Gone Fishing

When we went to Tagaytay Highlands last summer for the MBAP’s summer getaway, some of us went fishing with our kids before finally deciding to call it a day. I was with Bela at first but then I realized that there is no way I will be able to catch a fish for her. So I have to call Howell for reinforcement. LOL.

Photo Snagged from Jody's FB

Since Howell spent his childhood in the province and I remember he always tells me that they live close to the river where he always spend his afternoon, I thought that he is good in fishing. But after an hour of fishing, Bela and Howell end up with only one small fish. LOL.

Howell got really frustrated but Bela was already so proud of her dad for catching one fish.

Bela: “Oh, good job daddy. You caught a fish.”

So Howell really took this by heart and he swear that if we will renovate our house in Bulacan, he will definitely build a pond and buy pond supplies where he and can Bela can practice fishing. LOL. Don’t worry daddy, you still have less than a year to practice before the next MBAP’s Summer Getaway.

Conversations with Bela

Me: “What do you like to be when you grow up?”
Bela: “I want to be a policeman.”
Me: “Oh really. You don’t want to be a doctor?”
Bela: “No. I want to be a policeman.”
Me: “Why?”
Bela: “Because I want to put all the kulit people in a cage. Like lolo Ben, tito, lolo june and tatay lito”

==

Bela: “Mommy can I talk to you?”
Me: “Yes, sure we can talk.”
Bela: “Did you know that rooster can’t give us eggs because he is a male chicken.”
Me: “Oh, I did not know that. Thanks for telling me.”

==

I accidentally step on her foot and so I said:

Me: “Oh, I am sorry Bela. Will you forgive me?”
Bela: “That’s ok mommy. It’s only an accident.”

==

Bela: “Teacher says that is means one and are is for many”
Me: “Toys? Is or are?”
Bela: “Are”
Me: “Animals”
Bela: “Are”
Me: “Children”
Bela: “Are”

Howell bought a planet mobile for Bela.

Howell: “Do you like your planets?”
Bela: “Yes. They are my favorite thing in the whole world.”
Howell: “When we go to the mall, we will buy plenty of glow in the dark sun and stars and I will put it beside your planets.”
Bela: “You can not have many moons. One moon and many stars. OK?”

===

Bela, while playing with the Puppy in My Pocket Dog house that her Tito Jp gave to her last Christmas.

Bela: “Tigyaw (that is how she calls her Tito Jp) gave me this dog house. I love Tigyaw. He is the most marvelous person in the whole world.”

===
One morning, before we go to work:

Me: “Bela, I have to go to the office of. I have to work so I will earn money.”
Bela: “Don’t leave me mommy. I love you. I love you. I want you here. Please, please.”

===
Bela: “Mommy, I want to go shopping with you.”
Me: “Shopping??” (Wondering where did she learn that.)
Bela: “Yes, I am a girl and girls go shopping together.”
(Patay. Howell might faint when he hears this. He now has two shopaholic girls in the house.)

For Halloween

This is one of Bela’s favorite costumes.

I had this one made last year after I received the party invitations Halloween from her school. They had a Halloween program where each class will perform wearing their costume and they had a trick or treat around the neighborhood after the program. Bela’s class performed to the tune of “Jungle Adventure” and she was the lion so I had to contact Mrs. Prim to have a sexy lion costume made for her.

Bela really had a great time especially when they went Trick or Treating. This year, I am expecting to receive another Party Halloween Invitations from her new school as I was informed by her teacher that they will have a Halloween program too where they will distribute invitations Halloween to all students and all students will be required to wear Halloween costumes and each class will have a performance too. And of course being the stage mother that I am, I am as twice as excited as my daughter to receive the scary invitations Halloween so I will know what costume I need to prepare for Bela. (Hope they will order the invitations from Holiday-invitations.com soon so they can send out the invitations early so I have more time to prepare for Bela's costume.)

I am sure Bela will have a great time again as even up to know, she still will fondly recall her last Halloween program and Trick or Treating that they did from her last school. I asked her what costume she likes to wear for this year and she still likes to be a lion. But I don’t think she can re-use her costume from last year as it is a little soiled already as she sometimes wear it at home (that is how much she likes her lion costume). Maybe she will be a bumble bee this time. But I have to see. I still have to wait for the program details from her school.

