Birthday dinner

We had a sumptuous dinner last night at Kabana resto bar just 10 minutes away from our home. We initially wanted to have dinner at Niji, a Japanese sushi bar but were drawn by the crowd at Kabana. It is a gorgeous place with "gorgeous" staffs! My husband was so pleased that we choose Kabana, and for sure he will keep coming back. :) Sadly, we we're not able to take pictures of the staffs. The resto bar has a warm trendy atmosphere and the food was great too!

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. :)

Addition to his collection

after work

with his number 1 fan, he can't stop playing

this.. his new best friend..

it was my christmas gift to him.. i don't have a choice because this was the only thing i knew he wanted.

All the best for 2010!

Happy 2010 to all my blogger friends! I was not into blogging for a while since I'm busy studying, but i'm on vacation until January 20, so I have time to blog hop and post some updates. Let me start by posting some of our holiday pics. It was indeed a joyful Christmas and New year celebration for us. I'm wishing everyone a loving, peaceful and joyful 2010!

We celebrated Christmas with our friends and their families, while adults ended up playing taboo until 4:00 in the morning. We had fun games for kids as well as for adults courtesy of our friend Allan. The party was a blast! It was indeed a memorable one. Belated Happy Christmas to all.

La fete des Neiges

Last Saturday we were at Jean Drapeau park along St. Lawrence River for the celebration of La fete des neiges in Montréal. The temperature that day was around -30C, we're all chilling except Elyse. She had fun in the ice sculptured slide, had picture beside the seagull and rode the mini car. She didn't want to go home that day. In spite of chilling temperature she kept on saying... It's not cold, I don't feel cold! while removing her mittens.
That same day, we had brunch at tutti frutti with Suzette.
Have a great week to all!

My thoughts

I'm a fan of magnificent author Paulo Coelho. He captured many readers through his books and in such way influenced them as well. I'm one of them. It's been in my daily routine to read his book . On the way to school, at the bus and metro, while others are holding a cup of coffee , I'm holding his book that serves as my vitamin for the day. It totally inspires me to go on, move forward and pursue my dream.

In a couple of days, I'll be a year older. But, I'm just beginning to live and be what I always want to be. They are saying that life begins at 40, but for me life begins at 30.

I'm fulfilled but I don't want to stop dreaming. It's going to be tough but as the famous quote of Paulo Coelho goes, "When you want something, the entire universe conspires in helping you to achieve it."

With my husband and daughter, I believe that everything is possible. Thanks to their wonderful and useful gift! God bless you more!

Allergy to peanuts

Babies have sensitive skin but for some reason my daughter has more sensitivity in her genes. The doctor said that I was the culprit behind this, it is because I had seborrheic dermatitis. The reason why my daughter had seborrheic dermatitis and now eczema. She have some allergies to nuts also. She never tasted nuts since she was born and yesterday she hold it and put it in her mouth, but according to her she didn't ate it. While I was having a chit-chat with friends she approached me and pointing to her mouth. Before that she was just like an ordinary girl at her age, running around with her playmate Karyl. I saw her fell down on the floor several times, the floor was carpeted and I didn't know where did she got her now swollen mouth. I just remembered that she hand me some peanuts! Until her both eyes becomes reddish, around her eyes were tiny rashes and she started to scratch her hands with rashes growing in her arms. So we called 811, to ask the nurse what we need to do. And the nurse advised us to call 911 or bring her to the emergency room of Childrens Hospital. So, we decided to bring her directly to the emergency room and then a nurse attended her, checked her BP, heartbeat, asked some questions et al. After a few seconds, the doctor arrived and checked her heartbeat, asked some questions.. that time there is no sign of rashes except for her swollen mouth.

According to the doctor, it was caused by peanuts. Now, she have to be checked by the Allergist to verify which level of allergy she had. She was prescribed to take Benadryl for the next 24 hours and some sort of injection if ever the same thing happen again and she have difficulty in breathing / the situation is worse.

All things happenned while we were having a despedida party to her playmate Karyl who will be transferring to B.C. this Thursday. I just remember that we didn't even took pictures, it maybe the last time for so many years that we will be together. We are planning to visit them on 2010 winter olympics, and they will be almost 5 by then.

There are cases that by touching or even just smelling the peanuts will be dangerous to the person allergy to it. And the doctor said that since we are not sure if she took it, we have to make sure how deep is her allergy. After an hour, we asked the doctor if we can go home and since there is no sign of difficulty / irritation, he allowed us to go home but monitor her condition and give her the medicine.

Maybe it's a premonition that before everything happened, while we we're looking at the gps for the nearest hospital in our place and she kept on saying "Mommy, let's go to the hospital." We were looking at the nearest hospital because the DQ (Dairy Queen) in our area is just located beside the hospital. We just want to get some ice cream cake for the party. So there, she had her first hospital visit!

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.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

I just want to greet everyone a belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Please bear with me, i know it's a late greeting. I'm also trying to change the look of my website and I hope to finish it soon.
Again, a peaceful and happy new year to everyone!

