It runs in the family.

I know I said I'll be posting one more May entry, but I've been too busy with my review class and devoting my free time to my Lola who's in the hospital for almost a week now. (It hurts me to see her in pain. Please help me in prayers that she gets better soon.)

Here goes my supposedly May entry. I know it's late but it's better late than never, right? :]]

Though my review classes started on May 4th, the first two weeks were devoted to our orientation, diagnostic examinations and seminar on calculator mathematics. We didn't formally start with the review proper yet so I was still able to ditch my textbooks during the weekends, guilt-free. Last May 16th, my family and I all went to my mom's hometown in Indang, Cavite for the annual Santacruzan. We were there to see Bea and Pito play Little Reyna Elena and consort in the parade. There was nothing that could wipe the smiles off their faces. Bea loves to play princess in a beautiful gown like Cinderella so she wouldn't miss this for the world. Pito on the other hand adores any excuse to get people's attention and I guess he figured dressing up as Prince Charming steps it up a notch.

With Little Reyna Elena and Little Constantine (I took a break from my photographer stint) :]

Since I like to promote anything Filipino here in my blog, I googled Santacruzan and here's what I've found:
Santacruzan is a religious-historical parade held in many cities and towns throughout the Philippines during the month of May. It is one of the most colorful May-time festivals in the Philippines which depicts the finding of the Holy Cross by Queen Helena (Reyna Elena), mother of Constantine the Great. Reyna Elena is usually the last member of the procession. According to some sources, this considerably prestigious role is given to the most beautiful girl in the procession. (No wonder Bea's feeling beautiful all over..)
The highlight of the procession is Reyna Elena who walks with her consort under a huge canopy of flowers. They are immediately followed with a float carrying the image of the Blessed Virgin Mary then a brass band that lends festive sounds to the procession.

(Thanks www.seasite.niu.edu for the info!)










Don't get fooled. Most girls were not wearing heels. That's the very reason why they can still smile during the parade despite the very long walk and the heat. Who says girls can't cheat at times like this? We'll do whatever it takes to stay pretty. That's for sure. :]]

The Title. (Yes, I'm going to spill it.)
It's not always Bea who gets to play the Queen. I had my own share of the glitz and the glamor too. *wink


I was Bea's age when this photo was taken. I came across this photo while flipping through the pages of my old photo album. And I guess what I have here is enough proof. Whatever it takes to fit in a crown? We need not to search too far because it runs in the family.

hahah! :]]

fully Booked.

I took the day off.

I planned to spend the day with Pito. I did. But Pito has been terribly quiet for the past few days, it was driving me crazy. His eyes were drooping. He won't eat a thing and is asleep most of the time. When he's awake, he just sits lazily, looking very tired, his head slightly leaning to one side.

I am worried sick. I'm not at all used to his being silent almost all the time. I'm glad that he was starting to feel better before he got to bed. He definitely should feel better. We're celebrating his second birthday tomorrow. No kiddie parties this time. Just lunch at Leslie's with the whole family plus Archie. It will break my heart to see Pito not in the mood for some fun due to some stupid pneumonia. I wouldn't like that.

Since Pito spent most of the day in bed, and since I was still feeling tired from the long drive to Batangas City yesterday, I decided to do the famous catching up on sleep over the weekend thing. For a moment there I thought it was doing wonders but then I started to feel rather gloomy. I felt the urge to get up and do something. I bailed myself out of doing my homework and downloaded New Moon instead. I've just finished Twilight last Wednesday, finished it in fifteen hours so Archie and I can finally watch the movie after class on Thursday. Since then I've been wanting to finish all four books of the Twilight Saga. Unfortunately, since I am definitely one of the very few late bloomers who heard about the book ages ago but had just found time to read it since the movie is coming out, I had to pay the price. Now that I finally urged myself to understand this obsession every other readers have, I am having difficulty finding the books in bookstores! Now I feel like I'm in a trance. I haven't finished New Moon yet and I'm already thinking about the next book. And the next.

