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    Home and Lifestyle

    A Thankful Heart

    There are  times that we took things for granted and we fail to recognize the things that happened in our lives that we should feel grateful. Since it’s Thanksgiving day, I would like to dedicate this post of what I’m thankful for this year.

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    10 th Wedding Anniversary

    Eleven years ago in a little gazebo by the beach in Cebu,Philippines, Steve kneeled down in one knee and asked me to marry him. It was one of the happiest moment of my life. A man kneeling down in one knee asking you to marry him is not a Filipino custom, but I am aware of that western tradition. I just never thought it would happen to me, I thought it will just be on movies and novels. It felt like a dream come true, after all he is the man of my dreams. A year later, we tied the knot and vowed to love,cherish and respect each other. So much have happened in a decade of our marriage, we bought a house, became parents and also struggle with every single one of those vows. But even our marriage is not perfect, I would do it again in a second. Looking back all those years, we have learned a lot and we work things out. Marriage is an adventure where you have no idea where it will take you, all you got to do is to hold on to that belief,faith and love for each other.We still have ways to go and have so much to go through in life. I hope we remain strong and hopefully, we grow old together.

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    Our kids

    They brought so much joy and happiness in our lives. Ever since the birth of my first born, he gave my life a a whole new purpose and perspective. Becoming a mom, makes me want to do better or trying to do better not just an improve version of myself but as a mother forever.This is really a struggle sometimes because you can’t always be that person that you hope to be, you can’t always keep your house tidy, you can’t always be nice and sweet all the time, you can’t always be patient and you can’t always be by the books of every parenting books . But inspite of it, this child rearing experience gives me the desire to do better in life with my children and I’m thankful for them for making me a better version of me.

    Our friends and family

         It takes a village to raise a child and I’m so thankful for our friends, family and our next door neighbor for always being there for us. God is really amazing for using people as instrument in the likeness of him and we can’t thank enough of how many times these people showed us their sweetness, kindness and compassion. Each one of them are our angels and we always feel grateful to have them in our lives.

    What about you, what are you thankful for?

    Thank you so much for reading and have a Happy Thanksgiving!

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    Home and Lifestyle, Kids

    Showing The Way Home When You’re Not There

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    Being a parent comes with happiness, great surprises and wonderful memories. But, it also created us fears for our child, especially when they are still young and we know that the world is not a safe place. We are so over protective to our kids about everything but how over protective can we be? We protect them as much as we can and do the best of our ability because it’s our child. So, to make things a bit comfortable for us parents and our child, it is important to teach our kids at a young age about the possibilities of everyday life.

    This includes….

    1. Teaching your child simple street and traffic regulations. Like for example, no running around in the parking lot , always stay on the side walk and always be by their parents side most especially on public places.
    2. Teaching your child their identity and home information. It is very important to teach our kids as young as 3 years old about her identity and home information. I remembered when my first child Lucas was three years old, we taught him his full name, address, our names and phone numbers. Even up to now that he is already eight years old, we still ask him time to time our address and phone numbers. We are on the works right now with our second child Olivia. Since she is already  aware of her surroundings and understands simple instructions, it is the best time for her to know these basic information.
    3. Teaching your child their way home. When we go for a ride, we regularly as our kids if we are almost home or does the surroundings looks familiar to them. When we go for a walk, we ask them which way are we going just to test them if they knew their way home.
    4. Teaching them to be confident in social situations and to trust their gut instincts. When our kids starts to go to school, they are basically on their own. We don’t want them to grow up being fearful but instead be mindful and vigilant with the surroundings and certain situations, especially the ones that gives them a bad feeling. It is important to let our kids understand that they shouldn’t feel embarrassed or guilty or wrong in any way if they acted in self-defense. It’s always better to be safe than sorry.

    As much we want to be with our kids 24/7 day in and day out under watchful eye and be the “Super Mom” or “Super Dad” by being there all the time, it’s just not practical. We got work to do and there are times we are separated from our children and hoping everything is okay. Instead of relying on hope and chance, there’s a simple way you can prepare your children and those who look after them (or find them) to deal with unwanted circumstances like a child going missing or needing medical attention. There is an agency that does the work to preserve your protective presence, it is called Child ID .

    Child ID provides Child I.D. label. Iron it on to your child’s clothing and the 24/7 toll-free hotline is ready to reunite you with your lost child.

    TIP: Don’t put your child’s name on their clothes! You’re just giving bad guys a really important piece of information.

    The simplicity of the label has more to it than just reuniting children with their families. Your child’s unique number and that 800 number is a gateway to help in two very important ways:

      1. Maybe a child needs medical attention…the 800 number can give them vital medical information.
      2. Maybe a child needs a safe place to call…the 800 number will have a caring person talk to them.

    What information does our child have right now? If they are still unable to talk or just learned how to talk, nothing really.

    If they are able to talk, what if they feel threatened and traumatized or even unconscious. It’s scary to think about this and something I don’t really like talking about because my imagination just go crazy and goes off the wall but it is important to be aware and vigilant of things that could happen.

    To know more about Child ID, feel free to visit their website at Child ID .

     

    * this is a sponsored post by Child ID

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    Home and Lifestyle

    Easy Halloween Pretzel Treats

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    Halloween! One of our favorite Holidays, most especially for the kids. Because they know it’s a free pass for them to devour all the candies they can eat. The first time that my son Lucas was aware that he gets to eat all kinds of candy from  Trick or Treat, I had a mini panic attack. I was already imagining that it’s going to be a long night putting him to bed. Good thing my husband calmed me down that it’s going to be okay and it turned out okay! I was stressing out over nothing. Actually, my son only ate a couple and he went to bed on schedule. The next day though, he was asking for more candies from his bag. We told him he can only have one for that day and the rest will be reward treats.

