Happy 5th Birthday Finn!

Finn is officially 5 years old! It snowed this morning and Finn was happy about that. Anyway, I went and got the snacks for school first so I can leave it and the goodie bags with the teacher during assembly. His theme this year is Power Rangers so he was wearing his Power Rangers shirt and the goodies bags, plates and napkins were also Power Rangers. I got him a Birthday Boy ribbon so that was pinned on his shirt and then he got a Happy Birthday sticker in school too.

Have you ever heard of a 5-year old asking for Japanese food on his birthday? Well that's what he wanted, so after school we went to our favorite Japanese buffet place, Minado. He loves the udon there, along with edamame. Of course Jojo and I don't mind at all coz we all love Japanese. The servers gave him a cake for dessert and sang a birthday song too (^_^)

After that we went to the mall so Finn can pick out his birthday gift. We were supposed to go to Toys R Us but there weren't any near Minado so we opted to go the mall instead. Finn chose a Power Rangers set with a Mask, Vest, 2 badges and a small sword. Plus he wanted an axe so he got one too. He also rode the carousel there and the three of us got our picture taken in one of the photo booths (^_^)

Before going home I wanted to buy an ice cream cake so we passed by Carvel and bought a small one. I already have a candle so as soon as we got home I plopped that on top and took this picture. I didn't want to bake a cake since there's no party. That would only be too much work for me and too much cake for the 3 of us.

Another year has gone by and Finn is growing up. He knows how to read now ... I mean, really read, not just word recognition. We just started last week and by the second day he already got the hang of sliding the sounds into syllables, then words. We practice everyday for about 30 mins. Isn't that great?

*sigh* Time sure flies by so fast.

Birthday Celebration

Today we had an early celebration for Finn's 5th Birthday with relatives. With us were my Tita Thel and Tito Dick plus my cousin Carlo with his wife Janice and daughters Cara and Tatiana. We had lunch at Uno where Finn and Cara made their own pepperoni pizzas. Finn also had a special ice cream sundae with the servers singing a birthday song for him (^_^)

Tomorrow I'll be bringing snacks for the kids in school, plus goodie bags. After school we'll probably have lunch somewhere and then go to Toys R Us or KB Toys for Finn's gift. Not sure yet if we're going to Jeepers too. Depends on the time I guess. Until tomorrow then!

First Job

This came up because the topic for my upcoming crop at The Scrapping Garden is gonna be about first jobs. So I had to dig up my old videos from TSCS (The Sharon Cuneta Show) to get pics for my layout. I was with the Adrenalin for a year and that was my very first job (^_^)

These videos were taken 15 lbs ago ... hehehe, when I was 17 yrs old. Pardon the cuts in the video coz this was originally in beta, we just transferred it to VHS so that's why the quality isn't great. Plus, it's really old.

I chose to upload the first one coz I like the song (I'm the one in front of the video wall) and the second coz you can really see me (^_^) Enjoy!

Music Show

We went to the Public Library this afternoon to watch a special Music Show with Paticia Shih. The show was for kids aged 4-12 but I think most of them were between 4-6. It was a fun show (^_^) Finn participated in one musical game where Patricia sang the 12 Days of Reading (to the tune of 12 days of Christmas). Each kid was given a book and when Patricia mentioned a book, the kid holding it has to stand up. Finn was the 3rd day of reading so he got to stand up 10 times. The show lasted an hour and after that Finn wanted to play a little and then we borrowed some books and 2 videos.

On Thursday there's a puppet show but Finn has a TKD class so we won't be able to watch that ... too bad.

Birthdays

We attended our first birthday party for the year yesterday (^_^) Gavin turned one on December 20 and we had a small gathering then but yesterday was his big party! There was a magic show and Finn was able to assist in 2 tricks (^_^) It was fun!

There are 2 more birthday invites for January but not sure if we can make it to both. One is this coming Saturday but it's at 11am and Finn has a TKD class. The next is on the 27th and it's a bit far so we're not sure.

Next year there's gonna be an additional birthday in January. My friend Liza gave birth on January 3 to a healthy baby girl (^_^) Too bad she's in Texas and can't visit her yet ... but we will, hopefully this year. Oh, it's also Liza's birthday on the 14th, and my mom on the 15th.

Talking about birthdays, Finn is already counting down to his 5th birthday! We're not gonna have a party, instead I'll be bringing snacks and goodie bags to school. Then maybe we'll go out in the afternoon, with or without Jojo. Not sure if he can work from home that day. We might go to Jeepers again like last year. And we have to buy him a gift too. Would you believe that he wants a cellphone?! And, he wants a blue razr (0_o) Geez ... not yet. When he's older, we might think about giving him a firefly or one of those kid friendly cellphones. Can't believe he's growing up so fast!

Been so long ...

First off I'd like to greet everyone Happy Holidays! Sorry it's been so long. Anyway, I'm gonna tell you now what's been going on with us.

Today is the last day of school for this year so Finn has a week off. School starts on the 2nd. And because it's the holiday season, yesterday they had a holiday presentation at school. Every grade performed. Fortunately, Pre-K was the first ... actually, the 2nd since they started the program with 5 kids playing instruments. And then it was the pre-k's turn. They sung (more like recited) 2 songs which I'm pretty sure none of us know about. The first was Chubby the Snowman and it was a hand gestures kind of thing. The second was something about bells and it was an action type where they stomped their feet, turned around, jumped, that sort of thing. They did pretty well and they were all so cute!

