A Lovely Blog Award

Rules:

1) Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award and his or her blog link.

No objections to this one but it sounds funny that acceptance of the award is a must.

2) Pass the award to 15 other blogs that you’ve newly discovered. Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

Even if the rule doesn't say objections aren't allowed, it's my pleasure to humbly accept this award from Emma. Thank you for remembering me though we have only known each other here in blogsville for not yet long.

Now, it's quite hard to pass on such an award as this coz there are lots of lovely blogs that I know. Anyway, here's doing my best. The following are lovely blogs awardees:

♥ Clarissa ♥ Kero ♥ Meryl ♥ Phebie ♥ Tetcha ♥ Yami ♥

That's My Boy!

It's my first time to post an entry for I ♥ Faces. I decided to join because it's so much fun to see different kinds of emotions captured through photos. And I love to see faces from different parts of the world too.

This week's theme is:

"Let's Hear It For The Boys!"

This is my son's photo during his first birthday. He obviously had lots of fun that day.


To join in the fun, check out I ♥ Faces website.

Mommy Moments - That's My Dad!

Mommy Moments dedicate this week's theme to all the dads.

...to the closest dads in my heart...

My in laws are truly great support to hubby. We always feel their love and care to us and the kids. I haven't seen a brother's relationship (twins) as close as of my hubby's and BIL's.

My papa is one of a kind. He loves gardening that's why our garden looks decent even little. He loves to talking with people and I regret that I've only appreciated that character of his when I'm a grown up already. I love you Pa!

The best kuya of all, that's my bro. He's a composer and musician specifically the heavy metal but started serving the church through music and teaching when he started to know God. He's dedicated to his work, church, family and God. I'm hands up to this guy. Pogi pa!

And certainly not the least is my man, my kids' dad (and mine sometimes, ahehe). You have movies or software you want to download, ask him (hehe!). He enjoys going out with the kids and loves seeing them happy. He spends his free time playing with them. He gives the best to me and our family. I love you honey!

I might miss the day so, happy Father's Day to all the dads!

Click this if you want to see more awesome dads.

Back From Palawan

We arrived back home last Saturday. Yipee! Part of me wants to go back there.

I just made sure I spent time with the kids plus other stuff to catch up on...and a sleepyhead doesn't finish anything. hay!

I owe you more pictures and kwento.

1 Min. Before Doze Off

Before I hit the sack, I can't help not to browse through these lovely rustic furniture. You'll surely feel close to nature with these in your home.

This table fits in hubby's home-office area.

See You Later Palawan!

I should be sleeping by now. E gusto ko pa magblog. I set the alarm at 4AM to get ready for our flight to Palawan. We need to be at the airport by 7AM. kumusta naman! With this kind of not-having-enough-sleep habit, i think i need to get the Best Health Insurance . Or I won't see my kids grow. No no that's sad!

Muntik pa 'kong di sumama kasi kulang ang budget ni hubby. tsk tsk. ang asawa ko di naman nagsasabi. buti na lang may maaasahan na sister in law.

Our things are packed already. The toiletries are just the ones left. And also talked with ate bembem already regarding the kids.

I told Zach before he slept (been hoping for the right timing) that I and his dad are going to Palawan tomorrow. He was ready to cry and I told him I'll be bringing him seashells. He still isn't happy while I was thinking of something good to tell him. He was saying something like he wants to go with us, we can't go to palawan...and then he said he wants one small seashell. oh i could bring more! I fell asleep then woke up just when hubby came home.

Excited? Sort of.

Mommy Moments - Time Out With Friends

I don't know why posting this collage didn't work until today. (Palusot pa late naman talaga)

The kids by the next-door neighbor rarely goes out. This was only the second time they went out and actually played with our kids. Take note summer break pa ngayon. That's why I didn't miss on taking pictures of them playing together. I was surprised when little Gabe suddenly went to ate M and tried to hug her, only, he was able to reach just up to her legs. Cute diba!

The two boys shared a common interest in doodling. They're of the same age; Zach is younger for just a few months. My little boy and the two girls played kickball together. I think it's the girls' dad who enjoyed the most. hehehe!

I hope there will be more bonding times like this coz I can sense that Zach likes them as his friends.

More fun times here at mommy moments.

