Lucas’ 3rd Birthday

Since November 2013, I’ve been thinking about Lucas’ 3rd birthday celebration.  I know that I don’t have enough budget for a huge party so we decided that he’ll celebrate his birthday with 9 of his classmates in school and 2 teachers.  Since it is going to be an intimate party, I thought I’d put effort into it.  Besides, I’ll only need to prepare for 12 people plus 3 more friends in school.  So first, I thought of a theme.  I was browsing through Pinterest and saw a Little Red Car theme (of course I had to include a Volkswagen Beetle).  I searched for several ideas and here’s my version of the theme.

Here’s the invitation:

As a teacher, I understand how hard it is to let the children bring home their left over party food.  So I decided that each child will have a lunch bag where I’ll put everything in:  food, dessert, drink and utensils.  At the same time it’ll serve as a party favor.  I asked a very good friend of mine to make the lunch bags.  I just told her the shape and design I wanted.  The bags were amazing and well-crafted.  Blue striped lining for the boys and red striped lining for the girls.  I just placed tags of their names to personalize each lunch bag.

For the food, I thought that the toddlers wouldn’t eat much.  So I asked my friend, who’s a caterer to pack 6 pieces of chicken fingers for each food container (blue for boys and red for girls) labeled as “Pit Stop.”  I also packed doughnuts from Dunkin Donuts for dessert as “Spare Tire”.  I labeled apple juice boxes as “Fuel.”

Lastly, I made mini tool boxes out of a small Zip Lock bag where I placed the fork, table napkin and straw.As for Lucas’ cake, I asked my caterer friend to make a simple 8″ inch round vanilla fondant cake with little red cars.  I got the idea from Pinterest.  I totally loved the cake and it tasted so good too!For some final touches, I made a simple Happy Birthday banner for picture taking purposes 🙂 .

I also designed two shirts for Lucas.  One shirt, he wore on our “Pre-Birthday” shoot and the other shirt he wore on his birthday.  The designs were heat pressed by our Ninang (thanks so much!).

Birthday Shirt

Pre-birthday shoot shirt

Lucas’ birthday was just simple and intimate but he really enjoyed it.  I don’t do a lot of DIY projects, but I had fun planning and preparing for this small party.  It was worth it, the moment I saw the smile on my son’s face.  Thanks so much to my hubby for supporting me on this.  Thank you Golde for making the lunch bags for me.  They’re adorable.  I would never imagine myself doing the same thing.  Haha!  Thanks you Bebot of Ivy-Chris Bakeshop and Catering for the yummy food and beautiful cake.  Thank you to Lucas’ teachers, Teachers Lee Anne and Miriam, for making Lucas’ first ever school birthday celebration memorable.

New Beginnings

Another year just begun and I’m so thankful for the things that happened last 2013. Good or bad, we learned from these things that made us who we are right now.

When we attended the 6:00 pm New Year’s day mass at Mary the Queen Parish in San Juan, the presiding priest, Fr. Guy Guibelondo, talked about the importance of name and peace. He also shared his recent trek and said that he got disappointed when they reached their destination. They went up for 7 days and wasn’t happy when it was done. He said that maybe, he expected more than what was there. Then he said a certain line that struck me (I can not remember the exact words but the meaning was similar to this), “It is not about the destination, but it is the journey that matters.”

Lately, I’ve been wanting a lot of things to happen. Been planning on so many things…things about the future. I realized after hearing the line that Fr. Guy shared, that I’ve been overthinking. Which shouldn’t be the case. I know there’s nothing wrong with planning ahead, but I realized that maybe I should be paying more attention on the things happening at the present. One step at a time.

There are so many things ahead of us especially this year. When I start overthinking, I’d always go back to Fr. Guy’s line. I’m sure things will fall into their right places if i just trust in God and go through the journey He has for me.

Welcome 2014. 😊

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I Am A Hero

wLast week, our country was again visited by a typhoon named “Maring.”  Here’s a link about the details of this typhoon.  This also enhanced the Habagat (southwest monsoon).

Then again, a lot of Filipino communities, in Metro Manila and nearby provinces are greatly affected due to flooding.  A lot of families needed to evacuate to higher grounds because the water level kept on rising.

Our school already planned out an event for the Father and Child Activity for this year, which was the “Minute to Win It.”  However, the owners of the school Teachers Michelle and Leah decided to just use the funds for this activity to buy goods for the affected families especially in Marikina City.  So instead of the original activity, last Saturday, August 24, we had the Father and Child Repacking Activity.

our poster

All of us agreed that this activity will be even more meaningful for the father and the child (also the moms, siblings, grandparents, caregivers who came to support us).

First, the father and child need to color a card that will be placed in their package after.

