Our First Christmas Tree

Christmas is my absolute favorite time of the year. It's really different when you have a kid in the house. Somehow, Christmas brings a whole world of new meaning in the household. Makes it more special.

I promised our little one we'll have Christmas in our house last weekend. By Christmas, he means the tree.

So off we went to SM and hauled a slim tree which his dad preferred. Christmas trees are more affordable now, right? But thr trimmings, oh the trimmings cost almost as much as the tree itself. I would have wanted to make home made ones, but couldn't find enough inspiration on the net.

So the tree was bought and assembled, little by little. It took maybe twice as long to put up because little hands keep getting in the way =)


To make the 'event' more festive, we baked oatmeal cookies. So when we were doing this, it smelled like Christmas in the house, too.

He put up the first trimming!

Amazed at the tree, until he got bored and read and book instead.

We're still making the tree prettier and arranging the gifts (yes, we started shopping early!) underneath so the tree in full bloom pics will have to wait.

Playing with Home Made Paint

This is an easy Saturday afternoon project with things you already have in the pantry.

Inspired by Irene and her crafty projects, I gathered a kaldero, 3 bottles of food color, flour and cold water.

Pour a gentle stream of water into the flour and stir well.

Once the desired consistency has been achieved, our into small containers and add a few drops of food color.

Start painting!

The Wonders a Small Can of Paint can do

I've been on a DIY hiatus since my cloth covered light switch project failed dismally. The plate looked more dirty than when I started that I chucked all my lined up projects and swore to let the professionals do the job.

But...

I cannot let several yards of cloth go to waste, and my hands were itching to do something creative again.

So one weekend, I picked up where I left off and continued my home office project again.

The chair, unpretty in black paint and covered with a pale orange syntetic leather material turned Heima-ish with a good spray of white paint, P40/yard Divisoria sidewalk cloth find and loads of determination.

Next stop, this matching dresser that I will turn (cross fingers) to a pristine white work desk with chalkboard

Then comes a matching desk lamp and area curtains.

It's all starting to take shape!

Frustrated Stylist

I like nice and pretty things. What I like better is making pretty things with my hands.

When I pass by store front displays, I'm hypnotized by the nice arrangements, I count the merits of the nice ones and in my head, I'm rearranging the decors of the not-so-good ones to form something that I feel will be more beautiful.

I've blogged about my Martha Stewart persona and my fairly successful DIY and there are still a lot of pending projects I am itching to finish (when I find the time) and blog about.

It is terribly fulfilling for me to help set up parties, especially for those I love, like the recent birthday of my godson, Johan.





Not bad, right for one hour alloted for the set up time?

Of course, coming from a big family where help is just a text or FB away, the set up was 1,000x faster and easier.

Teach me how to: Sort the Laundry

A typical Saturday at our home will see me sorting dirty laundry to bring to the laundromat.

Last weekend was a treat with the two boys giving mommy a break and sorting the laundry themselves.

Can every weekend be just like this?

Teach me How to: Play the Guitar

Ask a parent of any 3 year old and all would tell you, kids this age really are copycats.

Jared would try to copy our words and intonation (to the extent of callling dad "hon"), our actions and the things we do around the house.

When his dad took out the guitar to practice, Jared was eager to also strum the thing.



And in the end, got tired of sharing the new toy with his daddy that he got his own.
His instrument of choice? A mini guitar ref magnet


Since I am the least musically-inclined person I know, may Jared take after his dad in this aspect. The boy was thrilled when his dad played 500 miles on guitar, went to the room in a rush and got his toy trains. Then, he requested his dad to please play all the other songs he knows. All kiddie songs.

Weed Attack

We were the only household on our street that still has the mark of the past typhoon and that means leaves, pieces of wood and debris all over. And this is 5 days after Pedring hit Manila. We finally had the time to sweep and do a little yard cleaning last Sunday.

Upon opening the gate to that leads to the side of the house, this is what greeted us:

And my beloved oregano given by a friend

It's good our plants are more or less self sufficient. We get by with minimal weeding and watering the past few months!

While you were Sleeping

Amazing how a lazy, rainy Sunday afternoon brings out the wildest imagination a 3 year old.

A sleeping daddy= instant train tunnel.

Happy Monday!