Christmas On Display In Batangas City

Are you looking for a place to stroll and spend the remaining days of your vacation? Consider visiting Batangas City.

The City Government of Batangas came up with an idea of placing an Animated Christmas Display so Batanguenos need not to go to Manila to experience the same show. Greenhills Shopping Center became popular because of this attraction every Christmas season, and it was known as COD - Christmas on Display.  This action also boosted Batangas City's economy because of the tourists who are coming to pay a visit.

Animated Christmas Display - Snow White at Batangas City Hall

Christmas Gift - Tagalog Post

Pasko na! May dating pa ba sa'yo ang araw na to?

H2O Hotel Overnight Stay

Hotel H20 is located at Luneta, Manila, Philippines (Behind the Quirino Grandstand) and the first marine-themed resort hotel in the country.   For a number of times, we were able to visit Manila Ocean Park attractions. My children are animal lovers including fish and with the accommodation and features the hotel offers, I have included it in my list of places we should visit as a family.

Christmas lantern from recycled items

Zskya, our church mate and a K5 student of Batangas National Highschool came to me and asked if she and her classmates can use the church hall because they needed a space to make a Christmas lantern.  I learned that every class from K5 to 4thyear are to submit a lantern as part of their project.  It is also a school competition - the lantern should be made out of recycled materials - therefore it should not cost much that's the major criteria for judging. They started covering their star shaped lantern with old magazines.  Their original plan was to use tahong shells to decor their lantern project.  Unfortunately, the assigned person to bring the shells couldn't come.  Zsyka came at our house and consulted me of what's the best thing to do with the lantern.

Mommy I am bored

Have you ever felt tired doing the same things everyday?  I guess at some point of our lives, we do.  When I was a student, I remember having a hard time waking up early in the morning to go school.  (Nakakatamad nang mag-aral at gumawa ng mga projects!)  How I wish that school days are over!  This happens during the mid-year of  every academic year.  For some employees, they consider looking for a new job when they found themselves doing a repetitive job every day that means doing their work having no challenge at all.  These are some typical examples that would end us up getting bored in the things that we regularly do.  

Teaching Daily Hygiene to Children

If you are a parent, you know and can relate with situations that it's hard to keep our children motivated in doing their daily hygiene; specially when it comes to bathing and brushing their teeth.  In the house, what we usually do is explain things why it is necessary for them so they'll keep encouraged. But this method doesn't work all of the time even when we have said the nicest words, carefully explained things and even gave promises.  It freaking us out!  So, how are they solved?  I wanted to share things that I found to be helpful solving these hygiene issues with my children.

Toddlers' craft activities(2)

I am sharing you again some of the crafts that we have done in our homeschool. These are animal crafts - tiger and donkey lunch bag puppets, dog puppets using paper cups and peacock made from paper plate.

Breaking up my silence

I know my blog seemed too quiet for almost a month.  I have kept myself engaged with household responsibilities and personal stuffs.  I am writing this post to give a glimpse of the past month we had.

Typhoon Ofel's visit in Batangas

Few weeks ago, the weather was hot, dry and windy.  Dust are all around the house and the construction of the water pipes in the street made it worst.  They have been digging holes for more than two months now if I am not mistaken.   I had a lot of sneezing and it so hard cleaning the house.  For that reason, I asked God to send a rain to drive away the dust.

It was Wednesday, my husband went to Pangasinan to meet a couple, Paul and Susan Tuma, from Michigan.  They were one of his good friends back there during his mission trip. I asked my younger brother Joshua to stay with me while he was away.  Joshua came that night and informed that there was a typhoon coming with a storm signal that starts in letter "O" because he forgot the name.  Rain started to fall that night and didn't bothered it because it was just rain without strong winds.

We woke up and is still raining for the whole day.  Heavy rains caused classes to be suspended.

Liebster Blog Award

I am always happy receiving positive comments on my posts, and I guess every bloggers wants to hear what their readers have to say. I was surprised when I have opened my email last Friday receiving a comment from a fellow BC Blogger. I am marking this to be one of the most special and memorable comment in my blogging history. My sincere gratitude to Jovell of A Woman's Story for choosing me to be one of her nominees for the Liebster Blog Award. This is my very first nomination after four months of blogging and it's so flattering! I'll gladly accept this award.

Party for the Princess

Our little princess turned three last September 23.  We planned to celebrate her birthday at a Jollibee store near our place.  The party was set after our Church worship service - September 23, 2012.  We chose to invite the under privilege children to be her party guest.  Because I know most of our friends and relatives can afford to buy their own meals in this fast food chain.  This is a treat for our street kid students who  regularly attend our Sunday meetings. I know that it's gonna be them who'll surely appreciate this simple party that we have set.

Rate It - Like, Unlike

It sure is a big relief to have someone offering a helping hand.  I'm sure all of us needs help because it's hard to accomplish a task when working alone.  A mom like me would most of the time gets tired and stressed with the whole day's work load.