Yeah.
I feel like I'm in a trance.
I feel this really strong urge to click the Publish Post button right away and get back to New Moon.
Yeah. I am in a trance.
Now I feel like I would happily oblige.

My Crate Escape.

I am back for a moment. :)

I'll be back to school for my twelve noon class later on so while I'm having my three hour break, I decided to do something decent. It was a toss between reviewing my notes and blogging. Obviously, the latter won by a landslide. That would be two votes out of two since I only have two hands.
I just don't want my blog to feel rather left out. No, I didn't become Victor Van Dort's corpse bride. It's just that I am currently caught in my own whirlwind of school works and another 200 hours of internship and thesis and technical study and pre - board exam review during Saturdays. As much as I wanted to post something here before I forget the details of what I was going to write, I couldn't find the time. School has just been consuming all my time and energy.
There were few times I have been able to sneak away. Too bad some didn't last long. Before long Pito would either appear carrying a Walt Disney book or drag me outside to buy candy. Reading to Pito has become one of our cutest bonding moments. I try to teach him new words but he's just head over heels in love with Mickey Mouse whom he calls Wickey Mouse. I once tried to introduce Minnie Mouse to him. His efforts showed but Wickey Mouse has clearly won his heart.

Pito: (pointing to Minnie Mouse) Wickey Mouse!
Arnee: No. It's Minnie Mouse. Minnie.
Pito: Minnie Mouse?
Arnee: Yup! Minnie Mouse!
Pito: (happily) Minnie Wickey Mouse!

He was so happy while saying Minnie Wickey Mouse over and over again. It was like he had just found his new bestfriend.

So each morning, eventhough I'm almost late for school or the office, I would happily oblige whenever he sits beside me with a new Walt Disney book wide open while saying "Basa tayo!". The Walt Disney set, composed of books 1-18 were mine when I was young. Now I feel very proud that Pito has become so inclined to books. Thank you so much Wickey, I mean, Mickey Mouse! (wink)

Some of the very few times I managed to sneak away were mostly spent with Archie. We're either at the mall, the movie house or in my house watching DVD.

Still together! Still lost!

Skipper: We've lost engine one.
Private: And engine two is no longer on fire.
Kowalski:[on the microphone] This is your captain speaking. I have good news and bad news. The good news is that we will be landing immediately.
[everyone claps]
Kowalski: Tha bad news is we're crash landing.

Last week , I dragged him into the movie house to watch Madagascar 2. As expected, we were laughing our heads off the whole time. I loved the first movie and I was crazy about this one too. :) Archie and I were among the four people who didn't come with kids. Everybody else was toting along little kids! It was fun seeing that they actually made seeing the movie a family affair. The movie wouldn't be the same without little kiddie faces lighting up once their parents finally got hold of their movie tickets. It was remarkable. As soon as the lights went out, I was laughing my heart out along with everybody else. :)

Life goes on.

MONDAY.

It's our second anniversary! Archie and I spent the day in Science Discovery. Luckily, there were only 2 customers when we arrived so we found an excuse to act like 5th graders enjoying their educational field trip.


We played this game about some gross stuff in the human body. I think I got 7 out of 10 questions right. That wasn't so bad, especially if you're going up against Archie whom I now call the 'Grossness Expert'.

The Sniff Sniff (Pee yuuu! People Stink.) section was also a lot of fun. I had to force Archie to try all four stations just so we could find out which stinks the most. (evil grin) Funny, he didn't even tried to say 'You've got to be kidding me!'

Imagine smelling all these:

I should have taken a picture of him after each sniff. :D

Fortunately, Archie has survived, saying that the Foot was a total nightmare. But an hour and a half later he was still complaining about the smell which unfortunately chose to linger on his nose a bit longer. Poor Archie!
We also helped this poor man get his organs 'right'. By that I mean placing his organs on the right places. Now, would you want your kidney placed on your left thigh? I don't think so.

