See Ya Later & Hello!

See ya later, Philippines!

Hello Canada!

Follow our adventures in Canada here!

Packing 101

Packing 101, a photo by ~maan~ on Flickr.

The girls are moving to Canada, weee! :D

Movie Review: Transformers: Dark of the Moon

This morning...

Danny: Tallulah, did you like the movie last night?
Tallulah: No, I hate it! It's horrible!

She actually slept halfway into the end of the movie. :D

Sofia: Mommy, I know why Jesus made us.
Moi: Why?
Sofia: ...so that He will have friends to play with.

:)

The Girls in Boracay!

The Mom is super tamad right now to blog! So I'm just sharing some photos of the girls from our recent Boracay trip (June 16-19)!


Yum!

Enjoying Boracay sand!


picture-picture in our super nice room at The Tides!

Bitin ang 4 days / 3 nights! :D

Cranky or Not, Here I Come!

I always expect some 'special' treatment from the hubby and the girls during Mothers' Day. But today, because of the Pacquiao-Mosley fight (that turned out uneventful), I spent my entire day at home being, well, a mother. :D

...and so I was feeling cranky (yes it was that time of the month) and ‘harassed’ by the little rascals up until about 3pm when it suddenly rained hard and my mind drifted to the old times when I was still a little kid myself. I remembered how ecstatic my siblings and I were one rainy day when, after a lot of begging and pleading, our Mom and Dad finally allowed us to bathe in the rain with our friends, and so I thought I'd give the girls a treat! I went to the room and asked them if they would like to try to bathe in the rain, and although they were surprised and puzzled if I was really serious with my offer, they quickly replied ‘hell, yes!’ and off they went to the rain! :D I grabbed my camera and took some pictures of my little girls having so much fun in the rain, and as I watched them giggle and laugh heartily, my cranky heart slowly melted like butter and I suddenly felt humbled and grateful to the Lord above for telling me 'This is what Mothers’ Day is all about, Maan. Ain't it grand?' Amen to that!

So with some few bouts of crankiness (blame it on the PMS!), today was basically spent celebrating my 'motherhood' with the kids. After all, if it weren't for these naughty little things, I wouldn't even be part of this 'Mothers' Day' hype.

Happy Mothers’ Day to all Moms, cranky or not! :D

Easter 2011

Super late post! :D

Let's see how many eggs did the girls get this year...




Good times! :)

Peek-A-Boo!

When I come home from work and there are no little girls excitedly shouting “Mommy!” and when our room is filled with kids’ stuff but is surprisingly quiet, I know it’s time to play hide-and-seek!...and I always know where to find them: In The Closet! :D

...and yeah, i know it's also time to clean out these closets! :D

Isang Alamat: Tallulah as Rosas

If I was unlucky to get a good shot of Sofia performing on stage during their group’s dress rehearsal, luck was on my side during Tallulah’s rehearsal last 04 March 2011 (Friday), and so I was able to take loads of pictures and some videos, too!

Tallulah, off-stage.

From bud to full-bloom ROSAS daw.

Here’s Tallulah with the other ROSASes. :D

Tallulah, looking for me while she's performing on stage. Her eyes lit up when she finally spotted me in the crowd.

Tallulah, having fun on stage.

Here are some video clips of Tallulah performing on stage.

Untitled from NaughtyLittleMaan on Vimeo.

-o-o-o-

The girls’ actual play presentation happened last Wednesday (09 March) and Friday (11 March). Danny and I missed STP’s concert last Wednesday but we were in the best stage play ever – Sofia’s. I’m glad we were able to get good seats and I finally had a good view of Sofia doing her snake moves.

Then last Friday, we had a great time watching Tallulah getting bored on stage when it was not her turn to dance yet. :D We had dinner at Banapple in Katipunan afterwards. Akalain mo, natapos ni Tallulah ang Nursery. :D

Good times!

Super Good Times! :D

Isang Alamat: Sofia as Ahas

It’s March again. Graduation time. Last year, Sofia and her schoolmates did “Ang Paglalakbay sa Libro ng Hiwaga“ for their school’s annual play (instead of the usual graduation rite). This time, they did “Isang Alamat.”

The students were divided into four (4) groups and each group performed on different days /schedules and unfortunately, Sofia and Tallulah were not together in the same group, so we had to watch the play twice (or in my case, four times, including the dress rehearsals!).

Anyway, Sofia’s dress rehearsal was last 03 March 2011 (Thursday). She is an AHAS this time. (She was a Waling-Waling last year). I loooove her snake costume especially the snakes circling her arms. By the way, I did her make-up, bwahahaha! :D


The rehearsals were the only times parents can take pictures/videos of their little ones, so last Thursday, I got myself ready for battle and waited for Sofia’s turn on stage. Yup, BATTLE, because it was really like a battlefield inside the school’s auditorium with all those parents holding their cameras/videocams and firing away as soon as the stage curtains opened.


