In For Drug Rehab

Yesterday, I met with some friends for lunch and talked about high school classmates-where they are now and what they're up to. There were happy notes and sad notes as well. There were several classmates we know who are now successful career men and women, local politicians, and big-time business owners.

The saddest story I've heard was one of our classmates- known to be a comic in class-died from heart attack right after delivering her third baby earlier last year. It brought tears in my eyes. I felt bad for the baby, most of all.

Then another girl classmate has been in out of drug rehab for several years now. There were even talks of her being already suicidal. Wow, I couldn't believe it. She used to be real pretty and popular in school. But she wasted a good future because she went with the wrong crowd and got hooked on drugs. I just hope she will find real help with the new drug rehabilitation center she recently got in to, or she will really be wasted away. So sad, isn't it?

Fun Get-Together

So yesterday I saw some of my old friends from ten years ago. They were my co-teachers and really great buddies from when I used to teach at the local Montessori school here in Cagayan de Oro City. We met for dinner and had a wonderful get-together. Of course, all of us are now mommies. Even a few of them brought their kids with them ranging from 10 years old down to two years old. I couldn't bring my two boys with me because they were already tired from an excursion we had with my family earlier in the day. When I left the house at 5PM, both my babies were already knocked out.

Anyways, it was so much fun chatting and reminiscing happy moments my friends and I shared together so many years ago.

One of them is applying for a teaching job in the US. It's somewhere in California and so they asked me if I was familiar with California. I told them I've never lived there although I've been there several times on short family vacations. The conversations with my friends went from California to Vegas vacations to parenting and the funny and unusual ways we all deal with and rear our children.

All in all, it was a fun get-together with all of them!

Saturday Fun With Friends!

Saturday was a lot of fun. My baby Jaden and I went to my friend Cathy's house for her daughter Aviia's first birthday party. Cathy by the way is a friend from DFW Fil-Am Hip Mama Meetup Group, which is a group of moms that I organize.




Aviia looked so adorable in her white little birthday dress and was showered with tons of wonderful gifts. We were joking with mommy Cathy if she had another baby shower again- because she was opening the presents for Aviia like a mom-to-be opening her baby shower presents (lol).



So we were in Cathy's house since noon and didn't leave until almost 6PM. It was just nonstop chatting, food, and so much fun! Some of the mommy friends and their kiddos went for a splash at Cathy's very inviting pool. We all had a lot of fun even just watching them through the window in Cathy's kitchen. I must have eaten half of what she prepared. Ugh. Just couldn't resist all the yummy 'pagkain' (food- in Filipino).

I had a blast seeing and chatting with my friends and fellow mommy bloggers too:Loyna, Vhiel, Liza, Shoshana, and Cathy, our hostess.

Helping Out A Friend

Yesterday morning, I received a call from my mom friend Judi asking me to help her out with watching her toddler while she takes her four month old son to the doctor. Her baby had some kind of rash around his genital area and I told her the day before that she needs to take him to the doctor just to be sure. So I guess she took the advice and went and made an appointment.

Anyways, it was a really nice afternoon yesterday at my friend's place- got to see her and her kids and I got to have some adobo for lunch with her- a famous Filipino dish made with a lot of garlic, soy sauce, vinegar, bay leaf, and pepper...Mmmm..yumm!

My kids had a nice time playing with Judi's kids too- we messed up her house by the time we left. But sure it made me happy that I'm able to help a friend out- and got to spend time outside and have some real adult conversation- something I don't get to have a lot being a stay at home mom. LOL.

Fun Saturday!

Today, my hubby and kids went to this huge new indoor playground in our neighborhood that we've been wanting to go check out for a while. We met with some of my mommy friends and their hubbies and kids there as a playdate and pizza kind of thing.

We enjoyed this playdate and had so much fun!

My toddler used to not like going through those big mesh mazes, the kind where kids crawl, jump, and climb up to. I think for him it looked a little too intimidating. But today he actually tried it and was loving it he wouldn't stop! My husband and I had to take turns climbing it with him as we didn't want to leave him alone being that he is inexperienced and there were a lot of bigger kids up there with him he might get hurt. There were small and big slides in it too, so we enjoyed sliding down through it with him. It was actually an exercise for me and my husband going through the maze with him.

We're definitely coming back to this place again, and it's only a few miles down the road from our house so we could even go there for playdates during the week.

Here are a few pictures of the playplace and my toddler and his dad in action. :)

Moms Day Out!

This afternoon me and twelve of my mom friends from my moms group had a moms day out... (LOL, how many times did I say 'moms' on that?) :)

Wow, I can't tell you all how much of a real nice break that was for me. I had a blast! First, we went to have lunch at Peiwei Asian Diner, then the original plan was to go bowling afterwards. Well, when we got to the bowling place the counter person told us the wait for the next available bowling lane was two hours. Yuck! We did not realize how crowded it was on a Saturday for this kind of place. Naturally we had to think of somewhere else to go than waiting for two hours.

