DIY Harry Potter costume

It's Book Week again at school! And I didn't have to worry about my son's costume since I just recycled it from his sister's last year. ;p

Sabre's 7th birthday photoshoot

Sabre turned 7 years old last week and we all know this is a big milestone in any child's life. We didn't have a big party and just chose to go to Hong Kong for a family vacation. He did have a small pool party though so he could still celebrate with a few friends.

A 7th Birthday Pool Party

For my son Sabre's 7th birthday, we just decided to go to Hong Kong for a family vacation instead of having a big party. However, he said he still wanted to celebrate with his friends so we just threw him a small pool party right after we got back from our trip.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid costume for Book Week

It's Book Week again at school and to celebrate, there will be a parade where the kids should dress up as their favorite book character. Last year, my daughter came as Little Red Riding Hood. This year, it was my son's turn and he actually came up with the idea of going as Greg Heffley from Diary of a Wimpy Kid!

A LEGO Birthday Party

My little boy Sabre is now 6 years old and he wanted to have a Lego themed party this time around.

A Star Wars Birthday Party

Happy 5th Birthday to our dear Sabre! Since his birthday falls in April, he wasn't able to celebrate with his classmates last year. So he's been bugging me for the longest time that he wanted to have a party in school this year. We actually threw his party in early March, before their moving up day, so it was a super advanced celebration. ;p

DIY Knight Costume

My kids had a Royal Court Parade activity in school and they had to come in medieval looking costumes like a king, queen, princess, knight or jester. Finding an outfit for my daughter was easy since we had so many Disney Princess gowns in her closet. In fact, her big dilemma was which dress to wear lol!

My problem was my son's costume since all he had were superhero outfits. And I didn't want to spend for something he was only going to probably use once. So I had to whip out my DIY skills to the rescue! This costume is so easy you can do it in 10 minutes and it cost practically nothing (if you have all the materials already like me).

A Power Rangers birthday party

It's my little boy's 4th birthday, and the theme for this year was a no-brainer since he's super into Power Rangers!

You should see all the poses he does whenever he watches the show! So intense lol! And check out this quick and easy DIY Samurai Ranger shirt I did. I just got a plain shirt, placed some masking tape to form the "Y" pattern, and used black pentel pen to draw the lines in the center. ;p

I used colored art paper for the banner and just cut the letters out of bond paper. I didn't put the buntings on a string anymore and just stuck them on the wall with masking tape. I liked the geometric pattern this formed. :)

If you've been following my other DIY birthday posts, you know I love using my kids' toys as cake toppers! And just printed out the Power Rangers logo for an added touch. :)

make a wish!

Power Rangers cupcake toppers

Check out his birthday gift which he just LOVES!!! He hasn't let go of this since he got it a few days ago. :)

So again, happy happy 4th birthday to our very own Power Ranger. Don't stop being so sweet, funny, thoughtful, and a big ball of energy! We love you so much! :)

Goodbye Summer, Hello School!

We are officially done with the 1st week of school! I can't believe summer has come and gone so quickly. Now we're back to homework and baon and hatid-sundo. :)

Last May, we enrolled Sabe in a summer program in order to prepare him for school. Like I mentioned in my post last month, it was really a struggle for us since Sabe was really crying the whole time and didn't want to be left alone during the first few days. It took a while, but eventually he started to warm up to his teachers and began enjoying himself.

some of the activities during his summer classes

Watching him perform during the culminating activity made me so proud because I could really tell how much progress he made during all those weeks. From the scared little boy who didn't want to let go of me, he was now able to interact with his classmates and follow the teacher's directions.

Sabe as a cow during the "Old MacDonald Had A Farm" number

But I have say, we were anxious again during his official first day last Monday since he didn't want to wake up in the morning and was giving us a hard time dressing him up. He was very cranky in the car but all that changed the minute we got to school. He confidently went inside, greeted the teachers and walked to his classroom like a pro! We couldn't believe it! We were prepared for some tears but I'm so glad we were wrong. :)

he's always so excited to show us his stamp everyday after school

Miley, on the other hand, had ballet lessons this summer. As a mom, I really couldn't wait for the day I could finally bring my daughter to ballet class. I have to say though that I think she enjoyed making new friends more than the dancing itself. She would always be making chika her classmates and I'd always have to signal for her to follow the teacher haha!

