Aly's 8th Birthday Weekend: Part 1

If Aly's birthday weekend were made into a tv show, it would be a two-day special written and directed by moi with Richard as the executive producer.  The lead role goes to the princess herself, of course.

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We kicked off the birthday weekend with Disney On Ice.

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She enjoyed the show and loved the (expensive) souvenirs.  But it was her birthday so Richard had no other choice but to reach for his wallet when his princess asked for the Tinkerbell cup.  Haha!

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After the show, we went to La Monita because Aly requested for her favorite Mexican food.

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Her favorite cheese quesadillas.

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Richard and I shared a steak burrito.  Yum!

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It was a great Saturday!  Nothing beats spending time with family talaga.  That night, Aly told us that she had a great day.  It was the best thing ever!  At least Richard and I know that we did something right :)

Earth Hour 2011

Image from the Earth Hour Website.

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The Valdez Family in Bangkok supports Earth Hour and so can you!  On March 26, Saturday at 8:30pm, switch off all the lights, computers, tv in your home for an hour as a pledge of support to Mother Earth.

More On Aly's Birthday Preps

So we bought the gifts already.  This week, I worked on decorations.  We're planning to put them up tonight for maximum exposure.  Haha!  Here's a sneak peek on Aly's birthday banner.

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Materials: pink and purple cardboard (cartolina), craft scissors, glue, pencil + colored pens.

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These are all proudly handmade!  Aly helped me cut the triangles.  I drew all the letters myself (all that doodling during Filipino class in high school are starting to pay off haha!).

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I decorated each letter with this year's theme: flowers and butterflies :)

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Doing these handmade banners is not easy and it's a lot of work.  It took me 2-3 days to finish them (I can only work on them for a couple of hours each day) and at the end of each day, my hands would hurt a little.  But I just can't bring myself to shell out Thb300-500 for a birthday banner when I know that I can make one at a fraction of the cost.  Times like these, I really miss SM and National Bookstore back home.  They have everything there at a much cheaper price!  Then again, even with those around, I know I'd still make these myself.  I'm just glad I'm blessed with the knowhow.

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Aly's birthday is two days away.  I'm so excited!!

Field Trip, Bottled Water and Why Husbands Can't Do Grocery Shopping

Aly's class was scheduled for a field trip yesterday but the weather was terrible when we woke up.  There was too much rain and some areas were flooded so the school decided to cancel.  I can just imagine the kids' disappointment.  Poor babies!  But it's all for the best.  If the weather was terrible, I'm sure the traffic will be horrible.  Worse, what will happen when they're in the middle of the expressway and you've got a van full of kids who need to take a bathroom break?  Yikes!

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Anyway, the night before the field trip, I asked Richard to help Aly buy her baon. I wasn't able to go to the supermarket that day because I wasn't feeling well.  I asked them to buy the smallest bottled water they can find and this is what they brought home with them:

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He bought Evian. At Thb40 per bottle.  Really now?

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I didn't know if I was going to get mad or laugh, but I ended up laughing.  First of all, Aly wouldn't mind how much her water costs.  Her only concern is the taste.  She wants the clean, distilled water type taste, not the mineral water/buko juice type.  Plus, regular bottled water here costs Thb10-15 and they have many varieties too.  But with all the options out there, the hubby zeroes in on this.  Haha!  Ano pa kaya if he does our weekly shopping?  Patay ang budget!  Heehee!  Love you, sweetie!  This is why grocery shopping is my turf.  Ha!  Akala mo naman budget expert ako.  

  

Aly's Phone

Richard and I made a decision to give Aly a mobile phone.  I know you might think she's too young to have her own phone and it may look to some like we're spoiling her but you'll be surprised at how kids now are totally different from our time.  They're more high-tech.  Plus, we didn't really buy her a new unit, she's using my old phone.  All we had to do was buy her a SIM card.  So there was no spoiling involved.