Another Blessing...Hopefully Soon

These are some of the pictures that hubby took when we attended a birthday party recently. Every time we attend parties, Bela will get so scared and bothered because she is not used to big crowds so we always end up just staying outside the party venue until the party is over before we can go back inside and greet the celebrant. She doesn’t even want to watch the magic show, or join the games or even eat with the other kids. So I was really surprised when she was all game when we attended a party last Saturday.

The party was held in Active Fun in Hobbies of Asia. Maybe because this is one of Bela’s favorite place so she got really excited when we entered the party venue. She asked me if she can play in the playground and so I let her since I know she is not interested to join the party program. So I was surprised when Bela and her nanny went back to the party venue when the party started and when I asked my nanny, she said that Bela wanted to join the program when she heard the party host speaking. And so she joined the games, watch the magic show and she even eat with the other kids. She even joined the longest breathe game and she compete with kids that are much older than her. We brought home lots of prices and she was all excited to count all the prices that she won from joining the game.

I was really one proud mother and I can’t believe that time really flies and Bela is growing up so fast. I can still remember the time when we distributed baby shower invitations a few months before I gave birth and now in just a few months Bela will already be turning 4. Hubby and I decided that Bela is already old enough and we both agree that she is ready to become an older sister. So for this year, we are praying that God will shower us with another bundle of joy and hopefully, we will soon distribute baby invitations that we will order from Cards-411.com to all our friends and relatives.

I have shared our plans with my close friends and they too are as excited as we are to receive shower invitations for our second baby. I am praying that in God’s time, we will soon plan for Party Baby Shower for our second blessing.

Little Einsteins Toys

Bela saw this at the mall today and she got really excited and played with it right away.

Then when I turned on my PC and logged in to Twitter, I read Peachy’s tweet about some of the online sales so I got interested to check this at Amazon. Imagine, it is only $25 at Amazon and it is P2500 at Toy Kingdom.

Little Einsteins is really one of Bela’s favorite. We gave her the talking Little Einsteins plush toy last Christmas and Howell bought the Pat Pat Rocket too when he was in Majuro and up to now, Bela never grew tired of it. So now I am thinking should I buy this or not? LOL.

I also found this from Amazon. It is price at P3200 at Toy Kingdom and it is only $47 at Amazon. Big savings…Hmm, let me think about this… LOL.

Picture snagged from Amazon.

Maybe, someday

Have you considered migrating to another country? Hubby and I have been discussing this possibility. My aunt who lives in Canada has been convincing us to apply as a skilled worker and live a new life in Canada. They are saying that it is Bela who will benefit since she will get all the benefits like free schooling, medical benefits, and the like.

My aunt moved there more than a decade ago with her kids. When they first moved in Canada, her eldest is just almost the same age as Bela now and now all her kids have a very successful career. Her eldest is a manager at Bell Telecoms, then her second son is the Vice President of the Royal Bank of Canada and her youngest is an English teacher. She said that they really sacrificed and gave up their comfortable life here for a much better opportunity and future for their kids and they really never regret their decision.

That is why they are really convincing us to follow their footsteps. They even told us that we are welcome to stay in their place especially during the first few months when we are just starting. They even gave us contact numbers of long distance moving companies to help us with our move.

Honestly, sometimes hubby and I are so fed up with our system of government that we sometimes want to just live our country. But of course, we are too chicken to start a new life again far from our family. Oh well, we are happy with our current life now so maybe we will be able to consider this possibility again someday.

Securing Her Future

I was busy browsing the net to look for resources for my paper work when I chance upon the page of Monex.

My husband and I have been looking for investment options to secure the future of our dear Bela. What we have now is just a savings account since we are reluctant to get an education plan for her too specially after a number of education plan provider have declared bankruptcy during the previous years.

So when I saw the investments that Monex is offering like investments in gold or silver or us gold coins, I got interested right away. I know that these kinds of investments are something that won’t depreciate with time and so it is a good way to invest our money.

Securing for our daughter’s future has always been our number one priority so we really wanted to make sure that we will be getting the right investment. And I am sure that Monex can give us what we need since they have experienced hard assets professionals that can help us get the best price the market has to offer.

