Happy 8th Birthday, Gaby!

Happy 8th Birthday, my sweet little Gabrielle! :)

Continue on being the best in everything you do and doing it all for the glory of God.

Stay happy at all times!

God loves you

and

I love you so much! :)

A Globe Of Their Own

One of things I bought for my kids from the sales commission that I got was a globe.  Well, it was an unplanned expense since our trip to the bookstore was just for buying school materials that my girls needed.  Hubby was looking at the globe models displayed at the store shelf, then suggested we buy one for the kids to use.  After much thought and careful examination of the available globes, we decided to buy a big one which was basically complete with the needed information.  It was a bit pricey but definitely worth it for my children's schooling.  It came in handy with Gwen's lesson in Civics (which was about globes), because she was able to clearly identify the different parts of it, such as the International Date Line and such.

I'm glad that I was able to provide this handy tool for my children's education. :)

They Want To Be Bloggers, Too.

My daughters, especially my eldest, were very happy with the idea of having their own blog by next year.  I promised them that I'll be helping them set-up their own e-mail accounts next year and also have them start their very own blog.  They want to start their own blog to hone their English and writing skills.  At an early age, they are showing interest in writing and I think blogging is an effective means to develop their writing skills and to effectively express themselves.  

I'm happy that they're showing interest in blogging - at least, it's a more worthwhile activity than just playing online games whenever they go online.  And by the time they're grown up, they'll already be experts in blogging. :)

An Update On Their Adventures

I'm updating this blog - finally!  It's been more than a month since my last post and I haven't shared anything about my precious kiddos.  Well, they've been really busy with school and their weekends have been pretty occupied, too.

Early this month, we met with my uncle and cousins from Dubai, and together with some relatives, had lunch at Savory near Marriott Hotel in Pasay City.  They spend their summer vacation here yearly and stay for about a month.  My kids were happy to see them, enjoyed the food, and just loved chillin' at the hotel where they're staying.

my kids and my beautiful cousins 

my little boy with his new toy 

my precious kids! :) 

quiet time - busy watching cartoons

We were also a part of the Moose Gear Grand Fans Day  held on July 3, 2011 at the Robinson's Galeria Activity Center.  They enjoyed watching the performances of the celebrity kids, the magic show by Ala Kim, and they also had a photo opp with Mika Dela Cruz, Moose Girl celebrity endorser.

My kids truly enjoyed their first cupcake decorating experience at the open house of One Serendra the other week.  They also had a great time listening to the live story telling of the teachers from Make Believe.

More adventures of my precious ones to come, so stay tuned! :)

Tagaytay Happy Jump Shots!

My kids had a grand time when our family went to Tagaytay a couple of weeks ago.  It was a rainy weekend, but the rain thankfully stopped when we reached Leslie's Restaurant in Tagaytay.  The view from the top was simply spectacular and my children couldn't help but marvel at the beauty of Taal Lake.  These happy jump shots of my precious ones are proof of how elated they were to spend the last weekend of their summer vacation in Tagaytay. :)

Mommy Journey: He's a Dad!

Although our kids were all "unplanned", hubby's happy and proud to be a father.  Well, unplanned, because I got pregnant before marriage with my first, then just after a year I got pregnant again with my second, and we weren't really planning to have another baby, but I got pregnant again and thankfully, with a baby boy.

Hubby was understandably troubled when we learned I was pregnant (well, we both were) because, of course, we didn't know how to say it to our parents.  He felt a little worried with our second baby, because it just seemed too soon to be expecting another one.  Then with our youngest, he was surprised that he's going to be a dad again, but he was happy and proud that finally, we were having a boy.  But despite the worries and all, my husband is definitely proud and happy with our children. God gave them all to us just in the right time. :)

CPKids Summer Art Workshop

California Pizza Kitchen hosted a free art workshop for kids and today, it was scheduled at the Alabang Town Center branch.  With the theme "Under the Sea", the participating kids were taught to make a tempera resist collage out of the sea creatures they drew.  The tempera resist collage was done by applying watercolor paint to the finished artwork that was colored with an oil pastel.

 

It was a great experience for my children to do this artwork as well as join other kids in sharing their creativity.

Swimming time again!

My kids, especially my 2 girls, are making the most out of their summer break before school starts.  Well, our plans of having an out of town summer vacation won't push through because hubby's company wasn't successful in getting the bid for a project.  Well, I guess God has a better plan for us.  Anyways, so my kids just settled swimming in an inflatable pool. (Lol!)

Their friend (and our neighbor) was kind enough to invite them a couple of days ago to spend the whole morning swimming in their inflatable pool which they really enjoyed.  I was inside the house, kind of busy with the household chores, but I could clearly hear the laughter and joyful shrieks of my kids, especially of my little boy, enjoying every splash of water.  It was really a perfect opportunity for them to have fun with their friends and cool down in this very hot summer weather.  And I am happy that they had a great time. :)

Our new favorite: "How to Believe" from Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue

One of our favorite bonding moments is watching movies.  My kids and I watch their favorite cartoon movies almost everyday and some that we've already watched for the nth time.  Well, it does get into my nerves sometime when they're watching the same film over and over again, but that's how my kids are - when they love it, they will repeatedly watch it.  And if it makes them happy, well, I'm not going to be a killjoy mom.

