallies, held one night after the other. It was actually our first time at a rally too (gasp!) so it is education for us as well!
Of course all of us have lots of opinions at a time such as this, especially with much stronger opposition this round, but we were not trying to influence the boys in any particular direction!
At the WP rally we experienced the strength of mob mentality, they were much better at rallying the feelings of people. it was quite emotionaly charged, and fascinating to be in the presence of that strong crowd! R analysed in his opinion that the speeches start first, to insult,(lol) then to present arguments.
J stated (not unwisely) that he did not want to attend any rally, since they are all just propaganda! The PAP rally paled greatly in numbers that turned out,
only two speakers sounded as passionate as the opposition speakers, and they presented a lot of points, but as the boys noted, got boring and lost us. We did
point out that it is a lot easier to make complaints than to justify policies. But
when asked, both of them think that WP will surely win the votes, judging by the
size and sentiments of the crowds. We shall vote this coming Sat and watch the results together!(see if they are right :) )
Back home, interest has mounted, and we poured over the papers, news reports,you tube videos of more speeches, even J is engaged now. Hopefully this has stoked their interest and pave the way for them to be aware and informed adults who will choose and support their leaders wisely. Most importantly we are impressing on them that God is in charge and moves history and leaders and men’s plans to accomplish His purposes. So we must above all, pray for our nation."
Amen! Been studying Isaiah in BSF and it is so appropriate to read about how through the rise and fall of all the nations, God oversees and intervenes for His own good purposes. We try to teach the boys how important it is to pray for our nation, our leaders, and whom should become our leaders. I am really loving this period of great discussions, analysing speeches, party manifestoes, government policies, etc with the boys. Ryan posted on facebook a suggestion dh had which impressed him, and we are observing the comments and likes and all. Unlike myself when I was young, it is so good to see them starting young, becoming aware and involved!
On the scrapbooking front I've completed our 2010 album, this is the last page I added, about the little things, I think I like my 'annual' albums even more than my travel albums, for they capture our lives, both the election type pages and the little things!
The book arrived from Shutterfly - lovely condition and quality as usual! Here are the front and back covers. If you would like to have the templates of these covers according to Shutterfly 12x12 album dimensions, let me know!
And I've finally started scrapping our Shanghai trip from last June! Here is the first page, arriving at our hotel (previously an old mansion) after a super high speed ride on the MagLev train!
That first night we went to the famous BUND, the promenade full of colonial buildings and towers on the skyline (click to enlarge)
Oh, recently I've been hooked on Pinterest. It's a new website that allows us to 'pin' images we like from online to various persobal 'boards' for sharing and keeping! There are tonnes of amazing staff the folks there are pinning, and it's such fun browsing, Kate (whom I follow on Pinterest) had a post on it here at The Daily Digi. If you want to see the my pins, you can check them out here: http://pinterest.com/yin100/pins/. To join, you can request an invite on their page. Have fun!
Want to share more amazing scrapbook pages by my friends:
Stylish pages by Tawn (find her blog here) with her amazing photography and adorable children!
Darling and colorful pages by Jenny (find her blog here) !
Thank you ladies for letting me share your pages! Love your work, everytime!
And as usual, like to share this template with you :)
This template is now available as Template Pack 8 in the Store. Thanks for your interest!
Last month our family (and everyone in our church) were saddened by the sudden passing of a church elder who had married us, and been a mentor we looked up to. We all miss him but we know we will met him again! But even as he went to Glory, we were blessed many times over with the testimonies that came forth. At his funeral, so many came up to share how he touched their lives, even from people who knew him in his teens, twenties, those who did business with him, and of course many in our church. I am so touched and inspired by how he lived his life consistently for the Lord and for His people through so many decades and touched so many lives, even though he was a businessman, father, grandfather, and had so many other roles. What a testimony and example to follow, what a way to live! And the blessing of his life continues to multiply through ours!
At the youth group the following week, the youths were encouraged to think about how they might want to be remembered, how they think those who knew them would describe them, after the great example set by our elder. We were talking about it at home, (and I wondered whether the younger youths like R would be too immature to have a meaningful discussion). I asked my family, half seriously, how they would describe me? It was quite heartening to hear their spontaneous responses, J said, kind, loving, caring, hardworking, creative, organised, strict(!), R said talented, clever, imaginative, protective, generous, and dh said loving, beautiful, sincere, she has done her best, she has no regreats (!!) Haha, hhmmm!
I also shared with them about Ruth Graham, late wife of Billy Graham, the evangelist.
If you googled her name, you'd find descriptions like: she is strong, steady, dauntless, the glue that held their lives together, that her life is ruled by the Bible more than any other person they know, that through the books she wrote, lives she touched, husband she loved, godly children she raised,.. she left a godly heritage here on earth that pointed vividly to the God she loves. Yet, she proposed this phrase that she saw on a road construction site to be her epitaph : "End of Construction. Thank you for your patience". What humilty and what an example. Indeed while we are here, we are a work of grace in progress, as the Lord moulds and changes us, we hope we too are touching lives and making a difference for the better.