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.

Let's visit UK!

I got a surprise call from my friend living in UK inviting us to attend her wedding on September. She is one of my closest friend since high school and one of my brides maid during my wedding. I'm still overwhelmed right now, I'm just so happy for her. Of course we will attend her wedding, at the same time we can tour around UK.

She told me that we should be in UK before September 8. Since then, I started browsing the net and found the Cheap Hotels in UK. They have the best rate and package, they also offer free use of hotel facilities like gym, swimming pool and internet. We will surely enjoy our stay there with free internet and breakfast. I can still update my blog, my husband can check his emails while in the hotel and Elyse can enjoy swimming on our spare time.

Another friend of mine is in London and we're planning to visit her too. We booked this hotel in London which offers affordable rates and good packages too. As we are fixing our itineraries, I can't wait to see London. I will make sure that we will not miss the London eye, Big Ben, London Bridge and the Buckingham palace which will be open for public on September!

My cousin who is in Edinburg will be happy to see us too. So, we decided to stay there for another 2 days. I got a wide selection of hotels in Edinburg from the net and we're looking forward to visit the tourist attractions there like the famous Edinburg castle.

My husband and I both admires old structures and nice architectures, so we are eager to see the Cathedral in Manchester and would like to spend another day there for a city tour. We immediately booked our Manchester hotel and now, we are just excited to pack our bags and finally enjoy our stay in UK. See you there!

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

Elyse and Quebec city on Father's day!

I have been scouting for daycares around the area and so far i like the Les Canaries and Au Pied de lechelle in Boulevard Rome. Both are subsidized by the government and has a long wait list. It pissed me off that most daycare centers here will let you know that it usually take a year or two before getting a place or will ask you to leave your name and phone number so they can call you once there's a slot available. I was in total panic knowing the situation and I guess I'm still lucky when Au Pied de lechelle in Boulevard Grand Allee finally informed me that they have place for Elyse in the afternoon! I think the time and schedule is best for my little girl since it's her first time to stay in the daycare center. So, this afternoon at 4pm we will visit the place and I hope the place is good for Elyse.

We also enrolled Elyse at Le Petit Gym where she will start her first class this Saturday. I'm sure she will not let the day pass without visiting Funtopia which is just beside the Le Petit Gym. We visited Funtopia last week and she had fun playing with other kids, but most of all her favorite slide is there. Now, she always want to be out in the sun, running around the park, enjoy the water in the pool and swinging all day long!By the way, last father's day we visited Quebec city with some friends here. It was a charming city! We've been to Sainte Anne de Beaupre, Chateau Frontenac, we even rode a cable car going to Mont Morency and watched the cycling competition in the city.

credis: aamorin paper, kskd tape, gunhild storeide frame, chere-kaye wordart.

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!

Another one coming up!

We're finally home! Last Saturday was a long day! The furnitures were delivered but was only halfway done assembling everything around 7pm so, we decided to took a rest and extended our stay at Auntie's place until Sunday. We started our day by hearing mass at St. Patrick's and picked up some goodies at Kim Hour, a Chinese store along Van Horne. We bought our Thai rice there along with other Filipino products like bangus belly, longganisa, tocino, monggo, purefoods corned beef, chippy, ding dong, hopia and pancit canton. While waiting for Tito Edwin and kids, we sat at the bench in front of "Bahay Kubo" resto and tasted their yummy version of "karioka" and "taro pearl shake". It really feels home, right? Van Horne and Cote des Neiges are the places here in Montreal where most Pinoys are residing.

Even my husband is a bit hesitant, that night we've decided to finally move in to our apartment to check if everything is working. Good for me so, I can start my Monday morning fixing everything.
Well now, I'm done and even our internet and cable tv is working. We've just finished watching the NBA finals. It really feels good!

By the way, it is my husband's birthday this Saturday! This Friday, we have a dinner date with our close friends and relatives while on Sunday, we will have a whole day tour in Quebec city. I'm still thinking what to do on Saturday, is it a brunch out at Tutti Frutti? or Casey's? Let's see!
That's it for now, have a nice day everyone. Thanks for reading and happy blogging! :)

It's her again..

Elyse's 2nd birthday celebration is incomparable to her 1st. For so many reasons, we didn't really plan for a big celebration. We just had dinner at Buffet and Bar Newport here in Brossard, gave her a cake and ice cream that she truly enjoyed. She knew it was her birthday but was in awe when her daddy came in with a cake, singing the birthday song. Soon she realized that it is really her birthday! After that, she was singing the same song for herself until we got home. :)

Before coming here, we didn't have any idea how we're going to celebrate her birthday especially being away from close friends and relatives. Thank God for meeting nice and wonderful people here who treated us like their immediate family. Settling down has been easier with their help and advices. Thank you so much!!!

To my dearest Elyse, Happy birthday! I love you and God bless you! Mwah! :)

It's your special day!