Daycare Diaries: August Activities

Two months since entering the academic world, Neo had started to adjust.  He learned quite a few things already.  But what made me the proudest mom is that he is starting to be independent – at school that is.

Since August is still part of the rainy season and there are a lot of declared holidays during this month, there are a lot of days that Neo can be found at home.

What are Neo’s academic development for this month?

INDEPENDENCE.  As I wrote earlier, the little boy shows independence whenever he is at school.  He no longer cries.  He plays with his classmates.  He even lines up to have his assignment checked by the teacher so he’ll get his STAR.  But that is not the case at our home.  He is still the darling baby he is. 

VOWELS.  After learning to count from 1 to 14 (because the stairs in our home is up to 14 only J), Neo’s next milestone is learning the vowels.  I didn’t expect him to learn his ABCs and vowels this soon, but I think he’s surpassing my expectations.

Watch him as he identifies the vowels in the alphabet.

DOES HIS ASSIGNMENTS.  Every day, during the days he has classes, Neo will go home with assignments.  When the clock marks 9PM, it means it’s the time to go upstairs in the bedroom and do his assignment with his Papa.  And he voluntarily do this – even during times of no classes.

BUWAN NG WIKA CELEBRATION.  The Buwan ng Wika Celebration of Neo’s class was held last August 29.  He was Andres Bonifacio that day.  I had so much fun assisting him during the parade.  He plays with his classmates but keep on searching for me to take his pictures.

My selfie with little Andres BoNEOfacio. J

Sneaking behind the girls. J

Being a working mom, I seldom go to Neo’s school.  When I accompanied Neo in his Buwan ng Wika celebration, I was a bit saddened.  Why?  A Lola (or a mom or a guardian, as I am not sure how she is related to one of the kids) SMOKES pala.  And she does this even with kids playing around.  L  This is another CON of having my child enroll in a Day Care L

But other than that, I am quite pleased to say that Neo has developed a lot while studying. J

Bonakid Pre-school Ready Set Laban Season 2 Press Launch

After receiving the prestigious Anak TV Seal Award, Bonakid Pre-school and GMA Network has renewed their partnership in collaborating an even more exciting Bonakid Pre-school Ready Set Laban Season 2. 

Bonakid Pre-school and GMA Network made the new season a lot bigger than the previous one.  Moms and kids both get to experience the challenges and activities in a bigger Game Arena than last year.   The games and activities are inspired by Pinoy games which will demonstrate the energy, strength, confidence, and resilience of kids as their moms empower them in doing the challenges. 

The press conference was held at GMA Network which was hosted by Regine Tolentino.

Also present in the press conference is Bonakid Preschool Ready Set Laban Season 2’s host, Drew Arellano. 

Chicser performed the show's new theme song. 

Aside from getting to know more about the show, members of the media were also given a chance to experience how the games will be played in the show by participating in the games during the event.

Viewers at home can also participate and win prizes.  All they have to do is watch the showand submit their entries at: www.gmanetwork.com/promos/readysetlaban.  One lucky home partner gets to win Php20,000 every week! 

Audition is still on going.  Visit http://www.gmpi-kapuso.com/bonakidpreschool/ for more details.

Bonakid Pre-school will air every Sunday, starting October 5, 10:45am after iBilib.

  

The Bag

I am not a fashionista.  I don’t know how to mix and match my clothes, shoes, and bags.  I just love to wear whatever is comfortable.  So whenever people say something positive on something I wear or own, I feel happy talaga.

Remember last March when I got robbed going to work?  I posted it in my facebook status and blogged about it and the things I learned from it.  I was reminiscing about what happened.  I was wearing an old jeans, old polo shirt, a doll shoes, and this bag.

A lot of people commented that the reason I was robbed was because the bag looks expensive.  Some even commented that it’s a designer one.  Guys, it’s not.  I just bought it at a bazaar selling Marikina made bags. 

I didn’t use this bag for 2 months.  I want to shoo away the bad vibes e.  But since the other bags that I have had worn off already, I used it again on a daily basis.  It’s sturdy but because I use it to put all my stuffs and Neo’s things (moms are like that, agree?), I feel that it would get worn out na.  So I need to buy a new one.

I am now contemplating of buying a new one on store or online.  I looked through Zalora's bag collection for women and found some bags that I like. You can click here to check it out for yourself http://www.zalora.com.ph/women/bags/. 

