No we didn't go to the beach nor went out of the country... we just, well, spent the whole weekend together. For me, going through the traffic and pressures of the work week means a lot of time away from the kids. Having to spend the whole time on Saturday and Sunday with them means a lot to me as I get to invest little seeds of love with them. The photo above was Amanda's hangover from the wedding of my good friends Jed and Mel during Saturday. Under a normal weekend, we usually have either a photo coverage or a photobooth, both of which require me to spend time away from them. However, it was good that we were able to bring them in our event to meet old friends and serve them through our photobooth (www.peeknclick.com) The following we were able to finally serve the Caliuag Kids through Amanda's yearly giving back program coinciding her birthday. It was surprising that the Kids for Christ who were serving before are now Youth for Christ. Can't believe it's already five years since we started this activity. And every year, we kept on reminding Amanda to always count her blessings and learn to share with others who need our help. It was fun seeing Amanda already participating in the activities. She even learned and taught a new song from Ate Lezley about family. We also wanted to honor the Ates who took the time to serve and help prepare the activities. We have a new set of kids in this batch and just realized that it's been five years since we started Amanda's Giving Back project. After the tiring but fulfilling activity we went home. I thought Ate was super tired, but when we parked, she saw her friend in the playground and got to have bonding time with her a bit. I thought our day was over and we're ready to relax that night, when suddenly we heard a loud noise... followed by a loud cry. Our little angel Cassandra fell on the floor while sleeping. We applied ice compress immediately to prevent swelling on her forehead. It was the longest cry ever, but fortunately it subsided and she's ok now. Thank God! It was a very long weekend, but it's all worth spending the time not just with the kids but with other people that our family wanted to help out. At the back of my mind, spending quality time is ok, but it should also be accompanied by quantity time. Me and the rookie mom were discussing after Cassandra was ok that the same incident happened to Amanda when she was small. Unfortunately, it was with her yaya and we were not at home when that happened. We can't imagine the horror that she felt during that time. Plus the fact that almost everyday, we both leave going to the office by 7am and go home by 9pm. It was a lesson learned the hard way which help us decide that one of us should stay at home first. The primary concern was financial and career. But after three years, God never failed to provide for us and comfort rookie mom whenever she feels she's not doing well. But I want to honor her for being a very amazing woman to juggle the mommy duties and the entrepreneur tasks everyday and for simply being the most beautiful mom for our family. Last week, we celebrated Amanda's Fifth birthday. Our first itinerary was her request long time ago during their field trip. She wanted to go back to Kidzania. So we took the morning session as we assume there will be lots of kids in the afternoon as this was a Sunday. And true enough, there are only a few kids which means she doesn't need to line up that long when taking the make-believe jobs. To start off her experience, she had a bonding time with mommy at the lounge to create bento boxes. A creative way to entice kids to eat. While they are busy preparing their lunch boxes, me and Cassandra went into the toddler rooms. After the bento making sessions, Amanda went to her first job at Cebu Pacific as a pilot. Hello there Captain Amanda! Then she went on to the hospital emergency room to become a paramedic. Below is Doc Amanda to the rescue. After the quick briefing, they hurriedly went to the ambulance as there was an emergency call. Someone is in trouble. Hope they could be there on time. At the accident site, they found the patient. Doc Amanda applied what she learned to help him out. She then went to Holiday Inn to be a housekeeper. I think this is the task she can readily do at home. I found an article before about Navy Seals why they make sure they fix their beds at the start of the morning. It's the first accomplishment a person can achieve so she can complete bigger tasks throughout the day... a good way to jumpstart any day. After the job hopping, it was time to finally unwind and be kikay... Can't believe that it's been five years. There were a lot of unknowns when Amanda was in Mommy's tummy. But God prepared us so we can overcome our fears and help raise a beautiful, smart, loving, talented and God fearing girl.
Happy Fifth birthday Amanda. Mommy, Daddy and Baby Cassandra love you so much! I just finished washing the car when Amanda showed me a treasure map she draw. She said she has a surprise for me before I prepare to go to the office. So we followed the map and when we're on the treasure spot she asked me to close my eyes. And then she gave me the brown paper in the picture. When I opened it, it was our family picture from the party last weekend by www.peeknclick.com (the best photobooth in my opinion :))
What a sweet girl. Cheers to our Super Dad, our Veteran Dad - Lolo Ador... Happy 79th Birthday!
