Rounding Up April

Getting the questions to the Round Up from Katie the Scrapbook Lady:

Round Up: April

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

I read ONE book this month, Kathleen McGowan's The Book of Love. A continuation of her previous hit, The Expected One. The books tell of Jesus' possible life of marriage and the story of his descendants and where and what they preached. Pretty explosive stuff, if she had published it as non-fiction. But hey, I'm pretty open to new ideas and this one has potential! :) I got this book just before we left for Singapore so needless to say I did get a LOT of reading done, almost finishing the book during our stay there.

Magazines, just Time. Trying to be intellectual here and keeping up with current news and trends, hehehe. This one came with an extra issue on Global Warming and its effects on our environment and, ultimately, the world. Interesting ---and scary!--- stuff.

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

We saw 17 Again starring Zac Efron. Cute movie. But I can't believe this is the ONLY movie we saw this month! Hahahaha! I guess we were too busy with swim meets and traveling!

What special days did I celebrate and how?

Raegan's 11th Birthday

Japa's 40th Birthday

What gifts did I give and/or receive?

Raegan got a Guitar Hero game for her DS from us. No gift for Japa as of now. There hasn't been a whole lot of time to think of what to give him, eek!

The kids got their prizes for swimming well at Toys R Us. Rogan got an early birthday gift --- that hideously expensive Lego Star Wars--- early, which was added to his swimming prize.

What illnesses or health concerns did I have?

Taking special care of my back, what with all the sitting down I've been doing for all the swim meets this month! Food input has been extremely plentiful this month, too, LOL, so I'm promising to cut back AND to exercise more next month! (keeping my fingers crossed!)

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

The swim meets were pretty major events this month. It was fun to have some time alone with Raegan during our trip to Singapore. It was equally fun to have the 3 older kids plus Coach Jana for a day in Hong Kong, too.

We spent some quality time in Hong Kong, especially during the trip to the HK Science Museum and the loooooong walk to it, hehehe.

What new foods, recipes or restaurants did I try this month?

Definitely that HK restaurant where we spent most of our meals, Yun Nan Restaurant. And the local Park N Shop supermarket, where we had el cheapo but filling meals! Yeah!

What special or unusual purchases did I make?

Toys R Us stuff, hehehehe. I guess picking up that laser tube for the engraving machine while in Hong Kong counts as a highly unusual purchase :)

What were my scrapping accomplishments this month?

Another 22 pages scrapped this month, including my pages for Proj 365.

Anything else noteworthy to record?

Just a quick note to say that I never knew swimming could get soooo expensive! With all the trips we've been doing this month, it's breaking the bank! But it's worth it, too, since we get to spend so much quality time with the kids. Nothing like sports and all it teaches, eh?

***

Nothing exciting happening today.....just a family board meeting. Teleconferencing with the twins who are in the States.

Rounding Up March

Getting the questions to the Round Up from Katie the Scrapbook Lady:

Round Up: March

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

Eeek! Another no-book-read month! How awful is that?! I wonder if my excuse of researching for GSS would be sufficient? I did get the kids started reading Grammarland, so that's a plus, right? We've done the introduction and Chapter 1. It'll have to do.

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

I thought we'd average a movie a month, but we did manage to squeeze in New In Town starring Renee Zellweger this afternoon. Japa was able to come home early (the kids needed the car and driver since I had used the other car to fix our tickets for Hong Kong!). So, 2 movies this month:

For TV, it was just CSI everything. Reruns.

What special days did I celebrate and how?

Swim Camp

Mom's Birthday

Year-End Program of the kids

Start of GSS

Swim Meet

Earth Day

What gifts did I give and/or receive?

A toothbrush sanitizer for Mom's bithday, which she said was something she had wanted for a long time! Yes! Score on that gift! :)

But I think the best gift that we gave Mom was going to mass with her on her day, and helped arrange Dad's gift of 63 roses and a mini-album that listed 63 reasons why he loves her :)

What illnesses or health concerns did I have?

Blech! Lousy head cold and sore throat. The pits to have BOTH of these at the same time!!!

Does discovery of an Age Spot count? LO!

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

Office Aerobics was great because it gave me my 2 days of exercise in a week!

Earth Day was pretty memorable, with the country (and thousands of cities around the world) going dark for a full hour.

Oh, and finally convincing Mom to go to the nail salon to have our nails wrapped. I think she was pretty happy that her nails were a lot longer this month, and that they'd last a minimum of 3 more weeks with no breakage! Hehehehe.

What new foods, recipes or restaurants did I try this month?

Nothing new and adventurous this month. Shangri La (twice in a day!) and Silk in Serendra were the only 2 places we ate out this month. Oh, I guess we can count eating a Magoo's Pizza while watching a movie? LOL!

What special or unusual purchases did I make?

Nada this month. Although it sounds like such a boring month, it sure was busy as heck!

What were my scrapping accomplishments this month?

Only 22 pages scrapped this month, and probably another 3 more using quickpages. Eek! I guess I'm slowing down?

Anything else noteworthy to record?

I guess I should mention that I'm feeling proud of myself for surviving (albeit barely!) life without a yaya even when I'm sick! :)

Office aerobics have a special mention as well for giving me some much needed exercise.

An advanced Happy April Fools' Day tomorrow :)

Rounding Up February

Getting the questions to the Round Up from Katie the Scrapbook Lady:

Round Up: February

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

I finally did some reading this month! Yeah! It helped that the kids went to Serendra at The Fort for their late Christmas gimmick, and we spent a few enjoyable (at least for me!) hours going through Fully Booked, this 5-floor bookstore at a corner street there! I picked up ---and read--- two Jodie Picoult books:

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

We saw The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Good thing we watched it at the very start of the month, since we didn't have a lot of spare time during the month.

For TV, we finished Monk last month and started on NCIS. Finished NCIS in a few days, I couldn't stop watching it! Started on Numbers as well.

What special days did I celebrate and how?

February: we celebrated the birthdays of Reese and Rielle with dinner. Valentine's Day was at La Vista, starting off with Tito Rey's lechon baka. There was also school's Family Day and we went to Enchanted Kingdom to celebrate.

We had a special all-girls' trip to Hong Kong where we ate, slept, ate, shopped, and ate :) Yup, that's all we did!

