Our youngest child Lucia celebrated her birthday recently. There’s so much to be thankful for her first year: her two front teeth, being able to walk and talk a few words, continuing to be a healthy and a happy baby! We decided to splurge a little on a children’s party at The Creamery.

Well, I think “splurge” isn’t really the word since the venue wasn’t a five star hotel. The Creamery is an ice cream parlor at the Mall of Asia and we held the party there because of their reasonable rates which already included the party banner, theme decor, balloon set up, invitation cards, loot bags, party host and staff in themed costumes. If you want a venue that’s a little off the grid from the usual fastfood party set up of McDonald’s and Jollibee, this is it!

The venue is only for small and medium sized parties though, not for big ones. Here’s a peek of the the place during our special day:

What I liked about the Creamery: we can bring in the birthday cake and other desserts without any corkage fee. Prior to the day, I was obsessed with getting a good Hello Kitty cake for Lucia since she loves the Kitty I found a good design at Aggy’s bakeshop in BF Homes, Paranaque and it was only P1,700. Icing was a bit too sweet, but otherwise perfect. Meowww!

I opted for a ready-made birthday party package to spare me from the stress of preparations. My only labor of love was making the cupcakes which follows the Princess theme of the party. I alternated between chocolate and vanilla cupcakes with chocolate buttercream and lemon cream cheese frosting. Still, it wasn’t a hassle decorating the cupcakes with Princess-themed cupcake holders from Gourdo’s and ready-made icing toppers I bought from my last trip to Australia.

They’re ready….. YAY!

In this sequence, Lucia is reunited with her godparents. She cried when Ninong Aldrin held her for the first time.

More separation anxiety when Ninang Remy carries her. Awww!

Finally, the birthday girl calms down and gets to play. Lucia’s party outfit from Twilo and her shoes from this Brazilian shoe company called Bical.

Thanks to all the friends who attended and sent in gifts. We had a fun time at The Creamery!

The Creamery Resto & Ice Cream Bar
Ground Floor, Selecta Kids Universe
SM Mall of Asia
Tel. No. 556-9195

Aggy’s Bakeshop
Tel. No. 820-9347

Each year, the family tries to uphold certain Christmas traditions which makes it a much-looked forward to occasion among the kids. In the past, we’ve either spent it in a hotel or out of town. This year being meaningful enough, we’ve chosen to spend it at home. Meaningful because it’s the first Christmas I’d spend with Mr. Z (since knowing each other in 2007) and it’s his first time as well with the kids. We certainly left no stone unturned in loading the house with gifts, food and laughter.

I started Christmas Eve on a high note, with a list of dishes for the noche buena. The only problem was my energy would taper off later in the day. Still, I was glad to finish my main course beef dish (tender-cooked beef mechado, simmered for four hours or so), the mac and cheese, and favorite chicken-potato fruit salad. The rest of the feast was store-bought, like the cookies and cream cake from Red Ribbon, the CDO whole cooked ham, the dinner rolls and some sweets from Dunkin’ Donuts.As they say, don’t sweat the small stuff, even during Christmas

The gift-opening session was an exciting time, especially as there were lots of gifts to open. I appreciated even the minor ones given me by my officemates. The Boy got his usual computer games, and the twins happily opened their tent playhouse and Baby Alive dolls, with Mr. Z wondering all along why they’d want faux toys that poop and drool when a real one is on the way. Hubby got his Game Addict tee with some more branded ones from Lacoste and Gap, while I silently squealed in delight at the brand-new Tiffany bracelet he gave moi. After our wedding and engagement rings, this is my third Tiffany so far and it’s precious

Now, Christmas Day finds me surfing in bed all day and tirelessly munching on last night’s left-overs. Somehow I get to think of how different Christmas will be again next year with the welcome addition of our baby in the house. It pays to be always hopeful of the unexpected,always believing in the Good Lord to bring us blessings each time.

Thank you for reading this blog since 2004. We hope your Christmas was merry and bright as well, and here’s hoping 2010 will be a more peaceful, bountiful one for us all!

I remember the time when love failed me

and to be reminded of the present
where I have someone who’ll think about me and my family
more than he’ll think about himself.

It is a nice wonderful feeling

to experience that just when you think you’ll grow old
struggling with your seeming emptiness
someone will come along
loving you for who, and what, you are.. warts, wrinkles and all

You never really know what surprises await you around the bend
You never really know what God gives you in terms of miracles
and to have the blessing
of someone who will make a difference in our lives

It was one day in December when love came, unannounced
and one night in July when love decided to stay home
or rather, make a home
It came sooner than expected.
I treasured my reply then:

I’ll share this future with you because i can’t imagine anyone else but you in it
to gaze at the sunset with me and wake up to the sunrise
to share the pains and delight in the laughter with me, till we grow old
I love you because you’ve shown all that is good to me
and for that, I am truly happy.

There is something good about love and second chances….
Once you’ve lost it, and once again find it ….
You learn to hold it close, and never let it go.

(Thanks to RedSheep Photography for our lovely prenuptial photos.)

My son Paolo does not want to have his picture taken with a camera. I’ve long given up on the thought that he will ever become a blogger, or a movie star I simply wanted to have a few shots of him in his new Threadless tee. It’s the perfect shirt for uber-picky eaters like him. And I like Threadless designs so much. The Boyfriend is a big fan, and so is this local retail store which I’ve seen lifting off a few Threadless graphics/slogans.