To be honest, we weren't really expecting much from her dance recital since it seemed like she wasn't that into it. But I was really surprised when she gave a wonderful performance and was able to do all the steps. I'm so proud of her for finishing the program however she says she doesn't want to do ballet anymore. Swimming classes na lang daw! Ok fine! My ballet dreams are forever crushed haha! ;p

Miley used to be in the afternoon batch last year, but I moved both of them to the morning classes this year. They're still getting used to sleeping and waking up early (especially Sabe!). But I'm happy that any moodiness disappears once they get to school. And I have to be honest and say that I do quite enjoy the few hours of peace and quiet I get in the morning when both kids are at school lol! ;p

back to being the kids' driver

What about you moms? How was your kids' first week of school? :)

Happy Mother's Day!

Thank you to my darling Sabre for this Mother's Day gift he made in school! I love it so much! :)

And another gift I got for today - Skyler just learned to roll over! This picture was taken just this morning. I can't believe how fast time flies! Pretty soon I'm sure he'll be crawling na...

Like they say, being a mother is definitely one of hardest jobs in the world (if not the hardest!) but definitely the most fulfilling. So again, Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there! Especially to my own mom and also my mother-in-law. Thank you for always being there for us and loving us unconditionally. I love you both so much! :)

Sabe starts summer school

It's getting so hard for me to blog nowadays since Sabe has officially started summer classes. My day is spent driving him to school, waiting for him to finish the 2-hour class, then taking him out after for milk tea (his favorite!). I also usually do errands after with him in tow, like the grocery. When I get home, it's playtime with Miley and of course back to having Skyler attached to me with his marathon nursing sessions. I usually just want to lie in bed with the aircon on since this heat is making me too lazy to do anything!

Anyway, just like Miley last year, we enrolled Sabe in this month-long summer program (9-11 am / M-W-F) to get him used to the classroom feel before classes start in June. I already knew it would be more difficult with Sabe since he's more attached to us and has a bad case of separation anxiety. Unlike Miley who loves interacting with other children, Sabe also prefers to play alone or only with his Ate. He's also very possessive and hasn't really learned how to share (well, we're getting there...). Oh, and he bites too sometimes (ayayay!). So naturally, we were nervous on how he was going to act in a new environment with other kids.

As expected, it was already a struggle getting him to wake up early and get dressed. When we rode the car, he kept saying he wanted to go to the restaurant and not to school! When we got to the school, he seemed excited at first, but that only lasted for about a minute...

Since it was the first day, there were a LOT of kids crying and clinging to their parents/yayas. What was funny though is that all the crying kids were the BOYS! The girls were all very good, just playing happily with the toys and each other. I guess girls really mature faster than boys hehe. I mean Miley last year was also a bit hesitant on the first day but she didn't cry and enjoyed herself thoroughly with all the activities. We only needed to accompany her on the 1st day and then we were able to leave her already by herself by the 2nd day.

Now with Sabe, he started to panic once we stepped inside the classroom and he saw the crying kids. He immediately clung to me and started asking "WHERE'S ATE MILEY???" When he realized that his sister wouldn't be there, he started bawling and wanted to go home. I was carrying him trying to calm him down but he would reply to everything I said with a big fat NO or I DONT LIKE! He was screaming, crying, pulling me to the door... "I WANT TO GO HOOOOOOME!!!!!" I was already so tired, sweating like crazy, my hair a mess. And this was only the first 5 minutes! But don't worry, Sabe wasn't the noisiest. There was another boy who was worse than him lol! ;p

After a few more minutes, I was thankfully able to calm him down. The teacher called all the other kids to the front of the room to sing and dance. We were just in the back and Sabe agreed to play with some toys. He would occasionally join the song though (The Wheels on the Bus) so I knew there was hope!

Anyway, when it was time to play outside, Sabe actually got excited when he saw the slide. He played for a bit, then started to look for me again. He then remembered that he wanted to go home and even got his bag and started pulling me again towards the door. All I know is that I kept encouraging him to finish the class (maybe even some bribing was involved lol). He also did an arts & crafts activity and although it was only for a short while, I was still so proud of him.

