On A Wonderful Day Like Today

 We quietly celebrated the actual birthdays of our kids this week. The big birthday celebration is still to be held next weekend.   Luigi turned 4 on the 8th while Zoe turned 7. Wow! We consider these as huge milestone in their lives. I'm so happy to see my kids grow into lovely people. My wish is for them to become kind and wise adults as they grow up.   I love you my kids.       

It seems that my last blog post title is a premonition of things to come. We're currently 7 weeks along and I am ecstatic to have a third baby born into our humble family. As they say, life is what is happens when you are busy making plans. Though the baby actually came as a surprise for us, it's a great, great surprise and we are uberly delighted no less. Pls. pray for baby and me that we do this right all 9 months of it. I'm currently on bed rest due to some spotting early this week. Hopefully I'll feel a little better and be back to work in no time. There is nothing else that I wish for but to hold a hold a beautiful and healthy bouncing baby in January! Can't wait! By the way, today is my husband's birthday. Let me just give honor to him here by saying that he is the best gift that God has given to me. He is my better-half, my love, my inspiration and my life.

This year marks the second time I celebrated my birthday in __. I was expecting that my birthday will just pass silently just like last year . However, my officemates surprised me with a song and a very beautiful bouquet of flowers. When I heard some singing in the background, I was even surprised that they were singing for me. My birthday wouldn't be in 2 days (it was a Friday) and I wasn't feeling the "birthday feeling" yet. Hahaha! Great shot of my Hub friends and myself: TR Girls: A closer shot of the flowers: Anyway, on my birthday itself, we had a small get-together with my Dad, Ninang, my mother-in-law, sisters-in-law and some friends and pamangkins. Here's my birthday cake: Some of the handa: Sorry, I can't seem to rotate my pictures with the new blogger system. Sigh. Family picture: This one with my Tatay: When we prayed the blessing before meals, Zoe started crying! I think she was expecting to si...

Luigi and Zoe turned 2 and 5, respectively last last week. It was a great birthday week! Mommy and Daddy got to go on leave on those days and it was priceless! The kids had a joint birthday celebration that Sunday, September 11. Then on September 13, Zoe had a simple "The Fresh Beat Band" birthday party in school. Will post more pictures and stories about that next time.

This is our latest family picture. We had the best time during the kids' birthday party! More pics when I find the time. :-)

...the letters L-U-I & Z-O-E! And of course, with a little help from the letters D-A-D and M-O-M! Happy Birthday kiddos! We love you Zoe and Luigi! More pics to follow!

We prepared a school party for Zoe on her birthday. It's her first time to actually celebrate like this. We got Jollibee spaghetti and hamburger for the kids, plus lootbags and balloons. It was so much fun! Here are the pics. Happy birthday Zoe girl! We love you!

Gawd. I missing blogging. I miss writing. For the past weeks, I found myself just plain TOO BUSY with work that I've forgotten what joy it brings me when I start to pound on my computer and just talk about anything under the sun. But most of all, I miss journalizing about my life, my kids, my family. I actually hate it when I feel that I've missed out so many of my kids' milestones because I'm too pre-occupied with deadlines and reports. How I wish I can go back to my old blogger life. Pray that it will happen. Hay. Meantime, let me indulge you with some of the party preparations which I've been doing. Luigi is turning 1 while Zoe is turning 4 in a few weeks. How fast time flies! These are part of their birthday invitation. I did it myself. Aren't my kids so cute? :-) We're having Zoe and Elmo of Sesame Street theme. I've already booked the place, the magician & host, photographer, the venue decor supplier. What are still lacking are the caterer, so...

The good Lord granted me another year of life and I'm very grateful for the many blessings that He has given me all these years. And so, to give thanks, we travelled on a pilgrimage to Antipolo on my birthday, May 13, the feast of Our Lady of Fatima. Being Mary's month, many folks go up to the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage to visit the Black Madonna and pay homage. Masses are held every hour from 5am to 12 noon and then again in the afternoon starting at 4pm (I think). After the mass, we headed to the pasalubong area. A trip to Antipolo is never complete without these good ol' suman and kasoy. And then we headed to ever-reliable McDo for a non-stressful breakfast. We went back home after that and then left again to do my b-day-related government errands: a trip to Philhealth for a correction in the name of a dependent (their fault, argh!), my driver's license renewal, and trips to the municipal hall (for cedula), the baranggay hall (for baranggay cleara...

We had an impromptu birthday celebration at home last Saturday for my hubby. Our friends and some relatives dropped by the house for a simple salu-salo. Since it was an unscheduled party, we had to make do with what we could prepare in a couple of hours' time ~~~ this means buying take-out food! LOL. First, the cake I got was from ever-reliable Goldilocks. This mocha-flavored cake was yummy (yes, I tasted it even if I was on a sweets ban). We also picked up a tray of peachy-peachy (is this how it's spelled?). My friends deliberately ate this first before the main course (dessert comes first, right?). And among the easiest to buy, we, of course, had pansit (palabok) for long life. We also got inihaw na liempo from Andok's. Yum-yum! There was also crispy pata which was surprisingly crunchy outside and soft inside. From our own kitchen, our Ate Nilda also prepared relyenong bangus (I just forgot to take pictures, sorry!). They also had some beer and hard drinks to cap the n...

We went to Subic on my birthday. Right after hearing mass in the morning, we made our way there via NLEX and SCTEX. I haven't not been in Subic for the longest time so I was really excited to go. First stop in Subic was lunch at Meat Plus Cafe. Sarap! We ordered beef belly... ...and baby back ribs. Then we headed for Ocean Adventure which was a bit of a drive from Subic's Central Business area. The entrance fee is Php 450 per adult and Php 370 for kids. Good thing we arrived right on time for the High Dive Show at 1:30 p.m. This show is, I think, the newest feature in the Ocean Adventure. All the divers are foreigners and I like the comic side that they showed to add to the entertainment of the guests. Zoe was all eyes and ears during the show. She enjoyed it so much, laughing and jumping, that we heard the people near us say ' Aba, mukhang naiintindihan nung bata !" After the dive show, we went to their Aquarium. It's just a small tour but it's alright. Next ...