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! :)

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. :)

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. :)

Gerard's 2nd week at school

Next week will be the last week of my little boy's fun and learning at school.  I'm thankful that he's always excited and eager to go to school.  Even though it was really hard for me not to get any afternoon naps every day, I was happy to be with my son at school.

Well, we weren't allowed to peek inside the classroom, so I didn't get a chance to see my little boy in action, but whenever he comes out of the classroom, he was always all smiles and very eager to show me the activity paper they did for the day, and he was always pointing to the stars stamped on his paper and on his hand.  And of course, I always give him a big hug and kiss! :)

I'm so happy for you, Gerard!  Keep on learning and having fun! :)

Gerard's 1st week in school

My little boy started attending the "Early Exploration" program last week at my daughters' school.  The program started on Tuesday, Feb. 15, and my little boy was really excited to go to school that day.  He had his little bag prepared with crayons, small toys and snacks.  It was an all-out family support for my little boy on his first school day, that's why my Dad and my girls went to school with me - well, minus the hubby since he's still at work.  We were all excited to see him enjoy being at school.

There were about 5 or 6 kids that cried when the parents were asked to leave the classroom and there was even this little boy who started crying even before they were inside the room.  It was a good thing that my little boy didn't cry or showed even a little sign that he was afraid to be left alone with the teachers.  It shows that he's really happy to be at school and very eager to have fun. He was all smiles when he left the room on his first school day! :)

Well, yesterday he didn't go to school because he didn't want to.  I didn't want to force him if he's not interested to go but he said he'll go to school on Monday and promised that he won't be absent anymore.  Well, we'll see what happens next week. ;)

Here's the very first star he got in school last week:

I'm proud of you, Gerard! :)

their Birthday gifts to me

Kids are very thoughtful in their own little way, and I was very happy with the gifts I received from them yesterday.  They were simple birthday cards that they made, and it's such a warm feeling to receive these cards from my precious ones.  Gwen made the card from Gerard so that my little boy would hand something to me.  So thoughtful! And Gaby made her own unique birthday card for me. Such a sweetie! :)

Love you, babies! :)

my little savers :)

My kids were finally able to open a savings account.  I've always wanted to do this for my kids, but every time they get money during Christmas, they just end up buying toys and other things they want.  Well, I can't blame them.  But I am thankful that this year - after all my "lectures" on saving (lol!) - my 2 girls finally gave in and decided to save the money they got in the bank.  Well, my little boy has no choice because I have his money (lol!).  And with monthly help from their Dad, they'd start building up their savings.

my girls are now proud savers! :)

still had to take that picture even though he's sucking his thumb (lol!)

We really want to train our kids to be more of savers than spenders.  And having their own savings account is a good start. :)

Mommy and Me Monday: baby pics

My little boy is already growing up, and I kind of miss his sweet and cute little baby size.  Well, he's still sweet and cute, but he's getting big already.  So I'm posting these pics of us on some of our moments together at home (when we no longer what to do next. lol!):

Got pictures of you and your lovely kids to share?  Hop on over to the home of Mommy and Me Monday and share it with us. :)

love that smile! :)

My little boy just loves posing for pictures.  There are times when he looks grumpy on his photos and most of the time he just loves to goof around.  Like these pictures I took of him a couple of weeks ago:

Isn't he just cute and adorable?  He wouldn't stop laughing after seeing his goofy pics. :)

leaf is the new flower

My little boy stopped giving me flowers whenever he'd come home from play...because he's now giving me leaves.  That's right, leaves!  I guess he thought that I might be getting bored with the flowers so he changed the item for his little surprises for me.

Pretty unique, huh?  :)

my thoughtful little toddler

I’ve shared on one of my blogs how my little boy would always remember to give me flowers after coming home from playing.  He’s such a sweetie!  It’s something that he would always remember to do without anybody telling him to do so.  He just loves me dearly and it just fills my heart with joy!  I have no way of preserving the flowers because they would eventually wilt, so I took a picture of some of the flowers he gave me and preserve the memory of his sweetness and thoughtfulness.  :)

I truly am thankful with such a sweet boy like you, Gerard.  I love you so much!

excited to go to school

These are my daughters school bags.  See the little Spongebob and Patrick backpack placed on top?  That's Gerard's school bag.  Well, he just likes to pretend that he's also going to school just like her sisters, so he prepares his little school bag, too.  He's got paper, notebooks (his sister's old notebooks) and pencils inside and sometimes, he puts cookies and crackers for snacks.  It shows that he's really excited to go to school.  He's only 3 years old,  so we'll probably have him start school next year or before he turns 5.  

Whenever his sisters and I would do their homeworks, he would also sit with us and bring his books or just doodle anything in paper.  He would pretend that he's doing homework, too.  Then after a few minutes, he would say, "Finish!"  That means, he's already done with his homework.  It would just crack us up! :)

Gerard likes to browse through books and look at pictures...

trying to read

And he's very eager to learn his ABC's and numbers...

learning numbers and letters

I, too, am excited for my little boy to start his journey to learning.  I know he'll do great and I know that he'll have lots of fun! :)

birthday celebrations

I haven't updated this blog for quite some time now, so I'll start updating it with the birthdays of Gwen and Gerard.  Gwen turned 9 on October 16 and Gerard 3 on September 30.

Well, we didn't have a grand birthday party for the kids - we just cooked their favorite foods, like spaghetti and fried chicken and bought a birthday cake so they could make a wish and blow their candles.  

my little boy and ate Gwen

The day of Gerard's birthday was a bit sad, because it was the day that Gaby got admitted into the hospital because of asthma and pneumonia.  It was somehow severe than her previous asthma attack that's why the doctor advised that she be confined in the hospital.  My husband was the one who stayed in the hospital then we went home and still tried to celebrate my little boy's birthday.  Although I was a bit heart broken that day (because I felt sorry that Gerard was celebrating his birthday and we weren't complete in the family), I was  encouraged with the happiness my baby showed.  He was still beaming with smile and clapping and laughing while eagerly waiting to blow his birthday cake.

It was still my husband who gave the name for our "bunso" because I wanted to give him the privilege of naming his one and only son.  I know how proud and excited he is of finally having a baby boy, especially when we first learned through ultrasound that we're having a boy.  Of all my kiddos, he was the heaviest and I'd say the most painful one to deliver.  I had all my children through normal delivery, but it was only with Gerard that I had to have epidural because I was experiencing extremely painful contractions.  Then after 15 hours of labor, we finally have a cute little baby boy of our own. :)

With my eldest, it was me who gave her the name Gwenevere.  I've always been fascinated with King Arthur and her lady Guenevere, so I promised myself that I would name my daughter the queen's name.  But my mom didn't want that name for her "apo" because she thought she might grow up to be a mistress just like the owner of the name (because Guenevere was King Arthur's mistress, right?).   So what I did is that I just changed the spelling - changing u to w, just to ease her apprehension.  

Since it was my first time giving birth, I was nervous but excited, of course.  My blood pressure was 140/100 at that time, but thankful that I was able to go through with the safe normal delivery of my very pretty firstborn.  

Another fruitful year for my precious ones, and I know that the Lord will greatly bless them as they grow. :)