We also tried the Flight Simulator, visited the Virtual reef where had an encounter with Mr. T the talking fish, then we went to Robot Inc. and had pictures taken with some cool robots. Then finally, at 2pm we were off to the Planetarium to watch the show. I really had a blast. :) It's fun to act like kids every once in awhile. I mean, being in a serious relationship does not always mean that you both have to be serious all the time.

TUESDAY.

.. was the moment of truth. I was so afraid I wouldn't be able to fix my schedule for next sem. It's good that things are starting to fall back into place. I'm still keeping my fingers crossed. I guess the only time I'll stop getting all fidgety is when I'm finally sitting in class and there's no conflict whatsoever in my schedule.

WEDNESDAY.

I spent the entire day with Pito. Since Louise and Renz are in school, I'm all Pito have left as his playmate. It's really funny hanging out with him. He's only turning two but he speaks almost just like Bea who's six years old. I just have to be careful about what comes out my mouth when I'm with him. He has this tendency to be a human tape recorder who repeats whatever it is that he heard you say in an instant.

Pito: Bye Ate Arnee!
Arnee: Bye Pito!
Pito: Bye Pito!

Yep. Just like that. :)

DinO-ish weekend

I know it says Saturday September 27, 2008 above but it's already Sunday in the afternoon as I write this post. I'm just taking a break from loads of school stuff that's filling my precious weekend. I'm still disappointed about what happened last Friday. I guess it hurts more when someone who's very much important to you does something to make you feel sort of left out. I think it's not fair that despite what happened, I'm still stuck here thinking if he's alright or if everything went according to 'their' plan while he, on the other hand obviously do not care about how I am possibly feeling right now.
BUT I refuse to let him spoil my weekend just because his emotional range is that of a teaspoon. In fact, I've been busy. Not just with school crap but goofing around with Ate and Pito too. Yesterday, she woke me up at 5.30 in the afternoon then dragged me to the bookstore to buy this toy dinosaur Archie saw days ago. We also bought some scrapbooking supplies, then had dinner at McDo. At past 8, we were already on the way home .

We then prepared everything for her messy, fossil-making project.

Poor DinO, he had to stay there for the night.

Pito and I had some one on one nail care session too.

Oh yeah. His nails are now red. Thanks to me. :)

Different Types of Morning Torture

The day before I come back to class (the last day I could sleep in), Pito woke me up at six thirty in the morning by putting his little finger into my nose. The cute little guy has a knack for being annoying sometimes. My hope of going back to sleep vanished into thin air when he yelled 'aaattteeee' (the evolution of his previous 'achiii') and tried all his might to crawl up my bed. By doing that, he meant business. That means I have to play with him whether I like it or not and the motto is, 'Sure my little sweetness, you're the boss!'. There goes the first kind of morning torture.
Don't get me wrong, I love playing with the little guy. But not at six thirty in the morning! I heard his new nanny will arrive this week so he will probably go home this Sunday. Now he's taking a nap and I'm stuck here fuming about how I do not want this day to end and how each minute that passed brought me closer to tons of lab reports, long kaantok class hours and thesis making! At least they were easing us back to school by starting on a Wednesday, just three days till the weekend. Thank God.
I would probably feel better if I stop blabbing about how much I dislike going back to school. So I'll just tell you about a strange thing that happened to me Sunday morning.
STRIKE ONE
I woke up at about 10 past 9 in the morning thinking only of one thing. 'What time ba is Jollitown?' Funny. Jollibee must have visited me in my dreams and offered me lots of fries and ice cream and jolly hotdogs. Being the glutton (I am exaggerating) that I am, that must have made me extremely happy and all I thought about upon waking up is to watch his show.


STRIKE TWO
Later that afternoon, I was with Tita Ana and Tita Marie. We were driving around town in search of the perfect place for their planned grocery business. All of a sudden it was like, Jollibee strikes again! We saw this and we were on the verge of being amazed. We are probably among the last people to know about Jollibee on Wheels but it did not stop us from walking closer to take a good look at it.


