Mikaila's Recognition Day . . .

Last Sunday, March 29, was the first recognition day of Mikaila. How time flies really fast. I could still remember those days when Kaila wouldn't want to be left alone inside the classroom. Her days when she wouldn't mingle with her classmates. When teacher Liza could barely hear her voice when she answers. All of these thoughts are just from the past. We've seen how Mikaila have been transformed to an active student as she is now. She performs on special events, she participates in classroom activities, she mingles with her classmates and now her voice can be heard all over their classroom especially when they are singing. :)

I can say that we are successful and we have achieved our objective for Mikaila's schooling. That is to develop her social skills and be confident of herself. It didn't happen overnight and we've seen the little developments every parent-teacher conference. I am really grateful how teacher Liza handled every child in her class and how she made them what they are now. I'm sure all the parents are happy with the achievements of our kids and we are looking forward for the next schoolyear of our kids.

Here are some pictures I have taken last Sunday :

Mikaila before the awarding ceremony . . .

Mikaila and JM . . .

Mikaila with her classmates . . .

Mikaila and Mommy marching down . . .

Mikaila and Mommy while waiting for the award . . .

One proud mommy !

Mikaila showing off her award . . .

Mikaila's Award . . .

Mikaila with Wacks . . .

The naughty JM . . .

Rainy days on Summer . . .

Today is supposed to be the practice for Kaila's recognition day on Sunday. I just got a text message from Teacher Liza that there will be no more practice since it's still raining. The heavy rains actually started last night and it's still raining up to now. I hope the weather the gets better in time for the recognition day on Sunday. Ummm . . . how come we're having rainy days on a summer month?

I2C update # 3 . . .

Yipee! I was able to send out our application forms and the bank draft for the payment of our application fees. I'm sure I'll be tracking this until I have confirmed that it was received already. I'm hoping and praying that we'll get a favourable response from CIC within the year.

DHL airway bill for the docs I sent . . .

Official receipt from DHL . . .

:) . . .

I'm so happy today ! ! !

I2C update # 2 . . .

Finally! We had the demand draft ready for submission to CIC. I have checked all the applications forms and I'll just need to seal the envelope and send it thru courier tomorrow. Yipee!

Demand draft for CIC - thanks to BPI Crossing Branch . . .

4th quarter performance . . .

As mentioned in my earlier post, we had the 4th parent-teacher conference last Friday. The result of the 4th quarter exam was given already and I'm so happy and proud of Mikaila. She got high scores in all of her exams even though we didn't have a single review session at home. Here are the results :

Science - 95%

Civics and Culture - 100%

Language - 95%

Reading - 92%

Math - 87%

Their recognition day will be on March 29 at 9am. We don't know yet the award Kaila will get. They'll have a practice on Thursday and that's when the awardees will be announced.

90th birthday . . .

Today is Lola Orat's 90th birthday! She is my maternal grandmother. Too bad we can't be with her today as she celebrates her birthday. She is currently staying in Olangapo and hopefully we can visit her one of these days.

Lola Orat, happy happy birthday!

This picture was taken last year during her 89th birthday celebration

APE . . .

I had my annual physical exam last week and so far the results are good. My vision is still at 20-20 though I think I need to have a more thorough eye check-up. My cholesterol and sugar level are within the normal limits. Other test results have yet to be known but I hope everything is fine. With all the health conditions of some of my family members, I am very thankful that I'm fit and healthy. I'm not getting any younger so I need to be cautious as well. I need to be healthy for the sake of my husband and my two kids. I still have to take care of them so I have to keep myself healthy all the time.

Final Exams . . .

This week is Mikaila's final exams for this school year. I decided not to have a review with her so that we can see what she has really learned from school. Their exams will be until Thursday and they won't have classes on Friday. Friday and Saturday is the final parent-teacher conference. Since we'll be on leave this Friday we have confirmed our schedule for the parent-teacher conference on the same day as well. I'm excited to see the result of Kaila's exams. I hope she'll get good grades even without any review at home. It's two more days to go for Kaila. Good luck Ate Kaila!

Project I2C . . .

So, what is I2C? This is the major project I'm talking about in my prior posts. This has been long overdue. I2C is project "immigration to Canada". Even before we got married my parents were already convincing us to apply as immigrants in Canada. It took us a while before we decided to go with it. Last February 2005, we even attended a seminar on how we'll go through the immigration application process. By June 2005, we started to requests for documents needed for the application. But the following month, we learned that I was pregnant with our second baby. We decided not to proceed with the application at that time since we'll be updating all the documents by the time I give birth.

