Trick or Treat 2012

My kids are Woody and Jessie this year. Aren't they so cute together?

Treasury Picture Book Classics

 Last week, I found the time to go through my book shelf. I re-discovered this book which was a gift from the past birthdays of my kids. It's a great book -- perfect for our bedtime story-telling ritual!

"Twelve marvelous picture books, including such classics as Caps for Sale, Goodnight Moon, and Harold and the Purple Crayon, plus modern classics such as If You Give a Mouse a Cookie and From Head to Toe."

Some snippets from the book:

 Brings back college memories when I was enrolled in Children's Literature in College of Educ (elective). :-)

Flores de Mayo 2012

It was Luigi's first time to join the Santacruzan...and he sure had a blast!

 

 

Zoe's a Flowergirl

This was taken during Ria and Michael's wedding last May 22 at Christ the King Parish, Church in the Sky in Taytay.

For the very first time, Zoe walked to the altar on her own. I'm such a proud mama. She's really growing up and becoming more independent now. Sigh .

One Thing I Learned from Cinderella

Zoe is addicted to Cinderella. She asks me to pop the dvd the very moment she wakes up and says, "Mom, Cinderella please!" ~

Some days I oblige, some days I don't (and she ends up in tears).

But if there's one thing I (we) learned from watching Cinderella almost everyday ~ is that we have to make our make our beds before we leave our room in the morning just like how Cinderella would do.

We've learned to pretend that Zoe is Cinderella and I'm one of her mouse or bird friends who help her along fix her bed (and prepare her bath) while singing "A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes". And it's actually enjoyable to do!

And since Cinderella is Zoe's idol now, making beds is not such a hard task anymore.

Here's the youtube video:



Thank you, Cinderella!

Ariel, Snow White and Zoe

Lately, Zoe has become a fan of Ariel and Snow White. She plays with her dolls all day long and makes it a point that they sleep beside her at night.

We watched Snow White on cable last Sunday and to my surprise, she stuck to the TV for the whole extent of the movie. :-) Wow!

Zoe's Train Map

For Zoe's train map, we managed to create a colorful combination of art materials to show where our journey will be. All these were done in a photofinish fashion. LOL.

As you may see, the map says that Zoe's going to pass by the school, the forest, the river and then to Grandma's house for some ice cream. I thought that only a 3-year old can appreciate something like that...

At school, each student had a chance to talk about their homework. I think some kids (or maybe parents) showed off a little bit by putting in there pictures/drawings of their trips to HK, Australia, famous out-of-town places, etc., etc. Zoe had none of those but, nevertheless, the job is still done. :-)

Anyway, this is a picture showing Zoe's turn to show and tell.

After show and tell, Teacher Jeannie posted all the kids' work on the wall.

My happy student!

But who's happier? >>>Mommy! Because next week -- NO assignment! Yay!

Never Getting Tired...

...of making the V-sign (aka japan-japan).

Do you or your kids pose the same way too? So many folks are doing it for the camera, it's addicting sometimes.

I honestly think it's OSMOSIS!!!

Our Gwapito

Here's the latest picture of our cute li'l charmer.

...okay, I'm the mother so I'm biased. But he really does look like a real gwapito if you ask me.

Zoe's Current Bedtime Reads

Zoe's becoming a book addict lately.

Here are Zoe's current bedtime books. Take note that we read every single book every single night.

Another reason why we don't get to sleep early and I have eye bags to the max! :-)

Father and Daughter

Here's my husband and baby girl (picture taken at Greenbelt 5):



Yes, they sometimes go out with matching clothes.

For some, it's corny but I find it rather cute!

Let's Visit Tita Vel!

...and what Zoe means by that is that we go to the nearby basketball court in our village.

You see, this place has a makeshift stage (for fiesta celebrations, Christmas parties) and it has a tarpaulin displaying a sort of collage of the different events and people in Kasibulan, as seen here:

We scanned the picture and we found out that a portion of it has the face of my sister (Tita Vel!). Since she's donning a white headband here, I'm assuming that this pic was taken in the 80s or early 90s.

So here's Zoe and Tita Vel (in flashback mode, hahaha):

Ah...yes, so now, you know.

Rattling Away

Luigi has been developing a good grasp lately that we would be surprised to find him holding his own rattle while left alone.

Actually, I think that he's such a charmer! We would "show-off" this new ability as if saying ~ "Look Mommy! I can hold my rattle now!"

And even with this "little" feat, I get teary-eyed already and feel so proud of my baby.

She's Going to Preschool!

Zoe just had her assessment at a nearby preschool yesterday. The assessment and interview would be a method to gauge which is the most appropriate level or class the student should be placed.

Not surprisingly, as this was my daughter's first time to get assessed, I was a freakin' stage mother. LOL. I wanted to prepare her for the test but I guess one can never be really prepared for something like this, right? My auntie who is visiting us from the US is a school administrator and she would share with us what usually happens during an assessment. But even with that knowledge, anything goes really. The result would really just depend on Zoe's level of maturity and how she shows it.

At any rate, whatever level she might be placed in (results come after 3 working days), I am already happy just to see Zoe excited to go to that school. You see, when I told her that she's going back to visit the school again, her eyes beamed as she happily asked me: "Lalaro ako ulit? (I'll be playing again?)". When she said "play" she was referring to the huge swing sets that the school had at the back of their building. During our last visit, she almost didn't want to go home because she enjoyed the school's playground equipment so much, particularly the red and green swingset that they had. So when it was time to say goodbye, she waved bye-bye to the teacher as well as to the swing. Cute!

What did Zoe receive last Christmas? - Part 2

To continue this post, Santa pulled through last Christmas and was able to drop by the house to give Zoe this wonderful gift:

~ A twist car with sounds! (We got rid of her old bike already since it was damaged by Typhoon Ondoy last September.)

...the happy girl on her new car:


...taking it out for a ride:

In addition, Zoe also received an organ from her Mom and Dad, since they both know how much she likes music.

...opening the gift:


...almost done:


...lalalalalala!

She Loves to Dance

Zoe at 3 years and 3 months simply loves to dance!

She loves to dance either infront of a crowd (her dad and mom, hehe) or alongside other kids.

See her expression with her eyes closed? (I don't know where she gets this, really, but it's cute).

At any rate, she is always a joy to watch. It never fails to bring a smile to our faces.

Baby Boy

I just realized now I don't seem to get a decent photo of Luigi these days. He doesn't like being photographed (at least not as much as Zoe likes it).

So bear with me. This is the best one so far after so many (too many) try's.

Pero look naman at those eyes. Can't you see that I'm a very proud mom?

How They Look Like Now

For those interested, this is more or less how the kids look like now. Zoe is a super doting sister while Luigi is an adorable baby. Luigi is growing so fast! I'm so glad that my breastmilk seems to be doing him a lot of good. He looks so different from the time when he was born...so much chubbier and cuter, to say the least. Yabang, noh?

Speaking of breastmilk, since my maternity leave is about to end, I'm at my wit's end on what to do regarding breastfeeding. I want to continue but I'm just not so sure how I will manage it. Any suggestions?