Summer turned five last month. I didn't make any plans for her birthday because Summer had made plans herself. The older this girl gets, the more she wants to take control of things. Of course, as much as she would like to, we don't just let her take charge of her life or let her have everything she wants. But we let her take over some things, like plan for her birthday celebration! Well...to an extent. She was pretty specific about her requests. She even drew them out so I would know exactly what she wanted and not forget. Thankfully, there wasn't anything in her list that was way Read More
Hold On To The Holidays
Patterned paper in red and green, details of shimmery gold, little star-shaped embellishments and stamped holiday greetings — it was the 16th of January but the workshop table was covered in Christmas cheer! This was how Craft Party PH opened the year. In partnership with Life Documented Manila and with Anna Ignacio as instructor, we held a holiday-themed memory keeping workshop entitled, Hold On To The Holidays, where participants learned how to document their beautiful Christmas and New Year celebrations while still fresh in their memories. Mia and I thought it would be a great way to Read More
An Art Fiesta!
I think many of you parents who are reading this will agree when I say that celebrating a child's birthday represents another milestone reached, not only for the child but for the parents as well. Last month, my Summer turned four. Yes, FOUR! While it's hard for me to believe it has been that long, I also feel relieved that Kayo and I have made it this far at parenting. I'm not saying that we're experts or that we've done a perfect job but I'm thankful that we've managed to develop a strong relationship with our first born and that she's healthy, undoubtedly happy and astoundingly Read More
Hello 2015!
So finally, my first post of the year! Let me begin by saying just how thankful I am for the holiday season that just passed. It zipped by so quickly and a tiny part of me is sad it's over but then, I am also very thankful because my family and I were able to celebrate meaningfully. There were moments of total chaos (e.g. super last minute shopping, keeping the girls from fighting over their new toys on Christmas morning) but there were also moments of pure joy (e.g. Sitting side by side as one family at Christmas Eve Mass, turkey dinner with loved ones). And all of these little moments Read More
Emma’s Donut Party
Our daughter Emma turned two on December first and we threw her a small party at my in laws' home last weekend. With a new baby in the mix, Kayo and I knew that we'd have our hands full and our pockets on the low around this time, but we really wanted Emma to have her own special celebration with family and friends so we started planning and preparing early, way before I gave birth. We decided on a simple, easy and inexpensive theme which also turned out to be lots of fun - a donut party! It's also something we were sure Emma would enjoy. As usual, I did all the party decor Read More
Summer and Dylan’s Beach Party
My little ball of sunshine, Summer, turned three last Saturday. The next day, Dylan, my nephew and Kayo's godson, also celebrated his birthday. And because these two special days fell on a long holiday weekend here in the Philippines, my in laws decided to make a family vacation out of it and take the celebration to our favorite beach in San Juan, La Union. It was a great idea! It was also something we've never done before because we usually just throw our kids' parties at home, so everybody was pretty excited about it. We put together a simple double birthday party last Saturday right at Read More
Celebrating Kayo
Last Monday, Kayo celebrated his thirtieth birthday, so the girls and I did the best we could to make it real special. I wanted his day to start out with a big treat so I prepared him a peach waffle breakfast at home. We haven't made waffles at home in a while so we quite missed it. I was reminded of our first year as newlyweds when we did waffle brunch in our tiny apartment during the weekends. Summer really enjoyed watching them get cooked too. And what's a birthday without buntings? I admit I'm a little obsessed with them, so a few days before, I stringed birthday buntings Read More
Holiday Snapshots
Kayo, Summer and Emma have all been sick the last week. So this weekend we really just stayed home and allowed ourselves to get the rest our bodies demanded. I'm very thankful that, today, everybody is doing a lot better. Summer and Emma are their playful selves again and are slowly getting their appetite back. So instead of posting weekend snapshots, I decided to share glimpses into the Christmas season that was and share our happy moments from the last few weeks. Christmas Day Christmas morning was probably my favorite part of Christmas! It's when we all gather together as a family for Read More
Summer Turns 2
I'm so proud of Summer. She surprised Nica and me when she blew out her birthday candle all on her own, on the first try! And I do mean FIRST. We kept on talking about how we wanted to teach her how to do it and practice and all that, but we just never got around to it. Yet somehow, she just knew what to do at the end of singing "Happy Birthday." This kid always amazes me with how smart she is. We spent the day together as a family. It's pretty cool how the sun came out and shone for most of the time we spent outdoors. And while I did have some time sensitive work to do, we pretty much just Read More