Zoom In

When RD surprised us with a visit last July, I requested that they pose for this picture. The picture in the frame on the bookshelf is currently the wallpaper on my phone.  

JULY 2023

This is the bookshelf photo found in the white frame.  It was taken at our first rental when GI came over to celebrate his birthday.

SEPT 2018

The 2018 photo was taken to recreate the photo on the bookshelf at the time.  The bookshelf photo in the brown frame was taken at Cebu Avenue when they were still very young.  

This is one of my favourite pictures of the kids.  

Ant Umbrella

GI stayed over last night.  We went to the mall at about noon to get chicken and vegetables.  In the afternoon, he roasted the vegetables and baked the chicken for his meals for the coming week.  

After the food cooled, he packed them up and prepared to leave.  He realised it was still raining and found himself without an umbrella.  

When he said he wanted to borrow an umbrella, I assumed he did not want one of the big umbrellas because it would be difficult to handle considering he would also be carrying his food.  I gave him two choices -- a small compact umbrella and a brand new Kathmandu commuter umbrella.

Thinking that a smaller umbrella would be easier for him to handle, I held up the compact umbrella and said, "This one is small."  

"OK, I'll take this one," GI replied, opting for the compact one after seeing that the Kathmandu umbrella still had the tag attached.

He opens the umbrella then gasps, "Oh!  It IS small.  This is for ants, Mom!" 

"This is for ants," I chuckled and whacked his butt with the small umbrella after we had swapped.   

I had never heard of such a thing and GI must've realised that because he sent me this youtube link soon after he left.

Christmas Then and Now

This picture was taken in 2009.  It was our first Christmas here in Australia.

The kids were between 16 and 8.

This was the picture from last year.  

The young adults are now between 27 and 19.

 

Who's the Good Boy?

Haven't seen GI all year so I decided to post these pictures he had sent through last year.

Selby is one of the reasons GI prefers reporting to work at the office instead of working from home.

 

My Three Caballeros

GI at Work

GI sent us this photo.  The caption says it all :

When 6pm hits the sanity goes out the window

Off to Makati

We headed to Makati early so that we could visit some relatives before we went our separate ways for lunch.  I was meeting my former boss, MacGyver was meeting one of his KC brothers, and the boys were off on their own adventure (GI wanted to introduce RD to the fish tacos at El Chupacabra).

We went to Aries first but my uncle had been rushed to the hospital the night before so my aunt was not her usual picture ready self.  It was quick hello and goodbye.

We headed over to Libra to say hello to my cousins and my aunt. No picture with my dentist cousin because he was with a patient when we passed by.

  

Then we went to the next village to see my other aunt at Saturn. We could tell she was extremely happy to have visitors.  If we did not have lunch commitments, am sure she would have wanted us to stay longer.

When we finished our rounds, GI commented that he now appreciated the effort we had made by visiting the grandparents every weekend while they were young. (We would make the weekly trip to Quezon City from Makati when we still in the Philippines.)  I think GI could see what a wonderful opportunity these visits were to reconnect, and perhaps he really got to feel the sense of joy our dropping by had brought to our relatives. 

Twinning

Call me crazy but I really find it so cute when the kids are wearing similar shirts.

When they were younger, I could get away with dressing them up so they would match.  As they grew older, each of them had their personal preferences.  Plus I promised I would not make them wear matching shirts once they were taller than me. (And they really didn't have to wait too long for that to happen.)  So I was thrilled to find these old photos.

I had green shirts that matched the ones the kids are wearing in the last two photos but the question is whether I've got pictures to prove it.  These days, the only chance for matching shirts would be if we all happen to be wearing black, white or grey.

My Three Caballeros

It is getting harder and harder to get a decent shot of the three kids together.

I no longer aim to get them to wear matching shirts.

The aim is to get the three of them to pose together for a decent shot.

If I can't even get them to pose together, I wonder what the chances are for getting a video like this one.

Christmas Obsessions

Merry Christmas to one and all!

GI has been going to the gym regularly for the past few months. He has worked off all of the weight he gained from his 2016 trip to Manila.  He enjoys doing Muay Thai boxing among other exercises. He received some clothes this Christmas, including this singlet he is excited to use for training.  

RD takes his games seriously.  He remains at the top of the Pacman game board  at one of his Facebook messenger chat groups. He has figured out the path of greatest points yielding a perfect score of 16,800. Here he is showing off his high score against the shirt he got for Christmas.   (The shirt shows a high score of 16,440.)

MyGirl is a confessed panda lover. Her closet is a testament to that with most of her clothes being black and white and every imaginable shade of grey. She welcomes this mother and baby panda to her growing family of pandas.  

D&D

GI and RD played Dungeons & Dragons with their cousins the other night.  I the boys that MacGyver played D&D when we were in high school.  He and a bunch of other guys in our year were really into playing this game.  In fact, they managed to convince a teacher to serve as their adviser and formed a Dungeons & Dragons Club at school.  Yes, indeed, they managed to legitimise their playing games at school and actually get credit for it. 

GI was astounded.  He exclaimed, "That's my Dad!"

Pokémon GOne

I happened to find this photo of the two boys in an old flash drive.

GI was more into Pokemon when they were kids.

It is entirely possible that the shirt RD is wearing is a hand-me-down from GI.

But when the Pokemon GO craze started in July, it was RD that went Pokemon hunting.

