January Ends......

and with that, here is my January Round Up, as outlined by Katie the Scrapbook Lady, author of the Amazing Month of Memories. I have a few of her lists and it contains TONS of information to get you to jumpstart your scrapping, or just to get you thinking......like saying, "ohhhhhhh....so THAT's today!".

My January 2007 Round Up

What books and/or magazines did I read this month?

Yikes? Did I even have TIME to read this month? Let's see...I have a huge spiral-bound book (?) of Sudoku on my night table. It goes with me wherever I go. Actually, I've got a couple of these spiral-bound babies on my bedstand :) Love these brain teasers!

What movies and/or tv shows did I watch this month?

I'm a huge fan of Grey's Anatomy, House and Desperate Housewives. I don't watch them on TV; I don't like having to wait for the next episode. So I have them on DVDs, and for the current season, my brother downloads them from the show's site (I think) and watches it on his computer. Which reminds me, I have to copy those from him! ;)

Of course, having the 4 kids, we always have the Disney Channel and other Disney DVDs blaring at home. We have The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, High School Musical (still!), and Pokemon on TV. Other TV faves include The Fairly Oddparents (I love this, too! hehehe), Kim Possible, Raven, Unfabulous, and Hannah Montana.

As for movies, we did go to see Night at the Museum with the kids. It was a lot of fun and they were asking me when we could go to the Museum of Natural History in New York! Wish I knew when.....I would LOVE to go, too!

What special days did I celebrate and how?

January 1 - New Year's Day. Since we were in Las Vegas at the time, we didn't do our usual huge family lunch and dinner, thank goodness! It was a nice break. For the day, we trooped into our rented minivan and drove 40 minutes to Mount Charleston just so the kids could see and play in the SNOW for the very first time! They had a blast!

January 3 - Tita San turned 50!!! Huge milestone for my favorite aunt. We celebrated by having dinner at Black Angus in Burbank. Loooove the 7-lb chocolate we had for dessert!

January 24 - Tita Belen's birthday! I'm not sure how old she is, nor am I sure that she'd want that fact plasterd all over online-land, hehehe. Texted her, chatted with her via YM, and said a short greeting over the phone.

What illnesses or health concerns did I have?

Ahhhh......for this month and a few months before, my persistent back ache and leg ache were ever-present. On January 12, I had a procedure done at the Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena -- this was an epidural, a spinal injection of steroids into the spaces between the bones in my spine (I think! hehehe). It was a lot different from the epidural procedure I got from the Philippines--after waking in the recovery room, I WALKED out, pain-free! Of course, it was due to the anaesthesia, but I was happy for the first few days.

Towards the end of the month though, there was a slight twinge in my leg whenever I sat down for a long period of time.

What fun things did I do with my friends and/or family?

We celebrated the coming of the New Year at the Mandalay Bay Hotel in Las Vegas. Together. The ENTIRE family. We also watched the fireworks from the 21st floor of the hotel.

Mount Charleston to play in the snow. We found a few cardboard pieces and the kids used those as a "sled" of sorts, hehehe.

Disneyland on January 4!!!

Korean BBQ buffet in Irvine (or was it Tustin?), our absolute fave place to have dinner after a trip to the Magic Kingdom!

Light and Healthy. Mom and Dad actually sat with us for the buffet and ate sushi for the VERY FIRST TIME! We just didn't have a camera to record this never-happened-before event!

What special or unusual purchases did I make?

I got some Benefit Cosmetics Bathina Lotion for me and to give away as gifts. Heavenly!

Got me some Disney Holiday dishes on sale, yeah!

And of course, Digital Scrapbooking schtuff! Bought a lo-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-t from Gina Miller's 6-month birthday of GMD! My absolute fave place to shop. I swear, I may have close to having her entire store!

Bought a 2" Memory Foam for our bed. I figure this is cheaper than the Select Comfort mattress I REALLY want; the Memory Foam will give my back a little bit of cushion while our firm mattress underneath will make me happy.

