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!!!

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!

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

this past week was busy as usual but not in that hectic way it normally is. it was the kind of busy that i miss, the kind of busy where you actually enjoy the things that you are doing and don’t really feel drained from it.

progress at last! last week i received a text from ramel saying that tobey participated in his taekwondo class without any hesitation. … yay! he had trouble adjusting in the first few classes and thankfully a breakthrough occurred during this last visit. the streak has continued this week as he is now excited to go to class!

the timing was perfect as it coincided with a special trip with his cousins from stockton. venus planned the trip and it started off with us meeting them for lunch. we then headed to micke grove zoo..the kids were soooo excited! the sea lion and monkeys were popular with the 4 cousins! we then headed to fun town (amusement park next door) and spent the afternoon on a few of the rides. tobey’s favorite was the scrambler! the weather was beautiful so we spent some time relaxing by the picnic tables while the kiddos ran around and did relay races..hahaha…great way to tire them out because as soon as we got into the car..BAM…zzzzz city!

it was a pretty relaxing week - work was actually manageable and the week’s activities were enjoyable.

just when you think you have parenting sorta figured out, little kids have a way of reminding you there is still lots to learn!

preschool is pretty much year round but this year we decided to pull tobey out for a few weeks so he can have a summer vacation before he starts kindergarten. not really being keen on having him spend summer days watching tv and playing on the computer, we thought we’d try him out with a few activities.

(1) gymnastics - we enrolled him in a toddlers class and were happily surprised when his teacher told us that he was actually more advanced than we thought. she thought maybe he would be able to go into the developmental class which is an iinvitation only prep class for competitive gymnastics. although he was hesitant to join the class at first, he did great and we were told that although he would be the youngest in his class, he had no problems keeping up. he would not be able to compete til he is 6 yrs old but that was ok as long as he was learning the physical and mental skills needed. due to scheduling conflicts, we could not commit to the class so his teacher suggested he do the boys level 1 class. he is currently doing a combo of the toddlers class (he’ll learn listening and focus skills) and the level 1 class (he’ll learn advanced skills and therefore won’t be bored). although he had that one meltdown in the first week, he is excited to attend and cannot wait to get to class!

(2) martial arts - this activity proved to be the opposite for tobey. we enrolled him in hopes to teach him focus, discipline, control, etc. and our initial meeting was not ideal. he refused to put on the uniform and it took about 15 minutes before we were able to get him into the interview process where he received his first private lesson. he was very excited working one on one with the instructor and in the end broke his first board! thinking he would adjust as he did in gymnastics, we signed him up (commitment of 6 months). his next lesson would be in a class setting and papa bruno brought him. according to grandpa, he did not want to go into class and one of the assistants ended up giving him a private lesson. the 2nd class would be a little more successful. he did not want to get into the car with papa so i took him and he at first was a little scared but realized that his friend cortez was in the class which made him feel better. he attended the full 30 minutes and everything seemed great again! 3rd class - complete meltdown! he refused and never attended the class nor got any training that day. it was truly very disappointing and frustrating. his 4th class today proved a little promising. he was in uniform complete with gear but it took him 15 minutes to get on the mat and even then he refused to get into the class. stephen worked with him and finally convinced him to go into class the last 5 minutes. if he didn’t like the class altogether it would be easy to pull him out. but instead there are days where he’s ready to go and practices at home everything he learned or heard and then clams up when we get to class. he has said everything from, he doesn’t like the class to i don’t have everything to he doesn’t like the yelling as excuses to not attend. i don’t want to feel like we’re forcing him but also want to teach him that when you commit to something, you try it a few times before quitting. the karate place has been very patient and supportive letting us know that they have kids that do that sometimes and sometimes even cry the whole time or yell and scream to get their way. we are giving it one month to get adjusted in hopes that he will get some confidence in himself and not have “stage fright”. keep your fingers crossed!

(3) tennis and golf - this was a no-brainer…my whole family plays tennis and/or golf so there was no question that we would have my dad work with him. tobey enjoys it and looks forward to it every time! we hope that he continues to enjoy it!

we want him to enjoy all these activities and i know that there will be ones he will not want to do and ones he will completely embrace. perhaps it’s timing and it just depends on their interests at that time. ramel and i have realized that the first four years with tobey have been easy as he followed instructions and adjusted fairly well to whatever was thrown at him. now we are facing defiance and resistance, something very new to ramel and i so we too are learning to adjust.

we don’t want to force him but do want to teach him about making an attempt at something and the concept of commitment. some may say..hello he’s not even 5 give him a break…and that’s fine. every parent teaches and raises their kids differently, please don’t judge. judgments have that boomerang action and tends to smack those judgmental people not necessarily upside the head but in other ways…

okay..that was me venting..phew i’m done for today!