I am sure if we can never go wrong in securing for Bela’s future if we invest in hard assets such as the us gold coins that Monex is offering.

More Swimming Class Pix

Just wanted to share some pictures that I took during Bela’s last swimming class. (Pardon the picture as I am just using my phone’s camera).


She has three more sessions left and after her class with BLSS, I am planning to move her to Aqualogic Swim Company. She has been attending BLSS My Baby and Me class for three consecutive years every summer but up to now, she still doesn’t know how to float. I saw the picture of Manu’s swimming class with Aqualogic and I am impressed at how advance their class is.

I checked out their site and they offer once a week class for their Aqua Kids program (for kids 3-6 years old) at Richmonde Hotel every Saturday. Hopefully by August or September, we will be able to enroll Bela.

New Crocs for her

Howell had a prenuptial pictorial scheduled last Saturday at the ABMC. The couple was not able to make it in time before ABMC closes so they decided to just have their pictorial in Serendra and Bonifacio High Street.

We joined Howell so we can go around Serendra while he is doing his pictorial as it has been a while since we went to Serendra. Our first stop was the Crocs shop. I have been wanting to buy the new Crocs Gabby for Bela but I wanted to order it online instead of buying it here since it is a little expensive. But I compared the prices and it is almost the same price if I order it online plus I have to wait for a few weeks before I can receive it. So last Saturday, I was not able to control myself since the Crocs Gabby is so cute and so I decided to buy one for Bela.


Of course, I got the hot pink color. (Syempre feeling ko mestiza anak ko. LOL).

MBA for Bela

It is Bela’s third week at MSS this week and so far, I can say that I am happy with their curriculum. Every time Bela comes home from school, she is always happy and excited to share to us the amazing things that they did in school. And I am just glad, that despite my reluctance at first to enroll Bela at MSS, I can say that I am satisfied and happy with our decision.

I know it is still a long way to go, but as early as now I am already thinking of Bela’s school when she goes to college. Of course we want nothing but the best for her. But if ever she graduates from college and she wants to take masteral degree, I will surely recommend to her Capella University’s online school mba program. I am sure that Bela will have a busy lifestyle too (of course just like her parents) but I am sure that she will have a drive to pursue further studies, so an online course will be her best bet.

My husband and I are currently enrolled in an online program for our masters degree and we are enjoying the benefits of an online program where we can work at our own pace anywhere we are. This will help us finish our course even if we are both busy with work and family obligations. So I am sure, when it is time for our daughter to take an MBA or masteral degree, she will not go wrong if she chooses Capella University.

This blog post is based on information provided by Blogitive. For more information, please visit Blogitive.com.

Bela's Journal Report: June 22 - 26

A Busy Week with the Green Cocoon
June 22 - 26

Dear Mom & Dad,

We are on our second week of school and the kids are continuing to enjoy going to our different stations. Aside from our stations the kids are also getting excited everyday, awaiting the Specials for the day. This week for Music and Movement, we had hopping, walking in tip toes and jumping while music is playing to strengthen their gross motor skills. For Cooking, we cooked eggs in different ways and had the kids choose which one they like to taste. Too bad we had no classes for two days, we missed this week’s Library Day and AVR Day. However, we still had fun during Outdoor, when we had a school tour.

Ysabela shows eagerness in coming to class. She listens attentively to discussions and participates in answering questions and doing board activities. For our lesson on letter Aa, she was able to recall examples such as ant and anthill. She loves going to different stations and loves the sand and water play station as she usually goes there first once she comes in. She is able to rote count 1-10 and recite the alphabet by rote as well.

Last week, at the manipulative station she was able to creatively put together different shaped blocks and said that it was a castle. She decorated her name tag deciding on where the sequins and what colors to use. She listened attentively when we had storytelling at the Library and participated when needed. She also enjoys manipulating the computer during AVR day. Plus had a very enjoyable time during outdoors playing ball with her peers.

This week, she was able to arrange letter blocks to form MSS and can also say the name of her school when asked. During cooking, she was very interested and excited to help in preparing and cooking the eggs which we cooked in different ways (sunny side up, scrambled and boiled). After cooking she had her share of the eggs which she had fun eating. She even agreed it was delicious. In writing, although she seeks help, she shows interest in doing her tasks and tries to write the lines on her own when asked. She also enjoyed watching herself and her peers from a big mirror hop, jump, and walk on tip toes.

