Hong Kong Recap

Ok, time to do a recap of our trip to Hong Kong.

First of all, it was HOT and HUMID. Totally hot and humid! I don't think ANYTHING could compare to how hot and sticky we all were the whole time we were in Hong Kong! hehehe, I exaggerate not! So ...... hot and humid plus some slight showers. Sigh!

But all in all, it was a good time to just be with family. Just us...Japa, me, and the kids. And Yaya B of course :) Although, I must say this now: having the kids along somehow made it seem that we had NO time to go shopping. Well, not just shopping, but no time to do anything at all BUT be with the kids and the activities that they wanted to do!

But I digress.....let's move on to the recap, which I'm sure you ALL want to hear :)

{AUGUST 25}
We left Manila on the 8 am flight. Thank goodness we were able to get the early flight. This way, the whole day wouldn't be such a waste. The flight was uneventful except for the couple of times Raine threw up. TWO times, I say! The first time she barfed on part of her seat; she was lucky she barely got any on me! Heheehe :) Anyway, I pretty much knew WHEN she was about to blow, so I had the barf bags at the ready.

Oh, and before I forget, take note that before throwing up, Raine had eaten some breakfast at home. Right after she threw up, she was ready to eat the breakfast that was served on the plane. Halfway through, she threw up everything she ate. Then proceeded to eat the rest of her food.

Sigh! Normal behavior for all my kids, I tell you.

So we get to Hong Kong and find out that we had to pay HK$200 extra just to get on the stupid shuttle bus that would take us to the hotel. So we decided that I was going to get on the Airport Express with Raine and check us in early at the hotel. Smartest move ever. I paid an extra HK$50 to put more money in my Octopus Card to get on the Airport Express. Raine's fare was FREE because the MTR had a promo for the month! Yipppppeeeeee!!!!

We get to the Holiday Inn and we were able to score CONNECTING rooms! How sweet is that! Hehehe. Totally easier if you have kids with you!

Lunch was at Fat Angelo's. Practically right next to the hotel. Ahhhhhh......need I say any more?

We spent the whole afternoon at the SCIENCE MUSEUM. It was the BEST thing we did while at Hong Kong. There were a lot of exhibits...some to look at, but MOST were HANDS-ON!!! Yeah! The coolest museum ever! The kids totally enjoyed their time there. In hindsight, I wish we had reserved a whole day to go to the museum. Next time we know.

Pictures to follow, I guess, although I'd much rather show them off in layouts :)

Dinner was at the hotel room since we were all bone-tired from the flight and all.

That was the end of the first day :)

I've Been on Vacation

to Hong Kong, that is. Went with Japs and the kids, and though it was fun, it was also hectic!!! I'll write about that when I get back home to Manila tomorrow night. For now, I want to show off my latest layouts:

{ON THE GRASS}Credits here.

{ATC-AKO AY PILIPINO}Credits here.

That should be all. :)

I've Been a Bad Blogger

{SCRAPS OF MAMA}
Whoa - I just checked what layouts I needed to upload to show off, and I've apparently been a productive little scrapping bee! Hehehe. So I've broken down the LOs and put them under the day I scrapped them.

=====

4 days! 4 whole days! Sheesh! Anyway, here's a super duper short summary of what's been happening:

{MONDAY}
Holiday in the Philippines - Ninoy Aquino's Birthday. He was killed in the 80s when he decided to come home to the Philippines after living in exile in the States. Then President Marcos decided Ninoy was too big of a threat...and the rest is history.

We played BADMINTON for 3 hours I think. Mom and Boydee, Stella and Randy, Zhar and Rod, and Japa and moi. It was fun though, and GOOD exercise, thank goodness.

{BOOK LISTS}

Credits here.

{TUESDAY}
Teacher KitKat wanted to speak to me about Rogan. So off I went to M.I. Grrr!!!! My little man has been misbehavin' in school! He's been bullying his classmates (although some are bigger than he is, but still!), calling them mean names, twisting some girl's arm (a girl!!!) and just picking fights in general. He even forced a classmate to eat leaves!!!! aaargh!!!!

