AsiaCraft Warehouse Sale Finds

Who would think that these are actually for sale? According to Kuya Job, the caretaker of the Asiacraft showroom, they are moving back the production to the province. They can’t bring all their samples so many of the items are for sale or will be disposed. 

I have been a fan of Asiacraft since 2008. Being a staunch supporter of local crafts, Asiacraft won me over. I don’t know how to describe their style so I will just let the pictures do the talking.

Aki is crazy about anything that comes in three sizes. He thinks they are Dadeh, Mameh and Aki. So these Dadeh, Mameh and Aki Christmas trees will grace the entrace of our house come November.

PhP 225 for a set of three

Manang got this cross. She will donate it to their barangay chapel.I love distressed finishes. They look so shabby chic.

PhP125

And this metal trash can would be a nice addition to our green and brown bathroom downstairs. (PhP 50)

Aki loves his newest balls.

First Family Field Trip: Manila Zoo!!

Last Sunday, after 20 thousand reschedules, we finally got to go to Manila Zoo! Despite the negative feedback that I read about the zoo, we actually had a grand time. I was surprised to see that a lot of people still go to Manila Zoo nowadays. We don’t have any picture of Aki smiling but most of the pictures would show that he was AMAZED!

We saw an gentle elephant, a pair of ostrich,  Philippine deer, lazy alligators, even lazier crocodiles, snakes, shy zebras, cute fluffy sheep (or were they lambs?), a lot of monkeys among others. I don’t know if I just missed them but I did not see a giraffe, a lion, a hippo and a carabao.

Inside the reptile sanctuary, Aki pretended to feed the snakes and iguanas.

Peacocks, swans and ducks are in the island surrounded by water. Aki would have loved it if we got a closer look but renting a boat was out of the question. I did not consider renting a boat because 1)  the water seemed very dirty 2) there were no lifevests 3) the lagoon is pretty huge. Poor daddies did not seem to know that they will be row row rowing for a long long time.

Kinder Zoo, a privately owned petting zoo, inside Manila Zoo is a must see. Because it is privately owned, Kinder Zoo is well maintained. The staff are friendly too. I love the yellow turtle. Aki got to sit on it but he wanted to stand up immediately because he wanted to inspect the turtle. He did not just inspect the turtle, he also talked to it about the nearby horse, with matching neeeeeigh sound. Haha.

Aki’s favorite animal in the zoo were the dolphins. Correction, inflatable dolphins. He has a thing now for fishes. Kids were happily swimming with the dolphins in the small pool inside Kinder Zoo. Aki jealously watched them from a far. On our way out, we stopped by the koi pond again. Aki had to be carried because he did not want to leave.

Allow me to bombard you with more family pictures.

Thank you, Summit Media, for these prizes!

Promise, I have tamed my addiction to contests. Last year, I actively looked for contest. I had a quota of at least one winning per month. Now, I don’t look for contests anymore. If I chance upon them and I like and could need the prize, then I join. Amazingly, now that contests are not my favorite thing, I am still their favorite person. I would like to thank Summit Media for these lovely prizes.

When I went on a bento shopping spree, I really wanted to get a bento box but I stopped myself because the grocery basket was already full and I already have a  Lock and Lock set. Look what I won. A bento box! Sheh, the very nice lady in charge of distributing prizes, threw in  a nice top for a tween. I gave it to Jenny Rose, Manang’s 10 year old daughter.

 Polkatot’s GC

Skin Specialist GC

Parenting books from McGraw Hill Publishing. Thank you very much!  I am currently reading Perfect Parenting. It is a book full of tips and solutions to common parenting problems. It was written by Elizabeth Pantley, the author behind the no-cry solution series.  I owe Aki’s commendable sleeping habits to her. I have been wanting to buy this book, along with the other books by Pantley but since my to-read list is probably longer than Aki, I left the book alone.

A Simple Birthday Celebration

Compared to Franco’s  Japanese-themed 30th birthday party last year, our celebration last week  was small and simple.

Love is when you wake up at 5:30AM to bake. I mashed, shaped and baked the meatballs for dear husband’s favorite pasta.

I also made the yummiest brownies I ever baked. Actually, it was my first time to bake brownies. Special thanks to Miss Betty Crocker for the easy, fail-safe, 4-ingredient recipe.   The brownies were meant to take the place of the birthday cake. Unfortunately, when it was time to make a birthday wish and blow a birthday candle, I discovered we have several packs of white Liwanag candles from Aki’s baptism and from the house blessing but no little blowing candle.

 

My corn plant is pregnant! Woohoo!

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Interestingly, the smaller corn plants already have flowers. We will be harvesting corns and baby corns in a few weeks!

Shadow Play

Our flashlight is  a  fun, educational toy that we love to use in our games at night.  I blogged about our nocturnal treasure hunt  here. We also use our flashlight in our modified version of I Spy.  These past few nights, we  have been playing with shadows using the flashlight. Manang holds the items. Aki experiments with the flashlight while I click away. 🙂

 

Letter U

 

Letter B

Giant Letter B

Aki’s Giant Chalkboard

Now that the mini-renovations  in the driveway is complete, we have taken the art lessons outside.

This is one fourth of Aki’s chalkboard. We also draw on the driveway.

Aside from chalk, we also like to make artworks using the most precious commodity in Paranaque, water.

Aki made this tower by painting one row and then another row on top  and so on until it was taller than him.

If you have a tabo of water the possibilities are endless.

Decluterring Series: Aki’s Toys and Books

As I have posted before, Aki’s playroom is overflowing with books, shoes, toys, toys and more toys!

 This picture from the Tao for Babies was a sign that it’s time to declutter. Not only is the playroom overstimulating, it was also unsafe because Aki tries to reach for or sometimes even climb the pile of toys in the corner. With Manang coming home to Samar, I’m sure the less fortunate kids would be happy owners of some of Aki’s toys.

These are what we are giving away.

We are keeping many other items, mostly toys for my next baby and toys that Aki can only play with years from now. These are now kept in our newest bodega, Franco’s Japanese room slash guest room slash helper’s room.

As for the books, I really can’t part with them. I love our collection! And Aki loves his books too.  I decided that I can only give out 5 books. With my sister’s permission ( she gave these to me, hand me downs from her kids), these will be donated to the Laoang daycare.

What was I thinking when I got this book? I picked this up without reading it because it was written by a namesake. And I love books written by celebrities. Turns out, this heartwarming  book is about adoption. Anyone who wants this?

And this one is the hands down worst book I have ever purchased for Aki. Baby Einstein is also one of the most boring cartoons ever for me. Why does a toddler need to learn Spanish and French translations and classical art and their painters? I hate it it so much that I can’t give it away.

Cold Compress

Aki has a super cute banana shape ice pack but he hates it. These two, he likes.  Even if a minor bump does not call for a cold compress, he runs for the ref and demands a Jellyace. When he is badly hurt, one way to calm him is to give a cycle of  5 seconds of cold compress and 5 seconds of eating his favorite cold treats .

Bandana Pillow Projects

I was inspired to do this project after seeing a lady in the terminal wipe her son’s nose. Hehe. Really. I have always thought that bandanas are pretty. Maybe because I see them everyday, they don’t seem so special anymore.

For these projects, I bought the colorful hankies at the bangketa below the EDSA Taft MRT station for only 20 bucks a piece.

The other side of the same pillow is white

Because my plan is to have bandana pillows even after current my blue and orange  obsession, I used cochetes aka automatic aka spring press studs to put them together. That way, when I change color motifs, let’s say to blue and black, I just need to buy a black bandana and sew cochetes into it.

Here is another bandana project