The Week That Was

We had a one week celebration of our 65th Founding Anniversary last week,that's the reason why I wasn't able to update my blog again. We had a series of activities like Fun Run, Trade Fair, Parade, Field Demonstration, Inter-School Academic and Cultural Competition, Dance Concert, Coronation Night to name a few. By the way,some artists from ASAP also came to join us on the 4th day but I wasn't able to enjoy the show that much kase nga di ba malabo mata ko.haha! No wonder busy as a bee na naman ang peg ko for the past few days. 

Just to give you a glimpse of the activities and my life away from home, I'm sharing you a few photos from the previous week. This is the kind of environment where I spend my day at work.

@ the school gallery with my officemates.

 

photo collage on one part of the wall.can you spot me? :D 

breakfast after Fun Run, that explains the haggardo versoza look.
 

blue ladies! wearing our Foundation Day shirt.

moi @ The Annex Building.

Field Demo -- missing my Grade school days! favorite school activity ko kaya yan.hehe.
 

some of the ASAP artists who graced the event.

 Erik Santos was also there.  Sayang,wala si Papa P! lol.

 hello yellow! off to the Coronation Night venue in a bit.

So there, I'd love to share more photos pa sana pero baka maumay na kayo sa fez ko.haha! I'm excited to blog about Christmas, about our Project "Zhay" and some unfinished posts in my drafts from the previous happenings during hubby's vacay and Xian at school. Kamusta naman,long overdue na yun.Hahaaay,goodluck to me! :P

 

Xian's Corner: Learning to Write and Draw

If we're friends in facebook probably you've seen this on my timeline a month ago.

 Xian's penmanship.

Yes! finally, those scribbles and lines before becomes more legible.  At 3 years and 6 months, Xian was able to write his first name on his own without any help from mommy. Although wala pa lang sa line but eventually I know masasanay din sya with our constant writing practice. :) As of today he already know how to write his full name -- Xian Allen.  Yun nga lang may condition, it's either Xian or Allen muna isusulat nya not both name at the same time because according to him -- it's too long. Huh?

Other than that, it's his habit before bedtime to do some activities like coloring his workbook or doodle in his paper.I was surprised when he showed me this after spending a couple of minutes armed with paper and a pencil. Now can you make a wild guess of who's the subject of his artwork?

According to Xian, this is daddy at work. hehe! He's wearing a safety hat (a necessity at hubby's work) pero nahulog yung safety hat kaya ganun na lang reaction ni daddy nya.When I showed this to hubby, he can't help but laugh.

 So there,sharing you two of Xian's work. I'm looking forward to the time our Xian will write his own letter for his dad and me. :)

The Little Man's New Apple of the Eye

If you've been reading this blog since it all started you're definitely aware that our Xian is an avid fan of Lightning McQueen. From his McQueen ride to toys, clothes, shoes,  bedsheet, underwear, towel, toy bin, plate and cup, school bag, school supplies, cap, at kung anik-anik stuffs bearing the McQueen design. That's why he's very easy to please – any McQueen item you'll give to him either as a gift or pasalubong, he'll reward you with a thank you and a kiss, ganun sya umappreciate at ka-happy with the Disney Pixar character.

*June 2012* ready for school! McQueen ba ka'nyo?

Until one day during one of our family trip to the mall for our grocery errand,my boys went to Toys "R" Us while I'm at the supermarket. His dad bought him a transformers toy. I can't believe that he's instantly hooked with the autobot. After that,watching Transformers movies became one of our family's bonding time kung dati kami lang ni hubby nakaka-appreciate, ngayon pati si Xian nahilig na din.He can actually cite majority of the Transformers major characters without batting an eyelash.

Anyway, I can't believe that this Optimus Prime toy cost around Php 850! yung liit na yan? dyosme!

  

Good thing, McDonald's previous happy meal featured the Transformers. Xian love all of them, and although they're stuck in vehicle form it's better than having a hard time mismatching them.Atleast safe sya,sira-miko din naman yung anak ko.

the trans-four-mers!

early morning shot of our happy Xian

When I asked him if he still like McQueen.his instant response -- "yes! but mommy i'm a big boy already, see? (then stand in front of me for me to see how tall he is now.haha!) Sabi kase ni daddy, transformers toys na 'pag big boy na.. pero buy mo pa din ako lagi ng McQueen ha?"

