juls random thoughts

Last June 29, our cluster in the office had an outreach activity. We took 21 kids from Asosacion de Damas Filipinas to Avilon zoo and the members of the cluster with kids were able to take our own kids instead of the kids from the orphanage. Kurt had a lot of fun and funny cause he thinks that Avilon zoo is forest due to lush trees and plants. Poor boy as the zoo he's seen so far is Manila zoo last September as posted here, here and here. Below are the pics on that weekend, wasn't able to take a lot of pics as the little boy always insist on him taking the pictures.

We had lunch first in Jollibee Montalban courtesy of Jollibee themselves, the kids food were for free.

As posted here, the little boy had a lot of fun. Below are some of the pictures of that day:

The little boy watching under the rain with his little umbrella, lolo's gardening shoes and Casper sweater:

Catching some fish with dada:

Look ma at my catch!

More fish to catch!

Look! here's another one, even Casper is looking at the catch!

The loot after several hours of "fishing" and fun!

I have to post here too the photos of the boy while having a bath on the rain, they did that during the morning and had this fishing fun late afternoon.

A very delayed tag from Tet. Sorry sis for the delay, thanks a lot for this!

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It's true I have never seen you

and we have never met,

Never shaken Hands oreven truly hugged and yet!

I know for sure you care for

me by the kindness that you give.

And our keyboards keep us

together doesn't matter where we live.

So I give you this gift to

put a smile on your face

and to let you know in my

heart you have a special place.

~End Copy Here~

To my online buddies, who I never fail to visit everyday. Here's one for you: Jane, Jody, Ems, Pat, Maver and Mia

Jody tagged me and I remember doing this before when my blog was very new so I went back and saw my post about this back in June 26, 2007.

The rules:
A. List these rules on your blog.
B. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog.
C. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
You’ll have to read on for my 7 facts and see who I tagged.

My answer, I think I'll copy most of what I've written on my original post about this.

1. i belong to a family of 6, 3 girls and 3 boys and i am the youngest. i am a menopausal baby, my mother was 42 years old when she gave birth to me and the age gap between me and my eldest sister is 15 years. i am also the only girl that my 3 brothers were able to "control" since my other 2 sisters are older than them. i never became close with my siblings because of the age gap. and oh, i was conceived because my parents are on vacation in Bicol = D (wow!! too much for #1, parang ang dami na agad nito ah.)

2. i did not gain this much weight because of pregnancy. in fact, i think i only gained max of 25lbs. the entire pregnancy and this includes yung pagbawi sa lost weight nung 1st trimester. so when? i gained weight after i stopped breastfeeding, so that was 7 months after i gave birth. i was so excited to finally have the chance to drink coke again, coffee and chocolates. my three favorite food/drinks!

3. i only had two boyfriends, one was in highschool - illegal pa kasi bawal pa ko mag-boyfriend nun and sinagot ko lang sya kasi ang tagal na nya nangliligaw sa kin. second, in college - he became my hubby na = )

4. i am shy and not outgoing. i seldom initiate conversation.

5. i love daydreaming. until now, i do it.

6. i want to study either culinary, interior design, make-up

7. same as jody, i am a spa-addict! i always go for a weekly massage, and whenever I feel stressed in the office, I go to the nearby spa and have an hour and 1/2 massage.

I'm tagging Tet, Quel, Pat, Maver, Rocks, Nol and Mia.

4.

After dancing Low, he requested for Soulja Boy.



This video was taken this morning.

Aimee (hubby's SIL) is a preschool teacher in First Step and one day, they brought Kurt there. He was still 2 1/2 years old then.

Got this too from Aimee's multiply site, Kurt was still 2 1/2 years old.

Got this from Aimee's multiply site. A video of kurt taken last year when he was 2 1/2 years old.

Kurt dancing Low by Flo Rida. This video was taken just this morning.

Thanks Jane for this. Only noticed this today.

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Jane wants to know our daily schedule, so here it goes...

