I just love it when I pick Abby up from school and she hands me something that she made… drawings, handwriting practice sheets, paper cuttings (they practice using scissors!), etc. My most recent favorite, however, are these bracelets…
Aren’t they a thing of beauty? Abby said one’s for me (yellow), one’s for her dad, and one’s for her favorite kuya, Kuya Jad. When I asked if I can keep all of the bracelets for myself instead, she said, “You have to share, Mom!” Hmp!
Focus on the bracelets, please, not on my hairy arm.
Two sites I frequented after I finished reading the first three books of the Twilight Saga are StephenieMeyer.com and the TwilightLexiconBlog.com. Hanging out in these sites helped pacify my already palpitating-and-hyperventilating-anxious-for-the-Breaking-Dawn-release heart. After I had my Breaking Dawn fill, I no longer visited these sites as often as I used to. The conscious effort was gone. I’d drop by once a week, if I remembered at all! A few minutes ago, I remembered. And Stephenie Meyer’s latest update left me in utter disbelief.
Midnight Sun, which is Twilight in the perspective of (MY) Edward Cullen, the painstakingly beautiful vampire in love with the ordinary human, Bella, has been indefinitely shelved. Twilighters everywhere, myself included, were hoping that the book will be published next year. Apparently, a rough draft (260+ pages long) was leaked and illegally distributed on the internet. Tsk tsk. SM, understandably so, is crushed and can’t find it in herself to finish writing the book anytime soon, if at all. We’ll all feel the same if our rights as an author were violated. You can read her statement here (August 28, 2008 - Part II).
It’s sad that the culprit is somebody the author knows. It’s doubly sad that he/she spoiled what could have been another wonderful reading experience for everyone else. And as if to crush whatever hope Twilighters might still have about Midnight Sun being published, SM posted the rought draft in question on her website. *sigh* Sad talaga.
Well, it’s a weekend and I can’t possibly end my entry on a sour note. Looking at the brighter side, the Twilight Movie’s release date has been moved up from December 12th to November 21st. Weeee! Oh my, that’s Black Friday! Hahaha! Hubby will be happy that something will keep me away from the Thanksgiving Weekend sale events, at least for 1.5-2 hours in one of the 3 days.
It’s going to be a long, wonderful weekend for us, September 1st, being Labor Day. I wish y’all a wonderful weekend, too! Cheers!
PS: I’ve been horribly delinquent in my bloghopping and in replying to comments. It’s been a wildly crazy month, what with Abby’s birthday, Plurk, and all. Sorry! I’ll make it up to y’all really soon! Promise!
Kung mayroon mang gawaing bagay ang pinaka ayaw at talaga namang pinakaiiwasan ko, iyo’y walang iba kung hindi ang…drumroll please…PAMAMALANTSA!!!
Magluluto, maglalaba (gamit ang washing machine siyempre!) at maghuhugas ako ng plato araw-araw, maghapo’t magdamag kung kinakailangan, pero kung maaari lang talaga, ayaw kong mamalantsa! Ngunit di maiiwasan. Ayaw ko namang bansagang “habulin ng plantsa” ang aking mister!
Mabuti na rin lang at dito siya sa aming tahanan nagtatrabaho (home-office). Namamalantsa lamang ako kung kailangan niyang magbiyahe at ang dapat na bauning kasuotan ay mga pang-itaas na mahahaba ang manggas. Pero kung t-shirt lang, lusot pa rin ako!
Howdy, world! :) I hope y’all had a wonderful weekend. Ours was packed as usual. Let me tell you all about it. But first, a 2-paragraph long intro…
I got one of my biggest culture shocks here in the US when we attended a children’s party for the first time. It was at Pump It Up. It was a no-nonsense party: no magicians, no party hosts and no bubble show. It was enough that the kids got more than an hour of play time while the parents observed from a distance while chatting with one another. And the food? Just 2-pcs of pizza for the kids and a slice of cake. There was pizza and soda for the parents, too (but this, I would find out later on, was optional! No apparent need to feed the moms and dads!). Coming from a country where basic party food consists of spaghetti or pancit, chicken, hamburger french fries, hot fudge sundae and a cake, I was shocked at the utter simplicity of American children’s parties. After I got over the food shock, I found the simplicity quite appealing. :D Does that make me a traitor of sorts? Hee hee.