Last year, when my parents finally got their visa and at the same time the global financial crisis hit us the issue on applying as immigrants came up again. Finally, we've decided that we'll push through with it. It so happened that I was so busy with work in Q3 and Q4 of 2008 with the launch of the new Ford Focus that I was not able to concentrate on the application.

At the start of the year, I have set my goal that we need to submit the application by Q1 of this year. I have started printing the guidelines and application forms and I make it a point to update myself on the new rules and policies on immigration to Canada. It was then that I found out that there's a new guideline for the FSW applicants. They have a list of priority occupations and the application will be initially sent to Canada and not here in the Philippine Canadian embassy. Good for me that my line of work is included in the priority occupation.

So, where are we in the application process? Finally, after months of printing and filling up the application forms we're officially done with it! ! ! I have proof read the forms last night but I still have to ask a third party to do the proof reading just to ensure that all questions were answered correctly. I have signed all the forms and I have asked hubby to sign his papers as well. Simultaneously, I have asked hubby to open up a dollar savings account for us since we've already closed our dollar savings account. Though hubby works in a bank, he is not spared from the requirements needed when buying dollars. Good for me that one of my officemate's husband arrived last week that's why I was able to get our dollars without the effort. he he he . . .

We'll be on leave this Friday to do a lot of things. I have asked hubby to arrange the bank draft for the payment of our application fee. We'll be sending our documents through courier on Friday as well. I'm so happy because at least we're a one step closer to our application process. Though we'll be counting years for us to get an update, at least we are waiting for something already. Wish us luck on this project! :)

Early to bed ? ? ?

We were home by 8pm today which was quite early from our usual time. Both kids were still awake when we arrived. We spent about 10 or 15 minutes with the kids before they went upstairs in our bedroom. Hubby and I ate our dinner afterwards. We went to the living room after our dinner. We could still hear the kids playing upstairs. After a while, I couldn't hear anything from the bedroom. I was thinking if the kids were asleep already. But I told myself it's impossible. You see, our kids would usually sleep from 11pm to as late as 1am. Yes, you read it right. My kids would sleep this late on a weekday. So, imagine me sleeping at 1am then I have to wake up at 5:30am to catch up with our shuttle service. Or else hubby would be driving me to the office ( sayang sa gas! ).

Then, I took my evening bath and I was so surprised to see both kids asleep when I went upstairs. According to our yaya, Kaila was the first one to sleep followed by JM. Are the kids sick? What happened? How I wish our nights would be like this. Sleeping time would be effortless for everybody. But somehow I miss the "kulitan"of the two kids before going to sleep. It's a sort of bonding time for us as well. Anyway, might as well take advantage of this very rare moment. So, right now I'm here in front of our PC surfing the net while doing some blogging. ha ha ha . . . The daddy will be back in a few minutes and I tell you he's addicted to facebook already. he he he . . . I was the one who opened up his facebook account but now he has more friends than I.

Hay, it feels good to blog at home. No need for rush and no more checking if somebody might see me doing some blog at work. he he he . . .

Quarter one . . .

is about to end in about three weeks. How time flies really fast! Summer is almost here because we can feel the heat already especially on weekends. I said almost because there are still days that the breeze is cool during night time and we are still having some rainy mornings once in a while. Over the weekend, the kids were already bugging us to buy them those inflatable swimming pools. Kaila is already excited to eat halo-halo again. It's funny because she knows that halo-halo is for summertime. She would even recite a famous halo-halo commercial line over and over - "halo-halo tamis, tamis . . . " They are also asking the daddy to bring them to the beach so that they can make sand castles.

I can still recall the same excitement whenever the month of March begins. It signifies a lot of things for me when I was young. More playtime and family outings in the beach. As a student, it means the end of the school year and another recognition day - time to reap the fruits of my hardwork. In less than a month it'll be my birthday. Summertime is just a time to relax and be yourself. You can do anything you want at anytime you want. As a teenager, it was time to sleep, sleep and sleep until my eyes would sore. ha ha ha . . .

But as we grow older, our experiences, expectations and responsibilites becomes wider. Now, the month of March signifies a lot of other things. (1) We need to renew the registration of the car. (2) We need to renew the insurance policy of the car (3) I need to prepare Kaila for her final exams (4) We all need to prepare for her recognition day (5) I need to plan for the kids' activities for summer (6) We need to be ready for the next enrollment ( 7) We need to enjoy a little bit of what I'll be getting for the performance bonus (8) I need to finish all our forms for our FSW application in Canada and the list can go on and on and on.