I thought there will be a STRIKE THREE for Jollibee, but there wasn't. Or at least not within that day.
I also busied myself designing class schedules for me and ate during the weekend. The first one's my schedule. Minus the red marks, of course. Uggghh. I still can't get over the fact that my class starts at 7am! Bummer.

Summer Lovin'

Airheads, anyone?

I am so loving my mornings with the kids. Aside from running around, laughing and trying really hard make themselves noticed, some of them found useful things to do. Renz started reading some of his new books for the incoming school year, he's also doing some practice writing and solving math problems every morning, thanks to dad. Louise on the other hand is mustering up all her strength, hopeful to make some progress in her newly found ordeal. That is, to finish reading 430 pages of Dan Brown's Digital Fortress. She'd been reading Goosebumps for the loooongest time and now I'm glad she's taken her reading skills into greater heights. But wait, here's the catch. I promised to buy her new Goosebumps if she finish the book. Ha! Seeing her so engrossed with the book, I can't help but think of the many quiet times I used to so enjoy like finish reading not half a book but several books.
Unfortunately, my little cousin isn't too fond of books or pens. He's just started learning some of his first few words which for grown ups like us are incomprehensible. Pito's words for the day are 'Accchiiiii', which I would take for 'ate' and 'Paaaakiiiii'. First word's a give away but the second one still remains a mystery. :) Aside from the constant muttering of his 'words for the day' he also learned flying kisses today. That was cute.

I'm planning this get together with highschool friends. We haven't decided on our destination yet but Shar suggested the ecopark. So I googled, and here's what I've found:

Lopez Picnic Grounds – Five hectares of picnic spots with grilling facilities underneath a forest of varied trees.

Salt Water Swimming Pool – Probably the only salt water pool that is open to the public. Salt granules are used instead of chlorine making the water safer and less toxic.

Superferry Boating Lagoon – To experience and enjoy a paddle boat ride, one once had to trek all the way to Baguio’s Burnham Park to do so. Now this popular activity is available right here in Quezon City.

Fishing Lagoon – Fishing is another very popular to-do at the park.

Petron Fitness and Mountain Bike Trail – Here, one can enjoy a full-body workout under the shade of trees. The fitness trail has 17 exercise stations and connects to a forested 1.2 km mountain bike trail.

Shell Flower Terraces – Two hectares of flower terraces. This is actually the dam wall of the reservoir.

Ecomuseum – A museum dedicated to environmental education and biodiversity conservation.

Butterfly Trail and Hatchery – An educational walk through the wonderful, colorful world of butterflies.

Various pavilions for rent are available for private functions.

Overnight camping facilities also available.

I can't wait to see my highschool friends. It's been a while and we surely have a lot of catching up to do! Can't wait. :)

I've got mail. :)

We are a small group of volunteers who want to change the world, one kind act at a time.350,00 cards have appeared around the globe since 2003, bringing smiles to people of all colors, ages, and backgrounds.
Thank you for joining the Smile revolution.

Wanna do more? Log onto our website to read heart-warming stories of what people have done with the Smile cards. Sign-up for a weekly newsletter. Join the growing number of Smile Groups, people who are committed to doing an act of kindness every single week.

www.helpothers.org

*****

wooohoooo... I've got my smile cards.:) I've been writing stories of kindness and commenting on other volunteers' heartwarming stories during the summer. And I was soooo happy when I earned enough karma bucks to order my very first smile cards.


*****

Spending the whole morning with Pito, I was surprised he actually agreed to come play with me. He's been here all summer and has been clinging to Tita all the time ever since. He cries nonstop whenever Tita's out of sight so I had to bribe him into coming with me while Tita's taking a shower. All it took was a cola flavored ice candy.

Yum yum.

No, I won't share.