What the girls got from Santa

I don't know where the girls got the idea about Santa Claus giving gifts to kids who've been good or nice because a few days before Christmas, they started telling me about writing Santa and hoping that they'll get the make-up kit they wished for although they seemed not quite sure if they've been good enough to deserve presents from Santa. :D Anyway, I didn't want to burst the girls' bubble so I went along with it. They got their make-up kits from "Santa" on Christmas day and here's Tallulah putting on her pink lipstick and eyeshadows. :D

Good times! :)

What the Girls got from Mom and Dad this Christmas

Sofia got this - Mom's idea, super girly :D ..and Tallulah, this - Dad's idea, super techie :D Merry Christmas everyone! :)

Children's Party at the Office

We had our children's christmas party yesterday at the office and it was just another typical children's party - face painting, puppet show, games, lotsa food, and gifts. Here are the photos! :)

Zoobic Safari and Ocean Adventure

Thank God for the holiday (Nov. 30), we were able to bring the kids to Subic and spend some quality time together. Our first stop was Zoobic Safari. It has a huge collection of tigers, which is actually the zoo's main attraction. They also have few birds and rats (eeew! hehe) and other 'usual' animals.

By noontime, we were already at Ocean Adventure. It was soooo hot and humid! Sofia slept during the last part of the Dolphin Show. Tallulah and Wacky didn't finish the Sea Lion Show. Plastado lahat. :D

Then we stayed overnight at By The Sea Resort, which is about 10 minutes drive from SBMA. We had no reservations so we were lucky to get one (1) decent room by 7pm. The place is located, well, by the sea (hehe) and it also has a swimming pool, which all made my girls' day despite the chillin' water and cold weather (hey, it's Christmas time!).

We had a little duty-free shopping the next day before we headed back to Manila. Good times! :)

Click here for more photos! :)

Family Day

November 22 was Family Day at Sofia's school. Sofia and her classmates were required to wear 90's costume, hence, the plaid top/baby dress. I hope it looked 90's enough. :D The kids had a short (but very hoooot!) parade but the parents didn't mind the scorching heat and just kept clicking away with their cameras. :D

There were games and lots of activities for the kids to enjoy. The girls enjoyed the bump cars but we (the Dad and Mom) didn't. We were worried the whole time they were inside the 'track' because even though there were some guys assisting the kids, the girls and some other kids didn't know how to 'drive' and so they kept bumping the walls or each other's cars.

There was also the famous kalesa ride. I wonder why kids are so fascinated with horses...Anyway, I joined the kids and too bad, Danny was not able to take some decent photos of our kalesa experience. :D

Then there was the ceramic painting. This one Danny and I enjoyed because we were able to sit and rest for a while. :D Sofia's Pikachu was good enough. Tallulah's Winnie the Pooh was..uh..well..okaaay. :D

We went home tired (but happy, of course!) after six (6) hours of 'baby-sitting' two big girls, and with big tummies after having quesadillas and burritos and snowcones and hotdogs and ice monsters. :D

Two Little Kittens

So we were requested to assist Sofia in memorizing this 5-stanza poem during the school's one-week semestral break. At first, I wasn't sure if Sofia will be able to memorize it, but as they say, we tend to underestimate the power of a child's mind, and so I'm just happy that Sofia was able to memorize the poem in five (5) days. I let her memorize one stanza a day and on the fifth day, she knew the poem by heart! Alright, there were times that I had to give her cues. :D

Anyway, we were surprised one night when we heard Tallulah reciting the 1st stanza and some lines from the poem. She was probably listening while Sofia was reciting the poem to me every night before we sleep.

Oh well, these little kids really amaze me! :) Proud mommy, hehe.

Happy Halloween!

We had our own halloween party at home yesterday and here are the girls' costumes:

Tallulah's a harlem dancer, while Sofia's a pink witch - scary versions (hehe) because we had "the most scariest costume" contest. They didn't win, however. :( Apparently, my make-up didn't look scary enough compared to this (I know I'm a bad make-up artist! hehe). Anyway, congrats to their cousin Sabel - she did her make-up herself! The girls and their cousins had fun, as usual.