What gifts did I give and/or receive?

Swimming towels for Reese and Rielle. Nerds candy for the kids' Valentine's Day. Pooh and friends stuffed toys for Teachers' Day. Nope, didn't do anything scrappy-fancy for Valentine's Day this year. It was sooooo much easier and stress-free to just give away the boxed candies! Yeah!

What illnesses or health concerns did I have?

Migraines, during periods. And a little bit before, a little bit after. Barring all the walking and shopping we did in Hong Kong, my back was fine. Except during those days of the month. Bugging the heck out of me, too! Grrr!

Ranger had to have some antibiotics again. As usual. Sigh! For some bronchitis or near-pneumonia. Again. I better pack some pounds into the little runt, he's too sickly!

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

Hong Kong all-girls' trip (with a chiko, Rod)
Math Quiz Bees for all the kids. Raegan got 4th, Rogan 2nd, Raine 3rd.
Iron Chef for Raegan - didn't realize it was such a big deal until I saw it in school, lol!
Rogan's Trumpets play where he sang a solo.
Everyone except Rogan joined the Ateneo Aquathlon again this year! Mama and Raine did the entire thing, while Japa and Raegan did a relay. Reese and Avic did a relay, too, and so did Matec and Franco. Rielle did the entire thing by herself, which was just AWESOME!!!

What new foods, recipes or restaurants did I try this month?

Cappricciosas (sp?), a new Italian restaurant in Greenhills. Almost everywhere we went to in Hong Kong was a new restaurant for us. With Bang in charge of food, each meal was an experience.

What special or unusual purchases did I make?

Nothing special was bought this month, including Hong Kong shopping. Probably the only stuff I did buy for *ME* were scrapping stuff, hehehehe. Shhhh!

What were my scrapping accomplishments this month?

Only 15 pages scrapped this month. Ack.

Anything else noteworthy to record?

Raine passed her taekwondo promotion test and is now a Blue Belter. She also won a GOLD in a mini-competition during the promotion test! I was off my time for the Aquathlon this year....by a minute! Grrr! Oh, and I am guesting for the wonderful Jacque Larsen this month!!! Love love loooooove her paper pieced designs!!!

[A SCRAPPED PAGE]

Squeezing in this last pager for the month:

SNAPSHOTS OF MY FAMILY-MACAU

Can you believe it's going to be MARCH tomorrow?!?!?! Sheesh!

Rounding Up January

I'm taking a cue from Katie the Scrapbook Lady and will TRY and be faithful in doing my Monthly Round Up for every month this year. I was pretty good last year, but I stumbled major time towards the last quarter I think (maybe even before).

But hey, new year, first month, new resolution. I hope. Keeping my fingers crossed! Hehehe.

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

Hmm....I'm afraid I had *just* come to the conclusion that I absolutely NEED to start reading again. I've been floundering for words whenever the kids and I (or Japa and I) would discuss things; I'd vainly search for a word in my mind, most of the time coming short. So yes, I have GOT to start reading something --anything-- again!

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

Offhand, all I can think of is MONK. All seasons so far, hehehehe. I am LOVING Tony Shalhoub, too! I also like Wizards of Waverly Place --- I know, totally kiddie, or tweeny (?), but it's just such a refreshing tv show. And of course, I can't not mention ALL the different CSIs. Love them all!

A single movie this month: Bride Wars. I watched this with the girls and it was quite entertaining.

What special days did I celebrate and how?

Let's see. New Year's Day was spent in the States. Although we didn't do anything special, it was made memorable because we were complete as a family again. Not having Dad in the house for the Christmas countdown was bittersweet; it was great he had spent the whole day at home and that he would be getting another day pass for Christmas Day, but it was still different. It wasn't tradition. So for New Year, it was just a GREAT feeling overall to have Dad home at last. He was discharged the day before New Year. And the family started the year right: complete.

Chinese New Year was celebrated by just eating out. At Causeway. Dimsum and a plethora of Chinese food.

What gifts did I give and/or receive?

We had some "leftover" gifts from Christmas when we arrived. And the gifts of the office staff are STILL in my closet. Yet to be given away. Gulp! This is a wake up call, for sure, to have THAT done! Hehehehe.

What illnesses or health concerns did I have?

It was the month of pins and needles, numbness and swelling of the hands. The hypersensitive feeling I had on my upper legs was enough to spur me to visit a neurologist and my endocrinologist. I had a nerve test done, which basically announced that I had slight carpal tunnel syndrome in both my wrists. My legs? Nothing to be concerned about. My back? Just a little bit of twinge when they stuck in that needle during the nerve test, but otherwise it's fine.

I also had a TON of bloodwork done, which I passed with flying colors. ALL my numbers were right smack in the middle of the NORMAL ranges. For everything. Hah! Yes, I'm all smug about those numbers, and proud of them! At least I now have my baseline numbers. Just in time, too, since I turn 40 this year :)

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

It was a busy month to have fun, hahahaha. I remember watching Monk with the girls, and Ranger had his Father-Child Day for school. Japa went, along with Rogan and Raine and if the number of photographs were an indication, they had a blask.

What new foods, recipes or restaurants did I try this month?

Well, not exactly new, but I did make some spam sushi for the kiddos, as well as spam musubi. It came out pretty good and we ate sooooo much rice for that particular homemade meal!

What special or unusual purchases did I make?

We bought a new car!!! Finally! We settled on the Suburban, a blue LT and it is a monstrous beauty! We named him Rex. Yup, definitely a boy's name for this vehicle!

What were my accomplishments this month?

I scrapped 29 pages :)

Anything else noteworthy to record?

I had my hair chopped off!!! Ten whole inches! I've got a new look :)
I've also resigned from a couple of Creative Teams.
My Word of the Year: WORK. And so far I'm sticking to it! )

[SOME SCRAPS]

WHAT'S IN A NAME?

The kids were off to their first "gimmick" of the year. They had their post-Christmas swimming party, along with the other younger kids from the team. The day started with training, then brunch at Teriyaki Boy, then the whole day was spent wandering about in Bonifacio High Street. The older girls wove through the aisles of Fully Booked while the boys and Rielle and Sara played games at Time Zone.

