Aylan Kurdi

Dear Aylan (and Galip), I would rather look at this picture and see your happy faces than your recent, more famous picture. I have no strong political stands, and am not up to date with local, much more foreign news. But I am a mother, and my heart weeps seeing your lifeless body being washed ashore.

My only comfort is that God now has two new angels in his care. May you rest in peace.

Past two weeks in pictures

We've done a looot of things in the past two weeks that I wasn't able to get a chance and write all about them. Here is a summary in no particular order because I am lazy that way.

1. Ate made a lot of paintings.

Started with just stamp pads and ink. 

Progressed to poster paint. Used q-tips and fingers here to spread the paint.

We also used old toothbrushes and drinking straws to create other effects.

Artist at work. Ate enjoys painting so much.

Miko tried his hand at painting too. Didn't like it yet. Had to force him a bit to make a hand print hehehe

2. We also made a lot of yummy food!

We made chocolate chip cookies and added food coloring. Called them dinosaur eggs :)

Made no-bake banana-toffee cake

We also made smores this week. Ooohhh too delish. 

3. Since there are talks of a major earthquake coming soon (fault line passes near our house), we also talked about earthquake safety and the concept of drop-cover-hold. Good job ate for taking it to heart. Praying that God shields us from harm, and if it it inevitable, that I am with you when something happens.

4. We made sensory bags and bottles this week. First were bottles with water and oil and some small items we put in that float. That didn't end well. We also made one of constarched cooked until it had the consistency of Vaseline. Added food coloring ang put into ziplock bags. Popped out of the bags after a day, so good thing it was not costly to do that.

In short, we are hit and miss on the sensory bags. But that won't stop me from trying!

This is oil and food coloring. I can spend hours playing with it. Miko and Ate liked it some.

5. We also visited our home in Calamba, which is due to be completed next month. The target completion date was set after much delay, so I'm just hoping we can spend Christmas there and have it rented out by January.

Kuya as the foreman

After the site inspection, a quick swim

6. Ninong Cons gave Iya a Tangled-inspired Play Doh set. We gave Rapunzel braided hair in different colors because why not? :)

7. Mommy and Miko attended Hakab Na 2015 at Alabang Town Center. We were the very first to register at the site! After quickly signing our name, we went to Starbucks for a quick breakfast. I ordered a caffeine-free chocolate chip frappe so Miko can share, but I think he wanted to drink it all for himself so I had to hide it and give him water instead.

He loved it! Almost emptied my cup.

His first Starbucks experience. Isn't he the cutest?

We also participated in a demo for Kindermuzik

Daddy and Iya, who made us hatid, also went on their own date.

There we are!

I had so much with you guys! Let's do more things together okay?

When Dad found out

Your dad and I were talking finances the other night and guess what! He found out about the donation I told you about here!

Turned out he was using my iPad and my Facebook messenger was logged in to that device too. So dad was able to see the exchange between me and my classmate. We were talking about some payables that were due and how we don't have extra money to eat outside always, and here was how the rest of the conversation went.

D: Di naman ako galit no, pero kasi akala ko Messenger ko yung nakalagay sa iPad. May dinonatean ka? Para saan yun? 

K: Ah oo, para sa mga bata yun na taga-Buscalan. 

D: Okay pero di ba masyadong malaki? (I gave an amount that is equivalent to us going out on a date for movies and a not-so fancy meal.) 

K: Di naman tsaka one-time lang naman yun.

At this point, we/he decided not to push the topic further and shifted the conversation to something else. You may also note that I did not give too much information on the outreach. I was tempted to give him the link to the post I made! Hahaha. But knowing your dad, that would lead to more questions and me feeling like I was being interrogated for putting someone's needs above our own.

What was running through my mind was that we are so blessed materially more than the kids of Buscalan. Do we have problems with money? Yes. But these are problems that we can still address or put off. Remember: no one is too poor that he cannot give. I want you to remember this as you grow up.

So, anyway, let's see if this topic comes up again between your dad and I. Praying for a generous heart for you and your future spouses.