The time I have announced to have a house helper was a relief.  Finally I have someone to help me doing the chores.  After a week of staying with us, Buena asked me that she needs to go home to attend the funeral of her aunt or uncle I'm not sure.  She promised to be back the next day.  Two days have passed, she's not yet back and we have no news about her.

Toddlers' craft activities

I love making crafts.  With the help of a related craft activity, teaching lessons can be fun and would help them remember the new concepts that are introduced to them.

I'd love to share some of the crafts we did in our homeschooling.  The main objective of this craft is to teach my son how to use the scissors, glue objects and review the shapes and colors that we learned.

I know not some but most of us worries of letting our toddlers use the scissors.  I remember JC when he was around 2y/o he saw the scissors at the table he played with it without my knowledge.  I was able to discover that he did use the scissors because I saw his shirt and shorts with cuts and some of his hairs were short.  At that moment we were careful not to place the scissors or any sharp objects within his reach.  Now, I want him to be responsible using scissors and its time to teach him how to properly use it because he is already 4y/o.

CRAFT 1: Mosaic
Materials Needed: a sheet of colored paper, a sheet of white paper, glue and scissors

Buena days - here she comes

"-Ber" months just started!  I'm writing my very first post for this month of September.  I don't know what's going on in your mind and your feelings as the end of the year approaches.  Days ends so fast and soon we're heading on the last quarter of year 2012.  I guess some of you are worried because of the upcoming holidays  and would demand a greater expense.  So we all need to find and create a larger amount of income to be prepared.  Holidays will mean excitement for me even tough it accompanies additional expenses (need to fully stretch the available budget) and stress because of the hectic schedules.

What's in my bag

There's noting unusual or extraordinary inside my bag.  I'm just joining the BC Blogger's Meme for this week.  This time we are given a chance to peek what's inside everyone's bag.  Join the fun and share the stuffs inside your bag - don't forget to take pictures.  Link your post to Cat's blog who is hosting our Meme topic for this week.

This is my big bag.  I got this bag when a friend of mine decided to have a garage sale of some of her stuffs to raise funds.  I love to use this going out with my children because I can put more things inside it. Normally, this bag will contain diapers, wet tissues and clothes for our 6month old son.  My other children would to bring their own bag so their clothes and toys will be on their bag.  I also bring my shawl.  I received this shawl last Christmas from a Filipino-Chinese friend.  This shawl was very useful (haven't thought it would be) to discretely breastfeed when we go out.

Homeschooling: First Week

We officially started our first day of homeschooling last Monday, August 13, 2012. We were able to get through for the whole week.  Cheers!  I am so excited to share this news.  My fears and doubts are starting to disappear.

Here are some of the doubts that I was able to answer as we take our homeschooling journey.

A day worth remembering

Today is worth remembering because the 15th day of August officially marks the end of the World War 2 in 1945.  You might be wondering, why in the world would I care to now this part of the history?  I would mark this date because it’s my birth date. Here are some of the famous personalities born on August 15, Napoleon Bonaparte is a great French leader (1769-1821).  Today is the 100th birthday of Julia Child if she is still living.  She was known as the famous TV chef and author of cook books.  Today is also Ben Affleck's birthday!

Countries that I wish to visit

Even though we experienced heavy rains this past few days, I am glad that we do not experience flood and comfortably safe in our home.  My prayers are for those who have been seriously affected that they can cope up with the situation.  

Travelling is really one of my interests.  I know it is hard to go out when it is rainy and most of all couldn't really go out with a storm signal.  As I was saying earlier, I am still comfortable here at the house having not much to do the reason why I am joining the BC Bloggers Meme.  This week's topic is "5 countries you want to visit before you retire".  It's about my wishlist of places to travel so I will not miss this post!

Setting up a school at home

We learned about homeschooling last 2008, and JC was only 5months that time.  It really caught our attention and we said to ourselves we are going to homeschool our children.  One of our main reason is we want to be the main influence in their lives.

JC is now four years old and he needs a proper education.  We've thought ten times if we are going to homeschool or not.  Then we've come up to a decision and pursue homeshooling.

Here's how we started:

First, we have to find a curriculum.  We choose to get the curriculum at Living Heritage Academy under the Philippine Christian School of Tomorrow also known as SOT.   We searched the info on the website and communicated with them.  We learned that he needs to have a diagnostic exam.  This exam will determine if a child is ready to take the program and to assess also of what level a student will take based on the result.

JC's diagnostic exam

A day in my not so boring life

This post is in participation with BC Bloggers Meme.  Yuuki is hosting it this time.  Go and visit her post and link up.

I think most people would say I have a not so enjoyable life because I am a stay at home mom.  Anyways, I would like to share what I typically do every day.