What were this month's disappointments?

Raegan's teacher talked to me about her behavior/attitude when it comes to homework. Apparently, Raegan has, more often than not, forgets her Homework Journal at home. She writes her HW on a piece of paper, which of course gets lost enroute to the house. The result? No homework! Grrr!

My back and leg are still hurting a bit. I expected them to be almost gone after the second epidural, enough so that I could start physical therapy properly. Maybe I should just start Yoga.

I haven't lost any weight at all!

What were my accomplishments this month?

Finished my CT requirements, yay! Some on the very last day, but they were done!

Finally installed a new Anti-Virus program to protect my laptop!

Anything else noteworthy to record?

I can sit down for a much longer period of time than before. That second spinal injection did a lot of good for me!

I am practically OFF pain killers! Instead of the usual round-the-clock-every-4-to-6-hour cycle, there have been days when I didn't need to pop a pain killer in my mouth!

Our internet at home is just humming! Whoohoo!

And although I didn't lose weight, I didn't gain any at all, considering we were in the States, with the whole family, and it was during the holidays!

January Layout Count: 25

***End of Round Up***

So what do you think eh? Pretty good month, lots of things happening that I never realized! Good prompts for the Round Up --- it really does get you to record the stuff that happened. I had my pictures and my blog to help me, but it is with a sense of accomplishment that I listed everything down for my 2007 January Round Up! Whoohoo!!!


{Some January Scraps}

Feel free to click on the layouts themselves to leave me some love! :)

MY SANTA

Journaling reads: For the third year in a row, Rogan was chosen to play Santa in their class program. Mama decided that it was time he had his own Santa suit, just in case he would need one again. Rogan was the cutest Santa ever!

Credits: kit - Christmas Charm by Jessica Dixon at The Daily Scrap; santa - Christmas Essentials by Jessica Dixon; glitter border - by Gina Miller; journaling tag - Just Like Him Journal Hot Spots by Jen Wilson; fonts - KGD Lindsay, Rusted Plastic

SHOE TESTER

Ranger loves to wear big shoes....the bigger the better! :)

Journaling reads:
Job Description: Shoe Tester
Job Site Location: any pair of shoes found lying around

Tools Required:
1. size 8 feet of boy
2. shoes - the bigger,the better
3. even, smooth flooring

Skills Needed:
1. balance
2. confidence
3. attitude
4. a big smile
5. cuteness

Credits: kit - Doo B Dude by Eve Recinella at Sweet Shoppe Designs; stitches - by Christine Nash; chalked frame - by Gina Miller; journaling tag - Just Like Him Journal Hot Spots by Jen Wilson

SIBLINGS

A couple of favorite photographs taken during Christmas day last year of the 5 of us.

Credits: kit - Always and Forever by Rina Kroes at SBE; mini tags - Tagged by Gina Miller; alpha - Stamped Alpha brushes by Michelle Coleman; layered sketch - Jify Stax Vol 5 by Rina Kroes at SBE


CHRISTMAS GIRLS

Raegan and Raine with their Lola Belen, wearing matching Christmas outfits of red and black.

Credits: kit - Always and Forever by Rina Kroes at SBE; black paper and star overlay - Light Up the Night by Rina Kroes at SBE; font - KGD Kim Script; layered sketch - Jiffy Stax Vol 5 by Rina Kroes at SBE


CHRISTMAS KISSES

Journaling reads: The air was filled with joyful yells of “Merry Christmas!” as everyone started kissing and hugging everyone else.

These pictures are of me puckering up (with closed eyes, hehehe); giving Dad a peck on the cheek to start the kissing rounds; kissing Mom, who was still doing something in the kitchen preparing for our Noche Buena; and of course giving Japa a great big buss on the lips.

Christmas kisses. They’re the best kind to give!

Credits: kit - Candy Giggles by Eve Recinella at Sweet Shoppe Designs; font - KGD Tiffany; special thanks to Atomic Cupcake for the labelmaker

Don't forget to leave me some love by clicking on the layouts :).

