DIY Abstract Art

Our house needs a personality boost. I am getting bored with the look and feel of the house. The walls are bare. The pillow cases look sad. Aki’s playroom under the stairs is forever a mess. Unfortunately, having a curious toddler means thinking twice about putting any decoration.

This simple project aimed to give the walls a splash of colors. This activity was inspired by the tape painting that Aki did last December (which was inspired by Leslie’s blog) and by the abstract paintings in Doc Samonte’s clinic.

We needed

A large canvass – can’t remember the exact size but it was about as big as an illustration board
Acrylic paint
Paint brushes
Little wooden things that come with the canvass.
Masking Tape

First, I randomly put masking tape around the canvass. Sorry I forgot to take pictures of it.

Then, we assigned areas of the canvass to each family member. Because Aki kept on over-mixing the colors, he was given only a small corner to paint on. That did not stop him from trying to mess up the little abstract paintings that Franco and I did. Sorry, no pictures again while we were painting. The istambay daddy was topless because it was so hot.

When we were happy with our creation, we let the painting dry for a couple of hours.

After removing the masking tape…

Akisms

Aki: Mummy, ako Fah-yoh (fire) Payo Yeinjo (power ranger).
Mummy: Pano ako?
Aki (looking at my colorful dress): Ikaw yeinbow (rainbow) yeinjo. Si Daddy, ligh-ning (lightning) yeinjo.
Mummy: Eh si Ate?
Aki (saw Ate watering the plants): Yoter (water) yeinjo!

——-

Aki: Mummy, I call you pincess (princess)
Mummy: Hindi, si Emily ang princess.
Aki: No. Ikaw pincess.
Mummy: Ok. Eh si Daddy
Aki: King
Mummy: Si Ate?
Aki: Queen
Mummy: At ikaw?
Aki: Payo yeinjo!

—-

Aki: Mummy, pacman eggs fiiiis..
Mummy: Hmm.. Isipin ko pa..
Aki (hugs my legs and sings in the tune of the theme song): Go go power mummy. Go go mummy mummy.

Feeding the Penguins @ Manila Ocean Park

Warning: photo overload ahead.

Happy Monday!!

I can’t get over how fun last Saturday was. I got to do 3 things for the first time

1) Eat edible flowers

2) Get “eaten” by fish

3) Feed penguins

The family field trip to Manila Ocean Park was much way better that I imagined it to be. Our dinner buffet at our favorite hotel, the Manila Hotel, was the best way to end the day. I will blog about our weekend as soon as I am able to go thru the 400 plus pictures I took.

For now, I would like to share our pictures with the penguins. Aki kept saying “I’m Mr. Popper! I’m Mr Popper!”. Franco and I hesitated at first. It was already past 7PM. We’ve been in the park before 8:30 in the morning. We were already dog tired when Aki begged us. This quick activity was also quite expensive. We paid 500 bucks for 3 sardines. After seeing how sad Aki was after we told him “Next time”, I convinced Franco that since we were already there, might as well as get  the most out of the experience.

Boy, was I right. The fee that we paid was nothing compared to Aki’s priceless happiness.

Cooking with Cereals

One Saturday morning, Aki was in the mood for cooking. When I asked him what he wanted to cook, he said cereals. I brought out all the cereals in the pantry ( we have a lot because of generous relatives) and made him choose. He wanted to use all the cereals in his “dish”. Not only that, he said plain milk was not enough.  He also added Yakult.

Mix, Eat, Pray and Love.

From Cebu, With Love

Two of the things that I am thankful for everyday are the friends that I gained and surprises that I get because of this blog. Last Wednesday, I was surprised to receive a package all the way from Cebu. The package came from Juvy of the Mommyjuvs blog. We have been exchanging comments on each others blog for some time now. And when I read in Leah’s blog that Juvvy and Liam were in town recently, I was secretly hoping she’d invite me to a playdate. Haha

Anyhoo, Aki and I of course were beyond thrilled when we saw the package.

I mentioned in this post that I really want to add more Dr Seuss to our book collection. Now, we are happy owners of these fun books.

Gift of An Ordinary Weekend #8

One of my goals this year is to have a Gift of An Ordinary Weekend post every month. I think that would give Aki a clear picture in the future on what we do on our family days (in our house, we call weekends family days and weekdays as office/school days)

Here is a delayed post on a fun February Saturday. It was actually a long weekend since Franco and I were both on leave the day before. However, there is nothing ordinary about the Friday and Sunday of that weekend since we went to 2 wakes.  I will just document what happened that Saturday, February 22.

Around 8AM
Aki got his dino surprise

Sometime past 9AM (I don’t have the exact time because I did not set the date and time in my camera correctly)
After tinkering in our garden, we went inside to rest. Aki thought Ate was playing with him when she was cleaning the windows

Daddy left for his jujitsu training.

11:12AM
Aki, pretending to talk to his classmate Margaux

11:20AM
Look, I’m a toh-tel (turtle) (The pillow was his shell)

12:58AM
We picked talbos ng kangkong from our garden

Dressed Aki in his Mickey apron and toque (thanks Mae and Kuya for the gift)

Aki: I’m a chef boy!!

