Hubby's Birthday surprise!

My hubby just arrived from his business trip and he brought along this as his birthday gift to me! I'm not expecting this since I know he isn't patient enough to look around and find something for me. Also, I heard that the situation in London is pretty odd due to weather conditions. I bet he wasn't able to explore London, and he preferred to stay in the airport for a day waiting for his flight. Well, obviously I'm wrong!

When he arrived from the airport, Elyse and I were at the basement watching American Idol.. He was smiling at me, like he wasn't tired, embraced and kissed me.. "Hi! Honey! I'm home!" and so I got his bag and went directly inside the house. I shut the door and immediately prepared his meal. Not knowing about his surprise, he went back to the door.. and with his shoes off, he went out.. got something from our doorsteps.... He smiled and surprised me with this bag!

Fred: "Happy Birthday Honey, kala mo ha.."

Me: Wow! Thanks hon! I really like it!

Elyse: Mommy, i like your bag!

On the other hand, the little girl was so happy with her new Teddy bear, a pair of new socks and toothbrush. She immediately got her bike and enjoy the ride with her new Teddy. :)

Christmas the Filipino way

It was our second Christmas away from Philippines. It's been 4 years since we started working abroad but we are always making sure that we will celebrate Christmas with our families in Philippines. Although this year, we are far from our loved ones..... still, we spent Christmas in a traditional Filipino way. We want to pass this Filipino tradition to our daughter, like attending mass and remembering that it is HIS birthday, noche buena, gift giving, visiting friends and relatives and of course partying with fun games.

Here are some of our pictures during Christmas day.

Little Princess!

Yesterday, teacher Sabina mentioned that this Monday (December 8), Santa Claus will visit the children in school. I just said, "It's too early!". And she said, "Yeah, it's a little bit early this year, they will have their Christmas party in the school! So, now I don't have a choice but to look for a dress that will suit their Christmas party theme. Teacher Sabina said "Anything red!". Good thing is I still have those red dress from Ate Sylvia. She was a good friend in Morocco. While I was talking to the "little girl", I was surprised when she said "I want the princess dress, mommy!". And even last night, after bathing her she kept on looking where was her princess dress and wanted to wear it right away. I just said, "Not tonight! but on Monday, baby!". She is just fascinated with princess and fairies now, the effect of Disney's Cinderella, Snow White and Tinker Bell. Like when our friend gave her a set of princess accessories, I was thinking of sending it to the Philippines for my niece. I never thought that Elyse would wear those, she just know how to put the tiara, ring, necklace and asked me to put her earrings on. Suddenly, I just realized that she's starting to act like a lady! And then she's calling herself Princess Elyse, with magic wand on her hand she would say "abra kadabra"!

And since she cannot wear her princess costume on the school's Christmas party, I will get her a princess-like dress that she's going to wear on Christmas. This dress from GAP and The Children's place caught my attention. I'm gonna check it in the store this weekend. I hope that they still have her size or at least i have other options. Have a great day everyone!

Christmas is almost here!

We were in this year's celebration of Santa Claus Parade. With a lot of spectators mostly children, we were among those along Ste. Catherine street and Eaton Center. It was a joyous occasion, in spite of freezing wind and snowy atmosphere we were able to enjoy the celebration. Some music made us shed some tears while remembering and missing our family back home.

On the other hand, Elyse is curiously looking at the floats and mascots but refused to touch them. She specifically love the fairies, as she is currently hooked with Tinker bell. Here are some snap shots:Hope all of us will be productive this December. Share the love to everyone .. smile and have fun! Take care.

My first pumpkin!

Here's the pumpkin designed by Elyse at the daycare. With her friends and "teachers" at the daycare, they went out for trick or treat and enjoyed their Halloween party. They we're all dressed up, even adults we're walking down the streets with their costumes and masks on. Elyse picked up her Tinkerbell costume for that day. After her party, we headed to downtown Montreal for the soft launch of Restaurant Papa, owned by Uncle Edwin and his brother. They are serving Filipino dishes, with a very delicious "pancit" and "menudo." The resto is located at the busy streets of Avenue Plamondon / Victoria where most Filipino stores can be found.

I wasn't able to bring my camera at the Halloween party, but her teacher Sabina promised that she will share the pics so, I'll post them here soon.
Happy Weekend everyone! Thanks for reading and visiting my page! :)

Busy Bee months!

