The Members of the Wedding Entourage

At a wedding last year, the three of us had special roles in the entourage. It was the first time the daddy and I were asked to be wedding sponsors, and the little boy, a veteran entourage member of probably 8 weddings to date, was a coin bearer.

You could just imagine the chaos in the house the night before when I was preparing our things, and on the date itself. I also need to mention that I volunteered to help the bride in some of the materials to personalize the wedding, as well as prepare the dessert buffet on the wedding day. Imagine that. =)


The dad was in charge of prepping the boy when we arrived at the church. It was a 3 pm wedding, but no matter how airy Nature's Church is, our boy is sure to sweat profusely so he just wore the black pants and the long sleeves inner shirt and only donned the jacket when we arrived at the church, which is just 5 minutes away from the house.

Some attempts at having a decent family picture.

No luck though. I wished the photographers were already present this time.

Then it was time to wait for the processional march. And the boy patiently waited...

 

The bride arrived and we were finally able to start. Our turn first.

Then the little boy who took little, robotic steps because the "manang" at the church asked the kids to walk slowly.

Taking his place at the pews.

  

Pawis but still pogi =)

 

During the mass, he found playmates.

 

 And before we know it, it was time for the groom to kiss the bride. =)

And then it was time for the pictures. Jared's default is the wacky pose/face. Look at him here hamming it up for the cam when everyone else was "formal"

After being told wacky shots will be for later.

The couple with their wedding sponsors.

It was a beautiful wedding and we're glad to have been part of it. After all the speeches were made, and people were preparing to go home, I also started keeping the empty plates and trays I brought for the dessert buffet. The father and son meanwhile went to the photobooth area.

I was surprised to see on FB that the little boy joined in almost all of the group's photobooth souvenir pics. Really, the wacky one!

Weddings are love.

 

The Fruit of my Labor

This costume I painstakingly made for hours for my dear son won him a medal for Best in Costume!
Kids were asked to come as characters from their favorite book, and here is the Cat in the Hat.


Grandma placed whiskers on him, too

With some of his classmates

And shared his hat with grandma

Halloween 2012: Power Ranger

This has been a long standing tradition at the office. If my memory is still to be relied on, we've been doing the annual kid Halloween thing since 2001, when most malls and offices have not caught on the Trick or Treat craze yet.

I do treasure this time, even when I was still single and would just help in the games and set up. But now that I have a kid, it became even more special. I appreciate the management for always including this  in our year-round activities because not only does my kid get to enjoy playing, it's so nice seeing the kids grow up year to year. It also brings me back to the time when I would visit mama's office (no trick or treat though) and see and take pride at where she works.

Our theme varies every year, and a poll is done to choose the theme. The winning theme is Superheroes.

Days before, the office is abuzz with cutting, pasting and more cutting. We went for a more old-school look and chose Gotham City as our design peg.






He was one of the first at our conference room, eagerly waiting for the play area crew to finsih setting up. Once he felt everything was done, off he went to the inflatable slide.

and played for what seemed like forever

 

 

This muscled Power Ranger costume is on online fond so no chance to fit. Look at how tight it was. Thankfully, the boy wore it throughout the event.

Like these girls, I planned to come in costume. But made a costume boo-boo so no, my son was by his lonesome ranger. I was supposed to be the Pink one.

Ninang always drops by the office to check out Jared's costume.

The most fun part for the kids: Trick or Treat!

His first and second Halloween party at the office here
When he dressed up as Jin Kazama
Last year was all about Angry Birds so he just wore a hat and shirt

The Cat in the Hat

Armed with my trusty sewing kit, my one and only- had it since 5th grade - I tackled the Herculean task of making a costume for the boy's book month parade.

 

It could have been a simple affair if I was content with making it out of Carolina. But no, I had to make this nice. And in my book, nice often translates to complicated.

 

So, at 4 am on a Sunday, I cut and sewed and tried to recall exactly how it is done. In my recent memory, I could only remember sewing a missing button by hand. And even that did not come out really cleanly.

 

This project was the best effort of a trying hard, DIY mom.

 

I stared long and hard at this kit trying to convince myself that I can do this.

 

 

I used felt to fashion a big red bow and a white pear shaped felt to act as the body fur.

 

Then I place malleable wire inside 2 felt cloth for the long and wiggly tail.

 

 

 

Putting the top part of the hat.

 

 

Not professional quality yet, but this will pass for me and my pre schooler.

 

 

Slowly taking shape.

 

Ah yes. After 4 hours, the costume is ready.

 

The cat....

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Manila Ocean Park Visit

It was a long overdue visit. I didn't want to go when it first opened because of the crowd, and P500-P600 seemed a little too expensive given the feedback that some areas are not ready yet.

We waited I think a good 2 years, and only went because we were able to get tickets at a very good price.

Our day started with Mcdo, our favorite meal of the day!

Happy boy Jared waiting for breakfast!

Here he is in front of a giant fish, maybe an arapaima? Jared loves the Nat Geo show where they catch fish in the wild... the really big ones.

Sharing the experience with grandma.

Starfish

"Smile for the camera, Jared". "Like this, mom?" FPJ look.

Take 2. Now, that's much better!

 

Nice shot.

 

Looking at sharks at this picture. We asked him, "how big is the shark's mouth?". This was his answer.


At the tunnel. We were fortunate to come on day with almost no schools having field trips. I can imagine this place must be hot if filled with students. That time, we took our time in going through each of the exhibit areas.

We goofed around for the camera.

Soon, we got hungry. While waiting for the next show times, we went around to check on the restaurants. Then, finally settled for Gerry's Grill. Comfort food.

 

This Gerry's outlet has a nice outdoor area. It was still too sunny during lunch time but would be perfect for early dinner. 

 

 

 

After lunch, it was time for the shows!

 

First stop, the sea lion show. Good thing it was windy so that made the heat of the noonday sun bearable.

 

 

 

And for P300, we lined up to touch the sea lion and have a picture with him. He's so hesitant to smile for the camera and kept looking at his slick, black, new friend on the side.

 

 

Next stop, the Bird show.




Giving his approval to the whole Ocean Park experience.

The scared look after the albino python was brought on stage.

We were sweaty and tired after a few hours, but still gamely posed for this shot.

 

 

 

I promised the little one we'll spend a night here and see the other attractions next time.