Mothers' Day

A friend who ushers in church used to indignantly tell me that on Mothers' Day, all the women usher. And when it is Fathers' Day, the women still usher. She thought it was ridiculous because wasn't Mothers' Day supposed to commemorate moms and be thankful for all they did the other 364 days of the year? So why make women work on Mothers' Day as well?

I found that was the case at home too. I spent the week stressing out about the children's gifts to their grandmas. Last year, we made simple cards with a collage on it. This year I decided we'd do t-shirts for the grandmas. Something they could wear. So these were the steps to completion.

1. Track down fabric crayons. Not really difficult but considering I don't go out as much as I used to. I finally tracked them down on Crayola USA and got them ordered and posted to Singapore.

2. Get tops for the grandmas that were the right material for fabric printing. I found these at Uniqlo. I t was the first time I wandered in. I was not impressed.

3. Decide the designs that the twins were going to scrawl over and then get Packrat to actually draw them.

4. Get the twins to scrawl all over them. This meant posting it on the wall with protective cardboard behind it so that they wouldn't end up scrawling on the wall accidentally. That's where it got a bit tricky and the first outburst of tears were heard. I put up 4 outlines, foolishly thinking that two drawings each per child would be enough to keep them busy. Unfortunately, Evan, like a dog peeing to mark his territory took one crayon and scrawled on each sheet in the same equal, uniformly, disorganised manner. Jordan got pissed off because she had taken her time to carefully choose her crayon (closest to pink) only to realise she had no sheet that was devoid of black scrawls.

5. Trace out design so that Jordan has a fresh piece to colour on. She is attempting to actually colour so it's nice to watch. The red bits on the flower petal and flower middle, the black eyes and purple ribbon of the cat as well as its collar were her doing.

7. Iron the prints onto the tops repeatedly because the transfer colours weren't all that clear.

8. Select photographs to print and make cards out of them.

9. Write out the cards. I ask Packrat if he would like to write the one to his Mom. He asks me to do it, claiming I have better handwriting than he does. Growl.

10. Deliver the gifts and cards.


















So, I spent last week very stressed about day that was supposed to be a little bit about me and I am glad it is over.

The only funny part of the day was a very cheeky Jordan. We tried to teach her to wish moms we met Happy Mothers' Day and she insisted on saying Happy New Year. When we tried to do it in Chinese, she cheekily started putting her hands together and going "Gong Xi Gong Xi" (a Lunar New Year greeting).

That girl sure has sass.

Technorati Tags: twins, Mothers' Day