Now, I need to save save save so I can buy the bag I want because I am someone who invests in quality over anything else.  

BDJ Box Beauty Social: Camp Gorgeous 2014

Two Sundays ago, BDJ Box hosted another Beauty Social entitled BDJ Box Beuaty Social: Camp Gorgeous.  I was lucky to win TopazHorizon’s VIP pass giveaway.  I get to enjoy this with a friend because I won 2 passes.  VIP pass means I get to join all the talks and have my loot bag J

We arrived at SM North Edsa Sky Dome, the venue for the Camp Gorgeous, a little past 12 noon.  The first talk has already started, so I just busied myself in the booths surrounding the talk area.

There were a lot of beauty products to try and a lot of trial sessions to choose from.

Trying GlamBox’s Youth Mask.

I was able to attend the 2^nd talk entitled Be Bold, Be Edgy with Patrick Alcober from Shu Uemura.  I didn’t finish the whole event because  we have to go home at Cavite pa.

Here’s the content of my loot bag. J

Bonakid Pre-school Ready Set Laban Season 2

Last Sunday, September 14, Bonakid Pre-school launched Ready Set Laban Season 2 at Glorietta Activity Center.  The event was hosted by Regine Tolentino, Mikhael Daez, and Drew Arellano, who will be hosting the program once it airs in GMA 7 on October 5.

I was so excited when I was invited to this event.  I tagged Neo along but since the little boy is still 2 years old, he wasn’t allowed in the Activity Area.

Mama and Neo at the registration booth.  He can’t enter because he’s still 2 years old.

How to enter the activity area and join the audition?

·         Kids should be 4 – 7 years old.

·         You need to show a proof of purchase of Bonakid Pre-school.

·         Mom and kid should both register.

And that’s it.   The moms and kids played and bond together the whole Sunday afternoon.

It was a fun-filled event with lots of activities for the kids and their moms.  There are different activity areas where kids can play and test their physical and mental strength.

Different activity areas the kids played at.

There were also games that kids played with their moms.  Winners and non-winners of the games were all given prizes.

Regine Tolentino, Mikhael Daez, and Drew Arellano hosting the event.

Drew Arellano showing how much he loves kids.  

And of course, The Milk Corner.  Where kids can drink Bonakid Pre-school while they busy themselves in the activity area.

The Milk Corner where kids can drink Bonakid Pre-school.

Catch the other venues for Bonakid Preshool Ready Set Laban Season 2 auditions at the following areas:

September 21 – SM City Davao Event Center

September 28 – Ayala Center Cebu Activity Center

For those mommies in Manila area who want to audition but wasn’t able to catch it last Sunday, you can use the online auditions by following this link: http://www.gmpi-kapuso.com/bonakid/auditions.php

Yummy Delivery by Food Panda

I live in Cavite and work in Manila.  It takes me minimum of 4 hours travel time (to and from the office).  This takes up so much of my time.  I am so thankful because the moment I arrived at home, all I need to do is eat, rest, and bond with Neo.  Thanks to Ate Espie because I don’t have to cook. 

However, there are also rare times that the task of cooking lies on my hands.  This is very bad for me.  Because 1) I don’t know how to cook, 2) I need to allot time for buying the ingredients, and 3) allot some more time in cooking. 

Good thing I was introduced to Food Panda.  Food Panda is an online food delivery system.  They have several accredited restaurants you can choose from for delivery.

How to use Food Panda?  There are 7 easy steps.

1.    Go to Food Panda’s website: http://www.foodpanda.ph/

2.    Enter your location.

3.    Choose a restaurant from the several choices that Food Panda will give you. 

4.    Select the food from the menu of the restaurant you chose from.

5.    Enter your delivery details.

6.    Choose your mode of payment.  You can choose either by credit card or cash on delivery.

7.    Wait for your food delivery to arrive.  Take note of the delivery time frame.

Food Panda values customer service so much.  They will send you an email, a text message, and will even call you to verify your order details.  And they will also ask for your feedback about the delivery service and the food quality via email.  

And because Food Panda is an online food delivery, they also have mobile apps that you can download for free. http://www.foodpanda.ph/contents/apps 

This is so cool for busy moms like me.  With a minimal delivery charge, I get to do other things while waiting for my food to arrive.  I can have it delivered in the office before going home.  And that is what I did yesterday. 