TTFN!

Scraps, Scraps, and MORE Scraps!

Trying to catch up here (this is where I left off with my layouts):

2006: The Year in Review

Our entire year, summarized with important events, on ONE PAGE!
Credits: kit - A Fresh Start by Gina Miller and Vera Lim
glitter ricrac - by Gina Miller
font - KGD Tiffany
layered sketch - by Gina Miller

Sr. Luz

Rielle during her First Holy Communion.
Journaling reads: Sr Luz Soriano was her usual bubbly self as she congratulated Rielle her on her First Holy Communion. She was especially proud that Rielle was one of the soloists during the Responsorial Psalm and remarked that she had such a sweet voice to go with her beautiful face.

Credits: kit - Shabby Chic by Andrea Designs
deco stitches, glitter ricrac - by Gina Miller
fabric element - Cool Lime by Andrea Designs
kraft dates - by Lyndsay Riches at PDW
font - KGD Lindsay
layered sketch - Ready to Scrap Set 14 by Nina at ndisb

Blowing Bubbles

Raine and Ranger enjoying some time in the garden.

Quote by Margaret Hillert reads:
Dip your pipe and gently blow.
Watch the tiny bubble grow
Big and bigger, round and fat,
Rainbow-colored, and then-- SPLAT!

Credits: kit - Cool Lime by Andrea Designs
alpha - Hanging by a Thread by Manda Bean
fabric tag, round tag, staple - Moments of Life by Nina
fonts - Porcelain, KGD Chubbygirl, KGD Tiffany
bend it template - by Debbi Knorr
layered sketch - Ready to Scrap Set 14 by Nina at ndisb
photo filter - Purty Pics by Holly McCaig

Calendar Photo Shoot - Black Shirts

Raegan, Rogan and Raine during our at-home photo shoot for the CD Calendar. DS2 isn't in the picture because he wouldn't cooperate during the black-shirt outfit shoot, lol!

Credits: kit - Serenity by Stacie Prinzo at The Digi Shoppe
ricrac - Sweater Ricracs by Gina Miller
stitches - by Gina Miller
layered sketch - Build a Book 1 by Sherri Tierney at the Digi Scrap Shak
bend it template - by Debbie Knorr

This should be it for today...gotta save SOME layouts for the days that I can't blog and a layout should suffice *wink!*

TTFN!

Officially............

I am now blogging under the New Blogger system! Whoohoohoo!!! I finally figured out how to put an image into the header area, many thanks to this site. I stumbled upon it while surfing at DST and it was fate, I tell you!

SO, whatcha think of my new look? I must have spent the entire day doing this, hehehe. I've fixed the layout of the blog which, I might add, is SO much easier with the new blogger's Layout feature of pretty much drag and drop.

Just a little bit more of tweaking until I'm finally satisfied with the entire look, I guess.....any suggestions would be helpful, so suggest away! :)

I'll be back to post a few layouts later........

My 2007 Calendar Pages

I am proud of this particular project. I really really REALLY wanted to make a calendar for this year and I wasn't sure if I was able to pull it off, what with my back and all.

But I was granted a reprieve and was able to actually "schedule" ---- ok, FORCE --- the kids for a photo shoot. The photographer? Why, little ole moi of course! I took a total of 97 pictures....and used 12! Hehehehe. Thank God for digital!

Without further ado, I present to you my 2007 Calendar:














How CUTE are these, eh? *wink, wink!* hehehe. I just LOVE my calendar! They oh so PROUDLY grace my desk at work. And I'm actually having more made so I can have at least another set at home :)

Just a super duper SLIGHT wish list for calendar designers for next year: I WISH you fine ladies would make the spaces for photos a LI-I-I-I-TLE bit bigger for those of us with more than ONE child. It was HARD to try and squeeze in all 4 kids for some of the frames! Sheesh! I had to cut and paste and clone a few of the pages to get my little sweethearts into the frame :) But hey, I think it was all worth it in the end! I am HAPPY with the results of my little project!

