Art Combo (3-5yo) @ RAC

Mr Tony. 

I've heard raves about him from friends and I was more than excited to finally get his class for Kimi this summer for the end of August.

It was almost the end of Summer and it was a perfect way to end the Summer vacation with a week-long art class that would reunite Kimi and one of her favorite friend, Sam.

* Kenzo, Kimi and Sam

Before each class, Mr. Tony showed the parents what the children was doing for that day...

Mr Tony's secret weapon? Coco, his beloved monkey puppet. A bit of puppeteer can go a long way in entertaining the kids and making learning much more exciting.

* Coco the puppet monkey

DAY O1

* Parrot Bird Art...

Wings that looks a lot like hands... that is because, they actually used their hands to trace the shape for the bird's wings...

DAY 02

* Tiger Art

Yes, this drawing was supposed to be a tiger but Kimi decided to try blue to color hers...

DAY 03

* Color Wheel

The most important element in any art class is the color wheel to serve as a reference in mixing colors. the kids does all the mixing of the colors to make the secondary colors (orange violet and green) for the wheel!

DAY 04

* The Flamingo

Red and White make Pink, I think... A little phrase Mr Tony recites repeatedly to make the kids remember how pink came to be...

DAY 05

* Frog...

Blue and yellow mixture makes green... They experimented with yellow, blue and whites to make different shades of green to make up this artwork. That little black thing's a tadpole. Mr Tony does a bit of lecture about the life cycle of the frog as well to get the kid's informed about their project of the day.

Mr Tony always informed the parents how the kids did all the artworks and that even the mixing of the colors was all done by the kids themselves. I was pretty impressed that they did it on their own at the amount of time that was allotted for their class. Mr Tony's class may be a long drive from our place, but he was a real character and well worth it.

Coloring outside the lines is a fine art.

- Kim Nance

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ART COMBO

Mr. Tony and Coco

Richmond Art Centre

Richmond, B.C.

To YVR Airport we go...

Stone's departure finally arrived and we went with Twinny to see our friend, Stone off.

* Kenzo falling in line

* Enjoying the ride at the cart

We had more time to spend waiting for the boarding...

* Twinny and Kimi

* Stone with Kimi

* Last prank from Uncle Stone to Kenzo...

...and finally it was time to say our goodbyes

* Sweet Moment- Papa Karl and Kimi

Till we meet again

* * * * *

YVR International Airport

Richmond, B.C.

Stone's Despedida

One of our closest couple friends in Vancouver are going home for awhile...at least Stone is. 

...and we planned a despedida to mark his pending departure.

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SCHANKS SPORT GRILL

New Westminster, B.C.

Motherhood Choices

I admit that motherhood is not a walk in the park, yet it is the most rewarding role I could ever ask for. It`s hard to make decisions when you know that every decision may, and will, affect (you and...) your kids in the future. I have compiled some decisions we had so far and what we got from these decisions.

* * *

Some of you may roll your eyes on co-sleeping at age 2 and 4 but I really love having them close to me while they still want me. I know that soon enough, they will want their space.

CO-  SLEEPING

#1 Waking up to see Kenzo looking down at me, smiling and raining me kisses to start my day

#2 After a hard day's work, I love to see them sleeping peacefully in our bed and cuddling them. Makes me forget the day's fight and shouting matches. It's a perfect way to end the day, seeing them sleep makes me almost forget how active they were earlier.

#3 I love how Kimi instinctively reaches out in the middle of the night, still asleep, to look for the warmth of my body, and sighing contentedly upon finding me.

#4 I just love having hubby, Kimi and Kenzo within my arm's reach, makes me feel that everything I need are in this little space we call bed.

#5 Doing prayers with the kids at night time, it is so funny what comes out of the kids and I just love making small talks before they go to sleep.

* * * 

Doing part time work has it perks although sometimes I wish I could start my path toward whatever career path I want to take, to get a full time job that actually make a big contribution towards our monthly bill and to actually set aside something significant for our future, but we decided that the kids needs me more right now and that we can work on a budget with whatever salary we rake in at this point.

* December 2012

PART TIME JOB vs FULL TIME

#6 I get to see how they do day in and day out, which can be a bit too much for me sometimes but can be rewarding when you see them reach a milestone with your very own eyes.