I told the family in the morning, I’m in-charged of dinner tonight.  Before going home, I ordered food online via www.foodpanda.ph, had it delivered to my office.  Went home with our viand.  Everyone at home was happy J

 

Our dinner last night – delivered to my office via www.foodpanda.ph

Wedding Memories: Wedding Suppliers’ Ratings - Part 2

The Paradiso Terrestre

(Ceremony and Reception Venue)

Ratings: 4.5 out of 5

Bronze Package Inclusions:

·         Use of venue for 4 hours

·         Buffet menu for 100pax

·         3 layered fondant cake

·         Bridal suite accomodation

·         Basic wedding theme décor

·         Wedding guestbook

We choose the cheapest package of Paradiso Terrestre and then opted to upgrade some of the inclusions.  Aside from the above inclusions, we were able to add chocolate fountain, additional suites for the groom’s family, Lechon (we provided this and just paid for corkage).

We were a bit reluctant at first to book this venue as it comes with a hefty price – but we were amazed at how they were able to turn our budget wedding into a magical one.  We choose Casa Nenita as our Ceremony and Reception venue.  Ms. Raquel (our account manager) was very kind to include in our package a ceremony set up for our wedding without added cost.

Our entire wedding, from preparation to ceremony to reception to saying goodbyes to our guests, was flawless (ok, that’s an overstatement, hehe).  Our wedding was scheduled 10AM, Paradiso Terrestre’s staffs were starting to gear up the venue at 5AM.  During the wedding, they were very accommodating – asking us what else we need.

One negative comment we received from guests though, the food was not immediately served to our principal sponsors.  Food should be served by the waiters to the VIPs but was taking too long and the VIPs had to line up in queue to the buffet table.

Why 4.5?  Well, this supplier is highly recommended; however, due to some comments we received from our guests, we have to take away 0.5 points for them.

Flowers by NJL

(Ceremony and Entourage flowers)

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Package inclusions:

·         Floral decorations for the ceremony

·         Bridal and entourage bouquets

They were one of the suppliers we choose because they are based in Cavite and we don’t have to pay for out of town fee.  We were able to book them ahead.  However, they were one of the last suppliers who came in our wedding day (and shouldn’t the flowers be early because they’re needed in the pre pictorial?).  The beauty of the flowers compensate for this supplier’s lateness.

Why 3.5?  It really took us a lot of follow ups to them even though we were able to pay in terms.  They were also a bit late in our scheduled time (we initially discussed 8AM, and they arrived late, causing our pre-wedding pictorial to be delayed as well).  They actually volunteered to pin the corsages to the sponsors when we were still talking about their services.  So we expected that they would do this on our wedding day but unfortunately they forgot to do so.  Our families helped each other out and took some time.

Wedding Attire

(Wedding gown; Groom’s Barong; Entourages’ gown)

Rating: 4 out of 5

We have already agreed that we won’t be spending a fortune for a dress we would only be wearing for a day.  But of course, we don’t want look cheap on our wedding (haha).  We went scouting for wedding attire at the ever reliable place, Divisoria.  We spent days going back and forth to Ilaya and Tabora looking for the perfect wedding gown for the Bride and Groom’s attire.

We chose a ready made wedding gown for me and a coat barong for Leo.  We also shopped for the entourages’ gown and barongs at Divisoria.  A month before the wedding, I might have lose a lot of weight since as I tried fitting my wedding gown, (which is size small), it fell off.  We had to look for a good dressmaker to make some adjustments for it to fit perfectly.  We don’t want a wardrobe malfunction during our wedding (ha!).

After our wedding, a lot of people were surprised to know that my wedding gown was bought at Divisoria as it look very beautiful (well, talk about carrying yourself well :P hahahaha ).

Why 4.0?  We love our attire.  From my wedding gown to the groom’s barong and the entourages’ gowns.  However, we really need to go back and forth to Divisoria, as well as adjust some measurements for all gowns to look perfect for us.

