She's Six Now

My little princess just turned 6 last January 16. Just the other night, I look back at how fast time flies. It seems like it was not too long ago when I was up until 3am chugging malunggay drink because my little girl wanted more milk from me. Now she knows how she wants to celebrate her birthday and was so involved in the preparation. She's a big girl now!

This year we decided to ditch the traditional travel itinerary to celebrate the kids’ birthday because our celebrant specifically requested to have a Barbie Princess and the Pop star party. She's so into the DVD movie she's memorized the lines of Kara and Tori and of course the songs!

So here are what we did for her 6^th birthday. My family and friends commented, ‘paano na kaya sa 7^th and 18^th birthday? Mas kikay I'm sure :)

January 16: School Party

We celebrated her birthday with a customary school party where we served pasta, chicken, hotdog sandwiches, cupcakes and cake – all the fun food for kids and adults alike. Played some games such as trip to Jerusalem which is Sophie’s fave and longest happy birthday. My little girl was little teacher for the day as well so she’s in charge of the bell to remind her classmates to behave even during games. 

the birthday celebrant blowing her flower cake

 the cake from Icings and rainbow cupcakes I made inspired by the lovely color of her cake

kids enjoyed a game of trip to jerusalem

 

 

 look who came to party? Her little bro Sam

January 19: Princess and the Rockstar Party

Came Saturday, we celebrated again at home with relatives and the celebrant’s friends with  Barbie theme carried over ( I just twisted it a little to make it a Princess and the Rockstar party).
I asked Sophie to make a list of her guests and after seeing the list I knew it was a bad idea. B.A.D. It was endless! I ended up buying more for the loot bags. I never realized she has that much friends from home. On one end, it was good that she’s making friends.

The birthday girl chillin' before her birthday, waiting for her hair to set.

 

About the dress, it's a dress she designed and her lola (my mom) made in time for her school birthday. This dress caused so much fuss and that is an understatement. You should've seen the whole family debate while she explained the design to her lola, she was very particular about that one shoulder and continuous sleeve design, the color and the length of the skirt. And yeah, even the flower and the belt must be there. Like she was a bride talking to her designer. My mom rushed to finish the dress in time for her  school party; the party was supposed to start at 1230pm but we got to school at 1pm because of this dress. 

from the concept

to a well executed dress

The shoes I bought from 168 mall while we were buying mylar balloons and other party stuff. They went perfectly well with her dress. 

 The cake from Deniel's cake

 Her paper lootbags (SM, P82.00 for pack of 50) with toys, M&M chocolate, Quaker cookies, filled mallows, candies, some assorted pens,etc. sealed with cute free printable labels from www.catchmyparty.com.

These printables were used to label the drinks as well.

 The food

Sweet style spaghetti

 

 Fresh Lumpia served with garlic sauce and peanuts

  

hotdogs with bear and heart mallows

  

 we also served barbeque, fried chicken, roasted herbed chicken, lumpiang shanghai. Except for the lumpiang shanghai and barbeque, I practically cooked everything on the menu it was exhausting! I'm glad the little girl has so much fun on her birthday.

After all those cooking, the little boy preferred to eat just grated cheese. Haha!

 Desserts were

Vanilla and pumpkin and chocolate chips cupcakes, served on a cupcake tower I bought from Divisoria for P150. Can I just say that Divisoria is the place to be :)

 Almond/Lychee with cherries

The kids enjoyed the parlor games and 'manual' pabitin (good thing my husband and BIL are tall)

 

but soon gave up because of the children's persistence

 In keeping with the princess and the rockstar theme, we bought glitter tattoos and the kids and adults alike were willing canvass while my sister and I (for the first time in our lives) applied tattoos on them. 

Of course the celebrant got to be tattooed first.

 

Me the tattoo artist. hehe :) I wore something rockstar-y that day, a studded Gap shirt and a black acid washed skinny jeans from Landmark

This is another one of my work

 I got one for myself too, how cute is this ladybug? You can buy the glitter tattoo set from 168 mall, I snatched a pack with 10 designs for a good price, includes the glue, brush and glitters.

My sister doing tattoos for other kids.

Lolo Rey and Mama Karol can't miss the party :)

Happy birthday Sophie! We love you always :) I think it's time to start prepping for your 7th birthday :)

I Love to Read... Medicine Info Leaflets

Are you one of those moms who read that leaflet included inside a box of medicine? I do.

