Mommy and Me Monday: Christmas Day Mass

We decided to have our photo taken in front of the church after attending the mass on Christmas Day.

We got busy afterwards visiting their grandmother in Manila while my husband played Santa Clause.


Hosted by Krystyn at Really, Are You Serious?

Mommy Moments - Moms Bonding Moments

I met a lot of full-time moms from my kids' school that eventually became my friends.



We talk about anything under the sun. (literary, under the sun, hehehe) Or even in the school parking lot.



From our kids assignments to the oil prizes to who's on the entertainment new today. Its a short but meaningful time, if I may say, we spent together.



The most important thing is we share our experiences with our kids. You learn how to deal with situations you have never dealt before because some moms already have through with it.

The best part is we know we all love and support our kids!

Mommy Moments - Mommy's Favorite Photos

Its hard to decide which photo is my favorite because each has a story to tell. Here's some of it...


never thought our family picture from a photobooth would be one of my favorite



"a wacky wedding picture?" (who would thought of that)



a wacky photo of my boys...
my favorite because I can't make them pose like this again.



the soooo-tired men in my life



this is one of my favorite because this is when I realized how good a son I have (click here to find out how)


These are just some of my favorite photos. I hope you enjoyed watching it and looking forward to see yours...

Happy mommy moments!

Mommy Moments - Mommy's Unforgetable Stories

The 13 years of married life brought me loads of stories to tell. Ordinary stories that brings great impact in my life.

I got married late. I had a long engagement, almost 8 years. Finally, we decided to get married because we believe we are prepared for it already: emotionally, financially, and spiritually.

God has been so good to me because he blessed me with a good husband and wonderful kids. There sure are rough times but we manage to survived it because of the love we had for each other and our love for God.


I cannot forget my stories of giving birth to my kids. Each has a different story to tell. But I want to share the story of my eldest's. Since it was my first pregnancy, I dont know what to do. I didnt know that my baby was already stressed out in my tummy. He was already infected with the meconium stain when I gave birth to him. Because of the infection, we decided that he stayed in the hospital for 7 more days until the infections were treated.

It's so sad to go home after giving birth and you didn't bring your baby home with you! I was having dreams about my delivery. I was in the hospital everyday to breastfeed my son but they won't let me stay long in the nursery. Only during feeding time. It was a little sacrifice I had to face for my son. And it didn't go to waste. He grew up to be a healthy, fine young man of 13! (He was born 9 months after we were married)

My family is my world now. I stopped working 11 years ago and decided to be a full-time mom. Another decision I had to choose but it's paying off well... Happy mommy moments!

Mommy Moments - Parenting Tips

Even though we've been parents for almost 13 years now, we still have lots to learn. This week's topic in MM is very dear to me as I'm always interested in listening to other parent's sharing tips with one another.

I have two "would-be teen-age boys", the most sensitive stage. Which means I should be more understanding, more sensitive, more patient, more firm, and more caring.

From the very start, I made sure I am approachable to my kids. I try to know what it is that they like, what it is that they hate, and try to read their minds and actions. I tried my best to act as one of their friends (with authority). I also make it a point that I share my thoughts and feelings with them. So through the years, we've developed a good communication line.

I learned that it is important to practice what you preached. Blaine Bartel wrote is his Big Black Book for Parents that parents should model the following actions for their teens:

1. Be Polite. Treat others with respect. Say please and thank you. Also remember, dads: Ladies first.
2. Smile. Show off those pearly whites. This small gesture will go a long way.
3. Share. This unselfish act is pack with power.
4. Listen. Give others your full attention. They will appreciate the investment.
5. Lend a hand. Mow the lawn for an elderly neighbor, or send a card to a relative you have been praying for.
6. Give a gift. There doesn't have to be a special reason, but the best reason of all is to simply say, "I care about you."

We may not notice it, but our children especially our teens, are watching us and they learn from us - parents!

Mommy Moments - Nutrition Tips

I am glad that my kids loves to eat fish and white chicken meat. My problem is that they are not so fond in eating fruits and vegetables. They only eat banana, apple and mango and watermelon (for my youngest son). I let them drink fruit juices to compensate for their lack of fruit intake. For vegetables, I make soup out of different kinds of vegetables. If they wont eat the veggies, I compromise with just taking a sip of it.



Since they are bringing pack lunches is school, they mostly like to bring nuggets (fish, chichen, or pork). Instead of giving them nuggets which are readily available, I try to make our own nuggets. We buy ground chicken or lean pork and make our own nuggets. I let them watch me do it and taste if its okay with them. Now, there's this new trend wherein nuggets have bacon and/or cheese. I'll try to make those variety as well.



My youngest always puts egg in his rice. So, his lunchbox always consists of rice mix with egg and a choice of either chicken, fish, or lean meat. He loves tuna so much, especially if its tuna omelet!