The Floor is Yours

One of the important details in the home is the flooring. Right now our home's flooring is mostly vinyl tiles. If we'll have our house improved in the future, this is one of the things at the top of the list. When the time comes, hope we could get in touch with Huntsville Flooring. The upstairs bedroom has "hardwood looking tiles" and that's good already. What I want to be modified are the vinyl tiles at the ground floor. Dirts easily stick to the floor and it always needs to be polished and scrubbed for it to look descent. It's hard to maintain this kind of flooring especially with kids around. We always get fruit juice, spaghetti, milk splatters or any kind of splatters on the floor, even crayon marks made by curious kiddos. And unfortunately, I have a hubby that's so particular when it comes to the tidiness of the floor. I'm glad I have my helper who patiently does the job of scrubbing the floor to shinyness. Scratches are also inevitable with vinyl tiles. Our floor has scratches already and if we're not lucky, black lines become visible if the scratch is really bad. With floor tiles, these are easily avoided.

On to Palawan Next Week

I was surprised that our visit to Palawan will be next Thursday already. Wish I could just click here so I'd know what to get ready for. The rainy season has officially started and still I don't think I have everything I need for the trip including swim wear. Good luck if there are still available swim wears or summer outfits in the stores. Also, the school days are back. Since last month, I noticed that most merchandise are back to school necessities. Thank God I don't have to join all the rush for those school supplies. Not yet.

Still not excited for this trip. Maybe because I'll be leaving the kids behind. I still haven't decided if we'll send them to my mother's, my in-laws' home, or they'll just stay home with our helper. I prefer they be with my mother's coz I want an adult supervise them aside from our (still) reliable helper. Hubby prefers they go to my in-laws', only, the ILs are with us to the trip and the only reason for sending them there is there is another person to be there for them who is also my helper's friend.

Maybe there's another reason why I'm not that looking forward for this trip. Hope I will be.

MM - Haircut

I remembered that hubby had this photo in his online album so I'm sharing it here in Mommy Moments.

This was Zach's first haircut at ten months old. He had fun riding the car seat in "Cuts for Tots" and he enjoyed the razor. Too bad this salon was included in the bombing in Glorietta before. His second haircut was disastrous. He was hysterical in the barber shop. His dad just does his haircuts after that. Thank God, he's now used to getting his hair cut in the barber shop. I think that was after hubby had his hair done first and then he was the next.

Want to see more fun haircuts?

One Proud Mama

Teacher N: Mommy, nag-achievement test po si Zach kanina. (Mommy, we had an achievement test today.)

Me: Huh! di ko alam na may test sya ngayon. (Huh! I didn't know that he's going to have a test today.)

Teacher N: Di po ba nasabi sa inyo ni Teacher M? (Haven't Teacher M. told you about it?)

Me: Hindi e. Hindi kasi ako ang sumundo sa kanya last Friday. Hindi kame nakapag-review.
(No. Coz I wasn't the one who fetched him last Friday. We weren't able to have a review.)

Teacher N: Nakapasa naman po sya. Nag-spelling po kame at sinusulat nya yung mga missing letters. (He passed the test. We had spelling and he writes the missing letters.)

Me: (dropped jaw) Huh?!

Teacher N: Ang galing-galing nga po nya e. Nagulat nga po ako kasi nakakabasa na sya. Tinanong ko kung ilang taon na sya sabi nya po 3. Huh! sabi ko po, 3 yrs. old ka plng nakakabasa ka na?! (He's so good! I was surprised that he can already read. I asked him hoe old is he and he said 3. Huh! I said, you're only 3 and you can read already!)

I can't wait to go home and while in the jeepney, I was memorizing the achievement test result, the certificate of accomplishment and the small sheet of paper. He can barely write the letters but the score says 5/5. Hehe! His total score is 100/100 finishing it in 4 minutes over the 10 min standard time.

He is now in Level 4A. This time, he needs to to be able to learn to say words with consonant digraphs (today we had bl, cl, fl and gl), long vowels produced by the silent-e and will continue to develop fine motor skills by tracing and copying lettes and whole words. Contents of 4A also include Reading Riddles, Changing Letter Sounds and Famous Fables on Stage. It's exciting that my child will have learned these things when he finishes this level.

I hope we can continue through the Math Program before I enroll him to big school. Coz I'm not sure if we can afford to send him to Kumon if he's already in school. I'm just grateful we have this opportunity now. For now, I'm one proud Mama!

Talk About The Kitchen

We moved here to our new home last June 7, 2008. Surprisingly, it's been nearly a year ago.

We were able to acquire new appliances and furnitures like the dining set, sofa, tv, bed mattress, laptop (with desk and chair), bedroom cabinet and etc. Those are just some of the basics for the home. Having these things, I can say that I can survive day by day. But as I go on, I find that our house needs more improvement. I really opted not to put decoratives in the living room because I want the kids to be able to move freely around the house; without me having to scold them from time to time to be careful not to break the vases or touch the glass figurines or crystal displays. That's not the improvement I'm talking about but the necessities to be able to have a more comfortable place to move around.

