SE playdates culmination

The last of our SE playdates summer series!  So much fun & we will miss everyone tons :(  Krissy prepared a display of all the artworks the kids prepared over the summer.  Here are Thomas's masterpieces.

Laughing John & T with his puzzles/trains

John has started giggling when you tickle his belly and blow on it!  Always such a sweet boy :)

T officially won't leave the house because he wants to play with his trains & puzzles.  Fortunately, Santiago has been coming over more often so they can play together :)  Thomas: "I want to go home. Play!"  Even when we're home and about to leave, he says "I want to go home. Thomas house."  Adorable & what to do to make him leave the house...

Fun Farm

Visited the Fun Farm with Lola Nits.  Had a blast - so much to do!

• Rode the horse
• Went fishing
• Rode the carabao's wagon
• Fed the guinea pigs & rabbits
• Fed the horses

Then had a nice relaxing lunch at Sta Elena club.  Thanks, Lola :)

This time with baby John in the picture :)

Lola & her boys

Feeding the rabbits

Fat belly pigs from Australia

Trains trains trains!

Another box arrived from Mabel Joey & Matt.  We tried to hide it from Thomas and give him the toys little by little, but of course he outsmarted us!  He found the box and dug out all the train sets inside.  He now won't stop playing with the Geotrax!  In between play sessions, he completes about 6 puzzles 3x a day.  

Love our little Engineer :)

Orders from Zaide (DLSZ canteen)

Been spending the past few days making samples and giving proposals to different canteens in the Alabang area.  What a blessing - I received 2 orders from the DLSZ canteen - one for testing and another for the Gingersnaps event!  Here are the mini M&M brownies for the Gingersnaps photo shoot :)

Antonio's with Kat & Gelo

We finally paid up on the bet Dan & Gelo had on who would bike more.  Kat had the seafood sampler, Gelo the duck confit, Dan the filet mignon & Ana the free-range chicken.  Antonio's still delicious as ever! :)

49 piece puzzle in 22 mins / Rolling J

Thomas completed his Chuggington 49 piece puzzle in 22 minutes today over dinner.  He was so pleased with himself & completed it almost totally on his own. :)

John is getting better at rolling over and did it on a completely flat surface (as opposed to from a pillow or on Lolo & Lola's reclining bed... hahaha!).

Dan & I watched Star Trek with Feliz & Ed too - was really awesome!

Ana's 1st "bazaar"

Joined AHVA Kiddie Bazaar during the AHVA's luau party.  It was a great experience that taught me a lot of things about selling, getting to know the customers and making money.

* For about 150 people, I sold to about 15 customers.  10 of them bought the pack of 6 rather than the single (granted most of them were friends trying to be nice to me ;) )... Packaging for big packs will be really important to make sure it feels worth their money :)
* Sampling up front is great to make the customers more comfortable with just reaching for one.
* Come up with interesting flavors.  Even if I don't necessarily love it, who knows who will?  Turns out the pink lemonade was one of the best sellers :)  Safe flavors are safe - but fun flavors will make people want to try & buy more.
* Making a profit needs to consider not just COGS and overhead (labor, materials, supplies) but also cost of the rest of the inventory that will not be sold.
* Of all my customers today, people don't ask for the price until they've decided to buy.  Don't lower the price but make it worth their money by offering a great package deal or making the product extremely delicious & look really appealing.
* Oh and humidity is a downer!  It will really be important to package each one individually.  Aircon kitchen will be key and storing the goodies properly.

Afterwards, we attended Noie's 2nd birthday party :)

Yaya Lira & the sick house :(

All of us are down with the bug.  Thomas has coughing fits through the night.  Dan & I have bad sore throats & it looks like I have pink eye (but not because it's not itchy nor watery).  John also has cough & muta. :(  The poor sweet boy - he still smiles even if he's sick :(

We have a new yaya!  Lira is 18 only but seems able to learn.  It will be an interesting next few months getting to know her and training her.

Rolled over ... for real!

This time, John rolled over without help from gravity. 

Happy Mother's Day

Woke up with Thomas running into the room carrying a bouquet of adorable colorful balloon flowers for me followed by my beloved Dan saying "tell mama Happy Mother's Day!".  Thomas: "Happy Mother's Day!"

In true Thomas fashion, he refused to take a picture with me.  John's been great at looking into the camera so here he is with me :)

Pele & Tito Gelo's parties

We had a baby shower for Pele Matteo & an 80's surprise for Tito Gelo.  Such a busy social calendar! ;)

Music playdate

T was not feeling well today - had a slight fever since last night & has been very clingy.  Poor boy!  It made him happy to see all his SE friends here at home.  T had energy to ride in his blue rider & have an entire ice cream.

John, as usual, was his easy going & pleasant self.  He took an extra long nap from 1-5pm again for the 2nd day in a row :)  Hopefully that means more inches.

Nice day with boys

Thomas finished his puzzles all by himself!  And John is practicing his hard kicks on Papa Dan's arm.  Naptime was tough but nice being with the 2 boys.  How can one not love them to pieces?

Who's the baby sucker?

Lola Perlita in Alabang

Lola Perlita had a short stopover here in Manila from 5pm to 6am tomorrow.  We enjoyed dinner at Palms with the rest of the family and chowed down all the Bacolod sweets she brought over.

Drooling J

Our baby has officially started drooling!  1 week shy of 4 months. :D~

Please & thank you

Thomas came into the room holding Mr Potato Head.  "Please open!  Please open!"
Mama: Sure, Thomas.  Here you go.
Thomas walking away with his toy... "Thank you, Mama"

J rolled over!!! / T's swimming party at Rosemont

John rolled over for the first time today.  He was lying on the pillow, slowly moved down and then landed on his tummy.  He looked at me & then smiled. :D  Adorable!

Thomas had a blast in his last day of school... swimming extravaganza!  He went down the "water slide" multiple times and loved playing with the hose.

T day & PNB

Papa had a great meeting with PNB today! :)  Mama made samples for Bravo's, Palms and some caterers too.

Thomas came home from summer class with all his goodies - painted hangbag, painted hat, plant bottle, slippers, ladybug shirt (on his Curious George!), box of leaves & powerband bracelet ;)  T loved wearing his slippers and walked very slowly learning how to carry them without the back band.

Had a great day with Gabby & Tito Paco too who are leaving tomorrow to San Carlos with the rest of the Guavas.