So we went to Joe's Crab Shack instead to have a nice little drink. Almost everyone had a flavored margarita, including me. I had a big tall glass of strawberry margarita on the rocks, yummm!:)... The weather was just perfect to sit outside so we settled in one of those big wooden tables with long wooden benches they have. Oh boy, we sat there for heaven knows how long and chatted the afternoon away! LOL. I can't believe how much I missed being with friends and fellow moms like that. When you can just let your hair down, laugh, chat, and be silly. LOL. :)

So anyways, it didn't end there. We weren't ready to go home yet as we were enjoying ourselves so much, so our third stop was at a nearby Starbucks Coffee for what else? Coffee! :) Then again we probably stayed there for almost an hour and chatted again. Meanwhile, my husband called me twice already at this point, to check on what I was up to and if I was already getting ready to go home. Goodness gracious. Doesn't he know this is once-in-a-blue moon treat for me? LOL.

Here's one of the many fun pictures we took. The next event we're doing is a post-Valentine couples night out in a fancy hotel night club. Now, how exciting is that? :)

I Had A Blast Today!

--The second cake, not the one that fell

The baby shower for my friend Judi turned out great. Nine of my mom friends came, mostly with their spouses and little kids. There were about a little over 30 people who came total, including the kids, so my four-bedroom, 3000 square feet house was a little packed, I could say. ;)

We had lots of Filipino food, chatting, fun, and games. The game winners were all happy with their $10 gift card winnings each. ;) Of course the celebrant was very happy. She told me she enjoyed the party so much and was very grateful for it. In fact, she is now planning for a Thanksgiving party at her house the end of November. That will be exciting too and I look forward to it already. :)

So anyways, two funny things happened at the party: 1. My two year-old managed to pull the whole baby shower cake off the table so naturally the whole cake, which was still in the half-opened cake box literally fell upside down on the floor. I got a little flustered--not only because I paid nice money for it, but also of course the celebrant hasn't seen it yet. This happened right before the guests started coming in the door so my (sometimes) nice hubby offered to run to the nearby bakery and got a new cake for me and got in time for when the party started. It said, "Baby Ryan", instead of "Welcome Baby Ryan" unlike the original one but it's okay. It was still chocolate cake and still tasted good so I wasn't too sad after all. :)
2. One of my favorite decorative tall vases broke ( one of my moms' little daughter was playing with the beach ball in my living room, hitting my vase in the process). :( But it's okay. A little flustered, but not upset.

All in all I had a blast. I can't wait for the next moms event again. :)

Pumpkin Patch/Costume Party Today

We had a great time with all my mommy friends from the moms group today. Our kids were in their costumes, and the mommies and some daddies enjoyed getting together too. My boys weren't in their costumes the whole time, though. But we did manage to
take a few nice pictures of them in it.

It was a beautiful day. Perfect for an event such as what we had today. Everyone brought food too so we ate, chat, and hang out.

Mommy and Me Monday

Yesterday was quite eventful (and a bit stressful too). I went to a "Mommy and Me" event at the Dallas Arboretum with of course, my two little ones (2 year old and 7 month old) and my other mom friend Cathy and her 4 month old daughter. This was another event for our moms group. I really wanted to check out this famous Dallas nature spot so I was very excited to go.

I could say, we really enjoyed the event. It was held in an outdoor grassy area with grown trees all around. The place is part of the arboretum called the Pecan Grove. My two year old Gabriel enjoyed running all over the place and enjoyed all the pumpkins. There were lots of mommies with their kids also. We participated in a Kindermusik class while we were there and took lots of cool pictures with our kids.

The only minus to this event was that the air was too humid and we were all sweating like crazy so we had to cut the outing short. We then went to have lunch at a nearby Filipino restaurant afterwards. My 2 year old was already tired and cranky by this time and didn't like being strapped in the high chair, so we had to leave sooner too..ugh!

I told my friend Cathy that I usually don't go out to outdoor events or restaurants by myself with my little ones. I always do these types of actvities with my hubby. So yeah, I could say I enjoyed these activities but just it was a little stressful for me. I was soooooooo tired I went to sleep real early last night--at about 10:30 PM..which is rare. I usually go around midnight or 1AM. But I guess, I'm not complaining. We still went home tired, but happy. :)

A fun day with friends!

So yes, Jaden and I did make it to Cathy's house for the family day today. Gabriel just stayed home with his daddy.

This was just an almost perfect, beautiful day. Beautiful weather, happy, jolly people, lots of Filipino food, karaoke singing, swimming at the pool..just a sweet, fun day! :)

Water Park Adventure!

Fun, fun day with some of the hip mamas and babies--in celebration of our 1st year anniversary! :)