Tatay Brio and Lucas coloring the card

My boys 🙂

It was then followed by a short assembly at the Multipurpose Hall.  Here Teacher Michelle gave a quick background about typhoon “Maring” and showed pictures of flooded areas and other damages that it brought.  She also told the children that they could be heroes themselves by helping in repacking relief goods for the flood victims.

Dadda Mike and Anton during the assembly.

Then, Teacher Mel explained what items should be in their relief bags.

Two ISYC former students helping out: Bella and Enzo

We’re very thankful for all the other families who shared some donations and for the alumni who helped us as well.

I’m not really sure how many bags we’re able to produce after repacking, but I know it is more than 500 bags.  Then we have more boxes left that were brought to Ateneo de Manila.

Here are more random photos taken during the event:

Elysse and Daddy Bryan in action

Sabine and Dada Kim

a little help will go a long way – from Inn and Ysai (Creative Hands)

just a few of the donations received the day before the event (August 23)

our badge

At the end of the day, it was really really tiring.  But it felt good to know that in our little ways we could make a difference a be a hero to others.

The Sweetest Treat

One of my former student’s mom recently started a new business venture.  She’s been baking cupcakes and other sweet treats.  She also offers candy buffet set ups and food catering.

About two weeks ago, she sent me some of her goodies.  I’m not a baker and a food blogger so I don’t know the technicalities of food…I just love to eat.  That’s it.

Here are the treats that Mommy Gemmie Punzalan of The Sweetest Treat sent me.

I really like the cream cheese frosting on this one.

If you’re a dark chocolate fan this one’s for you.

yummy topping!

If you’re a mango cake lover this one is for you.

 

My personal favorite was the Apple Streussel 🙂

If you got the “Sweet Tooth” these cupcakes are very much for you.  Feel free to give Mommy Gemmie a call if you are interested.  Check out her Facebook Page “The Sweetest Treat.”

Family of the Day

For this month of August, ISYC’s theme is all about Family.  Every year, the toddlers have this “Family of the Day” activity where each family should sign up for a date where the whole family could share any of the favorite things or talk about our interests, etc.  One option is to volunteer for a home visit and another one is to bring the kids to either parents’ place of business or work.  We can’t do either of that unless I’d give them a tour around ISYC :).  So Brio and I decided that we share our passion for VW classic cars plus give the kids something that is useful from Creative Hands.  I made each of Lucas’ classmates a personalized bag tag with a pink VW classic beetle for the girls and a blue VW classic beetle for the boys.

Then we brought the kids to the parking lot to show Lucas’ black VW car and took group photos of them.

We’re not so sure if we made it interesting for this cuties, so I ordered assorted VW beetle sugar cookies from a friend who will open her bakeshop soon here in Marikina City (Capriserrie).  I think the kids enjoyed eating thecookies as much as I did. 🙂

 

Oh one more thing! We needed to submit a collage on a 1/8 illustration board so it could be displayed in Lucas’ classroom.  I thought of making a digital collage then have it printed on tarp…but I stopped myself.  I told myself that I should make an effort for this.  This is Lucas’ first year in school, I have to work on this — meaning I should do pasting and cutting.  I do not have a scrap booking skill so I really don’t know how I’d put together the photos.  I didn’t know what stuff to stick to make it look nice.  But I’m proud that I was able to come up with a simple collage.  I’m proud because this is the best thing that I can do. hahaha!

It really was a great experience for me and Brio and of course Lucas.  We actually saw in his eyes that he liked it that we were there.

Though it was just for one day, I think it is good to make use of such opportunities because it could really boost your child’s confidence and it’ll make him feel important. 🙂

Photo Credits: Ronald Briones

Cupcake Love

I have always been a fan of cupcakes.  Not so much of chocolate cupcakes though.  Previously, I wrote about Felize’s Baked Specialties.  I love their oatmeal cookies and carrot cupcake.  Now I have a new favorite from Felize’s, the cupcake that we used for ISYC’s Mother and Child Activity Cupcake Decorating Station.  I asked Teacher Pia what’s the name of the cupcake because I loved it.  It wasn’t so sweet but still very yummy. That’s what I’m always looking for in a cupcake.  It’s not chocolate nor vanilla but really good.

Lucas and I didn’t put too much frosting but still it was very good.  According to Teacher Pia she just experimented on the recipe.  So I told her that we’ll call it Teacher Pia’s Secret Recipe Cupcake.  🙂  I really love it and definitely will order from her. 🙂  So if you want to try this secret recipe cupcake, you may contact Felize’s.

