Kecil's 6th Birthday

With the sheer amount of things to update here, this Mama thought Kecil's birthday was a good starting point. Before plunging into the story, however, this Mama has a confession. You would notice a very dire lack of pics in this post. 4 measly pictures! And no collages! Well... yeah.... actually, the other day, in a burst of 'housekeeping' fervour (of the digital kind, not physical), this Mama managed to delete quite a batch of not-yet-saved pics. Very much to Mama's chagrin and annoyance. Doh.

Thank goodness for social media, but so the pics here are 'salvaged' from Mama's feed rather than the originals. Looooonggg siiiiggghhh....

Well, it's a learning experience. Let's do better next time, like... check before deleting anything. Sigh.

For her 6th birthday, Kecil requested a celebration in school, where she was going to buy lunch for all her classmates (namely from McDonald's), plus a carrot cake by Mama.
This tied in perfectly with Mama's plans. You see, due to many factors, we had decided to give birth at Daddy's hometown, which will require Kecil to follow Mama there for at least 2 months or so. Her birthday celebration would then be a sort of farewell party before her prolonged absence from school.

All's well and good, so Mama made the reservation with the food delivery guy, and Kecil actually helped to make the carrot cake. (Actually she helped peeling ONE carrot and grated another, just half, then call it a day and went off to play. But that's OK, especially since Mama got the picture above. Hihi...)

We celebrated in school on Friday (her last day of school since we left the following Monday), a day early from her real birthday. It was a pretty low key celebration, just some 'special' food during lunch time, followed with the candle blowing, some candies and presents, but everyone seems to have fun. This Mama is very glad that the pregnancy was such that I still could manage hosting (and even cleaning after!) the whole thing.

Kecil was very happy with the whole thing, even if she forgot to change to her 'Princess dress' like what some of her friends did for their birthday parties. She was also very touched with all the presents her classmates gave her. (Hint: If you want any presents, do give out invitations, haha!)

Kecil followed me buying her present from us that very evening. It was a Lego set. So... on Saturday morning, the D-day, she woke up early to bug her Daddy to help her set up the whole thing.

Closer to lunch time, we had another low key 'celebration' with Kecil's two best friend (both of whom are in different school nowadays). Basically we just played some games with the balloon, then a game of put the patch on the pirate (using a picture Mama literally just printed out on the spot. I love our printer. It's my hero!), followed with a few hits on the pinata. Both the pirate patch and the pinata are Kecil's own request, but the balloon games were totally impromptu. This Mama is just glad the kids enjoyed themselves.

We finished early, quite a bit before lunch time, so Mama had time to run out to buy pizza for the kids (and something else for the adults). There was yet another candle blowing before lunch, but no picture means... it got deleted. Sigh. Well... at least there was that one of the pirate after the last round, with the pirate sporting additional 3 patches: 1 to match his existing eyepatch, 1 on the hat, and 1 as a cod piece. Guess who put the cod piece? Huh.

We flew to Surabaya 2 days later, getting ready to meet Kecil's little sister, not to mention for Kecil's first gig as a flower girl AND her first trip with neither Mama nor Daddy. Didn't I mention we have loads of update? We'll continue later. Until then!

Kecil's new 'Pet'

I think Mama mentioned before that Kecil might need a new bag soon. Not quite a surprise, considering how small Kecil was when she got THAT bag.

Ha... still sporting the usual drool-drenched outfit... That bag had been around for a while, indeed.

So it was really time for a new one, and this Mama had been looking around. Instead of the usual iconic kids bags, we went for this beauty of a bag/luggage for kids from Samsonite. Ain't it cool?

We love the fact that it was soo full of character (Why, Daddy went as far as declaring that had Kecil been his classmate when he was her age, he would be soooo envious of her bag!)
We love that it was not PINK
We love that it is a Samsonite, which for us usually mean good quality (Indeed, the bag came with a two-year warranty)
And the best part, we love that it cost us as much as any other iconic (although unbranded) trolley bag with similar volume. Seriously.

For an added 'cute factor' Mama even put the turtle-shaped hand sanitiser on the bag. Hihihi...

We do hope that this bag will last for a while. Being a proper 'cabin bag' (albeit for kids), Kecil can also bring the bag for her trips. This Mama is quite excited about that.