Our schedule is kinda weird, I am a working mom but I don't do alarms, no required time to be in the office so if I don't have a morning meeting, I don't really care as to what time I wake up so my alarm is either hubby or Kurt. But generally, here's our schedule:

6:00am - Kurt wakes me up for dede (yes, he still drinks dede at night - did not bother weaning him yet kasi yoko mawala ang love nya for milk) then we both go back to sleep, OR, if he slept early the previous night, he'll wake us up na shouting: "Wake up! wake up! di na dark! wake up!" LOL!

7:30am - Hubby wakes me up. Kurt's class starts at 11am so no rush in the morning but I can just imagine our schedule next year when he finally moves to big school.

7:35am - Hubby wakes me up again, I am such a sleepy head that he has to wake me up several times, on really tamad days, I just let him leave me and I take my own car to work

7:40ish - Have breakfast

8:00ish - Take a bath, change to office attire, prepare for office

8:30ish - Prepare Kurt's undies (brief and sando), socks, lampin as punas sa likod then check if he has clean uniforms (sometimes I do this na before going to sleep). Prepare his baon - if it needs cooking, but if cookies or cereals lang, prepared na the night before and now, usually MIL asks me na the night before if the little boy wants to bring rice kasi sya na ang nagpeprepare ng ulam I just add rice, juice and water in his lunch box.

8:45ish - Three of us rides the car, yes three of us kasi Kurt gets his daily dose of driving lesson with dada. Hubby lets him drive with him around the block then off we go to office. Kaya sobrang alam nya ang left and right because of this driving

9:30ish - Office

12noon - 2pm - Lunch with officemates or in Glorietta for windowshopping then just takeout lunch

7pm-8pm - Depends on when hubby is ok to go as he usually has either basketball or jogging with officemates, we go home na

8:35 - 9pm - dependes on traffic, have dinner at home, watch LOBO (the only teleserye I watch) LOL! or pag nasa mood we eat out or go shopping

9:15pm - if little boy's still awake, we ask him about school, ask what he wants as baon the next day - as in we'll go through the process of him looking at his pambaon then choose, then kulitan sa bed, read LOTs of books

10:00pm-10:30pm - puts him to sleep - if he had a nap, he usually sleeps at past 11pm

10:30pm-12mn - watching tv with hubby or blogging

We have a different schedule though on Mondays kasi hubby has bowling tournament on Mondays, eh since I don't usually drive on Mondays as coding ako, I go with him. We leave the office at 7pm to get to Robinsons Place Manila by 8pm - he'll go bowling while I do window shopping then we get home past 10pm and usually the little boy's sleeping na.

Our unofficial rule is if we arrive the prior night na tulog na si little boy we make it up the next morning by playing with him longer before going to work.

Then on fridays, I usually also would bring my car as I want to be home early unless may gimik kami ni hubby. I'll be home by past 7pm then I'll check the little boy's bag for homework then play with him na.

On days when I bring my car, I usually get home at past 7pm so more time with the little boy.

Last saturday, July 5, we had a get-together with our w@w turned n@w and more specifically knows as calipanga friends. We haven't seen each other as quorum for such a long time that I can't even remember anymore. When Raquel and Carlo had their house blessing and daughter Alyssa's 2.5 birthday last May, Quel and Songs and Lau and Jo were not there (same as the usual absentees: Benz and John, Nyree and Jasper, Ais and Joey and of course Jeanny and Edwin who's in the US na) then before that we had a Christmas dinner in Makati, wala naman sila Raquel and Carlo, and Aileen and Kristian plus the usual absentees above but Ais and Joey was there. There have been a lot of plans and ayain but our schedules won't just meet. This time we decided to push through kasi mababawasan na naman kami ng isa, Jo will be leaving soon for Ukraine so that was our despidida get together for him in their house. Compared to our usual kita-kita since we had kids, this time, we decided not to bring the kids, an all adults affair. And the outcome?! we were surprised when we looked at the time kasi 4am na pala!! and we didn't notice it. We're all so surprised and happy kasi before we had kids, malimit kami mag get-together and we usually go home ng 3am or 4am and now when we meet with the kids, we usually go home at 11pm-12mn, minsan nga earlier pa but this time that we met without the kids, ganun na naman! hay naku! sarap kasi magkwentuhan eh! sapilitan pa ng uwi ang lagay na yan! because of this, we've made a pact na sana eh at least quarterly eh mag get-together ulit kami. And hopefully, our plans for a group anniversary celebration will push through! we just can't believe that we're about to celebrate five years!! and to think, the SARS (surprise anniversary celebration for the Ranas) that was organized when we were planning our wedding pa is John and Benz' 5th wedding anniversary. Parang noon feeling namin ang tagal-tagal na ng five years eh yun pala kami na yun ngayon. Grabe bilis!!