Arfie Koc

(Hair and Make Up – Bride and Entourage)

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Package Inclusions:

·         Bride’s HMU

·         Entourages’ HMU

Arfie is an angel.  She is very easy to talk to.  Day before our wedding, she keeps on giving us reminders and suggestions such as sleep early, don’t be stressed, drink lots of fluids, etc.  Her team was the first supplier to arrive at our venue on our wedding day.  They came in prepared.  She made me look fabulous and gorgeous on our wedding.  They were very accommodating.  Initially, we spoke about Bride + 6 additional heads, however, come wedding day, our beloved family – who just so happens wanted to beautify themselves in our wedding, we needed to add around 3 more heads for them to groom up.

One thing about Arfie though, she doesn’t reply to text messages immediately.  Maybe this is because she has other jobs to attend to (LOL).

Why 4.5?  Arfie is such a darling.  But we took 0.5points off this supplier since she doesn’t reply immediately (talk about being an impatient bride :P) and it caused us some mild stress hehe.


Wedding Suppliers’ Ratings - Part 1

Wedding Memories: Wedding Suppliers’ Ratings - Part 1

Blessings Photography

(Photo and Video Coverage)

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Package inclusions:

·         1 photographer

·         1 videographer

·         1 lightsman

·         40pages 8x10 album with glass cover

·         1 CD copy of raw files

·         2 DVD copies of edited wedding video

·         16x20 blow up w/o frame

We chose the cheapest package and then opted to upgrade.  They were very easy to talk to.  They arrived on time in our wedding day and had a lot of suggestions for me to be photogenic (harhar).

Everything went smoothly in our wedding day.  They were able to release our raw files one week after our wedding for us to choose final pictures for our album.  Well, it took us 2 months to finally decide on our wedding photos and it took them 3 months to release our album  but all the wait is worth it.  Some minor delays were - our wedding date in the album cover was wrong, and album box has the wrong size.  We waited for additional 3 weeks from the agreed delivery date.  Nonetheless, we had the best wedding album of all!

Why 4.5? We love our album, video, and blow up – however, we have to wait for soooo long just to acquire this.

Matus Jewellery

(Wedding Rings)

Rating: 5 out of 5

·         Pair of wedding rings

·         Pair of mock rings for daily use

This is the very first supplier we booked – more than 1 year before our wedding.  And we didn't regret working with them.  Miss Belle is very accommodating.  We were always treated nicely whenever we meet, be it at their shop at SM Megamall or during Bridal fairs.  She even greeted us when we met by chance at Boracay after our wedding – we, for our honeymoon; she, on a summer vacation.

Why 5? Well, we really love our wedding rings.

Dymings

(invitations)

Rating: 3 out of 5

·         50 pcs wedding invites

We wanted simple and elegant looking invites that would come in inexpensive price.  Where to go? Recto, of course. We scouted all shops in Recto and were able to work with Dymings.  They offered us a good deal.  However, we have to go back and forth to this supplier just to finalize the design of our invites.  Emails and text messages seldom work for them (might be because of their hectic schedule).  As opposed to our initial discussion that after 2 weeks, we will be able to get our invites, it took us more than a month to finally got hold of our invites.  Patience really is a virtue.

Well, all our patience paid off.  We got what we wanted from the start, simple and elegant looking invites!

Why 3.0?  Our invites were really beautiful however; we have to go back and forth to Recto to confirm everything we need.  They seldom respond to text messages and emails.  They also did not made it in our initial and revised (we revised for like 4 times) deadline.  Imagine the stress and hassle we have to go through just to get these beautiful invites.

Von Espiritu

(Pre Nup Pictorial)

Rating: 5 out of 5

Von is not yet a professional photographer – just a hobbyist.  He is my friend Anj’s boyfriend.  He offered to do us a pre-nup for free!  We really wanted to have our pre-nup pictorial as UPLB (our alma matter), but couldn’t squeeze enough time to have it done there.  In the end, we were able to have our pre-nup at Daang Reyna.  Von was very kind in coming up with all the things we needed – from concept to props (he and Anj even woke up too early for our pre-nup! Haha).

We had fun bonding during the pictorial.  Von as are official prenuptial pictorial photographer; Anj as his assistant / unofficial photographer with her cute digicam.

Why 5.0?  Not just because Von and Anj are our friends.  Not just because our pre-nuptial pictorial was free of charge.  It was the dedication they offered us.  They didn’t gave us any hassle on our pictorial – well that might be because they’re our friends LOL :P

Wedding Suppliers’ Ratings - Part 2