Fundraising

With Finn in school now, there's bound to be some sort of fundraisers. Sure enough, the first one was sent last Wednesday. Finn came home with brochures in his backpack and a note about the fundraiser. There will be prizes for the top seller, top selling class and top seller in grade. Even the students from the top selling class will receive something. And if you sell at least $20, you get to choose a reward for yourself. There are 12 categories, depending on the total amount you sold, and each category has at least 5 reward choices. Plus, if you sell at least $150, you'll be entered into a drawing for an am/fm portable cd boom box. Not bad incentives at all (^_^) And the products for sale are not bad too. Most of the items though are for the coming holidays but there are still some useful and yummy stuff in there. If you want to see the brochures, I made a site for it here: http://www.geocities.com/finnbernales/index.html. Since I can't visit all my friends to show this to them, might as well make a site and let them browse through it in their own time (^_^)

So this fundraiser will end on Sunday and we have to return the orders with the payment on Monday. Orders will be delivered by end of October. Proceeds will help pay for extra programs and activities in school. Jojo brought the brochures to the office and told (not asked) his close friends that it's mandatory for them to buy something (^_^) Too bad his boss was in the Philippines at that time, otherwise he'd be blackmailed to buy everything if he wants Jojo to stay in his current project .... hehehehe. Anyway, we made a lot of sales at work. Aren't they great to help out Finn and his school? (^-^) My aunt and our landlady bought some stuff too. I chose something for myself and guess what ... our total reached $186.50! For our reward, we chose the mini air hockey game and Finn can't wait! Wish us luck for the drawing (~_^)

Apple Picking

Today we went apple picking with the Galfos at the Barton Orchards at Fishkill Farms in Hopewell Junction, NY. This is our first time ever to go apple picking and it was fun (^_^) The weather cooperated too, it was cloudy but the showers that were expected, didn't come. So we each bought a 1/2 bushel bag to put the apples in (a bushel is about 48 lbs of apples) for $14 and rented a pole so we can pick those at the top. We started out with the Jona Mac rows and of course we were eating it as we went along. It was delish! After a few picks we went to the other side towards the Paula Reds. It was crunchier but not as sweet. Then to the Sparta Mac and MacIntosh. Our verdict? The Jona Mac is the best. So we decided to just go back to the Jona Macs and fill our bags with it. Still munching on them as we picked (^_^) It was past noon by then and we were getting hungry so we just went to their store up front to take a look at what they had to sell and left. Other activities in the orchard were gem mining and a corn maze but we were hungry already so we didn't get to go in the maze. Maybe next time. Now we have a lot of apples to eat, bake, cook, and give away. I'll post the album next time coz it's late and I'm getting sleepy and it's gonna take a while to upload so you'll just have to wait (^_^)

Babies!

We have babies! No not me ... our guppy gave birth last night. Can you see that black spot in her belly? Those are the fry (^_^) Guppies have live births, they don't lay eggs. At first I could only see one but when I cleaned the tank, guess what ... there's at least 50 of them (there were so many I couldn't keep track. there are more on top, at the bottom and on the other side)! Imagine that. I don't know if the other fish ate some of the fry coz they do that, so there might have been more. I transferred them to a bowl so they can swim freely and have more food to eat. When they were in the tank, they were all under the marbles hiding from the big fish ... coz they're very tasty fishfood to the zebra fish and their mommy. So now we'll have to see if they survive. I may have to buy another tank for the fry. If they all grow up, I'll have to check the pet stores if they can buy them. Otherwise, it'll just be a donation ... or I'll start giving them away to friends (^_^) I can't have those many fish, coz we don't have room for a big tank ... and that's gonna be very costly too. I wonder if the guppy will give birth in a couple of months again ... even if our male guppy died a few weeks ago. Guppies I guess store sperm so she can get pregnant without the male. We'll see (^_^)