Teacher Sarah, Eulene and Raizza

On our Stations This Week:

* Sand / Water Play Station – Dig for things found in the school and place them where they should be, tracing standing and sleeping lines, tracing slanting lines
* Reading / Listening Station – Sort pictures that begins with Aa, Sort pictures that begins with Ee
* Literacy Station – Spell MSS using letter blocks, Match people in the school to this rooms / workplace
* Discovery / Art Station – Explore a box with things found in the school inside
* Math Station – Counting from 1-10 using things found in school cutouts, Identifying rooms on the left and right, Following instructions: Putting things on the left or right
* Manipulative Station – Aligning 10 beads, Aligning 20 beads and rote counting 1 – 20, Naming rooms and things I the school using pictures, School puzzle.

Next Week’s Lessons:
* Letters Ii and Oo
* Parts of the face and body
* circle and square
* is and are
* same and different
* curve lines

SALE Alert

Most of my friends say that the one of the best sale in the US happens every 4th of July and I do believe them. Since last week, my Inbox has been filled with email notifications of sale alerts of the different online stores.

Let me list down some of them:

1. Gap is offering additional 20% off plus free shipping on orders above $100
2. Old Navy is having the hottest summer promo by giving 50% discount on their summer styles.
3. Banana Republic is giving out 20% discount plus free shipping for purchases above $100
4. Piperlime is offering free shipping

I have been avoiding emails like this and so far, I was able to successfully say no to online shopping (except for the Coach Sling Pack that I bought from Faye. LOL). And I also saw a Nikon Coolpix 10 Mega Pixel camera and I even saw a Coach, Dooney, Ed Hardy and other handbag lot from wholesale auctions. Very tempting and very irresistible. LOL.

But I really have to save up as we have a lot of expenses lined up. And I want to save up too for another possible out of the country trip this September. So as much as I want to buy cute summer dresses for Bela from Old Navy, I have to pass for now.

Green Cocoon’s Ice Cream in a Bag

Every week, the Green Cocoon Class will have a special activity and part of them was cooking. Last week, they cooked eggs in different ways (sunny side up, scrambled and boiled). This week, Bela and her classmates were taught by Teacher Sarah and Teacher Eulene on how to make Ice Cream in a bag.

They sent us the recipe on how to make the ice cream (oops, looks like I will really be needing my Fenphedra. Since last week, I have been eating sweets like leche flan, ice cream and cake since we have left- over from my grand mother’s party so I will really need the best diet pills if I am serious in loosing weight)

So here is the recipe for Green Cocoon’s Ice Cream in a bag as shared to us by Bela’s teachers:

½ cup milk
1 tablespoon sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla
3 tablespoons salt
Ice Cubes

Procedure:

Put the milk, sugar and vanilla in a small resealable plastic. Place the salt and ice cubes in a big resealable bag. Shake the bag until ice cream forms.

Sounds simple. I will try this with Bela this coming weekend as Teacher Sarah told me that Bela had a great time while they were doing the ice cream.

Bela's Journal Report: June 16 - 19

GREEN COCOON’S FIRST WEEK
JUNE 16-19

Dear mom and dad,

It was a successful first week for us in the Green Cocoon class. The kids had an exciting time going from one station to the other for our Work Time. Some went to the Sand / Play Station, some to the Literacy Station, some to the Discover / Art Station, some to the Math station, some to the Manipulative Station and other to the Dramatic Play Station and the Reading / Listening Station. We also have a doodle page ready for those who wish to practice their artistic skills.

They too adjusted well to the routine and were at ease with their environment. They followed the routine well. Starting from Work Time, where they explore the different stations, Circle 1 where we greet each other, accomplish our attendance and weather charts, sing some songs and discuss lessons, Snack Time, a time to fill our hungry little tummies, Circle 2, a continuation of lesson discussion, Specials, where we enjoy various activities on different days. Monday, we have Music and Movement, Tuesday, we have Creativity / Cooking, Wednesday, we have Library Day, Thursday, we have AVR (Audio Visual Room) Day, and Friday, we have Outdoor Play. We too have Chinese time, where we learn to read, write and speak Chinese. All these activities were welcomed by the kids with much excitement.