Now, to press publish before my wonky connection (grr!) and blogger trip out on me.

TTFN!

Just Had to Share.....

have you m&m'd yet? I have! Check it out:

That's me, resplendant in RED (of course!) and wearing my red crocs, hehehe.

Ok, I need to access some layouts from my EHD (that's external hard disk to those who are slightly-technologically-impaired, hehehe) to share with you. Stay tuned!

And the Bad Blogger Award.....

goes to me obviously! Sigh! Can you believe it's been yet ANOTHER 17 days since I last blogged?!?!?! All sorts of excuses on this one, take your pick from a variety of reasons:

1. shopping and packing before Japa and the kids left the States on Jan. 5
2. spinal injection --- my second ever --- on Jan. 12
3. shopping and packing before we left on Jan. 21
4. I was busy with Ranger (definitely a full-time job!)
5. eating out, shopping
6. resting my back to "save" for when we go on that long plane ride
7. back home to Manila on Jan. 21
8. catching up on CT requirements

See? Told you I had soooooo many reasons for not blogging! :)

{NEW BLOG-LOOK}

You like? Hehehe. I used the wonderful Rina Kroes' Valentine kits on my header up there. Took me quite some time to do the header too, since it seemed forever I made one. *roll eyes here*

Yet another reason to not blog eh? I also tried to see if I could move on to the new blogger, but I wasted so much precious time trying to figure out how to put the dang IMAGE onto the header! I gave up and reverted to the OLD template!

{BACKTRACKING...}

Anyhoo, let me see if I can backtrack a little bit, just so I have a record of what we did during the holidays:

(December 21)
After our trip to Legoland, my leg was definitely FEELING it....I remember we pretty much rested in the morning and it was off to the local shops in the afternoon. Pretty relaxing, and this was the day we bought the kids their HEELYS --- those shoes with a replaceable wheel by the heel of the shoe, hence the name heelys.

I don't know when they all HAD to have this shoe, but they were all longing and salivating for it. We found heelys on sale at the Sports Authority for $50 a pop *gasp, roll eyes, clutch my throat for lack of oxygen* Yes, dear readers, $50 = P2,500 for a pair of glorified sneakers with pop-pable wheels, hehehe.

But to see the pics and the joy on their faces as they skated with the wind in their hair.....priceless :)

(December 22)
First, Happy happy Birthday to my dear cousin Annabelle! See, I didn't forget! And if you know me, I rarely forget birthdays :)

In the morning, as Japa took the older kids for a swim in the super duper FREEZING pool at the resort, I bundled Ranger and took him to the nearby Toys R Us to get him an awesome Thomas the Train set we saw on sale for $70.

When I spotted it, Ranger insisted on having this gigantic box set ON HIS LAP while seated on his stroller. He even held the handle of this huge box! He held it all by himself as we rolled to the cashier. Sheesh! Talk about obsession, man! He didn't want to let go of the box and almost threw a tantrum when I pried it from his hands to put in on the cashier's table!

In the evening, we went to the Quail Botanical Gardens for the Garden of Lights. There were carolers in full Christmas regalia, there were lights all over the gardens, there was even a hayride (which we didn't go on, since we didn't want to spring $3 for EACH of us, including the kids!) Hehehe. The best part of the evening was when the kids roasted marshmallows over a roaring bonfire. It sure brought back memories of when WE did this when we went to Baguio oh so many years ago! :)

(December 23)
It was time to say goodbye to Carlsbad and go back to LA. We took our sweet time during the drive as my leg was acting up again. I used that as an excuse to stop at a target (Tustin, I think, just past Irvine) and do some last minute shopping. Tita Nonie had given the kids some cash to get Christmas gifts they really wanted.

(December 24)
Christmas Eve day.....but definitely nothing like what we have in the Philippines. I spent most of the day doing some last minute wrapping and labeling, if you can believe that. Sigh! I swear, a woman's job is NEVER done, especially during the holidays! It was a good thing I was able to excuse myself from being in the kitchen (as if I had every intention of BEING there, hehehe) and I had a lot of time to finish off my Christmas list.