Check out their cousins' costumes here. Happy Halloween again! :)

Pirates, Mermaids, and Musical Treasures

We watched Pirates, Mermaids, and Musical Treasures yesterday at the CCP, and the kids enjoyed one of the pre-concert activities - trick or treat! :D We arrived late and so we decided not to let the girls wear their costumes anymore. The concert was okay - Sofia, at times, was participating, while Tallulah got bored (well, that's Tallulah :D) and tried to walk down the theatre aisle several times (poor me :D). Here are some photos I took during the concert:

By the way, when we were choosing and buying their costumes last week, I asked Tallulah if she'd like a penguin costume since the theme was 'under the sea' and I thought and conviced her that she'd look cute in it, she hysterically told me, "Nooooo! They will laugh at me!" :D

Happy Halloween! :)

sa Zoo..

Parents out there, if you're on a budget, here's one place where you can bring your kids without shelling out so much cash: Manila Zoo! Yup, it's still operating and yes, the elephant is still there! My kids were wide-eyed with amazement when they saw the elephant and the tigers!:D Entrance fee is PhP40 each (adults and kids above 3ft).

..and for another PhP40 entrance fee each, you can also visit Kinder Zoo which is located inside Manila Zoo. There, you can actually let your kids touch, feel, carry, or as you can see in the picture below, sit on the animals, with the supervision of some zoo staff, of course.

For days, the girls bragged with their cousins about how they sat on the tortoise, carried the baby gibbon (monkey), and that they didn't get scared of the baby crocodile and the ostrich. Now, they're planning to go back and bring their cousins to the zoo. For PhP80 each, I think that can be arranged. :)

Sofia's 5!

Sofia turned 5 on September 04 and we had a simple celebration at home last Saturday (September 05). She is so crazy about Hannah Montana! - she wants a Hannah cake, Hannah's blonde hair?!, the clothes Hannah/Miley wears, and a guitar! The cake turned out to be easy to find - we bought one from Goldilocks. :D The blonde hair? We bought those washable hair colors/highlights available everywhere and applied just a little amount of color on Sofia's hair just to satisfy her, hehe. For the guitar, I tried to teach her how to play 'The Climb' using my guitar (which is, of course, way too big for her!) but...yeah, maybe next time (she's only 5, come on!). For the attire, well, as you can see in the picture, we weren't really able to pull off a perfect 'Hannah Montana' look for our little girl. I think here she looked more like a little in between Hannah and Miley. Not loud enough. Not simple enough. More like...Sofia. :)

Tallulah, the hairstylist

She loves to always fix or style or mess (you choose, hehe) someone else's hair! :D In the picture above, you can see that she's pulling my sis-in-law's hair and I'm not sure if her Tita is liking it..haha! She is really more 'kikay' than her Ate! Sofia is 'kikay' in her own way (medyo reserved) while Tallulah is one real loud and proud 'kikay'! :D

Linggo ng Wika

This is Sofia's Filipiniana costume for her school's celebration of 'Linggo ng Wika' today. We bought this yesterday at a barong store in Farmers' Plaza, Cubao, for PhP350, plus PhP40 for the abaka slippers. Mahal ha! :D I took her photos last night because I have work today and there is no special program or anything at school for the parents, and so I really have no chance to see Sofia in her costume today.

Sofia was also asked to bring Filipino food that she has to share with a classmate, and so we bought a box (6 pcs.) of 'bibingka' at Bibingkabon in Shopwise Araneta for PhP120. By the way, you should try the bibingka, it's yummy! My daughters' favorite is Ube flavor!

So how much was the total damage? PhP510! That's exclusive of gas and stress from last minute shopping. :D Sofia's smiling face while she was trying on her costume, however, was priceless! :)

First Day High

Yup, you guessed it. I took a leave from work on Sofia’s first day of school - June 15. I know, this is long overdue, but I just had to ‘document’ this wonderful experience!

The works.
I helped her dress up in her cute uniform (she wore peach that day), prepared and packed her baon (ham sandwich with lettuce and apple juice), tied her hair into ponytails, and I made sure she has all the things she would need in school - hand sanitizer, tissue, handkerchief, and her nametag. I couldn’t really tell if she was excited with the whole 'first day' thing because she was 'cool' about me being so 'OC' and she just went with the flow of things that morning. I, on the other hand, was excited and anxious at the same time.

