Halloween 2011

Halloween shopping at Party Packagers.  I blogged about here.

Top to Bottom: Kanye West glasses, Clown Hat, Dr Seuss Hats, Dollar glasses, Mario Hat & Mickey ears.

I wore my costume to pickup Stefan from school, to suprise him.  He was nonchalant when he saw me. I asked, "didn't you notice my costume?"  He replied, "that's not even a costume."  Dope!

Stefan was a red ninja, though he preferred black - but was sold out quick.  While trick-or-treating, he was so concerned that the black ties will fall off.  Night before I have sewn the hood and arm ties in place.  The costume came in many pieces, including a mouth mask which we didn't let him put on.  But he had to wear his costume over his fleece jacket (5C weather), so he looked like a sumo ninja.  I couldn't stop laughing while dressing him.

Struan was wearing a hand-me-down from his older brother.  He will continue to do so until he learns to object =]

We went only 1 block for trick-or-treating. Struan was new to this, othewise, we don't really need that much treats. Struan already got a bag full from daycare.  They trick-or-treated in the Oracle building.  We didn't open our doors this year.  Last year, I got tired from just going up and down the stairs for every doorbell (split level house).Struan tries the glasses from his loot.  The boys picked one treat to have in the evening.  Including the Clown. 

It was a good Halloween. I'm a tired Helicopter Mom.

Going Home

March 2009

In the 8 years we’re here, we’ve gone back home only twice and it was for special occasions – my BIL’s wedding and for Dad and Mom’s respective 70th birthdays. There was no special occasion for this forthcoming trip. 5 days to go! I still pinch my cheeks. I still ask Am I crazy? Going home is a whole production. The expensive plane fare compels us to stay a minimum of 4 weeks. That means Stefan has to miss school that long, Struan misses daycare without refund, and Sherwin and I miss work unpaid. Boohoo! And because we don’t go home often, we make side trips locally and within Asia. The trip expense alone will have already ripped off our pockets before we put some pocket money.

Besides the school- and work- related responsibilities, i.e. turnover of tasks and curriculum to miss, the logistics every trip is lengthy and complicated. We map everything down to the nitty gritty. You’ll be surprised at the checklists we make – for Before, During and After the trip, the To-Dos and the To-buys, the calendars we print out for scheduling rendezvous, and a timetable of the 12 hours leading to the flight.

July 2006

The anticipation for the trip is usually long. It could span from 6 months to 3 seasons, from the time the trip decision was conceived (vacation leave approved) right to leaving. But in between, life goes on. There’s work & school, and the everyday with the kids, meals to cook, dishes to wash, house to clean… right to the very day.

Aside from meeting family and friends, the main purpose of this trip is to recharge my batteries, a.k.a. R&R. Mums don't really get days-off, do we?  So I will engage in a total SPA – head to toe, including hair and nails =]. I will eat and be merry and shop ‘til I drop. Carpe diem! But there is nothing more that I am looking forward to on this vacation than the respite from chores and a full devotion to the kids and myself. There is no more excuse to not spend time with the kids as there are no more meals to prepare & dishes to wash. The trip to me is the Armageddon of housework.

The very moment we leave the house for the airport, I’ll be singing “Salagagoola mechicka boola bibbidi-bobbidi-boo!” Cinderella’s rags will turn into a beautiful gown, the pumpkin into a golden carriage and the rats into coachman. “Put 'em together and what have you got, bibbidi-bobbidi-boo!” But I shall remember that the spell would be broken upon our return.

That will be a different story. For now, I still have 5 days to go.  I am slipping into vacation mode at an exponential speed. My manager said, “much awaited eh?” I can’t wait to say, Hasta la vista!  

Dear Struan

  

Three years ago today, you gave me the most excruciating pain of bringing you out to this world. I remember Daddy's voice on my ear, “it’s okay, this is gonna be the last.” LOL. However, your first cry fell on deaf ears as I fainted shortly after letting you out and I can only see you through the oxygen mask on my face. You really had me at hello =]

You were such a good baby all along, I keep saying, it’s easier the second time around. But you have also showed us what Terrible Two is really like. We were drawn to your charm & wittiness, we didn't mind being twisted around your little finger. On the flipside, you constantly amaze us with your budding motor skills and increasing vocabulary.

You are very different from your brother, both of you having very distinctive qualities. You're equally sweet, but most days you are like cats and dogs. It's now double trouble. My attention span has gone shorter, but my patience longer. Nonetheless you make us proud and happy twice over. 

Happy Birthday, Struan!

Love Mom.

 

Follow me @ Blogspot

http://myshabushabu.blogspot.com/

Dig into this pot full of delectables on food, home, fashion & family life of an average mom of 2 boys who stirs this pot if not on the day job.