Champee created the Birthday card to Lolo which she gave yesterday. When she woke up today, Lolo Ador responded with a Thank You note. Please take note, like most dads during his generation, they're not too expressive. Champee was extra lucky that she gets a response from Lolo. You could see his Engineering Lettering response in the first picture. To our super daddy and awesome Lolo Ador happy birthday. We love you so much. During last year's Hi Five visit in MNL, we were sad that it was Stevie's last performance. We were ecstatic when we found out in his Instagram that his Super Dudes is not just a book but also a show. So when we found out that they're going to do a series of shows and meet & greets, we took the opportunity yesterday. Being Super One thing that struck me during the show was the lesson they were teaching the kids. That each person has their unique super powers. Just like strengths-based leadership, where we concentrate on where people are good at and use it to move the team forward. In the show, they've used Pirate Pencil's power to to create a new super hero for the lucky volunteer. (I saw Amanda raising her hand when they were calling for a volunteer... she said her super power was her amazing running speed) Confidence Aside from using a person's unique ability, the show taught the kids how to be confident. At one point, Super Stevie didn't know what his super power was until his friends cheered him up... eventually he was able to discover his dancing skills and do the worm :) Amanda super liked the show as she asked to watch the show twice. We just took a coffee break when we found ourselves still at the mall for the last run so we might as well grant her request. For parents, I think one takeway from the show is identifying our kids' super powers and doing our best to support it. For Amanda, since she just finished her second year in preschool I'm beginning to see her talent in words and drawing. While for Cassandra, it may be too early but she's making us laugh with those funny impersonation of all the people or even animal she's seeing. She can even bark like a dog now :) To Stevie and the Super Dudes, hope more kids will enjoy your show to be more SUPER. Hello everyone! The kids had a great idea two weeks ago. They wanted to create their own YouTube channel to share the things they're experiencing to the rest of the world. Hope you can join their cute adventures and subscribe to their channel. It's March and you'll often see your Facebook feeds flooded with graduation pictures or moving up day videos. So here's my share this graduation season. What's the big deal about moving up or graduation? More than the awards and the cute presentations, I see it as a reflection of how much we value education... that having a degree gives you a fighting chance for a better living. The Food for Hungry Minds Two weeks ago, me and my officemates went to visit the Food for Hungry Minds school. It's amazing on how we were able to transform people's lives through the power of better education. I've met some kids in their homes when this school started, and you wouldn't believe on the amount of pressure they're facing living in such conditions in their neighborhood. In school they are taught academics and character formation, but when they go home, I could say that they're already doing doctorate studies in life as they're under tremendous pressure on just being able to survive life on a daily basis.
With Food for Hungry Minds' more than 10 years of dedication, I was glad to hear stories of graduates who were able to graduate from the Philippines' top universities and pursue their dreams. As the foundation continues to help more kids, may they be a catalyst for social change for our country and the world.
ANCOP (Answering the Cry of the Poor) Since I'm part of the Couples for Christ advocacy on alleviating poverty, we started the Be a Hero Program this school year. We raise funds to help the most needy in our Sector so their kids can have additional funds for their education. The mission is investing in the education hoping for a our country's better future by raising educated and Christ-centered kids. CFC Central B a Hero Program from peeknclick on Vimeo.
Amanda's Moving Up
It's Amanda's second year in preschool and noticed that she learned a lot. Here's a brief highlight of her moving up day.
It was cute seeing her perform. This may well wrap up what she learned in school. Yes, she now starts to read simple words and sentences, writes better, creates more defined drawings, paints well. But more importantly, she's able to connect more with her classmates and be more inclusive.
One thing I noticed this year was her interest with singing, dancing and speaking in front of people. Although prior to the moving up day she had asthma, she was absent for two days of the practice. But what's interesting was her ability to stay focused and practiced on her own during those days she was out so she was still able to catch up when she went back to school for the practice. I believe real education is not about the final grades you receive at the end of the school year, nor the medals and certificates that you get. In life, what's important is the character formation that educational institutions bring and the challenges we encounter. The kids in HMS, the scholars of ANCOP, and Amanda made big steps in recognizing that education is more than just numbers and words but rather seeing through the obstacles they encounter everyday. HOPE Amanda's moving up day theme is "Be a leader, be the desired change". This gave me a sense of hope for our future. As early as their preschool years, they are taught that change starts with oneself and doesn't depend on other things that you don't have control. With HMS and ANCOP's scholars, I'm more ecstatic that our kids who don't have capability to get better education to have hope. Hope to see that their dreams are a step closer to reality. So before I left home, Amanda was extra sweet in handing me over my laptop bag. I thought it was because she just came from an asthma attack since kids are more "malambing" when they're not feeling well.
By the time I arrived at the office and went to my desk to setup my laptop, I saw this doll along with other toys. Oh my, I just realized that even the security guards might have seen this in the x-ray machine. My girls are growing up so fast that they now know how to give their dad a prank. #babyPrank #AmandaClaire #AubreyCassandra Happy birthday Mommy Cali! Just would like to thank and honor you for always taking care of us. I know it's super difficult to stay sane with all the demands of motherhood and our growing Peek 'n Click business, but you stayed stronger and more beautiful than ever. To my #OTL, I love you and happy birthday! Meet Amanda and Cassie's pet.
Last month, after our weekly routine of visiting Lola Ludy -> Mc Donald's breakfast with Lolo Ador, Ate Amanda wanted to visit Mr. Bear in BGC High Street. Since it's still early morning, we figured we just dropped by and say hi. Fortunately, there was a pet exhibit during that weekend where we saw furry chickens, colorful fish and empty dog cages. Then there was a pet shop owner who's preparing for his talk later that afternoon and he's putting all these fish in individual plastic bags to be given away after his speaking engagement. So my wife, with her usual charm just asked what they were doing. Then they were super nice to give this fish to our babies making him our family's first pet. Later on I realized that Peppa's first pet was a fish as well. So I asked Ate Amanda, "What name would you like to give our pet?" She said, "Hmmmmm, I know... FISHY!" One of the positive things I observed when we had fishy is that ate became more caring. She sees to it that we feed him 3 pellets per meal twice a day as advised by the pet owner. A great way to teach her about responsibility which we could already see when she protects Cassandra to prevent her from falling the bed when we need to go out for a while. Welcome FISHY! |
AuthorI'm a technology geek, photographer, musician and a rookie dad trying out to speak my mind through writing my daily experiences as a young Pinoy dad. Archives
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