#7 Shuttling them for play dates during the office hours and getting together with the other mommies and kids to compare notes share motherhood experiences. This is priceless and we can only do that during office hours...

#8 I get a bit of time in the office to re-energize and miss the kids so that I can be a better mom when I get home. Mom can get overloaded too when the kids is with you 24/7. A bit of grownup and office setting goes a long way to keep my sanity intact.

#9 I love taking the kids to places they can learn outside the confines of the classroom. Weekday means a little less crowd and more fun for them and less stress for me. Parks, Malls, Movies, Play Areas, Zoo, Farms... 

#10 I learned to do fun things on a budget, less work, less pay so you get to be creative with the budget you can work with ;).

* * *

School time is fast approaching and as much as I love Summer with all it's freestyle scheduling, school time means routine and we try to limit what goes in as the kid's extra curricular activity from September- June.

* 2011 Skating in Killarney

EXTRA-CURRICULAR(s)

#11 I know church is not an extra-curricular but we decided that Sunday mornings are our church days and with me volunteering in the kids ministry this Summer in Kimi's class, I am quite confident that she will be in good hands and learn a lot of Bible truths every week. I know I did...

#12 One extra-curricular activity guaranteed (if I can fit more, why not?). I signed up Kimi to skating lessons, which she has been asking for, this coming September and I have to juggle my schedule a bit to fit this in. It may take awhile for me to get another activity so as not to load her up too much and because I need some time to fit volunteering which is required from her school as well :(. 

#13 Chinese lessons. We decided to enroll Kimi for chinese classes on Saturdays and I might volunteer on the same organization just to help my chinese help instead of just loitering and waiting on the side.

#14 Choir. I am waiting for the church bulletin to print out an opening for the kid's choir and hopefully Kimi will be able to make it to the the age range.

#15 Sun-dates. A Special famliy activity on the weekend. Be it Satur-date or a Sun-date. 

How about you? What are your choices for your family and how did it affect your family? I'd love to get more ideas...

* * * * *

Children are only young once.

Polish Proverb

Learning Kits

A little note from our church's bulletin was asking for donation of school supplies for the less fortunate in the 3rd world country. The mommies decided to do 50 packs of the 400 packs they were targeting and enlisted the help of the kids to pack. It was a joint effort and within less than a week, we got all the supplies needed to make 50 packs of school kits. Each kit includes the following as specified:

* School Kit Pack

4 Spiral Notebooks 8.5 x 10- 70 sheets

4 pencil unsharpened

1 12" ruler with cm and inches

1pack 12 coloured pencil in package

1 eraser

We also decided on putting them individually in envelopes and label them to make it more special for the kids 

* Dark background for the guys and the light ones for the girls

We all cramped up in our small house on Saturday to do the mass production...

in time for Sunday

* A little bit of help goes a long way...

They are still accepting more school kits and for those who want to help, you can drop them off at the Info Desk on weekend service at Willingdon Church.

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WOMEN's MISSION CIRCLE

Willingdon Church

Burnaby, B.C.

Choo Choo...all the way to Club Colour

It's always a full bus when we go with Mommy G's car.

The kids would be chattering all the way to our destination while Kenzo's given food all throughout to keep him busy and quiet.

* Backseat beauties...

It was early so we went for a stop at Oakridge Mall to let the kids run around safely

* Statue photo opportunity

Next stop was to have lunch before our Ceramic activity...

Choo Choo's was a cozy place with homemade dishes. The kids loved all the trains going around above us as we ate our meals and they were kept busy playing with the trains lent to them by the restaurant.

* Train lovers

...the main attraction of the day was the Club Colour Experience

* Brushes

* Excited kiddies and parents...

A week after...

* Our Ceramic product

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CLUB COLOUR

Langley, B.C.

Red and Gold Dragon 60th Birthday

It started with this banner that my father in law brought from his celebration in the Philippines to Canada.

I decided to go with the Red and Gold Theme for his 60th Birthday Celebration in Canada.

* Banner from Manila, Philippines

The main part to make a party successful is to ensure that the food are worth the celebration.

* The main dishes

* Cheerleader?! Roasted Pig with oh so crunchy skin

The decors are the extras that gives an oomph to a party.