Pinoy Food

We're not deprived of pinoy food coz that's mostly what I cook but of course there are specialties that you don't normally prepare for yourself like crispy pata and sisig (our fave). Today, Jojo decided he wanted to try making sisig. Fortunately, we found a recipe in one of our cookbooks. So off we went to the asian market to buy the ingredients (pig's ears and butt and liver). He's currently cooking it so I'll just post pics later on when they're done. We even borrowed a friend's sizzling plate to make it seem authentic (^_^) I also bought taho which I've missed a lot. It was soooo good. I ate 3 bowlfulls ... can you say katakawan? hehehe. What a yummy snack. Come back later to see a picture of our sisig ... I hope it's successful (^_^)

UPDATE:
All I can say is ..... YUMMMMMM!!!!! The sisig was a success (^_^) But I don't think we'll be doing that often ... too much work. Maybe Jojo can prepare that for parties and other special occassions but otherwise, I think we'll just buy it when we're craving for it (^-^) Doesn't it look authentic? I think your mouth is watering right now ... you want some don't you (~_^)

9/11

It's the 5th anniversary of 9/11 and Finn's school declared today as red, white and blue day. That means everybody should come wearing patriotic colors. So he wore his red and white striped shirt with a thin blue piping on the collar, blue jeans and his sneakers that has RW&B colors. Even his jacket is RW&B. Not sure if they're gonna do something special to commemorate 9/11 ... the kids in pre-K weren't even born then so they have no idea what happened that day. Guess I'll find out soon enough ... it's almost time for me to walk to school and pick him up. Later!

School Boy

It's Finn's first day of school today (^_^) Assembly was at 8.45 for pre-K, kinder to grade 5 was at 8.30. We walked since it was just a block away and when we got there, the bigger kids were entering the building already. We waited for a few minutes at the assembly area, the principal was there and then the teachers arrived. Finn will be under Mrs. Johnson. So the kids were asked to form a line and they followed Mrs. Johnson inside the building. Finn wasn't scared or nervous ... he was excited which is a good thing (^_^) I hope he behaves so he doesn't get in trouble ... hehehe. So now I'm just waiting for 11.15, that's when I have to leave to pick him up. The house is quiet right now, I'm still half-expecting him to call out to me (^_^) I guess I'll be getting used to quiet mornings from now on.

First Haircut

Finn had his first salon haircut today (^_^) I've never taken him to the salon coz it's expensive so I always cut his hair. I've asked him before if he wanted me to cut his hair short but he didn't want to, he wanted bangs so he can comb it in front. Today we asked if he wanted to try out the salon coz we had coupons so it was only $8.95 for a kid's haircut (regular price was $10.95). Besides, school's gonna start on Wednesday so I thought it would be a nice treat before school. He agreed and when we got there, we looked at pictures and he picked one that he liked. He's a good boy when it comes to cutting his hair, he doesn't move around like other kids so all went well. After the cut he said he looked nice. He said he looked very handsome (^_^) Now he wants me to cut his hair short like this everytime. He looks different doesn't he?

Labor Day Weekend

Yesterday we went to Connecticut coz our friends held a barbecue party ... even if it was raining [Apaw was grilling in the garage (^_^)] Lots of food were served ... corn (steamed and grilled), chicken, ribs, sausages, hotdogs, veggies, fried rice, salad, crabs, chips, cake, fruits ... it's like it was our last meal! Everything was sooooo good (^_^) After lunch we played Taboo, girls against boys, and girls won (^_^) Too bad I didn't beat my record of 5 words, but we still won. There were even prizes prepared for us! We left a little past 7pm and it's a good thing we didn't get stuck in traffic coz Naruto was at 9, we didn't want to miss that.

This morning we went to church and after that, we had to do the laundry. We got home after 3pm and decided to take a nap. Finn always takes a nap on the sofa so we left him there and slept in our room. When I woke up at 4.30 and went to the living room, Finn was still sleeping on the sofa, on his Spongebob blanket. I thought Jojo fixed it for him but to my surprise, he did it himself! He tucked his blanket as neatly as he could and he slept on it. Isn't that cool? So proud of him (^_^) At 5pm we went to the park so Finn could ride his bike. Then he played in the playground. We left at 6.30 coz it was getting dark and looked like it was going to rain again.

Tomorrow I think we're going to Costco and maybe to my Aunt's house for lunch, or merienda ... if they're home. It's been a long time since we went there to visit. Hope the weather's nice tomorrow too, don't want anymore rain.