Christmas 2014

I can’t believe that July is almost over and before I know it, we are already in the “BER” months which in the Philippines, signals the start of the Christmas season, which only means that 2014 is again almost over.

Last Christmas, I was pregnant with our 3rd child and so I was a bit lazy to move around and do some Christmas decorating. But this Christmas is extra special with a new addition to our family so we are all excited to decorate the house so we can really feel the Christmas spirit. That is why as early as now, we are already checking at christmasplace.com for department 56 as we wanted to buy Christmas village as a new decoration for Christmas in our living room.

But I am sure with or without these Christmas decors, we can definitely feel the Christmas spirit because of the love and joy that is overflowing in our home.

Skylanders Shirt by MB Project

Bela’s current favorite toy is Skylanders. It is actually an action figure that integrates with an Xbox or PSP. She does not want to play with the Skylanders game but she just like to play pretend with the action figures of the Skylanders, especially the dragon characters. Her favorite is Flashwing and when she showed me the new variation of the Flashwing character, which is the Jade Flashwing, I immediately thought of ordering a shirt with a print of Jade Flashwing for her from MB Project.

When I told her about it, she got really excited and she every minute she will ask me when she will the shirt. That is why when I got the shirt last Wednesday, she was really giddy with excitement. And she got to wear it yesterday when we went out. Of course I also ordered one for Cobi.

Here are the shirts made by MB Project:

They make all kinds of personalize shirts. Check them out in Facebook in Instagram.

On Her Own

Hubby kept on convincing that it is time for Bela to stay in her own room. Hubby even bought foam crown molding from foambymail.com to prepare the bed of Bela and she even cleaned up the room so Bela can move in soon.

I guess Bela is ready already for this but looks like it is not her who will have separation anxiety, but me. I was telling hubby that I am still not ready to let my eldest sleeps on her own. I even told hubby that we will co-sleep in our room as long as the kids want to.

But I guess it will help Bela develop her independence and responsibility. I know most of my friends’ kids are already staying in their own room so I am sure soon, I have to let go. Especially now that Bela has already turned 8 years old and we really have to make room for the coming of our 3rd baby.

Monster U Movie Date

It is not that often that there will be movies for kids being shown that is why when there is one, we really try to make sure that Bela and Cobi will be able to watch it on big screen. And since they both love Monsters University, we had a movie date to watch the Prequel to the Monster Inc movie.

It was a very funny movie, seeing Mike and Sullivan when they were still kids. Bela and Cobi enjoyed it so much that they kept on laughing the entire time. They had so much fun, that they are so noisy while inside the movie house as they can’t stop talking and walking as they watch the film.

Epic Movie Date with the Kiddos

Bela had been waiting for the movie Epic to be shown in theaters that is why one Saturday night, I treated her and Cobi for a movie and we watched Epic.

It was a good movie actually. I love the plot of the story and how they highlighted the relationship between father and daughter.

Hubby was really jealous because he is usually Bela’s movie date but he is away on temporary duty. But Monster University is showing soon so he can make up to us for missing our Epic movie date.

Ocean Adventure for Mother's Day

On Howell’s last weekend here in Manila before he leaves for his temporary duty to Majuro, we were able to go to Ocean Adventure for more bonding moments with the kids. It was actually a last minute decision and we left the house around 11 AM already and we reached Subic by 2 AM just in time for their first afternoon show. In a way, it is also our Mother's Day celebration.

This is our 2nd or 3rd time here but it is the first for Cobi. We watched all the shows: Walk on the Wild Side Show, Amazing African Acrobats, Dolphin Show and the Sea Lion Show.

We enjoyed all of the shows but the highlight of our day was our close encounter with Tonka, Ocean Adventure’s false killer whale. We know much Bela would love this experience and so even if we are not prepared and we did not bring any swimwear, we still signed up for the Beach encounter with Tonka. Just look at how cool it is:

Of course Bela won’t stop thanking us and she said that it is one of her best day ever.

Happy Anniv Nick & Hazel

I can’t believe that it has been a year since Bela was the flower girl to the wedding of my cousin, Nick to his long time girlfriend Hazel.