We had decided, as a family, to NOT attend the Christmas Vigil. We all wanted to be here at HOME when the clock struck midnight for Christmas. We wanted to attend Mass, as was our tradition, but we couldn't find a vigil mass at 9 pm or 10 pm. All the masses were literally MIDNIGHT masses!

At midnight, we all started shouting and greeting everyone a very Merry Christmas. Boydee, the designated Gift Master this year, was assigned to roll call the kids to get some of their gifts. It was a M-A-D-H-O-U-S-E in Polaris. Wrapping paper in the air, shouts of "thank yous" rang out, laughter......all sorts of happy sounds that were just perfect for this special occasion.

(December 25)
Merry Christmas, and a Blessed Birthday to Jesus!

We all went to Mass together at the Holy Redeemer, at 10 am. It was fun to get all dressed up. I had brought long sleeve polos for the boys, paired with their Easter vests (hehehe), but they looked oh-so-handsome in their little outfits. The girls donned the dresses they wore for the wedding of Boydee and Bang two years ago (!!!). I had Nora fix up the dresses in a major way, so that they could fit the girls, who had definitely grown so much bigger and taller in the past couple of years. They looked fabulous, though, and got a few compliments in church about how pretty they looked in their beautiful gowns.

We had our pictorial session out in the garden in Polaris after Mass; the boys were all hungry....but they had us camera-crazed and scrapbook-obsessed women to deal with, hahahahaha! The result, a LOT of pretty good picts to scrap with for sure!

(Santa's Gifts)
When we arrived from Mass, the kids rushed in to find that Santa had been to visit whilst we were at church! Raegan and Rogan were shouting with joy as they tore open the wrapper on their Game Boy Advance, which came complete with a little bag for each of them and a game cartridge. Ranger opened his Leap Frog ABCs and left it on the floor to play with his new Thomas and friends die cast metal toys.

The BEST expression came from Raine, as she ripped into her wrappers. The paper was barely off the box when her face lit up and she did a little silent scream before erupting into screams of delight as she saw a Bratz Diamondz laptop in her hands. :)

Thank goodness Japa was on hand as well to take some pics with his brand new Sony DLSR :)

(December 27)
Robyn's baptism by Father Suki himself, Father Leo (who had baptized Reese and Raegan, too). We had a wonderful dinner afterwards at Macaroni Grill.....yum!

(December 28)
The exodus to Las Vegas began. Hehehe. The Las Vegas trip had some drama with it, too, hehehe. The majority of us didn't want to go to Las Vegas to spend the New Year. We felt it was too commercial, too crowded, too un-family like. Only Mom and Rondic and Boydee I think WANTED to go to this hell-hole to celebrate the New Year.

Mom was in tears, saying that she had looked forward to going to Vegas and questioning why NO ONE said anything beforehand of not wanting to go...and that was all it took for all the boys to melt. Hehehe. I mean, really, what else can you say if your mother REALLY wanted to go, eh? Nothing to do but shrug and just do it! :) Which is what we ddid, hoping to high heavens that this New Year woule be NOTHING compared to the freakin' FIASCO that ws our Millenium New Year at Fort Bonifacio!

We stayed at several places in Vegasl we had to, as it was very difficult to get rooms together for 30+ people! We had people staying at the Mandalay Bay, the Hilton Vacation Club, and Rhodes Ranch, where Bang's family had a house.

(December 31)
New Year's Eve. We all congregated at the Mandalay Bay early in the afternoon. We had heard that the Strip was going to be closed to all traffic and none of us dared test that threat, hehehe. I gladly stayed in the room because I finally had INTERNET ACCESS!!!! Yeah!!!

We all had dinner at the Bayside Buffet--where we of course had too much to eat. I didn't gamble at all, though most everyone did. Like I said, I was happy to have my internet!

