i’ve recently had people ask me when i’d start blogging again so thought i’d try to set aside a few minutes a day to do so. there have been lots going on since my last post in january. it’s been an emotional roller coaster ride the past 6 months and i can only hope and pray that the next 6 months contains only good news.

hmmm, what’s been going on the past few months?

- my nephews and nieces turned 2, 4, 6 and 10
- my ex sister in law met someone (so glad to see her happy again)
- mourned the loss of loved ones (too many in a short time)
- experienced some health issues
- went on a few mini vacations and annual family vacays
- my baby “graduated” from kindergarten
- attended a beautiful wedding
- and tons of parties for all ages!

i cannot believe 2009 is almost half over…looking forward to a great summer and rest of the year!

new year was pretty quiet this year. we had tossed around the idea of going out and partying with friends but in the end chose to stay home..i know, boring right? well, what can i say..it’s been a crazy and tiring year - physically and emotionally!

we invited edison, jenn and joshie to come up and ring in the new year! tobey anxiously awaited their arrival that night and literally kept looking out the window every half hour! on the dinner menu- short ribs, salmon, sinigang and a bunch of different types of desserts containing chocolate. it was entertaining watching joshie and tobester running around and then finally settling in to watch “spongebob squarepants: the movie”. that movie was funky but did keep the two of them very entertained..hahahaha!

it was a tiring day for the 4 boys and by that i mean..ramel, edison, tobey and joshua…so they were pretty low key after dinner and dessert. we rang in the new year with dick clark and the boys went to bed shortly after. jenn and i ended up talking and catching up on just about everything and finally went to sleep at about 345am!

(1) family pic before it turns 2009; (2) joshie and tobester chillin’ as they watch spongebob square pants: the movie; (3) jenn, joshie, edison before 2009 hits!

new year’s resolutions? hmmm….i have a short list this year but ones that i hopefully will not break! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

this year’s crew potluck christmas party was hosted by robbie and jenny! our contribution this year was ham (by mel) and mini cupcakes (by moi). on the agenda, kids secret santa and then a white elephant gift exchange. as usual, we grubbed as soon as we got there and immediately got into “comfort food” mode since it was hecka freezing outside! the guys did their best to warm up via grey goose..hahaha!

(1) our hosts, jenny and robbie; (2) the guys getting their shots on; (3) edwin showing us what they were drinking out of!

i guess this was the guys’ turn to get f—– up…hahaha…the funniest part was they were taking shots from spongebob squarepants mini cups…HAHAHA that pretty much set the mood for the whole night and carried over into A LOT of laughing during the white elephant gift exchange! lots of stealing went on as well as neil throwing out the famous “cousin art” comment pertaining to a cuisinart hand blender that chester eventually lost to edwin…awww, sorry chet!

(1) chet saying bye to “cousin art”; (2) nate-dog and tobester showing some love during secret santa; (3) allie and mik saying their thank you’s during secret santa

the kids had a great time with the secret santa gift exchange! too cute watching how much these kids have changed every year! lots of love and laughter! too cute! as the evening ended, we decided to take “prom pics” in front of the tree! i’ll have to upload them on here another time or you can check them out on my facebook profile. happy holidays!

christmas eve was spent at my parents house along with a lot of my relatives! we opted to do a secret santa with all the oldies…too funny! it was a very loud secret santa gift exchange and an even louder white elephant gift exchange! they all had a great time and cannot wait to do it again next year! the kids all had one thing in mind - BAKUGAN! that was the gift of the year for these kiddos!

christmas day was spent at my in laws house. tobey had a great time with all his cousins! it was all about the kids as santa and their grandparents were very good to them this year!

as we get older, some of my friends dread celebrating their birthday…not me! i look at it like…hey, i’m alive another year…woohoo! my 38th birthday (yeah, i know right?) celebration started with an early birthday dinner at this benihana type restaurant in fremont. i had been craving it for some time but the one in cupertino was closed for remodeling.

we were excited to take tobey as we thought he’d be excited and amazed at how the food was cooked right in front of you. we were partially right? hahaha when the chef started off dinner with a huge flame, tobey spent most of the evening leaning far back into his chair and constantly asking him “is there going to be a big fire now?” he eventually relaxed and ate his meal…he loved the chicken and the fried rice! actually, we all loved our food, we’ll be back for sure!

(1) me, tobey, mel right before dinner; (2) mommy and son; (3) our funny chef, lenny

my actual birthday on friday was spent at home, relaxing with hubby and baby. we hadn’t done that in a long while, just stay home and relax…it was really nice. earlier that day, i had lunch with my good friend jenny. coupons at chevy’s…woohoo…i swear were the only ones that seem to appreciate those hahaha!

the next day was another treat for tobey (and us). we decided to go to the state fair! none of us had ever been so we were excited! we thought it would be hot so we weren’t planning on staying very long. we ended up staying a lot longer…just exploring, getting on a few rides, checking out exhibits, etc. no surprise we were all hecka sleepy on the way home. did we rest when we got home? no..hahha we headed over to jenny and robbie’s for dinner and to do some catching up.

(1) one of the car rides tj went on; (2) his 1st win at a basketball game; (3) my little guy in a fire truck - you all know how much i LOVE firemen

then came sunday…BBQ with my side of the familiy! we were celebrating august and september birthdays - there’s 6 of us! hubby did his thing and grilled some yummy BBQ! the family brought pansit (have to have noodles for your bday!), fruits and ice cream cakes for dessert! they ate so much they had to walk it off - so tobey took them for a walk towards his school. the oldies left shortly after the walk while edwin, edison, jenn and joshua stayed to hang out…and play rock band!