I was able to take some pictures and it's so funny because when you look at it, you'll get the impression that he had so much fun and it was such a breeze. WRONG! Haha like I said, don't be fooled by the pics since he was crying almost 80% of the time! ;p

If on the first day almost all the parents/yayas were in the classroom, on the 2nd day we were only about 3 na lang. As expected, the school encourages the guardians to stay in the waiting area already so that the kids will learn to be independent. So I slipped out of the classroom, leaving Sabe when I saw him playing with the teacher. But after a few minutes, I could hear someone screaming and it sounded a lot like Sabe. So when I peeked in the window, I saw him being carried by the teacher crying unconsolably. I tried to give it a few more minutes but he wasn't stopping so I asked if I could go inside. Once he saw me, he stopped crying and just wanted to be carried. Of course, now he wouldn't let me out of his sight! But there was a huge improvement already since he was more willing to join in the activities compared to the first day. There was also less crying, as long as he could see me around.

We decided to already leave him alone in the next couple of days, so he could really get used to being in class without us. Of course, he would still cry and it would take all our effort not to go back inside but we know it's for his own good. The first day we left him, the teacher said that he was crying almost the entire 2 hours, but then after a while, he was able to calm down and even participate in some activities. The next day, the teacher said he only cried for about 10 minutes, then was already ok after. He still cries whenever we leave him but I know it will definitely get better (hopefully soon!).

He is definitely improving everyday and whenever we pick him up, he's so happy and excited to show us the stamp in his hand. We're halfway done with his summer classes so I hope that by the end of the program, Sabe will already be ready for his actual school in June. Fingers crossed! :)

A Transformers Birthday Party

My son Sabre just turned 3 years old last week! He is currently uhb-sessed with Transformers and Marvel Superheroes so I was on the fence on what theme his little celebration would be. But after asking him repeatedly, his answer would remain the same: TRANSFORMERS!

This is definitely a lot more simpler than what I did last year, since this wasn't really a party. We just had a simple lunch with the family, so I just wanted to do a little decorating to make Sabe's birthday feel more festive and special. And of course, it would look great in pictures hehe! I just loved the look on his face when he saw the decors on the morning of his birthday. He was especially thrilled with the cupcake toppers and it was a challenge taking these pics since he wanted to get them. Of course, his friends Optimus Prime and Bumblebee had to make a special appearance too. Enjoy the pics! :)

And what was our gift to the birthday boy? He has so many action figures already so I was so happy when I saw this Transformers scooter at the SMAC website which I got at 50% off! What a deal!

So again, happy 3rd birthday to our very own little robot Sabre! We love you so much! :)

Sabre in Disney Junior's Birthday Book

Yey! We made it to Disney Junior's Birthday Book again! If you remember, Miley was also featured last February.

Anyway, it's Sabre's 3rd birthday today and can't wait to share what theme he wanted his little celebration to be. Will post in the coming days. In the meantime, Happy Easter everyone! :)

What's in a name?

Choosing our children's names was one of the most exciting and daunting things hubby and I did when I was pregnant. Should we go traditional? Eccentric? Hollywood? Picking that perfect name is so important for any parent since that would be the name your kid will live with forever. I remember in the hospital while filling up their birth certificates, hubby and I would always ask each other "So is THIS it na talaga? Sure na? No turning back!" ;p

I remember having my kids' names picked out even when I was a little girl. It changed through the years though. Like there was a time I was obssessed with the Sound of Music and loved the name Martha (the 2nd youngest Von Trapp child), Then came the phase of wanting Spanish sounding names like Jose Antonio to American names like Jason Christian...

But of course when I got married, I wanted my hubby to have a say in our babies' names too. But I remember we had even discussed jokingly before that I would be in charge of naming any girl babies while he could name the sons. No questions asked. Meaning if he wanted to name our son Chewbacca Yoda, I couldn't object. And if I wanted to name our daughter Cutie Pie Sparkles, he should be fine with that. Well, obviously we didn't name our kids anything like that, but I guess it did happen that I had more say in Miley's name, while hubby had more control over Sabe and Skyler's... 