    Now, with our youngest daughter Olivia. I am more calm, it doesn’t mean she can eat whatever and do whatever she wants. Maybe because, i learned from experience on the first child and I kinda expect on how things will go. When I was a first time parent, I didn’t really know what to expect and that’s what stresses me out. Even up to this day, I still get stressed out  and I don’t think that will ever go away but at least I’m a little better than the first time, but still rough on the edges. A work in progress, for sure.

    Now let’s move on…..

    Today, I’m sharing to you some easy Halloween Pretzel Treats that you can make together with your three year old kid. Since it Halloween, it doesn’t have to be perfect. That’s the best part with Halloween crafts, when you messed up it’s okay. It’s supposed to be scary or spooky.

    Things you need :

    Pretzel Rods and Pretzel Twist

    Wilton’s Chocolate Candy Melt – Orange, Lime Green, White, Black

    Googly Eyes candy Sprinkles

    Black candy sprinkles

    Almond nuts ( they sell in thin slices)

    cookie tray

    parchment paper

    Instructions:

    1. Line your cookie tray with parchment paper, set it on the side. This is for drying your pretzel candies.
    2. Melt the chocolate in the microwave for every 30 seconds until you get the right consistency.
    3. Dip the pretzel one by one and coat it with the chocolate.
    4. Lay it down on the parchment paper, attached the googly eye candy, sprinkles or whatever decoration you want to put on.
    5. Lay it out for a few minutes until the chocolate dried up and then seal it in a Ziploc to store and maintain freshness.

    Easy and a fun thing to do with your kid. Olivia was enjoying it the whole time. I was surprise! She is  usually not patient with crafts. I guess she likes doing this one.

    Pumpkin Monster

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    One Eyed Monster

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    Witch Fingers

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    Mummies and Green Monsters

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    There you go, I hope you enjoy this post. Have a great Halloween! Thank you so much for reading.

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    Kids Creativity and Exploration

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    In our household, as soon as school starts my kids playtime is definitely scheduled. With increasing school demands, life can be stressful for even young kids. That’s why for us, it is important to incorporate  playtime right after school. That’s also my time to prepare dinner while they play. After dinner and clean up, we take thirty minutes break and then we start our school work routine. It may seem torture for kids but they need to know that self-governing routines are a part of life and are important to learn. We develop a structure for our kids, so that it’s easier for all of us. We observed that having a structure, gives them stability thus prevent tantrums. When they are done with their school works early, they can go back to their playtime. We believe that kids still needs time to be just kids. They need time to explore childhood and  to be creative.

    Today, I’m going to discuss about childhood creativity and exploration with Inflatable Zone.

    Inflatable Zone specializes in big inflatable products, including Bubble Soccer, leak proof Water blob with a good quality , bumper balls for a cheap price , zorb ball, inflatable bouncer, inflatable slides and inflatable tents. Customers are also welcome to offer customization ideas, logo printing, personalized size, shape and design. They are export oriented and approve by customers from United States, Europe, Canada and Australia. They ship for free within 14 days.

    I remember the time when my son had a birthday party in a bouncy house that is  filled with inflatable bouncers and slides, the kids had so much fun exploring the games and toys. They get to enhance their imagination with creative plays and it’s so fun to watch them just being kids.

    In every party or events, inflatable games and toys are always a hit. It never gets old, I even jump or slide with my kids sometimes. It’s really fun and great for burning the hamburger calories that I just ate.

    So, no matter what. We always let our kids balance between structured schedule and unstructured free time because it reinforces life skills needed for positive development.

    Thank you so much for your time in reading my post and may you have a great day!

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    * This is a sponsored post by Inflatable Zone. All opinions are mine and I only share products or company that I think that are valuable for my readers.

     

     

     

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    Home and Lifestyle

    Popsugar Must Have Box Review

     

    Fall is definitely here! Let the layering begin, the influx of rich tone hues and what else? pumpkins, candies and turkeys. So much more to look forward to this coming fall and speaking about that, Popsugar sent me this Must Have box to try. I was really looking forward to it so when  I received the box I just can’t wait to open it and see all the goodies in it. It was like Christmas in September for me. Happiness delivered indeed!

    What’s in the box ?

    1. Jack and Lucy Bicoastal Wide Brim Hat – I paired it with my fall outfit which is rustic orange sweater, two tone camel vest, oversize bag and mules. The hat is like icing on the cake. It made me feel glamorous that day.

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    2.  NCLA mani-er tool kit– portable chic manicure set, purse ready pack -so when you’re transitioning to the hustle and bustle of Fall, one thing you’ll never need to worry about is your nails!

    3. Briogeo Deep Conditioning Mask – your hair puts up with a lot- treat it to a spa day with restorative mask, which will reduce breakage and restore natural vibrancy on even the most over processed locks! It works in minutes.

    4. Flint Lint Roller – this stylish looking lint roller is conveniently size to fit in your purse and refillable so that you never have to risk unsightly mess.

    5. Smith and Cult lip lacquer in The Warning–  the ingredients in this paraben and gluten free formula help extend the wear, whether it’s worn over a lipstick or by itself. It’s a perfect lippie that goes well with the wide brim hat.

    6. The Gluten Free Bites dark chocolate coconut bites– it’s vegan, gluten free bites are made without GMO’s or dairy,so you can indulge your chocolate cravings without feeling guilty.

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    Popsugar Must Have Box is  a subscription box filled with amazing, curated surprises every month. With two options, you get to discover innovative brands and full-sized products across fashion, beauty, home, and more — from a little to a lot!

    I am excited to share a special coupon code  SHOP5 (which never expires)  $5 off your FIRST Must Have Box!

    Thank you so much for reading and have a great day!

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