Alonzo's First Day at Day Care

The little guy started day care this week. It's not exactly "school" yet but it was the first time he was without either me or his dad in playhouse.

I took this picture for posterity. Several posts at pinterest gave me ideas about presenting a photo of your child in his first (and last) day at school as a graduation gift. Hmmm...I'm definitely doing that!

Leftover Makeover: Pata Tim Noodles

You seem to like my Dad's pata tim recipe. And in honor of my dad and all dad's out there I'll be sharing a recipe concocted out of pata tim leftovers. 

Ingredients:
Leftover pata tim
Shitake mushrooms
Button mushrooms
Bok choy or chinese cabbage
(these look like baby petchay)
oyster sauce
canton noodles

Step 1: shred leftover pata meat and set aside 
Step 2: place remaining sauce in a pan and heat under medium fire
Step 3: add water (since there might not be enough sauce) and a little oyster sauce to adjust the taste
Step 4: add mushrooms and noodles
Step 3: turn off heat and add bok choy

Happy Father's day!

Repurposing Empty Baby Food Jars

It's been a while since Alonzo had stopped eating baby food (he's 3 years old after all!)but we still have most of the empty bottles around. One of my first few posts for this blog had been about how we recycle empty baby food jars. Well, here's another way how we re-use them: 

 

Healthy Oatmeal Banana Cookies

It is quite a struggle for me to keep my son from eating unhealthy foods. You may already know that yogurt had been his favorite snack for a while until the time he suddenly developed an unliking (is this a valid word?) or distaste for it. Little did I know that his preference had shifted towards ice-cream that his Lolo had been giving him behind my back! I could also only watch in horror (alright, I'm exaggerating a bit here) as my in-laws handed over a box of Krispy Kreme to Alonzo as pasalubong.

 

That's why I was more than delighted to have discovered this recipe.  I tweaked it a bit so that it requires only 2 ingredients: quick cooling oatmeal and bananas. Yup, that's it! The original recipe used 2 medium bananas. What we had available were bananas of the Lakatan variety that were on the small-ish side, so I used 4 pieces instead. 

 

 

Procedure:

Mash bananas and combine with 1 cup oats.

Drop 1 tbsp of the mixture on to a greased cookie sheet and place in a pre-heated 350 degree oven for 15 minutes. 

 

Enjoy!

Memorial Day at Libingan ng mga Bayani

Last weekend all three of us trooped to the Libingan ng mga Bayani or Manila American Cemetery. I remember how we used to go there as a child and I was quite surprised that hubby has never even visited the place. Coincidentally, they were celebrating Memorial Day that day.      

 

 

 

Alonzo loved how really vast the place is and immediately asked permission if he could run around. We said that it's fine as long as he doesn't go near the crosses or the actual tombs. The guard told us that it is prohibited at the moment as they are setting up small flags beside each tomb for a ceremony.

 

 

 

 After much running, jumping and rolling around in the grass  (and pictorials, of course) the little guy got tired and thirsty that he asked if we could take him to Jamba Juice!

 

Recycled Box Sari Sari Store

I'm sorry it has taken me so long to get this posted. This box play store has actually been around for about a year now

(super duper late post, I know!) and a photo of it has already appeared in this blog. I have received a few messages and inquiries about it but I kind of had some trouble looking for the photos from my files...sorry for the delay and I hope you'll find it worth the wait. 

 

Now that the rainy season has officially started your kids may just be forced to stay indoors. Keep them safe and entertained for hours playing “tinda-tindahan”!  

This form of pretend play can help enhance their imagination, sorting skills (classify items according to size, variety, etc…), counting proficiency or it simply trains them to become money savvy by teaching real-world economics.

 

Create a toy grocery store out of a large empty box with your kids. Surely, you won’t feel the need to have the kids plastered to the television or computer during the rainy season.

For this project you'll need:

one huge box

packaging or duct tape

scissors or cutter

paint

 

 

Step 1: Extend the flaps at the bottom and at the top of the box opening

 

 

 

 Step 2: Cut off 2 rectangles to make a door and a window

 

 Step 3: Support the flaps by gluing pieces of cardboard from the inside

 

 

  Step 4: Create a “ledge” on the window by cutting a folded piece of cardboard that fits over the window.

 

 

 Step 5: Secure this piece with glue and/ or packaging tape over the window.

 

 

Step 6: Create a shelf on the wall by cutting a rectangular piece of cardboard that is equal to the width of the wall.
(If you can find a box that that matches the dimensions of the wall you may use this instead and skip this step)
 

 

 Step 7: Make "flanges" to support the shelf by gluing small pieces of cardboard on the wall

 

 

Step 8: Create an awning by measuring a piece of a folded part of cardboard the same width as the facade with the window and about 12 inches in height. Add 3 inches more to the height and to that add another 2 inches on each side to make flaps. Cut and create a scalloped pattern

 

 

 Step 9: Place awing on top (opposite the direction of the folds to prevent it from drooping). Fold the flaps inward and secure with glue and/ or tape

 

 

  Step 10: Paint

Step 11: Use shelves to arrange pretend canned food (check this out, too!), toy milk or juice boxes, or other inexpensive “play food” that you might have such as empty boxes of cereal, empty tubs of butter, etc...

Step 12: Add details such as a “grocery store” sign, “open/ closed” sign and extra storage on the outside by laying basket in front to hold little crates or baskets or a pretend cash register.

 

DIY Shoe Semi Makeover

I recently rediscovered on old pair of white shoes from my closet. It was a pair that I used for hospital duty several years ago and have never been used since. I do remember planning to have it dyed into a different color before but because the pair had been shoved at the farthest and highest level of our shoe closet I completely forgot about it.

 

still brand new --
taken several years ago
when I still dilligently participated in
Project 365

 

Understandably, I found it looking a little beat up. So finally, I took it to Mr. Quicky and had it dyed. I chose to have it done in navy (after much deliberation). Also, I wanted to leave the tongue part of the shoe in its original white color -- kind of like a pair I had in the 90's. I didn't however trust the manong to do the job accordingly so chose to have it colored all over instead.

 

Bad call.

 

 

It ended up like an over used gradeschool shoe -- but in purple. Yep, apparently the navy colored swatch they showed me didn't exactly match the "navy" dye they used. I could live with the purple color but what I wasn't happy about was how "school girlish" "schoolmarmish" it looked.

 

I have seen several tutorials on how to cover shoes with fabric and have toyed with the idea but always chickened out. This was the perfect opportunity to try it out!  

 

Materials needed:

scratch paper

pencil

scissors

glue

fabric

 

Step 1: Use pencil and scratch paper to trace the "tongue: part of the shoe to make a pattern

 

Step 2: Use the pattern to outline the underside of the fabric. 

Make sure to lay the pattern on the center if your fabric has any form of print on it.

 

 

Step 3: Cut fabric.

Step 4: Wipe shoe with a dry cloth to make sure it is clean.

Then check how the fabric fits over the shoe.

 

 

Step 5: Apply a layer of glue over the shoe (I used Elmer's glue) and lay fabric over.

 

Step 6: Apply another layer of glue over the fabric and let it dry

    

   

Fancy, eh?