So this is all the husband's fault.lol.

Obviously, may dumagdag na sa Christmas list ng bagets. So to all our family members / relatives / ninongs and ninangs -- you already know what to give this Christmas.teehee!


 

One Sunday @ Tagaytay

Since I made a comeback post, that means I really need to take updating my blog seriously. :)

As much as I want to share all the major events in my family life in one post while I was away,I'd rather tell you some random kwentos muna during that 7 months that I was missing in action here in blogger. I hope you'll bear with me if there are times you'll encounter some sabog-sabog stories in my upcoming posts. you see, I'm still having a blog leave hangover, if there's such a thing! Anyway,during the whole time that I was on blog hiatus,facebook lang at paminsan-minsan na twitter ang naging social life ko online.but most of the time talaga I was on skype because of the husband.

So what's new about the C family? Like what I've mentioned on some of my posts months ago, one of the perks of the hubby's work overseas is that  he goes home every 6 months with his allotted 2 weeks paid vacay. his last vacation 2 months ago was special because he arrived 2 days before my 29th birthday. So yes! it's really a happy birthday for me because I was able to celebrate it with my loves. the joy of seeing my boys together again is already enough for me.sobrang saya,not to mention super miss na talaga namin ni Xian si daddy nya,big time! :) 

Here are some of the photos taken during my birthday lunch. Despite the drizzly September weather, my little family headed to Tagaytay with my dear inay and my sister Sol after we attended the Sunday mass. we decided to have our lunch at Viewsite Restaurant. Good thing the place isn't crowded when we arrived although we had a hard time at first finding a good parking space.

Sharing you some of our family photos -- they're my life's greatest gift:

For our lunch,since i'm a big fan of seafoods, we settled for these. After all,
happy tummy = happy birthday!

seafoods and inihaw platter

 sinigang to complement the cold Tagaytay weather.

I'm a big fan of leche flan, so this one is really a treat for me.yummy!

can you spot my fave drinks?

we were serenaded by this group while we were eating.after the usual happy birthday song, they told us to request any song in mind so we requested our theme song and another 2 new songs.They're really good!

sis and Inay

may sikreto ako, di ko sasabihin! :D

Xian entertain us with his antics.see his dad's reaction? bentang benta eh no? hehe. 

 busy checking some of the pics

I love you,baby!

the little man and the foggy Taal lake view

because more than anything else,the best birthday present is his presence. ♥

After 7 months!

Hi guys! how are you? Sapphire Mommy in the house! I just drop by to let you know that I still exist and everything is well in my life. For the past few months, I've been so wrapped up with all the happenings at work and at home especially now that we already have a school boy and the husband is still working overseas (he just had his 2 weeks vacay 2 months ago so medyo busy din ako lalo time na yun trying to make the most of our precious time together.) As much as I want to share snippets of my life, our life, I just can't really find the time to squeeze this hobby in my schedule more often. Tsk! sinasabi ko na nga ba sagabal talaga sa blogging ang work eh no? hehe. 

To my mommy blogger friends Em, Lanie, Krissy, Michi, Anney, Cham and everyone I constantly interacted with on social networking sites that even in my absence, they still managed to ask how is it going. I'm deeply touched! Thank you guys! I can't believe that its been 7 months since I last updated my blog before I was "kidnapped"  from the blogging world. My Gulay! time flies so fast that the same old feeling hit me while I was composing a new blog post today. Kinda weird. I mean, how will I start? am I still welcome here? haha! For a moment, I suddenly had a hard time figuring out some of the blog icons here. sensya na pumi-first time blogger eh.haha! 

its really disheartening on my part knowing that a lot of Xian moments which are very much worthy to be blog about just slipped away. *sad face* Di ba nga, my ultimate goal is to blog his every milestone. But don't worry Xian my love, because I can still vividly recall each one of them from your first day of school, first ever school performance which always makes me one proud mom, our random kulit conversations, and all the other Xian related stuffs. But this time around, I'll make sure to never neglect this blog ever again -- kahit ba parang kabute lang ako na pasulpot-sulpot! hihi.