They celebrated their 1st wedding anniversary last weekend and I know they will be celebrating more anniversaries together. I can still remember when my cousin was just looking for mens diamond wedding bands and was so busy for the wedding preparations.

But I can still remember when he was all so cool on the evening of his wedding while me, my cousin and my sister were so busy for the last minute preparations and he told us “all of this doesn’t matter because what is important is that his bride will be there on the day that they will say yes to forever.” So sweet.

Happy Anniversary again Nick and Hazel.

Tomorrow is Father's Day

Tomorrow is Father’s Day and we will be visiting Bela’s grand father (the father of hubby) to celebrate with him as this is the first Father’s Day where mama is not with us.

We were not able to visit papa when we arrived two weeks ago as hubby was still away and is attending training in the US so tomorrow will be the first time that we will see Papa after our long vacation in the US.

We have no plans yet on how we will celebrate Father’s Day but I already bought gift baskets which contains sugar free candy for my father-in-law as our Father’s Day gift for him.

I am sure he misses Bela and Cobi so much so with or without any big celebration, my father-in-law will be very happy if we pay him a visit. So our itinerary tomorrow will depend on what time we will be able to wake up (which I am sure might be a little late already since it is bed weather) so I guess anything goes for tomorrow’s Father’s Day celebration.

For Her Favorite Grand Dad

My dad is Bela’s designated driver/nanny during weekdays as my dad volunteered to take Bela to school everyday. No wonder they are so close as they are together everyday and that makes her a certified lolo’s girl.

That is why for Christmas, Bela wanted to get her grand dad something as her special gift. I was able to buy nice polos for my dad already but Bela insisted that she should have her own gift for her favorite grand father.

Thankfully I can order Swisher Sweets cigars online. It is just a few days before Christmas and I still have work (in fact I am working until the 24th of December) so I am sure I will not have time to go to the mall to do more shopping. But thanks to online shopping, I was able to finish my Christmas shopping list. I am just waiting for my items to be delivered and Bela and I will do the wrapping of the gifts tomorrow night.

Full Time Granny

Now that my mom has finally retired from being a chairman after finishing her three-term, she can now concentrate in doing the best job that she can ever have, and that is being a grand mother to her three grand children.

Luckily Allsup was able to help my mom claimed her Medicare part D plan after retiring so she does not have to think about it and just really enjoy her time with her grand kids.

I know it will take a lot of getting used to as she has been a chairman for more than a decade now so she has been used to a very busy life but I am sure she will forget all about it as she will surely be busy taking care of her three (and more to come) cute grand children.

And in all honesty, my brother and I would prefer that she be just an ordinary citizen as our life will be quieter that way. We asked her to vow that she will not run again in the next election as we would rather want a simple life for her with less intrigues and gossips. Anyways, she can still help our neighbours if she still wants to even if she is not a chairman.

Priority Change

When I was still single, I am always looking forward to paydays as it means that I can go shopping for clothes, gadgets, shoes, bags and etc. But what they say is really true, once you became a parent, your priorities will change as what you can only think of is the security of your kids.

That is why now that we have Bela and Cobi, our priorities have really changed and all we can think of now is how to save to secure the future of our kids.

We have been doing some research and we have been reading the site of United States Gold Bureau so we can really learn a lot about gold investment. We learned that gold is a very strong and stable investment and so we are thinking of investing in gold coin.

As parents, nothing tops our list of priorities but to give a very bright and secure future for Bela and Cobi.

From Captain to Businesswoman

In just a few weeks, my mom will officially finish her last term as Barangay Chairman and will finally take over her position to the newly elected one. I know she's a bit sad because being a leader in our community has been a big part of her life, yet I know she's happy because for all the years that she's been the captain, I believe that she served the people well.

And so, since my mom will have more time now, I'm thinking of helping her finance her own business so that she'll have something new to do. I've talked to my brother about this already and since he owns a cell phone and laptop shop at the mall, he suggested that mom can do the same thing and he'll just be the one to guide her for the whole process.