* Making it personalized as a special touch

What I did was to do a dragon theme with our color scheme for the cake. That's because my father in law was born in the year of the dragon and with this being a big celebration and 2012 a year of the dragon as well. I thought that it was a perfect theme to go with for this event.

Guests were students from his tai chi classes, friends from Xavier and of course the relatives.

* Arsenio's Guests

* The youngest guest in the party

We were able to brought some friends to help with the set up and stay with us to celebrate 

* Thanks to Eron, Stone, Twinny and Di 

* The Traditional Candle Blowing 

* Chinese Costumes :)

* Family Pictures  

* Decors to go...

* * * * *

HAPPY 60th BIRTHDAY 

GRANDPA

...more blessings and birthdays to come

RBP's Bug Zone

We passed by the park near our house the week we had no summer classes and we saw tents set up with lots of butterflies and lots of kids. We decided to inquire and found out that it was a week long free program of Bible, Crafts, Games, Singing and with loads of prizes. I figured that it was a great way to get Kimi occupied first part of the day and Kenzo playing outside while waiting.

* Bug Zone Theme for this year's Vacation Bible School

* Stories, Crafts and Singing for Day 01

Day 02 was raining so we opted to stay at home...

* Day 03, grandpa took Kimi to the park 

I saw her  volunteering to hold the cheat card for the singing time.

* Day 04 was the last day

It was nice that the kids got a photo of themselves in the bug poster to put in the frame they are going to color. Kimi got herself a balloon butterfly from being such a well-behaved and model student for the day.

* * * * *

Don't let anyone look down on you

because you are young,

but set an example

for the believers in speech,

in life, in love,

in faith and in purity.

1 Timothy 4:12

* * * * *

RBP's Bug Zone

Transformed by our BIG God!

August 7 - 10, 2012

Burnaby, B.C.

Glossybox: July 2012

It was later than July as usual.

I received my July box on the 7th of August this month. Glossybox is one of the beauty boxes available in Canada and costs $15/ month. I am receiving this box for the second time and so far I like the selection I got from last month.

Recap: So far, I am quite happy with the Biore 4 in 1 Revitalizing Cleanser I got last June and have been using them regularly to clean my face. The Biore Deep Cleansing Nose Strip from last month was also used up by hubby. It was okay, nothing to be excited about. The Neutrogena Ultra Sheer Dry Touch Sunscreen is quite good as well and has been inside my bag just in case we got out with the kids (which is quite often...) not icky on the skin and I would probably purchased this once my sample is finished. The Wella professional Ocean Spritz product I used once and might use again soon but with a full size that I received, it will take a while to finish up. The Gilette Venus Embrace Razor is still in the cabinet waiting to be used next while the Olay Regenerist Wrinkle Revolutionary Complex and Cover Girl Flipstick and Bendable Lip Duo hasn't been opened up until now.

* Pink Sturdy Box

* The normal sticker and ribbon that holds up the goodies

* Info Pamphlets...

* July 2012 Menu

* My July Glossybox :)

Zoya Nail Polish - Full Size 0.5 oz 

Full Size 0.5 oz- $ 8.00

* I got a green shade in my box. I am reserving judgement until I try it on but it is a full size so I am happy

Alessandro Int'l Pedix Heel Rescue Balm- 30ml

100ml- $19.95

* My tired feet is happy with this one. I will definitely try these with hubby this weekend.

John Frieda Frizz-Ease Xtra Strength Serum- 24ml

50ml- $14.99

* I am doubtful of this one, I got super straight hair that I am planning to curl and this is not a product I wouldn't recommend to someone with my hair style. I recalled answering a beauty profile, so what happened here? Can this be used on straight hair as well? Let's see, maybe this might be a useful product as well

Eucerin Calming Creme- 5ml

200g- $12.00

* This is a sample I am sure to try with the dryness that I am experiencing with the heat and too much time under the sun...

Dove Softening Creme Body Wash- Full Size 200ml

200ml- $5.99

* I am using Dove body wash at present and I am more than happy to try this new one from my box

Beautysoclean Sanitizer Wipes- 4 pack wipes

48 pack wipes- $12.50

* Will try and see if this is good.

and to get your own box, please click this referral link :)

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GLOSSYBOX

July 2012