WORLDWIDE CULTURAL EXCHANGE: PHILIPPINES

While I was surfing the net for notes for the Around the World Lesson/Geography Lesson I was making for my son Paolo, I chanced upon a webpage,The Little Red Farm. It has a Cultural Exchange Program for families.

I decided to sign up because I know this will be something the kids would love. Who doesn't get excited receiving something from the mail right?

I was so thrilled when I received an email confirming my participation as well as the group I was assigned too. Next thing to do is to write down the stuff which I plan to "send and share" with the families in my group. It was kind of a challenge for me because our family will be representing the Philippines and we are currently living in Singapore as expats. But, the members of the group were considerate that we have decided to give each other a month or two to put together the packages we will be posting. Luckily, we had to make a business trip to the Philippines so I was able to squeeze into my schedule a few hours of shopping for Philippine stuff. My sister Princess was also kind enough to bring in some more goodies with her when she visited us here in Singapore last April 4.

 AND, here is the package me and my kids have able to put together!

Weather...Weather...

 

Upon waking up today, I looked out of the window to see Mr. Sun being surrounded by naughty rainclouds. Looks like it's gonna be a rainy Thursday morning.

Have you ever noticed the weather nowadays have become extremes...places not usually used to having rains have seen their fair share of rains...it has become more humid...temperatures are high...and this sometimes would let you think of global warming.

Weather in Singapore is very unpredictable, the sun is up in the morning, shining with all its glory that you really need to use good ol' suncreen and reapply as needed, and then around noontime, it will suddenly rain with matching thunder and lightning...

Some people wouldn't even believe that the famous shopping district of Orchard Road will be flooded after a few minutes of sudden downpour. For Filipinos living here...seeing, learning and reading in the news about areas being flooded is just like a usual thing since the Philippines always have its own share of typhoons. An average of 20 typhoons every year visit the Philippines. In Singapore, there are no typhoons, just really heavy and strong rains.

It will be Earth Day this coming Sunday,  April 22... I am thinking of ways on how my kids can understand the significance of taking care of mother earth. I hope I would be able to motivate them everyday to do even just simple acts...:)

Breakfast Date

 

Wednesday, the midweek.

Made a surprise visit to Hubby's office today and casually invited him for a breakfast date at Starbucks. We had a wonderful time talking without the kids interrupting us and asking for attention. 

You see, having a date for both us happens only if we have family who are visiting because we have them to look after the kids...and that is if hubby is in Singapore and not on a ship visit in another country.

Looks like we will be doing this on a weekly basis from now on even for just an hour. It was worth the trip from Paige's school to the business district and back.

Looking forward for our next breakfast date. 

Bye Miss Mercedes...

I could still remember the smile that greeted Paige on her first day at school way back August of last year. It was such a lovely face that showed a nurturing quality for a teacher. But Paige wasn't convinced with the smile...she cried and didn't want to be left at school with the teacher. The teacher was Miss Mercedes.

Weeks passed, it was the same routine for Paige...crying and crying and crying. I was a little unsure of myself then on whether or not I should leave her in school. But Miss Mercedes assured me that all will be well and Paige will eventually realize that school is fun.

And she did, gone were the days when Paige would cry her lungs out to get my attention and make me feel sorry that I had to leave her. And it is all thanks to Miss Mercedes' patience with my little girl that she has now grown to love school.

It is very different now...Paige would be the one asking me to take her to school even on the weekends. I am just happy that she has this love for school. It is very important for me to see my kids have this attitude especially during their early years. It feels great for any parent to see their kids enjoy being in school because that way, they wouldn't think of school as a place that gives them lots of schoolwork but rather a place that helps them learn about great and exciting things.

For now, Miss Mercedes will be leaving for the UK and eventually move to Canada with her family. My little girl would surely miss her wonderful teacher. I am just happy and thankful that she became a part of my little girl's journey into learning.

Good bye Miss Mercedes. 

Good luck on your future endeavors.

P.S.

Tomorrow will be a new experience for Paige, a new teacher will be stepping in, her name is Miss Karen.

I sure hope the kids will adjust well with the new teacher.

35 years of Love and Marriage!

“A wedding anniversary is the celebration of love, trust, partnership, 

tolerance and tenacity. 

The order varies for any given year.”

Quoted by: Paul Sweeney

35 years of Love and Marriage...Wow!

My mom and dad have always been role models for me to look up to. Be it to their marriage or on how they brought us up.

Whenever I feel down or having a difficult time dealing with the usual "ingredients" of being married, I always think of them...I always think about how they were able to handle their relationship. I know that every marriage is different but having my parents as role models helped me become a mature individual. It helped me become a better wife and mother.

I have a lot to thank my parents for...but the most important is about teaching us the value of family because with it, my siblings and I were able to be strong individuals able to face the world with our heads up because we know that we are anchored in our family' s love.

Thank you Mom and Dad.

Thank you for keeping the love alive between the two of you... 

Happy 35th Wedding Anniversary!
We love you!

It's SUNDAY!

  

woke up on the wrong side of the bed, I was not feeling well for most of the day, had this terrible headache...Hubby was kind enough to keep the kids busy while I rest for a while and take a nap.

 Can't believe the weekend is over...and a new week starts tomorrow...another busy week ahead...

Stay home Saturday...

It was a slow Saturday for us. We just stayed home 'cause Paolo is still recovering from the high fever he had yesterday.