Most of the time, I wake up late in the morning.  I regularly start my day at 8am at times I extend my sleep till 9am because I'm breastfeeding our baby boy causing me fall asleep again.  I would whisper a prayer entrusting the Lord for the whole day ahead.  When it's my laundry day, I try to get up at 7am so all the children are still sleeping and I can finish the laundry before lunch.

My husband and I would usually eat pandesal with Kopiko Brown a perfect match for breakfast while the children will have their milk and cereals.  I will start cleaning up some mess in the house.  I'm glad that my Partner would help me with the household chores and taking care of the children.  Then it will be baby's bath time afterwards JC and Eu-La.  It takes time to keep on encouraging them to go to the bathroom for their daily hygiene.  Most of the time we wrestle!

Gifts and Giveaways with a Personal Touch

I choose to make personalized items as giveaways and gifts to people dear in my heart.  It is my way of expressing how I appreciate them.  Every craft I make is a labor of love and hoping that they too will feel the emotion as they receive it.

In all occasions, I take time of personally making the giveaways.  During our wedding, our giveaways were bottles with cork cover, I decorated it with rainbow curled ribbons and white flowers, I also put our photo which was printed in a sticker paper and then filled the bottle jars with cookies.

Instant Blog Post

I really feel the need to create a new post, I have ideas for now but not much time to spend in front of the computer so sad...Thanks to Ruby Ricafrente of Pinay Mommy Online she shared "The Lazy Bloggers Post Generator".  All you need to do is to click from the the drop down boxes and choose what statements that you like and would fit to you then you'll have your instant post!  

30 Things About Me : A BC Bloggers Meme

Thanks to Sanna of Woman Scribbles who hosted the BC Bloggers meme for the last week of July.  It is a good topic of getting to know everyone.

Here's my list:

• (1)  I am the most beautiful daughter my parents could ever have.  
My two brothers won’t complain.

• (2)  I had a lot of names.

Baby Photo Contest

Have you tried of joining contests?  Once in a while I join contests online.  One of my reasons of joining contests is just for fun, excitement and of course I wanted to win the prize.  Most of the contests I joined was baby photo contests and still I haven't won in any online contest.  One of the keys in winning online contests is attracting people to like your entry and that I fail to do because  I don't have the time to campaign for my entries.

Family Bonding

I was so busy during the past weeks that I couldn't go online to post new blog, check my email and Facebook account.  Then, I had a chance to peek yesterday and couldn't resist to join the BC Bloggers Meme hosted by Verna of My Baby, My Star.

I have so many things to share about our family bonding.  We place importance on having a quality family time.  We are to admit that budget would affect the activity for family bonding.  But, budget shouldn't hinder our family bonding.  The quality of family bonding will depend on the time spent and how the family activity is shared. 

My Mem-o-rains

I had so many memories when it rains.  I love to recall the days when we were just kids.  At the first drop of rain my big brother and I will quickly ask our parents to let us got out so we can play in the rain.  As soon as we hear the word yes, we will run outside as fast as we can to look for our friends.  Isn’t it funny to recall how frustrating it was that after going out to experience the shower, the rain ceased from falling

Blogging - a new career?

Back when I was in my elementary grade, I joined an essay contest and was blessed to win the contest.  My teachers knew I have some writing skills that I can hone to develop.  Yet, I was unable to join activities and groups that can help me grow this skill that I have.  I know it's not yet late to learn more and share what I have through writing.  This is not my first time to create a blog.  I started blogging since 2009 - this is our church's blog (www.ljsf.blogspot.com).  I am a pastor's wife and decided to create a blog for our church activities to inform friends most specially abroad of what's happening.  It was only this year that I decided to make my personal blog to share whatever I feel like writing that I fail to do before because I haven't made a journal of them.

Daddy’s Playtime

A father plays a different role in the family.  They have a different play style compare with mothers.  Daddies tend to play energetically, making a lot of noise and move the babies vigorously.  Moms generally sings, rocks and cuddle the baby gently, plays quiet active games and soothing activities.  These two different approaches complement each other that a baby values it equally the reason why it is so important that both parents should be involved in caring for the baby.  (Based on the book “Caring for Your Baby and the Young)

My Family Life

I am a full time mother of three – JC (4y/o), Eu-La (2y/o) and SJ (4mos.).  I am a proud full time (hands on) mommy no regrets at all!  I know how important it is to see how my children grow and I don’t want the time to pass by without me seeing how they mature.   It is hard for me to leave my children under a nanny’s care.   I am not against working moms and I salute them.  For me it was just a choice of staying in the house and to personally look for my children.  It was a sacrifice on my part, I had so many plans and dreams of my own that for now I needed to give up for the sake of my children.  I am blessed that I no longer need to work because we have our own business that needs lesser supervision; yet at times tempted to look for one considering the growing needs of the family that needs to be sustained.  Also to mention that I am a pastor’s wife – that requires me additional responsibilities in the church.