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I got the idea when I was teaching Aly how to operate my phone.  I thought I'd teach her how to call or text daddy in case of an emergency where mommy won't be able to call or text daddy herself.  She got the hang of it so for practice, I'd let her answer the phone when I'm busy in the kitchen.  There was also one time when I was supposed to pick her up but I was stuck in traffic.  When that happens, I usually call one of the mommies but I get dyahe so I asked Richard if it's ok to let Aly bring her own phone to school.  So there.

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It's funny how we'd sometimes text each other even when we're on opposite ends of the apartment.  Heehee!  She's excited like that.  There are also times when I'd catch her tinkering with her phone, playing Snake or changing the wallpaper...it really makes me smile.  She looks all grown up.  Haha!

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Yesterday, as I was about to pick her up from school, I received this message:

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Haha!  Did I make a mistake by giving her a phone?  I wasn't late or anything, I was a few steps away from school when she sent me this message.  Demanding lang sya talaga.

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But it all changed when that evening, Richard showed me this message from his princess:

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I love it!  I love how father and daughter are exchanging text messages now.  Richard loves her sentence construction.  Hindi daw sya jejemon.  Haha!  I told him she doesn't know textspeak to begin with.

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Isn't she the cutest?  She really is no longer a baby.  She's a little person now.

Aly's Birthday Preps

She's been looking forward to her birthday all year so Richard and I are doing our best to make our princess happy on her special day.  Last Saturday, we went shopping for her birthday gifts.

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She usually walks with me but since daddy was carrying all her gifts, dedma na muna si mommy.

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Aly worked on her wishlist for several weeks.  She knows that she can only buy toys on her birthday and on Christmas so we ended up with a three-page long list.  Haha!  But Richard set a certain budget.  It was up to me to choose from Aly's list as long as I stay within the budget.

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But I think I got a little carried away with gift shopping.  Heehee!

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Richard was a bit shocked that I went a little over budget.  Told you sweetie that I'll stay with Aly na lang while you buy the gifts.  You know how I don't get along with budgeting.  But then I told him that this is all for his princess so he relaxed a bit.  Haha!

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It was all worth it!

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We also bought tickets for Disney On Ice for next Saturday.

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Someone's going to have a great birthday! 

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Yesterday we ordered her birthday cake.  We made Aly choose the design.  Aly and I also worked on her birthday decorations.  We're planning to put them up on Friday night to set the mood.  As if we're not in the mood already.  Haha!

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I hope it's Friday already.  I can't wait for Aly's birthday!

Paper Animals

One of the projects that Aly and I worked on were these paper animals.  She volunteered to help her teacher make them for their class presentation on Chapel day.  The fact that she volunteered to do this project was a milestone for us.  I used to think my Aly was the type of student who would just sit in the background and observe. Obviously, I was wrong.  I love her involvement in their class activity.  Kaya kahit masakit ulo ko that day and I was really looking forward to an afternoon nap, I had to brush my headache aside to help Aly.

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I don't have superb drawing skills.  I can't draw things from scratch.  I do, however, have excellent copying skills.  Haha!  We searched Aly's books for the easiest animals that we can copy.  I don't like complicated drawings with shading, shadowing and stuff.  Hindi kaya ng powers ko.  I prefer the one-dimensional, cartoon-like drawings.  So this is what we came up with:

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Our paper animals.  Pardon the grainy photos.  These were taken using my phone.

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Some of my favorites include:

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The purple elephant.

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The penguin.  

Aly colored them with crayons and I love how it turned out.

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The dove.  

I love the simplicity of this one.

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The octopus.  

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Check out the detail.

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The ostrich.

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There were some animals that took more time to finish because I decided to add more details. I used the leftover cardboard (didn't want to waste them!), cut them into small pieces to come up with fish scales and feathers.

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The parrot.

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The fish.

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Another bird.

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A hummingbird.

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I had fun making these!  And my headache did go away.  Thank goodness!  But the part that I like most was I made Aly happy.  Yeah, I spoil her like that.  She enjoyed making the project as well.  She thanked me with a big hug and a big kiss.  Sigh...the perks of being a mom!  Don't you just love it?