When Rogan's money ran out, we took him home, along with Raine and Rielle. Raegan stayed on to catch a movie (Beverly Hills Chihuahua or something like that) and didn't come home 'til about 9 pm! Sheesh! And they're just kids! Hehehehe.

Oh well. At least they had a blast....and I got a haircut :) A whopping TEN inches off! Sorry, no photo yet. As usual, I'm too lazy to download from the camera. Besides, I think Lai has some of the better pics in her camera :)

Almost the End of the Year

The last few days of 2007. And here I sit pondering what went on this past year. As is always the case during the tail end of any year, we wonder where the year went. It always goes by super duper fast, doesn't it?

Let's see if I can do some sort of spontaneous recap on some milestones:

Ranger:

turned a precocious 3
went to school for the first time ever
talking oh-so-clearly now

Raine:

swimming star, winning the majority of her events and always medaling
invited to the sparring and school team for Tae Kwon Do
discovering that she seems to be a natural athlete

Rogan:

loves kid's band (doing the guitar)
joined the varsity chess team at school
can beat his Ate at freestyle
had his First Holy Communion

Raegan:

swimming star, medaling in all her events
has beaten 2 boys in her age group in the IM
has emerged as a natural leader in dance, choreographing her class' presentations
started wearing 'trainers' for her teeth

Mama:

joined even more Creative Teams
scrapped like heck the latter part of the year
went on a kid-free anniversary trip
started exercising again (this is VERRRRY major!!!)
had some physical therapy sessions for an increasingly healthy back

Papa:

getting more fit than ever
made some investments, including stocks, bonds and land investment for mining purposes
is on a mission to keep the kids fit for the rest of their lives, hehehe.

Not a bad year, eh? Here's looking to more good things happening in the next year!

Holiday Week and October Round Up

Not only is it semester break for the kids (until the 5th), but it's been pretty much a holiday week for us at work! Holiday on Monday the 29th due to barangay elections. No work on Thursday and Friday because it is All Souls' Day and All Saints' Day. Or vice-versa. I almost always mix them up. *shrug*

Oh well. At least it's scrapping time for me and I did scrap. But I'm posting my catch up scraps first right? Hehehe.

No specific Round Up for me today for the month of October. I'm too lazy to do it right now, I'm catching up on CT requirements. However, I did some major backing up so whoohooohooo for me! After the ehd crash fiasco, I swore I'd be good about backing up all my files. I do NOT want to go through that entire hassle and stress of figuring out what was lost and what wasn't! Sheesh! Nightmare!

We did go to the Garden of Memories to be with our dead and remember them. But we didn't stay long, for what is probably the second or third time in our history! Hehehe. Dad didn't go, so we pretty much used him as an excuse to go home early. Also, Mom flew to the States, so she didn't stay long either because she still had to pack.

I also want to get some layouts done because I know that I won't be doing much the next few days because it is Digital Scrapbooking Day on the 3rd, and I intend to stay GLUED to my laptop for all the happenings going on in different sites. Not to mention the plethora of sales! My Paypal is ready!!!

{CATCH UP SCRAPS}

RANGER'S FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL
ROGAN'S CHARMANDER
RAEGAN AT THE MOON FESTIVAL

As always, images are clickable to leave me a comment or to see the credits. I know, I'm a lazy bum for not putting the credits, but I like to blog fast! Too much to do! Hehehe.

TTFN!

August Round Up

My August 2007 Round Up

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

Obviously, I did NOT read any book this month. I scoured my blog archives in the high hope that I had just forgotten that I had read a book, any book....but to no avail. Sigh! I canNOT believe I did not read a book in the past 30 days! WOW!

Magazines? Not a one either, unless tabloids count, hehehe!

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

I did better on this front. We watched The Bourne Ultimatum this month. Waaay early this month! There was also Rush Hour 3 which we saw with Rogan and Raine. There was also Surf's Up with the kids, which we saw on video, I think.

And.....that was it. Sheesh! How UN-cultured was I this month??? No books and practically no movies, either! Unbelievable!

What special days did I celebrate and how?

August 6 - Happy Birthday to Boydee and ME!!! It was only the 2nd or 3rd (maybe the 4th?) time we celebrated separately. I was in the States, and Boydee back home in the Philippines. He celebrated with a Mexican themed party while we had a blast at Acapulco in Glendale! Yummmy on the strawberry margaritas and the ginormous burrito I had!

No class days - We had a few of those this month, mainly because of a couple of typhoons and a couple of holidays celebrated on Mondays. The kids had no class obviously, and we pretty much whiled the time away playing the Wii (or me catching up on my CT requirements, hehehe).


What illnesses or health concerns did I have?

No problems whatsoever this past month!!! Yeah! Slight --- very slight --- back problems, but mainly because of all the walking we had done from the East Coast, and all the traveling we did. Some migraines, but those were due to that time of the month, methinks.

Oh, my back DID hurt after the first few times I played with the Wii (tennis and bowling) because I was using my back with the proper form, of course. I had to adjust THAT in a hurry, that's for sure!

The kids, nada. Healthy little buggers they were, hehehe. :)


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

We ate out pretty much the entire time we were in the States, so that was definitely FUN, hehehehe!

Playing the Wii was a major thing this past month. It was good for the kids because not only were they playing a video game, they were being PHYSICAL with it! So THAT'S a huge advantage of having the Wii!

1. The Sisterhood Challenge - Playing catch-up on this one. Elizza has been the runaway leader so far, finishing up the baptism pages in one weekend, I think! I'm currently on my last 2 sets of the 2nd month while Elizza and Bang are working on their 3rd month already. I need to get cracking at this!

2. Swimming Competition - The kids competed in the first ever Development Age Group Invitation Swim Meet at Valle Verde. There were a lot of clubs from all over the country, and the kids did really well.
a. Raegan - got golds in back and free, a silver in fly, and a ribbon (6th) for breaststroke.
b. Rogan - got bronze medals for free, fly and breast, and a ribbon (6th) for backstroke.
c. Raine - got ALL GOLDS for ALL strokes in her age group! Whoohoo! She did really well.....she should, seeing that she was HUGE compared to the other 7 year old girls

3. I joined the Amazing Digi Scrapping Race Season 2 with my awesome partner, Katie the Scrapbook Lady. We had a blast and cemented our cyber friendship even more. Thanks, Katie, for asking me to partner with you!