So, his teacher and I decided that we were going to take away some ---okay, all--- his privileges: no TV, no computer, no playstation. He can read, write and build his legos. That's it. Oh, and the kids are now BANNED from watching Nickelodeon. Except in the mornings when Dora and company are on the tube.

Grrrrrrr!!!

{PIECES OF MY HEART}

Credits here.

{SAY AAAHHH...}

Credits here.

{WEDNESDAY}
Scrambling to get good rates for the trip to the States in December. Trying to convince my dear siblings to give me their skeds ahead of time so that we don't have to worry about anything as we get closer to the holidays.

So, you ladies who are the significant other of my brothers, please remind them! Would appreciate it! :)

{THE POLKA DOT DRESS}

Credits here.

{BALLERINA BEAR}

Credits here.

{TODAY}
Packed...and scrapped....the whole day. We were able to finally get the morning flight to Hong Kong. At least it won't be a whole day wasted. Whew! Go Letlet, who fixed everything nice and tidy like.

{m&m MESS}

Credits here.

{LOVE-HATE RELATIONSHIP}Credits here.

Okay. Need to relax now.....we're off to Hong Kong tomorrow! :)

That's all.

Nothing Scrapped!...& A Tale of Two Strollers

Can you believe it?!??! Nothing! As in zip, zilch, zero! Hmmm....is this the new me???.......NOT! :)

The day started with me not getting up to go to early morning mass, i.e., either 730 am or 8 am. Big shock, I know; I was pretty amazed myself!

Then lunch at La Vista, followed by a trip to Megamall. I WAS supposed to go to the National Bookstore there, but Yaya B let drop that Ranger had no stroller for us to take to Hong Kong. So I dropped the bookstore plan and instead went to the department store. On a side note, Roxanne brought Raine to shop for her birthday gift.

{A TALE OF TWO STROLLERS}

Anyway, back to the stroller. I couldn't decide on what Chicco stroller to get: there were 2 SUV strollers, as Japa and I dubbed the strollers with heavy duty tires and frames. One was P4,000 (which I described to Japa over the phone as the Montero/Pajero SUV stroller) and the other was P5,700 (dubbed as the Land Cruiser SUV stroller). Great names, don't you think? Hehehe.

This is the Pajero SUV stroller:

And the Land Cruiser SUV stroller:

To make a long story short, we decided to have Ranger CHOOSE his stroller. Pretty heavy decision for a 22-month old, I know, but hey, he IS the one who's going to use it right? Before making him pick, I had Ranger sit on each of the strollers and had him sit and lie down. I pushed him, twirled the strollers around, etc. Really gave it the good ole test ride.

I must say, the kid has taste. He really does. When I told him to sit in the stroller he wanted, he immediately went on the Land Cruiser one. Immediately. When he was seated, he automatically put on his seatbelt!!! Is that good training or what?!?!

What stroller would YOU have chosen?

{HOUSE}
Most of the kids are at La Vista again tonight. We have Ranger and Raine here at home. I have a feeling Raine decided to sleep here because she wanted to wear one of her new nightgowns, hehehehe. Kikay girl.

After I post this, Japa and I have a "date" to watch House......that is, if Ranger will let us take his Cars DVD out!

Good night and that's all.

Another Scrapping Day

Well! I stayed home the whole day today. I did go swimming with the boys (and Japa).....okay, "playing in the water" is more like it. It was fun to be in the water again AND to play around with the boys. Ranger had his SpongeBob floaters on and was enjoying the water so much. He was NOT scared to jump into the pool from the edge...even if his head went below the water.

The boys then went to La Vista so that Lolo Boy could take all the grandkids to Tanay to ride their horses. However, there was NO camera since Ruby forgot to bring it!!! Grrr!

So, with all the kids out, Japa and I had a super duper peaceful day at home. I scrapped myself silly, hehehe. I stopped only to watch a few episodes of House Season 1. Awesome, HILARIOUS show!

All the kids except Ranger are over at La Vista tonight. They're spending the night. I am enjoying the peace and quiet that I rarely get nowadays. And I am LOVING it!

