priceless.

My bundles of joy. My kids. My treasures.

I wish I can stop time so they will be forever be my babies. They will forever be mine. But, they grew up so fast. So fast, that I can't keep up. My little pretty princess turning seven, and my cute prince will no longer be a tot as he turns two.

Yes, little girl no more. She'll turn seven in a next few months. Day by day, she's becoming very strong and independent. No longer a cry baby. I should be happy with her new found independence, but I am not. In fact, sadness fills my heart. My little baby, now a gradeschooler can handle herself. Next few years, she might need less of me. I an afraid when that day comes. And I must be ready. But for now, she's still my baby. My pretty little princess, Samantha.

summer happy!

Yes, the little girl is indeed summer happy. Aside from enjoying unlimited tv and playtime with her little brother, I've enrolled her to several summer activities to keep her busy the entire summer. These activites includes:

1. Swimming lessons by Aqualogic Swim Co - one hour swim fun every Satruday at CSA, Makati.

2. Gymnastics lessons by Club Gymnastica at SPC Pasig - Class MWF at 9-12am.

3. Mc Donalds Kiddie Crew by 3rd week of April.

Full sked, eh? And to add to these activites, birthday parties here and there and our upcoming HongKong family trip by May. Whoa! And I wonder if i can still squeeze her reading class by May. Let's see.

Trick or Treat!

The kids attended our company's annual Halloween Trick or Treat, and it was all fun! This year, Samantha came as the pretty witch, while Migo came as the little red devil boy. It was Migo's first halloween party and visit to my office, and boy he had so much fun! He enjoyed walking and going around the cubicles, grabbing all the things he can grab! Hahaha! All in all, the kids had a blast getting candies and treats. Tomorrow, will be off to another trick or treatin' ... this time at Sofitel Hotel. Will post more Halloween photos tomorrow =)

my joys

My babies ... my ultimate joys in my life. My pride and source of happiness. My little bratinella and my little squirt. And I love 'em to bits!

Migo's 1st Bday updates

It was decided, Migo's 1st birthday party would be on November 14, Sunday. It will be a joint-celebration with his Ate Samantha, who will be celebrating her 6th birthday of the same month.

For the party theme, it was initially Pirates. With Migo as Peterpan and Samantha as Tinkerbell ... perfect choice! After searching for decors and give-aways on the web, I changed the party theme. You see, having a Pirate theme not applicable for a one year old birthday party. With all the skulls and bones design, not appropriate. Thus, for second option ... jungle animals. Generic and applicable either for boy or girl celebrant.

Anyway, three months ago I already started my party preps for my son's 1st birthday party. I thought it would be easy since I have ample time to prepare for his big birthday bash. Well, with nine months planning time ... still acceptable.

Unfortunately, I was dead-wrong! I was able book my favorite caterer (who happens to be in-demand always!), but had a difficuly getting a nice venue. Yaikees! Getting a party venue was oh-so difficult. Most of the clubhouses I wanted already booked on my scheduled party date. Darn! I tried booking Valle Verde 6, Acropolis, Northeast Greenhills, Forbes, Corinthian's and The Grove, Rockwell. All booked, reserved and paid for Sunday, November 14. Though I tentatively booked Fully Booked Rooftop and St. Francis Party Hall, I am still half-hearted. I am not happy with both of the venues. Parking, especially at St. Francis Hall will be a big problem. It will be very inconvenient for my guests.

Thus, after deliberating and checking all the clubhouses left, I ended up getting Valle Verde 2. Not on my top five choice for party venue but still ok. As I wanted a clubhouse with a high ceiling for aesthetic (or decor) purposes. Already booked and paid the fee and still hoping I can still find better venue next months to come. Otherwise, I am stuck and have to make do with Valle verde 2. Not bad at all.

The last days of May proved to be very stressful for my party venue hunt. I dont know if my diet pills worked but I lost around three pounds for my venue hunt. Pure stress, maybe. It may sound over-acting, but believe me I was already in panic if I can't get the right place for my kids party.

And to proved my point that it is indeed difficult to book for 2nd week of November, I just tried booking for my daughter's 7th birthday for 2011. Yes, you read it right ... for November 2011. And lo and behold, as I called Valle Verde 6 ... again, my preferred date already booked! Incredible, eh?

summer look

Before I search effective adult acne treatments for the husband, allow me to share the little bratinella's summer hair do here at my blog.

This is her new look. Very refreshing, isn't it? Brought her last week at our local salon and I am happy she obliged to sport a shorter hair for summer. Though I want to keep her hair long, unfortunately it's too hot to have one. Thus, the husband and I decided to keep the little girl's hair short and simple ... for easy maintenance. And voila! Just fits her perfectly. Pretty-ness eh? What do you think? Are you ready to have this summer look? :)

Happy 5th Birthday, Samantha!