Elsa, the crocodile (yes, the bag even got a name already!) was not Kecil's first Sammies. She got another set of Sammies when she was still a wee toddler from her Tante, in the shape of a lady bug. It was cute, but we never did quite find a practical purpose for them. Rest assured that we try to make good use of Elsa.

And it was time for school.....

It's really kind of cool to see Elsa lined up with the rest of the bags. Kekekekeke.... Daddy said Elsa could have easily eaten any of the rest. I'd say.

Well... another day, another bag. Here's to Kecil and Elsa. May you both have many adventures together and loads of fun along the way. Cheers!

Ready for School

This Mama can't resist sharing these pics, stolen just this very morning while Kecil was getting ready to go to school.
Although Mama still have to help her with showering, dressing up, combing her hair & preparing her breakfast, Kecil is slowly getting more and more independent.
Which also explains her clothes despite her uniform. *snort snort. (She picked them herself, you see. Still, she promised that next week she'll be in uniform every day.)

So... today, she managed to wake up herself (she was already awake when Mama went to her room), she chose her own clothing, she ate by herself, pun on her shoes, then brought her bag to the designated car of the day.

I am also very happy to report that she's finishing most of the lunches that Mama pack for her. So here is one happy bento-making Mama.

Now I know you all are still waiting for my 'updates'. But you all know that this Mama works at a snail's pace, right?

Back to School 2014

Well... school had been going on, before and after the Christmas break, it's just that we don't really cover much on it over here. The carpool is still going on (one kid already ran off with her classmate that morning the picture above was taken), and if they were still wearing their civilian clothing... well.. the next batch of school uniform finally arrived sometime before Christmas, resulting in this group for some of the mornings:

This year, we also had a new addition to the carpool crowd, introducing Mary:

Unfortunately (no blame on Mary, of course) we also encountering something... quite new nowadays, mainly after the Christmas break. This Mama call it 'the morning malaise'.

Some extremely sleepy (and looong) faces, combined with general contrariness during the morning prep. Ugh. We used to have this problem back in Kecil's old Skool. I guess so far the new school had its novelty factor keeping this problem at bay. Then came the loong Christmas break..... Kecil just got used to NOT waking up early.

Still... I'm still placing a lot of faith on the carpooling crowd.

... especially because I think that she's like me, that is she likes to show only her good side to others. Hihi.... So she usually kind of 'wake up' by the time she reached the designated ride of the day. Of course, Kecil being herself, there are plenty enough good sides to go around. Like this one below:

Just some notes regarding her 'luggage', as shown in the pictures further up, Kecil used to carry like 3 bags: yellow for her jacket and writing material, her folder, and her lunch bag. Then she wanted a rolling luggage like the ones most of her classmates are using. So we grabbed this old bag, which Eyang brought her loong time ago. It works all right, cutting down her clutter to just one bag. We might need a new bag soon, but so far Mama & Kecil are happy with it.

So, anyway, here's hoping for less malaise and more happy mornings. Cheers to you all!

Swimming in School

Between the carpool and the fact that Kecil is now getting bigger, this Mama does not quite spend a lot of time hovering around her anymore, especially in school. But when it came to the first swim of the term..... now that's a different thing, isn't it?

Sometime last month, the weather finally let up, and the teachers finally started rolling the kids through a rotation for a swim at the pool. Parents were invited to volunteer, but even without the invitation, this Mama was curious enough to come anyway.
Of course, on the D Day, this silly Mama came waay to early, and spent quite a bit of time taking pictures before finally the kids emerged from the school building.

Already in their swimming suit, lined up in a line like very cute little ducklings..... aren't they adorable?
Anyway, before anyone got into water, it was time for some safety briefing. Very important!
The rules: no running around the pool, everyone must be in the water, no touching or splashing without unless the other party is agreeable.
Sensible rules.

And once the formalities were done... it was splashing time!

Those kids obviously had a capital time. Rest assured that they do get regular dose of wet activities at the school pool (they do!).
Until then!

In the morning ...

While there are definitely obvious benefits of carpooling (such as savings of time and fuel), there are apparently not so obvious benefits. One of such benefit actually has to do with 'waiting'. You know, getting ALL the kids ready often takes time. So... given that this Little One is always anxious to get off, we tend to have some time in our hands while waiting for the rest. Time that is often used very well, I'd say.

Right after her birthday, for example, the morning wait was used to ride her brand spanking new scooter.

