School Hunt: STC and St. Scho

I can’t believe that time really fly so fast. Next year, Bela will already be an incoming Kinder student so this means that it is time for another school hunting once again for me. I can’t believe that big schools start their admissions early. I started calling them last month and I really panicked since most of the schools have already set their deadline for accepting enrollees at the end of that month. And even though our insurance will be expiring soon and I have to look for term life insurance rates, I put my search on hold to start preparing the requirements needed for Bela’s application to the different schools that we are considering.

I initially wanted to consider schools in the Makati area but after listening to my friend’s advice, I realized that it will be difficult for Bela to wake up early to travel to Makati everyday. So I narrowed my search to big schools in Quezon City and Manila area.

Out of all the schools that I considered, I got good reviews for St. Theresa’s College in Quezon City and St. Scholastica’s College. Bela already had her interview at STC last October 12. I was really praying the whole time she was inside the Guidance Counselor’s room as I know Bela can be really stubborn at times. LOL. She will not answer you if you ask her a question if she doesn’t want to and since she has a fever that day, I am really scared that she might throw tantrums.

But I was really surprised since the interview only lasted for 15 minutes or so. The Guidance Counselor said that Bela already knows a lot of things and she is really fluent in English. When I asked Bela what she did inside, she said that her new teacher asked her to work on alphabets, numbers, shapes and color. We already paid our reservation fee so Bela is secured of her slot at STC.

We also got an application form at St. Scholastica’s. We have completed all of their requirements but we haven’t submitted it yet. Actually, I really like STC already. It is near our place (just 15 minutes drive), I love the environment as it is inside the villages in QC so it is really quite and safe unlike St. Scho and I received consistent positive feedbacks about STC. So I am still thinking if we will still pursue our application with St. Scho or not. But we’ll see. At least her slot at STC is already secured so I am sure that Bela has a big school to attend to next year. LOL.

Bela's Travel Plans

Ever since we got our 10-year multiple entry US visas, I have always dream of taking Bela to one of those orlando vacations. But I would rather do that when I have my training in Canada so my airfare is covered and then we will just do a side trip to the US. Hubby’s friend lives in Florida and they have been inviting us already to come and visit them in Florida. Hubby’s friend said that Bela will really go crazy when she sees how big Disneyworld is. Imagine, you need a week to explore all the areas in the theme park. I am sure Bela will really be happy to be in the happiest place on earth – Disneyland, as she spends more than a day with her favorite Disney characters.

Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and Goofy is one of her favorites right now. Howell bought different Mickey Mouse figure collection when we went to Hong Kong Disneyland and she also have the whole Mickey Mouse figures that we got from Disney Store in Paris and Bela just loves playing with them. She would even take it with her everywhere she goes. I guess, this was influenced by the Mickey mouse movie series that Howell bought also for her. Is it obvious how daddy’s girl she is? LOL.

Etc, Etc

Bela is already on her semestral break. She will be off from school from October 23 up to November 3. So while she is on a break from school, it will be the perfect opportunity to bring our car for maintenance.

You see, it is already due for change oil but since my dad’s van is still in the car shop, they have been using our car to take Bela to school everyday. And during weekends, we can’t send it to the shop too as we also need our car because Bela also has to go to school on Saturdays and Sundays is for our errands.

This reminds me that we also need to look for car and rv insurance as ours is already due for renewal. Hopefully, all the things that we need to do for our car will be taken cared of before Bela goes back to school on November 4. And since hubby and I will be going on a trip next week up to the first week of November, we will have to rely on our dad (as always) to finish all of this for us. LOL.

Loots for Bela's 4th Bday Party

I have been doing some shopping lately to prepare for Bela’s party. You see, I have to do it in batches as I can’t afford to buy one big bulk in one shopping.

Here are the loots that I bought for the games prizes both for Bela’s party at school and our party for our close friends and relatives at Jollibee in Blue Wave Macapagal.

1. The wooden pencils I bougth when we went to Dapitan Arcade but I saw these items also in Divisoria and they are even cheaper there (like P7 cheaper than the price that I got in Dapitan arcade).
2. The Disney giant pens, erasers, stickers and small body bag are all from Divisoria mall. My friend asked me to accompany her to buy toys too for the party of her daughter and so I was able to do some shopping of my own. The items are really cheap and the price range is only from P7- P15.
3. Cars and strawberry shortcake LCD watch from my online shopping.
4. Little Einsteins items like party hats, yoyos, blowers, coloring books with crayons, kaleidoscopes, and stickers all from online shopping also.
5. Little Einsteins CDs bought on sale at SM.
6. Play Doh from Toys R’ Us.

And since I can’t find any Little Einsteins balloons, I just bougth this Mickey Mouse rocket balloon from the site that my kumareng Peachy referred to me. I was able to talk to a balloon seller in Divisoria and they will arrange the balloons at the venue with Balloon Burst for only P1200.

Investment in the Time of Crisis

I was trying to withdraw money from my Paypal account and I was really saddened by how the value of dollar has dropped. I know I should be happy because this means that the value of peso is getting strong but for a dollar earner like me, this is bad news.