Anyways, I was so excited and impressed to find a week later, that R had written down on a card (from youth group): "I want to be remembered as a loyal and devoted friend, son and brother, as well as someone who fulfilled God's purpose in his life". Wow! They are young, but no less able to start making commitments to the Lord for themselves.
May we too not lose focus on that which is truly important.
Speaking of work in progress, I've completed my long work in progress of our 2010 album! Looking through the year through the album is to recall all the blessings we have received, see how the Lord brought all things together for our good, even the challenges and the tough times, changes, highs and lows, God is indeed good! I included a page of my written reflections for the year that God had given us, it was meaningful and so good to have it written out and kept as part of the album!
These are some the last pages that went into the album:
Here's us at the beach again, our favourite pasttime when we have a day to kill - we always have a good time! I loved the Royanna alpha and the Lynn G paper from her Summer Flash kit (this is T245 in the store)
And here's our Christmas celebration with our close friend, it's wonderful that our best friends' children are best friends with each other too! The alpha is from Stephanie2! (T244)
Here are the same bunch of friends spending a day at the beach (T
We joined a bank-organised Night Walk around our central business district Bay area which was a first for us as a family! (T 93)
Me and dh on a night out
The boys and their dad at one of their games (too complicated for me to join in, haha!) - it was Battlestar Galactica! (T75)
My cousin who lives in NZ came for a visit!
DH's birthday where we went to a concert in the Old Parliament House - what a setting, we sat in the pews where the parliament members sat!
My mom in law's birthday! She and my father in law has 7 children and 12 grandchildren so every celebration is a huge affair.
A final layout on the stuff we gave away before our renovations - this time its the dollhouse furniture I had collected before I had the boys, it's time for them to go!
Even the school projects had a layout of their own!(T113)
And for my mom's birthday we got to take a free ride in the Singapore Flyer (a giant ferris wheel like the London Eye) courtesy of my brother, this photo was taken by dh and deserves a full spread, so I created this layout for it. I booked a restaurant in the vicinity of the Flyer, but when we got there after our ride, we found it to be empty of diners, and was not sure if we should dine there (??) but finally took a chance and it turned out to be a wonderful meal with an entire restaurant to ourselves! Plus, the Chinese new year Parade rehearsals passed right in front of us - front row views from the restaurant! A most memorable night!
Download Template 247 here
Last month a lady asked if I could post the template to this summer layout:
This template is now available as Template Pack 8 in the Store. Thanks for your interest!
Well, as always, so glad you dropped by to share my joys and thoughts, thanks for your comments and have fun scrapbooking!
I am trying very hard to complete my 2010 family album, and had a good time recaping what layouts I have and what else I still want to complete 2010. I have layouts covering: my beloved grandma (who went to the Lord last year at 103), the boys' birthdays, our birthday prayers for them, singing and worshipping at home, boys learning from daddy to tie their ties, Jared's song for Miffy, Date Night, laughing out loud, Chinese New Year, New Year's Day, National Day Parade, Concerts, Favorite restaurant, BFFs, Moving On to new job, games we played, Shanghai trip, Ryan's 1st day at Secondary (High) school, Jared receiving his Science Olympiad award ... 2010 was a full year! I'm glad to find that I have layouts of moments, thoughts/ reflections, together with the events type layouts.
I also love the layouts covering everyday life a lot, and have a lot of photos! I was so inspired by Katie The Scrapbook Lady's Roundup Album and bought Cathy Zielske’s The Monthly album set to speed things up!
One 'everyday' night last month the following conversation happened, and I came home and captured it on blogger:
The topic of my friend's daughter who's Jared's age setting her mind on becoming a medical doctor came up today during our car conversation:
Me: Well, Jared, do you know what you might want to become?
J: A scientist, an inventor, or an artist.
Me: Those are very diverse careers!
J: Yes, I love science, and I love to create new things and draw.
Me: The idea of you as a designer might combine your inventor and artist aspirations, more interesting than being a scientist?
J: But a scientist, more specifically, a physicist, will allow me to prove my theory about Uranus!
Ryan: That theory of yours has been disproved by R.C. (his friend) already!
Me: What theory is that?
J: The theory that Uranus was hit by a planetiod in the early years of its SOLID planet life, and was turned on its side, subliminated and sent to the outer planets by it.
Me: (pause) ok (as if I understood any of that) But what would that do to help mankind?
J: It would help the history of science, which is the history of mankind!
Me: It seems to be that physics is the least practical, or most abstract of the sciences, I can at least relate the study of chemistry and biology to real life problem solving like in medicine, food science, and so on!
J: The study of biology is the study of chemistry is the study of physics is the study of the Universe!
Me: As God made it?
J: Without physics nothing exists! Without physics our bodies won't work!
Ryan: Hhmm, I did write a fun story about a world without friction some time ago...