I started with blogspot in June 2009 but was not writing a lot until this year. The blog evolved for a bit, now it's a hodge podge of all things worth sharing to a bigger pool.

As Oprah said in her Farewell show:

Each one of you has your own platform. Do not let the trappings here fool you. Mine is a stage in a studio, yours is wherever you are with your own reach, however small or however large that reach is. Maybe it’s 20 people, maybe it’s 30 people, 40 people, your family, your friends, your neighbors, your classmates, your classroom, your co-workers. Wherever you are, that is your platform, your stage, your circle of influence. That is your talk show, and that is where your power lies. In every way, in every day, you are showing people exactly who you are. You’re letting your life speak for you.

Welcome to my new talk show - Life is a Hotpot. 

KFC

The best place we'd eat our KFC is at home, with gravy...

and rice!  

 

Sherwin  needs a "Do not Disturb" sign while having his KFC.

 

Summer Bento

It’s summer break.  But Stefan goes to camp for 8 weeks, so I still prepare his baon. Every. Single. Day.

 

·         Smiley chicken nuggets, cheese & ube pandesal, quail eggs, corn puffs, fruit cup

 

·         Raspberry fruit bites, corn & ham buns, grape tomatoes, mixed veggies

 

·         PB&J sandwich, edamame, hard-boiled egg, blueberries

 

·         Roasted potatoes, chilli-lime shrimp, peach slices, cheese/ube pandesal

 

·         Spam croissant, Ritz cheese cracker, grape tomatoes, peach slices

 

·         Cheese croissant, blue berries, carrot sticks, OTAP, grapes

 

·         California maki sushi, corn puff, blueberries

 

·         Croissants, crabstick, grape tomatoes, peaches, veggie crisp

 

·         Croissants, fish balls, mushrooms, peach slices

 

I’m taking a breather from making baon on this last week of summer before another schoolyear begins.  Sherwin & I are taking this last week off to spend it with Stefan.

*phew*

Potluck

The best potluck I’ve had at work.  A send-off party to 2 colleagues who are leaving the company.

 

I was first introduced to potlucks in Canada.  Never had potlucks back home.  I grew up having family and friends come to our house for big meals hosted by my parents on different occasions, whether it was the weekly family gathering, or my grandparents’ death anniversary, birthdays or Christmases, welcome-home or despedida parties,... any occasion you can think of.  Or no occasion at all.  Might just be full moon, the crabs from the market are fat. Or we got Lechon from Cebu.  My parents would be on the phone inviting people over.  Next thing you know, it’s a feast of more than just crabs & lechon.

 

But that’s back home, where we have a super Mom, an entertainer Dad, a reliable cook and maids to serve and clean up. 

 

I miss home.

 

Loose Tooth

Through out the day...

"Best day ever!"

"So surprised to get baseball cards."

"How did the Tooth Fairy know I like I baseball? I don't even talk to her."

"I can't believe I got baseball cards!"

"If I loose another tooth, will I get more baseball cards?"

 

9 Years

You're still reading my mind

Or completing my sentences

 

You're still making me laugh until it hurts

Or laughing at me when I’m crying

 

You're always one step ahead

If not, two steps behind... watching

 

9 good years of love and friendship

And 2 clones brought to life

And I want to thank you

For giving me the best days of my life

 

And, oh, just to be with you

Is having the best day of my life

                              -          Dido

Fil-Chi Toes

When there’s nothing to watch on TV, I tune into the World Vision Infomercial. It is a good way of teaching the kids how to appreciate what they have - a lot of, so little of, or the lack thereof.  That there's a bigger world out there.  And that life is not all about them.

Stefan:  Mommy, if we have nothing to eat, will my skin turn brown like that?

Mom:  No, Stefan.  That’s in Africa.  They are brown-skinned.

Sometimes the simplest questions are the toughest to answer. Even if we live in a city populated with immigrants, I try to be as non-racial as I can in addressing his curiosities. He had on some occasions asked why this friend’s skin is dark.  I answered with restraint.  They should not matter at all. I don’t encourage him to label people according to race or colour...

 

Or genes.  Apparently he does have a few classmates with diagnoses. “The teachers always assist Erika because she’s smaller,” he’d say.  Or, “ Jackson hit me with a skipping rope because he wasn’t having a good day.”  That’s all he knows.

 

And I'll leave it at that.  For now. 

 

On a lighter note, he names his toes - Chinese and Filipino.  He'll apply pressure to his toes and say, "my Chinese toes became Filipino!"

L.O.L. 

 

 

 

If You Give Your Child a Muffin

Fresh baked banana cupcakes for my muffin-loving boys.  I try not to go the easy way – store-bought muffins that are loaded with sugar, additives & preservatives. Instead I give them the healthy option – HOME MADE.  Thanks to my handy-dandy Banana Muffin recipe from Stefan’s baking class at Loblaws, except I used whole wheat flour, reduced the sugar, included walnuts, and topped it with my current addiction - Banana chips.