I know that my mom is not as business minded as my brother that's why she's a bit hesitant. But then I thought that putting up a website for her business can be a great help. And this is why, I'm planning to look for the best web hosting service to help promote the site for the business. In this way, we'll be able to advertise our products and for sure, many people will have the chance to view it.

For now, we are still on the process of finalizing our plans and we all hope that before November ends, we are able to start the new biz.

Grateful

Since hubby is really busy with work and he has to work overtime almost every weekend, Bela kept on asking me on why his dad is so busy that he has no time to take Bela to her ballet class. So I just explained to Bela that her dad has to work hard so we will have the money to buy her milk and her toys and things for school. I guess she understood a she will nod and will continue playing after I answered her question.

Thankfully my dad is always available to drive us to St. Scholastica every time Howell is not around. My dad is also Bela’s driver every day from Monday to Friday as both my mom and my dad does not like the idea of Bela taking the school bus to go to school.

I am really so thankful and I am really lucky that I have parents like my mom and dad who are always there for us. And so when I saw in the commercial that Grand Parents day is coming I can’t help but think of a nice gift for Bela’s grand parents especially her grand dad. My dad’s only vice is smoking and so I am thinking to get him a box of romeo y julieta cigars. It is a premium cigar that is made from Dominican Olor tobaccos. It even comes with a box with humidifier so it will be a really nice gift for my dad.

I am really grateful for my parents because parenting becomes a very easy job for us because of their help and unending support.

Xmas Party Planning

Christmas begins early here in the Philippines. That is why as early as now, I am already started the planning for the Christmas Party that we will be hosting for our family this year.

I already started to look for Christmas invitations from holiday-invitations.com. I believe that since invitations Christmas party is the first thing that our guests will see, I really want to make sure that it is really perfect to set the mood for the party. But I know that I am in good hands with holiday-invitations.com since they will even create a special design for my Christmas holiday invitations and they can even put our family picture.

Thinking about it makes me so excited already. So to our relatives, you can expect to receive a Party Invitations Christmas soon as I am already starting to plan for our Christmas party this year.

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.

Marketing Network

I have a cousin and a very best friend who is now happily living in America together with her husband and three beautiful kids. We were that closed to each other dating back our childhood days before she left and joined her parents in the state. Throughout the long years that passed, the distance that separate between us never became a factor to continue communicating with each other and be updated of the good and bad things that goes around.

Aside from having her own family, becoming a successful business woman was the quantum achievement she got on her belt. Although she really has gone a milestone in her business, she still maintained her low-profile character and never forget to look back to thank and praise the people that brought her to her present pedestal, like the way she did to iPROMO, which is one of the fastest custom promotional product companies in the U.S., that has became the perfect window that gave stellar appeal and space for her products. With iPromo’s strong marketing pitch network it has became the best propagator, an information network that bears terse messages that laid down a shining pathways that captured the tedium that lived and gave a positive lasting impression in the public consciousness, giving excellent future not just on cousin’s products but to all nearly half a million promotional products the company is endorsing. iPromo’s effective advertising strategies guarantees the products to march to much productive beat as it carefully made it through and open the awareness of the volatile and highly competitive market eyes and ears.

As I turned the pages of cousin’s e-mails, it seems her admiration and gratitude to iPromo is never ending. But knowing her that well, it was but her normal trait. She loves to give credence where credence is due.

The professionals

Some decades of years ago, my uncle was the pioneering member of our closest relatives who packed his bag, migrated and tried his luck in the U.S.A., land where opulent golden opportunities comes in abundance. Armed only with his knacks, guts and his strong will of determination, being a stranger to the place did not matter at all for him to became successful in his career and became our first relative to be granted of U.S. citizenship. Then years after through the help of Root Law Group, a full service law firm that is comprises of teeming seasoned professional men and women immigration lawyers who represented and assisted him for his family-based-petition be finally approved by the U.S. government, that resulted for the exodus of his family starting from my aunty down to my nieces and nephews.

