Mommy Moments: Snack Time

My sons have the same preferences when it comes to snacks. They both loooovvve chips. Which they got from mommy and daddy :D. They are so behaved when they're munching on chips. But I don't always let them eat chips. Their snacks vary from noodles, milky chicken soup, champorado, french fries, and pasta. They have "sweet tooth." They like halo-halo and fruits like mangoes, strawberry, watermelon and longgan among others. Avocado and yogurt is Zach's favorite.


Gabe eating pancit canton.


It was so hot in Nuvali so we thought ice cream is a perfect snack.


Zach's birthday last July. Cake tasting came first than the candle blowing. We only had cake but he had three. I think this was the third time he blew the candle this year in three separate days. haha! At last we captured it in photo.

It's snack time at this week.   

Kids' Bedroom

An advantage of having same-sex kids and a two-bedroom house is that the children can share in one room until they grow up. Unless in the future, each one of them would want to have their own rooms and we'll have to plan for house extension. Hubby has mentioned of cleaning up the other room so the boys can have their own room already. When? When the budget comes so it's still a question mark. :D I've seen very nice bunk beds but it's really costly.

Just a realization. Having more rooms means spending more on furnitures and beddings. Especially when you're into Modern Furniture.

Half Laptop-Half Desktop

This is our lappie now. After Gabe spilled 1/4 water from the 350mL tumbler last Monday night. I was busy preparing the ingredients for dinner's menu and I just saw Gabe playing with the spilled water on the table. Gabe knew he did something wrong. He hid behind me when his daddy came home. But of course hubby can't blame anyone but me. And I can't blame him from being mad coz all his important files are still here without any back-up. And our pictures too. Thankfully, he was able to restore it! Though the original keyboard got really hit.

Not Excited Yet For Christmas

When the "ber" months start that's when I also start to hear Christmas songs in the malls. But even before I excite myself for Christmas automatically in my mind there's "Wait, it's Halloween first before Christmas." Maybe because Halloween is one of the favorite holiday of my eldest son. He even chose a book about halloween with pictures of bats, pumpkin lanterns and boys and girls in halloween costumes. Last year he got himself a gory skeleton mask that he wore for post halloween party at church. I want my kids  to really have fun since they really enjoy dressing up for halloween. My youngest might just be content at wearing a Batman costume handed down by his brother. Maybe a skeleton costume for my eldest. I'll try looking at Awesome Halloween Costumes Ideas.

97 Sleeps

There's no denying that Christmas is coming. I can hear Christmas songs in malls since the start of September. A while ago at the bookstore, it's funny that at one corner are skeletons, pumpkins, bats and other  mobiles and at the other side are Christmas lanterns. When Halloween is over, all kinds of christmas decors would be super ubiquitous. Especially here in the Philippines. I tell you, people are just waiting for Halloween to be over. People will again be busy completing their christmas list, spending bonuses and mailing Christmas cards. You may click here to find great cards.

At this time of the year I always find myself asking, Christmas is here again and next is the closing of this year. What have I accomplished this year?

Mommy Moments: Grandparents

We seldom see my parents since we moved here in Laguna so we always miss them. This was during my mom's birthday last February at the home where I grew up.


Our kids had bonding time with their Lola and Mamay (Batangenyo term for lolo) when we went to Boracay last month.
Hopping on the waves.


Reading with Lola.


Mamay caught small crabs and was showing them to his grandboys.


I just saw this pic while looking at the archives. This was in EK last year. I remembered they were  running from and chasing Mamay back. Oopps! Gabe, not too fast, wrong spot.


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Marriage Monday: Raising Boys

Marriage Monday added kids in the mix (for the topic) this month. Let me admit that in my mind, the term " raising boys" includes (raising) my hubby, ehe :D



God blessed us with two highly-spirited boys. Zachary is 5 while Gabriel is 2 yrs. and 9 mos. old. I figure this is the best topic where I could have something to say about. And there's more to learn everyday.

I'm re-titling e-Moms topic to:

Raising Boys: What To Do

1. Always show them your love and affection. They want and need to be kissed, hugged and touched. The more I love my kids, the more that they become loving. Showing them your love will help them grow as men who are loving and respectful to women.

2. Talk to them about their feelings. Help them sort out what they feel. It won't make them appear weak but hence will help them grow strong individuals who are understanding and sensitive to others' feelings. Don't tell them that boys don't cry coz they will when they get hurt and hearing that statement will make them feel insecure.  Though I have a "crying corner" for my kids where I let them cry for as long as they want. Turns out they stop whining or crying when I ask them to go there.

3. Give them lots of space to run and explore. Understand that boys are naturally active. They like to move around, climb, look and touch things (dirt especially). Set some rules for safety but let them practice their budding independence. So when it's time for them to behave ex. inside the church, it's easy for them to obey because they know the difference between a playground and the place of worship.

4. React not much when you see something not so ordinary. Ex. my youngest son likes playing with a barbie doll or plays with the sensitive part of his body. They will much more be curious why you are reacting too much. And the more they would want to find it out themselves and there's more trouble with that. With them, there's nothing wrong about it. So you just need to gently divert their attention to other things.