Calipanga family during our 2006 summer outing:
L-R: Lau and Jo with Danielle, Aileen and Kristian with Gabby, Rachel and Denden with Inigo, Benz and John with Kite, Jeanny and Edwin with Keogh, Me and Hubby with Kurt, Quel and Songs with Jeg

Calipanga girls (without Rachel) with Toni during Kite's 5th birthday:

L-R: Nyree, Quel, Me, Toni, Lau, Jeanny, Ais, Aileen and Raquel

Calipanga boys (without Denden) during Kite's 5th birthday:

L-R: Jasper, i think it si Ram ni Toni, Jo, Hubby, Edwin, Joey, Carlo and Songs

Funny kasi ang papayat pa namin grabe!! lahat kasi preparing for wedding pa lang.

After SARS (same night), with the Kink cake (John's surprise gift to us):

Complete din sila: L-R, standing: Edwin, Carlo, Joey, John, Songs, Jasper and Jonathan; L-R, seated: Hubby, Denden and Kristian

During the group bridal shower organized by Benz and Tisha, few days after SARS, still in Batis Asul's place, we're holding RAquel's shower gift to us:
We had other pictures kaso most are with hubby but mostly before the wedding kasi on our get-togethers when we had kids, we seldom take pictures na.

Tet wants to know...

What I love about being pregnant

Me while 5 1/2 months pregnant:

Me while 8 months pregnant:

Hubby and I five days before giving birth:


Blooming ako when I was pregnant that's why most of them thought I'm carrying a girl.

SHOPPING, SHOPPING, SHOPPING!!! a great excuse to splurge on my hobby

I look good on preggy clothes

I am super spoiled with hubby that I can eat anything that I want

The thought that someone is growing inside my tummy

That my having a BIG tummy is normal! LOL!

And since having a big tummy is normal, I had the guts to wear two-piece swimsuit! LOL!

The frequent ultrasounds with my OB

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I'm tagging Jane, Jody and Pat!

Kasalanan ng blogging, or rather thanks sa bloghopping ko kasi I went to sleep late at nahirapan akong gumising kanina. The effect, I was not able to go to office. For some weird reason, medyo masakit din tummy ko sa talagang di ako makakapasok.

I was supposed to go to office late when I felt better na but decided to go with the little boy to school instead to get updates.

Teacher told me that I have to supplement the little boy's studying at home. He showed me the little boy's workbook and there I saw what the teacher was saying. Wala syang tiyaga to color, he knows the right color but he doesn't color the shape completely, paano ko ba ituturo sa kanya yun?

They are also currently studying LEFT, RIGHT, UP and DOWN to which the little boy was good naman. He was asked to recite in front of the class and he answered correctly. He was asked to identify which among the two chairs drawn on the board is facing left and he was able to encircle the right answer.

Next was their individual identification of colors. Teacher showed a board colored with the following colors: RED, BLUE, GREEN, ORANGE, YELLOW unfortunately, the little boy answered color YELLOW as GREEN so he did not get a star but a happy face stamped on his arm instead.