Anyway to end my comeback post, I'm sharing you some of the pics of our school boy Xian while I was on a blog hiatus.

 in one of their school presentation

 first day of school

kid scout

with his friend,Aemiel.

warm up before their dance number, with Agatha.

usual Sundate with my hubby's mini me. :)

O sya that's all for now.happy to be back for real! :)

Loaded Week

Hello guys, I'm still alive! :P Did you missed me or namiss nyo ba ko? haha,feeling lang! kase ako namiss ko kayo lahat while I was away. My day is not complete without checking my daily reads here in my blog :(

Our internet connection is just so irritating that it really stuck me to being lazy to blog. Plus I was really busy for the past few days with my life at work – my new workplace, new workloads, new schedule and I'm still on the adjustment period although I'm still on the same environment pa din naman and still working in the same school but this career change of mine is something positive which gives me the time to go home earlier than my previous work. Meaning, more time with my Xian! Then aside from that, I'm tending to our school boy everyday. Before I go to work I make sure that all of his daily needs are ready and when I got home naman, we'll talk about their activities at school that day and will ask Xian to sing the new song or the new things he learned from Teacher Anne as our bonding time. This kind of busyness especially with my school boy is what's giving me a new kind of high nowadays. Hindi sya yung stressful, in fact I love everything about it especially after a tiring day at work then Xian will show me his activity sheet from school as soon as I enter the house.

So I just dropped by to have a quick post. quick daw ano eh kanina pa ko daldal ng daldal. Honestly I don't know where to start. The new blogger's layout didn't help. Kaloka! Andami ko gusto ikwento especially Xian's summer class. by the way for the past 8 days, he's doing great in school. As promised, I was the one who dropped him off to school on his first day and nag-sit in ako together with the other moms while they're having their activities and OA man sabihin pero alam mo yung feeling na nakakaiyak sa galak just by merely looking at him with his new milestone and that is his life as a preschooler enjoying on his new environment. On his second day I told him that I need to go to the office and I cannot go with him sa school kaya si inay na muna maghahatid since may service naman sila. I thought iiyak sya but to my surprise, ok lang sa kanya and when I called Inay at school to check them, she told me that Xian's inside the classroom already and there's no crying moments. in fact, she's already at the guardian's area together with the other parents/guardians. Then when I went to his school few days ago, according to Teacher Anne, he's very good because he's really participating in class and active in every activities. I noticed that school became Xian's happy place together with his classmates as his new-found friends and playmates.

Then kanina, I filed a half day of leave because I attended my first ever parents' meeting! Hello PTA meeting, I belong. Haha. The meeting is about the Culminating Activity on the 3^rd week of May which is the kids “graduation day” because they'll be having some dance presentations so meaning they also have costumes and all. I can't wait to see my Xian participating on the school program.

As much as I want to share some of Xian's memorable photos at his school right now but I have yet to download them from my camera, imagine paga-upload lang wala din ako time.haha,this time being busy is bad! So let me just share you some of preschool-related photos of our Xian from my phone.

 first day high -- off to school!

puzzle time!

 their first ever coloring activity.

my first ever parents' meeting notice.

 

That's all for now muna! :)

 

Preschool Hunting: The Final Edition

Like what I've mentioned before, initially we have four choices of preschool for the little man. I'm done with preschool #1 and since preschools 2, 3 and 4 are all near our place approximately 5-10 minutes travel time, I had the best time to check them in one day. So during my 1 week bed rest after I had my surgical operation last month, I allotted one day to check these schools together with Inay and Xian for ocular visit. Nung nag-ocular kami, magkakalapit din lang yung inikutan namin. hehe. Unfortunately, I don't like preschool #3 because of some factors, imagine yung feeling na first impression pa lang pero sablay na. preschool #4 naman (which is also a catholic school where I graduated) is my last choice if ever preschool #2 will not pass my standards.