I loved that when you invite your child’s classmate, for example, you don’t have to invite all the other siblings. Whereas back home, you can expect to be asked, “Can I bring the yaya along?” and when you invite one child, the rest of the clan ends up being invited. Di ba? Aminin! That’s why the head count always gets waaaaay out of hand! Hee hee. Here, It is understood that at least one parent will accompany the child, although it’s all right for both parents to come. It is entirely the party host’s prerogative whether to invite the entire family or not! And so, to celebrate Abby’s 4th birthday, we did as the Romans, este, Americans. ;) We made sure though that the parents are fed pizza and cake as well! Hee hee. Hubby and I have found ourselves starving at parties and we didn’t want our guests to go through the same experience.
Finally, here’s the party story…
Abby had her “real” birthday party last Saturday at Pump It Up (Round Rock). It was attended by her classmates and their parents (mostly moms) and our dear friends. We’ve been to a couple of parties at Pump It Up before and although we considered two other possible venues for the party, we decided to go with Pump It Up because one, we get to have a private party and two, they take care of the set/clean-up. They provide the disposable plates, cups and utensils, as well as the invitations. We practically just have to get there and bring whatever it is we’re not availing from them, like the party loot bags and the Disney princess balloon. :) But I did bring Disney Princess plates for the kids.
As much as I can and as per Abby’s request, I tried to keep a Disney princess theme going. I put the loot bags together myself on Thursday and Friday. I ordered the cake from Wal-Mart on Thursday morning. Gosh, I miss Goldilocks’ party cakes! The cake I chose from the catalog looked too simple in real life. Hee hee. And I was the one who had to put the Disney princesses on the cake! What’s the deal with that?! Oh well.
We were also lucky that we were the only ones having a party at the 10:30am time slot. We got to use two rooms for 40 minutes each instead of just one bounce-house-filled room. The kids had a blast! I got to go down the slide 3 times, too! Weeee!
It was a wonder we have any pictures at all. It was a bit difficult entertaining guests and watching the kids. The photo quality suffered a bit. That or we really don’t know how to take pictures! Hee hee!
Birthday family at the Jumping Area
Abby’s Princess Cake
The party area
Us at the party (eating) area
Here’s a slideshow so it’s not too obvious that this is a picture heavy post.
We had fun but our hearts were silently aching for and missing the company of family and friends. It’s just not quite the same.
For the nth time, Happy Birthday, Abby! We love you and we hope you had fun…enough to last you several birthdays…so we won’t have to have another party next year.
Me: Tokyo Steakhouse na lang. Dun naman tayo palagi pag may special occasion.
Hubby: Puwede
Abby: Japanese again?
Me: You don’t want sushi?!
Abby: No.
Me: What do you want to eat?
Abby: Pizza.
Me: What do you want to do tomorrow?
Abby: Go to Chuck E. Cheese.
And so she had her way. It was her birthday anyway, giving her veto power over her parents’ food and activity choices. It came out cheaper, too! Hee hee. Besides, our ultimate goal was for her to have fun. Close to three hours at Chuck E. Cheese’s spells fun all right! Even for Hubby and me. ;) 80 game tokens had a lot to do with it. :D
Every bit the picture of a happy birthday girl.
Obligatory father and daughter pic.
And the obligatory mother and daughter “seeing double” pic.
Here’s the obligatory slide show.
In the evening, we partied with our Austin family, not at our house but at Bet’s (my dear friend). Between Bet’s three boys and her sister’s three girls, it was an instant party! We took care of the noodles, roasted duck and cake. Bet took care of the baked chicken and her 12-year old niece, Winona, took care of another dessert. Hubby, Abby and I were glad we ended the day with them. We had loads of fun and laughter as always.
L-R: Jezie, Winona, Milo, Abby, twins Mico and Miyo, Ren
Hubby and I joined the picture with Abby and our adopted pamangkins.
Family picture
Two more days before Abby’s week-long birthday celebration finally draws to a close. Tomorrow, she’ll have a small party, to which she invited her classmates. We’re all excited already.
Shrimp Salad
Banana Pudding
*sigh* Sad talaga.