Me: Well, from my understanding of your personality, you're someone who needs to create and have results constantly to satisfy your insatiable curiosity. A designing career will give you greater satisfaction as you will get to 'complete' projects one after another. If you are a scientist, you could be trying to prove a theory for a lifetime!
J: But my theories are provable (!) and I also want to be a designer at the same time.
Me: Sure, my dear! Well, Ryan, any ideas what you might want to be?
R: W......ell, I'm not sure yet, but probably in science, right now I'm more into Chemistry than Physics. The current topic we're studying in Integrated Humanities is very interesting too.
Me: Yes, keep your mind open, you might discover your interests and passion forming in an unexpected area as you grow up, it will be fun discovering what that might be!
R: (smiles pensively)
Captured on 7 Feb 2011 (with some help from Jared on the technical bits): Another priceless conversation with my very different and very interesting and very precocious and very growing up boys. I won't trade this for the world! Got to capture this in my 2011 album!
Here are more layouts I just completed for 2010:
Same template sets: memories of the stuff we had to part with before our renovations..
Same template: The way it was before renovations!
And the next 6 layouts were from our short trip to Bintan beach resort in September last year...(template 31)
Loved the luxury of the jacuzi in our room! (new template 242)
This was adapted from (template 54)
We bought a disposable underwater camera and got these fun shots. (template 129)
I loved the sue cummings brushes I used on this layout (template 151)
Got this template for you to download at the bottom of this post (243)
And this is a preview of our trip to Vietnam in Dec 2010. Fantastic trip, full of history, experiences of a by-gone era,meeting the resilient and friendly people, lots to scrap about! (T.241)
You would have noticed that we travel quite a lot. Over the years, it was the one thing we consciously plan and save for, because each year and each trip just make us want to do it more. Early on when the boys were young we started travelling with them, to nearer and less expensive places. At first they may not remember much, but the time spent as a family were wonderful. Especially because we both work, and especially now that they are in school and with friends most of the time, we find that trips are the best extended family time we get to spend together. Nowadays we plan the trips with the goal of introducing them (and us) to the world's rich history and geography and culture in mind. I know we are blessed we can even do this, and are very thankful.
I found on Katie's blog (Yes, I am terribly inspired by her!) a link to this post :Travelling with your kids- why you should do it :http://mylittlenomads.com/travel-with-kids/ and I have put my own reflections in my Hokkaido album:
"We are at the end of our Sapporo stay, after eight days of unforgetable snow and winter wonderland and I’m laying awake in our tiny room in Novotel Hotel. Somehow can’t sleep for the past hour, but have been full of thankfulness instead of worry (like at home) and just decided to journal these thoughts!
Travelling with the whole family like this may be extravagrant but it is full of unforgetable shared memomies, and also a priceless time of getting close and personal at prolonged period of time with our tween and teen.In these 10 days of wandering around together, not covering that much ground, but spending lots of time just hanging, solving problems (mainly that of being too cold!), fighting over decisions (four heads is not better than one!), watching BBC News together (Ryan said it would be nice to get this at home), laughing our heads off, telling and sharing jokes, being able to demonstrate our love and unfailing support for them (eg, rubbing cold feet, tiredness,..), making snow angels, snow fights, snow men together, modelling behaviour, daddy asserting his authority and his love and kindness(even indulgences) at the same time, trying new experiences together, talking with them about being honest in life and what to expect, encouraging their exploration while pulling back (in view of safety), all priceless lessons, experiences, because they are shared and stay with us all for a long time (as long as we live!)
In addition, modelling mommy as a female, a girl, to them, being physically weaker, but intellectually just as competitive (haha!), how they understand gender differences and hopefully how to treat girls/a lady. How daddy and mommy get along, .. even teaching Ryan how to handle being taller now (how to get into a cab without knocking his head), how to use chopsticks. Encouraging their confidence as we practise them every opportunity (eg Ryan’s great sense of navigation)
Teaching them our idea / love of travelling on a shoe string - what we think is worth paying for and what is not, and what is worth experiencing over and above the touristy. Having no internet for 10 days!(me included) learning not to blame whoever for making a ‘wrong decision’ since it’s the first time we are here! Making the most of everything, even a detour to the clinic for Jared! Also, Gim and me united, trying new experiences and fods, no blaming or grumbling, thanking each other for every great day, every sacrifice, every help, knowing and allowing for each other’s preferences and quirks., all these were so lovely and we hope teaches them something lasting!
Thank you God for all of these and more. For keeping us safe and giving us this chance. This chance to be a family in this life on earth."
Now you know why I take so much pain to scrap our travel photos, they are a treasure trove of memories for our family, and lots to talk about with the boys! :)
I was so priviledged that Christie Stearns (find her blog here) and her aunt Carla put together Carla's Egypt and Jordan travel album using my templates, You will agree that the pictures and album was awesome and beautiful!
This template is now available as Template Pack 8 in the Store. Thanks for your interest!