(1) grubfest!!!; (2) check out photobombing at its best…can you see ramel?!?; (3) august and september birthday celebrants

our family recently lost our uncle in the PI to a heart attack. it didn’t take long for my mom to decide she needed to go back for her younger brother’s funeral. my grandma and ninang jumped on a plane 2 days after they heard the news and mom followed the day after.

in her absence, we found ourselves trying to figure out who was going to take tobey or his cousin, joshua as she had watched them during work hours and after school. we all worked full time and grandpa did too. even though she was only gone for 1.5 weeks, it made me realize how much our parents do for us! we found ourselves switching our work schedules and trying to figure out how in the world could this work if it were long term? papa pitched in by taking a half day one day to help take care of tobey. jenn and edison changed their work schedules around to stay home with joshie and we ended up having his old preschool take care of tobey for 1 week!

mom is back now and already at work! this woman is amazing! she barely had time to settle down from her trip and is already back to her schedule with tobey and joshua! thank you mama lita and papa bruno! we want you to know how much we appreciate and love you!

my brother edwin is always trying to get me to try new networking sites. first it was friendster…i told him i would never use it and boom, i signed up and started using it. he then suggested myspace and i told him, i’m fine with friendster, i’ll probably never get on myspace. wrong! i found myself using it more! then he’s like, you have to try facebook, you’ll like it! again i said…uh, no thank you, i’m fine but reluctantly signed up.

months later, i find myself on this freakin’ site more often than i would have ever thought…mostly due to reconnections with high school and middle school friends! you try not to get addicted but you can’t help it, it’s like being in touch with all those people that you see around the quad at lunch or break time, those that shared a class with you!

my friend rona isn’t much into networking sites either and i finally got her to sign up for my space. when i forwarded her the request for facebook, she probably deleted it because i never saw her online. we talked a few weeks later and i was telling her about all the people that were popping up from high school. she asked me to send her the link again…hehehe…and the rest is history! we laughed about it on the phone yesterday saying how we find ourselves online more than we’d like! she’s been on it a week so i told her she has a few weeks before she can find herself weaning away from it…hahaha!

the biggest surprise about FB? realizing that a lot of people we know are connected somehow…talk about a small world!!!

man, back in the day, it was either a walk to the 7-eleven, meeting at the mall or a simple phone call that would allow us to catch up with friends. who would have ever thought that “KIT” now means…email me or i’ll catch you online! hahahha

thanks edwin!

this day totally snuck up on me. with tobey starting kindergarten and my uncle passing away, this was the most hectic week. early saturday morning, yes, my butt did wake up at 4:30am to get ready and head down to tourney central. tobey and i slept the whole way down (hehe) and woke up just in time to see neil, ivan and allan driving right beside us with their heads sticking out the windows to get our attention hahahah

for more details on the tourney, check out www.betergolf.com

yeah i know….hahahahha

where did the time go? when did he become this little boy ready for kindergarten? i did not want to be that mom that cries on her child’s first day of kindergarten but hello…for those that really know me, that’s like asking someone not to breathe! hahaha

tobey went through his kindergarten assessment last week and he did great! we thought we were just bringing him in to talk to his potential teacher but instead it was a meeting to go over what he knew and/or did not know. alphabet, numbers, reading words, etc…his teacher said he would do great academically!

we then attended kindergarten orientation, a meeting to assist parents in answering questions about what to expect. rules on this, rules on that, what the kids will be learning, what the kids will be doing, etc. tobey was with us and seemed just as excited as we were!

alas…the 1st day of kindergarten! ramel and i took time off so that we could both be there to bring him to school as well as pick him up. tobey woke up early enough, he picked out his clothes the night before and he ate a good breakfast. his backpack and snack/lunch bag were all packed and he was ready to go! we brought him to his class, where they lined up as they walked into the classroom. i was fine…yeah right, the minute he walked in, tears ran down my face. ramel was laughing at me and said “man, i can’t believe we have a kindergartener now!” the hours passed pretty quickly and we found ourselves at the school waiting for them to get out of class. as they came out of the class, again lined up, we made eye contact with him and you could tell he had a great day! he met some new friends but did not know their names yet…and he kept talking about what they did in school! day one was done…:)

the next couple of days were pretty much the same routine for him. he did not seem to have any problems going to and from class but we did talk to his teacher for a quick update. we were told that he’s very energetic, loves being the leader but will need to learn how to voice his words verbally instead of physically. he also tends to do his martial arts in class…hahahah…i know that’s not good and we’re working on explaining to him when it should be used and when not to use it. i know…i know…some of you are saying, uh it’s only been 3 days, give him a break! hahahah we know we just want to make sure we address potential behavior issues before they get out of hand. he’s a boy, he’ll get that way and we’re hoping this is just an adjustment period. he has met a few friends and gives us updates on what is going on in class…he still loves it! hahaha

my friend sent me this email today and it totally just cracked me up knowing what i know about some of my friends…HAHAHAHA!

Proof that Men Have Better Friends…

Friendship among Women:
A woman didn’t come home one night. The next morning
she told her husband that she had slept over at a
friend’s house. The man called his wife’s 10 best
friends. None of them knew anything about it.

Friendship among Men:
A man didn’t come home one night. The next morning he
told his wife that he had slept over at a friend’s
house. The woman called her husband’s 10 best friends.
Eight confirmed that he had slept over, and two said he was still there.