Paige kept herself busy with an Alphabet Matching file folder game I made for her.

I was not in the mood to cook dinner so we had some take out food.

 

Weather for the day also suggested that it's best to stay home...

Fever on a Friday...

Friday the 13th....some people dread this day...I am not superstitious but it is still best to just keep my guards up...

All is going well until I got a call from the school nurse of Etonhouse...Paolo has a high fever and needs to be fetched from school. I immediately hailed a cab to do so.

Upon reaching the school, it was decided that we proceed to the medical center to see a doctor. Hubby was also able to excuse himself from work and meet us there.

Since it was late in the afternoon , I thought that there would be less people in the medical center...but I thought wrong...still had to wait at least an hour to see the doctor.

Diagnosis for Paolo was swollen tonsils, so some meds and an antibiotic were given. I asked the doctor if the fever was caused by infection of the knee abrasions he had last wednesday, Doctor said no.

Happy to be home now, Paolo was able to sleep. Looks like we will be on night duty to administer the meds. Hoping that my big baby boy feels better tomorrow :(

Books, Books and more books...

With the popularity of tablets these days, reading books have been easy peasy with the availability of eBooks. But for me, nothing beats having a hard copy of the books.

At our home, you might notice bookshelf after bookshelf of books that we could already have our own mini library...actually, we do already have one...

 

I so love it whenever there is a book fair here in Singapore. So many books at really reasonable prices. And they are actually "new" books. It changed my notion on the kind of books that are being put on warehouse sales...which are usually books that have either been slightly damaged or accumulated dusts.

I could actually spend a whole day just browsing over which books to add to our ever growing collection...and then I still can't help but go back and look out for more treasures on the last day because offers are even better...

Oh well, even though our shelves are bursting and I still haven't read some of the books I bought in the past book sales, I am still looking forward and can't help but feel excited on the next one...

And I am happy that I was able to instill in my kids the love for books and of reading...

“The more you read, the more things you will know. 

The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.” 

^{- Dr. Seuss, "I Can Read With My Eyes Shut!"}

Paolo had a "Bubu"...

I was surprised when Paolo arrived home from school with gauze bandages on both his knees. He handed me a Minor Incident report from the school nurse regarding abrasions on his knees.

Upon further "interrogation", he told me that one of his classmates kept on teasing him by pulling down his pants and that caused him to loose his balance and fall on his knees. Asked if he informed any on his teachers regarding the incident and all I got was a "NO." He said he could not locate his class teacher and that the PE teachers were busy.

I told him that if he was really concern about the incident, he should speak up and talk about it to his teacher. I advised him to still talk about it tomorrow because I can see that he is upset about the whole thing.

I also emailed his class teacher about it let him be aware of the incident.

It is always hard for any mom to see her kid being upset. If only I could make things better for him. But for now, all I could do is to tell him that some kids may be quite aggressive and playful in school and aren't aware that they are already causing hurt to others. The best thing to do is to always SPEAK UP.

On a side note, Paige was very much concerned about her Kuya Paolo's "bubu" that she told him that she will fight the boys hurting her Kuya because she is strong. I asked her how will she fight, her answer ..."I need a sword mom!" :)

Mr. Picky Eater

For the past few days now, I have been doing an experiment with my son who is already 9 years old and still a picky eater. Whenever I say to people that he is a picky eater, they would not believe me because though he is very choosy when it comes to food, he is still on the heavy side.

I chanced upon a show on television about the Supernanny and there was one case of a picky eater. The kid only ate toast and butter and would not even eat the normal meal.  As for me, my son is not actually a picky eater, it is just his food choices that I don't approve of. He will readily finish any food as long as it is in his "approved" list like hotdog, spam, chicken nuggets...maybe now you understand what I am trying to say here. 

Though lately, we have been able to persuade him to try some healthy alternatives like eating in Subway instead of his usual double cheeseburger sandwich in McDonalds. I know he has been trying hard to try new stuff and this is where the problem starts.

As I have learned from the Supernanny, I should not offer or cooked any special food for my son whenever we eat at home, he should eat whatever is served on the table. The reason for this is that one day, he will eventually eat whatever is available and not ask for his "favorites". So the experiment begins, so far I have not been successful...especially with the vegetable dishes...and lunchtime would always turn into a sort of debate with my son. The problem I see here is that he already tells his brain that the food doesn't taste good before even trying it out and if ever I get him to try it, he would do his sort of "vomiting" reflex. But, I should be firm if I want this to work. And hopefully, in the coming days, I would be able to go on with this experiment and be able to see my son eat right. (I am keeping my fingers crossed on this...)

A NEW BEGINNING....

Welcome to CASA GARCIA!

I have always contemplated (or should I say procrastinated?) on whether to start my own blog or not. I have been reading about other moms who blog about motherhood and family life and I always think..."I can do that too..."

But it all ends there, with a wishful thinking. After deciding, I end up staring at the computer screen ...seconds turn to minutes and minutes turn to hours. I realized that the first post is always the hardest one.

To begin with, you have to do all the formalities of setting up a blog before you can write to your hearts content which I hope (fingers crossed) will become a routine for me.

I just wish that with all the blogs I have been reading these past months, I would be able to sum up my courage and creative juices to also do my own and sustain it.

This is it! I am officially a BLOGGER MOM and happy to be one!