What special or unusual purchases did I make?

I purchased my monthly kit from Songbird Avenue called Dreamsicle. And no, I haven't scrapped with it. Yet. I will, sooner or later. I love getting the Avenue's kits because they're 1-great kits, and 2-the proceeds all go to support some great cause. So, no regrets from me for sure!

And a MAJOR-ajor purchase we did this month? You guessed it! My new TOY, an iMac!!! Whoohoohoo! I've scrapped a few pages on it so far and it can fly---mainly because there's practically NOTHING on the hard drive! Hehehe!

What were this month's disappointments?

I couldn't renew my dang driver's license because of some effing state law! Aaaargh!! Maybe I'll try again when I go back...

What were my accomplishments this month?

I finally DID get my Philippine license though! After almost 10 years! Hehehehe. Good thing I was "still in the system", so to speak. Whatever. Just glad that I can still drive anywhere! WHoohoohoo!

I've also done some layouts to start our East Coast album. I've also added some more pages to the kiddos' baby album, thanks to The Sisterhood Challenge.

I won a $15 GC to the awesome Shabby Princess' Shoppe!!! AND, I made LOTD over at SDK! How cool is that! Yeah!

Anything else noteworthy to record?

I've caught up with my CT requirements, after close to a month of not getting anything scrapped! Kind of. :) But I'm resolving to do soooo much better this coming month. Oh, and I've scrapped with a TON of PINK kits this past month---thank goodness I had the swimming pictures to go with them----the girls were THANKFULLY wearing hot pink swim caps! Whew!

On the Office front - we're starting to shape up the Human Resources Department a few things at a time. Turtle-like, but at least it's getting done, so yay!

August Layout Count: 49!

***End of Round Up***

June Round Up

My June 2007 Round Up

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

What with the soltera, Hong Kong trip, wedding and planning our anniversary trip, it was a WONDER that I started --- and finished --- Jodi Picoult's Songs of the Humpback Whale!

A basic summary: Jane runs away from her husband after a major fight. Her daughter goes with her. She writes to her brother who tells her where to go in his next letter, delivered to the Post Office of the next town. This continues until Jane's husband, a well-known oceanographer, finally tracks her down.

This is a pretty deep, complex book. I was very confused with the book having 5 different narrators, not just Jane. It was a chore to have to completely change my reading perspective every chapter, but as I got the hang of it, it wasn't too bad. :) Jodi Picoult explores these 5 characters and how they relate to each other very thoroughly. Then the reader gets to tie everything together. Though not by all means predictable, Songs of the Humpback Whales is most definitely NOT an easy read. Be prepared to spend a few hours delving into this book.

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

We had kiddie movies this month: Meet the Robinsons and Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer. Enjoyable films both, but not sure if it's worth getting the DVD, hehehe. Maybe Meet the Robinsons.

What special days did I celebrate and how?

June 11 - Rogan's 8th birthday. He had THE most brilliant idea for his birthday celebration: Bowling!!! Everyone had a blast at Paeng's Skybowl, especially the kids. And for me? The EASIEST party to (non) prepare! Hehehe.

June 12 - Double celebration here. We had Philippine Independence Day, of course, where we went on this fabulous walking tour by led by Carlos Celdran. AND Rod proposed to Zhar that same night!!!

June 14 - Lola Nene's 88th Birthday! Some trivia: Rogan is exactly 80 years younger than Lola, and I'm exactly 50 years younger than Lola! :)

June 15-17 - All Girls' Hong Kong Trip. Just Mom, Tita B, Bang, Lai and moi. It was a trip where we literally did not do anything BUT eat, shop and sleep. A vicious cycle, but we had so much fun!

June 17 - Father's Day. Scroll down towards the bottom of the post to read about what we did for Father's Day this year.

June 18 - Despedida de Soltera of Stella. Squeezed myself into an old gown, whew! My girls looked beautiful in their too-old-for-them (maybe) dresses, hehehe, and my boys looked very dashing in their barong tagalogs!

June 21 - Birthdays of Tito Lito, Stella, Yuri.

June 22 - Wedding Day of Randy and Stella. Go check out the photo-heavy post! :)


What illnesses or health concerns did I have?

My back's been acting up, as usual. Maybe it's all those hours sitting on a chair doing the chaplets, or all the walking in Hong Kong, maybe even all the scrapping *wink*! Oh but wait, can't have been the latter since I usually scrap on my bed! Hehehe. Yoga has been a lifesaver yet again; I'm actually on week 5 of my 10-week program. Couldn't do a whole lot of yoga the latter part of the month, what with everything that was going on!

Had a major toothache. So bad that I wanted the dentist to pull the effing tooth out, but she wanted to preserve the dang tooth! Ugh! Luckily I listened to her; it was a short, painless procedure :)

Tita San is still in and out of the hospital. We're not sure if things will ever look good for her. :(


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

Aside from all the birthdays and parties we celebrated this month, we also had:

1. The Sisterhood Challenge - To date, we have done the cover pages and the first month double spreads. I've finished Baptism pages for Raegan only. Like I said, it was a busy month. Sigh!

2. Swimming Competition - The kids competed in Celebrity Sports Plaza where they had a 50-meter pool! For the first time ever, Rogan's time in freestyle was way faster than his Ate's!

What special or unusual purchases did I make?

Hmmmm.....I always have difficulty completing this part of the Round Up every single month! Well, with all the shopping that I did in Hong Kong, I can't remember everything! I did buy Boydee's birthday gift early....

I also bought Randy and Stella's wedding gift, a 4-inch memory foam mattress with 2 king size pillows. I also got a 6-pack of standard memory foam pillows for us, just because they're hypo-allergenic. Maybe it'll work wonders with the kids' allergies.

Oh! And THE most unusual gift for this month? This one that I gave to Stella for her wedding shower, hehehehe:

What were this month's disappointments?

Tita San's deterioration. She's sometimes a shell of what she used to be; for a lot of times though, remnants of the old Tita San are seen through a smile, a grimace, a look.

What were my accomplishments this month?

My Cebu Album is DONE!!! Ordered through Shutterfly; I just CANNOT wait to get the finished product!

Still earning a bit via my blog, although my (very few!) faithful readers have started to complain that I've got too much advertisement going on, hehehe. I've resolved to cut down on those ads in the future. Maybe *wink*!