Stefan mashed the bananas, but he asked “how long is this gonna take” more than he mashed.

Mother, I do not need you to send me MAYA anymore =]

Sherwin said, I did something really good in making these cupcakes that the boys ate them with gusto this morning.  Two each.

 

This is an “I felt like I earned a Good Housekeeping Seal when...” moment for me, to see my [family]members like what I made, after all I baked  with them in mind, or so I said, I baked them with love.

 

Yayks... ang cheesy ko.

 

 

 

Royal Talk

Sighting my two princes hug, while I was watching the Royal wedding. And this was just after the real Prince Harry said to William, "Here she comes. Wait 'til you see her."  Brotherly love.  Aww!

Stefan:  Mommy, why do you have to watch the Royal Wedding all day?!

Me: Everybody's watching this today, Stefan.

Stefan:  No!!! I'm not watching!

Boys will be boys.  They don't want to be prince as much as girls love to be princesses.

Me: You and Shoti are my Prince William and Harry.

Stefan: Eew!  Don't call me Prince William.

Mom:  Everybody's want to be a Prince William.

Stefan:  I don't.

Me: But he's young... and rich.

Stefan: I don't want to be rich!

My boys.  So innocent.

 

My Li'l Nash

Growing up, I am under the impression that basketball loving kids will not succeed academically.  As far as I know nobody in the Honour Class ever tried out for the Varsity team.  Although it is noteworthy that I was heavily studious back then. So I may not be credible.  But Tiger Mom may agree with me.

 

Fast forward to present, I have Stefan who is so into basketball.  He started playing on a makeshift court – a dollar-store ring resting on a safety gate.

 

Until we got him this Little Tikes Shoot and Slam.  This is currently the main piece of our living room.  Tsk tsk tsk, to my dismay.  There is no point in moving it around as he plays basketball every single day.

 

He logs onto http://www.whatifsports.com/nba-l/ whenever he asks to use the computer.  It's a SIM League for Basketball where you can build you own team and match them up, using stats from 1951 to present.  His memory is so remarkable.  From this activity, he can deduce which player played for which team for which period, with a knowledge of their jersey numbers to boot. And that will be the topic of conversation on the dining table.

 

He’s been on several basketball programs in the past, and recently he started on another one. This is a class of about 25 kids from age 6 to 8.  You can tell right away he’s the smallest, if not the youngest. He's a little off the centre in photo below, in purple.

 

But it seems, size doesn't matter to him.

He volunteered to be the 'it' on a game of tag, which they did for Warm Up.  He also raised his hands a lot when questions were thrown at them.  If only he can do all the talking, he would.  He even asked to do the Jump Ball.

He was up against a big kid after the next smallest backed out.  I was a proud Mom right there.  My son is the smallest kid with the biggest enthusiasm.  I'm sure his little brother is just as proud. 

So, if he wants to be the next Steve Nash someday as he said.  Why not?  But he also says he wants to be the next Jose Bautista.  So you don't know what to believe.  For now, I will just be a proud supportive - nevermind if also a helicopter - mom!

 

Perfect Timing

Dear Stefan,

 

Ever since you started in big school for Grade 1, you gave me the most daunting task, that is to prepare your baon everyday early in the morning.  Another challenge was to find someone – who turns out to be a complete stranger – to pick you up from school because I have to work. 

 

I almost quit my job.

 

When you were sick one day, or maybe just didn’t want to go to school, I called-in-sick at work to spend the day with you.  We were playing Monopoly. You were having so much fun.  You said, “Mommy, this is just like you quitting your job!”

 

I almost did. 

 

Again.

 

Not again.

 

And I finally did.  And since there’s nothing to lose anyway, I asked if I can go part-time instead.  I submitted the application on the week I was the “Prod Star” and at this very time we are prepping for a big implementation later in the year. 

 

Remember how I would tell you that there’s a reason for everything?  How there would always be a purpose for one person being at one place at one given time?  This is going to be the reason why my former supervisor would get pregnant and go on mat-leave at the time that she did.  She has since been replaced by someone who barely knew me, but is sensitive enough of people’s tight spots, and was able to convince the VP that a part-timer is better than a staff gone.  

 

What seemed to be so impossible in my company became real. 

 

So beginning next week, I will be on part time sched.  The reduced hours will give me more time to prepare you and Shoti in the morning, and I’ll make it in time for your dismissal in the afternoon.  Hina is no longer picking you up.  Mommy will.  But you will sometimes have to do groceries with Mom, okay?  Or I will take you to the library.  Or we’ll just go straight home so I can make dinner and clean up.

 

See you everyday at 3:00, Stef!

 

Love,

Mom