Although I don't understand probably half of it, I still read it from start to finish and see if there are any contraindications that I should be aware of and the doctor forgot to mention.
My husband always tells me not to play doctor but I guess I'm just stubborn. Actually, personally I'm the kind na kung kaya pa ang pain, I don't take any meds. I have high tolerance for pain so if I have headache or allergic rhinitis attack, I will sleep it through if possible. Tiis ganda just so I don't have to take those chemicals called meds. I believe anything not natural has a side effect. Praning much?
Of course, I don't deduct the fact that we still need medicine especially for ailments that really requires it. Like just last week, Sophie had kuliti (sty) and she looked like she had a fight with Pacquiao. Her left eye was really swollen (but still refuse to be absent from school, baka hanapin daw siya ng teacher niya). We brought her to the doctor and was prescribed an antibiotic drops for the eye. The sty was caused by bacteria that entered the eye (my number one suspect are the colored chalks she just can't get enough of).
Before I actually administered the meds on my girl, I read the leaflet just to make sure it's generally safe for kids. Thank goodness no side effect that's worrisome.

It's her 6th day today with the antibiotics and tomorrow we are scheduled for a follow up check up.

The little girl has learned her lesson well. No more scratching the eyes, nose or ears when hands are dirty. And yes, even a cute pink-colored chalk is dirty.
Good thing the little girl is very independent and responsible. I never realized how much she paid attention while I cleaned her eyes the first time until the yaya reported the the following day, Sophie cleaned her eyes herself while mommy is at work.

Stage Mom on the Lose!

I have not been blogging lately. Busy-nezz as usual plus… I never thought how much work it is to put a kid to school. I guess one thing is that I am also excited of my little lady’s new milestone. 

I personally covered her books with plastic, arranged her things for school, her toiletries which I pre-ordered from a friend who sells organic products,etc. The school list of requirements said a box for the personal effects. I think a box (plastic or paper) is too bland so I instead placed my daughter’s personal stuff in a transparent bag with glittered pink and purple design. It’s the bag that used to house her clips and brushes, I recycled into her kikay kit for school. I also bought her a hot pink placemat instead of those cutesy, kiddy-designed placemats. She loves all her new pink stuff, so kikay! J I will always be a stage mom, I think! M.A.J.O.R. J

The yayas offer of help was not heeded, I want Sophie’s new school experience to have mommy’s personal touch. I may not be able to bring her to school everyday but I make sure I can provide for all other things na kaya ng busy-working-mom power ko. Tama!

Siyempre pa, mommy and daddy were there on Sophie's first day of school. We're glad to take that day off from work to bring our little girl to school, we saw how happy and proud she was to go to school with mom and dad :)

My Fave Polish

I can't remember when I started painting my nails but I know I have been introduced to Caronia at an early age. I got so hooked at mani and pedi that years ago I decided to learn how to do my own nails since it's getting a wee bit expensive of a bisyo.
I still go to the salon,though, when I feel I deserve a foot spa before a pedicure. I'm not very particular with spa salons as long as they don't look 'suspicious', if you know what I mean :)

A few months ago, I discovered Kaya Hair Studio in Fairview and found this amazing nail polish brand. It's Konad and it comes in candy colors. Konad is a Korean brand, the best thing about it is that it doesn't stain your nails and it doesn't chip easily unlike some brands (yes, even the expensive brands chip easily, I Wonder why? :) ).

cool yellow :0

isn't white divine?

I always love this blue hue. Excuse the foot hehe :)

Even the little girl got her 'cleaning' and pedicure. She loved mommy's nails and she wants to have hers done too. 

Daddy patiently waited while the girls have their nails done :)

Kikay girls having a good time :)

First Project

When we got home from work, Sophie stood in front of me with her hands behind her and announced: "Mommy, I have surprise for you!" The eager me asked what and this emerged:

Her first project from her summer class!

She explained that they were asked by teacher to place the yellow squares within the drawings and trace the first letter of the word. She was beaming with pride and I too was equally happy that she enjoyed her first day in class. I immediately got our camera and took a picture. 'Mommy, what are you doing?' the little schoolgirl asked. 'I'm taking a picture because I'm proud of your first project. Mommy's gonna buy a frame for this so we can display your work.' She said,' Ok' and skipped away with a big smile on  her face. 

Sophie is 4 now and I get all mushy again especially since she's going to start school soon. I just want to share this photo with her foot imprint done her first birthday. She had quite big feet for a baby so her foot kinda went beyond the plaster mold ( I should have done this when she was still younger).

Sophie's 4th Birthday

Sophie celebrated her 4th birthday last January 19. We had a simple celebration with her lolos and lolas, tita, tito and cousins. For her cake, I thought of either buying her a character cake of her choice as I do every year or make her a cake for a change. With her consent, I went for the latter. 