I've done a couple more weeks in the Yoga program despite the busy schedule for this month! In fact, I kept doing it even during our trip to Hong Kong!

Anything else noteworthy to record?

Plans are pretty much set for our anniversary trip. We won't be able to make it to Vegas on our date, but we get to go to Hawaii when we accompany Dad there on a layover enroute to Los Angeles. And yes, tickets have been paid for for our East Coast trip as well as reservations confirmed on our RCI exchanges in Virginia and Pennsylvania.

April Layout Count: (a measly) 23!

***End of Round Up***

(This post reconstructed July 23, 2007)

May Round Up

This Round Up is a bit late, but I just HAD to do it, for posterity's sake....and for when and if I do a Year That Was sort of scrapbook album :)

My May 2007 Round Up

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

On the first of May, I started a brand new blog, The Average Bookworm. I think it'll be a good look at the kinds of books I read throughout the month and the years to come. And yes, I'm definitely going to be updating that blog a bit with each book I read, good or bad. I want to work on getting back to being a voracious reader again.

Ok, books I've read in May (with links for MY own review about the book, hehehe) :

1. For One More Day by Mitch Albom
2. Xerxes Invades Greece
3. Started reading Illustrated Tales from Shakespeare, a super duper concise version of Shakespeare minus the English thee's and thou's, etc :)
4. Sophie Kinsella's Can You Keep A Secret?

Not a bad list. I have YET to start reading Harry Potter all over again. Since I'm pressed for time, I think I'm going to go ahead and read Raegan's British version (we bought her books in Singapore, so I'm pretty sure they're the British version, hehe). Should be interesting to read the differences, if any.

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

We watched Shrek the Third and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. Great movies, both.

For TV shows, I started and finished Brothers and Sisters! Thank goodness for downloadable episodes! Great great AWESOME series! Love it and can't wait for next season! I've also started watching Charmed, the series about the Halliwell sisters who are witches.

What special days did I celebrate and how?

May 5 - Father Benny's 50th birthday. Mom and Tita Vkyh threw a surprise party for him, his first ever in 50 whole years!

May 8 - The twins' birthday. We had a wonderful, just-us-family dinner at an upscale restaurant. Love days when we can do this!

May 13 - Mother's Day and Housewarming Party of Dic and Lai. Simple and relaxing day.

May 14 - Local Elections. Although of course I wasn't able to cast my vote since the stupid lists didn't have my name on them! Grrr!

May 17 - Shrine's Inauguration. Formally turned over the Shrine to the Military Ordinariate of the Philippines. Of course we're still finishing up (and spending for!) construction and the interior.

What illnesses or health concerns did I have?

Still my back of course, but it has gotten a lot better because of YOGA! Yeah! I've been very very good about keeping a daily schedule of my yoga and have finished the first 3 weeks of the 10-week program!

In other illness and health concerns, Tita San had another emergency operation in her brain, starting with her passing out during their Korea layover. Prognosis doesn't look great for her, with her doctor giving her 3-4 months to live. She's beaten the odds before, and everyone has been praying for her recovery.

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

Aside from all the birthdays and parties we celebrated this month, we also had:

1. The Sisterhood Challenge - Bang, Lai, Cathy and myself started this group to force us to finish our babies' first-year albums. To date, we have done the cover pages and the first month double spreads. Working on the baptism spread next.

2. Swimming Competition - an inter-club meet, with the kids all winning in their respective divisions. Raegan swims fast in the butterfly, Rogan in freestyle, and Raine in the breaststroke. According to their coach, they've all improved their personal best times.

What special or unusual purchases did I make?

Ummm.....digiscrap kits! Hehehe. Yes, despite the plethora of stuff I get from the awesome designers I CT for, I still have this URGE to buy more stuff! Hehehe.

One of the single BEST purchases I ever made was this book right here, How to Use Yoga by Mira Mehta. I chose this book primarily because of the 10-week schedule included towards the back of the book. A lifesaver, really, and it's done wonders for my back. I've bought this book for Bang and Rodney as well, that's how much I love it!

Oh, I almost forgot, there was an unusual purchase I did make: my PINK formal blouse for the Shrine Inauguration! Hehehe.

What were this month's disappointments?

Tita San getting hospitalized again, was a disappointment of sorts. The major disappointment was in how her children responded (or lack thereof) to the whole situation. That'll fill a looong blog post am sure. *roll eyes here* Edited to add: In fairness, RJ has stepped up to the plate and done an okay job being the big brother and the head of the family that he is now.

What were my accomplishments this month?

I made major strides in finishing my Cebu Album! Whoohoohoo! A few more before everything is finalized and everything is uploaded to Shutterfly.

I made some modest amount, enough to make those digi purchases *wink* and then some more.
Scrapping TOOTS:
1. Darcy Baldwin has asked me to stay on and be part of her CT!
2. Karah Fredricks has extended my Guest CT status to June!

So YAY me! :)

Anything else noteworthy to record?

Obviously, we had to scrap the birthday trip plans for Lola's 88th birthday. There was no way she was going to leave Tita San behind while she went gallivanting all over China could she?

Almost done planning for our trip to the States for our 10th wedding anniversary. Oh so close! :)

April Layout Count: 41!

***End of Round Up***

April Round Up

My April 2007 Round Up

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

I am reading Mitch Albom's For One More Day. And I finished reading the Rule of Four by Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason. And I think that's it, hehehe. Pathetic, I know, especially for someone who purports to love reading. However, I think I will start reading the Harry Potter series. Again. Yes, the ENTIRE series. Again. For the nth time. For some reason, I have this URGE to read everything, timing it so that I'd be prime and ready for the latest in the series. So yes, if this last book by J.K. Rowling is the 7th in the series, it means I've read book 1, the Sorcerer's Stone, 7 times, including the first time it came out.

Although I didn't get much reading done, I did put up a brand new blog, The Average Bookworm. I'm thinking that I'm going to write whatever about the books that I'm reading and the books that I've read and the books that I want to read over on that blog. Click on the link and let me know what you think :)

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

We watched TMNT, Zoom: The Academy for Superheroes and Happily Never After.

For TV shows, I've been addicted to Heroes!!! Loving that show!