It has been actually our problem na talaga kasi may pagkasutil the little boy, he has the tendency not to take you seriously when asked for a color kaso even if ako ang magtanong nagkakamali pa rin sya and no matter how I explain how to properly color mali pa rin. Hay naku... though sabi naman ng cousin nya na 7 yrs. old na and boy rin is until now daw lagpas-lagpas pa rin sya mag-color. Sabi rin ni MIL, baka ganun talaga kasi boy, hindi masinsin mag-color.

I decided to go to NBS in my attempt to supplement his studies. I bought art papers of various colors and attached this to an illustration board so he can review, I also bought a wallchart of colors so sana naman in the next few days eh maging clear na ang yellow at green sa kanya.

On a positive note, I am so thankful that he is so well behaved in the school, hindi sya kasama sa mga tinatawagan ng teacher ng attention - ang suki si Joaquin and Matthew. Katakot pala if for preschool eh traditional school - parang naawa ako sa mga bata pag pinagsasabihan sila but I guess they have to learn discipline. Paano ba pag progressive? hindi ba pinapagalitan ang students? Masyado lang ba akong protective for my little boy? para kasing di ko matanggap na baka dumating ang time na si kurt eh papagalitan din.

Continuation of this post

WARNING: Photo overload, goes to show that I so love Summer Palace.

Summer Palace (UNESCO world heritage site) – I so love this place, I actually even liked this better than the Forbidden City, only the pictures can explain why. Summer Palace is the emperor’s vacation house, basta ganda-ganda ng place. And as if hindi kami napagod sa pag-akyat sa Great Wall and Ming tombs, we even went up pa the Yu Feng Pagoda on top of the hill. Grabe talaga! Pero we’re so enticed with the beautiful structures and surroundings na kahit super pagod na, go pa rin kami ng go.
















To be continued... too much photos already

Continuation of the Beijing kwento...

Ming tombs (UNESCO world heritage site) – we went to Ding Ling, the only tomb that have been excavated. Ming tombs is composed of 13 tombs of the 17 emperors of the Ming dynasty, instead of building pyramids, they create an underground palace on hills and that serve as the emperor’s mausoleum. We passed by cherry farm so we bought na rin.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ming_Dynasty_Tombs ; http://www.mingtombs.com.cn/ ; http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1004
Bridge entrance:

Ano raw?



Going to Underground Palace where the tombs are buried:

Inside the underground palace, behind us is the emperor's throne and some of his possessions:

A replica of the emperor's, empress', concubines tombs and their kept treasures:

Finally, up and out!

Last in ou itinerary for the day was Summer Palace.

To be continued...

Friday last week, I was surprised when I got home from work as the yaya told me that Kurt has homework. Wow! only on second week in school and he's got homework already and to think he's only a nursery. When I checked his assignment notebook, I found four assignments! so while the little boy is still excited in doing his homework, we answered it that friday night. I completely forgot to take pictures then but since its a friday today, new set of assignments again! I took pictures already of his assignment last week.

First, the task was to color the two pictures with their natural color. So I asked the little boy the color of apple and sun. Here what he did:

Second, put a check mark if the drawings are alike, then put an x if not. Well, the little boy know the answer, the problem is in putting the check mark and x. As in we practiced first before actually doing it, unfortunately, the little boy's check mark was not clear, nagmumukhang x so i told him to just put a diagonal straight line instead. Too bad however that the teacher did not give points to those drawings that he wrote his version of check mark, malabo kasi kaya he only got 2 out of 4 correct. Kainis!! gusto ko sana ireklamo sa teacher kaso sabi ni hubby wag na.

Third, to put an x on the drawing that differs with the rest. on this, the little boy got everything correct so he was given a star.

And lastly, the hardest of them all, he's asked to draw the missing parts of the face. The little boy knows that the drawing misses two eyes, one nose, one mouth and two ears but to draw it! that's another thing. I'm just so proud of the little boy that he did not give up until he's satisfied - he keeps on erasing until he likes what he did. And here's the funny face that he draw:

He's got four new homework again and a note from the teacher. Apparently, he'll always have a homework on fridays. I'll be posting the second homework next week - with the teacher's marks.

Wow! I really have a schoolboy now.