I noticed that I spend quite a lot of my time in the kitchen. One of the top things in my list are the kitchen sinks and counter.
I noticed lately that I need a bigger space to move around in the kitchen especially when I need to prepare more food aside from what I usually do than when we have guests. Thank God for that breakfast nook. It holds the tv and also serves as a divider between the living room and the kitchen.

I also noticed that I am needing more kitchen wares and paraphernalias as time went by than when I started cooking in this kitchen. Our cabinet is now full of things like canisters, food containers, used plastic bags and jars and time arises that they become useful so I can't easily throw them away. Not to mention I need to buy a bigger casserole and additional utensils and flatwares like glasses, bowls and plates for the guests. That means a kitchen shelf needs to be installed for those.

That's just in the kitchen. I've yet to talk about the living room, the bedrooms and the bathrooms. But I'm grateful for our home anyway. Things can wait. There's a time for everything. That's just a homemaker, thinking :)

Good day everyone!

21 Mistakes a Blogger Can Make

Problogger shares the (so) common mistakes we, as bloggers often make. Do you score more than me?

1. Giving up too early - blogs take time to take off
2. Putting off starting a blog - waiting until everything is just right before launching can mean you never do it
3. Echoing what everyone else is talking about - say something unique and share your opinion
4. Not blogging on your own domain - I know some swear by using hosted blogs but if you want ultimate control of your blog it is best to do it on your own domain and hosting.
5. Irregular Posting - you don’t have to post every day but try to establish a regular rhythm of posting
6. Being too apologetic - ’sorry I haven’t written for a while’ can end up being the most common type of post on a blog - yes apologize if you’ve messed up but don’t be too hard on yourself - keep investing your time into building your blog up rather than highlighting it’s problems.
7. Focusing more upon Quick Traffic than Loyal Readers - there’s nothing wrong with a big rush of traffic from social media or another blog - but just as important as that is building reader loyalty. Sometimes growing one reader at a time is more fruitful than getting spikes of traffic that never returns.
8. Clutter - too many buttons, widgets, navigation elements
9. Great Posts but Terrible Titles - don’t short change yourself by investing hours into writing great content only to slap a mediocre headline/title onto it.
10. Not Defining a Topic - the most successful blogs have a well defined topic/niche (or they target a certain demographic)
11. Choosing a Topic you have no Interest in - for your blog to be successful you’ll need to blog regularly on your topic for years - if you want to sustain it choose something you have an interest in or love for or you’ll run out of steam.
12. Too many Ads - I don’t have a problem with ads on a blog from Day #1 but when they overpower the content and push it down the page too far they hurt your chances of building a loyal readership.
13. Being too Insular/Expecting Readers to come to You - many bloggers starting out fail to realize that the more you put yourself out there and interact with other bloggers the more chance you have of being read.
14. Blogging about Making Money Blogging (as a first blog) - I’ve lost count of how many bloggers I’ve seen start blogs on the topic of blogging for money when they’ve never made money blogging. Start with something you know.
15. Not Being Useful - blogs that meet needs and solve problems are blogs that people will keep coming back to and which they’ll spread news of to their network.
16. Writing for Search Engines Before Humans - you can always tell when a blogger discovers Search Engine Optimization for the first time. Suddenly titles don’t make sense, keywords appear in posts for no real reason, links to other pages on the blog that are irrelevant to the post keep being used. Learn SEO - but keep your readers as your #1 priority.
17. Becoming a Stats-a-holic - the lure of checking your stats is understandable and common to new (and older) bloggers - but it can become an unhealthy obsession that leads to distraction and depression.
18. Link Baiting with Personal Attack - taking pot shots at other bloggers might get you some quick traffic - but hate breeds hate and the type of readers you attract and the culture it’ll breed on your blog could come back to bite you. Plus you’ll get a reputation that you might not want to live with.
19. Not Knowing Why You’re Blogging - while most of us don’t really know what we’re doing at the start - the faster you can work out what the purpose of your blog is the sooner you’ll start moving toward achieving that purpose.
20. Not Selling Yourself - one thing I don’t think many bloggers get is the power of blogs to sell yourself as a blogger. There’s nothing wrong with monetizing a blog with ads - but maybe a better long term strategy is to use a blog to advertise who you are and what you can offer readers.
21. Thinking You Have to Know it All - one of the best things about blogs is that they’re a great medium for involving your readers in the process of learning. Leave space for others to interact, share what they know and contribute.

I'm guilty of # 4, 5, (sometimes) 9, 15, 17 and 20. Now that we know what to avoid, hope we could make adjustments to make our blogging better.

Do you know any more blogging mistakes we need to avoid. Share it please!