Here's proof:

{SCRAPS OF MAMA}

{SWEET RAINE}Credits here.

{THE BUNNY}Credits here.

{SMILE}Credits here.

{TRIP TO THE DENTIST}Credits here.

You have GOT to read the journaling on Ranger's trip to the dentist. It is funny! Of course, that expression of his alone staring at the dentist's tools is priceless! :)

All is quiet on the homefront. I think it's time for another round of episodes of House OR maybe read a book.

Good night! That's all.

Totally Scraps of Mama

Maybe I was having withdrawal from a non-scrapping night last night, but I whipped out a few pages today:

{SCRAPS OF MAMA}

{HAPPY}Credits here.

{SWINGIN'}Credits here.

{THE FUNKY STROLLER}Credits here.

{FLOWER GIRL} Credits here.

Yup, I dug into the old photos again. I need to go over my next batch of prints and have them digitized? digitalized? Whatever. I need digital photos soon. With the number of layouts I'm cranking out because of the CTs I'm on, I'm going to need those photos!

If you look at the timeline of my old photos, you'll see that I've pretty much exhausted the baby months/years of Raegan. I'm starting on Rogan's baby pics and pretty soon, it'll be Raine's turn.

For those of you who THINK Ranger is my favorite because of the sheer amount of layouts I have of him, it is ONLY because it was during Ranger's time that digital cameras reached an all-time high. I was into organizing my digital photos and of course, scrapping. Not to be defensive, but that's the reason why. Hmp!

Time to go to sleep. I want to read something interesting other than a scrapping magazine or a photoshop book. :)

That's all.

A Non-Scrapping PRODUCTIVE Night

Can you believe this: I left ---yes, LEFT--- behind my laptop at the office. On purpose. I wondered if I could do anything else at home aside from scrap. :) Living dangerously, I say.

Went home, made sure the kids were busy (playing PS2) and got to work:

I had decided that I was going to start wrapping the Christmas --- you read that right: CHRISTMAS --- gifts of the kids to their classmates. That's 24 for Raegan, 24 for Rogan, and 18 for Raine. I took out prices, cut wrapping paper, and started to wrap everything.

And I FINISHED wrapped EVERYTHING!!! Yay for me! I still slept late (I really WAS hoping to sleep earlier than usual without scrapping), but what an accomplishment! Mid-August, and I am DONE with Christmas wrapping for the kids!

Now all I have left to do are gifts for the teachers (will tackle one day next week maybe), gifts for people at the office, and of course family :)

Japanese Night

We took the kids out to dinner at our all-time favorite restaurant, Omakase. Even though they still had to study for their last day of exams, Japa and I figured that they needed a break from all the studying they had done for the past 2 days, LOL!

So off to Omakase we went. I ordered something different for a change (I forgot what it was), but their tempura maki was exceptionally good. And of course the usual shrimp tempura, chicken teriyaki bowl and miso soup. We had a nice time together and it was fun going out with just our family. It was a nice, quiet (okay, relatively quiet) time with the family. We need more times like this one, I think.

We went home and while the kids did their final reviewing, I, of course, scrapped! I wanted to finish these pages for my ob-gyn in the States so that Elizza can bring it with her when she leaves. Slept at almost 2 am I think, but it was SO worth it. Take a look:

{SCRAPS OF MAMA}

{Brought Into The World}

Credits here and here.

That's all.

An Unusual Monday

Yup. Unusual is the correct term for my day today:

{DENTIST VISIT}
Would you believe....4 (?!??!!) cavities!!! Aargh! Well no wonder I had 4 cavities! The last time I went to see the dentist was January 2005!!! The shame, the shame. Of the 4 lovely holes in my teeth, 2 are totally deep, requiring temporary fillings until after a month. Analgesic inside to help the nerves/teeth heal before having the permanent fillings put in. Sigh!

{DOCTOR VISIT}
No, not for me, but for ALL 4 kids! And to top it all off, ALL of them had to have a shot!!! Aaargh! More money out! Hehehehe. All of them had their flu shots, so THAT vaccination's done, thank goodness. What with all the rain and horrible weather lately, this flu shot was good timing, I'd say.