My dad said that the value of dollar will continue drop because of the financial crisis. This got me into thinking of better ways to invest our money so I did some research and discovered that in this time of economic crisis, the best investment would be to invest in gold.

Since gold is universally accepted, it can easily be bought and sold. It doesn’t depreciate in time also which makes it resale value even higher. My friend is into gold investment and she referred me to the site of Monex. Monex have professional staff which can help me get the best value in the market.

In this time of crisis, I guess it is the best time to check our investment options to save up for the future of our daughter.

Relief Giving Program of MSS @ Malabon

Last Saturday, we joined MSS (Bela’s school) in their relief giving program for the victims of Typhoon Ondoy in Malabon.

The directress of the school together with her staff decided to just have a simple Costume Party this year. They initially asked the kids to come in costumes depending on the theme assigned to their class but instead they will just asked the kids to wear whatever available costume they like and they will not have any party at all. So the cost of buying the costumes can just be given as donations so the school staff can buy goodies for the victims.

Last Friday, they even had a video presentation of the effects of the typhoon so the kids were really made aware of the unfortunate things that happened to the victims of the typhoon. After the video presentation, the kids even helped in packing the goods.

We were asked to be at school at 8:45 AM as they will leave at exactly 9 AM for Malabon. (Since I slept late the night before, my dark under eye circles are really obvious. LOL). We left with Mommy Emmie (MSS’s directress) and with the other teachers. Most of the staff is already at the venue preparing ahead of us.

When we reached the church, there is already a long line of the people waiting for their goodies. It was raining hard the night before and even early Saturday morning so it was just us who were able to join the activity. Bela helped Teacher Sarah and the other Teachers in giving out cookies and sardines while I helped Mommy Emmie and Teacher Haidee in giving out the pail loots. Of course, hubby took pictures.

All of the people who lined up were really thankful for the help that they received from MSS and I am really thankful too that Howell, Bela, my mom and I were able to join them for this great cause.

You can view more pictures here.

Pipsqueak and Num-Num

Meet Pipsqueak and Num-Num, Bela’s new pet.


She was actually requesting for a real hamster. You know how much Bela loves pets so we are really thinking of getting her one. But while I was shopping for Christmas gifts at Toys R’ Us a few weeks ago, I saw this Go Go Pets toys which is one of TRU’s new product. SO I thought, maybe this will be a good substitute for a real hamster that Bela is requesting to have. We are really not good when it comes to taking care of pets (we used to have a Nemo fish but they all died already) so maybe this is the best option for Bela.

I bought one yellow hamster and the toy ball where the hamster can go inside and since the hamster is battery operated, it can roll the ball on its own. The hamster toy has a sensor which will make it turn around if it bumps on something and a special sensor that will make it move according to the accessories that it is using. For example, if the accessory is a hamster wheel, the sensor will make the hamster turn the wheel while it is running. Coolness.

Yesterday, we went to TRU again and I bought her the Hamster Fun house. There are still a lot of accessories that I need to collect (they have the sleeping module with surfboard, a hamster slide, a hamster mobile, a hamster bed, etc) but I told Bela she has to work hard in school first before she gets another one. LOL. But I am also thinking to give this to her on her birthday.

Check it out. I think it is exclusively distributed by TRU. I checked Amazon and the prices there are much more expensive (almost double) than the prices in TRU here in Manila.

Beach vacation?

Bela was watching her DVD of Mickey’s movie “Around the world in 80 days” and she told me that she wants to go to the beach after seeing Mickey and his gang enjoying the beach.

Actually hubby and I are really planning for a romantic vacation riviera maya. I was actually checking out the site of Karisma hotels and I got really interested with their El Dorado Royale Resort. Imagine, we can really experience the feel of nature and the outdoors because the beach is set in a tropical rainforest. We can also book a Casita Suite with ceiling free showers for a more romantic and natural feel or a swim-up suite where there is an artificial flowing river just right outside our room which is connected to the swimming pool.

Just picturing it in my mind makes me feel relax already. But you know, we figure out that this vacation will not be as fun wit our precious daughter. She is really like her dad who loves the outdoors and nature so I am sure if this vacation will push through, she will definitely have fun.

To KL?

I might leave for 4 days on the first week of November to attend a conference. Since we just got back from a three-week vacation where we left Bela behind, I am not sure if I can leave again for four days without her. I know I can rely on chat software and webcam so I can still talk to her and see her during those four days. And it will not be that difficult since I will just be going to Malaysia so time difference will not really be a problem so four days will just pass like that and before I knew it, it is already time for me to go home.

But we owe Bela a vacation for leaving her behind when hubby and I went on vacation, so hubby and I thought that he and Bela will be joining me for this business trip. The conference will be from Nov 1 – 4 so we can just leave ahead like Oct 29, so we have at least three days to go around.

From what I initially researched on, the only interesting place that we can visit where Bela can enjoy is Genting Highlands. We also need to check out the Petronas Tower and I have to search if there is any zoo or Oceanarium that we can visit as I know Bela will really enjoy that.

Hubby is also asking me to check if it is possible for us to go to Singapore also. I still have to wait if my attendance to the conference will be approve and until then, I don’t what to proceed in making any definite travel plans.