We all stay home but BIRTHDAY’s not cancelled.

Just like most of us at this time of crisis, I’m home all the time. With Benjo and the boys. We are still here in Singapore. How are you all doing?

It’s May 2020 and we are in the midst of a bad pandemic. I am praying everyday for so many people.. especially those who never stop working to help us all get through the bad times... to those who are in great suffering.... to those who lost a loved one. May God give you the grace and courage. This too shall pass.
                                   

This is me and this is Miguel now. He just turned 12 recently. Before Covid-19, we planned to go camping. Everything was ready and we have been watching camping hacks in youtube and we bought some camping gears as his birthday present  so the anticipation kept getting higher.

Until, just a few days before his birthday, the Singapore government announced that as part of the nationwide circuit breaker, CAMPINGS ARE NOT ALLOWED. To Miguel’s disappointment. He locked himself in the room for sometime to process the news. Sorry ‘nak :(

17 April... morning... SURPRISE!

We set up a camp in our living room. I was preparing myself for some awkward moments considering this might be too “childish” for him already... and I was right.. the first few moments were awkward! But he’s too respectful to show it so we continued with the day... lolll

‘Sit on your birthday camping chair’ I said. 

‘Eh’ he said. 

He’s been eating homecooked meals for a while now it has become too boring so we surprised him with his fave Long John Silvers. It may not show in his still awkward smile but he loved it ok. 

Mindsetting time. Convince gid da ang anak mo nga mag enjoy sa camping nya. Hahaha! 

Daw ang iban ya mas nasadyahan ho.. 

Never too old for a favourite — cookies and cream cheesecake... 

It was a lot more fun in the evening when it became dark and we had to use the lights.. things became camp-like... we played charades and “Pinoy Henyo” ... Daddy’s “water aerobics” acts 

will never be forgotten! 

Thank you Lord for a wonderful day... So simple... so humble... it was just the four of us, 

but it was great ❤️

Birthday boy the next day. Proof that the birthday camping was NOT CANCELLED.

Happy birthday Anak! We love you so much! 

Easter Basket

These days, I found myself being reunited with my blog once again. Although I think I have said that before. I just feel this time it's different =) Been re reading my posts from forever-ago and I cannot believe how corny I sounded during my early years of blogging hahaha! But whatever, I thank myself so much I did. The memories captured and kept are soooo precious. Had I not started this blog, I would have forgotten most of them.

So yeah, to show you all how sincere I am with wanting to blog again, here's a little project I did recently. This may be a little too late --- or way too early. You decide haha!




I was assigned to make Easter baskets for the children of our community and I want to share how I did it.



I got these cheap bowls from Daiso (3 pcs. for $2) and altered it with some washi tapes.



Filled the bowls with  these shredded crepe paper from cold storage.



Next I made flower accents using a Sizzix die-cut machine using my leftover foam glitters.



Also with the same machine, I cut these tags and did a little brush calligraphy with my Pentel brush pen.



The fun part! Fill the bowls with treats (I'd like to thank Valerie and Jolene, sisters from the community for helping me search for these yumm chocolates!). Then wrap these bowls with plastic gift wraps I also got from Daiso.




Done and ready!



Happy Easter from us! Christ is risen!

What a Wednesday!

Having no helper for 2 months now (after getting used to having one since my two boys were born) took me out of my comfort zone. The change gave me unexpected twists and turns some almost make me cry but most are just priceless moments. Like these ones I will share with you today.

Yesterday morning,  I forgot that every Wednesday, Kuya’s school bus comes an hour earlier. Totally missed it so I had to be the one to bring him to school (thanks to Uber!). I lost 2 hours in my schedule but anyway, problem solved.



Next concern:  to rush back before Miguel gets  home but just couldn’t so I called him to meet me at the mall. He waited for me at the food court. This was what I saw.



My youngest one making his homework while waiting for me. The sight made me teary-eyed and happy. The feeling was priceless.

So the day went on with the usual Wednesday stuff. Until after dinner I remembered it's children's day the next day and I had nothing planned and I couldn't just shrug it off because Miguel's expecting gifts for his classmates. We have been doing it since nursery.

Guess what happened.

Hubby helped me! After putting the boys to sleep, we did our  last minute project. He ran to the nearest store to buy some chocolates while I prepared the paper strawberries. Turned out to be a fun experience for us. We only didn't make 40 little presents, we actually had our date for the week!

What a wonderful day it turned out to be!

Kidzania 2016

Finally, the boys were able to experience Kidzania! We went there with no enough knowledge of what it was all about except that it's a huge "pretend play" theme park for kids. The night before, I saw bad reviews on facebook about the insanely long queue not just at entrance but in all activities and kiddy jobs. Uh oh. 

Kuya has autism and although he can tolerate mild to moderate waiting time, I was not so sure about the "insanely long" kind of waiting time. So because Benjo already bought the tickets online and Miguel "couldn't stop grinning" it was too late to back out.  That explains my hoping-for-the-best-expecting-the-worst-face in the photo. 

Now imagine my face when I saw this! SHORT QUEUE!

The start of an amazing adventure! Look at those priceless smiles :) 

They gave us  these Radio Frequency Identification bracelets. Kids are only allowed to go out if their bracelets match with the bracelets of those who accompany them.  Kuya's was a special (red) bracelet so that all the staff will know he has autism. Apparently all the staff are trained to handle children with special needs. How AWESOME!

Happy trip!!! 

Arrival at Kidzania. It looks like a small city full of very busy small people. I mean big kids. I mean kids who think they are big people! Once we got there, I was overwhelmed with cuteness! 

The first thing Miguel saw was the acting workshop. 

But wanting to become an actor didn't last too long because now he wants to be a scientist.

We are fine with anything they want to be. Full support!

Even when they become delivery boys, as long as they are happy (and as cute as this when they work haaha). This was one of the activities I enjoyed much. It was so "real" until I looked at the "first salary" they gave me and I saw it was Kidzos and not in dollars or pesos lol. 

At one point Miguel 's bracelet won't work  Miguel was called to report to the immigration office due to his questionable identity. Good thing it was settled so he was able to continue making his dreams come true. Such as being a producer/anchor to his own documentary show at Discovery Channel. 

Now he wants to be a crew at KFC. 

But being a health researcher was too hard to resist. Especially if you come out with freebies!

Now here's the best part. The part where I got emotional.... this was when Kuya joined Miguel again to be a firefighter! Migs was always mindful of his brother, reminding him, giving him a nudge or instructions, making the experience so fun not just for him but for his brother too.  Benjo and I were watching,  speechless. At one point there was a woman who approached me, telling me how blessed I am to have both of them. We both got teary-eyed. Maybe also because we're both at our 40's, hormones make us cry always :D

Here we are, at the end of the day, so happy and full of new fun and cute memories. Maybe we just got lucky that even if it was a school holiday, it was not as crowded as described by many. And even if it was crowded there's still something we can get out of it. Like when we were queuing at the courier job, I told the boys its really like that when you are looking for a job. You need to sacrifice and work hard and wait. 

So if you are a parent, contemplating of whether you give Kidzania a try, JUST GO. It's a wonderful experience your child should not miss. 

To the staff of Kidzania especially those at the fire station, THANK YOU! Hats off to you for being so passionate in what you do and for giving our children  an experience they won't forget!

Till our next adventure! :)