I still have to wear one

Anyway, this is a post about my son because he wrote me a nifty love letter for his final exam in English.

It reads:

Dear Mother,

Your Son,
Paolo

*sniff.
Boys are the sweetest things.

Well, I have two

My entry of course has something to do with the just-concluded V-day. The bf was by his usual thoughtful self and made it in time for our Valentine celebration across time zones. Thanks to the magic of online shopping; never really gave this thing a thought, until My Sweet told me to check out a few Filipino-owned sites and how their prices compared against each other. He finally settles for makulay.com because their items were reasonable, and of course they were able to actually deliver the items to my doorstep!

The heart-shaped strawberry buttercream cake from Goldilock’s was a revelation. Never really tasted this cake before and we loved it… the mild strawberry flavor blending well with the creamy center.

Hmm, I wonder why the bouquet of flowers I got didn’t contain a single rose, but I was certainly glad to find a number of edible roses on the icing of the cake!

Up next was the heart-shaped jewelry box in velvet which had a number of those delectable chocolates by Ferrero Rocher, a classic favorite. The box is lovely, but it might be too big to keep my jewelry (unless I have stones as big as Ferreros!) Will certainly find good use for it, perhaps to keep my accessories and mementos.

Thank you also… I get to hug a grizzly bear from Russ! <3

Before I can say “Happy Birthday, Amor!’ the kind folks of GeiserMaclang also sent me a bouquet of white roses and a couple of white hugging bears from one of their clients, Flowers Express. They’ve sent me the flowers a few times before and I must say I love their dainty arrangements. The flowers even come with a vase!

Online shopping is alive and well and definitely kicking! More on this subject in another post.

Thanks to the one I love and friends who care, an anti-Valentine girl like me can still enjoy V-day after all!!

DSC00259.

DSC00274

The twins play angel and fairy in Nickelodeon’s “Mischief Madness.”

When a casting agent gave his business card to my son (handsome daw), the little tot wasn’t at all enthusiastic. Knowing him, he’s not really the type who’d feel comfortable facing the cameras. What he feels a close affinity with is the computer, like most members of his generation. And he’s got a number of files on Microsoft Paint to show for it…like this one.

house2

This is his own version of a house, complete with a chimney and not to forget, “a TV antenna!”

paolo1

My son’s own mountain. The sun also shines in Mount Everest

splatface

One of his favorite artworks which he calls “Splatface.”

In between grappling demands of my work and his school, there is one treasured conversation between me and my son:

Moi: Hey, do you love me?
Him: Yes, I do.
Moi: How much?
Him: Very much.

To borrow that old, tattered adage: the best things in life are free. Simply free.

And so I’ve found out that one of the hardest things about parenthood is dealing with ‘teeth troubles.’ Dionne has lost two of her front choppers, Dianne has one waiting to be plucked and Paolo still has to grow out a couple of his baby teeth.

Kidz2

And I realized while looking at them at play yesterday that they are indeed growing up fast! While most people would tell me “you have so many kids!,” I do think three is just right I’d be hard put fussing over just one kid but with three, I can always let them scamper around knowing that one will always look after the other.

And even though I know something will always be missing in my life, I know that with them around, my life will always be complete.

I take off from my blog routine to pay tribute to my blog friend Anna Banana who flew in from South Korea last week. Of course I had to meet her! And she was sweet enough to go out of her way to meet me! She who had been privy to my frustrations with kimchi and other life matters the past months. It was nice to know that she was as wacky and engaging in person as she is online (as is often the case with the blog pals I meet. Call it lucky!)

EB_with_Banana_002

We were joined by reel- and real-life couple Jher and Jerome who were quite a revelation in themselves, being such fun-tabulous persons to be with. The last I heard, the 2Js were up in arms against the homophobic column of a macho columnist in one major paper who has said “Let us be warned against the gay population, which is per se a compromise between the strong and the weak and therefore only somewhat and not the absolute of either of the two qualities. Be alert lest the Philippine flag be made of delicate lace and adorned with embroidered frills.” Sus, how could this so out-of-touch man say this when some of us admittedly love our gay friends to pieces?!

Muy graciosa Anna thrilled us by giving some pasalubong, including a cute banana-shaped pen I loved and a loot bag of Korean goodies from her beloved pet Tildy. Shame! we should have been the one giving her, haha.

The highlight of the night was our karaoke singing session at Music 21 where Jher and Jerome showed off their singing prowess. Hanep, pang-professional ang mga itoh. Again, Anna B was the gallant host – stuffing us with calamari and nachos in between singing her favorites “Specially For You” and “Never Been To me.”

It was so nice to meet you peeps… and I miss you already!

I was enjoying my Sunday rest yesterday when I got up to see what the commotion in the other side of the house was all about.

Yay! I was surprised to see my son cooking in front of the stove flipping his very first successful sunny side up. Mom was silently beaming. The son can cook!

Afterwards, son cooked some more. It was only instant noodles but what the heck. A few months before, he had mastered the art of cooking the same food on the microwave and I thought he would stop there.

I promised him that the next time we will be baking cookies together.

IMG_0764

While kuya was preparing the food, the twins (shown in pic with their favorite mascot Jollibee) were washing the dishes and utensils together.

Talk about playing house, the single parent household version.