I had always wanted to have a theme or a connecting factor in our kids names. Like maybe naming all of them starting with one letter. Or maybe combining our names to come up with a new name (Vins + Helene = Vilene?). Or naming them all after a specific thing (for example fruit like Orange, Apple, Strawberry). I knew sisters who were named Queenie, Princess, and Duchess while hubby knew a family who were named after chocolates - Hershey, Nestle, and Reese.

For us, the theme was that all our kids' names are connected to airplanes and flying which my hubby has a passion for. Read on to find out how we came up with their names. :)

MILEY

If you think that we named our daughter after Miley Cyrus, you're kind of right... sort of... but not really... just let me tell you the story and you be the judge hehe! ;p

I admit that I was a big Miley Cyrus fan back when she was still Hannah Montana (can you even remember Miley Cyrus being that sweet and innocent? No? Gotcha.). When I got pregnant, Miley was one of the names I would teasingly say I'd be naming the baby just to annoy hubby...

Miley Cyrus as Hannah Montana
source

Meanwhile, my maternal grandmother had just passed away the year before when we found out we were having a girl. So I just felt in my heart that I wanted to name my daughter after her - AMELIA.

Which was also perfect since Amelia Earhart was the first female aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean.

source

Now why Miley again? Well, after all that joking, hubby finally admitted that he was warming up to the name and found it cute... And isn't it the perfect nickname to Amelia? Even my lola's nickname was "Mely" so Miley would be the new version of her name hehe.

And after Miley was born, she was just the smiliest baby ever so her name suited her perfectly.

our little SMiley :)

SABRE

When we found out we were having a boy next, you can bet hubby was really excited. Personally, I was pushing to name him after hubby, but hubby didn't like the whole Junior thing (but now Sabre looks exactly like his dad which would have made the name really perfect for him hehe).

We went through name after name in different baby books, but nothing seemed quite right. Until hubby thought of Sabre... which I thought was a joke at first. I mean, the first thing anybody thinks of when they hear this name is a saber-toothed tiger right? But hubby said it was all in the spelling - SABRE instead of Saber (which is also more commonly known as a sword).

According to Wikipedia, The North American F-86 Sabre (sometimes called the Sabrejet) was a transonic jet fighter aircraft. Produced by North American Aviation, the Sabre is best known as the United States's first swept wing fighter which could counter the similarly-winged Soviet MiG-15 in high-speed dogfights over the skies of the Korean War. Considered one of the best and most important fighter aircraft in the Korean War, the F-86 is also rated highly in comparison with fighters of other eras.

North American F-86 Sabre Jet Fighter Plane
source

Ok, now the name sounded cool. Although I knew he would experience having people mispronounce his name in the future. I can just picture his teachers calling him Sab-reh instead of Say-ber, gets? But hubby was set and I eventually loved how unique the name was.

showing signs of his "fighting" personality early on

SKYLER

We were completely at a lost when it came to naming baby number 3. The thing was, we had already picked a girl name we loved, so when we found out it was another boy, it was back to the drawing board for us. Hubby liked Scotland (just because), Robb (for Robb Stark), or even Cesar (after his lolo this time). But it had no connection to our theme. Even my OB was giving us suggestions like Stealth (which are aircrafts designed to avoid detection).

I was at a point where I didn't care anymore, I just wanted hubby to choose already since it was almost my due date! And finally, he decided on SKYLER, which fit our aviation theme perfectly.

According to this site, Skyler is an anglicised form of the Dutch surname Schuyler and means guarded or scholar. For us though, Skyler is based on the basic definition of what the sky is - the limitless expanse of space above earth... where airplanes fly.

reach for the SKY!

BABY #4?

Now going back to that girl name I mentioned... Hubby and I have loved this name for years and was all set to use it if by chance Skyler turned out to be a girl.

Now did you ever see the Sex and the City episode where Charlotte's secret baby name (Shayla) got taken by a good friend, which she found out about during the baby shower? 

SATC "The Baby Shower" episode

Well... I don't know if this is the weirdest coincidence ever. But my sister-in-law (who's married to my hubby's younger brother) just told me that they've finally chosen a name for their baby girl due this August. Both her and her hubby's name start with an "A", so naturally they wanted something that began with that letter. So imagine my surprise (and shock!) when she said the name they chose was...