omg..the longest week ever started last friday, 6/20 when i received some bad news from one of our closest friends who miscarried. as i listened to her tell me what happened, i could not hold back my own tears. it’s never an easy thing to hear your friends be in pain, even harder to find the words to try and comfort them. all we can say is that perhaps God had a different plan and believe in that.

later that friday afternoon, i drove to tobey’s pre-school graduation..an event i thought was suppose to be on 6/27! where the heck was my momagenda?!!? it was a potluck so i prepared something quick and headed to the school. it was a hot friday, luckily we were inside for the program…then some einstein decided to put all the food outside! wtf..i mean seriously, it was like high 90’s! it was no surprise people grabbed their food and went back into the school to eat! after the program, ramel was going to drive the suv home…uh, not…the car wouldn’t turn on! the battery had died…waaaaaa! so here we were, outside 95 degrees, waiting for the AAA guy to come in 1 hour. luckily it didn’t take him that long and he replaced the battery quickly. thinking we were out of the woods, he left and when hubby started the car, he realized the AC, windows and radio controls DIDN’T WORK!!! we called back the guy he had no idea what happened so we had to drive the car to my parents house! ramel drove it with the windows closed..poor guy..10 minutes in a closed SUV that had been sitting in the sun was ugly! we were going to bring it into the dealership so i made a call…uh, ok so the dealership closed in may 2008 due to bankruptcy! OMG at this point it’s like really…really…who’s playing a joke on us? the car eventually got fixed on monday (we brought it into a AAA garage) - thank goodness it was only a blown fuse!

we then received news on sunday that one of our friends had passed away. he was only 37 years old. we were not sure at the time about what happened but eventually learned he may have passed from a heart attack as he had 85-90% blockage in one of his arteries. as we attended the viewing and the funeral this week, we saw a few faces from high school…faces we hadn’t seen in 20+ years…it’s just so unfortunate that it was through these circumstances that we had this type of reunion. i pray for his family that they will get through this difficult time…RIP Dennis Aquino.

the week started to turn around as tobey attended his first gymnastics class. he did so great! at his trial class last week, his teacher told us that she had the competitive coach check him out as tobey had shown advanced skills than the toddler class we had him enrolled in. we brought him back on wednesday to take a full class with coach paul in his developmental class but when it was time to go to the class, tobey started crying — i think he was a little intimidated. he attended his normal toddlers class then at the last half hour, he got comfy enough to do the last set with the competitive class. as his teacher and i watched him, she told me that although he would be the youngest in that class, it looked like he could hold his own! after class, the coach told us that the spots in his class were by invitation only and that he would like to see if we were interested in putting tobey in his class! he said “tobey’s really strong for his age, has good body control and is very coordinated” …that was nice to hear… (for all you haters out there that roll your eyes when you read the previous line, shame on you - find it in yourselves to be happy for others…) anyways, ramel and i will have to talk to tobey to see what he would like to do!

i also learned this week that another dear friend of ours is prego! sooo excited for her and hubby…it’s about time! i can’t wait to see her as i left before she arrived! congrats to them both!

and then to end this week…we finally got our garage door fixed! when we first moved in our garage door would sometimes keep opening and we would have to stand there for a few minutes before it would stay down. for the longest time, ramel thought it was me not knowing how to press the buttons properly..uh, really wtf? even using the remote, it would happen to me sometimes. when it finally started doing it to ramel, he goes “oh, there’s something wrong with the garage door opener.” …oh you mean it couldn’t be you dude? so we got it checked and when the garage guy arrived this morning, the first words out of his mouth were…”you’re getting a free upgrade on your garage door opener today!” turns out there was a manufacturer’s defect and he’d had to replace at least 20 garages in our community alone! he completely replaced the garage door motor and i am officially relieved!

told ya it was the longest week ever…ups and downs emotionally, i am completely drained. i can’t wait for the weekend!

the weekend was busy…saturday we attended a baby shower and a graduation/birthday party. at the baby shower, we got to see the new arrival of thomas and melba’s - who just gave birth a few weeks ago. for first time parents, they looked very relaxed and very well rested. they had a cute baby girl named isabella. the next party was a grad/bday party for my friend’s daughter, true, who was one of my flower girls at our wedding. i cannot believe that she just graduated from 5th grade and just turned 11! it literally seems like yesterday that she was walking down the aisle with us, shy as can be and now here she is taller than her mom and practically a young lady! we got to reminisce with some friends from back in the day. i swear every time hubby gets near those guys, he regresses! hahaha

father’s day started off hectic as we were responsible for doing the shopping and preparing things for the BBQ at mom and dad’s house. we got up late, headed out late and started cooking late. thankfully everyone else was late! hahahaha hubby marinated and did the BBQ’in…i think we covered all the bases…chicken, beef, pork, oh wait, except seafood. that was my fault, i didn’t have enough time to prepare the shrimp dish i was going to make. i had gone shopping for the items earlier this week and thought we wouldn’t have enough but we did..2 meals worth and then some! we forgot a few things in the rush to get to mom and dad’s…the most important being the chocolate for another thing i was suppose to prep but forgot/ran out of time to prep! ugh…i hate it when that happens. after LOTS of eating, the guys retired to, where else, the living room to watch tiger do his thing during the US open.

