SWISS MISS-TER

On Friday, Haligilet's school will celebrate United Nations Day. And the little boy was assigned to dress up in the national costume of Switzerland.

Looking for a costume was harder than I thought and I even considered to just have Haligilet come as a gigantic Lindt bar. Hehe!

Alas, thank God for mil's dress shop. Drawing inspiration from this...

My mil came up with this....Odeva, pumo-Project Runway si lola!

How about you, did you have a favorite UN costume as a child?

EKS-OH-EKS-OH

PPBC #5: THEY SAY IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY!

Our family members, especially those on Haligi's side, are party animals.

I remember, during the earlier stages of our relationship, that I was amazed at how Haligi's family would find reason to celebrate even the smallest milestone (a milestone still, nonetheless)--a balikbayan's homecoming, easter egg hunts, halloween trick or treat parties, death anniversaries, new jobs, promotions, good grades, town fiestas, and the list goes on. They are certainly one jolly, partying lot!

The party fever has since rubbed off to our small family and thus, ever since our Haligilet was born, we marked his "birthdays" every month till he turned one...

and then had birthday parties every year (click on the pictures to access party photos)...

I love organizing my son's parties as it brings out the child in me. I pride myself on being totally hands on, from conceptualization of the theme, to designing the invites, to buying the loot and prizes, cooking food (for his 2nd and 4th birthdays) and of course, entertaining guests. I also experimented on a lot of personalized party favors and decors and the results were truly rewarding!

While it seemed that our parties bordered on the lavish or extravagant, do note that our parties were carefully planned and budgeted. You'd even be surprised at how much (actually, how little) we spent.

I know of some people who would take out payday loans just to give their child a great party. I guess you cannot blame some parents who feel the "pressure" of having to keep up with a "hospitable" culture such us ours. Lucky for us, it took a bit of imagination, resourcefulness (and very supportive grandparents, hehehe!) to do the trick.

More than the fanfare, we see birthdays as wonderful opportunities to give thanksgiving for the past year of smiles, anecdotes and milestones. Best of all, Haligilet's birthday marks another wonderful year of our parenthood.

Literally and figuratively, a party is just icing on the cake.

EKS-OH-EKS-OH

TRANQUILITY

EKS-OH-EKS-OH

FOUR-FOLD

Haligilet still has party hangover.Who could blame him? After all, he blew out his birthday candle not once, not twice, but FOUR TIMES! Hope you enjoyed you birthday little one--just as much as Dada and I did. Love you FOUR always! :)

EKS-OH-EKS-OH

FOR THE SAKE OF ART

A few months back, I blogged about Haligilet's first painting assingment. His Teacher Geline asked us to do a graphic icon of one of his favorite things and needless to say, his was any subject on wheels! And he (well actually, WE) came up with this...With a little assistance from yours truly, the little boy painstakingly applied colors to his masterpiece. It was a SMILEstone indeed!

With Haligilet's growing collection of crafts and artworks, storage is getting to be a problem, especially for a one-bedroom "mansion" like ours. I would want a storage service that would keep our art collection, Haligilet's included, safe and sound, keeping images (and MEMORIES) intact.

I wish that here in the Philippines, we had an art storage company offering services similar to those found at imaginemindseye.com. The site offers an interesting and extensive array of art storage services. Their services go beyond just crating, transporting, storing and showcasing any kind of artwork. Over at imaginemindseye.com, they dish out flexible expertise on how to care for portraits sculptures, chandeliers, antiques and in my case, even Haligilet's arts and crafts.

I take storage of my son's works of art, especially those meaningful "firsts," seriously and I have a strong feeling that the services offered in this interesting site would satsify my storage needs.

EKS-OH-EKS-OH

TGIM!

Others would usually greet Mondays with a heavy heart as it signals that the weekend is over.

Not us.

We especially looked forward to THIS Monday because today marks Haligilet's school party! I will leave you with some pics of the party for now because our family is off to the Manila Oceanarium as an extended treat to the birthday boy.
Happy viewing and once again, thank you for all your greetings.

This Monday is fab. Hope yours is too.

EKS-OH-EKS-OH

LOVE YOU FOUR-EVER

I'll love you forever,

I'll like you for always,
As long as I'm living
my baby you'll be.

- Robert Munsch

Four years of smiles, laughs and cries,
48 months of bumps, bruises and sighs.
We vow to give you our endless supply of hugs and love,
Having you in our lives is the world's greatest job.

Happy, happy 4th birthday my dearest firstborn.

I will love you forever.

EKS-OH-EKS-OH,
MAMA

LITERATE

Finally, sans the guides, in a (semi) straight line...
EKS-OH-EKS-OH

ON A ROLL

It is finished.EKS-OH-EKS-OH

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

My party planning for Haligilet's 4th birthday was accomplished in a record-breaking 2 hours! This is a far cry from the previous years wherein I planned his parties months in advance.

I have no excuses. I just have been a bad maver. Huhuhu.

But nonetheless, I do believe that I was able to redeem myself. Check out the loot that I got from my quick trip to the mall yesterday (oo, sa mall pa din ako namimili, hahaha!)...Not bad eh? And, after a quick phone call to my suki, Bing of Party Station this morning, I was able to seal the deal for this...
I also saw some interesting Cars items in the mall like coloring books, stickers, puzzles, water bottles, even baseball bats, which would make nice game prizes. I hope I can make time for another trip within the week.

I'm so excited. And I just can't hide it. Yada yada yada!!!

EKS-OH-EKS-OH

CLOCK IS TICKING

Seven days to go till the Haligilet turns F-O-U-R, and 9 days till his class party. And what have I done? Nothing!!!