The school bus.
Then I rode the school bus with her - as much as we want to send her to and pick her up from school every single day, we can’t at this point in time since Danny and I both work - and prepped her that she would be riding the bus ‘without Mommy’ starting the next day because Mommy has to go to work. She slept on my shoulder while the bus fetched all the other students on the way to school. I wondered how’s it going to be on the next day? There will be no more shoulder for her to sleep on when she gets sleepy. Then I thought (and hoped) she’d make lots of friends in the bus soon.

The stage mommy.
We arrived at school 10 minutes early. Parents are not allowed to go beyond the fence, so I kissed her and told her that I’m going to be back to pick her up. A lady ushered her to sit with her classmates in the ‘assembly hall’ while they wait for the teachers to bring them to their classrooms. Sofia was so behaved! She was just looking around and from time to time, was checking to see if I am still outside watching her - she was not smiling every time our eyes met, but her eyes were like telling me (and maybe herself) “I can do this!” Tough girl. I would have left sooner had I not saw her checking on me, but I stayed because I thought she might panic if she turns and doesn't see me among the crowd of parents outside the fence. I left only when the teachers ushered Sofia and all the kids into their classrooms. I couldn’t exactly describe how I felt at that moment, but I was glad Sofia was not among those kids who howled and cried and were literally carried by some ladies and were brought to, I heard, the guidance office. Oh well. If that had happened to Sofia, I had probably also cried with her and spent two (2) hours in the guidance office as well. :D

The fetch.
I had to pick her up at 2pm. Classes for the first three (3) days of school were shortened to 2 hours, instead of the regular 3 hours. (We fetched Sofia for the first three days of school because the bus is scheduled to fetch Sofia at 3:30 pm every day.) So there I was, standing outside the fence (again) with other excited parents, waiting for the kids as they come out, class after class, to the assembly hall. I saw one parent holding a camera, my cue to grab mine as well, and I took pictures of Sofia’s expressions as soon as I saw her. She was scouting the faces outside the fence and the moment her eyes beamed when she finally saw me, I found myself on the verge of crying (promise! hehe). (I later learned that when Danny and I fetched Sofia the next day, Danny also felt like crying when he saw Sofia in school. haha!) It was weird, really. I was anxious because my little girl, for the first time, spent time with unfamiliar faces in an unfamiliar place, with no ‘Mommy’ and ‘Daddy’ around, and yet I was happy and proud that she made it through her first real adventure!

So there, on June 15, 2009, Sofia had just made her first big step towards independence. :D Thank God, everything went really well on that first day! Here are some of Sofia’s photos during the first three (3) days of school:

What the girls got me as presents for my birthday...

Sofia - her drawings (isn't she sweet? - the stage mommy)

Tallulah - Astring-o-sol! (she snatched it from our groceries, haha! or yeah, maybe I need to brush my teeth more often.. :D)Happy Birthday to me! :)

Gettin' Ready for School

If there's one more person (me, being the other person) who is more excited than Sofia this coming schoolyear, it's my sis-in-law, Cynthia. She said she'd pay for Sofia's schoolbag but she gave Sofia more than enough cash and we were able to buy Sofia's lunch kits and school shoes (and some toys, hehe) as well! Thanks, Tita Cyn! :)

Anyway, Sofia's cute uniforms are ready and we've also bought her shirts, handkerchiefs, and socks. We've already made arrangements with a school bus operator (which is owned and managed by my husband's cousin who lives just a few blocks away from our house and so that means less anxiety for us, thank God!). We also plan to bring Sofia to her dentist this weekend and to buy more 'girly' school stuff like headbands, hair ties, and hair clips..hehe. Tomorrow, I am attending the school's parents' orientation - Uh, does that make me, officially, a parent? Oh well...

Sofia's first day of classes is on June 15. It's her first time to go to school and I hope that everything goes well for her (and me, hehe). I am really excited and nervous at the same time. :D

Becoming Role Models for our Children

Are you familiar with this saying? - "Kung ano ang ginagawa ng matatanda, sya ring gagawin ng mga bata" or something like that. Anyway, I saw the girls 'cleaning' the backyard this morning - No, I don't clean the backyard. :D It's the girls' Tito Thad who does the cleaning almost every day! So kids really do look up to us huh? Hmn, we better behave or else... :D

Tallulah, the Make-Up Artist

I was browsing through some old photos yesterday and I saw these photos of Tallulah. These were taken a few months ago when I saw her playing with her sister's make-up kit. I know you really can't 'see' the make-up on her face but she actually put on some pink eyeshadows and blue lipsticks (sa gilid ng lips..hehe)..or yeah, maybe I'm just such a mom! whatever..