The management team of root law group which offer a free in office consultation thru (1-888-Root Law) is recognized on letterheads and business cards not only for its 95% average approval rating on visa’s applications, but more so on its highly competent and top caliber lawyers who shared a common passion, understanding and knowledge to adopt the U.S. immigration laws ( old and new ) that suits and won its client’s cases when they represent them individually to any immigration offices or any court of laws in order to secure the immigration certificate that declares legal stay status on their client’s name, which is a feather in the cap to every U.S. immigrants and makes RLG the symbol of status and achievements. Its line of law services encompasses the firm cycle to make it the ideal network that creates the most vibrant immigration community network dedicated to serve, assist and resolve any immigration related problems. And taking advantage of RLG’s descent track record were some of our relatives who became part of the exodus as they were lured by the tremendous success of our uncle, who despite of today age of economic turbulence stood strong just like RLG. And who knows in the near future, I and my family may also be one of them!!!

Bela's Loots

Before I do my search for car insurance quote online, let me post first a picture of Bela’s loots last Christmas:


* Talking Little Einsteins dolls and Lion Robotic Stuffed toy from mom and dad
* Sleep wear and blouses from her grand dad June and grand mom Jenny and grandd ad Bong and grand mom Penn
* Pocketville Playhouse from her tito JP
* Baby Alive doll from her Tita Veejay
* Tiger stuffed toy from my in laws

Even though Bela knew already what her gifts were (she was with me when I was doing my shopping online and I let her choose what she wants to receive for Christmas. She was also with her Tito Jp when her tito bought his gift for her and he let Bela choose also what she wants. The same is true for her Baby Alive doll), we asked her to promise that she will act surprised when she open her gifts on Christmas day. And true to her word she didn’t forget her lines after she opened each of the gifts that she received.

Bela: “Oh I’m surprised. I am so excited. I am so happy”

But I guess she is not pretending at all when she said this as we can see how excited and happy she was with all the gifts that she received. Thanks again to all our loved ones for all of your gifts for our princess Bela. You really made her very happy and left her with a very memorable Christmas for 2008.

Flower Girl to be

I made a post on my other blog about the upcoming wedding of my brother. Of course, Bela will be one of the flower girls and being the stage mom that I am, I can’t help but be excited as early as now about the wedding. She will be four year old by then so she might walk the aisle on her own and I can imagine her to be the cutest flower girl (of course, you should love your own. LOL).

I am excited too for this wedding, because finally after more than a decade of going out with his now fiancé, my brother finally decided to tie the knot. And since I have been a hands on bride when I prepared for our wedding three years ago, I will give them some unsolicited advice which I have learned when we are preparing for our wedding.

1. Do scout around for suppliers. Don’t book right away a supplier and check out feedbacks from their previous clients first before booking them to be sure that they can deliver on your wedding.
2. Don’t let others influence you about your wedding. Your wedding should be about the two of you so everything that makes up your wedding should be about the two of you.
3. Try getting wholesale flowers instead of getting a local florist. I assure you that it will be more affordable but at the same time the flowers will be delivered fresh and beautiful on your wedding day.
4. Hire a wedding coordinator or if you don’t have a budget for a wedding coordinator, assign someone from your family or your entourage to manage the event so you don’t have to worry on the day of your wedding.
5. And lastly, the day before your wedding, let go. Stop worrying about the little things because the most important thing is you will be marrying the person that you love the most.

For my Mom

Since Bela is the first grand child in my family, you can expect how so much attention and love she is getting from my parents. When I gave birth to her, my mom doesn’t want to get a nanny and she volunteered that she will personally take care of Bela. But when she turned one, she proved to be a handful and since my mom is not getting any younger, she admitted that its time for us to get a nanny since she can’t cope up with how active my daughter is.

But even though we hired a nanny for our daughter, she is still at our house everyday to oversee the nanny and to make sure that Bela is well taken care of.

That is something that we owe to her. Imagine, we don’t have to worry if we leave Bela at home with a nanny while we work since we are sure that my mother is there to look after her. And so this coming Christmas, we want to give my mom something extra special like fashion jewelry sets as a sign of our gratitude for all that she is doing for our family.

My mom is a very fashionable and stylish person and so I am sure she will love the jewelry set that we will pick for her from Holsted Jewelers as they have a wide collection of fashionable and high quality jewelry. I am so excited since I know that my mom will really be thrilled if she receives our gift for her.