This year, they found a new favorite movie and song: "How To Believe" from the movie Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue.  Honestly, I love this movie and song, too. :)

Mother's Day Message from my Precious ones :)

Whenever there are special occasions, my kids always remember to make greeting cards for me.  Well, a day before Mother's Day, they asked money from me to buy paper but they wouldn't say what they'd use it for.  Of course I know that they're going to make greeting cards for me, but I just pretended that I had no idea.  They each had cards prepared for me (my eldest Gwen made the card from my little boy), which pretty much has the same message:

Thank you Mommy for taking care of us.  We're sorry for all the bad things we did.  We hope that you'll always be caring and loving to us.  Happy Mother's Day, Mom!  We love you. :)

Thank you, my babies, for making Mother's Day and everyday special to me.  I love you all! :)

Gerard enjoyed his 2nd visit to MAMS Kiddie Funland!

After listening to the helpful talks at the SUMMER SIGLA event at MAMS Kiddie Funland last weekend, my son enjoyed unlimited play time at the Fun Factory.  Unlike on our first visit, he was alone this time that we re-visited MAMS Kiddie Funland, because his sisters were away on vacation, but I'm sure that he still enjoyed playing and bouncing and throwing the little colored balls all over the place (Lol!).

After playing and changing his shirt, he headed to the train which is one of the rides he loves.  Then after playing, it was time to feed my hungry little boy so we went to his favorite (and every kids' favorite) fast food for a his favorite burger and fries.

I got me a happy and satisfied toddler last weekend! :)

Mommy Moments: Summer Plans

It's already been a few weeks since summer vacation started.  Well, we actually don't have big plans this summer because we usually spend time at hubby's hometown to visit my in-laws.  My daughters are already there with their grandparents, but the little boy is here with me since he wants to be with mommy all the time (he's very close to me).  My girls already went swimming with their relatives last weekend, and we also went to hubby's company outing last weekend, which my son really enjoyed. :)

Well, I'm looking forward to a vacation for our family that hubby's boss promised once he gets the project they're bidding on, which is either to Bohol or Hongkong Disneyland.  Woohoo!! :)

These are 2 of the places I would love our family to visit, especially this summer, so I'm really keeping my fingers crossed and would definitely do a lot of praying this weekend so that we could have the chance to go out of town and bond and have fun together as a family. :)

My Gwen is the Pinay Gwen Tennyson

I've posted a couple of times in my other blog, The All-around Mom, about my daughter, Gwen, winning the "Is There a Gwen in You?" contest from Cartoon Network Asia.  She was chosen as the Gwen Tennyson of the Philippines among the 3,500 participants who logged in and joined the contest.

She was selected as the winner December of last year, and she had her photo shoot a few weeks after we learned of the good news.  Then last month, the announcement of the winners were shown at the Cartoon Network channel, Gwen10.com website and was also published on the Inquirer.  Then a few weeks ago, I received an e-mail from Cartoon Network Asia that Manila Bulletin was interested to feature my daughter, and yesterday she was featured at the entertainment section of the Manila Bulletin (in print and online).

news article at the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Feb. 20, 2011 

winners announced at the Gwen10.com website

some of her pictures online

news article at Manila Bulletin, March 24, 2011

I'm really happy for and proud of my daughter.  I do hope and pray that new opportunities will come along her way right after this blessing that was given to her.

More power to you, Gwen! :)

They're now in Facebook

My kids now have an account in Facebook.  Well, I know I shared in my other blog last year my reasons of why I don't allow them to have Facebook accounts just yet, but I just thought that I'm keeping them in the dark by not letting them know how to use these tools.  I thought that at least if I teach them early on how to use and navigate these online tools, such as these social networking sites, they'd know how to be responsible users, and of course, they would have something to share with their friends.  I'm a soft-hearted mom, and when my daughter shared that when their friends are talking about Facebook, they couldn't share anything in the conversation because they don't have one, and I know how it feels to not belong.  I realized I can't control them being a part of the modern world, so I agreed to, finally, creating their Facebook accounts.

Of course, they were really happy that they could finally chat with their friends and play games in Facebook.  I just made sure to set their privacy settings to be viewed by only those that they know and that they're really friends with just to keep them safe.  

For now, they're sharing one account, but probably by next year, I'd allow my 2 girls to have their own Facebook accounts.  I'm sure they'd love that even more. :)

Mommy Moments: White

We're joining Mommy Moments this week, and our theme for this Friday is White.  
Here's a picture of my 3 kiddos wearing white.  This was taken a a couple of years ago during Gaby's pre-school graduation.  The one carrying my little boy is my dad.

Click on the badge above for more of the white entries this week.  Happy Mommy Moments everyone! :)