Anyway, I think it would be nice to keep track of our kids’ ‘what-do-I want-to-be-when-I-grow-up’ lines or the little things that fascinate them and those that they enjoy doing, because being aware of or sensitive to our children's interests can help us in bringing out the best in them.

Sofia, the Photographer

Sofia's always trying to borrow and play with my camera lately (hmnn..I better put it in a safe place from now on, especially when I'm not around!) so I decided to teach her how to hold and use it properly and let her take some photos once in a while, but since my camera is pretty heavy for her little hands, so far all her shots were blurry except for this one! Nice job, baby! :)

Easter Egg-Hunting

Finally, it's Easter Sunday and this afternoon, we had our annual ('course, it's annual! hehe) egg hunting at home and the kids, as usual, went all wild! Tallulah almost got the most number of eggs - 11, Tj's got 12 - thanks to her Ate Ann and Ate Linda! :D I'm glad Sofia joined this year's hunt because last year she said she was shy! I bet the kids will be chewing the 'goodies' inside those eggs in the next few days (or hours, i hope not!) but I am having the girls' toothbrushes ready! I also hope Danny and I would be able to get some good sleep tonight because the girls get really so hyperactive when they eat so much candies...Oh, no! :D

Sore Eyes!

This is what happens when your child gets infected with sore eyes:

Haha! Of course, you can't stop her from enjoying the summer! :D

Why-Sofia-Loves-Who

This morning, while I was washing Sofia's dirty hands, she blurted out "I love you, Mommy!" out of nowhere and instead of saying "I love you" back, I asked her why she loves me (and the other people close to her) to find out how she 'understands' LOVE and if she means what she says. Here are her answers:

Mommy – “..because you’re beautiful, because you love me, you hug me, you take care of me, you give me toys and gifts, you buy me everything I want.” (honest little girl! :D - the mom)
Daddy – “..he fixes my toys, he fixes everything, he also hugs me, he also takes care of me, he also gives me toys and gifts, he’s crazy!”
Tallulah (her sister) – "..she’s very cute!”
Momzee (my Mom) – “..she lets me sleep in her house.”
Dadzee (my Dad) – “..he always buys me fruit loops.”
Lola (my mom-in-law) – “..she gives me biscuits.”
Ate Jaylyne – “..she gives me mangoes, she buys me plastic balloons.”
Ate Ann – “..she buys me plastic balloons, she gives me juice, she takes care of me.”

The cousins:

Kuya Edison – “..he gives me cookies all the time.” (nah, not all the time! :D - the mom)
Ate Aina – “..she’s beautiful.”
Ate Xandra – “..because whenever I go to her room upstairs, she always tells me ‘be careful, you might fall’” (halatang walang maibigay..haha! - the mom)
Ate Trisha – “..she cleans my ears and Izy’s ears…” (Is this true, Trish? - the mom)
Ate Cuy – “..she always ‘piggy-backs’ me and carries me.”

The Titos/Titas:
Tita Lin - "..she gives me chocolates." (..so this is why Sofia is so hyperactive at night!)
Tita Ninang - "..she gives me toys and gifts."
Tito Marlon - "..he gives me 'teddies'."
Tito Thad – “..he cleans everything in the house.” (masipag..hehe - the mom!)
Tita Cyn – “..she lets me swim in her swimming pool, she gives me toys and gifts, and she loves us all!”
Tita Cate – “..because she gave me a toy.” (past tense, i wonder why..hehe - the mom)
Tito Alex - " I don't know."
Tita Pinky – “..she gives me juice all the time, and food, and plastic balloons.” (okay, enough with the plastic balloons! - the mom)
(eto ang the best!) Tita Lala - “Who is that?” (haha! I told her, ‘You don’t know her? She’s Lyan’s mommy!’ and she said, ‘Oh!...that’s enough, I’m already tired!’)

and of course, Jesus – “..He takes good care of us and He loves us!”

Isnt’ she the sweetest? :)