Rushing to catch up... and trying to slow down

I don't know what it is with December, but it seems to be the busiest time in the year!  Perhaps its because we've been trying to spring-clean the house of all the stuff we've accumulated over the years (we shifted all our barangbarang from our respective home/hostel without weeding out things, so its loads of stuff to pack and clear), and every bad coughing episode by Junior J seems to spark off another frenzy of cleaning... or because I've been trying to work on my dissertation to meet the early Jan examination deadline.  All in all, the list of things to do seems long and ever-growing, and I've been feeling like a ping-pong ball zipping back and forth... hence the lack of posts this month.

Thank you card made at my mother's request, for her Qigong teacher.  I used the paper patchwork technique that I picked up at Sharon's class, which was taught by Shirley... and can you spot the yummy new Alphabites from Papermarket? :)

Anyway... to those dear readers who've been popping by and leaving encouragement, I just want to say a big big THANK YOU! :)  My apologies that I've not been replying the comments in the posts, or popping by your blogs as often as I want!  Hopefully things would be less crazy in January once my scrap assignments are done and my dissertation has been handed up... (Meanwhile, look out for a giveaway soon, since I'm clearing my stash with all my spring cleaning!)  

Even with the crazyness, I've been encouraged by this post to slow down, and enjoy the little moments, because these are the ones that matter... so these are the things that have been warming up the cockles of my heart:

The quiet moments spent sitting down and folding the clothes, while looking at the little boy engaged in his own play...

The accidental architecture that I've been discovering in little corners of the house...

The sheer cheerfulness of little kids... and their never-ending fascination with "Peekaboo" (and now to add to the cuteness, he pops up and says "HI MAMA!"

Family time where we make "music" (or noise) together: Hubby on the piano, me on the flute...
... and the boy either trying to sit in both our laps at the same time, or adding extra notes to the song.

The imagination of a child, that can see fish in blue doodles...

And the sheer simplicity and excitement that comes with picking flowers and leaving them with a note just for Papa.

Have a blessed weekend!