This is how her cake, er, dessert turned out. It has layers of all her favorite stuff, chocolate gelatin and chocolate bread layered alternately and topped with whipped cream and cherries. The best thing about this was that she helped me make the chocolate ganache, stirring patiently until we got the right consistency and taste. She's very helpful in the kitchen, the birthday girl was hands on during the preparation. She kept telling her lolas (grandmas) that she made her cake :)

made her cake and ate it too :)

The original plan for the day was to have a lunch picnic in La Mesa Ecopark but the weather was so unpredictable, thus, we decided to eat lunch at home and if the still weather permits, visit Ecopark in the afternoon. Luckily it didn't rain that day so off to the park we went. Entrance to the park is P50, P40 if you're a QC resident. Kids 3 feet below can get in for free. We got there around 5pm and was informed that Ecopark closes at 6pm. We were still allowed to go in only until before the sun sets since the park is not lighted. Surprisingly, the park is well visited by families and barkadas. There were some who were having their prenuptial photo shoot that day. 

It was such a fun experience especially since the kids enjoyed the tour so much. Sophie and Sam are scared to ride the back of a horse but they love this open kalesa (horse-driven carriage) ride. This ride is P50 per person just to go around the circle (will take you a minute or two). Quite pricey but I haggled for a discount since there are only 2 adults and the rest are kids. I think I already told you in my previous posts that I'm a mean haggler, hehe. 

With my mom, Sophie, Sam and their cousin Seth

going around the park on a cool day

view from the top. you can take the steps if you wish to take a look at the watershed

or go up this way which I took for more challenge (with 2 kids in tow)

hubby with my nephew in the background,  taken at the Petron ampitheater

Sam enjoyed jumping around the ampitheater. He didn't wanna go home anymore.

Ecopark boasts of different types of foliage although somehow I feel that it can have more improvement. Some facilities are no longer in existence like the butterfly garden probably for lack of funding. 

We promised to visit La Mesa Ecopark again soon since we found out it's just 10 mins away from our house. It's a nice place for a together time with the family. 

Okay, my head is already spinning from looking at figures and emails galore so I'm blogging to let me off some stress (but not off the computer :) )

I just want to share that last week Sophie and I went school hunting. We went to Falcon School in Dahlia St., just a good 5-10 minutes commute from home depending on traffic on Sauyo Road. I heard good reviews about this school so it's the first thing we checked out. 

We got there at the time that flag ceremony was about to start so we parked ourselves in the waiting area and waited for the whole ceremony to finish. Sophie, seeing all the kids in uniforms was asking 'Mommy, san yung uniform ko? Bihis na 'ko (mommy, where's my uniform? i want to change). I explained that we're just there to inquire and that she can't join the kids yet. She's been eager to go to school since last year. 

After the ceremony, we went straight to the office to inquire. A nice registrar gave me a brochure showing the school's facilities, requirements, etc.  This is Sophie's first time to go to school and she's 3 yrs 9mths old now. She'd be 4yrs and 5mths by next school year. According to the requirements, nursery students need to be at least 31/2 yrs old by June while Kindergarten needs to be 41/2 by June. Now I'm torn between enrolling her for nursery or hopping kindergarten and skipping nursery altogether. I'm worried she may be too matured for nursery but that she may get overwhelmed if she goes to kindergarten sans nursery. Gosh, this is my first time to deal with my kids' schooling and I'm so worried, nervous, excited, confused, jittery and sooo amateur! I have been asking around moms with school kids and been doing some research and so far it's boiling down to Nursery first so she can get a feel of what school discipline is like and get her ready for kindergarten where kids are faced with more serious and structured curriculum. I hope I make the right decision for her. 

Anyway, my next school trip would be Diliman Preparatory School near Mindanao Avenue. Been hearing good reviews about this school also and I hope that the facilities are better. The nursery and preschool classes of Falcon is tucked away in a subdivision in Falcon St. and not in the main school in Dahlia. It's a home school, although very private I was quite bothered by the security since there is no security guard manning the school gate which I noticed was left unlocked. When I checked the interior, I didn't notice a clinic or any first aid area, is this okay? I guess they did not bother to put a clinic since the nursery is a spitting distance from FEU hospital. 

Oh well, I have 2 more school options to explore. I hope that I can finish this school hunt before the year ends. 

Sam's Hat

This is morning during Sophie and Sam's book time:

Mommy (while pointing to a picture of an orange hat): Sam, this is a hat. Hat... hat.
Sophie: Sam say HAT
Sam: (stared intently at the picture, his face full of wonder)
Mommy: Sam, hat. Say hat
Sam : (once again, stared at the picture)
Then, he walked towards our brown aluminum screen down where the morning sun shines generously, touched the screen door and said:

Sam: HOT!

He then wiped his hand on his diaper (because the door is really hot that time of the day) and said again:

Sam: HOT!

Sophie, Yaya and I laughed so hard! We couldn't complain that it's HOT and not HAT. Sam, as usual, laughed with us. Haha! :)