Our bestfriends has a daughter and my son openly expresses his affection to the girl. The girl is in his drawing of his dream house in his book and when I asked him why is she there, he said it's because "I always, always like her." This morning he's busy writing on an envelope and when he showed me, there's a pair of scissors inside. He said it's a surprise for the girl. I just told him if you want to give her a gift, we'll just buy a new item when we go to the store.

What I can see is a pure heart, pure admiration from my son and I don't want to bring any malice to it. If time passes and they grow up and still like each other then that's the time they need guidance about dating and so on, hehe :D

5. Teach them about God. Teach them how to depend on God through prayer. Talk about God and his words in every opportunity. I found out that they become more obedient when they have learned about who God is in our life.


^{Deuteronomy 6:7} Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. ⁸ Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. ⁹ Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.


One thing that I always have in mind is:


^{Galatians 5:22}But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³gentleness and self-control.


And since my kids are the ones I have fellowship with everyday, I try my best to practice it always.

Mommy Moments: Wacky!

Joining today, YEY!

Making funny faces with photo booth application.

Pacute pa e noh :D

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Big Help

Mama just went home this afternoon. I forgot what time coz we don't have a wall clock here at home. Anyway, she's here since last Monday. I appreciate it when she was here. It's a big difference to have someone with me at home. I'm a little bit more relaxed to have help with taking care of the kids or other chores.

She came here for the kids coz I planned to have my tooth extracted.  But I wasn't able to go back to the dentist since I needed a clearance from my cardiologist. And i haven't met her in two attempts at two different clinics.

Boracay Escapade 2

Can't wait to change into swimming attires. The moment they saw the beach, they were hopping and wading in the water. TL si Kuya Zach, hehehehe!


Gabe was just starting to enjoy the beach at this moment.

Complimentary breakfast from Mama's Fish House at Microtel. Pinoy breakfast every Thursday is composed of:

a choice of scrambled or sunny-side eggs

tocino or longganisa

coffee or juice

fried rice

and a slice of watermelon

Gabe had a surprise dip in the pool. He's trying to get the pale but it caught a lot of water so it pulled him in. Thankfully, I was able to pull him immediately. 

We went back to the beach in appropriate attire. The kids loved the sand as we expected.

Playtime with Baby Dionne.

We just ordered lunch from Yellow Cab since it's drizzling every now and then and we have kids in tow. No pix since everybody's busy eating, hehe!

I was so sleepy. I slept with the kids since it's raining as well, we can't go out. We woke up at 4PM. It's sunny outside so we were so excited to go out.

This is the pathway from Microtel, passing the cliff, going to boat station 1. That's station 1 at the background.

At our back is a view of the cliff. 

We went to station 1 where the sand is finer than at Microtel's side, which is in a secluded area together with Diniwid, Artista and Nami Beach Resorts. 

The kids really had fun running around. Zach said, "Mommy, the sand is powder white noh." Boracay beaches is really best for kids. You won't worry about stones, rocks or anything that would hurt their feet at the very wide shore.

masayang-masayang nanggugulo! kagat-labi pa... 

We went straight to D'Mall at dinnertime. 

Food at Cindy's is surprisingly good. The best ang kanilang Kare-kare with bagoong.

Boracay nightlife is quieter at this time of year, which some like us prefer.

Some photo opps before meeting the shuttle that will take us back to the hotel. 

If given the chance, i'd stay in station 1. It's a hassle and time-consuming going to and from the hotel. Travel time is 20 mins. one way so there's 1 hour wasted including the time we alot waiting for the shuttle.

Business-minded

I was chatting with my classmate from high school on fb yesterday. I asked if he's a chef already. Since he looks like one in his pictures. He said "sort of." And that he's still learning. He's planning to have his own catering business specializing on kiddie food. Sounds interesting! I should have offered him a website of his own designed by hubby. hehe!  It's too early since the business hasn't even been created. Maybe yellow business cards! Since yellow is a color of happiness

Have a happy day! :D

Boracay Escapade 1

August 25, 2010 Nothing much on Day 1. The flight was rescheduled to 3:10PM instead of 12:40PM. So I expected to arrive Boracay at past sunset.

We arrived NAIA Terminal 3 at 1PM. But we almost got left behind by the plane coz we checked-in late. 

Lesson Learned

Should check-in upon arrival at the airport, 2 hrs. before your flight (domestic). Eat, go to the restroom or do other things after checking-in. Obviously, we did otherwise. 

Arrival at Caticlan Airport

Arrived Microtel Inns & Suites at past 6PM. Was warmly welcomed with cute leis and a refreshing orange juice by the staff. We checked our room. It's too early to expect Halloween Decoration Ideas yet. We have a good view of the pool and beach. 

Just had dinner at Mang Inasal and dessert treats at Lemon. Their lemon water is truly a big break from the sweets! The place has good ambience to stay and wait for the shuttle bus to take us back to the hotel. It was also raining so thanks for tita Candy's ready supply of pens and papers, the children had something to do aside from ransacking the displays at the resto.