We hope that the kids won’t loose their interest in these school activities as we have lots in store for them. We also hope that hand in hand we will make your child’s Cocoon experience one that they won’t forget.

Teacher Sarah, Eulene and Raizza
Green Cocoon Teachers

Next week’s lessons:
* Rooms in the school
* Things seen in the room
* People we see in school
* Letters Aa and Ee
* Circle and Square
* Left and Right
* Slanting Lines

On our Stations this week:

* Sand / Water Play Station – Transferring sand from one container to the other, transferring water from one container to the other, Tracing standing and sleeping lines on sand.
* Literacy Station – Differentiating MSS from other establishments, Making rules and decorating them, Trace or Write MSS

* Reading / Listening Station
* Discovery / Art Station – Coloring my school, Drawing MSS
* Math Station – Counting 10 school cutouts, Drawing 10 standing and sleeping lines
* Manipulative Station – Building MSS using blocks

Baby Announcements

Isn’t she a cutie? I was cleaning up my hard drive from old files and I saw this picture of Bela. This picture was taken when she was just two months old.

My husband was into photography and since Bela is our first child, my husband is busy taking pictures of our daughter’s every move or actions or milestones. So while I was on maternity leave, I got addicted into digital scrap booking.
But even though Bela have lots of pictures from the time she was born, I didn’t even thought of making photo baby announcements that I can send to my friends so they can have a glimpse of our dear princess. And what’s nice about baby photo announcements is that I can even email it to our friends and relatives abroad who are also eager to see our first child. That is what my husband’s cousin did when they had their twins, they sent birth baby announcements to all their relatives so even though they are hundreds of miles from us, we were able to have a glimpse of their twins.

At least now I now, so for our second child, I will definitely get an Announcements Baby from Cards-411.com to send to all our friends and relatives.

Hubby, Baby Boy and Airsoft

Hubby is into different kinds of sports. One of his favorite is playing paintball and now he is interested to play airsoft too. That is why when we are having a conversation about baby # 2, it is quite obvious (even though he does not want to admit it, that he wants a baby boy for our baby # 2.

He kept on showing me the different airsoft aeg rifle and airsoft accessories that he wants to purchase and that he is excited to play airsoft with his future son. I know how expensive these toys are but good thing hubby and his friends found a site where they can purchase airsoft rifles, pellets and other accessories at a very affordable price, otherwise hubby will be really broke. LOL.

But I am happy that as early as now, hubby is already looking forward to sharing his love for sports with his son and I can’t wait to post pictures here of my future son and the daddy wearing tactical gears while they play airsoft.

A day in a life of a green cocoon student

This is Bela’s everyday class routine:

I think they start their day with free play where kids can explore the different stations inside the classroom. Then this is also the time where the teacher does individualized instruction to guide each student in doing their work sheets. Then Circle time is the time for discussions for their topic for the week. Like for example for this week, I think their topic is the different parts of their face, rote counting 1-20, the concept of is and are and other. For Specials / Outdoor, I think Tuesday is for their audio-visual day and Thursday is library day. They also have a Chinese teacher for their Chinese lesson.

So far, I am happy with their curriculum and sometimes Howell and I are really amazed at how fast kids grasps new knowledge. Like when we went to church, I was telling Bela to thank Jesus for giving her good health and then she goes on saying:

“Yes, teacher says God is great, God is good and God gives us food.”

Bela's Music

“Music, music. I want music please.”

This is what you will hear from Bela as soon as she enters our car and this means that we have to turn on the radio so she can listen to her favorite music. And it is a delight to hear her sing together with the songs that is being played on our radio. (That is why I like to have one of those satellite radios so we can take our music anywhere we go and let Bela enjoy it with us).

Some of her favorites are:

1. Sing by Carpenters – she calls it the La-la-la song since the song’s lyrics begins with the words “La-la-la-la-la.”
2. Yellow Submarine by Beatles and she sings it like this “We all live in a yellow sub-warine, yellow sub-warine, yellow sub-warine.”
3. Three Little Birds by Bob Marley and her lyrics is “Don’t worry about the things….because every little thing, is gonna be all wite….”
4. I shot the Sheriff by Bob Marley again

You see, Bela is always with us or her lolo and lola (who takes her to school every day) so she always hear the songs that is the favorite of the oldies around her. LOL.