And because I was 5’ ft. flat (I swear!) and parents from the previous act/scene didn’t seem to have any plan to vacate the area in front of the stage, I had no choice but to stand near the rightmost side of the stage. And when the curtain opened and the stage light was turned on, guess where were the snakes doing their dancing and hissing? Right, on the leftmost side of the stage. So it was a challenge for me and my camera/flash considering further that the snakes are villains and the stage lighting is always 'dramatic dark' every time they come out on stage.


By the way, during the 20-min intermission, the parents swarming the stage finally went back to their seats and I grabbed the chance and positioned myself, this time, near the leftmost side of the stage because Sofia and the other snakes were almost always dancing on the leftside of the stage, so guess how dismayed I was when Sofia came out on the right side of the stage on the next act/scene. :D

Some few photos of my daughter performing on stage:


Curtain call. Sofia was also one of the singers who earlier recorded the play’s soundtrack. Mana sa Mommy. :D

Here’s a short video clip of Sofia singing their finale song.

Isang Alamat: Sofia as Ahas from NaughtyLittleMaan on Vimeo.

I’ll post Tallulah’s group’s dress rehearsal next. Weee! Tallulah in a stage play? Behold! :D

Hot Air Balloon Festival

Here’s one event your kids should not miss: The Hot Air Balloon Festival that happens every year, usually around Valentine’s Day, in Clark Freeport, Pampanga. It’s a four-day event that features hot air balloon flights, paragliding exhibition, aerobatic flight display, etc. Entrance fee is PhP150 but kids 3 years old and below get in for free.

Sofia brought her camera along to take pictures and patiently waited for the gigantic balloons to fly high up in the air. We left Quezon City at a little past 3am and arrived at Clark at about 5:30am. The balloons started to fly at around 6am.

Tallulah amused us with her crazy antics. :D

After all the balloons have gone up in the air, we set up the tent we borrowed from my sister-in-law. We stashed all our things inside and ate our baon burgers. The weather was okay - a bit cloudy, not so hot, and sometimes drizzlin’ – but the tent just made everything perfect.

Then we had ice cream. Food concessionaires are everywhere but I suggest you don’t let the kids eat or drink too much unless you don’t mind them using the portable toilets available in the area.

When things get boring or when the kids are not anymore interested with the shows/exhibitions happening around, you can buy a kite for PhP70 and teach the kids how to fly one.

Tallulah, always the go-getter, impatiently waited for her turn to fly the kite and learned fast.

Sofia preferred to watch and later roamed about the place (with her Dad).

Good times! My balloon shots are here! :)

Tallulah's 5!

Tallulah turned 5 yesterday, wee! Yes, it's the same dress/gown she wore last year - she refused to wear something else. :D

Her cake? Belle from Beauty and the Beast.

Let's go straight to the presents, shall we? Tallulah's crazy about unicorns (even before we learned about Agnes from Despicable Me, I swear!) so her Tito Marlon gave her two (2) unicorns while her other Titos gave her ‘friends’ of these unicorns. Didn’t these guys know my daughter has asthma?! Anyway, you should’ve seen how her eyes lit up when she saw these stuffed toys!

Tita Cyn gave her a kikay fairy kit or something like that :D

Here's Tallulah wearing the skirt, shoes, headband, and the wand from the said kit.

A toy camera from Tito Jess!

So what did our 'Princess Unicorn' get from Mom and Dad this time? That's how she wants us to call her, by the way. :D

A kikay kit, of course! :D

I was not able to take pictures of the other presents she got but we want everyone to know that you made Tallulah’s day yesterday! Good times!

First-Time Hikers

Well, it was not exactly a 'hike' for Tallulah, because she was sitting on her Dad's shoulders during our entire (okay, about 90%) Hike to Underground River in Sabang, Palawan. Sofia, on the other hand, finished the trail on her own with occasional free piggy-back rides here and there, courtesy of my brother. :D I'm sharing some of the girls' photos from the hike...

Croc-Crocan

We brought the kids to Crocodile Farm (now, Palawan Wildlife Rescue and Conservation Center) during our one-week holiday vacation in Palawan last week. Before our scheduled tour started, my brother pointed to a souvenir shop and excitedly told Tallulah, “Look at that big croc!” Surely not amused, Tallulah flatly replied, “That’s not a croc, it’s a stuffed toy croc!

Oo nga naman... :D

I’ll post the girls’ holiday photos soon! :)