AVIANNA

Yes, this was exactly the name hubby and I loved and were reserving for that time if we were to be blessed with another baby girl. You know, coming from the word aviation so it fit in perfectly with our theme. But with only one "N" though, so Aviana. But still!

Hubby and I can't remember if we had mentioned this name before, but she had found and liked the name from Amy Adam's daughter. 

Amy Adams with daughter Aviana
source

Now we're not mad or anything, just really surprised that out of all the names out there, we would both think of THIS name. And it's not like it's a common name or anything. I guess great minds think alike. And if anyone would be using this name at least it will be our niece and still be in the family. 

So maybe this is a sign that we won't have another daughter anymore, who knows? All I know is, if ever we do get pregnant again in the future, finding that perfect name would now be more difficult and challenging than ever haha!

Photo of the Day: Superhero Sabe

Someone is addicted to superheroes! He really loves wearing his costumes so much, Superman being his favorite. He wears them everyday, everywhere (if you can't tell, he's in full costume when he goes to the park to play). He especially loves wearing a cape and those are his favorite shoes too since they have the pictures of Marvel characters on them. Boys will be boys! ;p

Sabe's Monster Party featured in Kids Party Hub

A BIG thank you to Mommy Christine for featuring Sabe's Little Monster party over at Kids Party Hub. If you remember, she also featured Miley's Hello Kitty party a couple of months ago. I myself am such a fan of her creativity and DIY prowess so it means a lot to me to be featured in her blog. So again, thank you so much Christine for all the kind words. :)

Please check out the entire feature HERE and also check out Kids Party Hub for more ideas and themes for your next party. :)

The Terrible Twos: The 2nd time around

This picture represents how my 2 year old son Sabe acts mostly these days - moody, demanding, stubborn... a walking temper tantrum. It definitely sounds and feels familiar to us. My daughter Miley was exactly this way a year ago when she was going through her own terrible two phase.

He's become the little boss around the house, making sure he gets his way otherwise all hell breaks loose! What's frustrating is that sometimes, we can't understand what he wants since he can't fully communicate yet what he wants. So he's there trying to tell us something and we're trying our hardest to figure out what it is. And when we can't give it at once, he starts screaming and crying at the top of his lungs. But he sure loves saying "NO" and "AYAW". ;p

He's become the little drama king too! I swear, he can fake cry like a pro! He begins to pout, then his mouth starts quivering, and tears start to fall... and once he's got you in his trap and you finally give in, his mood changes in an instant and he gives you the naughtiest look! ;p haaaaay!

Actually, it's really not so bad this time since we've already gone through this with Miley so we already know what to expect. Besides even with all the kicking and screaming, just one smile and a kiss makes everything ok. :)

DIY Monster Party Decors

Doing the decors for Sabe's monster-themed birthday party was so easy and fun. And I totally love how cute and monsteriffic everything turned out. ;p

I used these monster eyes and mouth shapes from 7under1 Designs to decorate most of the stuff on the dessert table. But I added googly eyes to make it more 3-dimensional. I got the googly eyes from National Bookstore for about P25 per pack of 12 pcs.

For the first time, I'm not doing the usual round cupcake topper with "Happy Birthday" on it! I totally loved the idea of turning the cupcakes into monsters, so I used the eyes as the topper then stuck the mouth on the cupcake liner. Oh, and these were plain chocolate cupcakes so I also added sprinkles to make it more colorful. :)

You can also use the googly eyes as is - use different sizes and quantities and stick them all over containers, bowls, cups, bottles, utensils, etc!

Remember the party hats from Miley's Hello Kitty party? Well, I still had a few lying around so I decided to recycle them! I just covered them with colored cartolina, then cut out basic shapes for the eyes and mouths for cute monster party hats! ;p

There are so many creative details you can do for a little monster party and these are just some of them. What's so great about making monsters is that the sky is the limit. You can make so many versions and characters using basic shapes and colors. And there's no right or wrong way to design them because it doesn't matter how weird they look - they're monsters, so the kookier the better! ;p