What special days did I celebrate and how?

April 8 - Easter. The kids had a blast with the egg-hunting, of course.

April 10 - Raegan's birthday. Mass, Starbucks, Zensho's and movies in the movie room.

April 11 - 42nd Anniversary of Mommy Nena and Daddy Doods. A Spring Deer dinner at home.

April 26 - Japa's 38th birthday. Breakfast at Pancake House and dinner at the Coral Garden where the Crab Foo Young and Salted Fish Fried Rice were THE best!

What illnesses or health concerns did I have?

I tried going back on the treadmill, and did! TWICE! Hehehe. We had to go to Cebu, so that sort of got side-tracked. Yoga was sidetracked as well, due to Cebu. Now we're just catching up.....and my back has started to hurt again. Not the tingling, nagging-can't-shake-it-type of hurt, but full-blown PAIN. Ugh. Painkillers every now and then do the trick, but I'm resting my back in a MAJOR way.

The boys both had asthma right before we went to Cebu. In a panic, I bought Goji juice (sort of like Intra and Noni Juice) which we brought to Cebu. We also had the nebulizer with us, so between nebulizing, Goji juice and dips in the ocean, the boys got better and better as the week progressed. Whew!

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

We went to Cebu! And spent close to a week there, too, courtesy of Tita Nonie and Bang, and Shangri La hotel, hehehe. We had SUCH a blast! Of course, by the time we were done, we were all suffering some major subnurn, and the kids were a tad dark, hehehe...enough to make Mom freak out and start worrying about how her grandkids would look dressed in wedding finery for Randy and Stella's wedding!

The GSS wasn't done on a regular basis, although we did squeeze in a session while in Cebu. The kids started some summer school classes at U.P: Taekwondo, Rhythmic Gymnastics and Street dance. Swimming, of course, continued.

What special or unusual purchases did I make?

Hmmmm....would you believe....NOTHING?!?!? I couldn't believe it either, so I went to check my dashboard, and....nothing! Aside from SOME scrapping kits, naturally! I can't believe this! hehehe.

What were this month's disappointments?

Mainly, that my back started hurting again :( No major disappointments, I think. None that I remember, at least

What were my accomplishments this month?

CT requirements done, some even being exceeded :) With the TON of Cebu pictures we all took, I think I'm going to be busy for a bit. Also, I'm having ALL the old photos of the kids scanned in, so I'm going to be busy for a long, long time!

I've been pretty good updating my blog, I think. I've even ventured into a little bit of Blogging for Money :) It's a trial and error thing, but I think I'm doing ok...at least, I've got Paypal money for my scrapping purchases! Hehehe.

I did the treadmill, yeah! Twice! See above. :)

Scrapping TOOTS:
1. Katie the Scrapbook Lady asked me to continue on as part of her regular CT!!! Whoohoo!
2. Darcy Baldwin has extended my Guest CT stint for one more month! Yeah!
3. I am Guest CT for Karah Fredrick's this coming month (May)!

So YAY me! :)

Anything else noteworthy to record?

We're STILL in the planning stages for Lola Nene's 88th birthday. We're trying to do Shanghai and/or Beijing....but I'm thinking the HEAT during that time will just about make us all WILT!!! We WERE adding Australia and/or New Zealand as possibilities, but I think that's losing out, darn it!

Almost done planning for our trip to the States for our 10th wedding anniversary. Oh so close! :)

April Layout Count: 49!

***End of Round Up***

{SCRAPS}

SHOES OF SUMMER
Rogan's not-so-little toesies during a boat ride this month.

Journaling reads: With the sun beating merc ilessly during the hot summer months, it feels so good to go barefoot.

Credits: papers - Citrus Splash by Eve Recinella at Sweet Shoppe Designs; curled border templates - by Marcie Reckinger; shadow action - by Traci Murphy; date stamp - by Amber Clegg; alpha - Spin Me by Eve Recinella at SSD; fonts - King Cool KC, KGD Jackie, KGD Emily Script; Idea from Katie the Scrapbook Lady's August Amazing Month of Memories: August - Foot Health Month


RAINE'S BOOK: COVER
Credits: kit - Shabby Little Spring Time by Rina Kroes at 3Scrapateers; white swirl - Baha Blossoms by Rina Kroes at SBE; pinned tag - by Holly McCaig at MDM; frames, purple swirl (recolored) - by Royanna Fritschmann; felt alpha - Whispers of Spring by Shappy Princess; button alpha - It's a Spring Thing by Eve Recinella at SSD; font - Adler

{CHOREBUSTER}

In a nutshell, O.M.Gosh! If you have lots of kids or lots of household help, then you NEED to go visit Chorebuster! Basically, what it does is, it maps out for you the schedule of chores for each person in your household. You have the option of printing it out for each person per week, or you can have a sort of master list which includes each person AND the chore each person is supposd to do EACH day of the week! And once you input all the chores and all the people, you just sit and wait for the chore list to be emailed to you (or the person involved).

Is this a COOL site or what?!?! I love it! I was going to put my kids' names in it, but seeing that I'd have more use of this site by inputting the names and chores of the maids and drivers in our household, I decided to go this route.

I put in 7 (!) names on the list, and about 25 different chores. With a big house and several people having to clean, this site is a Godsend, I swear! I tell the site what particular days certain chores should be done and who does it. I can even tell the site when I want certain chores to start. Then vavoom! I click print, and there it is, all nice and neat!

I cannot tell you enough about Chorebuster, you have to try it out for yourself! And yes, of course it's free! :)

I'm not sure if I can have a second set of people, but I think I'm going to do a chore schedule for the kids as well.

Backing Up.....

Starting my Monthly Round Up....but I desperately need to clear my laptop's hard disk first. I was scrapping and my laptop has been unusually s-l-o-o-o-w. Turns out I have running Photoshop on less than 4 gigabytes of space! Sheesh!

So starts the process of burning to disk...to DVDs. Just so I can store more files in one single disk.... Enter my find for the day: Secure ZIP.

Apparently, this baby helps secure your files AND zips them up..which saves me the much needed hard disk space for my.....scrapping files, hehehe. Ok fine, my office documents and other email messages as well.

Additionally, whenever I send important email messages, SecureZIP encrypts the message! How cool is that! The press release says that this version "integrates directly" with Microsoft Outlook. I don't use Outlook, but for those of you, this is a must-get software, especially if data security is important for you.

