Charming

Our weather here is getting colder each day.  It's been two days now where  school has two-hour delay.  My Burritos love it when there's two hour delay as they can sleep in in the morning.  I don't like it because that means that we have to walk in a freezing   weather lol.  Gladly, our  kindest  neighbor offered us a ride tomorrow, thank you Lolo!

Puzzles is one  favorite past time   in our home during winter times.  I think we have a dozen of puzzles here at home.  As you can see at the photo above,  the Burritos were  doing the  Hello Kitty puzzle that Ms. Burrito got for Christmas from her cousin, Jen.

Aren't they cute and charming?  Lol, taking about being biased but can you blame me?  I am their Mom, what can I say?

Mr. Burrito is still coughing but he wants to go to school tomorrow so let's see.  Hopefully, he'll be okay as I have a lunch duty in school tomorrow.

Book It!

I think every school in the United States has this "Book It" program where kids can read their heart out.    I believe this is only for kindergartners as the my daughter does not have this activity.  

Ms. Burrito reads with him and encourage him when he doesn't feel like reading a book.  So far, we are doing good and he  can read a lot of words already.  

They were given a mini booklet called the "Passport to Reading" by Pizza Hut when we first redeemed the  pizza.  Every time a student redeem one, they also get a sticker to put in the booklet.  If they complete all the sticker slots through out the  school year, the whole class will have a pizza party for free.  We failed to redeemed  the second pizza last month  but we are still reading everyday.  For us, it's not about the pizza, it's about  practicing and learning how to read.  I am glad that Pizza sponsored this program though because it encourages kids to  read.

Birthday in School

Yesterday was our sons birthday.  We decided to just serve snack to his classmates instead of hosting a party at home.  We   also  gave them some loot bags with different  stuff such as  candy treats, school supplies, and toys.   My son was very happy that we did that, he was very proud. I bought a big bag of candy from a   bulk candy store and  I was glad that it has different contents to it.  My son was funny because he wanted  a treat bag,  so me and my daughter  prepared him one and gave it to him. 

I am glad that my husband  agreed not to host a party this time because my daughter is sick and I won't be able to do the cooking.  My son also agreed  which is a plus and he got  extra presents for that lol. Time flies doesn't it?  I can't believe  my son is now six years old.  I feel like  it was just few months ago when I gave birth to him.  Time  can really slip by  without you noticing it.  I am glad that I got to spend most of my time with my two children.  It's worth putting  my career aside because  the time with my children is priceless!

Listen to the Angels

In order to help build the self confidence of the little ones, my Burritos school  hosts an annual Christmas play that are participated  by  kindergartner and first grader students.  Last year's play was dubbed as "Listen to the Angels".

 Mr. Burrito was very nervous but he did not cry.  One of the first graders cried the whole time they were on the stage.

 We invited Lolo Don and Lola Ruth to watch the show.

 Mr. Burrito did fine as a shepherd boy.

Listening to the "Angels" sang different songs  was pure joy and excitement.  Happy birthday Mr. Burrito, he turned 6 years old today.  Mom, Dad, Pap, and Ate love you so much!

New Favorite Pastime

As we promised our Burritos, we bought them a piano on the second week of December. It wasn't delivered until the 1st day of January and they were so delighted when  the Piano movers finally  delivered it.  They also  started their lesson from a piano teacher  of fifteen years.  I think they would  do good with it.  

My father-in-law has a bigger piano at his basement and he actually gave it to my daughter but it needs tuning.  The one that we have is a Spinet vertical piano, Wurlitzer.

I am glad that she chose piano lessons over the ballet lesson  because I did not see any improvement to her when she was taking  ballet lessons for  6 months.  At least with piano, if you know how to play one, you can play it even when you get older.  Anyhow, it's their new favorite  past time at home.

Christmas Gifts

The Burritos are doing great in school so we got what they wanted for Christmas. "Santa" delivered some too!

Below are some of the presents  they got from relatives.  Thanks to Jen & Jim, Titas Chris and Gail.

Ms Burrito  always wants to  sew  clothes so we got her a sewing machine.  For the Mister, we got him a ball and a collection of hot wheels (not in the photo).  The sewing machine is designed for kids, it's easy to use and  operate.  It has two stitch pattern, straight and zigzag.

We also got them a piano as a grand prize for doing  so good in school and for behaving the whole year of 2012.

Baby Gifts That You Can Save On

When a baby comes into the world, it is truly a miracle to behold. After all, every person is unique and every life should be celebrated. The last thing that you want to do is to give the new parents something that everyone else is giving them. This is when you will want to look into the different baby gifts that you can buy that will truly capture the heart and mind. This does not mean that you want to spend a lot of money on the items that you are going to purchase. Luckily, there are many great choices that will allow you to get the great gifts you are looking for.

Get Personal

One of the great things that you can do when you are looking beyond the wholesale baby items available is that you will be able to get personalized items. These include items that have the picture of the baby on them or at least the name of the baby. One of the great ways that you can do this is to purchase multiple decorative frames and purchase the different letters that make up the name of the baby. These can be hung up in the baby’s room over the crib.

Create a Cyclorama

If you want to create something yourself, you can also purchase wholesale baby items including toys. These can be attached to different sticks by string. As they dangle over the head of the infant, their attention will be on the toys rather than on their current problems. The parents will certainly appreciate the gift whenever their baby is entertained for hours. Later on, the toys can be removed and played with to keep the entertainment rolling for years to come.

Get the Necessities

As you are purchasing the different baby gifts, try not to overlook the obvious choices. Every parent will be in need of more clothing and more diapers. Resist the urge to buy the newborn sizes as they will be inundated with these items. You will be much better off looking into clothing that the baby can wear at one and two years old. This will allow the parents to have clothing that they will not have to purchase for years to come. This is a much appreciated commodity when the money starts getting tight and there is no time to go out and buy more clothes.

Sarris Candies Delivery

My Burritos' school is very small so we always help out  the best way we could whenever they have fund raising activities.  Selling candies is mostly during  Easter and Christmas.  Our neighbor, whom my kids called their Lolo or grandpa, helped them  taking orders from  our other  neighbors,  so we had a little big of an order this year.  Thanks Don!

 The Burritos' decided to make a card for each person who  made an order from them.  Ms. Burrito  wrote the message while Mr. Burrito drew on the other side of the card.  Children's messages are eXtra special, isn't it?  Can't think  of any good X word today so I hope it's okay if I  cheated  a  bit lol.

Everyday Family

Stay-at-home-Moms are pretty much the dominant bloggers that you will see in the blogosphere.  I wouldn't know blogging if it wasn't for a good a friend of mine who now lives in New York, we used to work  together in school before we came here in the States.  We are both a stay-at-home-mom when we had  our babies  so she figured out how to make  money in blogging.  She shared her experience to me and the rest is history.  I have been blogging for almost four years now and I love  it.  

I just recently  found a group of  Mommy Blogs at Everyday Family website.  Everyday Family is  focused on  providing information about family matters, most of the members are  parents who owns blogs and they share their experiences, thoughts , and ideas to other  members.  Topics revolve around pregnancy, babies, parenting, and anything that  affects our children and  aspect that helps us become  better parents to our kids.  

Becoming a member is free and  it has benefits too such as access to free baby stuff  offers, contests, sweepstakes, weekly newsletters, and the chance to interact with different  parents around the world.  You can also watch  videos  for different topics  at their website so you would learn a lot of stuff and enjoy  benefits too.  Check it out and become a member.