Well I've always stressed that ours would be a simple party but I guess that doesn't give me an excuse to be sooo lazy. Bad maver, bad!

I do know that they're 10 in a class. And since I'll be alone this weekend, I would probably have the time to look around for loot items. (Probably pa daw o--may alinlangan pa! Hahaha!)

Here's my checklist. Please let me know if I missed out on anything.

Print invitations
Order cake and cupcakes
Order food
Buy loot items and prizes
Talk to Haligilet's teacher regarding program

Meron pa bang kulang? Waaah, this is sooo not me!!!

EKS-OH-EKS-OH

MEET THEIR FEET

This was probably what Haligilet thought when he walked into the venue of the book launching event that we attended last night. After all, he was the youngest AND smallest guest in the room. But as you can see, he had no trouble blending in with crowd...
Oh, and he raised his OJ during the toast, by the way. Hehehe!

EKS-OH-EKS-OH

OFF TO A GOOD START

As promised, I will rest my body, mind and spirit this weekend. And this is what I call starting the weekend right...EKS-OH-EKS-OH

PANIC ATTACK

I was so immersed in office assignments that it just dawned on me that I've got a few weeks to go till Haligilet's 4th birthday! While his will be relatively downsized compared to his previous "shindigs," it doesn't take away the fact that I've been terribly amiss in party planning. To those who've known me long enough, you'd know this is simply not my style. Imagine, no invitations, no cake options, no menu, nothing by Haligilet's party month. Maver, istatue?!?!

I guess first item on the agenda is to come up with the party invite concept, which is one my favorite party tasks. You see, I've been dabbling in digital design for almost 10 years now--beginning with a bit of photo retouching, then shifting to simple manipulation of color and layouts, and progressed to invitation designs and other intricate and dynamic requirements. I've met a lot of great friends and clients because of my hobby, all whose veins are pumped up with the same part-planning blood as mine. I kinda miss it, actually and would jump at a chance to get back into it again.

Digital design is one tedious process, but rewarding nonetheless. It is indeed a test of patience, resolve and skill, of course. It can be stressful on the pocket and printer ink too, especially if printing orders pour in by leaps and bounds. I remember, it could be quite stressfulif I run out of ink in the middle of a printing job. And a lot of times, I wished we had something like Pacificink.com, an online ink manufacturing resource offering door-to-door delivery service at very reasonable prices. Interesting printing solution. Possible business proposition too.

Must.evaluate.soon.

EKS-OH-EKS-OH

WEEKEND SNAPSHOT #5

Being cooped up in a one-bedroom "mansion" can be quite a stretch for an energetic toddler. And so he explores his surroundings every chance he gets. Welcome to Haligilet's playground...EKS-OH-EKS-OH

HURRAY FOR HALIGILET!!!

Let it be told...

Ano kaya magandang incentive sa pinagmanahan ni Haligilet? Mwahaha!

EKS-OH-EKS-OH

WHAT TO DO WHEN IT'S COLD OUTSIDE...

Get cold inside too!!!

Dying for a caffeine fix on this dreary day, Haligi braved the rains and took our son to the neighborhood cafe. Naninggit pa si Haligi as he sent me an MMS of what Haligilet had this rainy Wednesday afternoon. Who needs prohormones if you can have a load of this...

That striped tee, by the way, belongs to Yaya M's replacement. Hehehe.

EKS-OH-EKS-OH

MAILBOX (TEMPORARILY) CLOSED

We sent Haligilet's yaya packing after almost four years of service (a more in depth discussion on this, soon). With no other trusted guardian to pick Haligilet up from school, I was forced to take the afternoon off today.

This development made me miss out on important tasks such as article assignments, some logistical concerns for our AVP shoot next week, and a pending internal email marketing campaign that I had to leave hanging at my mailbox.

At times like these, I wish we had something like the email marketing solution being offered at icontact.com. The website is an interesting resource of communication services, email marketing services, tracking mechanisms, email marketing articles, bounce-handling tips, spam filtering advice, email subscription management pointers, and many, many more--things which would reall come in handy for our current campaign.

Well, there is always a next time. And there's always a next yaya. :)

EKS-OH-EKS-OH

HOLY WOW

Long weekend's coming up. Yipee! Nothing in our homefront, thus far. What's cooking in yours?

Well, aside from regular trips to the mall (I can finally reclaim my space in the mall after being sidelined by a sprained ankle. Wuhoo!), Haligilet has been bugging us to visit his Kuya Z, older brother of Z (remember that "Cheetah" party that we went to? Hehehe!) in Paranaque. You see, our son totally adores his surrogate Kuya and loves playing with him every chance he gets. See for yourself...
I do hope though that we could pry Z's eyes from the computer because his mom (my cousin, A) tells us that Z has been totally obsessed with computer games of late. This comes as no surprise since the big little man has been glued to the PC even before he could walk. His vision is testament to this, registering a high 400, at his tender age of eight.

Anyways, cousin A tells me that Z has been totally into Anime and Warcraft, which to Z's mind, are the greatest gaming inventions in the entire universe, aside from Club Penguin, of course :D So much is Z's obsession with the site that he has been bugging his mom to buy a WoW account for him. And what is a WoW account? Well, it refers to World of Warcraft accounts, which have been pre-owned and pre-played by retiring World of Warcraft players. The advantage is that the accounts are 100% secure, a major concern of doting mom, cousin A. With Christmas just around the corner, we just might consider giving this as our Yuletide present for Z.

EKS-OH-EKS-OH

HE SPEAKS AND SPELLS

Thanks to the recent extreme weather shifts, our three-year-old has mastered the seasons of Pinas, and could now spell them too.


With feelings pa eh, noh? Hehehe!

EKS-OH-EKS-OH