favorite memory? - tobey had a handmade card (with a poem) and drawing ready for daddy. when he gave it to him this morning, ramel was so touched he teared up

we took our time getting up, getting ready and packing up. venus had wanted to try the storyteller cafe for breakfast so we did one last character breakfast for the kids. they had such a great time! we requested an extended checkout time and were able to rest a little bit before we headed out to meet the rest of the group.

we left anaheim around noon and made record time in actually getting out of the city. we met up with the rest of the group and had lunch a la papa bernie! very yummy! after a quick lunch and rest, we drove back and headed our separate ways! the kids got hungry again when we arrived home so we had an early dinner before venus and the kids headed back to stockton.

tobey had a great time with his cousins but we will definitely be going back this year so he can enjoy the rest of the things we missed. from what i hear, jerwin and mel are talking about future family vacations so stay tuned…

our plan was to get into disneyland park 1 hour earlier as we were hotel guests and that was one of the benefits. venus had wanted to try out the monorail so we headed in that direction to take it into the park. we finally got settled in the monorail when they announced that they were having technical difficulties..ugh..the kids were disappointed! we grabbed breakfast at la brea bakery and cafe in downtown disney and then proceeded to meet the rest of the group inside the park.

once inside, day 3 officially started! we rode on the jungle cruise and got a fast pass for indiana jones - a ride that justin had been wanting to go on for the 1st time. he LOVED it! too bad jaryd and tobey were still about 3 inches below the height requirement, otherwise, they would have been able to join sebastian, justin, jerwin, mel, venus and i…i love that ride! it was nice to just hang out and talk to jerwin too, who i’ve never seen more relaxed than ever…hahaha. afterwards, we hit pirates of the caribbean and the haunted mansion - have to’s when you’re going to disney. mel and jer ended up taking justin to splash mountain while we took the kids on a train ride and the winnie the pooh ride, which broke down while we were in line. the kids were like “again?” given the monorail earlier that day. the kids also loved the buzz lightyear ride and autopia.

the mood of the day changed, unfortunately, for a member of our party due to a very insensitive thing that could have been avoided. i do not think it was obvious to anyone else but it did affect the one person i had hoped would be able to enjoy this trip more than anyone. for the rest of the day, they were in a daze but continued to keep up a smiling face for everyone.

then at the end of the day, we both realized that although all the cousins were together, we had not covered enough of the park like we had hoped and planned. i reminded her that could have been avoided if the kids were to allowed to nap and we could have had a refreshed start after that — she agreed and wished they had napped also. we will likely be heading back again this year since we felt that we did not cover everything we wanted to.

i could comment candidly on this topic but this post would not remain pg-13 so i’ll stop here and chalk it up as a “learning experience” and remember that next time i won’t hold back what i really want to say especially when it comes to our plans vs other’s plans.

i should say though that the kids, after such a long day, were finally able to ride the monorail! they were SO excited! we took it back to the hotel to save some time and then the kids got hungry again hahaha. since we were in the middle of downtown disney, we had a late snack. we headed back to our beautiful room and quickly got ready for bed - we totally fell asleep right away!

day 2 started with a character breakfast at goofy’s kitchen with the WHOLE family…like all 15 of us whole family! the original reservation was for 2 separate tables apart from each other given the size of our party but by the time we checked in, they were able to accomodate us and put our tables next to each other! after getting food for 7 kids, the adults were finally able to start eating too! the characters kept swinging by the kiddie tables so there were lots of kodak moments!

we headed to disney california and started our day! we sat through a few of the kids shows then headed to bug’s land to go on some rides. by this time we would normally head over to the hotel but it did not seem to go that way so we just went with the flow given that the park was going to close at 8pm. we had dinner as we watched the disney/pixar parade and soon called it a day. we ended up staying in the park the whole day but as jerwin, my brother in law, pointed out, we did not even cover the other half of the park!

the highlight of the day though i think for everyone was the soaring flight ride on the flight simulator. it was definitely worth the wait and everyone loved it!