{EXAM REVIEWS}
The kids have their exams and helping review Rogan is like pulling teeth from a kid with his mouth closed! I swear!!! Case in point: I ask him to review, by looking at his exam schedule to see what subjects he needs to study for. Three minutes later, I look over at him and he's STILL staring at the dang exam sked!!!! Aaaaaarrrghhhhh!!! Needless to say, Japa helped him review when we arrived in the evening.

{BADMINTON}
We played with the twins and their girls, along with Rondic. I was pleasantly tired. Not bone-wearying tired, but nice-tired, you know? Just right. So I'm hoping my whole body doesn't hurt in the next few days...otherwise, I'm going to need a massage!

It was loads of fun watching the twins and Stella and Zhar play badminton. Stella is totally competitive..and her face shows how pissed she is if she's on the losing end of a game. She does do some awesome splits and rolling over moved that has her extending just to get the shuttlecock! Zhar is equally as competitive, screaming her head off when she misses a shot. By the way, she also grunts when she's tired, hehehehe.

{SCRAPS OF MAMA}
Was on a roll today, for some reason, despite the fact that it was an unusual Monday :)

{THE BUNK BED}Credits can be seen here.

{38th WEDDING ANNIVERSARY}Credits can be seen here.

{GOING BACK TO USC}Credits can be seen here.

{USC FRIENDS}Credits can be seen here.

Leave me a comment or two, either here in my Blog, or over at DST (click on the credits).

That's all.

I WON!!!

Yes sirree, I did! I entered Gina Miller's sketch contest (she's one of my fave designers...especially for beaded stuff and sketches!) Look look look!

So what do you think? Not bad eh? I submitted 3 layouts using different sketches, but when Gina emailed me last night saying that I won, I had a feeling it was going to be this LO of Ranger that had gotten me my awesome prize: Gina's latest SKETCHES and her latest bedazzled hat pins.

{MORE REGULAR POSTINGS}
Yes, I have told myself that I really really REALLY need to be a little bit more consistent in updating my blog. Yes, I love to showcase my layouts, but more importantly, I want to be able to have a record of some sort of what happened in my life. The everyday things. The small things. The simple things.

So anyway, yesterday was pretty fun...we had a little "sprinkle" for Elizza, i.e., sprinkle meaning small and simple baby shower. It was, after all, Elizza's 4th baby and she just wanted simple, PRACTICAL gifts. And that's what we had: diapers, n.i.p.p.l.e.s for baby bottles, a bath tubm lotion, baby wash. The smalle things that people normally DO NOT give during baby showers or baptism, but moms usually WANT and NEED so that we don't have to go out and get them.

Stella and Zhar did a wonderful job on the sprinkle games, too. I learned new stuff, too! Yay! And the best part...I beat Rondic in this game of identifying theme songs from TV shows. Yes, TELEVISION. Me! I normally don't watch a lot of tv but this game was fun...especially when Randy was tallying the points. Hehehehe. :) That made my night!

{SCRAPS OF MAMA}
I did a couple of layouts today using the new kit of Amy Bleser and Traci Reed called Dirt Loves Boys. I loved how they turned out:


It's been a while since I've done any 2-pagers, but these pics were too good to resist! Hehehe.
Credits for the layouts can be found here and here.

{OTHER LAYOUTS}
I don't know where I left off uploading other layouts, but what I DO know is that I'm pretty much caught up on my CT requirements, thank goodness! It's a lot of fun, but if I don't do a little at a time, then I'm dead meat! hehehe. It's a bit hard trying to catch up on everything, so I've told myself that I didn't need that extra stress, so I'm going to be doing a LO or two per day.

And it's worked! So far; knock on wood. These awesome sketches that the designers are coming up with make my scrapping life TOTALLY EASIER! Yes, yes, yes! And a bonus? I volunteered over at Heather Heinzer's blog to get her sketches ahead of everyone else so that she can post the layout/s I do on her blog! More work, yes, but remember, I'm using her sketches which really make it easier to scrap. Besides, it's more exposure for me as a scrapper, not to mention the fact that I am cutting into my stash of older pics in a major way. So there!