Kindergarten: Our Little Giuseppe Arcimboldos

Our theme for July was “All About Me” and here we discussed their body and how they take care of it.  They learned the food pyramid and the importance of eating healthy food such as fruits and vegetables.  In line with this topic, we discussed the famous Italian artist Giuseppe Arcimboldowho’s known to creating imaginative portrait heads made entirely objects such as fruits, vegetables, flowers, books.  After we introduced the artist, we asked our students to make their own portrait using fruits and vegetables.  I’ll share with you photos of the Kindergarten Tamaraws and Tarsiers while they were doing it and their finished art works.

Kindergarten Yoga

I’ve been practicing yoga for about a year now.  I may not be doing it every single day, but I make sure that I practice at least once a week.  I really enjoy its benefits therefore, I shared my love for yoga to our Kindergarten students this year.

Last July, our theme was All About Myself so this includes the Body.  We have discussed the different ways on how they should take care of their body and one of which was exercising.  To incorporate this, we did yoga.  I found this video from YouTube by Cosmic Kids Yoga.  It has several episodes and the children really enjoyed it.  We did the Episode 1 – Squish the Fish.

After the 15-minute video, some children came up to me and said that they loved it and they want to do it again.  I’m just so happy hearing that from them.

Operation Healthy Cooking

Guess what?  I cooked again.  Well they are still very similar to what I’ve been cooking so far.  I just changed some of the ingredients I used.

The other night I tried cooking Grilled Cream Dory Fillet with Veggies on the Side.

grilled cream dory fillet with veggies

I basically just marinated my fish with calamansi juice, salt and pepper and olive oil.  Then I grilled it on a grill pan.  Then I poured the remaining marinade on my carrots and Baguio beans before I added them to the grill pan.  I made sure that my veggies are still crunchy.  Then we ate it with Basmati rice.  Lucas liked the fish.  After he tasted it he said, “Sarap yan.”  Whew!  If he could eat my cooking, oh he’ll definitely live. Hahaha!

The next thing I cooked was my usual pasta in tuna, chicken sausage in olive oil with garlic.  But this time I used vegeroni (vegetable-based macaroni pasta).  Well, my son didn’t eat the pasta, he just liked the chicken sausage.  But my mom loved the pasta though and that’s a good thing. 🙂

Vegeroni Pasta with Tuna and Chicken Sausage in olive oil and garlic

First Mother and Child Day

Last Saturday, July 27, Integrated School for Young Children (ISYC) held its annual Mother and Child Day.  I have been experiencing this event for 5 years, just as a teacher but now I finally got to experience this event as a Nanay.  

For the previous years we’ve had activities like DIY Doll, Tree Planting, Eco Bag Decorating, SPArty and Craft Day and Tub O’ Craft Day.  This year, Teacher Michelle, our directress, came up with a Candy Crush Themed activity.  There were 5 stations that each Mother and Child pair needs to accomplish.  The activities were very simple because the main goal is for the mother and child to spend time together and have some fun (I think that goal was achieved).

1.  The Candy Booster Matching.  It is very similar to the game Pin the Tail on the Donkey where the child was blind folded and he/she just needs to match the candy booster.

Candy Booster Game by Teachers Alexa, Cheryl, Nikki and Timmy

2.  Clearing the Jellies.  There was a huge mouth with jellies.  The child needs to take out all the jellies within 30 seconds.  This activity reminds the children to always brush their teeth after eating something sweet.

3.  Toss the Bean Bag Game.  The mother and child should toss the bean bag through the different shapes.  Lucas really enjoyed this. 

Bean bag toss by Teachers Lee Anne, Miriam, Grace and Karen

4.  The Giant Candy Crush.  This was the favorite of almost every pair.  The child needs to pick a candy card.  The mother and child pair should cross the giant candy crush mat just stepping on the card the child picked.  In our case we picked the red jelly bean.

Giant Candy Crush by Teachers Kat, Nappy, Rica and Nina
with Teacher Nikki

5.  Cupcake Decorating Station.  Here, each pair was given a cupcake, a bag of frosting, candy sprinkles, chocolate chips and marshmallows.  Basically we just need to decorate our own cupcake  (the cupcakes were from Felize’s Baked Specialties, will blog about it next).

Cupcake decorating station by Teachers Pia and Ana

There was also a bonus station, the Treat Shop where the children get to choose candies they like.  This is the station where I was assigned to prepare.  I really had fun setting this up together with Teachers Michelle, Patrick, Tin and Erlyn.

Lucas and I really had so much fun during this day.  An activity like this is a venue for mothers to spend a day with their kids despite their busy schedule.  Bonding with your preschooler boosts their confidence and makes them feel important.  But this type of activity does not only benefit your child but of course also the Nanays. 🙂  We can’t wait for the Father and Child Activity this coming August.

Above: entrance
Below: our game card