For a time, he would go with me to the mall and the library just to catch Pokemon.

Gotcha!

None of the kids had brought their keys

so I asked them to pose for this shot 

before I let them into the house.

MyGirl commented, "Fake height for 2/3"

because she was wearing heeled platform shoes

and GI was standing on the step going into the house.

Your Days are Numbered, Buddy

While GI and I were seated at the Emergency Room, waiting for him to be seen, I glanced at the paperwork they had given me and was impressed at how efficient they are here.  On the paper was a printed gummed label with his name, address, date of birth, age, contact number, etc.

I said, "GI, you're already 22 years and 5 months.  Wow!"

He replied, "Yeah, I know.  I'm so old.  I'm as old as Manong was when we were still kids back home in Manila."  (Manong is his oldest first cousin, ten years his senior.)

He followed this up with. "Did you know that for babies, one day is such a long time, while for people like me, one day can go by so fast?  It's true, Mom.  One month for a baby is like a long, long time, but for me it just passes by so fast. Imagine how it is for older people.  People who are ...."

He paused because he saw me glaring at him.

I prodded him to finish his sentence, "Yes, GI?  What were you going to say?"

He slowly and sheepishly replied, "... forty?"

I gave him the death stare and reminded him, "You do know that I'm turning 50 this year, right?"

"Ummm... ahhhh....." was all he could say.

I was still staring at him, feigning hurt.

"But it's true, Mom.  Time is different for babies."

(He just didn't know when to quit.)

"GI, that's not helping."

"I love you, Mom," he said, and reached over to give me a kiss.

"I know, sweetheart,"  I replied and smiled.

But the 'time is relative' thing must still have been on his mind because he followed this up with a story about how there was a test where older people were blindfolded and asked to indicate when they felt a minute was up.  Most of the older people allowed almost two minutes to pass before saying that a minute was up.

I frowned then flashed a teasing 'if looks could kill' face at him.

He straightened up then repeated, "I love you, Mom,"  then started making waving motions with his left hand.

I laughed when I understood that he was "waving a white flag."

"You should add this," I said and started making "digging your own grave" motion.

A couple of nights later, during our dinner conversation, RD said, "Have you seen Will Smith?   He so fit but he's so old!  He's in his 50's!"

I interrupted RD and said, "What are you saying, RD?"

RD was focused on how fit Will Smith looked that it didn't register to him that he had just equated 50's to 'so old.'

"Turning fifty."  I said flatly as I tapped myself on the chest.

The implication of his words suddenly dawned on him.

"Oh!" RD cried and immediately started making waving motions with his right hand.

I called out to GI who was at his desk at the time, and relayed what had just happened.  GI laughed and motioned back to RD for him to start digging, too.

Yesterday, I was on Skype with Sunshine Girl.  GI and RD were with me while she was with her eight-year old son Ronald.  The connection wasn't the best so I told them I would be switching devices.  I closed the Skype session from the iPad and reconnected on my laptop.  When we rang back, it was only Ronald on the other side of the call.  We chatted with him and out of the blue, RD said, "Ronald, if anyone asks you how old your mom is, say she's 18.  Trust me, it will save you a lot of trouble."

I found it amusing so I typed RD's expert advice on the chat window for Sunshine Girl to read.  When Sunshine Girl returned, she noticed the message and read it out.  After reading it, she turned to her son and asked, "Ronald, how old am I?"

Without any hesitation, truthful young Ronald replied, "Forty-six."

We burst out in laughter.

RD called out to Ronald, "Ronald, Ronald, I'll teach you something else," and he promptly showed his cousin how to "wave the white flag."

Then GI joined in and taught him the motions of "digging your own grave."

Kids These Days!

Thank goodness for digital cameras.  

We can take multiple shots without running out of film.

I took these pictures last May during Mother's Day.

I asked the chidren to pose in front of the sign and this is what I got.

(Yes, those are my children.)

Thankfully they allowed me to take a decent shot.

These ones were taken on Christmas Eve.

I had a half-decent candid shot of RD and GI going

until their cousin decided to join the picture when I pressed the shutter button.

And when I asked them to pose for me, this is what I got.

(Undeniably my boys.)

Imagine my frustration if these were were taken during the time 

when 36 was the most number of shots in a camera roll.

I Love You to the Moon and Back

It's the 20th Anniversary Edition of this book.

Just looking at the book cover brings back fond memories.

I still have the copy I read to GI.

Kamehameha!

I spotted a tourist with this bag the other day at the city.

I didn't think Dragon Ball was still popular with the youth of today.

It certainly was popular with my boys

(especially the big one).

SYD-MLA

Last Thursday, we were at Pier One Sydney Harbour.

We met up with a high school friend visiting from Atlanta.

Then MacGyver dropped GI at the airport.

He was off to Manila on his own for a short vacation.

GI arrived safely although it took him about 3 hours to get home.

The traffic didn't dampen his vacation spirit.

In fact, he hadn't been away for 24 hours 

when he decided to extend his stay there until mid-December.

We'll miss you, GI!  Enjoy your trip.

You Know Mother's Day is Near

You know Mother's Day is near when ...

... the mall has a huge display that says,

I  (heart) MUM

... and even the key duplication kiosk has a big MUM.

 But the real clincher is when your kids agree to go up two flights of stairs with you to pose for a picture in front of the  I LOVE MUM.

... and show their faces, too!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!