This should be good for now. The kids have exams tomorrow and we are studying. Ok, well, THEY'RE studying, LOL! But time to give some upbeat speech of how exams are good practice for what they've learned, etc etc etc.

That's all.

Showing My Blog Some Love...At Last!

Well. I'm finally sitting down to update my Blog. Apparently, some of you have been stalking my Blog....hehehe. Sorry I haven't been able to indulge you :)

Let's see. It's been a **gasp!** a WHOLE WEEK **gasp!** since I've updated! Oh my! No wonder some of you have been suffering withdrawals! Hehehehehe.

Ok, will keep this nice and sweet and semi-short. I want to show off some SCRAPS. What the heck, I'll show some of 'em right now:

This one's definitely going to be one of my faves:

{LIFE UNEXPECTED}

Journaling reads: Life someimtes IS unexpected. And yes, life sometimes JUST happens. Such was the case with Ranger. Just when we were content with 3 kids, getting ready for educational trips and giving away most of our baby things, Ranger HAPPENED. Totally UNEXPECTEDLY. We weren’t upset nor sad; just....surprised. Pleasantly surprised. And very ecstatic when Ranger was born. He was another gift from God...a sudden, surprising, UNEXPECTED gift from God. Who were we to question His motives? We accepted His gift and are happier because of this precious, wonderful, UNEXPECTED gift. Yes, life is unexpected. Life - true life - sometimes just happens.
You can see the credits here.

{AUGUST 1-5}
Jet lag played a major role. For some reason, it hits me more when I come back from Hawaii instead of LA. Go figure.

Stayed at home mostly, and went to the office on August 2 for a first Wednesday mass. Which was made beautiful by the way, thanks to Stella and some members of her choir. Awesome awesome voices!

{AUGUST 6}
Happy Birthday to Boydee and me! 36 an 37 respectively. Bang arranged a yummilicious Spanish-themed lunch and man, was there FOOD!!! It lasted from lunch, merienda AND dinner! The highlight was the brazo de mercedes. Hahahahahaha! I bet you guys thought I was going to say the cake or something, eh? But no, O-M-G!!! That brazo was to DIE for!

Japa and I went to mass at 730 am and went to Starbucks afterward. We took our time sipping our coffee and having a light breakfast while reading our books (will go into detail about MY book in another post). Little did I know that my dear hubby and kids were planning something!

We got home close to 10 am. When I walked in the front door, I heard yells of "Surprise, Mama!". My kids were in the dining room with this huge cake in front of them. The cake had our family photo on it, edible of course! :) Apparently, Japa had told Ruby to get the cake AND the kids while we were at Starbucks. The kids had spent the night at LaVista, so I really wasn't expecting anything! Isn't that the sweetest?

Oh another thing to note. Ranger was so cute. He was actually sitting down and he was WAITING with the big kids for me! That in itself is an accomplishment! hehehehe.

Another Scrap:

{PRICELESS GRANDFATHER}

You can see the credits here.

{AUGUST 7}
Happy Birthday Zhar!

{FINAL WORD}
This should be good for now. I've got TONS of new layouts done and I can - SHOULD - post a few a day I guess. I'm getting my Creative Team requirements done, my challenges at Scrapmommies are 95% done, AND I've started on the blog for St. Therese! Not a bad week at all, eh?

That's all.

Ahhhhhh......This is THE Life

Today I did what normal ladies do after a month away from home and a looooong flight:

I had a FACIAL and a MASSAGE!!!

Uh- huh. All in ONE magical, restful day! And that's basically what I did today. Just that. Then I slept the WHOLE DAY away! Eeek! Can you believe that?!?!

I mean, I was planning to SCRAP and catch up on all my CT requirements, but I couldn't! I was ASLEEP!!! Dang! Oh well. I figure I need to rest and rest well. Hoping tomorrow is a little bit less busy, LOL!

{BOOK READING}
Roc, if you're reading this, I did finish Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella. Cute book. A bit exaggerated, but cute, especially the ending! hehehehe. Cute and true! :)

Will have Elizza bring it back when she goes there.