We cooked adobong kangkong which Aki did not eat.  I was really hoping that getting him involved in the prep and actual cooking would make him want to try the dish. Hmmp!
While waiting for daddy, we made fossils

Finally, daddy is home. but before he went inside the house, Aki wanted to surprise him

Vraaaaggh! , said the dinos.

Sweet daddy played along and pretended he got the  shock of his life.

Had lunch. Franco did not eat my adobong kangkong either.

And rested in the room. We watched a movie but I can’t remember what it was.

Then it was time to go to BGC for Sophie’s party! But before going, we had to give in to Aki’s request to eat cake in Red Ribbon.

Sophie’s party was super fun. It was a reunion party for our n@wie community and for our mommy bloggers group.

Here is the self portait of Maia of her and Aki. Cute!

And even if he never wins, I love seeing Aki participate in the party games.

Thank you so much, Sieggy for inviting us!

We thought of dropping by this new park in BGC but it was already getting late. Aki as expected was knocked out as soon as we got into the van.

Finally, I have uninterrupted quality time with the hubby. We spent the rest of the day watching our favorite teeny bopper series, Awkard Season 1.

Thank you Lord for the gift of ordinary weekends.

Family Field Trip: Museong Pambata

Hello! Happy mid-week!

Okay, bad mummy confession time! I did not let Aki join the school’s field trip this year. I found the 800 peso per person fee unreasonable. If Franco, Aki and I joined, that would be 2400 bucks. I probably would have considered if they were going to a museum or to a factory. However, since the itinerary involved going to 2 farms and 1 zoo, I thought there is not much new for Aki to learn since we have a vegetable garden and have been to a couple of zoos and farms.

To make up for it, I arrange our very own family field trip to a museum. The most kid-friendly in town is Museong Pambata.

At the entrance, we were greeted by this giant whale. Or is it a butanding?

I loved the tile mural. Does anyone know how to decorate plain white tiles?

There are 6 viewing rooms in Museo. We were not able to visit one of them because  it was being rented for a party.

The first room that we went to was all about the Spanish colonization era.

Aki had no idea that he was talking to Andres Bonifacio.

The next room was all about environmental awareness.

When we were there, there was an ongoing free craft activity. I think they regularly hold tissue paper roll craft workshops every Sunday.

And look, a cute bahay kubo and toy veggies from the Bahat Kubo song.

It was in this room that Aki’s fascination with shells started.

Aki held on to his white towel for the rest of the day until the next day. No one was allowed to touch his “shell”

Outside there was a dainty garden which reminded me of my container gardening project last year.

I am still gardening in case you are wondering but most of my plants are planted directly to my plots.

The next room was all about the human body.
Aki is all smiles here but he actually hated that room. Hahaha

Pacman Eggs

Thanks to our current favorite old-school arcade game, yesterday’s breakfast were Pacman Eggs!

I am used to flat boring dry  scrambled eggs. Aki definitely deserves better than that. So when PacBoy ordered Pacman eggs yesterday, I made a quick research on how to make a a yummy moist and fluffy version. My first try was not so bad at all!

Building His Confidence and Encouraging Curiosity

.. at the grocery!

Me to the Saleslady: Miss, nasaan po yun baking soda niya?
Saleslady: Wala p

Aki to Me: Mummy, ano yun baking soda?
Me: Ginagamit natin yun pag gumagawa tayo ng volcano

Aki to the saleslady (sounds demanding but he didn’t really mean to sound like that): Bakit wala kayo baking soda?!
Saleslady to her supervisor: Mam, tinatanong po niya kung bakit daw wala tayong baking soda.
Manager: Kase naubusan.
Me: Aki, naubusan daw. Ok na ba yun?
Aki: Ok.
Me: Anong gusto mo sabihin sa kanila.
Aki: Tenchu po

—

In the fruit section, I spied on a possibly cool toy, a used cardboard roll for plastic bags. It is 10 times thicker than a tissue roll so it seemed to have more staying power.

Me: Aki, kita mo ba yun? What do you think?
Aki flashes a big smile
Me: Halika, tanung natin kung pwedeng atin na lang.
Me to the sales lady: Miss, may itatanong po yun anak ko
Aki(points to the cardboard roll): Pede akin na lang ito?
Saleslady (smiling, hands Aki the toy): Ito Kuya o.
Aki: Saaamat po!

—————

This is the new toy. Aki immediately proclaimed that it is a telescope. For most of the grocery trip, he pretended to be Captain Aki and the cart was his ship.

Until, something caught  his attention.

Aki to me: Bakit taas siya?

Where will she sleep?

Lately, I can’t stop thinking of Emily.

It does not help that Aki loves being called Kuya Aki.

Maybe this is because I have two cute giggling baby nieces, Rya and Bella. Little girls’ clothes are so pretty. And there are so many cute projects to do with little girls. I love the little sweet voices of little girls.  I want to have a girly-girl party for a change. I want, I want, I want a baby girl.

But, there is something that I need to figure out before deciding to have baby number two.

Where will she sleep???