Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Just Got Back

There's a reason for not having posted this week: we just got back from our short holiday in the Gold Coast in Queensland. Now, we're all back to reality! It was a fun few days of swimming, theme parks and eating. I'll post some more later but suffice to say we all had a good time and are now thoroughly tanned. :)

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

New Floor

Ever since we've learned about our boy's allergies, we've been trying to find ways to keep our house allergen free. Stuff like replacing the drapes with blinds, or just taking peanut butter out of the pantry. Yesterday, we went and got rid of the biggest dust catcher in our home: the carpet.

These past few weeks have been sort of hectic as we prepared the house. We cleared out the garage and moved furniture around. The other day, our good friends came over and helped us move the bigger pieces of furniture and helped us rip out the carpet. Yesterday, the tradies delivered and installed the floating floorboards in a day. There's still some carpeting to trim today but otherwise they did a good job of it.

Now, this is the first time our floor has been really clean since we've moved!

Sunday, January 14, 2007

At The Mall


Kids enjoying their smoothies. One way to spend a hot summer's day.

Saturday, January 06, 2007

The High Cost of Holidays

A few days ago I got a text message saying that my brother was in hospital. I tried to call him as soon as I could and although it was worrying at first, I was just glad to hear from him in good spirits. Well, apparently his blood sugar got way too high which causes this particular episode. Yup, the holiday feasts have caught up. He's a full fledged diabetic already and from now on I think he's going to live like one. That means healthy living and the daily insulin shot.

He's hopefully doing well now and taking as much rest as possible. I've always heard that doctors make the worst patients so I know his doctor ( and our good neighbors and friends ) will probably have their hands full just making sure my brother is not being too buluyagon with his health. :)

Take care for now 'bro. Get some sleep. I'll check up on you soon.

Tuesday, January 02, 2007

6 Years Old Today

Today our little girl has turned 6. Too soon if you ask me but what can I do. She woke up early and was surprised when her mom and I handed her some gifts we labelled from her grandparents and her brother. She had a good time opening up the presents like it was Christmas morning all over again. Because we weren't planning a party today, the kids and their mom just made and decorated a nice pink cake and cupcakes. Of course, we had to have spaghetti as well, it's not a Filipino kids birthday party without sweet spaghetti.

Even though no party was planned we had a little impromptu celebration as our good friends came over bringing balloons and had dinner and shared a little bit of our girl's day.

Just yesterday, we went out as a sort of early birthday celebration for her. As I was driving the car I said, "Because it's your birthday, you can have anything you ... " I trailed off, knowing the next words out of my mouth would have been a costly blooper. I discretely looked at my wife and saw she noticed what I was going to say too.

Unfortunately, our little girl heard it too and she said, "Anything what? Anything I want?"

I had to reluctantly agree, but she then said "Anything I want as long as it's not expensive, right Daddy?"

At that moment, It just showed us how considerate and how utterly unspoiled she is. We're so happy that she's turned out this way. What can I say, she's growing up so fast. Sometimes I wished I could freeze time and keep her like this forever but I know that's impossible. All we can do is enjoy her childhood for long as we can. It keeps us young and hopefully we can keep up with her and her brother.

To our dear daughter, we love you and Happy Birthday! Have sweet dreams tonight...

Monday, January 01, 2007

Kid Funnies Part 18

If our son can imitate Monty Burns, our daughter has taken on a particular Homer Simpson affectation. When she finds herself making a mistake or doing something not right, she does a little "D'oh" just like Homer. It's cute!

Us: "You forgot to take of your shoes!"
Her: "D'oh!"

Us: "Did you look in your room for your toy?"
Her: "D'oh!"

Us: "We told you we're doing the cake tomorrow."
Her: "D'oh!"

New Year's Day and Happy Feet

First day of the new year sees our family off to the movies! As is usual for us we didn't really stay up to ring in the new year and after the initial Family Fireworks shown on TV, the kids were already eager to go to bed. In fact, even halfway through the fireworks display, they were already asking when it would end! At any rate, they were in bed and snoring way before midnight and I have to admit that I felt as sleepy as they were. This is a far cry from our own New Year's celebrations when I was growing up but it's something that I've become used too.

When we woke up to the new year our girl was doubly excited because she knows she's celebrating a birthday tomorrow. After getting them ready to go out and a quick call with my parents in the US, we were out the door and into the cinema. We watched Happy Feet , a movie that my kids and I have been waiting for for a long time ever since we saw the trailer come out a long time ago.

Come to think of it, we've been to the cinema quite a lot of times these past few weeks. We took in Charlotte's Web, we saw Flushed Away with friends ( for free as the tickets were won by my kids at a birthday party! ) and now Happy Feet. I have to say that I enjoyed this movie most of all, despite the fact I had to get up in the middle of it to bring the young man to the toilets. The animation was flawless, the voice acting and songs were excellent. I'm even thinking about purchasing the album from iTunes as I write this.

Although the wife and I were thoroughly enjoying the movie, the kids did become bored halfway through and were up off their seats ( again! ) and wandering the aisles. We thought they would have sat through on this one as they watched Flushed Away throughout and were glued to their seats then. Must have been because they did not have friends to watch it with or maybe because we ran out of popcorn. Might have to watch it again when it comes out on DVD. The little boy was funny though as he did sort of give running commentary from his seat often interjecting with "Oh, he's sad!" and "He misses his friends", when he saw Mumble ( the penguin ) in his lonely scenes.

After the movie we had a late lunch at a nearby restaurant. I took my usual order of calzone, the wife had the fish and chips, little girl had nuggets and the boy had pasta. I have to say that the boy ordered well as his pasta was yummy! ( Of course, we had a taste to make sure it was not too hot ;) hehehe )

After lunch, we went for a little walk but because it's a holiday, most of the shops were closed anyway. There was a bookstore open and we decided to drop in and browse for a little bit. We didn't stay long as not five minutes later we had to go out again as the kids were looking for a toilet! We didn't stay long after that and we were on our way home.

Tomorrow the kids and mom will be making a birthday cake for the little girl. We already had a deal with her that we won't have a party with friends because we were already going to celebrate her birthday when we go on holiday soon. I hope she still remembers the deal tomorrow... :)