To my ever- sweetest adorable darling daughter Samantha ... Happy, Happy 5th Birthday!
You've given us so much joy and laughter when you came into our life.
You are our love, our life ... our everything!
And we love you so much!!

and more LO for the party

Here's more lay out sample pictures from Abie and Howell. True to their word, they were able to send the LO before they leave few hours for Singapore (thanks guys!). I was able to send the soft copy to our reliable printers and since it's a long weekend and a holiday ... tarps ready for pick up by tomorrow evening. Isn't that great! Now we are finally all set for the party.

5x8 stage tarp design

2x6 party tarps standee

Oh, let me correct that... Not yet fully ready for the party yet. Almost forgot one minor thing. The birthday gift! I checked the web for mini laptop gadget request of the little girl, and happy to say found affordable and reliable laptop for tweens at Buy.com! And since my fave electronic gadget store, Circuit City has closed its doors. Happy to find a new online shopping website not only for my gadget needs but for other items like clothes and jewelry. Do check it out. Affordable price and convenient shopping made easy.

more LO sample

Oh, before I forget, allow me to share another version of Samantha's 5th Birthday Party Invite. This is her favorite!

Thanks to my ever-reliable online couple friends, Abie and Howell for all the party lay-outs (invites, steamers and gift tags), preparing my little girl's birthday party was stress-free and easy for me this year because of all your help. 'Til next year (and baby miguel's parties)!

Samantha's party invites ...

... already printed and distributed to some of my colleagues and relatives.

As much as I want to send the printed copy to all our guests, I am afraid it will be very impossible for me at this time. One, driving proved to be quite difficult for me lately as I experience having mild contractions once in a while. Two, we decided to spend our weekend here at our Greenwoods home and we miss our home so much. Three as we spend our time here at home, we need to complete some household errands (such as house repairs and maintenance) before we move back again to our rented condo unit. Thus, it's a full and busy wekeend for the family.

Nevertheless, I've already successfully sent soft copy of the invites to some of our friends through facebook, twitter, yahoo mails, gmails, flickr and to all my online social networking sites thus I think everyone already well-informed about the upcomnig party. Thanks to the wonders of technology, reaching out to people made faster, convenient and so easy. Isn't it great?!

Now off to Samantha's party invite updates, need to check out micro sd for our digital camera in preparation for the upcoming birthday bash of the bratinella. I need to find extra micro sd just in case we do get excited with the party and end up with picture overload!LOL

party planning updates

finally, party all set for the little girl. Despite preparing quite late (yes, in my books party preps must be at least six months ahead), I was able to complete everything from party venue, party host (wacky the magician), decors from party boosters, cake and loots. And I am proud to say, despite being heavily pregnant at eight months, I was able to complete all these party details aligned to the little bratinella's wish of Hello Kitty theme.

With three weeks to go, few pending items which I am hoping for delivery by this week : prizes for balloon burst (from Toy Kingdom sale tomorrow), party invites design and tarps. Manageable delay and just minor glitch from my partyt preps since I am very much confident that my supplier (Abie and Howell) will deliver just in time. :)

Now off to my party planning updates, with few weeks to go until I finally give birth, need to prepare myself and search articles on how to lose belly fat. You see, I need to shed of around 15-20lbs post-pregnancy fats and crash diet will not be an effective method to lose those unwanted fats fast. Wish me luck.

Disney on Ice

Will surely not miss this one!

Thanks for my twittmates/mbaps friends Peachy and Abie for sharing the good news. Finally, will be able to catch the Disney characters on Ice live in Manila. The show will run from Dec 25-January 3, timely for the holiday season. And since the little bratinella adores the famous Mickey and Minnie characters, I am sure she'll love this one too just like Barney and Seasame Street Show from the previous years.

Anyway, I am hoping we can still get front-row tickets. Our target date January 3, Sunday at 6pm. The last and hopefully the best Disney on Ice show ever! :)

back to party preps

Aside from the upcoming wedding party next Sunday at Tagaytay Highlands, I am also busy (actually more of cramming) for Samantha's 5th Birthday Party on November 7. Though it's just a simple party with few guests, and I vowed not to be OC this time, but the two weeks after effect of Typhoon Ondoy in our household stopped all my party preparations.

Anyway since it seems everything back to normal now, and with no threat of upcoming typhoons, need to finish all the lay-outs within the week especially for the party invites. You see, need to distribute the invites by 3rd week of October since ther will be another long holiday by last week of October to celebrate All Saint's and All Soul's Day. Stage tarps and thank you tags may follow after the invites.

Sharing below some of Samantha's pictures I took this morning using my old point-and-shoot camera. These pictures submitted to our photographer/layo-out artist friends, Abie and Howell for their picking. What do you think will be the best shot for Sam's invite?

Looking at Sam's pictures above, don't you just envy her small body frame? I wish she'll stay slim (but active) until she reach her teens. I wouldn't want her to be like Mommy taking appetite suppressant pills just to lose those unwanted fats. LOL.