And of course, there was also a spat of cycling practices, right after she mastered the 2 wheel bike. There was even cycling on her friend's bike next door!

Right after Halloween? It was Zombie-posing time.
And by then, of course you have arrived to Mama's use of those waiting time. Taking pictures, what else?
That was how this Mama established a few facts:

- Kecil still has her patented grimace/smile for the camera face. Grrrrr......

- Despite her enthusiasm, Kecil still can't drive yet because her feet are yet to reach the pedals

- Her hair, on the other hand, has definitely grown longer, long enough for her beloved pigtails.

- And kids basically face each morning with different level of excitements: pretty cool, sleepy, excited! (Haha.. just kidding)

Waiting may not be everyone's favourite pastime, but I think Mama & Kecil have both figured out that we can certainly still enjoy ourselves, even doing a traditionally non-fun stuff (waiting for others) on a traditionally non-fun part of the day (early in the morning, right before school. Ugh!)

Kecil got to pose for Mama, Mama got her pictures (and her blog post, ha!), and bonus point for managing to still do her own stuff, like catching up with friends and comparing the benefits of different hairstyles ....

.... posing at other people's house, and even trying out every single seat in the day's ride to find out the best one.

Moral of the story? I guess when you are one of those 'the glass is half full' kind of people, you can always make the best of whatever life throw at you. A lovely thought that hopefully be a good start for our week.
Here's a good cheer for the new week, especially as we head on right into the busy holiday season. Have a good week, everyone!

New School!!!

Around the time when Skool finished last study year (2012-2013), we found out about another international school that just set up in the vicinity. So... since Kecil was officially on summer holiday (read: nothing to do, nowhere to do. This was before we went off for our Indo summer trip), why not try the new school?

And that, ladies and gentlemen, was how we got this cute looking girl going to school every day during summer. (Summer in the Philippines is actually earlier than summer in the States, hence the school was still in session when Philippines schools were already in the 'summer holidays'. That period, based on the States calendar, was actually still part of 'spring term')

In addition, the new school is in session for the whole day, that is from 8am to 2.30pm, followed with after school activities until 4pm. So, you see that pink bag in Kecil's hand? That's her lunch. Yeah... this Mama is into bento service nowadays.

Spring term soon ended, giving way to 'summer holiday' according to States calendar, and Kecil went back to her old Skool for one quarter.

As the rainy season rolled in, school was back in session. Amidst the chaos and the noise that was the first day of school (mixed with the rest of the grade school, no less!) it was really good to see familiar face, a new addition to our neighbourhood gang.

First day fiasco also included Kecil being assigned to pre-kinder instead of kindergarten, a mistake that was very quickly settled. By the second day, Kecil was already settled in her new class. Why, she even had her mugshot already posted in her classroom door, a sure sign of her place in the class.
I so love those mugshots, by the way. Kudos to her teacher for doing this.

Now the school might have started, but they are a bit behind on the uniforms, so for a while it was still street clothes in school. Look, some days we even have Daddy on drop-of duty, hehe....

You might remember Kecil's classroom pic from her birthday post.

And soon enough, we got a pair of uniform for Kecil, the last piece in the shop! It was the PE uniform. Orange for girls, blue for boys, nice thick polos with cotton shorts. They have PE every other day, and since Kecil likes to be in her uniform, it's getting a wee bit 'washed out' already. Haha.... let's hope the next shipment will come soon. On days without PE, it's back to her own street clothes.

Now, the school is not exactly near to our home. In fact, on the way to school we have to go up the hill (we live in a pocket valley up on the hill), go down the hill, then up another hill where the school is situated. Gosh, 2 days worth of picking up and dropping off consumes like almost the same amount of fuel as 1 trip to and fro Manila! Luckily, there are a few other kids in the neighbourhood going to the same school. So now we carpool, basically we take turns dropping off and picking up the kids, 2 days 2 days 2 days. It works out fine so far, the kids got extra excitement about going to school early in the morning, the mamas can relax on their days off without worrying about pick ups, and sometimes the daddies even got to sleep in! Ha!

It's all a new routine, which sometimes got disrupted, like last week when we had like the biggest deluge of rains in years and school got cancelled. Haha..... I guess such is life in a typhoon country. Still, everything is back to normal this week, and we have great hopes for the rest of the term.

Here's to my ever growing Little Girl. Have fun in school, Cil!