So I'll just focus this post on our preschool of choice.

Preschool #2: St. Jude Science and Technological School

They're one progressive school in our town being 4 years only in the business.The name is quite confusing at first because it doesn't sounds like a "normal preschool name" but they're actually one. While there are several existing schools offering pre-elem, elementary  and highschool courses within our town, SJSTI is the first Science and English-speaking school in the area. They also offer grade school and high school that's why the name is a little bit different. What I like about this school is that it is somehow aligned to our family values or values that I wanted to teach him since I also studied in a catholic school.

I don't have any photos of the facilities to share since I'm too shy to take pictures that time since the principal is there.haha! But they have nice classrooms and clean playground, same thing with other facilities.The school for me provides a conducive environment for the little man's growth,away from the noise of the vehicles in the street. While we're checking the school, we saw some hollow blocks and other construction materials present that time but that's understandable since they're undergoing some expansion.The approved building plan also is very promising. The staff  and teachers are courteous and even the security guard speaks in English.  There are a couple of students at the area that time and seems like they're well-disciplined. We also saw the school canteen and most of the foods we saw there are nutritious ones. Wala akong napansin na junk foods.  And although may mga big kids na kasama sa school, the pre-elem's classrooms are far from the elementary and high school so I don't have to worry na may makakabangga sa kanya na malaking bata. You know naman mga kids, they have the tendency to get rowdy sometimes especially with the little ones.

The tuition fee is ok and fit nicely in our budget and I believe that it commensurate to the quality of education they provide. The best thing about it is that when I asked Xian if he already like there as his school, he answered me with "yes" and everytime may magtatanong sa kanya sa family namin kung saan sya papasok he'll proudly reply with "St. Good (Jude)!" so that's a big factor for us to consider-- Xian liked preschool #2.

Here's one of Xian's snapshot during our ocular visit.

With their mission "Your partner in the holistic development of  your child" . After careful deliberation with hubby Allan and weighing the pros and cons of our top 2 school of choice -- Silvercrest School and St. Jude and carefully comparing them, we came to our mutual decision and that is we're finally going to send Xian to St. Jude!  We'll see and try there muna for 1 year. After all St. Jude passed our criteria especially the convenient location without sacrificing the quality of education. Although sayang yung discount sa Silvercrest as one of Xian's benefit as my son, who knows maaavail din naman nya yun in the future pag big kid na sya. 

I already enrolled Xian at St. Jude's 1 month summer "practice" class which will start on Monday. This also served na din as reservation fee and they'll just deduct 50% of what I paid for the summer class from the actual tuition fee for the whole year.The staff said that it's more of playtime and socialization and some activities for kids in preparation for the opening of classes this June. As promised, I will be the one to accompany the little man to his school on Monday. I already filed a vacation leave. :)

So yes, we will finally send a kid to preschool! I'm a bit excited and scared. Hopefully, Xian's first day will be a smooth one.Wish us lots of luck.hahaha!

 

Xian and Magnum

During the hype of the Magnum Ice cream when Xian's tita ninang Twinx got this adorable puppy as a gift from a friend,hence she named him Magnum which became additional member of the family in our compound.

 Hello Magnum! :)

I think this is the perfect time to test Xian's nurturing skills to have his own pet in the future. If ever he'll have one, through taking care of his pet Xian can know how to take care of others which will cultivate his own sense of responsibility. Magnum is the best candidate for now! Good thing his Tita Ninang made Xian as one of the co-owner.haha!

 during their playtime

Here's one side kwento about Xian and Magnum:

Xian: mommy,kakainis si Magnum! (frown face)

Me: huh? bakit naman?

Xian: eh kase dinilaan nya ko dito sa ulo (sabay turo) 

Me: yun lang naman pala eh,naglalambing lang sayo si Magnum.

Xian: ok! pero sabi ko sa hand lang eh.bawal sa head...

hahaha,yun naman pala eh.Magnum,di ka sumunod sa instruction! :P 

Speaking of the real Magnum, here's the little man in his favorite Magnum Classic.