What am I talking about? Does it make sense? Well, with so many things happening around us have we given ourselves the time to think and appreciate the essentials in life? Have we served our purpose already? How much time do we have left? With the recent death of Francis Magalona, I realized that time flies really fast. As in reeeeaaaaaaallllllllllllllllyyyyyyyyy fast! We get ourselves busy with so much work and sort of depriving the kids of our time. Most of the time we are not physically present whenever our kids had their "firsts". How I wish I was there all the time. But when I'm with kids and they get uncontrollable I lose my temper and how I wish I was just at work.

Make up your mind! ! ! Be careful with what you wish for. Life is just short so we have to make the most out of it instead of preoccupying our minds with so many unimportant things. Live the life that God has given each one of us. Circumstances may be difficult and hard but it's the way we arise from all those trials that matters. Keep our life as simple as possible. Live each day as it comes. Do what can make you and your family happy. At the end of the day, what is important is you have served your purpose well and you can sleep peacefully without worrying the days ahead.

Some changes . . .

will happen by April 1. I will be moving on to a different position by Q2. I'm in the material cost section of Finance since June of 2005. By next month, I'll be in the profit forecasting section of Finance. I knew about this change about 2 or 3 weeks ago and I didn't blog about it immediately since it's confidential ( daw . . . . ) at that time. This will be a big change from my current work since I need to know and understand the whole operation of Ford Motor Company. This will be my second move since I started as an Accounts Payable Analyst with Ford 5 and a half years ago.

I'm excited, happy and sad at the same time. I'm sad because I have learned to love my work and I can say that it's my comfort zone already. I'm happy and excited because it'll be a new learning experience for me ( added points for my resume ) he he he . . . Less workload and stress as compared to my current job ( I hope so! ).

Wish me luck on this new development in my career.

The Big "C"

My father-in-law was diagnosed with liver cancer last January, just a week after his birthday. It came as a shock to everybody because there were no earlier symptoms seen. FIL had his first check-up in Binan Doctors and it was the diagnosis. He further underwent several tests in Asian Hospital and they confirmed the diagnosis as well. 2 weeks ago he had an MRI in Medical City and that's were they've seen the severity of the cancer. Other organs were infected by the cancer cells as well. The doctors informed the family that he has 6 months to live. Huh??? How could it be? It's so fast! Everybody is hoping and praying that FIL can still be cured and recover from his illness. More than medical intervention the family is hoping for a divine intervention so that we can spend more time with him especially the two kids - his source of strength at this point.

The family can attest that my two kids really makes wonder. Normally, my FIL would just stay in bed because he's too weak already. But when he knows that we'll be visiting, he would regain his strength so that he can see and play with the kids. With this, we make it a point to visit him on weekends and on other times at least once on a weekday.

To all, please include my FIL as well as the whole family in your prayers. That they may find hope and strength amidst this difficult time in their lives.

A weekend get together . . .

Our college barkada had a get together last Saturday, February 28. We seldom see each other after our graduation so as much as I can I make it a point to attend every event of the barkada be it a wedding, baptismal or birthday of our kids. Last Saturday's get together was initiated by Maila who's now based in New Zealand with her hubby. They are here for a vacation for almost 2 months. We are so excited to see her because finally she's 5 months pregnant already.

It was difficult to set up the schedule since we can't find a date wherein everybody will be available so we just decided to push through with it last Saturday. Since they'll be here until April we'll just see if we can meet again before they leave. Venue was in Fazoli's in Eastwood. I was with my whole family and we arrived just in time for our lunch date.

We are seven in our group and three of them didn't make it last Saturday. Bing ( who I haven't seen since our graduation ) was sick, Kaye has a class ( she's taking up Nursing after her US vacation ) and Jody who has an event that day. Everybody was excited to see Bing so we made a phone patch to her after we had our lunch. We hope we can find another sched wherein the group will be complete for the first time again.

The afternoon was spent for non-stop tsikahan about our lives and of course our lives way back then in college and future plans as well. Syempre pinagusapan din ang mga "absent" kaya dapat wag mag-absent sa mga ganitong event. . . he he he . . .

Fortunately, the kids behaved well during our tsikahan. My friends are so fond of the kids that they are encouraging us to have more. Maganda daw ang lahi kaya dapat paramihin pa. he he he . . . I'm not sure what time we ended our tsikahan session. I think it was almost 4pm already.

Maila is inviting us for the 60th birthday celebration of his dad this coming Saturday, March 7. I'm not yet sure if we can come. We'll just see.

Here's our picture taken last Saturday: