Count your blessings.  I do…always!  And there’s just too much, too many blessings to be thankful for.  The best part?  The best is yet to come!  Now ain’t that grand?

Thank you, God, for the many wonderful blessings and miracles you untiringly bestow upon us every day.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

I’ve been sitting in front of the computer for some time now, thinking of a birthday entry for you that would be different from 3 years ago, which was too long…from 2 years ago, which was too blah anyone could have said it… and from last year, which, I have to say, I feel was just right.  But I can’t very well plagiarize myself, can I?

I always say that I must be doing something right to deserve God’s many many wonderful blessings…my loved ones back home…my mom…our Abby…you.  All that I need, I most certainly have.  Whatever conveniences and comfort we enjoy now, no matter how great or small, I consider as extra bonuses.   And I gladly and wholeheartedly accept them.

To be ushering in Thanksgiving week with  your  birthday is most perfect because you are one blessing, a most cherished gift, whom I am ever much and will never cease to be thankful for.

Cheers to you, Munchkin! May all your fondest wishes come true, and all your fervent prayers, answered.

Abby and I love you very much.  Happy Happy Birthday!

Also, cheers to you and me for 16 years of twosome-ness!   I’d still say yes, to you again.  Happy Sweet Sixteen! *wink*

It’s already mid-November, I know, but October was just so overly awesome for me that I just have to put it all in writing. When I’m old, gray and wrinkly, I’m sure I’m gonna want to look back, reminisce and celebrate God’s wonderful blessings.

Just as I had predicted towards the end of summer, fall has been nothing but super duper, over-the-top great.  I should really consider setting up a table at the street corner and make predictions for other people. Hee hee. :P

First Week

The first week of October saw the return of a very special guest.  What can I say?  Christmas came early!  Not only that, Christmas has so far been here twice!  I’ve actually been celebrating my personal Christmas since June.  So I consider this blessing a second Christmas present. ;)  Big thanks to my Cali-based aunt and uncle! I can’t wait for December 25th.  I wonder what Santa has in store for me. *wink*

October 7th

This was a most exciting day in my food-blogging life.  Foodbuzz picked my proposal for a “Pink Food Party Celebrating Breast Cancer Awareness Month”  as one of the featured meals for the October edition of “24, 24, 24″.

Let me explain a bit more.  Foodbuzz is an international network of foodies/food bloggers – the third biggest on-line food property! – of which, I am one of close to 3000 featured publishers.   Every month,  Foodbuzz has an event called the “Foodbuzz 24, 24, 24″ where 24 bloggers from 24 different places bring to life a proposed meal in the course of 24 hours.  The meal was held on October 24th, so you’ll have to scroll down to October 24th for the rest of the story. :D

October 10th & 11th

On October 10 and 11, we went on our second out-of-town trip with our Texas friends family.  This time around, Dallas was our destination.  Hubby, Abby and I have been to Dallas many times.  I think we’re there at least 3-4 times a year, but being with our friends this time around was like seeing Dallas for the first time.  It was fun multiplied many times over, that much I can tell you!

Our Texas Family. Photo by: Andrew Saquing

October 20th

I had my 5 seconds of on-line fame on October 20th.   Sarah Thurmond, associate editor for the magazine “Tennis” mentioned “Munchkin Mommy” (that would be ME!) on her Tennis.com article: “If you ever need to make a cake for a tennis-loving friend, try this recipe from Munchkin Mommy, who blogs about food at cafemunchkin.com. Her cake, which looks amazingly delicious, reminds me of the ones made on the Food Network show “Ace of Cakes.” These two lines still bring a smile to my face and will continue to do so for a very long time. ;)

This would be the cake…

More cake photos HERE.  While I am beyond thrilled that my cakes reminded the author of the ones she has seen on “Ace of Cakes”, let me just say that I’m a long way from being worthy of the comparison. Still, I’m thrilled as ever.  Hee hee hee. :D

October 24th

This was a pink day!  On this day, a meal proposal I put on paper came to life: “Pink Food Party Celebrating Breast Cancer Awareness Month”.  Don’t you just love an excuse to party?  A very good excuse at that!  Best of all, it’s a party I didn’t have to spend for.  I did, however, work my food blogger butt off for this party!  The party, being a pink food party, featured food and drinks that were pink or were at least accented by the color pink and other shades from the pink/red family.  I posted the food photos for my “Amoy” entry for Litratong Pinoy. CLICK HERE.  That entry is in Tagalog, by the way.  The English and more complete version, which includes recipe links can be found HERE.

I’ll at least show you the pink people…

My Texas Family.  This is an incomplete family pic. :)

My Girls

I’m glad that my long-time dear dear friend, Bet, finally met my new-found friends. ;)  Well, they aren’t really “new-found friends” anymore as we marked our first year of friendship on October 4th…one more thing that made October so overly awesome.

Real Men – They are so secure in their masculinity that they don’t mind wearing pink. ;)

Photo credits go to one of my paparazzi friends, Andrew.  Thanks again, Drew!

October 29th & 30th

On the night of October 29th, Thursday, hubby and I carved our first pumpkins.  Woot!  It was brought about by the fact that I volunteered hubby to come to Abby’s school the morning of October 30th for the “Pumpkin Carving with Daddy” activity.  Hee hee.  So on October 29th, hubby practiced.  These were the results of our pumpkin carving rehearsal…

Hubby’s is the full-sized pumpkin and mine is the mini one.

Lights off…

And here’s the pumpkin that hubby carved for Abby and her classmate…

Not bad at all!  Hubby’s inner carver shone through!  Hee hee.

And here’s our family of pumpkins…

I carved a second mini pumpkin with Abby the night of October 30th.  I love my Bratz inspired pumpkins.  Hee hee.

October 31st

Halloween!  It was a cool, not to mention, fun night for a get-together and some old-fashioned trick or treating.  We went house to house as it should be done in full Halloween regalia.  This was only Abby’s second time to go house-to-house trick or treating. I personally think it is more fun this way, specially when in the company of the most good looking Halloween characters ever.  Hee hee. *wink*

Photo by Edwin F., which I snagged from his wife’s Facebook page.  Love you, Alet! :)

November is coming along great, that much I can tell you.  You’ll read all about it soon.  Cheers and Mabuhay!

On November 1st, that’s exactly what we did…walk with a purpose…when we joined our very first Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure held here in Austin.  A total of 20,000 participants joined the race.  Some ran and walked  the 5-K , and some, like we did, walked the Family Mile.

When breast cancer touches one’s family like it did mine, one will not be able to help thinking and breathing pink.  Since it was my very own Mom who was affected and then survived the disease, we have practically been living pink.  As far as we know, my Mom was the first in our family to have been afflicted with breast cancer.  And I can’t ignore the fact that I am at risk of getting it…but I won’t get it. ;)  You can understand why finding a cure and raising awareness has become a passion.  I dream, like millions of other people, of a world free from breast cancer…or any cancer for that matter.

I can’t seem to find the right words to describe how I felt being among people who share the same passion (more passionate even!)…people who understood.  It was surreal.  It was touching. I wanted to hug  every woman who was wearing a pink shirt with the words “I Hope. I Believe. I Survive”.  They are the survivors.  More so, I wanted to hug those who were in the race in the memory of a loved one.  Truth is, I wanted to hug everybody!

I am proud to have walked that mile.  Actually, we walked more as we had to park the car 1.5 miles away from the race’s venue.  I am prouder even of my daughter, who, in spite of a halloween party the night before, turned out to be such a trooper.  I doubt if she understood what that race was for.  She had a different purpose as we thought there was going to be a makeover booth for little girls, like I’ve seen in other states.  My bad. :D  We did get her some other rewards.

It was a fun, not to mention memorable morning!  We are definitely doing this again next year. November 7th, 2010 has been marked!

Allow me to relive the race with you via these two video slideshows.  There are two because at Animoto, I can only have a 30-second video with more or less 15 photos.  Instead of upgrading, I decided to just make two videos.  The first has photos of ourselves and the second, my favorite pics from the race.  To everyone who helped our team reach our fund raising goal, thank you oh so much!  It was a pleasure walking on your behalf.  And to everyone who supported us one way or another, thank you!

The Fingerprints of God. I couldn’t have chosen a better music, for the perfect photos. Thank you, God!