packing

preparing for Bataan trip for All Soul's and Makati hotelcation after (relax relax muna bago ang stress ng pasukan)

what am i up to?

I am making chicken cordon bleu.
pers taym.

wish me luck!

kids' say

yesterday afternoon upon their arrival from school:

Anjo: Abi, look at Mama's haircut
Abi: what?
Anjo: her haircut sucks!

This morning upon their confession during breakfast:
Me: (grrrrrrr)

Post Teacher's Day

I found this last week when I was tidying up Abi's bed

it's a pretty long letter but the bulk was Abi enumerating his teachers and thanking each of them for teaching the subject matter (e.g. Thank you Ms. Eva for teaching us Filipino). :) Kaya mahaba.

but what amazed me was when I was reading the last part. "But until today, I still bear this in my mind, that teachers whether bad or good (unahin daw ba ang bad) are still part of our framework in our mind." Obviously, the last phrase has garbled thoughts and admittedly I don't know what Abi wanted to say. But still, Abi won big time here when he used the word framework.

His closing remarks is baligtad pa. :)
That's Abi!!!

a declaration of health

today i declare myself illness free. I was kinda indisposed since last week - feverish, coughing with super inflamed and "wounded" throat, hoarse voice and sore eye (left eye). I was irritable, in pain and lazy. Last night, I tried doing lymphatic massage with Vicks on my jaws down to my collar bones for ten minutes before i slept. I also gargled warm water with salt a couple times yesterday and right before i went to bed. I also boiled several fresh oregano leaves and drank a cup in the afternoon. Those were my last ditch effort before heading to a doctor today sana. But lo and behold! I woke up this morning feeling well, and when I swallowed the big "wounded" lump was not there anymore.
So before lunch, i went out for my haircut

"That's my TomBoy and drama ko dito"

 at ito naman ang welcome food ko --- Classic Chocolate Cake from Purple Oven. This company supplies the chocolate cake I loved to buy in Hotel Ponte Fino in Batangas City and I swear to the heaven's above that this is absolutely sinful.

at ito ang aking buong order sa aking kusina. :)

Cheers to good health!

PS
The only positive thing that resulted from me being sick is my weight

:)

license to eat

i lost weight after being sick for two days, although i can still feel my swollen tonsils blocking the whole of my throat. but sorry, that wont stop me from eating.

humanda kayo sa akin. :)

bed arrest

for two days.

merci

I got my favorite cologne all the way again from Paris. That officemate of hubby is so sweet. We insisted on paying (dahil talagang dyahe na) but she said "NO". Oh! how's that?

Not one

Not two

but THREE!

So thoughtful. I really wish to return the favor one day.

But sadly, this might be the last Bien Etre from her coz her group has since moved to Oz for another assignment. They are indeed going places!

Thank you Cling! You never knew how you made me happy! 

G.Stilton

Hindi pa naman siguro addict si Anjo sa librong daga na ito. 

she also has other books competing in numbers - Dork diaries and Archie and there was another one she bought last week and I have an inkling she'd collect that book too. 

Before Christmas there is Halloween

and our tradition continues

Later,  I will have to move this bat to our driveway together with the Halloween banderitas.

 we replaced our last year's "cottony" cobwebs with a nylon. water proof.

 the robe was Anjo's costume during the Halloween's Party in our subdivision years back, but still looking great.

 this one is new except for the skull. Couldn't find Abi's costume anymore.

 I got this from Robinson's.

 from last year too.

glow in the dark from NBS.

our lanai. old decors. i wanted it minimized coz I use this as "sampayan" when it rains. it will look terribly messy if we overdo the decors. 

Trick and treat!!!

till we meet again

in Makati office.

happiness.

in cafe france. breakfast club. friendship will remain.

thank you garrett for being so helpful to me. always being there when I needed "help". you will go far, that I am sure.
thank you jalels for the 12 + years of friendship. lulubog lilitaw tayo sa isat isa. but the friendship stays.

what's on the list?

Last Sunday we were in Puzzle Mansion in Tagaytay.

for the coming weeks:

me and Anjo only.

for the boys only

for everybody.

Dapitan arcade. also soon.

Wazzup kids?

Have I told you about my concern with DJ? His personality seems to be on the loner side. In a conference with his teacher last week, she observed that last quarter DJ looked uncomfortable with big groups. He was ok with a partner but if they were three na, he seemed lost already. But she told me that this quarter, DJ is starting to get out of his shell, in fact she sees him playing basketball with his classmates during lunchtime. That feedback lightened me up. Maybe, we are doing something right.

But what did we do? We enrolled him in football. He didn't like it first. He frowned at me when I got him in against his will. I entered a compromise. Just join the first module and no need to pursue it after that.

Yesterday, he went home with this medal. Their team won against Grade 8.And to my surprise, he informed me that payment for the 2nd module is on Tuesday.

I am glad we made the right decision to engage him into sports. My reading says sports helps children overcome shyness and children who are into group sports are less likely to feel isolated. Through sports, I am optimistic that DJ will learn how to deal with situation wherein he needs to communicate with others with confidence and better self esteem.

The two.

1st grading period did not end well with the two. Both finished 9th in their respective classes. We realized it was because of their lessened concentration on studies. You know why? Computer games. In our home, Ipads and TV are allowed only during Friday night to Saturday night. But why the decline in focus? I think the problem with "wired kids" is that it lowers their concentration level. Despite being on computer on regulated hours, I observed that it still affected their momentum on studying. On Sundays, they were sluggish, sleepy and cranky.

(Abi can't find his paper medal. Not so proud about it, maybe)

So what steps are we doing now? We still have the same schedules on ipad and TV, but what we do now is to go out more often as a family on Saturdays. When exam is approaching, even Saturdays are no ipad days. We also banned computers for two weeks after the 1st Periodical Test and waited until we had results of their monthly exam for the 2nd quarter.

Changes now are beyond our control, but as parents we need to make our values stronger and our rules clearer. Children love rules and they love obeying them. Now that I can take them to the bookstore by myself, I make our trip to NBS as our bonding. They find great pleasure on books and i feel good that I am raising a reading generation. I hope I can say the same with how they deal with their Math. :) 

Oh! the challenge of being a parent, and of striving to be a good one.