I'm going to be playing around with this software for a bit and will most likely have our company consider purchasing it (the Enterprise Edition); a very useful feature of SecureZIP is its passwords ability. For our office, which is just setting up a system that involves passwords and stuff, this could prove very, very helpful indeed.

I'm the type of administrator who WANTS to know ---ok, NEEDS to know--- the passwords that the employees will be using. Why? In instances of a sudden resignation or is we need to fire an employee, then that particular password is retrievable by SecureZIP. Fancy, huh?


Ok. Off to resume backing up my files.

March Round Up

I cannot believe the first QUARTER of the year is done!!! Time does fly by --- and it is so hard to fathom that this month is over! We can't do any "life rewinds" or push a rewind button somewhere to bring back time, but I am glad I am able to SCRAP and leave a legacy for my family. Well, at least I think it's something worth doing, and I'm sure the kids will appreciate it. Someday. For now, it's "Mama, why do you scrapbook?" Hehehehe.

Oki, time for this month's Round Up taken from Katie, the Scrapbook Lady:

My March 2007 Round Up

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

Currently reading Herodotus' Xerxes Invades Greece. Why? Ever since watching the movie 300, I've been inspired to read up a little bit on that part of world history! The movie was just too fab....I know that reading the real thing will be even better! I'm also thinking if I should order the coffee table book from Amazon....

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

OMGosh....whatever I watched, NOTHING could beat out 300!!! When the movie ended, Japa looked at me and said, "We are getting the DVD when this comes out," and I totally totally agree! The best-est ever line from the movie? When the Persian messenger looks over at the Queen and questions why she is present in their "important men talk"...the Queen looks at him icily and says with full confidence: "Only Spartan women give birth to Spartan men." Love love LOVE this line! Hehehehe. Even my brothers know me well enough to say that they just KNEW it was "MY" line.

We WERE going to squeeze in watching the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles....but Japa said he would watch it with the kids if and only if I'd suffer through it with him! Hehehehe. Maybe next week.

What special days did I celebrate and how?

March 13 - Mom's birthday. She turned 61 this month. And we celebrated by going to Hong Kong. Only the adults. The kids had school, and it was fun to just be with adults and not have to worry about little someones being underfoot. Even Stella and Zhar were allowed by their families to go with us! So we were very COMPLETE.

What illnesses or health concerns did I have?

My back has been pretty good to me this month (knock on wood!). Must be all the Yoga we've been doing. I think I had a few days of nonstop migraines, but with medication I was fine.

I think I have insomnia...it has been increasingly difficult for me to sleep at a normal time, meaning anytime before midnight. It has been horrible, with me staying up until 515 am at the very latest!!! I guess I will need to see a doctor about this.....

I was down for close to a week with a really bad cold. Enough for me to lose my voice. Or is this major sore throat? I don't know. Whatever it was, I just woke up one day with absolutely NO VOICE. Not even a whisper! Japa of course enjoyed the "peace and quiet" this afforded him, hmp! But seriously! NO VOICE! I am also on antibiotics now, with 1-2 more days before I'm ok. My colds have petered out a bit and I just have the sniffles.

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

Aside from the trip to Hong Kong and Macau, the best thing we've done this month is to do YOGA together, as a family! We do it at La Vista, with my entire family including the kids, Lai's entire family (Rondic attended once, but it's a start), Bang, Mom, Randy and Stella, and Rodney and Zhar. Too cool! And the most awesome part is that we only pay one fee (P1,000) for ALL of us!!!

We've also started GSS -- the Gavino Summer School. With the kids all out for the summer, I HAVE to keep them busy. No way will I leave them to TV, Game Boy and the computer the whole summer! So we've kept sketch books full of fun stuff the kids have done, we've kept up on our reading AND vocabulary.

What special or unusual purchases did I make?

My Benefit Cosmetics make up schtuff!!! THE best purchase this month! I am SO happy with everything I bought! :)

What were this month's disappointments?

The fact that I didn't win the Photo Contest for the Shrine's pictures! Sigh! Oh well. At least I know MY pictures looked good, even before I used Photoshop! Boydee even commented how crisp and clean my photos looked! :)

What were my accomplishments this month?

CT requirements all done except RAKS. Being in Hong Kong just blew to smithereens my scrapping schedule.

My Blog is UPDATED!!!! Here's hoping this trend continues, eh?

I can do the shoulder stand (sort of) in Yoga!!! I can get my arse up off the floor and my legs behind my head (but still up in the air, not down on the ground). This is a HUGE accomplishment!

Scrapping TOOTS:
1. I am on DeDe Smith's CT!!!
2. I have been on Katie's Guest CT this month!!!
3. I am on the Divine Digital's CT!!!
4. I just read on Dani Mogstad's blog that I won a $10 GC!!!

So YAY me! :) Yes, I need to update my list of blinkies off to the side. That'll be my next project.

Anything else noteworthy to record?

We're still in the planning stages for Lola Nene's 88th birthday. We're trying to do Shanghai and/or Beijing....but I'm thinking the HEAT during that time will just about make us all WILT!!!

Thank you to Bang and Elizza for doing all the Easter Egg Hunt Planning this year! :)

March Layout Count: 39!

***End of Round Up***

{APRIL PLANS}

Thanks to the Sweet Shoppe's From Our Blog to Yours prompt, here are some April Plans for the family that I can think of:

1. Continue GSS (Gavino Summer School) Classes
2. Bisita Iglesia - where we visit 7 churches on Maundy Thursday
3. Easter Egg Hunt with the kids at La Vista
4. continue Yoga classes
5. explore other fitness classes like Belly Dancing (hehehe) or Kickboxing

{SCRAPS}

DST is down, but as soon as I can upload my layouts to other galleries, I'll post links here!

BIRTHDAY DRESS

Raegan showing off her new dress when she was only a year and 10 months old!

Journaling reads: When Mama saw this dress, she immediately knew that it was THE dress for your 2nd birthday party. When you saw it, you couldn’t wait to try it on even though your birthday was 2 months away! THe velvet bodice fit just right, but we had to take the hem in. The dress was a size 4 and you looked absolutely BEAUTIFUL in it!