Hubby’s Option for me

Since hubby noticed that I can’t make up my mind for our upcoming trip this August, he laid down several options:

1. We will take Bela with us.
2. We can change our itinerary so we will just be away for 14 days instead of 20 days (but I tried it and it is really difficult to squeeze our list of places to visit in just 14 days since we have to consider a lot like schedule of flights, etc).
3. We will just have a family vacation when we get back from our Euro trip to make up for those days that we are away from Bela.

I like the sound of option 3 better because this means that we have another reason to travel again. LOL. But if you will ask me what is an ideal family vacation for me, then I can say a nice, relaxing time at the white sand resort in Riviera Maya. I read a lot of good things about Mexican Riviera Maya and if we will go here then I don’t have to worry about Bela since their resort is very child friendly since they offer a lot of activities that is perfect for families so I am sure we wil have a grand time here.

But of course, it all depends on our budget. So we will see….

Bela @ MSS

We have no work today since it is Canada Day so I was able to go with Bela to school today. I was planning to bring Howell’s camera since we haven’t taken a picture of Bela wearing her school uniform and this is the perfect time for me to capture it in picture. Unfortunately, Howell brought his camera for service maintenance at Canon so I just used my Iphone to take some still shots of Bela.

She was still not in the mood when we reached school and she wants me to carry her all the way up her classroom. Since we are still early, we told her that she can play first with the piano outside their room (anyway this is her regular routine before she enters her room). When she is done playing with the piano, I brought her to her room. She doesn’t want me to go at first but Yaya Jenny gave her blocks to play with and so she did not notice that I went out of her room already.

So when Bela was settled inside her room, I was able to take more pictures:

To go or not to go

This has always been a question that I always find difficult to answer every time hubby asks me to go with him when he needs to go out of the country. This coming August he will be going to Germany for one week training and he wants me to follow him there so we can have our dream Euro tour. At least this time, his airfare is free plus our hotel in Frankfurt will be free also so it is a huge savings already.

But hubby proposed that if we will be going on a Euro tour, then why not make the most out of it so when I am done finalizing our itinerary, I realized that we will be out of the country for 20 days. We can’t bring Bela with us as we will be moving from one country to the next in just a matter of days so I don’t think it will be a good idea to tag her along as this trip will be so tiring for a toddler like her. Also, we only plan to do backpacking as you know how expensive Europe is and Bela hates small hotels and bed and breakfasts. Plus there is really nothing much that Bela will enjoy in Europe except Paris Disneyland.

I am really torn. When I first knew of hubby’s training I was really excited and I was really planning for it. I even looked for the best diet pills so I will be really looking great for my Euro pictorial. LOL. But yesterday, I was acting like a crazy mother as I was crying in my office because it finally hit me that it is almost a month away before our departure and I am missing Bela terribly already. Call me overacting but I guess it is a natural reaction for a mother. I was actually chatting with my kumareng Peachy when I accidentally opened Bela’s blog and saw her picture and I cried just like that.

When I asked my friends, they have different views also. Of course this is a perfect opportunity also to spend some quality time with hubby which we never really had the opportunity to do since we always bring Bela along with us everywhere we go. But I kept on asking myself if I will really enjoy this trip without my precious daughter.

I still have a few days to decide. My ticket is still on hold and it is reserved until July 6. So maybe I have a definite decision next week…

Options...

Do you have an educational plan for your kids? We never had one for Bela and we are thinking if we should get one for her or not. After what happened to CAP and to another Education Plan provider who declared bankruptcy and so the plan holders was not able to get their college fund for their kids, I got really skeptical of Educational Plan.

So we just set up a savings account for Bela for her college fund. But I know that this will not earn enough interest and the money is just sitting there in the bank and not earning. So I am looking for other investment options for our savings for Bela.

My friend is into stock options and she is encouraging me to try it too. Although I don’t have any knowledge about investing in stocks, she said that all is taken cared of by her Power Options software. This software is so powerful as it does everything for her – it sorts all the available stocks and then creates a report on which options will give a highest return.

I am so interested to try out this software as I know this is a better choice in investing Bela’s savings account.