Wednesday, April 30, 2014

days like this ❤

Look who's back earlier than expected. Ha! I deserve a pat on the back. Now who wants to do the honor? Come onnn, ayaw nyo? Hehehe! Anyway, can you tell I'm happy? A couple of things make me really, genuinely, lighthearted these days -- props to the big Guy up there. I won't spill all the beans tanayt but we can at least begin with our family days out here and there. I know you will all agree with me when I say that one's family is indeed one's anchor to sanity. In fact, every time I feel blue, I do a virtual assessment of my life and the thought of my family instantly makes me feel better. Thought pa lang yun ah?! What more when we get to bond, eat out and visit the church together? Total pick-me-upper!


girls will always be..
GIRLS!

❤❤❤

One of those precious days was this -- another Grotto sesh. We had late lunch at where else, Da Best! I just knew we'll be back.  Hahaha! It was a bigger feast compared to the last time that we were there because this time, we tagged along Yags {my cousin} and Faye. Mommy {my cousin's wifey} couldn't make it 'cause she had to look after Avi, their four-month-old baby. Another reason why it was a grand feast? It was papi's treat! Ahh, our old man. Still never fails to ensure our tummies' happiness. Hehehe! And oh, don't look for food photos. I was preoccupied with kulit and no one wanted to take the role of a photographer. Okaaay. We had sisig, liempo, papaitan, kare-kare, kaldereta, daing na bangus and sinigang na hipon though.



Speaking of being preoccupied by my niece, here's a video she took while I was feeding her. Pinakain mo na, pinagtripan ka pa. Hahaha! But my father said it best, her kakulitan is the funny and entertaining type, definitely far from being annoying. And you have no idea just how malakas she is to my father. My love for kids must have come from somewhere, now we all know. :)


After we have survived food coma, we transferred to its neighboring church -- Our Lady of Lourdes Grotto. It's a no-brainer! If we'll attend a mass as a family, it should be in Grotto. Although of course, it isn't a regular thing and we visit other churches too if it's only me or my sister, or my mom and any of my sibs. Also, we don't usually finish a mass {we usually just pray} but this time we had to 'cause we were with Yags. And honestly, I loved how we sat there quietly and just listened for an hour or so. Really should happen again. ❤
 




On another news, let's all welcome the month of May. Should be a good one! :)


Saturday, April 26, 2014

stage aunt, literally

Shhh! Tiptoe-ing through this blog 'cause I might get showered with tomatoes and boos for being a bad blogger since April started. Almost a month now! It's been that long. Now if you'll assure me that there isn't any tomato threat then I'll start blabbing my excuses, err, reasons. Slip of the fingers! Hehe! So? Am I safe from tomatoes now? :)

Sparing away from my pathetic kamatis quips, here's the truth -- I wasted my days on friggin' purpose!! Yasss, I did that! Remember Eat, Pray, Love? DOLCE FAR NIENTE. Ahh, the sweetness of doing nothing. ❤ I just had to. My recent visit to the doctor reminded me, yet again, that I still can't work. Worse, I'm no longer allowed to workout, run or dance! It's goodbye Zumba for now. Just how frustrating is that?! In rebellion, I did literally nothing for days. Hahaha! I know, I know, it's plain crazyyy! I honestly felt guilty afterwards so I did another round of general cleaning and can I just say that I never felt this AT PEACE with my room and stuff? Props to Gretchen Rubin and her awesome book, of course! {You may want to click on the link to get what I mean. ✌} Now I'm back to regular programming. No more resentment towards my odd situation, I promise! Hehehe!

Anywayyyy, the first of what you missed is my niece's moving-up day! I was their photographer as usual.. because really, who can play that role better than I do, right? Gawdd, I take the best photos kayaaa! O ano yan, ano yaan? Walang batuhan ng kamatis! Hehehe! And yes, hindi pa 'ko tapos sa kamatis gags ko. Uhm, can someone knock some sense into me, please? :)
  
Woke up early that day, dressed up as quickly as I can and headed to the venue sans breakfast. As soon as I saw the scenario, I knew it's gonna be a chaotic, tiring auntie duty -- I was right! Faye was actually fine at first. She was her usual crazy self doing weird poses with her schoolmates.. until we had to prep her up for the march! Suddenly, she was throwing a tantrum; she wouldn't let us fix her garlands in peace; she wouldn't wear her gloves; she wouldn't let auntie take her photos. Roller coaster ride of emotions from the kid! As young as four, big days seem to be stressful for her already. If only she'd understand, I'd tell her "I get you, little lady. I get you." Hehehe! I happen to hate big days too. Oops!



The program started with the kids and parents' processional march. On the other hand, I was on the sideline fighting for my right to be in front of everyone. That's actually my goal all through out, yung 'wag matabunan. Haha! Kasi naman if you haven't noticed, I'm quite petite at 5'2", I mean 4'9" pala. Hehehe! I could easily get lost in the crowd, or worse matapak-tapakan, so before that happens, I always rush to my desired spot early. Well, well, well, parang photo booth lang yan. :)


After the procession, the usual national anthem x opening prayer x welcome address followed. Then the students sang "Welcome to the Family". Funny how close the parents, guardians and eheem aunts were to the kids. Faye was literally singing in front of me! Didn't I tell you I fight for my spots? Haha! It's just bad that she's not in the mood to sing & dance that day. Again, I'm guessing she's overwhelmed with the crowd and the whole moving-up thing. It was hot too, if I may add. But it wasn't all bad so I'm uploading the video still. There's just no stopping this document-obsessed freak. Okay lang? :P

pre-performance sumpong


Then it was time to award their certificates. Can you imagine just how long that part of the program was? I can't stress enough how thankful I am that the nursery students always get awarded first. After I'm done with my duty, I go back to my seat and stop caring about the world. I couldn't help it! I swear I tried!


Next, they sang "You Raise Me Up". It was another sumpong moment for my niece but at least mommy got her to move a little. Nakoo, if you're a mom, it's a must to possess bribery skills or else. Anyway, checkout the video below and notice Faye's sorta kinda modified actions. Hehehe! Instead of just raising her hands {in interpretation of the "you raise me up" lines}, she raises her right foot also. And I don't know if I'm only being biased but I still find her so koyoot while being lost in the choreography. Forever too adorbs in auntie's eyes, eh? :) After their interpretation, they played the song again while the kids offer roses and artworks to their parents. I have to admit I appreciated that part. Kudos to Royal Gem!

 


Then it was time to award the little achievers with their hard-earned medals. It was divided into four parts -- character awards, special awards, A pupil award for each quarter and lastly, the honors. For the character awards, it was nice of the faculty to actually give each student an award. Thumbs up for their effort to think of the most fitting adjective for each and every kid. Abaaa, mahirap yun ah! But a child's happiness is always worth it. ❤ Moving on, Faye was the Most Articulate. I agree, by all means.


From the special awards category, she got five -- Best in Science, Good in Scripture Memorization, Best in Story Telling, Good in Reading & Mahusay Bumasa. There was actually an issue with the awards she received but let's skip it. All's well that ends well, as they say. :)
 

From the A pupil category, she got four. That's one for every quarter, meaning straight A's for our four-year-old! One day she'd be able to grasp the whole idea and I bet she'd claim being beauty and brains too. Eheemm, ubo, uboo! Hahahaha! And yes, I did say I'm now a literal stage aunt 'cause Yags {his daddy, my cousin} made me walk up the stage. Dyaheee, I was shaking from combined hunger and tension. With all my heart, I regretted skipping breakfast. I was starving towards the end of the program.


our little achiever ❤

And finally her medal for finishing as Third Honor was awarded. Mommy was actually disappointed about it because she used to be either the first or second for the previous quarters but ended up as third because of a certain 30/70 computation that the teacher explained to us. I'm not completely convinced but it's not like we can change any of what happened. :P Still so proud of our young blood!! She's just freakin' four, for crying out loud!


Lastly, they sang "Busy Days". Srsly? It was one of our grad songs too way back.. uhmm.. the 90's.. and it's been decades now. Classic! Hehehe! No more sumpong this time but still not at her best. Kung "Let it Go" ba naman kasi yan ehh! Remind me to take a video of her singing and interpreting that song, you'll get what I mean. Going back, the program ended with the usual closing prayer and supposedly a recessional march. It obviously didn't happen!


with kuya Geoff, his dad's friend's son
ano daw?!


Then the most awaited first decent meal of the day! We ate at City Buffet but sadly, I wasn't able to make the most out of it. I just grabbed whatever 'cause as I said, I was starving. I was full by the time I realized that there's so much more I could try from the spread. Also, it was funny how their congratulatory song was playing non-stop. We joined in the riot by having them sing a song for Faye too. My yabang niece wore her 11 medals so the crew made a number of jokes about it. Sulit na rin if you come to think of it.



Quick post-graduation kwento! I limped for days 'cause obviously I wore heels and I did a lot of walking and standing that day. I felt such a lola! I seriously need to go back to work and practice my 'walking in high heels' skill. Hehehe! And yes, I missed blogging sooo bad that I had to blab non-stop! Goodnight, folks! :)


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