Our Son's Artwork

A few days before Christmas break, Josiah, my 5-year old son brought home from school a "Walking Book". It is a compilation of artwork by all the kids in his kindergarten class. They call it a Walking Book because it is being passed from one home to another for the parents to see. Kids completed the statement "Home is where I . . .  " by illustrating it. I took a picture of Josiah's answer and drawing. We are so proud of him. Among the 17 kids in his class, we thought he's got the best drawing with a very sensible answer. He sure is fond of his little sister! They are like two-piece in a pod.

My Son's Favorite Story/Coloring Books

Reading is one of my five-year old son's favorite things to do. He could sit for hours reading or be read to. It's something that Josiah got from his father. I don't read that much. Well, I used to. But now with two kids, it seems like there are more things that needed to be done around the house than the time I have to do them. Anyhow, Josiah has a wide variety of favorites from the solar system to anything that has wheels. He also loves to color.

Some of his gifts this year are story/coloring books. They are not the ordinary kind of books. They are special made-to-order personalized books. You should have seen the excitement in his face when he saw them. He could not believe when he saw his name printed on the covers of each story/coloring book. One is entitled "Rev it up Josiah" and the other one is "The Adventures of the Friendly Monster and Josiah". We read both books right away. What is so neat about these books is that the kid's name is printed on every single page of the book, either as part of the story or just by itself. Josiah enjoyed that very much! After we read the stories, he then started coloring them. A set of colored pens were included in each package. 

Everytime Josiah gets something very special to him and that he likes very much, he always takes it to bed with him at night. Well, guess what? These personalized books made it to bed with him that night :) !

I will be ordering personalized party favors for his birthday also. He's gonna have a blast when he sees them come May. If you are interested in personalized gifts for kids, check frecklebox.com for stuff that children love!

Thanks Frecklebox for helping me make my son happy!

Christmas in the Country

Our church had its annual "Christmas in the Country" celebration yesterday. The sanctuary was jammed packed with people despite the bad weather conditions. There were lots of singing, skits, etc. It sure was one of a kind! Josiah took part in one of the kids' presentations. He did great! We're so proud of him for standing in front of many people doing his part with confidence. 

After the program/service, different kinds of soups and salads were served on a donation basis. At the same time, there was a bakeshop with lots of goodies for grabs.  Prices were very reasonable. Both of these were part of the youth's fundraising campaign. 

Then, came Josiah's most awaited part of the day, the sleigh ride.  The weather seemed to cooperate. There was a pretty good amount of snow on the ground. It snowed since Saturday night and never stopped until late in the afternoon of Sunday. He enjoyed the sleigh ride with Papa though it was super cold. 

Before we headed home, we had our family picture taken. For some reason it did not turn out good. It's kinda blurry. Oh, well, there will be more opportunities like that before this year ends.

A Night in Bethlehem

A week ago, our family went on a little trip to Bethlehem. It was very cold and snowy that night but we made it OK. For 30 minutes or so, we walked through the busy streets of Bethlehem. There were a lot of people who came to be counted for the census. Our son, Josiah, had fun with the sheep and donkeys that we saw there. As you can see, he asked to have his picture taken with one of the shepherd boys. We also saw Bethlehem artifacts and made acquaintances with different people from Bethlehem. The highlights of our night in Bethlehem was seeing the baby Jesus laying on the manger with Mary and Joseph. And of course, the hot cider and yummy cookies served after our walk while listening to carolers. Everybody else had cookies, except me. I had too much sweets that day already and I have been trying to lose weight. My goal is to do it without taking diet pills. 

Anyhow, that huge Christmas presentation which relived the night in Bethlehem when Jesus was born was sponsored by one of the local churches in town. They did such an awesome job in this very unique Christmas presentation. I sure felt like I was in Bethlehem that night! 

My New Toy

This is what I got me for Christmas . . .  a new Canon FS100 Flash Memory Camcorder with 48x Advanced Zoom. I could not believe how small and tiny it is. Its dimensions are 4.9 x 2.4 x 2.3 inches and 1 pound only. I carry it with me all the time. It perfectly  fits in my purse. Another thing that I like about it is that it captures video to SDHC cards. No more messing around with tapes. Transferring files to my Macbook is super easy. I use a transcend compact reader and as soon as I got the card in there, my laptop recognizes it. Making dvds couldn't get any easier than this! 

Getting Closer To My Goal

Yesterday, I was very surprised to see the numbers on my weighing scale. I haven't been checking my weight for a while now. I used to do that almost everyday after I had my baby. But then, it gets so tiring to see my numbers unchanged. There were times when they even got higher. What a disappointment that was!  So, I just quit doing it. Then one day, I noticed that my old jeans fit me nicely. They used to be so tight that I could barely zip it. Every time I wear those jeans, hubby would tell me to exercise or get some new jeans. I didn't want to buy new ones because they are still good and new-looking. Besides, I got a goal of losing those unwanted fats anyway. Well, the good news is that I am very close to my goal. I am now 116 lbs. I guess I don't need those weight loss pills, which I had been considering of getting. I am reaching my goal one step at a time.