October and November were the busiest month i had, in a while blogging has been totally out of my list. Now, I'm back and hopefully I can find time to do it religiously. Not to mention that December must be busier than the previous months. We have a lot of appointments here and there, for the family doctor, the US embassy, my theory driving exam and school registration for my prerequisites. Yes, hopefully I'll be accepted so I can pursue my studies here.

Last October was the Thanksgiving celebration here in Canada and we decided to visit Toronto. The first on our list is the Niagara falls then the CN Tower and for the kids, Nascar and Southbrook pumpkin patch. Though tiring, we all had a wonderful time in Toronto. And here' are the pics!

The Halloween month is almost over and Christmas songs can be heard everywhere. I love listening to Celtic Woman's (A Christmas Celebration) album. So, yeah.. I'm very sentimental these days.. missing my family back home. Plus the weather! It's getting really cold here... right now the wind chill is -11 degrees. It's freezing cold! I'm just thankful that houses here are well constructed, due to the bricks and good ventilation I'm not chilling inside the house.

Little Gym and Friends

Our weekend has been busy since Saturday morning. At 8am i woke up and prepared our breakfast, at the same time we got ready for Elyse's little gym class. Just like on her first session she enjoyed the class, this time she learned how to roll, walk in the beam and do the tumbling. It amazed me when she got 2 balls and gave the other one to her classmate. Even the mother of her classmate was pleased when Elyse approached her daughter and gave the ball. Fred was outside but saw what his daughter did, so as soon as we finished the class.. he immediately hugged and kissed Elyse for a good deed. Job well done baby!

After the class, we rushed to Cote Vertu and DDO to visit my husband's old friend Arlene. Elyse and his son Andro had time to swim and play at their backyard. It was fun to watch them playing since they are at the same age. They can understand each other and was laughing together.

That same day, we joined our good friend Serge and his family in Pierrefonds to celebrate his son's 9th birthday. He is Kuya Eagan to Elyse, his nice playmate along with Ate Misha. We met some more Pinoys there, had a chat with them and learned a lot of stories and their experiences. Most of all, the food was great! I guess more pounds was added to my weight after that. :(

At last, I can finally post this.. It was Elyse's 2nd birthday celebration. It has been delayed for almost 2 months now. Sorry, I'm just super busy in the house so, I really don't have time to scrap. Have a good day everyone! :)

credits: love me by sarah doodles, kb frame, redju paper, choukette stitch and journal paper, awp tag and pink alpha, monika69 happy word,jasmin olya rope flower

Pool party on Daddy's Birthday

I'm sorry guys for not being around for quite sometime, I'm so busy with lots of things. I missed blogging! Anyway, for my regular visitors thanks again. To all fathers out there, belated happy fathers day. Thanks for the tags and I will try to do it soon.

We had a pool party last Saturday and it was fun! Elyse enjoyed playing in water using her balls and toys while the birthday celebrant enjoyed the food and swimming even the water is a bit cold at 25 degrees. Uncle Edwin, Auntie Vivian, Ate Mariz and Suzette prepared "sinigang na hipon", chicken barbeque, ginataang halo-halo, fruit salad and even bought donuts and cake. On the other hand I prepared their favorite "caldereta" and brought ice cream for dessert. It was another "full" day! :) Happy birthday again honey! Good health and more birthdays to come. Cheers!

Ready to move!

We're 'finally' moving this weekend! Our furnitures will be delivered in the apartment this Saturday, so I should clean everything on Thursday and Friday. We also got the keys of the apartment after signing the 1 year contract of lease. We almost have everything we need except for knives, chopping board, pillows, blinds for the rooms and curtains for the living room. I will check Wall-mart this afternoon and hopefully get what i need.

Last night i noticed that my laptop cannot detect my external hard disk! even if i changed the cable! hu hu hu.. all our latest pictures are saved there, including our Europe and Montreal tour! :( Most of all.. my digicraps are also there!! :( Hoping we can still recover the pictures!


Another story, we are planning to watch the F1 race here in Montreal this June but the weather is not cooperating. If it's not cloudy, it's raining! One friend told us we better postpone our plan and instead prepare for the event next year, I even asked 'why'? Because next year is the 30th year of F1 race so it's gonna be a 'HUGE' celebration. And I guess it's not really possible since our moving date is the same as the schedule of the race! :(