Alonzo's Favorite List

Aside from the birthday balloon cascade tradition that we started last year we also started the tradition of interviewing Alonzo, asking him about his favorites...favorite food, song, book, etc..and see how his lists change over the years.   

 

 

Some of his favorites, such as his favorite food changes depending on the day of the week or even the time of the day...sometimes he'll say pesto, sometimes he'll answer cupcakes or inihaw na pork.  But I write down whatever he answers on the day of his actual birthday.

As I was interviewing him about what his favorite color (which has consistently been purple), he asked, almost accusingly, "Mama, you don't know?"

Alonzo's Birthday Balloon Surprise Tradition

Last year, we started a new tradition of having a cascade of balloons for Alonzo on the day of his birthday. Pumping balloons and stuffing them between the door and a sheet of plastic taped around the door frame is, as we eventually realized, not as easy as it seems. Things would be different though had Alonzo slept in a separate room.

 

different method...

So, this year I thought of simply hanging the balloons to allow us access in and out of the room while the birthday boy is blissfully asleep.  

...same happy result as last year!

Happy birthday, Alonzo! We love you so much!

Unique Easter Egg Ideas

I know Easter eggs are usually painted and decorated in pastel colors. For those of you who are bored of the expected colors and designs, here are a couple of ideas that you might love.

 

If you are a serious egg hunter, these camouflage Easter eggs will certainly be a challenge to look for.

However, if you feel that animal print or camo isn’t your style but still want to be unique, you could make your Easter eggs resemble Russian or Japanese dolls. 

Hope you like them.

Have a blessed holy week and happy Easter everyone!

 



Easter Eggshell Hat

When my cousins and I were younger we usually celebrated Easter with a family reunion at my Aunt's house.
Easter usually coincides with our Lolo's birthday and, therefore, celebrated both events at the same time.

Honestly, we were not really big on egg hunting.
Although there was this one time when we actaully had one.
I remember I found an undecorated egg inside a flower pot cleverly hidden among halved egg shells used for the orchids!

Anyway, now that I have child I would really like to host and organize yearly Easter egg hunting events. 
A "minor" complication about my little plan, however, is that we are always away during this time. And although I still have to figure out a way to work around this situation I got a little ahead of myself by decorating several Easter eggs and making these Easter egg shell hats.

Here's what I did:

Step 1: Use a balloon as a mold and follow the basic steps on how to paper mache (here instead of glue I used the same homemade paste recipe I used for my DIY wall decals)
Step 2: Pop the balloon and remove the bits of latex

Step 3: Cut the opening large enough to fit the size of a head

Step 4: Make irregular zigzag cuts to make your hat resemble a "broken egg shell"

This is the best photo that I have of the little guy wearing his hat -- he couldn't keep still!

I intentionally gave my niece a plain white one for her to color and design on her own

You may keep your egg shell hats plain white

or color to resemble Easter eggs.

Have fun!

Luke 2: 1-18

It was from a magazine that I read a couple of months ago that recommended reading this verse together as family during Christmas.

Last night after our evening prayer hubby and I read it from the Bible that he had since gradeschool while Alonzo listened (almost).  

Alonzo will someday inherit his dad's old Bible and someday when he is old enough we'll be reading about Christ's birth all together

this time every year.

Alonzo's 1st Christmas Ornament

When we were kids Lola Neneng made each of us apos a Christmas stocking with the first letter of our name embroidered at the flap. 

This is a stocking that I made for our little guy last year.

Appreciation Wreath

Most of the Christmas decor at my parents' house were damaged because of the Ondoy flood 2 years ago. Majority of the the ones that survived the flood were thrown away because they were already too old anyway.

I really wanted to make a couple of crafts for them to use as decorations last Christmas but I was totally preoccupied with all the paper cupcakes and other DIY stuff for Alonzo's 1st birthday. 

Last week, they started to put up the Christmas decors and I really felt so sorry about the lamentable wreath made of rafia (no offense, Mama).

This inspired me to make what I'll call an appreciation wreath.

 I thought, wouldn't it be a great idea to hang photos of the year's events that you are grateful for? What a symbolic way to celebrate and revere the year's blessings.  

Materials you'll need:

1. wreath

(I intended to get the styro ones but those weren't available at

National Bookstore so I got these instead)

2. several of your favorite photos

(I suggest that you have them printed in black and white or sepia)

3. ribbon

4. a couple of trimmings
such as Christmas balls, holly or fake berries 

5. glue gun

Procedure:
step 1: wrap ribbon around wreath and secure (I used a glue gun)

step 2: cut about 2  feet of ribbon and use it to make a

knot around wreath
(this will be used to hang the wreath)

step 3: arrange photos around wreath and glue

(I didn't like the idea of using glue since I want to re-use the wreath each year and just keep changing the photos. 
I planned on experimenting with paper clips keep my photos in place but the material of the wreath made it hard to work with.
With a Styrofoam wreath it should be pretty easy) 


step 4: insert trimmings all over your wreath
(either use a glue gun or just poke them through)

The photos that we chose were those from Alonzo's first birthday, 
his first Easter egg hunt,
first haircut,
the birth and baptism of his cousin, Kata,
cousin Paco's first birthday,
Alonzo at playhouse,
Alonzo playing with the neighborhood kids
and some of our favorite photos of Alonzo     


Maybe when Alonzo is older he could help out and choose the photos himself. I also wanted to display more photos but the wreath wasn't huge enough! 

halloween decorating

i didn't grow up in a house that decorated for halloween. 

i guess it follows that i also won't decorate our house for this holiday. for me, it seemed a little superfluous, not to mention cumbersome to go all out with the decors when most of the neighbors have already started decorating their homes for christmas

(our neighborhood isn't too big on halloween). 

you may notice that i'm speaking in past tense here.  

well, this year i gave in and decided to embellish our home

a bit for halloween.  

what can i say? halloween crafting and decorating is so much fun!

i know this isn't much.

as i mentioned from a recent post, i had been extremely busy and ran out of time!

i hoped that could have done a little bit more.

but there's always next year...