Water, I let them drink plenty of water. You'll know if they're short of water when their skin starts to dry up.

We will have a long weekend and I'll try making a menu while they're here at home.

Mommy Moments - I am a Daddy

My husband and I planned to have a baby as soon as we're married so our firstborn is a "honeymoon-baby"!


My husband, as he looks on our first child at the nursery
My husband was supportive during my pregnancies. I have three. Excited on what food I would crave on and won't buy anything with dark color! He was so funny! I remember when I ask for "dinugan" he wouldn't let me eat any but when I asked for a "turnip", he buys it at once!

After my pregnancies, he was even more supportive. From naming our babies up to having the registered! He made sure that our babies were registered before I left the hospital!


my husband,carrying our second child
He was just too scary holding our newborn babies. We would place our baby on a pillow before he could carry them. He said they're too fragile.


my husband, on our youngest's baptism
After that phase and our babies started growing, he would make a chant on our babies name (all three of them) when he calls them. Like, "shua-migul" for our eldest, "binbirinbin" for our second, and "phoebo-bo-bo-bo" for our youngest. You will hear him do these chant when he comes home from the office. Even now that our eldest 12yo., he still do these chants.

And I think he will never get tired singing those chants to our kids as long as we're here...

Mommy Moments - Dear Mom

I wish to share with you the message my son, Kevin, gave me last mother's day.

He uses the cellphone we gave him as a reward for doing good in school.

Here it is:

"HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY for the world's greatest mother.
Thank you for taking care of us, helping us with our assignments and projects and does many chores for us. Thank you for all of this.
I LOVE YOU ... Kevin"

I love you, too, baby!

Mommy Moments - White

Hello there, mommies! It's good to be back!

White is the theme of our MM this week and I have these to share with you...


...the medals of my kids with WHITE ribbon. It's for Exemplary Conduct Awards. All my three boys got an award each and we're so proud of them!


I also want to thank our dear Lord for giving us such good kids. Thank you, Lord!

Mommy Moments - New Achievements

Last friday is "card-giving day" in my sons' school. I got there a little late because the boys wanted to hang around for awhile before I get their report cards from their respective teachers.

As expected, all my three boys got a "Conduct Award" each. They've had it since the first quarter. I'm just so proud of them.



As for Kevin, my second child, he is working to get a "General Scholastic Award" which the highest academic award given by the school. He set this goal himself and this last quarter is very crucial for him. We just have to make sure that he has our full support.

JM, my eldest, got the newest achievement! He's got the "Academic Excellent Award" for the third quarter and he's done it on his own effort! The way he surprise me with his award also touches me (as most parents will feel). I arrived at their school at around 5:00pm and I went straight ahead to my youngest son's classroom to get his report card. JM got their also and waited until I finished talking with Phoebo's teacher. Afterwards we, JM, Phoebo and me, went to Kevin's classroom to see his adviser. On the way, we met JM's former adviser and she asked about JM's performance. I just said he is still a Conduct Awardee and his former adviser agrees. JM didn't say anything about his other awards. After my talk with Kevin's adviser, it's time to go to JM's. All this time, JM is with me and I just thought maybe his friends has already left the school that's why he's hanging out with me. As I enter his classroom, I sit for awhile since his adviser is still talking with some parents, I have to wait for my turn. I usually go to their bulletin board to read what's posted but that time I just sit back on the chair and wait. While sitting there waiting I look around and started to read their bulletin board. I read the names of the Conduct Awardees and I saw JM's name there. Well, I was expecting it already. Then, I read the the names of the Academic Achievers. It was just a short list, less than ten names were there. To my surprise, I saw my son's name! I was so happy! I said he knew all along but why not tell me firsthand. He said, he wanted to surprise me! And he did!

Good work sons! Keep it up! Mama and Papa is just so proud of you!

Mommy Moments - It Comes in All Shapes

Phoebo loves cars and he likes checking its tires...so that would be CIRCLE.



So is with this donut - CIRCLE!



Kevin, JM and sometimes Phoebo love to read books. Books are RECTANGLE in shape!



They also love to play with their DS (especially now that its Playtime-Friday for them) - RECTANGLE again!



Kuya's love nowadays is his guitar, I don't know it shape, Guitar-shaped? HELP!!! LOL





Happy Weekend...

Mommy Moments - Before and After

Happy to be back here at MM!

Here's our share of the "before and after" photo's of my kiddos:

This is JM when he was 12 months old...

...and this is JM, now at 12 years old.

This is Kevin when he was 10 months old...

...and this is Kevin, now at 10 years old (he'll be 11y.o. on Sunday)


This is Phoebo, when he was 6months old...

...and now at 6 years old.


Have a great weekend!