Everyone was still up as we anticipated the countdown. There were coordinated fireworks by a lot of the major hotels, but nothing terrific, really. But definitely a notch better than our New Year fiasco 7 years ago.

We left Mandalay at almost 2 am....and had to drop by a Walmart (the only thing open) to buy some drinking water. :)

(January 1, 2007!)
Happy New Year!

We woke up late obviously.. and made a spur-of-the-moment decision to go to Mount Charleston to take the kids to see and touch some SNOW! It was a 40-minute drive and it was SO worth it to see the kids' reactions! That is, except Ranger, who kept muttering "cold, cold, cold". Hehehehe. Of course, there were a lot of pictures taken by trigger-happy Mama and Papa. Okay fine. More of Mama, who was determined to get some great pictures for scrapping purposes. :)

Another last-minute decision was made to drive home to Los Angeles that same night. I didn't want to join in the mass of people driving home on the 2nd of January. We left at madnight, drove leisurely, made a couple of 15-minute stops. And we were home at 4 am :)

(January 2)
Most of the day was spent doing laundry and packing for the January 5 departure.

(January 3)
Happy Birthday Tita San! Our favorite tita turned the big 5-0!!! We celebrated with dinner at Black Angus and had some great chocolate cake for dessert of course :)

(Janary 5)
Japa and the kids leave for the Philippines, along with Rondic and family. Ranger and I are left to enjoy each other's company and bond...and fight....hehehe. I didn't realize how much I missed Japa when I had to change Ranger's diapers, give him his baths, wash his bottles, feed him :)

(January 12)
Spinal injection time! This round went waaaaaaaay better than the one I had in Manila. I was put under general anaesthesia, had steroids put into 4 or 5 different places in my spine (as opposed to just 1 or 2 in Manila) and I wasn't a screaming banshee in the recovery room at all. In fact, I could walk WITHOUT a cane right after the procedure! Yeah!

I was instructed to NOT DO ANYTHING for that first day following the procedure to allow the holes to close. I lasted less than 24 hours, hehehe. Well, there was Ranger to take care of, there was shopping AND packing to be done.

So many things to do, so little time. I DO know the feeling :)

(January 19)
We had lunch at Light and Healthy....and wonder of wonders! Both Mom AND Dad ate at the sushi bar and HAD sushi!!!! For the first time in history!!!! And wouldn't you know it --- I did NOT have a camera darn it!

............and with that, I have UPDATED my blog. Yeah!!! Hooray!!! :)

Next on the agenda---layouts, and LOTS of it! I've been catching up ever since I got home and have been resting my back and leg. So stay tuned!

TTFN! Whew! What a super duper looooooooong post, eh? At least I'm updated! :)

It's Been 17 Days......

.........since I have last updated my poor blog!

So sorry, all you regular blog readers of mine! All 3 of you (more or less!) Hahahahaha. It has been super duper hectic since we left for the States and while we've been here, which is why there is an extreme lack of blog updates from me so far!

But trust me when I say that I've got tons of pics for sure....now all I really need is scrapping time!

Speaking of which, CT requirements are upon me in a MAJOR way and I have GOT to find me some precious few hours tomorrow and the next day so I can breathe a lot easier. Besides which, I have been on a scrapping dry spell for the LONGEST time, I could scream! Ack!

Here's a little bit of something about me though, to start off the new year on my blog:

Your results:

You are Wonder Woman
You are a beautiful princess with great strength of character.

Wonder Woman --------------- 90%
Green Lantern --------------- 85%
Spider-Man --------------- 80%
Iron Man --------------- 80%
Supergirl --------------- 70%
Hulk --------------- 70%
Superman --------------- 55%
Catwoman --------------- 50%
Robin -------------- 32%
The Flash --------------- 30%
Batman --------------- 20%

Click here to take the "Which Superhero are you?" quiz...


Can you ACTUALLY believe that I'm Wonder Woman?!?!? Must be because I answered that I had LONG hair, which is why Wonder Woman came up, hehehehe.

TTFN!