That afternoon, Finn also got his red belt and trophy in TKD. He took the belt promotion test on Tuesday. That's Grand Master DJ Kim with him. Can you believe he's already a red belter? Master Kim also told us that he'll be sending Finn to 3 tournaments next year (^_^) If you remember, Finn had his first taste of competition this year in May and won a Gold and Silver medal. I think next year he'll be sending Finn to NY, NJ and somewhere else. I'm so excited! Even if I know it's gonna be a bit expensive. Anyone care to sponsor Finn?

Jojo has been on vacation since the 11th so we've had time to go to places in the afternoon. One Wednesday we watched Happy Feet and since it was during the week, we were the only ones in the theater! Which was a good thing since Finn was dancing through most of the movie (^_^) Another day we went to have lunch at Minado, the Japanese buffet that we love so much. We've also had time to watch lots and lots of anime (^-^) We've finished Naruto ... well, the ones that have been released so far so that's up to episode 213. Jojo is currently downloading 214-215. And we started downloading Bleach and have finished up to episode 100. We have Death Note too but so far we only have up to episode 12.


The 16th and 17th was our Church's Year-End Thanksgiving. The CWS (Children's Worship Service) was held Saturday morning and Finn got 2 awards, one for Most Active and another for Perfect Attendance (^_^) It's nice to know that he participates even if I know he doesn't fully understand the lessons yet. He even gets disappointed when he doesn't get called on to answer ... hehehe.


Tomorrow we'll be going to CT to a friend's house for a small gathering. Then on Sunday we'll be going to my Aunt's house. She's gonna host a lunch on Monday but we won't be able to make it then so we're going on Sunday instead. Monday we're driving down to VA with another family to stay with a friend until the 28th.


We've been a little busy, maybe that's why I haven't gotten around to updating this until now. Well, I hope you all have a wonderful holiday and a blessed New Year too!

Below Freezing!

Temperatures suddenly dropped today from a high of 50F (10C) yesterday to a high of 30F (-1C) today! Just now I was watching the weather channel and it says at the bottom right that temp is 19F (-7.2C). I thought I was still sleepy and didn't read it right, maybe it was 49F. Alas, it really is 19F (-_-) Not only that but it's gonna be windy today with gusts of up to 40mph (64.37km) which means it's gonna feel even colder that it really is. Wind chill will probably feel like it's 10 below the current temperature (9F= -12C, 20F= -6C) *sigh* Take me back to Key West!!!!!

Key West

This weekend I was in Key West, Florida to attend a friend's wedding. I had a super time! First of all, I was alone since Finn has school and Jojo had to stay behind to take care of Finn. Second, it was great to be in warm weather. Third, I didn't have to worry about chores (^_^)

I left early morning on Friday going to Miami, then Key West. Good thing I was able to eat lunch at the Miami airport coz I arrived at the hotel past 1 and Tita Vicky (bride's mom) and Moms and Pops (groom's parents) went out for lunch already, and the couple (Melissa and Peter) were doing errands. After I unpacked, I walked to a drugstore to buy some stuff. It was hot! Unfortunately, my summer clothes are all in storage already so I was stuck with jeans. Anyway, I walked back to the hotel where it was cool and read the book I brought with me. About past 2 they were all back and we just hung out and talked. It started raining too so we just stayed indoors. It stopped raining before dinner so we went out to eat at the Conch Republic Seafood Company. Food was sooooo good especially the Conch!

The next day after breakfast, we went out to buy Moms some slip-ons to wear to the wedding ceremony. After that we had to split up coz the girls had to have their nails done, and Michael (Melissa's brother) wanted to go to the Hemmingway House. Moms and Pops and I decided to have some lunch at Sloppy Joe's (great Sloppy Joe pizza). After lunch we took the Conch Tour Train which went around the island. It was a very informative tour. After 90 mins, we started to walk back to the hotel to get ready for that night's welcome dinner. The dinner was held at Bagatelle and food was again, sooooo mouthwatering! After dinner, Catherine (their niece) and I got our henna tattoos (^_^) Then a few of us walked around some more.

Sunday was the wedding day but we had the whole morning free so after breakfast, Tita Vicky, Jane (her friend) and I walked to the Butterfly Conservatory. It was so beautiful inside with all the butterflies. Tita Vicky had to leave early coz she had to have her hair done. So Jane and I stayed a bit more in the conservatory. After that, we walked to the Southernmost Point of the continental US (it's still up for debate though) which was not far from the conservatory. We had our pictures taken and then walked to look for Mile 0 of US1. After all that walking, we had lunch at Wendy's coz that's closest to the hotel and we had to get ready soon for the wedding.

There was a trolley hired to pick up guests from 2 points going to the venue which was Fort Zachary Taylor State Park. I was designated as the videographer and at the same time I tried to take pictures from my camera. If you look at the album, you might see some off-centered photos ... that's coz I was holding a videocam and a camera at the same time. Anyway, the ceremony was nice and short. We took the same trolley going to the reception held at the Audobon House. After all the partying, we went back to the hotel and some of us (mostly Peter's friends) decided to go out again (^_^) We went to Sloppy Joe's for some drinks and more talking.

Monday morning was departure day for almost everybody. 3 of us went to the airport together coz our flights were just 5 mins apart. This time I was passing through Fort Lauderdale, then to Newark. My connecting flight from Fort Lauderdale was delayed for 1 hr and 30 mins but only 30 mins delayed in arriving at Newark which wasn't bad. I slept through most of the flight coz I've been up late the couple of nights before.

Home at last and after dinner, I started uploading the pictures into my laptop. Then off to bed I went. Now I'm trying to catch up with "work". *sigh* I miss the nice warm weather already and the very laid back atmosphere in Key West. Can't wait to go back there.