How About A $ 1,000.00 Butter Dish?

We had a really nice butter dish that we inherited from my husband's grandma.  Unfortunately, it broke when hubby accidentally dropped it on the floor. Since then, we've been using a saucer to put butter on. I have another butter dish which I only use during special occasions. It comes with a whole set of dishes. Anyway, before Thanksgiving, I went shopping for a butter dish. I checked out different stores in our big city of Rice Lake. Only Herbergers carry them. I just could not believe it! To make matters worse, the ones in Hebergers come with a whole set of dishes and there were only 3 choices. Besides, if you buy just the butter dish, it would cost you like a fortune. The cheapest was $38.00 + tax. I thought that was too much for a little everyday use butter dish. So, I decided to check online at amazon.com. They've got so many butter dishes to choose from. I came across one that costs $1,000.00. I called hubby and showed him that butter dish. We both had a good laugh at it. It didn't even look fancy nor attractive. Maybe it was a rare kind or made of something really expensive. But, who in the world would buy such a tiny little thing for a grand? Oh, maybe the super rich people out there. Well, I got mine for $18.00 and it matches good with my newly painted kitchen.

I Want Neighbors

We used to live in a house owned by my husband's employers before we bought our own home.  It was a beautiful house with a nice kitchen. The cupboards were made of hard and expensive wood, which their son made for them. He is a professional cabinet maker. The sinks were newly replaced when we moved in. All in all, it was a great place to live in. But, the nicest part about it was the fact that it was rent-free. We lived there for five months. The only thing that I didn't like was the location. There were no neighbors. That was very hard for me, especially when my husband was at work and won't get home until 9:00 in the evening. Boy, was I in cloud nine when we bought this place! Here, I could see people walking by and we got lots of neighbors. I was just so used to living with neighbors close-by in the Philippines. It's hard to shift gears sometimes when you're so used to it.

Happy 1st Birthday, Baby!

Today is my baby girl's 1st birthday. Sunday is a busy day for us. So, we had her party yesterday. I will post more pictures when I have time. Anyway, she had a good time. It's hard to believe my baby is a year old already. Time sure does fly! Doesn't it? 

My son started walking when he was 11 months old, but did not start talking until he was almost two. Mahalia, on the other hand, is a chatterbox but isn't walking. She seems so comfortable with crawling that she does not have interest about talking steps. Oh, well, every child is different! She will when she is ready. . . whenever that is :) .

Happy birthday my Little Princess, Mahalia! God bless you, Sweetie! We love you verrry much !!!!!

Magnets

One of the things that Josiah, our son, enjoys playing with are magnets. His grandpa (Tatay), when he was here in the US,  gave him six magnets which he got at a local thrift store. Since then, he's got some kind of fascination with magnets. He asked if I could get him more magnets for Christmas. Such a big christmas wish! :)

I remember when I was a kid, I used to play with magnets a lot.  My father had tons of them. For some reason, I was so magnetized by those magnets. Wasn't that funny? Well,  I guess it's true that history repeats itself. 

That's Our Little Guy!

My son is really something! When we got home today from church, he opened and held the door for me. I told him thank you and that I appreciated it. He looked at me with a grin and said " You're welcome, Mama. You are my best friend and I love you so much." That came from the mouth of a five-year old boy.  

There was another thing he did that made my husband smile. When he saw his Papa this morning in his Sunday outfit, he made a comment. He said "Papa, that shirt you are wearing is very nice. I really like that. You look great!"

We are so thankful to have a little guy like our Josiah. He is such a blessing!

Balikbayan Boxes

Finally, the three balikbayan boxes that my parents packed before they went back to the Philippines will be shipped tomorrow. Somebody will come to our house to pick up the boxes. Our original plan was to take them to the agent's house. It is a lot cheaper that way. But, with my husband's recent knee surgery, that's not gonna happen. These boxes are huge and very heavy. 

One advantage of sending these boxes through an agent and not taking them straight to the Filipino store is that she gives free boxes to replace the ones sent. These boxes cost $6.00 each at the Fil-Oriental Store. So, then, I will have 3 boxes more to fill. I still got so many stuff to send to the Philippines. My nephews and niece have been asking for this and that for Christmas. I got some really good deals the day after Thanksgiving. My brother-in-law asked if I could include a watch for him. I haven't gotten that yet. I am thinking of replica watches. They make good gifts. We'll see what I can do here.