RL Loots

Happy ... happy! Finally, RL loots for the little bratinella arrived from our online friend, Glo. The yellow dress supposedly for our MBAPs Christmas party last October 4. But since we decided to re-sked it due to Ondoy calamity, the dress will be used for all upcoming children parties of the MBAPs kids. Just for the month of November, we have five party skeds (Sam, Dominique, Bela, Andie and Mateo) to attend! Whooaaa!! Obviously, the MBAPs ladies not only share common interests in blogging, but for parties and baby-making month too. LOL.

Hello Kitty Mania

Finally decided. As of last night, the husband and I decided to give the little bratinella a simple birthday treat for her upcoming 5th birthday on November. This year's party theme ... Hello Kitty!

Anyway, since Hello Kitty is celebrating her 35th year existence this year, allow me to share some facts about the most well known and loved character of all-time, Hello Kitty. Hello Kitty was created by Sanrio company and designed by Ikuko Shimizu. She has several friends, Mama, Papa, Mimmy, Tim and Tammy, Mory, Cathy, Jody, Thomas and others. Hers is a world filled with family, caring fun, good manners and polite friends. Hello Kitty lives with her family, her mama, papa, and her twin sister Mimmy. She is one of the most popular fictional characters created by the Japanese company Sanrio. Hello Kitty started out by becoming very popular in Japan amongst school aged girls, and then made her way to Britain and America.

Despite being born in Japan, Hello Kitty is British and her family lives in Suburban London. Her weight is described as being that of three shiny apples and her favorite food is Apple Pie made by Mama. Hello Kitty likes traveling, music, reading, yummy cookies, making new friends and collecting lots of cute items like sweets and goldfish. Hello Kitty is still a kitten despite being born on November 1, 1974, such is the luck of a fictional cartoon character.

Linggo ng Wika Presentation 09

Last August 27, the SPCP Kinder 1 class showcased their talent in dancing with their own dance interpretation of singkil. They danced the traditional singkil movements with a twist this time. Instead of dancing using traditional gong and kulintang instruments, they danced using Apo Hiking Society song, which I forgot the title of the song at the moment. LOL.

Anyway, sharing you some of the bratinella's pictures during their Linggo ng Wika Presentation

While waiting for showtime : Mommy and Samantha

Dancing Singkil

Inside the classroom ... and goofing around with Daddy after the presentation.

more pictures

As I was dumping pictures from my old point and shoot cam, I noticed a lot of Samantha's Christmas pictures were not transferred to our laptop folder. Funny when I thought I've already saved all our holiday pictures, and ready to be transferred to our upcoming 500GB external hard drive, I missed transferring some of her school pictures. Goodness, I can't believe that we've accumulated more than 1,000 school shots of the bratinella in just one year! I need bigger memory space than what we've recently acquired.

Anyway, with our old Sony camera ready for more photo shots in our upcoming Bangkok trip this weekend, next on my must do agenda is to get hubby and I toll free access calls to Manila. With the little girl left behind, I will surely miss her. Need to constantly check and ensure she's well taken cared of by Mom. LOL.

Posting here some of the little girl's school pictures ...

Samantha with her classmates

Samantha with Teacher Anne

... and with Mommy

being connected ...

... and I am loving every minute of it! Ever since we installed our linksys wifi router, In almost every corner of the house I've been busy shopping, blogging, surfing and chatting online. Hah! The power of getting connected! Now I can do almost anything online.

Aside from leisurely surfing the net, I am also busy checking out possible small business franchise which hubby and I can avail while being employed in a private company. With ninety-percent success of business franchise, think this would be a big help in preparation for our retirement few years from now. With the economic crisis experienced in almost every part of the world, think small retail business way to go to overcome the crisis.

start 'em young ...surfing online with the little girl

after several hours of being online -- "sleeping on the job"

christmas loots

And so the little bratinella was ecstatic ... giddy happy with all her Christmas loots!

Since we've been out and around the metro the enitre holiday season, it took us three sessions to open all her gifts. I guess we were just too tired to open the gifts in one seating. In fact, Sam was able to open her gifts from Mommy, Daddy, Kuya, and Santa at 2am of the 25th. And the rest of the gifts from our families and friends, were opened the day after.

This year, aside from the usual toys, clothes and promotional products she received lot of books. Books from Santa (backyardigans and strawberry shortcake) , teacher, her ninangs (ballet book and activity books), Kuya (backyardigans and strawberry shortcake), aunts (dora, barney and some activity books) and hubby's parents (bible collection 12 volumes). With all the book gifts, I am afraid her present book shelves will not be enough to accommodate her gifts. Haayy...need to sort out her old books to create more space for her new book collection.

Samantha with some of her Christmas presents opened morning of 25th.

Another doll house from Tito Willy, puppies in my pocket playset (Daddy), lots of books, kitchen playsets (tita queenie), grocery carts (tita lhotte), breakfast table and twister game (Mommy), gifts from her classmates, clothes from cousins, bags, watch (ninang heidi) etc.. Plus some gifts (and cash) not in picture. Like the V-tech toy from Mommy, books and books, pound puppies collection, board games, stuff toys etc. Really too much. Ahhh... kids these days, extremely lucky with so much toys available for them to play. Don't you think so?