Credits: kit - Rainbow by Elly Engelgeer at digiscrappen.nl; notepapers - by Sharon K; word art - by Audrey Neal; pinned tag - by Holly McCaig; flower border, brads - It's A Spring Thing by Eve Recinella at SSD; aged photo frame - by Rina Kroes; font - DB Kirsty

AN OLDE IRISH WISH

May the raindrops fall lightly on your brow
May the soft winds freshen your spirit
May the sunshine brighten your heart
May the burdens of the day rest lightly upon you
And may God enfold you in the mantle of His love.

Credits: kit - Rainbow by Elly Engelgeer at digitalscrappen.nl; felt ribbons sun - by Tiff Brady; stitches - Little Messies by Gina Miller; button corners - by Traci Murphy; layered sketch - by Teresa Ferguson; fonts -

Off to dinner!

TTFN!

February Round Up

My February 2007 Round Up

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

I still have Sudoku on my nightstand. Making progress with it.....doing the Medium puzzles and totally leaving the Easy ones unanswered! :)

I also have a copy of Simple Scrapbooks on my nightstand....it's still unopened, in it's plastic bag. Hehehe. Somehow, with the advent of digiscrapping, I rarely open my CK or SS mags anymore, much less buy them!

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

We didn't get to watch any movies this month. I would rather NOT go and sit in a theater for 2 hours. My back will pay for it the following day if I do. Not much TV either, come to think of it. When I get home, I usually lay down on my tummy and scrap until the wee hours of the morning.

I have enjoyed watching a few Nick Jr. shows with Ranger. His favorites include The Wonder Pets, the Backyardigans, Dora, Diego, and Lazy Town. As for the other kids, I know I hear Pokemon and the Fairly Oddparents blaring in the background when I am scrapping. They've also gotten to watching this relatively new show on TeeNick. I forget the title of the TV show, but it does feature the younger sister of Britney Spears. Go figure *shrug*

What special days did I celebrate and how?

February 3 - Rielle's birthday. She turned 9 this month. Looking at her though, you'd think she was 6 or 7 because of her small stature.

February 14 - For the first time ever, as far as I can remember, we celebrated Valentine's Day in style. We had a catered, sit-down dinner at the 20th floor of the Malayan Plaza in Ortigas. Randy had arranged to reserve the whole floor and had it set up to accommodate all of us, including Mom and Dad. Boydee and Bang weren't there, as they are usually in Cebu helping out at the Chateau, Bang's family's restaurant. Dinner at the Malayan Plaza was cooked by RJ. Decorations were done by Stella and Elizza, including a photo corner of course. Rodney and Rondic were in charge of the menu.

February 15 - Reese's 10th birthday. We had dinner at Teriyaki Boy to celebrate.

February 18 - Kung Hei Fat Choi! Happy Chinese New Year! We welcome the year of the Pig.

February 21 - Lent starts with Ash Wednesday. We got our ashes early in the morning so Raegan could make class and swimming. My sacrifice for this year? I'm giving up beef and chicken. I will NOT swear (the heavy swear words at least). I will allow myself to eat SOME rice during the day, not going over 1 cup of rice. So fish and veggies it is, pretty much. Oh, and I have to watch what I say :)

February 24 - Bric was baptized at the Shrine. Reception was done in the crying room, catered by RJ Ungco. Well of course I was Ninang, seeing as I'm the only sister, and Bric was the first child of Boydee and Bang. Hehehe. I'm the godmother of ALL my brothers' first born. I don't expect this trend to be broken anytime soon....HINT! HINT!!!

What illnesses or health concerns did I have?

My back didn't improve or worsen this month. I can definitely sit down for longer periods of time, but I have to be ultra careful to stand up and stretch several times each hour so my leg and back wouldn't hurt. As it is though, I found myself staying longer at the office and consequently paying for it that same night and into the morning.

I did start YOGA this month. Bikram Yoga, that is. The super duper uber HOT kind. Like working out in a sauna! But after the first or second session, I felt my back improve.....I can stretch it out more, I can actually kneel down and sit back without feeling any pain.

Ranger was put on antibiotics this month for a bad cough/asthma. Hopefully he'll outgrow this soon.

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

Yoga, albeit HOT, was a fun, good workout done with Japa. We also had Rodney and Zhar join us, as well as Stella on our last session. It was nice to compare how and what we felt doing yoga, discussing the good and the bad points of Bikram Yoga with family.

What special or unusual purchases did I make?

Other than digital kits-that-I-don't-really-need-to-buy, nothing I don't think. I remember thinking that I should vastly curtail my expenses this month since we're STILL paying for purchases done over the holidays....not so sure if I was able to do that, but I think I've controlled myself. A bit. :)

What were this month's disappointments?

My back and leg aren't improving that much. Of course, with no physical therapy, I dare not think they'd improve, but still. Hehehe.

I was a bit disappointed that the kids didn't win at their respective Spelling/Math Bees, but I was proud of them for representing their classes!

Other than the ONE DVD I had burned as back up, I have NOT done any backing up this month! I have started to panic as I now have less than 10 gigabytes on my laptop's hard disk!!!

I also thought I was getting caught up on blogging, but somehow in the last few days of the month, I stopped blogging! Ack!

What were my accomplishments this month?

CT requirements done, on time.

I finished the album I started for Rogan's class, Where in the World is Grade 1-A? The best part of that presentation was when some girls squealed and thanked me for making them famous, hehehe. Oh, and the WONDER in this boy's voice when he told his teacher that he didn't remember visiting the Little Mermaid in Denmark (he was photoshop-ed in!).

I had TWO layouts picked for the PICK OF THE DAY at 3Scrapateers: The Bride and Tongue Twist. Additionally, Kristi McFadden over at SBB emailed me to ask me if they could include 'Mallows Roasting on an Open Fire in the March Ezine! Now how cool is that?!?!!!

Anything else noteworthy to record?

As mentioned, the kids represented their class in Spelling (Rogan and Raine) and Math (Raegan). They didn't win, but they bested 20 other kids to get to the final round!

We have begun to plan for Lola Nene's 88th birthday in June. If you know our family, this is a MAJOR MAJOR record for us, as we usually do things last minute *roll eyes up here*

February Layout Count: 45!

***End of Round Up***

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!